Chapter 3088

Walking through the town's streets, the cries of anguish from buildings on either side reached Su Xiao's ears—this town was doomed, with only two possible outcomes: either the residents would all die and the place become abandoned, or new residents would arrive and gradually restore its vitality.

What happens afterward has nothing to do with Su Xiao; he came here merely to deal with a dangerous object.

Dong—, dong dong.

The knocking sound came, Su Xiao ignored it, and soon a weak voice reached his ears.

"Ding dong, ding dong, did you hear the sound of dripping water? Did you hear the sound of the sea? Water spreads in the brain, hehehehe, the bell's sound vanished, leaving only the sea's sound—that's the bell on the mermaid's hand, and the mermaid's weeping and singing, water in the brain, ding dong, ding dong..."

Su Xiao stopped, came to the door emitting the sound, pushed it open, and saw a figure seated on a wooden chair come into view.

Judging by her attire, she was a female resident of the town; her abdomen had been cut open, the skin on both sides sagging loosely downward, as if she had once been pregnant.

The female resident's skull was enormous, her features gone, the entire head resembling a swollen mass of rotting flesh, with blood seeping from within.

"Bah, go fetch that little thing."

Su Xiao guessed he might have drawn the jackpot this time; during the luck attribute check earlier, poor fortune had prevented him from passing, but now it seemed coming to Dongquan Town was drawing the jackpot, and naturally his luck wouldn't stay high afterward—though these were merely his guesses, he had a way to confirm them.

Soon, the little boy was brought over, looking indignant; he thought Su Xiao regretted his decision and wanted to quietly kill him.

"Is this your mother?"

"Ah?"

The little boy was puzzled; he stepped forward, sniffed, and repeatedly nodded at Su Xiao, meaning this was indeed his mother.

This information led Su Xiao to consider a possibility: the town's female resident, under the erosion of the Bell Maiden and the Calamity Bell, had become pregnant for unknown reasons and given birth to this special boy who could eat vengeful spirits; the Bell Maiden discovered this, took the infant boy, and had been raising him in the inn ever since.

The Calamity Bell likely appeared about four years ago; this boy looks to be seven or eight years old—one can only say, eating vengeful spirits makes one grow fast.

Su Xiao snapped his fingers twice beside the female resident's ear and asked: "What do you want to say?"

"Ding dong, ding dong, water flows in the brain, mermaid, beautiful mermaid, don't cry anymore, sing for me to hear, ah yi~"

The female resident hummed something from her mouth, the message fragmented, but for Su Xiao, it was enough; having often executed tasks in the Reincarnation Paradise, organizing such fragmented information was merely routine.

First, this matter is related to the Alliance; two days ago, the Alliance announced a halt to all maritime trade—fishing and seaside tourism industries were completely stopped.

Before issuing this decree, the Alliance had a senator whose claw had stretched too long, and Su Xiao slapped him to death—this was a trap designed by someone, aiming to detain him and his subordinates' 'Mechanism' so he couldn't participate in a certain later event.

Many signs indicate the orchestrator of Su Xiao's imprisonment is the leader of the Eclipse Organization, Kinsley; Kinsley is collaborating with the Alliance, and both sides wish to obtain a dangerous object at sea; Su Xiao's subordinates' 'Mechanism' is the greatest obstacle to the Alliance and Kinsley, as well as a source of risk in their operations.

Not long after Su Xiao was imprisoned here, the Alliance banned maritime trade, forbidding any vessel from going to sea.

Besides this news, Su Xiao saw in the corner of the Thorn Flower Daily that a few days earlier, fishermen at sea had heard women's weeping coming from underwater.

Just now, a sentence from the town's female resident struck Su Xiao as significant: "The bell's sound vanished, leaving only the sea's sound—that's the bell on the mermaid's hand, and the mermaid's weeping and singing."

If we dare to guess: could the Misfortune Bell be the bell in the mermaid's hand? Even bolder: is the mermaid herself a more powerful dangerous object?

That is to say, the Alliance and Kinsley wish to capture at sea a dangerous object known as the mermaid.

Overall, the Calamity Bell is water-attributed; don't forget, whether it's the Bell Maiden who holds the Calamity Bell, or the Thousand-Grandmother Vengeful Spirit, or the red-clad female ghost—all are female; it seems the Calamity Bell can only be used by women, and those most affected by it are also women.

Mermaids are naturally female, and she in the sea also possesses strong water attributes; combining this with the traits of the Calamity Bell, the two dangerous objects may be in a superior-inferior relationship, with the dangerous object·mermaid being the superior to the dangerous object·Calamity Bell, and also its former possessor.

What relation does the boy nurtured by the Calamity Bell have with the dangerous object·mermaid? Son of the mermaid? Su Xiao feels this possibility is unlikely, but one point stands out: in the Red Pool Inn, only the little boy is male, while all other lodgers are female.

"You've schemed against me, Kinsley."

Su Xiao muttered under his breath, hand resting on his sword hilt, recalling that on the way here, the Child of the World (false)—that is, the white-haired youth—had smashed down onto his carriage.

