Chapter 1170: Smiling Clown
w.a.n.g Zhong’s answer seemed pretty obvious. Undoubtedly, as part of the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race Faction, his only choice now was to kill Phumetheus. Although Superintendent Erza had asked him to make his own choice, the meaning and encouragement behind it were quite obvious.
Phumetheus was raised as a future leader of the Fire Demon Race and had been promoted as a super genius of their race. Therefore, be it Phumetheus’s own potential or his value, both were of great significance to the Fire Demon Race. If he were to be killed, it would be a heavy blow to them. This was the situation that the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race would most like to see. And with Superintendent Erza’s encouragement just now, everyone could already guess what kind of reward the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race would bestow upon w.a.n.g Zhong afterward.
Given the degree of importance that w.a.n.g Zhong now had, the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race would prevent the Fire Demon Race from retaliating against w.a.n.g Zhong and the Earth. The Fire Demon Race would never have another chance of using the Life and Death Arena like now. It could be said that w.a.n.g Zhong could continue growing with no worries.
w.a.n.g Zhong didn’t care about the others but merely glanced at Phumetheus, “You were a worthy opponent. I will give you a chance to fight me again in the future.”
Countless people were taken aback when the answer was given and were all stunned along with Superintendent Erza. This was an unexpected answer…
People of the Fire Demon Race felt a sense of relief. Although this would still result in a loss of face for them, at least Phumetheus managed to survive. Elder Miehill’s eyes became a bit complicated. He had originally thought that w.a.n.g Zhong was a puppet that was being manipulated, but little did he expect… Interesting… It seemed that everyone had underestimated this Earthling!
Superintendent Erza was only slightly startled before her expression returned to normal. She understood the meaning behind his actions, and she could see from his eyes that they could only cooperate with such a proud genius and not order him around. It seemed that the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race needed to sort out their relations.h.i.+p with w.a.n.g Zhong.
The two major level-8 civilizations were originally thinking of how to deal with each other through w.a.n.g Zhong. But unexpectedly, they were played by a chess piece that they originally thought was insignificant… This Earthling had the courage and was a talent.
“You are the victor.” Governor Erza’s voice didn’t contain any unhappiness. On the contrary, it contained a little more admiration than before, even a hint of interest. “It’s all up to you.”
“Boss!”
“w.a.n.g Zhong!”
“Earthling!”
People like Celeste and Jonas in the stands were going crazy, and even Tsarisiya and Nibaru were excitedly waving their arms in the stands. Many people that were watching had changed their views on w.a.n.g Zhong. This included the disciples of Heavenly Gates who initially supported Phumetheus, the neutral disciples, and especially the newcomers from the Combat Cultivation Hall, Pill Refinery Hall, and the Equipment Refinery Hall.
Previously, many of the newcomers were dissatisfied with the resource allocation that went towards w.a.n.g Zhong who was also a newcomer. However, now that he managed to beat a senior two batches in front of them, they were all proud and felt that they had gained face together as a batch with w.a.n.g Zhong.
“w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong!”
Excited shouts from the newcomers echoed throughout the place, but no one noticed that in an unremarkable corner, an ordinary-looking female had a complicated look on her face.
It was surprisingly “Shannali”. She had felt something from w.a.n.g Zhong’s body before, something that did not belong to this world. Finding and clearing these things that did not belong to this world was her sole purpose for seizing such a mediocre body and hiding in the Land. It was also the task and responsibility a.s.signed to her by her master.
Before this, she only held suspicions towards w.a.n.g Zhong having such an item. If it was a busy period, suspicion alone would have been enough for her to directly kill him. However, she had been relatively free recently and was also interested to learn more about the rise of the Earth. By chance, the person’s body that she had seized was from the Cloud Mist Sect, and she also happened to be part of the Heavenly Gates. Thus, she chose to simply follow the flow and observe the situation.
But in the battle just now, she had already felt the power that w.a.n.g Zhong used in his last attack. Although w.a.n.g Zhong had been careful and deliberately concealed it, how could it be hidden from her, especially when she was at the scene itself? Thus, she could already confirm her guess.
