Chapter 1741: Chapter Fifty: Seize Him

Su Xiao left the warehouse, taking Xiang Bubu, Amu, and dozens of Awakened toward the Execution Agency headquarters; he only found one eye chamber at various locations, which was already a good gain.

When Su Xiao returned to the Execution Agency office, Mrs. Nancy's corpse had already been removed, the bloodstains on the floor cleaned, leaving only bullet holes on the desk.

Not long after Su Xiao returned to the Execution Agency, Hank sent word: no gains, not even an eye chamber, let alone a single ghost.

Half an hour later, Reinhardt sent word: he had found an eye chamber in the hospital basement and asked Su Xiao whether to directly notify the Council Palace.

The follow-up handling of the eye chamber was left to that red-haired man; Su Xiao did not know how he dealt with it, Harold said nothing, and Su Xiao had no interest in knowing; based on his guess, this should be a side quest, even a hidden one.

Right now, the Ghost Ring organization, sin, Mr. J, and others were enough to keep Su Xiao busy; if he got involved in side or hidden quests, things would worsen, and his wounds had not yet healed.

"Tell Reinhardt to notify the Council Palace of the eye chamber's location, but it must be Harold's direct unit."

"Yes."

The Awakened who came to report hurriedly left; a few minutes later, Su Xiao received two messages from the Reincarnation Paradise.

【The Hunter has informed Monarch Harold of the eye chamber (10, 14) location; you have gained 6% of the World Source.】

【Promotion Task: Sixteen Eye Chambers, completed (7/16); the Hunter may complete this task with medium evaluation, yes/no completion.】

Closing the Reincarnation Paradise prompts, Su Xiao waited in the office for Gus's news.

The midnight office was quiet; as time passed, about half an hour later, Su Xiao stood up from the sofa.

Gus's side still had no word; Hank and Reinhardt had not returned to the Execution Agency headquarters; after some time cooperating, these three had developed mutual understanding and would likely reinforce each other.

Dong, dong, dong.

The knocking sound came; Hank pushed the door open and entered the room, his expression not looking good.

"My lord, Gus is missing."

"Missing?"

Su Xiao's eyes showed doubt; even if Gus died in battle, he would not be too surprised, for the Execution Agency was such a place, this being the department that fought ghosts.

"Yes, my lord, no corpse found, the scene had battle traces; according to Gus's subordinates' description, they encountered a small squad of ghosts, the battle went fairly smoothly, cleaning the battlefield showed nothing abnormal, preparing to return, Gus's orderly discovered he was missing."

Hank's expression showed little change; over his years of service, he had endured countless comrades' battle deaths and disappearances.

"Search, must find the corpse, and must find the Spore Gate; if that thing remains long without contacting a host, it will turn plant-like and assimilate nearby brightness."

"Yes, my lord."

Old Hank was just about to leave the office when Reinhardt walked in.

"My lord, Gus has been found."

"Where."

"At his home; current situation, there is…… abnormal."

"Go, bring 300 Awakened, no, 500 people."

Su Xiao donned his long leather coat, stepped toward the office door; downstairs in the courtyard, Awakened had long been waiting, they were not as orderly as an army, after all, Awakened mostly fought in squads.

Su Xiao led people away from the Execution Agency; fortunately it was midnight, otherwise it would disturb nearby civilians; after all, most Awakened did not look like good people.

Half a kilometer from the Execution Agency headquarters, Gululu sat atop a bell tower, his small legs swinging, still holding a telescope.

"Damn, should I bring this little brother, the legion commander is awesome."

Originally intending to extort a sum, Gululu felt somewhat gloomy; Su Xiao's mission was the eye chamber, most contractors in Zul City knew this; they were not blind, Awakened searching for eye chambers daily in the city were too conspicuous.

"Forget it, sell the eye chamber to the other side; their offer is not low either."

After a few leaps, Gululu vanished into the night.

……

After Su Xiao led people through over ten districts, he finally reached Gus's house; this place was almost out of the city; Gus, though an Awakened, had no habit of saving money, a typical moonlight clan, so he still lived in his home in the old city.

