by <unknown>
Han Xiao was very curious about who was framing him, he felt it was quite interesting.
“Well, that is one way to do it.” Se Qi said immediately, he wasn’t wishing for a conflict.
Before Lagos said anything, someone in the crowd suddenly fired his gun, Han Xiao reacted quickly and activated the Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor, the bullet was deflected.
However, this had made the soldiers who were all in a highly nervous state lose their control and all fired at the same time.
“Fire!”
Conflict broke out in an instant!
“Someone fired unexpectedly on purpose!” Han Xiao’s eyes became serious, the scene was chaotic, but he saw the person who made the shot clearly, it was an ordinary soldier.
Bullets emerged from every direction, Han Xiao had no choice by to deal with the shootings first, the enhanced Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor had an outstanding level of defence, the bullets only made sparks on the armor and couldn’t penetrate through.
Energy flow through his body and went into a circular metal plate on his had, the Compounded Magnetic Chain Split Blades was activated, seven sharp blades flew out of the pockets and shot out like a storm. Many soldiers’ gun muzzle was cut off, they backed off in horror and bumped into other soldiers on the exteriors.
The firepower of the enemy started weakening, just as Han Xiao was about to go for the soldier who made the first shot, the superhuman guards hidden in the dark acted.
“Hong!”
Suddenly, a fire appeared in the crowd, not one, but four. Three Pugilists, one Esper that could turn his entire body into fire, all pounced towards Han Xiao at the same time.
Fists covered in fire smashed down hard.
“Bang!”
Cracks spread out on the originally standing flow, the walls started to crack open as well, Han Xiao made it in time and jumped up in the air. Suddenly, Han Xiao faced a heat wave coming towards him, the person covered in fire straightened his arms, a snake-like pillar of fire flew towards Han Xiao.
Usually, one has nowhere to escape to during mid-air, but Han Xiao was an exception. He immediately switched on the [Mini Maneuvering Equipment]on his waist, the boxes on the edge of the belt made a turbo-like sound and shot out a jet stream of air, the belt emitted a strong force, almost like an invisible hand pulling Han Xiao to the side.
The fire snake slid by his back and hit the wall, creating a large scorch black hole.
“Level 46, 48, 49, three Pugilists, and one Esper at level 45, all Grade D superhumans, these should be the high tier power in Alumera.”
If it was before, he would have had some troubles, but now that all his skills were at max level, he was much stronger, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for him even if he didn’t wear his mechanical suit. In fact, he was more concerned about the soldier who fired first, but he realised that the young soldier was killed in the previous round of chaotic shootings.
Han Xiao felt a thump in his heart, he didn’t believe this would be an accident.
“Seems like the people who framed me are deeply rooted in Alumera, they saw me taking a step back and decided to attack me on purpose, to cause a conflict.”
With these thoughts, Han Xiao had more clues, he put the thoughts away and focused on dealing with the four superhumans and the soldiers. He spun his hands, the revolving blades covered him like a protecting storm, slashing almost ten times per second, inflicting wounds on the three pugilists who were just closing in. Everywhere he walked past, the weapons of the soldiers were cut into pieces, he used this sort of weapon in his previous life before, it didn’t need much practice, he was a pro in it instantly. He purposely held back and didn’t kill anyone.
Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor, Electromagnetic Skateboard Shoes and other equipment he carried around all the time, all went through [Precised Enhancing Modification], their attributes became much stronger. Han Xiao’s own combat power had also peaked due to all his skills being at max level. Han Xiao didn’t even need Viper·Modified to deal with these four superhumans that had a lower level than him, he only needed Compounded Magnetic Chain Split Blades as a close range combat weapon to defeat them.
Han Xiao’s health had reached 3800 points, not far from a Pugilist of the same level, and he also had the Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor, he was very tanky.
On the other side, members of the Bamboo Rain Guild witnessed Han Xiao defeating a group of soldiers and four superhumans, Bamboo Rain Guild recorded them with excitement.
“That, is a recording that has the potential to go viral.”
Bamboo Rain Fly said in surprise, “I thought Black Phantom was their guest, but from what they are saying, it seemed like Black Phantom killed their leader. I made a scan just now, all four NPCs that are fighting Black Phantom have a danger level of [Extremely Dangerous], what they say in the forums are right, Black Phantom is at the top tier in terms of strength even amongst the NPCs.”
Bamboo Rain Morning Wind rolled his eyes and said, “you don’t say, which NPC that gives main storyline missions are not strong?”
“Shhh——” Bamboo Rain Fragrance made a hand sign of asking them to keep quiet, she stared at the scene and said, “keep quiet and watch the storyline.”
…
The destruction power of superhumans far exceeded normal people, the entire mansion collapsed in the heated battle, the high ranked officials had already escaped in rage and nervousness. More superhumans were on their way here, they definitely could kill Black Phantom, if these four guards were able to stall him that is.
