Chapter 3112

The night was deep. In a remote street in the southeast of Gaman City, a small shop opened today—a tavern.

This tavern was funded by Aiqi. After helping Xiya Suoya solve her family's predicament, Aiqi received another reward.

Aiqi quit his job at the hotel and operated this quiet-style tavern with his four companions. Whether there was business didn't matter; it was more of a base for the five of them. The white-haired youth was the bartender, Aiqi prevented people from causing trouble, Nainai Ni was the waitress, Doer Mu was responsible for purchasing, and the mature beauty Manli pretended to be a customer—commonly known as a "barfly," which was her quirky hobby.

"This is what life is about."

Nainai Ni leaned on the chair like a salted fish, while the other four focused on their own tasks.

Knock, knock, knock.

The tavern door was knocked. All five looked confused. Why would someone knock on a tavern door? Shouldn't they just push it open and walk in?

A man in a black suit and a black bowler hat walked into the tavern. After he sat down, Nainai Ni, dressed as a waitress, stepped forward.

"Customer, what kind of wine do you need?"

Nainai Ni smiled sweetly. The man in black pressed down on his hat and said in a deep voice:

"Do you not have a shred of gratitude in your hearts?"

"?"

Nainai Ni looked at the man in black in surprise and gestured to Aiqi behind her back, meaning: "There's a troublemaker, Aiqi, go!"

"You five should have been put in body bags days ago."

The man in black's words drew the attention of the white-haired youth, Aiqi, and Doer Mu in the tavern.

"You five ignorant young people, you went to investigate the bombing of the Thorn Flower Newspaper on your own. Do you know who did that?"

The man in black's voice was very cold. On the side of his neck, a black ring was tattooed, resembling the sun during an eclipse, with the white number 1 in the center of the ring.

"Customer, what are you talking about? We don't understand. If you're not here to drink, please leave."

Nainai Ni's expression turned cold. She appeared calm, but she was actually very nervous.

"The Thorn Flower Newspaper was bombed because that newspaper reported on matters related to the mermaid, which angered the Alliance Council. The most likely outcome for you five investigating this matter was to be lying in a sewer ditch the next morning. But given the beauty of you two women, I don't know what you would have suffered before you died."

The man in black sneered. At some point, a bottle of wine appeared in his hand, and he poured himself a glass.

"This is an arrest warrant specially approved by the Alliance Council days ago. Once this warrant officially takes effect, you five will no longer be protected by the Alliance's laws. However... this warrant was held back. Is it your good luck?"

The man in black threw a warrant on the table. The tavern became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. The tall Doer Mu blocked the door and quietly locked it.

"Who is protecting you in the dark? Who is the person behind you?"

The man in black finished the strong liquor in his glass, his gaze somewhat sorrowful.

Slap!

The man in black suddenly backhanded a slap across Nainai Ni's face. Nainai Ni was knocked back two steps, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Seeing this, the other four were enraged.

"This slap is to educate you on behalf of the leader. He is too 'indulgent' toward you. Perhaps it's because he thinks highly of you, protecting you everywhere. As his subordinate, what can I say? Since having a beloved child, the leader has changed, actually shielding you little brats."

The man in black's tone remained cold, but his annoyance was obvious to anyone.

Nainai Ni signaled the others not to be impulsive. She had only received one slap, and the other party hadn't used heavy force. Given the pressure he exerted on her, if he had really wanted to kill, her head would have already been ripped off.

"Investigating the Thorn Flower Newspaper incident can be attributed to your youth and ignorance, but... who gave you the guts to steal the Blood of Progeny from the office in York City? The commander of the agency's legion, Kuku Lin Bai Ye, was guarding it. To tell you the truth, it's not that your stealth abilities are good; it's that the Lord arranged for you to do all this."

When the man in black said this, he was so angry he laughed. He continued:

"The Southern Alliance is ruled by three forces: the Alliance ruling faction, the Containment Agency, and the Eclipse Organization. You have offended two of them, and only our Eclipse Organization remains. What I find most inconceivable is that you actually dared to return to Gaman City and open a tavern here. Do you really think that because you didn't get the mermaid, no one knows what you've done?

If you don't want your families to vanish into thin air tonight, go here. A Lord wants to see you. Whether you can live to see tomorrow's sun depends on that Lord's will."