Gus's house was a detached two-story civilian residence, assigned after one year of service to the Execution Agency; behind was a civilian cemetery, left was a river, right was a large livestock breeding area; though the environment was not good, it was far from civilian residences, to avoid Gus's awakening level becoming too high and causing a rampage.

At Gus's front door, Old Hank stepped forward to knock; he had the closest private relationship with Gus.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The door frame trembled slightly; if Hank knocked harder, the wooden door would be shattered by him.

"Gus, stop playing dead; I know you're inside, dereliction of duty……"

Hank's words trailed off mid-sentence, possibly feeling it inappropriate.

"Break the door."

Su Xiao's voice came from outside; Hank stepped back two steps, preparing to kick the door.

Inside the civilian residence's living room, pitch black; Gus sitting on the floor trembled.

"My lord has come? Eh? Who is my lord? Ku, ku, lin? Who is this?"

After a moment of silence in the darkness, Gus suddenly spoke.

Outside the door, Hank was about to kick when Gus's voice came from inside.

"Hank, I am tired; I encountered enemies earlier, I am severely injured; I have already sent people to notify Reinhardt; did he not relay it to you?"

Gus's weak voice came from inside; Hank, about to kick, stopped, looking at Su Xiao with a questioning gaze.

Su Xiao said nothing, merely gestured; the Awakened behind him dispersed, gradually surrounding the two-story civilian residence.

"You go back first; I should be fine after a sleep; the Spore Gate can speed injury recovery, and my current condition is not good, likely to be stimulated, resulting in what you know, so let me rest tonight; tomorrow, tomorrow I will definitely report to headquarters; once I have ten thousand gold lei, I will definitely get ten, no, fifty women, hahaha."

Gus's voice was close; he stood at the doorway; Old Hank showed contempt for Gus's words; based on his understanding, Gus, with scars all over his face, had never even touched a woman's small hand.

"Come out."

Su Xiao, eyelids lowered, spoke; hearing his voice, Gus inside lowered his head.

"My lord, I, I will recover soon, definitely can, uh, definitely can, believe me, do you not believe me anymore? I am Gus, you personally selected me, Gus; give me ten hours, no, five hours."

As Gus's words fell, Su Xiao stepped forward a few steps, pah-lah one kick shattered the door; behind the door, Gus whooshed aside.

Passing through the doorway, Su Xiao saw Gus in the darkness; at this moment Gus retained human form, but his body was covered in fine black scales, a lizard-like long tail dragging behind.

"My lord, I…… accidentally became like this."

In the darkness, Gus grinned, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"How many?"

Su Xiao extended two fingers.

"Huh?"

Gus stared at Su Xiao in bewilderment, then stepped back two paces.

"Answer within three seconds, or today will be your memorial day."

"Two, it's two."

Gus's hand trembled slightly; he seemed to be resisting something.

Hearing Gus's answer, Su Xiao plucked a bunch of keys from the wall beside the porch.

"These are keys."

Gus blurted out, his despairing gaze seeming to say: "Officer, though I've become a monster, I'm not an idiot."

"Woof."

Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang barked, staring at Gus in astonishment, thinking: "This kid's so scared he's blurting out answers."

"He hasn't lost self-awareness, but he's indeed demonized."

Su Xiao furrowed his brow; according to his knowledge, awakened ones who demonize should lose self-awareness, thereby birthing a new demon persona.

Gus's condition is clearly special—he seems half-demonized, since demons are half-energy, half-physical beings.

"Seize him."

As Su Xiao's words fell, the wall behind him shattered, and a large horde of wolf-like, tiger-like awakened ones stormed into the residence.

"I don't want to be sliced up for research!!"

Gus roared angrily, then was surrounded.

The residence was quickly razed to the ground—316 awakened ones versus Gus, in under twenty seconds, Gus was bound with over a dozen loops of arm-thick iron chains, his blood-maw stuffed with sweaters, socks, and the like.

"Wuu! Wuu!"

The despairing Gus was carried off; Su Xiao glanced at him—clearly, this unfortunate child needs treatment, and whether it succeeds is left to fate, with over a 50% chance of failure; even if successful, Gus at best remains conscious, but restoring his humanity is utterly impossible.

If Gus were given a choice between accepting Su Xiao's treatment or dying here, he might well choose the latter.