Chapter 1744: Miscalculation

Execution Agency headquarters, main entrance.

Four Awakened stood guard on both sides of the main gate. After the incident in Zuer City, over 90% of the Awakened in the Execution Agency had rushed to the scene, leaving only essential personnel to guard the headquarters.

"I really want to go over there with the commander."

A bearded Awakened looked up at the high sky in the distance, where a black pillar of light shot straight into the sky.

"Forget it, we just need to guard 'home'."

Another young man, thin and gaunt with a cigarette in his mouth, spoke. He looked somewhat lazy.

"Hey, isn't that... Commander?"

"How is that possible? The Commander must be at the black pillar right now. Uh, it really seems to be him. Hey, stand straight."

The four Awakened stood straight; some crushed the cigarettes in their hands, others straightened their collars.

"Su Xiao" walked quickly to the main entrance of the Execution Agency. Just as he was about to enter, the gaunt Awakened blocked his path.

"My lord, what is this?"

The gaunt Awakened was somewhat suspicious. Out of caution, he did not let him pass immediately, even if this might lead to offending his direct superior.

"You want to know?"

"Su Xiao" habitually placed his hand on the hilt of the blade at his waist. Seeing this habitual action, the gaunt Awakened quickly smiled and shook his head.

"No, no, my lord. If there is an emergency, should we..."

"You guard the headquarters; do not leave here under any circumstances."

"Understood!"

"Su Xiao" stepped into the Execution Agency headquarters. After entering the lobby on the first floor, he went up the stairs from the front all the way to the fifth floor. Just as he reached the corner, he stopped and leaned against the wall.

The corridor behind the corner was guarded by at least dozens of Awakened. Seeing this, "Su Xiao" pulled a playing card from his bosom; it was the Joker from the 54-card deck.

The light and shadow on "Su Xiao's" face distorted, as if suffering from signal interference. A few seconds later, his appearance changed. This was not Su Xiao at all, but Sin, dressed exactly like Su Xiao.

Sin threw the playing card in his hand, his movements not skillful, far from as graceful as Mr. J's.

Bang~

Like a flashbang exploding, white light quickly spread through the fifth-floor corridor. Wherever it passed, the color of everything dimmed slightly.

The white light also swept over Sin. He tried to move forward, but the surrounding air felt viscous, making him feel as if he were inside amber.

Sin knew he had less than 30 seconds; if the enemy was too strong, the time would be even shorter.

Walking into the corridor almost filled with Awakened, a white-green energy spear formed in Sin's hand—it was Death Penalty: Twilight. Green spear light flickered, and blood slowly splashed in mid-air. In less than 10 seconds, dozens of Awakened died at Sin's hands. The corridor was littered with corpses; these Awakened were not completely unable to move, but their movements had been slowed down dozens of times.

Sin pushed open Madam Nancy's office door and headed straight for a wall. Triggering the mechanism behind the bookshelf, the wall slowly opened, revealing a metal elevator.

Sin searched inside the elevator for a moment before finding the activation lever in the upper right corner.

Click-clack...

The elevator slowly descended. Sin let out a long sigh of relief; his plan was nearing success, but he also felt some guilt in his heart.

At the same time, at the main entrance of the Execution Agency headquarters, after a rapid sound of wind breaking, a figure swooped down from afar.

Boom!

Gravel splashed. The four Awakened by the gate quickly stood in a row, ignoring the stone debris flying toward them.

"My, my lord?"

The gaunt Awakened looked at Su Xiao with a face full of surprise. Seeing his expression, Su Xiao stepped forward.

"Speak."

"Yes, my lord. Didn't you already return to headquarters two minutes ago?"

"Is that so."

Su Xiao looked up at the fifth floor of the Execution Agency headquarters, where Madam Nancy's office was. The insurance he and Harold had set up earlier seemed to be taking effect. That wasn't something planned for a long time, but rather something set up temporarily out of caution.

In front of the metal door in the headquarters basement, Sin had just stepped out of the elevator when he pulled three metal keys from his bosom. With little time left, he had to hurry.

The three keys were inserted into the lock of the metal door.

Click~

The metal door slowly opened. Sin was clearly stunned for a moment; he hadn't seen the three keys turn, yet the metal door in front of him had actually opened.

Hesitating for a moment, Sin gripped each side of the metal door with his hands. After a harsh grinding sound, the gap in the metal door was wide enough for a person to pass through. Inside the door gap, it was pitch black.

Snap~

The lights in the basement suddenly turned on. After seeing the scene before him, Sin's pupils contracted rapidly.

