Chapter 919: Creating Chaos
The mental manipulation of a royal vampire wasn’t ordinarily powerful. In a short while, the two Dark Elves gave the game away to Rhode. Although they weren’t responsible for putting forward plans and ideas as Shane’s subjects, they were in charge of gathering intelligence and Rhode learned a lot of things from them about Highland City’s internal affairs.
Rhode had to admit that Highland City was indeed within the solid grasp of the Alanic Family. There was nothing that Shane wasn’t aware of. It didn’t matter if one was the supporter of the Light Parliament, a trade a.s.sociation representative, people who objected the suggestions, or people who acted pragmatically, one didn’t know that one’s every action was being monitored by Shane. What surprised Rhode was that there was also a special squad of 15 Dark Elves directly under Shane who was responsible for monitoring Highland City, at the same time helping him manage the uncertain factors and threats surrounding the city.
Not only that, but the two Dark Elves also confessed that Highland City also served as a branch of the Viper Gang and more than half of the soldiers patrolling the streets were their members.
Nowadays, even evil cultists can roam the streets in the open. It seems like public morals are degenerating with each pa.s.sing day…
Rhode confirmed that it was almost impossible to make Highland City his anymore. It could also be said that after learning the truth, he wouldn’t accept them even if they decided to submit to him. No matter the Light Parliament or Viper Gang, none of them were easy to deal with and he might be out of luck if he weren’t careful. It was still possible to eliminate the Light Parliament, but an underground evil organization like the Viper Gang wouldn’t be that easy to eradicate. If Rhode and Angelina didn’t manipulate the two Dark Elves to reveal the truth, he would never believe that a small city by the border would have this many shenanigans.
But what left a bad taste in his mouth was Shane’s plan. According to the two Dark Elves, apart from being commanded to stalk ‘Miranda’ and Angelina, they also had to investigate everything about ‘Miranda’. Not only that, but Shane also ordered the Dark Elves to drug ‘Miranda’ and Angelina during an opportune time and send them to his manor for him to imprison and physically abuse them!
Rhode gazed in silence. His smile became as moving and bright as the dazzling sun in spring. On the contrary, Angelina turned pale and didn’t dare utter a word because she sensed the murderous intent and wrath hidden behind that gorgeous smile that was so much more scarier than the ice jail in Country of Darkness. Not only her, but the two Dark Elves also instinctively s.h.i.+vered in fear.
“… M-Master?”
Angelina swallowed her saliva and called out nervously. This was the first time that she sensed such clear murderous intent from him. If what she sensed was the imposing aura when she signed the contract with him earlier, this murderous intent simply left her breathless. The ice-cold sensation was as though sharp needles penetrating her body mercilessly, entering deep into her bone marrows and blood. She didn’t even have a chance to escape. Not only that, but also what terrified her the most was his smile. She didn’t spend a lot of time with him before, so she wasn’t aware of this habit of his. But even so, she felt chills run down her spine which froze her to the spot. That smile was so pure, beautiful, and dazzling. But it was this pure smile that appeared hypocritical to her at the same time. As a vampire who lived in Country of Darkness, she had been a hypocrite all her life. There were no friends.h.i.+ps or trust among vampires and only exploitations and betrayals existed. But she swore that she had never seen such a ‘hypocritical’ smile. It was a contradictory illusion that one felt with the extreme truth. The smile that wasn’t meant to conceal one’s wrath but only to express one’s anger was as natural as one crying in pain.
“Master… What…”
Angelina couldn’t complete her sentence. In the face of Ashvril, she was able to lift her head bravely and defy with all her arrogance and pride. But now, she realized that she returned to becoming that little girl from the past and almost broke out into tears!
“Hmm?”
Rhode turned and kept his smile upon hearing her voice as though begging for forgiveness. The instant the overwhelming pressure vanished, Angelina heaved a sigh of relief and held her hand on her chest. As his subject, she did hear about one of his most prominent features that was ‘nothing good was bound to happen when he smiled’ and now, she finally understood what it meant.
“Erm… What do you intend to do, Master?”
Angelina removed her mental manipulation on the two elves and they didn’t seem any different. In fact, the instant they were mentally manipulated by her, they had become her devoted servants. They would not appear any different from usual and as long as Angelina summoned them, they would immediately return to being her loyal servants and do anything for her. What was terrifying was that they wouldn’t seem mentally manipulated at all when making decisions as though everything that they did was out of their own accord.
This was the horrifying skill of the vampires. The moment one was manipulated by her, one would become her slave completely.
Of course, even though Angelina was a royal vampire, she couldn’t manipulate everyone. A person like Rhode with high will points or Mini Bubble Gum with mental manipulation immunity couldn’t be controlled by her. More importantly, Angelina was one of his cards. If she manipulated others behind his back, he would immediately find out through the system and destroy her. No matter what, he would never allow this to happen to his close ones.
At this moment, Rhode was considering his options in taking down Highland City. Killing Shane was naturally an option, but just like he mentioned earlier, that was the last resort. The entire Highland City was controlled tightly by the Alanic Family and Viper Gang. Even if he did kill Shane, they could simply replace him with another person in charge. Both organizations were huge so it wouldn’t be tough to find a replacement.
As for the neutral party who wished to take advantage of Country of Light and Void Territory, Rhode wasn’t too concerned about them. Those guys were opportunists and totally unreliable. If it were possible, Rhode would find a chance to annihilate them altogether. On the other hand, he also disregarded everyone including the city owner who supported the Light Parliament because they didn’t hold too much influence to make a difference. They were the Alanic Family’s puppet and as long as he got rid of the mastermind, they would be doomed. But what amused him was the group of rebels…
“Clive… I remember this guy…”
Rhode narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. If he recalled correctly, that young man named Clive was the city owner’s a.s.sistant who welcomed him in Highland City. He learned a lot from the two elves about this young man. What was interesting was that this young man was actually one of the most radical people who revolted against the Alanic Family. He had gathered many young men born in Highland City, attempted to overthrow the Alanic Family’s rule, and hoped to receive support from Rhode’s Void Territory.
Perhaps Clive would have never expected that his every move was secretly observed by the Alanic Family and Shane. If it weren’t for the fact that Clive implicated several local and lower-level managers and a misstep might lead to the crumble of the management, he would have been killed by Shane a long time ago.
This group of young men had strong pa.s.sions and goals, but their weak spot was their lack of strength. Even if they formed up with Rhode, he wouldn’t benefit from them. Currently, there was only one source of the problem—Highland City was too peaceful. This wasn’t a good thing for Rhode. He needed chaos; extreme chaos that could turn Highland City into a blazing furnace and only he would stand a chance.
“I have an idea, Angelina.”
Rhode narrowed his eyes and said.
“Right now, Highland City is too peaceful. But with this many visitors, there are enough factors to create a chaotic situation. We just need to mix the waters, sit back, and enjoy the show.”
“Have you chosen your target, Master?”
Angelina’s eyes glinted with interest. Rhode nodded firmly. He extended his arm and two cards appeared on his palm.
“I shall rely on you two next, my adorable princesses.”
He said softly with a gentle smile.