“Having lurked around for hundreds of years and changing bodies more than a dozen times, I have finally caught a big fis.h.!.+ On top of that, it’s an S-level target! As long as he is killed, I will be able to regain at least a thousand years of freedom.”
Her face couldn’t help but be filled with excitement. She gently rubbed the item that was disguised as a s.p.a.ce ring on her finger. Her consciousness went inside it, and a message was sent through the dark s.p.a.ce to a distant and mysterious place.
“Removal target found. Rank S, threat level S. Awaiting execution order. Reporter — Rising Moon.”
If someone who lived long enough saw this name, they would be unable to help but s.h.i.+ver in fright. This was a terrifying powerhouse that had disappeared for an entire era and was a.s.sociated with the tragedies of several level-6 and level-7 civilizations.
Lord of the Rising Moon!
After sending the message, Shannali’s face showed a smile that was more excited than the newcomers around her, and she shouted along with the rest.
“w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong!”
At this time, in the distant Heavenly Treasures Street, and the even more distant Earth, after the delay of information, enthusiastic cheers could also be heard through the cold machinery.
“w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong!”
“Earth! Earth! Earth!”
Everyone felt a sense of relief. Old Cow and the others in Heavenly Treasures Street were so excited they jumped up and danced hand in hand.
Meanwhile, in New World City on Earth, after learning of the news through the Babi family, everyone including Ma Dong, Laura, Gui Xinying, and Oly let out a sigh of relief.
This battle had made them nervous from the beginning. w.a.n.g Zhong fell again and again. Even those who trusted him or people such as Oly and others who wors.h.i.+pped him blindly knew that w.a.n.g Zhong, who was facing Phumetheus as a Void Core, was in trouble. Not to mention the odds of winning, even the possibility of surviving in the arena was very slim, so they did not expect that he would win… It was simply incredible. Upon hearing the countless voices shouting “w.a.n.g Zhong” at the scene, everyone couldn’t help but have tears in their eyes. It was as if they had returned to the old Tianjing era with w.a.n.g Zhong in the CHF arena, enjoying the cheers of everyone.
…
Everyone knew that the powers behind Yeluo City were very complicated. Various organizations built their bases and gathered here, and no one could deal with them. The divine territory also had gray areas that the Star Alliance could not control. The Star Alliance law enforcement forces could not even enter the area!
It wasn’t that the Star Alliance never tried taking control of the city. In the past, one of the ruling powers decided to lead an army into Yeluo City himself. The ruling party thought that he could invade it easily, but reality hit him hard instead. The powers from the Dark World were far more than anyone could imagine. Before his orders could even reach the Star Alliance barracks, his status and authorization had been forcibly dismissed! It was extremely embarra.s.sing then! As a result, the successors later handled the events of the Dark World with caution, tried to solve things amicably, and never again attempted things they could not handle.
A small inconspicuous figure walked on the black streets of Yeluo City. However, the eyes hidden in the shadows looked towards him in fear.
A long time ago, one of them had insulted this newbie who walked into a black street for the first time and fought with him. They got a big victory and took away everything from the newbie, no matter whether it was valuable or not.
Such events occurred in the black streets in Yeluo City every day. To be frank, it was lucky enough for him to have walked out alive. Newbies that entered Yeluo City always needed such lessons. Those who had not been robbed or had never robbed others would never be recognized by Yeluo City.
However, just a month later… this newbie came back again, and the person who had robbed him previously was cut into pieces of meat in front of everyone on the black street!
Three thousand and six hundred slashes!
Yu Zang remembered it clearly. What was even more frightening was that he had slashed Xiu De, the one that had robbed him previously, three thousand and six hundred times without killing him.
From that day onwards, he started his legend. He liked to be called “Little Thing”. This was his special nickname because, from the outside, he looked innocent and weak.
After joining the a.s.sa.s.sin organization in the black street, Yu Zang became Little Thing’s point of contact.