Blades slashed open the fire, iron fists clashed against the armor. Han Xiao moved around with horrifyingly high mobility, the four superhumans could only barely hit him despite putting in all their efforts. Han Xiao purposely faked an opportunity for them to attacked and lured one of the Pugilists to a close range, then used the Thermo-electrical Incisor Gloves to counter-attack and defeated one person first. He then used the blades to form a storm and slashed wounds all over the fire-controlling Esper, his Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor had very good heat insulating abilities, fire dealt very limited damage to him.
The two people left soon had an even harder time dealing with Han Xiao.
“Whoosh.”
The blades slashed open the flesh of the Pugilist and shot out through his body, causing blood to shoot out from the wounds, this Pugilist ended up twitching on the floor with heavy injury and was unable to move.
“Shit!” Lagos was shocked, Black Phantom defeated the four guards in much shorter time he expected before the backup could arrive. The scene was now filled with broken bricks and ruins, no one could stop Black Phantom anymore.
If he were to start a killing spree, many of the high ranked officials would die.
Whoosh! A blade hovered before Lagos, he backed up in terror, but the blades followed him like a shadow, till Lagos fell on the ground with afraid and anger on his face.
It was at this time Han Xiao kept the blades back, he wiped off the blood on his face and said coldly, “I can kill you people, but that would be falling right into the trap of someone else, our terms remain unchanged, I can stay till you find out the truth, but if you insist on capturing me, I don’t mind to gift you a few slashes.”
His fingers turned inwards as he was saying, the blades danced in the air and formed a flower shape, the motive of threatening was clear.
Chapter 207. The Real Killer (Two) |
“You—” Lagos clenched his teeth in anger.
Before he could say anything, Xiao Jin cut in and said, “we accept your terms, I personally believe the assassination had nothing to do with you, it’s a conspiracy intended to spark conflict between both parties.”
The high ranked officials agreed in silence, Black Phantom was even stronger than the rumors said he was, he defeated the strongest people in the headquarters without even using his sniping style which he was known for. These people were not weak, but
they paled in comparison to Black Phantom, they were not on the same level.
The backup finally arrived at this time, Xiao Jin immediately ordered the soldiers to keep their weapons, showing sincerity on their side.
Seeing so, Han Xiao kept his weapons too and walked towards where he resided in, the nervous crowd split up and opened a path.
Xiao Jin gave Lagos a faint look, then turned his head and ordered, “clean the scene up.”
Lagos was filled with fury, one of the high ranked officials from the Home Faction helped him to get up but was pushed away instantly.
“He could’ve killed us, but he insisted he’s not the killer, should be trustworthy.” Se Qi whispered.
“Naive!” Lagos said coldly, “if he kills us, all of Alumera will become enemy with the Dark Net till the very end, he’s doing this so we won’t suspect him!”
…
Having returned to Han Xiao’s residence, the interface showed a notification.
[You have triggered an urgent mission[The Real Killer]]
[Mission Introduction: You are framed and dragged into a conspiracy, becoming a chess piece used by the people behind this.]
[Mission Requirement/s: Confirm the real killer and accomplish the mission, you have only one chance.]
Reward/s: Random ability or talent x 1]
Han Xiao’s eyes twinkled, “it’s a puzzle type mission, with only one chance.”
There were many types of missions, the puzzle type was rather common, some required the players to collect clues like a detective, sometimes the clue would be provided, but it was all rather vague, the final decision was to be made by the players.
There was no notification after quite a long wait, Han Xiao guessed this mission belonged to the latter type of puzzle mission, with Alumera’s suspicion towards him, he probably would not be able to find out any clue.
“It’s best to wait and see.” Han Xiao thought.
At the same time, Bamboo Rain Guild triggered a different mission.
“[A Shocking Change in Alumera]: The leader of Alumera was murdered, Black Phantom who came to visit out of nowhere became the biggest suspect, but he claimed to not be the killer and suppressed objections with his raw strength. Alumera might seem to have submitted, but some factions still strongly believed Black Phantom is the killer, what information is hidden within?”
“There are five stands you can take on: Black Phantom, Home Faction, Xiao Faction, Red Island Faction and the Northern Faction, changes cannot be made after choosing.”
“Reward/s: Rewards will be given based on different stands and contribution, the basic reward is 50,000 experience points!”
Bamboo Rain Fly exclaimed in shock. “at least 50 thousand experience points!”
50 thousand experience points were an extremely large amount for them, there really always were benefits wherever Black Phantom went.
“What position will you guys be choosing?”
“Black Phantom for me.”
“Me too.”
Everyone agreed, they didn’t know Alumera very well, and Han Xiao just defeated all of Alumera’s military power, it was obvious following Han Xiao would be the most reliable.
Players of Bamboo Rain Guild approached Han Xiao and expressed their willingness to help.
Han Xiao was surprised, he thought about it and guessed that these players probably received different missions, with a different identity, the mission requirements that were triggered would be different as well. Usually, in an area where something happened, missions would be triggered.
“Follow me then.”
…
In a corner somewhere, two people were talking to each other.”
“The conflict did not happen, our man died for nothing.”
“The intelligence said Black Phantom was a serial murderer, but he held back this time, what a misstep.”