The walls of the entire basement were metal structures, long and narrow, with a row of shelves on each side, on which were placed various "artifacts" or weapons of unknown function. At the very back of the basement stood metal pillars as thick as buckets.

At this moment, between the two rows of shelves, a dozen old men were standing or sitting. These people looked lifeless, and they were holding various weapons or "artifacts." These were the relics stored in the basement.

The two sides stared at each other. Sin grinned, swept his energy spear horizontally, and lunged at the dozen old men. These were all Awakened, not people from the Execution Agency; their department was called the Imperial Asylum.

On the fifth floor of the Execution Agency, Su Xiao entered Madam Nancy's office. When he saw that the secret door on the wall had already been opened, he knew what Sin's ultimate goal was: the Execution Agency's basement. And Madam Nancy's office was the only passage to the basement; forcibly breaking into the basement from the first floor was almost impossible.

Glancing at the broken steel cable, Su Xiao leaped into the shaft. Boom, a shaking sensation came from beneath his feet; he had stepped onto the elevator.

Drawing his blade to cut open the top of the elevator, Su Xiao peered downward. The metal door to the basement had already been opened, and blood splashes could still be seen on the door.

Leaping down from above the elevator, Su Xiao walked into the basement. There were dozens of corpse remains on the ground, and two energy spears were stuck in the ceiling.

An old man with sparse hair leaned against a metal shelf, clearly not long for this world. He pointed to the metal pillars at the back of the basement; two of the bucket-thick metal pillars had been corroded.

Su Xiao's gaze swept around. Not many relics in the basement had been lost, and there hadn't been much destruction either. Clearly, Sin had come to save someone—no, to save a certain Ghoul.

Entering the depths of the basement from between the damaged metal pillars, a strange odor filled the air. On both sides were pitch-black prison cells. Some cells still had faint signs of life, while others contained only a few incomplete white bones.

"Kill me..."

A weak voice came from one of the cells. Su Xiao ignored the voice and walked deeper.

In front of the two cells at the very back, the metal bars of one had been heavily corroded, while the other remained intact.

"It seems his target wasn't you, Kess Lecock."

Su Xiao knocked on the metal bars. In the dark cell, fifteen eyes opened simultaneously. Imprisoned inside was actually a fifteen-eyed Ghoul.

"I, do not have, Fadir's, good luck."

The fifteen-eyed Ghoul in the cell spoke. Its voice was very weak; after all, after eating its cellmate next door, it had been hungry for over a decade. If it weren't for the fifteen-eyed Ghoul being too powerful, plus being able to eat itself, it would have starved to death long ago.

The Execution Agency's basement not only stored relics but also imprisoned many powerful Ghouls. Even so, Su Xiao had never thought anyone would come here to snatch someone.

The Ghouls imprisoned here, even if they had the chance to get out, could not recover their former strength. Take Kess Lecock, this fifteen-eyed Ghoul, for example; even if it could escape from here and recuperate for a period of time, it would be a stroke of luck if it could recover to the strength of a six-eyed or seven-eyed Ghoul.

Compared to the danger level, the classified documents stored deeper inside were actually more important. The purpose of these cells was to let some heinous Ghouls die slowly.

As for Fadir, whom Sin had rescued, that was a Ghoul who had received "special care." Even if it recuperated for a few years, being able to walk normally would mean it had recovered quite well.

Sin's plan had indeed exceeded Su Xiao and Harold's expectations because the other party's goal was too simple, and the destruction caused was too small. The two had originally thought Sin wanted to overthrow the Empire's power system. After digging out Madam Nancy, Su Xiao had thought Sin wanted to use the Eye Chambers to eliminate Harold and cause at least hundreds of thousands of deaths in Zuer City.

And now, Sin had only rescued a Ghoul—a dying Ghoul. He hadn't summoned an Evil God, nor had he targeted Harold. Even if he had destroyed a large number of relics, it would have been understandable, but Sin hadn't done that either.

"What kind of... bullshit plan is this."

Su Xiao couldn't help but curse. In his cognition, if Sin were compared to a fierce bandit, the other party's target should be a bank, a vault, or similar places. Yet the result was that Sin rushed into an antique shop, hugged a spittoon, and ran away without looking back. Dealing with such a Sin, both Su Xiao and Harold had miscalculated.

D·Assassination appeared in Su Xiao's hand, the muzzle aimed at the fifteen-eyed Ghoul in the cell. This was an unexpected gain. Even if it were a "tiger" about to starve to death, killing it would still allow him to peel off the "tiger skin."

PS: (Two chapters today. I originally wrote three, but when writing the third, my state wasn't good, I was very sleepy, and I wasn't satisfied, so I deleted it and didn't post it.) ===== CHAPTER 1745 =====