Chapter 175

Thud!

A loud crash echoed, and Su Xiao suddenly sat up from his light sleep.

He quickly rose and rushed to the window; outside, the sky was darkening, and several bonfires had been lit in the town—the earlier crash was the Military Police reinforcing the boulder before the cave entrance.

Su Xiao exhaled in relief and sat back on the bed, beginning to inspect his injuries.

His main wounds were on his lower abdomen and chest, both pierced by a sniper bullet and a thrusting sword respectively; fortunately, his stamina was 12 points, or such injuries would have pushed him into critical condition.

Now, both wounds had largely healed; new muscle tissue could be seen inside the scars—this 【C-type Field Injector】 was truly a green-grade recovery item, having restored most of his injuries in less than five hours.

Even the patch of skin and flesh severed from his shoulder had grown a thin membrane of new tissue, and would fully heal within two days.

Su Xiao found an oil lamp in the dim room and lit it; there was no such thing as electricity in the world inside the wall.

After igniting, the lamp spread a strange odor through the room; the flame inside the glass cover flickered, and the oil was nearly gone.

The room was bathed in dim yellow light—coarse wooden furniture, exposed stones visible on the walls, and packed, damp earth beneath his feet; life inside the wall was harsh.

Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the bed and pulled out suturing needles, a scalpel, bandages, medical alcohol, and other items from his storage space.

He first disinfected the scalpel and suturing needles with medical alcohol.

Su Xiao pressed his fingers against his bare torso and soon felt foreign objects embedded in the muscle—the bullets fired into him earlier.

Since the wounds had healed, these bullets had been left inside.

Su Xiao took a deep breath; being wounded in battle and now removing bullets were two entirely different things. During combat, you had no time to prepare—you simply endured a numb, painful sensation and pushed through.

It was like two men fighting: you didn't feel much pain during the fight, but when tending to the wounds afterward, you screamed like a demon.

During battle, the body secretes adrenaline, which heightens excitement and temporarily dulls pain.

He cut open the wound with the scalpel and probed inside with forceps.

Su Xiao's vision darkened in waves—this sensation was truly excruciating.

Plop.

A blood-smeared orange-yellow bullet lay on the wooden table beside him; he still had six bullets inside his body.

Although keeping a few bullets inside as trophies sounded impressive, it was an idiotic move; once wrapped in muscle, bullets made that tissue far more prone to tearing—combat was part of Su Xiao's daily life, so he had to remove them as soon as possible.

Half an hour later, Su Xiao leaned against the headboard, drenched in cold sweat; all bullets had been extracted, the wounds sutured and bandaged, his bare torso nearly wrapped entirely in bandages.

"Next time, I'll kill every one of those gunners."

After calming his breathing, Su Xiao opened his quest list via his mark; the Cycle Paradise had previously notified him that the "Return Qualification" quest had been released, but he'd had no time to check.

【Main Quest: Source of the World.】

Difficulty Level: Lv. 5

Quest Brief: Obtain over 15% of the Source of the World.

Quest Info: Any means may be used to acquire the Source of the World.

Quest Deadline: 16 natural days.

Quest Reward: Return Qualification

Quest Penalty: Forced Execution.

…

The Return Quest for the Titan World appeared very early—much earlier than the Ghoul World's.

Su Xiao had a vague feeling that the previous "Defense and Assault" quest was the Cycle Paradise's way of acclimating them to such missions; during the "Defense and Assault" quest, the Cycle Paradise had pushed Contracted Ones to cooperate.

You couldn't obtain the Source of the World without completing the "Defense and Assault" quest.

This was Su Xiao's first time experiencing such a large-scale mission—hundreds of Contracted Ones involved, with generous rewards.

…

Outside the wall, in a desolate wasteland.

The women of the Amanojaku huddled together; the cheerful atmosphere was gone, each face filled with sorrow.

Beside them stood a tent, from which people constantly entered and exited—all the Contracted Ones coming and going wore medical gloves stained with blood.

"Candy, how's the boss?"

The sly woman's eyes were exhausted; she felt utterly defeated—her team of over fifty had nearly been wiped out by a single person. How absurd was that?

