Chapter 148

Chapter One Hundred Forty-Eight: Black Eats Black

Inside a dimly lit carriage at the edge of the street, Dorothy sat, analyzing information obtained from a distant hotel.

“Based on the intel, it can be deduced that these guys are not Extraordinary Beings from Igewent, but rather outsiders. Their purpose is to obey the command of someone named ‘Lu Ke’ and come to this city to find his nemesis, whose characteristic is a master of ‘Stone’, practicing the path of ‘Spiritual Sculpting.’

“They are collecting information in this city and learned that Anna suddenly woke up from the ‘Cup’ poison’s effects, so they believe Anna might be correlated with the Extraordinary Being of ‘Stone’, which is why they came to find her and ended up clashing with me in that fight.

“Although they hit a wall with Anna, they made groundbreaking progress through another investigation route. By tracing the stone supply, they’ve pinpointed the target’s location to St. Amanda School. It goes without saying that the target, that nemesis named Lu Ke, must be Audric.

“Heh… I didn’t expect that the one claiming absolute neutrality would actually have enemies…”

Dorothy thought to herself, having pretty much unraveled the intentions and motives of these unexpected visitors to Igewent, as well as why they mistakenly turned their attention to Anna. The next step was figuring out how to deal with them.

“Report to the An Yin Bureau again? No, that won’t work. The guy I fought earlier was a Black Tier; his status was nearly equal to that of another guy he was conversing with, so the other one might also be a Black Tier.

“If I hadn’t acted secretly, that Black Tier would have nearly wiped out Gregor’s squad; the two combined were formidable! Now Gregor’s squad is severely damaged, and their combat strength has dropped. Even if I summoned all the forces of the Igewent An Yin Bureau, it would still be tough to deal with these two. While we might win, I can’t guarantee a k*ll, and they might incur heavy losses as well.”

Dorothy thought this through; she didn’t automatically report every incident to the authorities. Given the strength these two possessed, the Igewent An Yin Bureau was already somewhat overwhelmed, and even if they won, capturing and killing them would be difficult.

“So, it seems the only option now is to seek out the principal.”

Dorothy resolved to find Audric, realizing that having two Black Tiers act as scouts indicated that the organization hostile to Audric was far stronger than the Crimson Eucharist could compare to. To be targeted by such an organization was a testament to Audric’s exceptional standing.

Determined, Dorothy prepared to look for Audric; however, she didn’t act immediately, as she still had other matters to attend to.

“But before going to see him, I can still make some extra cash to replenish my supplies.”

Muttering to herself, Dorothy gazed toward the eastern direction.

—

Under the cover of night in the eastern part of Igewent, at a flooded dock.

In this makeshift smuggling dock, the evening breeze blew as the b*llet marks dotted the ruins of warehouses, clearly recalling the battles that had once occurred here.

By a dilapidated wooden dock, a rusted ferry bobbed on the water. Under the dim light, ten figures stood, one of whom was Harude.

Dressed in a suit and top hat, Harude, surrounded by his men, anxiously smoked a cigarette, waiting for the hired thugs to return after completing their mission.

“What time is it? Those guys still haven’t arrived? Does it take this long for so many to deal with a small fry?”

Standing under the yellowish light, Harude, flanked by two bodyguards, said impatiently, starting to lose faith in the gang he had hired.

“Hmph… Drag it out… Just drag it out… The longer you delay, the longer you survive. Once you all get on the boat, none of you will escape…” While thinking this, Harude glanced at the ferry floating in the water. Inside it, he had preloaded explosives, waiting to blow the entire boat along with its passengers to pieces.

To eliminate Anna, Harude collaborated with other claimants of Viscount Field’s inheritance and arranged for local gangsters from Igewent to k*ll Anna.

Harude promised the gangsters that once the job was done, they only needed to come to this flooded dock to receive their first payment. To evade police capture, Harude also provided them the ferry, planning to use the Iron Mud River to escape under the cover of night. At the destination, he would pay them the second payment.

In truth, Harude would not allow these men to live to become future liabilities. He had already rigged the ferry with explosives and set up a simple mechanical timer. After the group boarded the ferry, he would activate the timer, and when the boat reached the river, the explosives would detonate. This way, Harude not only eliminated the threat but also avoided paying the second installment.

Harude lived in the town of Kuaiyan within Igewent County, where mining was the primary industry. He owned two mines there and often dealt with explosives. The explosives on the ferry were ones he had managed to acquire through his connections, powerful enough to blow both the boat and its passengers to smithereens.

Now, all Harude needed to do was wait, waiting for the bloody-handed group to arrive as agreed, then to black-eat-black them.

“Mr. Harude! They’re here, but strangely, there’s only one!”

At this moment, one of the lookout thugs rushed over and reported to Harude. Hearing this, Harude was momentarily taken aback before asking.

“Only one person came? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. He said their operation seemed to have failed; the target’s bodyguard was too strong, and only he escaped!”

“Unexpected enemies… What kind of protection could a mere child inheriting? How could they fail with so many people? Hurry up and bring him over!”

Harude said angrily as his subordinate went back to bring someone over.

It was a small man with a muscular build, dressed in short clothes and with dark skin. Harude recognized him; he was one of the gangsters he had hired, said to be a notorious pickpocket in the lower district.

“What happened? How come it’s only you? Where are the others? Is that kid dead or alive?”

Looking at the pickpocket before him, Harude spat out, while the pickpocket trembled and replied.

“I’m sorry, sir! We encountered some very tough guys; we were no match for them. They all had guns! Real guns! Better than the cops’ guns! Oh… Holy Son, I have never seen so many guns in my life. We all…”

The pickpocket vividly described the situation as Harude listened intently. Suddenly, the pickpocket’s expression changed. He drew a small kn*fe from his waist and, in a flash, stabbed it into Harude’s throat. Harude’s eyes widened as he clutched his neck, letting out strange sounds before collapsing.

“What are you doing?!”

Witnessing this scene, the two bodyguards beside Harude were stunned. One of them drew a sword from his waist, preparing to slash at the pickpocket.

“Bang!”

At that moment, a gunshot rang out, and the head of the bodyguard who had drawn his weapon was pierced by a b*llet. In his final moment, he looked towards the sound of the gunshot, only to see Harude, who should have fallen, standing upright, coldly pointing his own concealed g*n at him, the barrel still smoking.

Seeing his companion killed by his boss, the other bodyguard exclaimed in shock.

“Sir Harude, how could you… Agh!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the bodyguard felt a chill in his chest. Looking down, he saw a sharp blade already embedded in his chest, and the owner of that blade was none other than his comrade, who had just been shot.

As he fell, he somehow managed to grip his weapon tightly and began attacking Harude’s remaining men alongside others, all of whom had turned into puppets as well.

Harude’s entire team collapsed like a row of dominoes, rapidly succumbing to a chain reaction of mutually killing teammates.

Meanwhile, Dorothy sat silently in the distant carriage, watching the bloody scene through the eyes of the Zombie Puppet.