Therefore, Yu Zang understood his legend better than the others! In the first year, Little Thing had 10 consecutive missions, and it had started with the killing of a Foundation Stage target. He then slowly rose from being unranked to an a.s.sa.s.sin ranked in the top 10,000 with a 100 percent success rate!
Just when Yu Zang thought Little Thing had reached his limit, in the second year, he killed a total of five Void Cores and jumped from rank 10,000 to rank 500 on the a.s.sa.s.sin list!
The problem was that Yu Zang felt that he was not strong. He looked weak, whether in his physique or his spiritual power.
Currently, Little Thing had performed 27 missions and successfully a.s.sa.s.sinated 21 Foundation Stages and 16 Void Cores with a 100 percent success rate! Now, Little Thing was trying to get into the top 100 rankings.
Not to mention the Foundation Stage, for the 16 Void Cores to be listed as targets in the organization, they were all either cruel powerhouses or descendants of extraordinary backgrounds.
Even a master a.s.sa.s.sin needed several days to collect intelligence, investigate, and find the right opportunity to act. However, Little Thing always managed to complete the mission stealthily…
Solid Cores were the limit to be listed as a target for a.s.sa.s.sination. Gold Cores were taboos, and unless it was a last resort, no one would take on such a mission. The risk was just too high. However, there were always exceptions since the monetary temptation was always there.
“Welcome back, Little Thing.” Yu Zang opened the door and welcomed him.
Napier looked at Yu Zang for a moment. His contact was someone from the Water Race and looked like a combination of a frog, a catfish, and an octopus. Yu Zang put himself in a container filled with water, and this container was like a scooter. He submerged half of his body in the water and absorbed the oxygen in the water. He did not have the organs to directly breathe in air and thus had to be in the water to absorb the oxygen he needed.
Napier shrugged his shoulders as he pa.s.sed by Yu Zang like a shadow.
Yu Zang held his breath and fixed the “gla.s.ses” on his face. He was not short-sighted. The gla.s.ses were a magical artifact called “Deception”. Last time, he had suspected that what he saw was not Napier’s real body. He had thus borrowed this pair of magical artifact gla.s.ses from Mei Gui.
Pa!
The gla.s.ses trembled slightly. The Napier that appeared in the eyes of Yu Zang…
There was no change!
It was not an incarnation, and there was no trace of energy around him. He looked like a living person without any strength. The corner of Yu Zang’s eye twitched. How was this possible? Without strength, it was impossible to survive in the divine territory.
Thus, there was only one last possibility. Little Thing could avoid the detection of the magical artifact. This shocked Yu Zang. The magical artifact’s detection capabilities were roughly on the same level as that of the Three-Eyed Race’s Three-Eye Magic and ordinary Gold Cores.
This also meant that Napier would be able to stay undetected from a Gold Core!
Napier turned his head and looked coldly at Yu Zang.
“Hahaha. About that, I was just showing you how this magical artifact I got from Mei Gui worked. I will give it to you, ahem, as long as you can complete the mission released by Mei Gui,” Yu Zang quick-wittedly replied.
Napier tilted his head slightly and signaled for Yu Zang to continue. His gaze fell on the gla.s.ses. There had been some spiritual energy movement on it just now. The spiritual energy had penetrated his s.p.a.ce of shadow and the illusion on his skin surface, almost seeing through his clown appearance — it was not an actual layer of s.p.a.ce as ordinary people couldn’t grasp the concept of s.p.a.ce in the divine territory. However, his clown cover was a special ability that was between s.p.a.ce and shadow, and it seemed that he was the only one who had it in the divine territory.
This pair of gla.s.ses was almost able to see through his clown appearance, which made Napier quite shocked. His concealment was almost perfect, but he still had some shortcomings when it came to detection. Besides, even if he had no use for it, he could give it to Grai and the others.
As an a.s.sa.s.sin, Napier had many ways to obtain information. He had long known about the news of w.a.n.g Zhong, Mu Zi, and Aiolos. The black street was just a place where he took on missions. Organizations in the a.s.sa.s.sin community were usually very strict. They did not easily accept new a.s.sa.s.sins. Only the “Beehive” in the black street had low entry-criteria. Of course, it was also because the Beehive had suffered miserable defeats for years. Now, they were heavily lacking a.s.sa.s.sins to complete their missions. They even lacked backend and logistics personnel, as well as intelligence gatherers.