Now it seems that Child of the World (false) was cultivated by Kinsley; that encounter was also Kinsley deliberately guiding the silver-haired youth there, for the person riding the dangerous object·Mechanical Great Bird intentionally flung the youth down, smashing him onto the carriage roof.

This all seems like a far-fetched guess, but if the 'Mechanism' had Kinsley's informant who learned Su Xiao was coming to Dongquan Town, then Kinsley set all this up, and the silver-haired youth, unaware, would have set coordinates or the like.

Black-blue smoke rose from Su Xiao's body, enveloping him entirely; his vision turned black and white; he looked at Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang, Am, and Bah—all showed no abnormality; his gaze shifted to Liechao, and at the latter's collar, a color beyond black and white appeared—a gold-red circular mark.

Su Xiao appeared before Liechao, grabbed his collar, and jerked him hard.

"You've indeed revealed your nature—don't even dream of it."

Liechao was furious; just as she prepared to counterattack, she realized there was no 'then'.

Hiss~

Gold-red smoke rose from the cloth on Su Xiao's hand; seeing this, Liechao's expression turned cold, and she said:

"How could I make such a mistake? You go first, I'll cover the rear—I'm being tracked, this mistake is mine to bear."

Liechao drew her Source Bow; though she held a poor impression of Su Xiao, she never shirks responsibility.

"Indeed... the legion commander of the Mechanism."

A figure stepped out from a narrow path between buildings, his face studded with steel nails, only the nail heads visible; on his right hand he wore a ring coiled like a small snake—a dangerous object.

Fighting with dangerous objects—this style couldn't be wrong; he is a member of the Eclipse Organization, that is, Kinsley's subordinate.

"Legion... legion commander sir, I am Huazhuo; since you've already discovered me, I need no further disguise—Eclipse Organization·Ring 8, I offer you my sincere greetings."

Huazhuo placed one hand on his chest, slightly bowed; he addressed Su Xiao as 'sir' and used the honorific 'you'—this was not false mockery, but genuine respect.

Fundamentally, the purpose of the Containment Institution and the Eclipse Organization is the same: to eliminate dangerous objects—only their philosophies differ; the Containment Institution contains dangerous objects, while the Eclipse Organization seeks total annihilation, and if unable to destroy, they fight to the death.

"..."

Su Xiao said nothing; the enemy's numbers were not few; he had only recently entered this world, and Kinsley was hard to deal with—being schemed against early on was inevitable.

"Legion commander sir, could you hand over that boy to us? Though it's not honorable, we can't deal with the Bell Maiden, but we also greatly need this little boy; speaking from the heart, I don't wish to fight to the death with someone like you, a legendary figure—I sincerely respect you; led by you, the 'Mechanism' brings fortune to the Southern Alliance; I don't know how much the Eastern Alliance envies you."

Huazhuo laughed, scratching his head; looking at his expression, he was just short of asking Su Xiao for an autograph.

"Damn, you're still quite polite."

Bah was brewing a bellyful of 'greetings' he couldn't utter; not striking a smiling face, now that the opposite side was being polite, if he let loose, it would seem very low.

Huazhuo waited a moment, yet received no reply, and said:

"You'd better be careful; to take that boy from you, I brought many people—this you must understand; after receiving Kinsley sir's order, I even wrote my last will—without risking my life, how could I possibly defeat someone like you?"

Huazhuo took out three steel nails, pinched them with his fingers, and stabbed them into his cheek; as the nails pierced, the snake ring on his index finger came alive, biting his Hukou.

Blood pooled in Huazhuo's hand; the smile on his face faded; nearby, men and women in white uniforms, with black sun emblems on their backs, approached—195 extraordinary beings in total, plus Huazhuo and the dangerous object in his hand—this was treating Su Xiao as an S-rank dangerous object of the High Ladder Team.

"Grandma, prepare to enter another space—the boss's interest has been piqued."

"Shall we avoid battle?"

"Of course not. If you don't leave now, you'll very likely be accidentally killed by the boss in a moment. Do you want to fight a sword master up close?"

"No."

Liechao's tone was firm. She was an archery master and had been partners with a sword master for many years. In battle, getting close to a sword master was nothing short of a nightmare—one would be sliced into pieces by the sharp blade light.

Bahha opened an alternate dimension, and Xiang Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang, Am, and Liechao all entered it.

Seeing this, Huazhuo's face darkened, but when he noticed Su Xiao hadn't retreated, he breathed a sigh of relief.

A crowd of extraordinary beings gathered from the surroundings, everyone's expression solemn, some even swallowing nervously. They felt the upcoming battle would be extremely dangerous, with the probability of death no lower than facing some unsolvable hazardous materials.

Snowflakes drifted down, the small town silent, the atmosphere beginning to turn grim.

On the snow, nearly 200 members of the Eclipse Organization surrounded Su Xiao, who had recently mastered the Blade Domain and was about to display its ferocity, sharpness, and power.

Is Su Xiao surrounded now? Not exactly. Though he is alone, in principle, it is the enemy who is about to be surrounded and enveloped by the Blade Domain.

PS: (Posted a chapter, stuck for half a day, waited half a day, readers, please forgive the delay.)