"The boss's condition has stabilized. Though she nearly died, her only fatal wound was one—Rose's injuries are the real problem."

The sly woman rose and hurried into the tent; as soon as she entered, she was hit by a thick stench of blood.

Lengyue lay pale on a wool blanket, appearing to sleep deeply—she was actually in deep unconsciousness.

"Morphine. Give me another morphine injection."

A hoarse voice came from the tent—it was Blood Rose. Seeing Blood Rose's current state, the sly woman felt her throat dry and her bladder tighten.

Blood Rose pressed one hand against her throat; the wound there had healed somewhat, but she was still slowly bleeding.

Because one arm had been severed and a chunk of her chin cut off, Blood Rose was now wrapped like a dumpling.

Just one slash—and the damage was this severe. The sly woman silently prayed she'd never encounter that monster again.

"What about the recovery drugs? We bought twenty thousand Paradise Coins worth before entering the derivative world."

The sly woman's question made the Bee lower her head; the Bee, as the sniper, had suffered no injuries.

Hugging her sniper rifle, the Bee sighed.

"All the drugs went to the boss—barely kept her alive. The boss's internal energy is so violent it rejects external medicine."

"What? Then what about Rose?"

"That's exactly what Rose insisted on—she refused to use any of it herself."

The Bee glanced at Blood Rose, her eyes filled with admiration.

"Rose, my mana has recovered—I'll heal your wounds now."

Candy's eyes welled with tears.

"First… heal… the boss… I… won't die… yet."

Blood Rose, though in agony and nearly losing consciousness, remained resolute.

"It's fine—the boss's condition is stable."

As she spoke, a emerald glow appeared in Candy's hands—this glow pulsed with vitality.

Candy's eyes turned emerald—this was her strongest healing skill.

Blood Rose's wounds healed at a visible rate; her fair chin regrew, but her severed arm did not regenerate.

"Phew… thought I'd lose a kidney for good."

Blood Rose's words made Candy's face twitch—wasn't the throat wound more urgent?

"How's the boss doing?"

"Her physical injuries have healed, but she hasn't woken up."

"I see."

Blood Rose placed her hand on Lengyue's pale cheek and sighed deeply.

"I'll kill that bastard—absolutely."

A cold voice came from the Bee.

"Is that so? The difficulty is high."

Blood Rose's tone was calm—this surprised Candy and the sly woman.

"Rose, don't you hate that knife-wielder?"

Candy asked timidly.

"Of course I hate him! He killed so many of us. But he's just an enemy. Do you remember what happens to female Contracted Ones after defeat?"

Blood Rose's words turned Candy pale; female Contracted Ones who lost were subjected to inhuman humiliation before being killed—especially women as beautiful as the Amanojaku.

"To me, he's simply an enemy, a foe. Though terrifyingly strong, I hate him—but compared to other male Contracted Ones, I'd rather fight someone like him. He only kills us; he doesn't humiliate us."

Also, his name is Bai Ye."

Blood Rose was a woman, but she was a warrior—an unyielding warrior. She could die, but she would never endure humiliation.

"I hope we never meet that knife-wielder again. The way he looked at me… reminded me of when I was outside the Cycle Paradise, once encountering a male lion in the wild."

If Candy made a list of people she feared, Su Xiao would be at the top, followed by the revolver man.

Although the Amanojaku escaped this time, they were still in the Titan World—there remained a chance they'd meet Su Xiao again.

If they met again, the Amanojaku would be wiped out in an instant; forming a team took long, but annihilation took but a moment.

…

Inside a civilian house within the wall, Su Xiao held a blue treasure chest—this chest would definitely yield a blue-rank item.

Su Xiao took a deep breath; he was eager for this chest. A blue-rank weapon was extremely valuable—he'd owned only one blue-rank item so far: Dragon Flash.

Though it could yield a blue-rank item, the rating wasn't guaranteed—it could range from 31 to 70. If it came out at 31, he'd get a chief; if it came out at 70, he'd strike it rich.

"Must be 70. No, 60 will do. If not, 50 is fine."

The chest slowly opened; a blue glow emerged.

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