“But, Little Thing, you have to think through it carefully. Mei Gui only wants to kill one person, Ba Yinyang.” After Yu Zang finished speaking, he stared at Napier closely, hoping to see through his thoughts. Ba Yinyang was very famous in Yeluo City. Using Yin and Yang as his foundation, he was one of the new Gold Cores of the Dark World.
“Sure.”
Yu Zang was disappointed to see that Little Thing was still calm as if he was merely agreeing to have dinner together. That was a Gold Core! Yu Zang felt that Little Thing was merely in the early stage of the Solid Core Realm and possessed some special mysterious abilities. Facing a Gold Core, the a.s.sa.s.sination might have some chance of being successful, but it was close to none.
Napier just nodded and motioned to Yu Zang to seal up the mission record. Within the next seven days, this would be his exclusive mission, and no other a.s.sa.s.sin would be able to receive the same mission…
Yu Zang wanted to roll his eyes for Napier to see, but he knew that although Napier looked like a tame little lamb on the outside, he was very dangerous.
More like, Little Thing was crazier than lunatics!
“See you later.” When Napier saw that Yu Zang had sealed the mission, he turned and left.
A Gold Core was indeed troublesome to deal with. However, he had to try to break through his limit. The divine territory felt like home to him, and sometimes, he even felt as if he had absorbed all the best from the Earth and should thus improve faster.
If he managed to succeed in the a.s.sa.s.sination of the Gold Core, it would be a form of rea.s.surance for the people of the Earth. It meant that one did not need to be a Gold Core or have the combat level of a Gold Core to achieve the same result.
After joining the Star Alliance for three years, the Earth Civilization was evaluated as one of the bottommost, even amongst those that joined that Star Alliance recently. Not only was the cultivation system lagging, but Earth’s science and technology were also not up to par. Earth could barely be considered a level-4 civilization. Normally, a civilization that had low potential and few resources would have newborns that had low potential too. If the newborns had low potential, their starting point would also be lower, and their physical talents would also be mediocre. This would result in them being at the bottom of the Star Alliance.
In these three years, most of the people who entered the Land had become slaves as it was difficult for them to adapt to the spiritual pressure in the Land. However, their fertility rate was extremely high, and their reproduction rate was about five times that of a normal low-level civilization. On average, every human couple would give birth to at least three offspring. The population was expanding rapidly, resulting in a huge number of Earthlings. As their souls were strong, the probability of giving birth to a person with capabilities far beyond the overall strength of the civilization was high.
Reproduction and inheritance had always been the prime goal of all civilizations. Although an Earthling’s strength was not ranked among the tens of thousands of dimensional races, their rate of reproduction was one of the highest among all the races, which was pretty rare. Generally speaking, the stronger one’s genes were, the harder it would be to reproduce or allow their descendants to inherit their talents. Thus, for level-6 civilizations and above, it had become a huge problem for them to bear offspring that had high potential.
Although Old Cow in the Heavenly Treasures Street was already pretty old and was not someone of high status in his race, he could already be said to be doing pretty well among the Goblins. Although he had his shop in Heavenly Treasures Street and two wives, he had no children as his wives were unable to handle the spiritual pressure in the Land and thus did not come over.
Although the natural talents of Earthlings were not very good, they were able to breed and grow their population fast. Furthermore, their offspring were unlike those of the Insect Race who underwent special methods of breeding to be able to have a huge number of descendants. Each Earthling was different and independent of each other. This increased the chances of breeding a new powerhouse and was something that all the dimensional races envied.
Previously, as no one cared much about the Earth, no one had bothered to check up or investigate it. However, after the battle on the Life and Death Arena, especially for those who were invited to spectate the match, many races had begun paying attention to the Earth and investigated it. Therefore, such information could be easily obtained if one went around to find out.