Mystical Journey

The room door was kicked open violently with a bang.

There was a drowsy man inside the room dressed in pajamas. He was carrying a hammer for reasons unknown while a little boy, who could not be older than seven or eight years old, hid behind him.

“Who are you?!” When the man saw the staff members dressed in neat, standardized black uniforms charging in, a frightened look appeared on his face suddenly.

“Take him away.” The woman waved her hand before several ferocious-looking burly fellows seized the man and the boy.

Bang!

A gunshot noise rang out suddenly before the two men who rushed over earlier fell to the ground at the sound of it. The man swayed slightly when they collided against him while an obvious sign of mortal danger flashed across his head instantly.

“There’s a sniper! Hide!” Fear instilled the woman’s mind immediately. She yelled and pulled out a gun before somersaulting away as two more bullet holes instantly appeared on the initial spot where she stood. They penetrated the wooden planks on the floor deeply.

Bang bang bang! A series of frenzied gunshot noises echoed in succession from the outside, as the Vulture members in black uniforms counterattacked quickly.

“My Lord had actually anticipated this!” Double-Tailed Scorpion’s face turned cold before a bullet made a hissing noise and hit the Mind Reader’s right thigh.

Blood splattered instantly.

“Stop immediately! Otherwise, I’ll kill him!!” Double-tailed Scorpion roared suddenly.

Suddenly, the gunshot noises and the blood-curdling screams of the people in black uniforms outside ceased rapidly. It was obvious that the other party was extremely anxious as well because she was afraid that she would also kill Mind Reader during this deadly situation. Although any one of the Four Great Cornerstones could revive themselves within a year, it would be extremely difficult to even dream of grasping their whereabouts so easily again.

Double-Tailed Scorpion straightened her body slowly and looked at the man and boy who were both trembling from head to toe. Her expression turned colder as she leaned closely against the wall, moving slowly while walking towards the doorway and glancing outside slightly.

More than ten people were brought over this time, standing on the empty space outside.

“Damn!”

She could not help but curse.

She had brought over twenty members with her this time, but more than half of them had been slaughtered immediately.

“Come with me!” She walked beside Mind Reader speedily before reaching her hand out to clutch his neck suddenly.

Shh!

A shroud of cold air surged out of her vest suddenly. Double-Tailed Scorpion had no time to think before her body crouched downwards violently. She released her grip on Mind Reader before turning her hand over and shooting.

Bang!

A woman’s low groan echoed behind her instantly. Double-Tailed Scorpion rolled away to dodge the cold current before turning back and noticing that a short, glittering silver dagger had accurately penetrated the spot that she was just standing on.

“Go!” The woman’s cold voice rang out before Mind Reader carried his son away. His speed increased rapidly as he charged out of the room instantly.

Bang!

The sniper rifle sounded again.

Double-Tailed Scorpion was just getting ready to stand up and chase after them before her body slanted suddenly while her arm ached in a fiery pain. She was almost fatally shot. A large chunk of flesh was directly removed from her right arm.

“Shit! If only the Elites hadn’t scattered themselves to search everywhere!” The higher-ranked powerhouses of her main elite force were dispersed throughout the outskirts to search the entire area. If her manpower was focused in one place, the sniper would not have a chance to act so brazenly at all.

Double-Tailed Scorpion stared blankly as Mind Reader escaped. Meanwhile, her right leg stopped moving slightly when she stepped on the ground lightly.

Bang bang bang!

Three consecutive gunshot noises could be heard when she fired three shots towards her right instantly. All three shots struck the same area and formed one bullet hole. The bullets flew upwards toward a slant. The sniper’s rifle turned silent suddenly.

Several years worth of instincts told Double-Tailed Scorpion that her opponent had been shot.

Currently, Mind Reader had already run across a great distance and disappeared at a street corner after making a turn. Meanwhile, Double-Tailed Scorpion’s subordinates who were hiding earlier had yet to respond, they were now looking on as she charged out of the house.

“Go! We can’t let them escape!” Double-Tailed Scorpion had a fierce expression on her face. This was a key factor that was related to whether she could retire successfully! She would not tolerate failure at all!

During the instantaneous battle earlier, she could sense that, if she was aware of the sniper earlier, she could have used her modified detection abilities to locate them and kill her opponent easily even if the other party was hidden while she was exposed. Unfortunately, it was too sudden!

Several of the people in black clothes separated themselves from the group immediately to pursue Mind Reader, while two of them stayed behind to get rid of the corpses.

********************

“Someone rescued him?”

Garen furrowed his eyebrows while standing on top of the skyscraper. The cool night breeze blew his hair and lifted it slightly, giving him a free and relaxed feeling. However, his current mood was far from being relaxed or happy.

“Someone who could seize another person from your hands must have been pretty skillful. Do you know where they were from?” He clutched the railing behind him that fenced the top of the building while leaning against it closely.

Double-Tailed Scorpion stood there and gritted her teeth while speaking.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already sent my brothers to seize them. We won’t let anyone escape. White Hound has followed me out this time as well.”

“I’m not worried about his tracking abilities. However, what are the opponent’s powers like?” Garen asked in a muffled voice.

“Other than the sniper who was more experienced, the other female talent was only average. As long as we find an opportunity to stop them, the sniper won’t have any chance to escape!” Double-Tailed Scorpion felt that this was the most humiliating experience in her life!

“My Lord, if I may put it bluntly, there are definitely spies within the team. Otherwise, they couldn’t have determined our location beforehand and ambushed us even though I had already dispersed the teams to search everywhere! This is unrealistic!” Double-Tailed Scorpion said coldly.

“I’ve requested for the assistance of the Lan Hai, the psychologist.”