“Luckily the clues have been destroyed, as long as the truth cannot be found, Black Phantom would still be the biggest suspect.”
…
Next day, the Home Faction hosted a simple funeral for Delo, the atmosphere within Alumera became more and tenser in the next few days. Everyone seemed busy, when they looked at each other, their eyes were filled with unknown emotions.
However, Han Xiao had become almost invisible, it was like all the factions forgot he was even here, no one approached him except for the full 24 hours of surveillance.
After chasing the players of Bamboo Rain Guild away to seek information, Han Xiao stayed in the room with a calm mind, he had expected this to happen.
He was an outsider, and the biggest suspect, but Alumera didn’t have the confidence to deal with him so they could only leave him alone. Even if Han Xiao wanted to look for clues, none of the faction would give him any, all he could do was wait.
But the wait was not meaningless, the factions had started their own investigation and plans.
Han Xiao was thinking, Delo died very coincidentally, what good would it do to frame him for killing Delo? Firstly, creating hatred between Alumera and Dark Net would only benefit the third party.
Secondly, there were other motives for killing Delo, and he was just used as a very good excuse since with his strength and identity, it was easy to frame. If the real killer framed him to hide, then his identity would most likely be a party that would benefit from this — which has the highest possibility to be other factions other than the Home Faction.
Han Xiao remembered that the internal conflict within Alumera was very serious, killing Delo could very likely be an act to seize power within the family, then framing him to be the biggest suspect.
But going back to the first possibility, the real killer would still be the third party, which also made sense in the second possibility — creating conflict between the Home Faction and other factions, leading to Alumera collapsing internally.
“Sigh, I don’t want to think anymore.” Han Xiao rubbed his eyebrows.
Anyway, it didn’t matter who the real killer was, he stood undefeatable, as long as he doesn’t make any move, only the real killer would become more and more stressed. There was no way this mission would be a long term one, the impact of Delo dying would surface in a very short time, and by then, there would definitely be someone who would unintentionally leave some clues.
…
In one mansion, the high ranked officials of the Home Faction gathered, the atmosphere was intense.
“Leader has died, who is going to be in charge now?” A tall and muscular man said, he is Delo’s younger brother, Todd.
“Me,” Lagos said coldly.
Todd forced a fake smile and said, “Lagos, I don’t think that is suitable.”
“What do you mean?” Lagos frowned and said.
“You should call me uncle.” Todd said in a more serious tone, “the lead—my older brother passed away, we are all family here, I should be the one in charge according to precedence.”
“Humph, only a few days since father has died, and you’re already seizing power, aren’t you too impatient?”
Lagos said in a mocking tone, “don’t blame me for not warning you but, without father’s suppression, Xiao Jin, Se Qi and others are all making their plans, the position of the leader is now vacant, who knows what they will do. They may look like they were filled with sadness and regret during the funeral, but they were probably laughing uncontrollably in their hearts.”
Todd laughed sneered and said, “don’t say it like that, I was worried you’d make mistakes because you’re inexperienced, but since you think you can do it, uncle shall not compete with you. Now tell us, what do you plan to do next?”
Lagos grunted and ignored Todd’s tone, “our top priority now is to find out who killed father,” he said.
Todd frowned, he felt the priority should be suppressing the ambitions of other factions and regain control of Alumera, but it was inappropriate to express such feelings in front of the high ranked officials of Home Faction, therefore he follow
ed with the topic and asked, “any clues?”
Lagos said coldly, “Black Phantom is the most suspicious, nothing he says can be trusted, I have already informed some people to contact the strongest killers and mercenaries, once they arrive, we won’t have to be afraid anymore, we will just capture Black Phantom and interrogate him. I have spent a large sum this time, the people who are coming are all famously strong!”
“Maybe it really wasn’t Black Phantom.” Someone whispered.
Lagos stared over and said coldly, “then it has to be Xiao Jin, that asshole is very ambitious, he has been under father for so many years and he’s definitely not satisfied with it. Right, I heard Black Phantom stayed in Xiao Jin’s mansion the night the assassination happened, maybe Xiao Jin hired Black Phantom with a huge sum to assassinate father, then put on a show together to fool the others.”
Everyone was shocked.
Chapter 208. The Real Killer (Three) |
“If Xiao Jin really worked together with Black Phantom, then the situation is very bad. It would mean he controls a very strong force, he could even seize power with raw strength.” Someone said.
Todd shook his head and said, “they won’t dare to, if something happens in the headquarters and high ranked officials of all the factions are slaughtered, our men in other places would revenge the enemy till their death, Xiao Jin is not stupid. Also Black Phantom is an outsider, and according to the rules, an outsider cannot interfere with our internal changes.
Lagos sneered and said, “foolish, how would you know Xiao Jin didn’t find a better place to go? Is there no organization behind him? His heart might not even belong to Alumera anymore!”
…
With his eyes closed, Xiao Jin asked, “what’s happening in the Home Faction?”
“Lagos is in charge of everything now, they are currently investigating Delo’s death but has yet to make any progress. By the way, Delo’s mansion was destroyed by Black Phantom during the battle, and so were the clues.”