“Lan Hai?” Garen’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed. Lan Hai was ranked at number twenty-six in Vulture. Neither his close nor distant combat abilities were extraordinarily powerful. However, his greatest weapon was not his combat skills but instead, his mind and strategies. He would consider his enemies while strengthening his own side simultaneously.

“Are you sure that you don’t need any other support?” He repeated.

“I don’t need it! As long as Lan Hai comes along, there won’t be any problems at all! I was attacked to the point where I could not react promptly this time. Moreover, since the Elites were not by my side, it would be impossible that accidents would not occur,” said Double-Tailed Scorpion firmly.

The results of her quest assessment would determine whether she could retire this time. According to the rules, once an individual had requested for the support of more than two ranked powerhouses, the quest would not be considered as an individual quest anymore. Even if it was completed, the quest reward would be decreased by 80%.

“I’ll give you five days,” said Garen indifferently.

“Five days… Understood! I will definitely complete this quest!” Double-Tailed Scorpion replied resolutely.

Garen ended the call before gazing out at the night-time scenery of the faraway Lily of the Valley. His emotions were somewhat complicated.

“Spies? Ha… It seems the Transmigrator organization Lighthouse has various selfish motives as well…”

Other than the Transmigrators, it was highly unlikely that anyone else could find Mind Reader before his identity was revealed.

He placed the incident aside for now as he was probably waiting for the right moment. Once Mind Reader was fully aware of his abilities, he would undertake the task resolutely to reproduce the Sacred Sigil. However, no one had expected Garen to openly dispatch troops and seize him forcibly.

“If another Transmigrator the combat abilities of the Nine-tailed Fox arrives, everything would definitely become more troublesome.”

Garen pondered for some time.

He descended the stairs hastily and returned to his office. He opened a drawer and looked at several rows of names there that were illuminated with white light.

There were fifteen people among the top twenty ranks that were illuminated with the white light. This indicated that they were unoccupied.

Garen glanced through a circle of names before pausing on one person’s name quickly.

Butcher Angelo. Rank eleven.

Those who were ranked in the top ten were ultimate combat forces who could defend a large province because they were extremely fierce and tough. Despite the standard of their danger level that was given to them by Night Water, Garen guessed that those who were ranked within the top ten had achieved A-Class levels. The only difference between them was their relative superiority or inferiority within the A-Class.

The subordinates of powerhouses like these could form powerful Elite groups of various sizes. Nonetheless, there were also rebellious but influential forces throughout the entire Slann.

However, Butcher was an exception. He was the only one whose actual strength could reach the top ten. However, since his influence was not strong enough, he could not become one of the top ten powerhouses.

Eighty percent of his entire body was modified into machinery installations, making him comparable to the Terminator in the movies on Earth. Moreover, his personality was violent and bloodthirsty and he had an affinity for the strongest defenses and armor. His own defensive ability was considered to be among the top ten while there were only two others who could compare to him.

He pressed the name lightly.

Garen straightened out his emotions briefly.

“Angelo, do you want to accept this quest?”

“It’s No. 3, huh?” A rude male voice echoed from the other side. “If you have something to say, say it quickly. I’m planning to go fishing right now.” He was not talking about literally going fishing but was referring to a deadly underground battle arena instead.

Butcher was not very respectful toward Garen. In his eyes, having a little worm like him, who was not even ranked among the top twenty yet had the audacity to crawl on his head, was equivalent to the greatest insult to him.

However, after being easily defeated by Garen during several challenges, he could at least remain respectful towards Garen on the surface despite still being unconvinced. After all, the other party had cut one of his legs off cleanly. Subsequently, he could only substitute it with a prosthetic limb. Crushing defeats like this would be etched in his memory for a lifetime.

“Double-Tailed Scorpion was obstructed by someone else when she was hunting an important figure. Her opponent is an extremely troublesome individual who might possess a more familiar understanding of you and Double-Tailed Scorpion’s abilities. Moreover, they are already very familiar with Vulture. Hence, I thought of hiring you this time…”

“Enough with this nonsense! What’s the reward?!” said Butcher impatiently.

Garen smiled faintly.

“The reward will definitely satisfy you.” He paused on purpose before continuing. “Weren’t you thinking of purchasing one of Casla’s hydropower stations? I can help you.”

“…” Butcher did not reply immediately but his breathing had clearly become much heavier.

“Are you serious?!” He lowered his voice instantly.

The price of that hydropower station was secondary while the primary factor was that its background relations were very intricate. They were related to one of Butcher’s previous great enemies and his own revenge plan as well. Therefore, he could not help himself from being perturbed.

This was because, once Garen made a move, his identity and status as No. 3 would perhaps end up helping Butcher’s enemy, despite his potential influence not being exceptionally great.

“I’m serious,” Garen said flatly, although his actions would cause him to suffer some losses in his social connections. However, it did not matter. The heart of this matter was the strengthening of the Soul Ring while everything else could be put aside.

If he was not too busy to attend to anything else because he had to control the overall situation now, he had actually planned to take charge of this matter personally.

“Alright then! I’ll accept this quest!” said Butcher decisively. He began to inquire about the specific objectives, relevant information, and other news immediately.

Despite being a loner, he had his own circle of social connections. Thus, he quickly arranged everything properly before Garen turned off the communication connection.

“The only thing that I have to do now is to wait.” He sat on the chair while the corner of his mouth curled upwards slightly.

Butcher moved out and so did Double-Tailed Scorpion. Unless Nine-tailed Fox or another powerhouse of the same level went up against them, it would be unlikely that anyone else could resist them.

Moreover, since Nine-tailed Fox’s current whereabouts were within his grasp, it would be impossible for her to rush over.

He was only worried about the other Transmigrators. However, how many other powerhouses, who were of the same level as Nine-tailed Fox, were there?