The man in black placed a note on the table and stood up to leave. When he reached the door, he paused and turned his head to say:

"Think carefully: why have you been desperately searching for the mermaid? Every time you encountered a predicament, clues about the mermaid appeared before your eyes. Once or twice might be a coincidence, but in the end, who got the mermaid? Is this also a coincidence?"

Leaving these words behind, the man in black pushed the door open and left. The five people in the tavern looked terrible. They had originally thought they were about to welcome a period of peaceful life, but instead, the consequences of the mermaid incident had caught up with them.

"Aiqi, Bai Fa, what should we do?"

"Leave here first."

"Okay."

The five had no time to pack their belongings and hurried out of the tavern. As the white-haired youth passed the wooden table, he picked up the note on it.

The tavern door was pushed open, and figures walked in, all sitting down in silence. In just over ten seconds, the tavern was full, yet it remained quiet.

Nainai Ni swallowed, cold sweat soaking her inner clothing. Although no one had threatened her with a single word, she felt her heart racing.

"What do we do?"

"We can only go... to the slum written on this."

The white-haired youth felt a sense of powerlessness. This was the second time he had experienced this feeling. At this moment, he wanted to know who was secretly driving them to search for the mermaid and who was secretly protecting them.

The white-haired youth seemed to see two people standing in the black fog of fate: one wanted to harm them, while the other had been protecting them in the dark for a long time. Otherwise, as the man in black said, they would have died at the beginning of the Thorn Flower bombing investigation.

A man sitting with his back to the white-haired youth, looking like a rogue, spoke: "White-haired brat, do you want to know your name?"

"I do."

"No. 5, you are called No. 5. As for the reason, your mother's container was No. 5. Don't look at me like that; when you get there, you will know everything."

"You..."

The white-haired youth calmed his emotions and finally walked out of the tavern with the others.

The five ran all the way to the slum written on the note, entered the dilapidated residential building with a lift, took the lift deep underground, and after passing through underground passages and spiral staircases, they had penetrated about a hundred meters underground.

A half-damaged metal door blocked their path. Beside the metal door, a blood-stained figure was kneeling—it was Ring 8 of the Eclipse Organization, Huaziwo. His upper body was bound by chains, and he looked half-dead.

"You little brats, come closer."

Huaziwo smiled, revealing teeth stained red with blood. The five members of the protagonist team didn't recognize Huaziwo and hesitated for a moment before stepping forward.

"After experiencing the mermaid incident, you have all grown up. The naivety on your faces is gone, and I am very gratified."

"You... who are you?"

The white-haired youth made a move to help Huaziwo up, but Huaziwo shook his head, signaling him not to touch him.

"Does it matter who I am? You are still alive, which means the mission entrusted to me by the Lord Leader did not fail. I am satisfied. Falling into the hands of Mr. Bai Ye, I... won't be able to see tomorrow morning's sunrise. I just hope I won't be chopped up by Mr. Bai Ye to feed the dangerous objects; that would be too ugly a way to die."

Huaziwo smiled, blood flowing from his ear canals.

"Are you the one who has been protecting us in the dark?"

The white-haired youth's gaze was complex, filled with some guilt and even more emotions that he couldn't express.

"How could I have that ability? You offended the Alliance Council and Mr. Bai Ye. Either one of them could crush me like an ant. You don't need to thank me; just remember the Lord Leader's kindness in your hearts. I'm done for. Little girl, don't waste your energy; my wounds were inflicted by Mr. Bai Ye, and every slash damaged my soul."

Huaziwo leaned against the door and finally lowered his head, fainting. It must be said that after this is over, Huaziwo deserves a reward; his acting was impeccable.

The white-haired youth pushed open the half-damaged metal door, and a light film appeared ahead. On this film was an imprint—the "Holy Father" imprint.

Suddenly, golden light surged from the "Holy Father" imprint, and two blood lines instantly merged into the chests of the white-haired youth and Aiqi. This was all the Blood of Destiny Su Xiao had obtained.

In Su Xiao's view, although this Blood of Destiny was pure, it was not fresh enough. Due to long-term storage, its overall activity was only about 10% to 12%, with about 90% of the Blood of Destiny appearing lifeless.

This kind of Blood of Destiny could barely be used, but it was still far from the level required to construct a "Holy Father" imprint that could be used in other worlds.

Ultimately, the Blood of Destiny is a rare blood nurtured by the Child of the World through the blessing of world power.

As Children of the World (fake), Aiqi and the white-haired youth would also be blessed by world power, but not as much as the authentic Child of the World.

Since that was the case, what if two Children of the World (fake) nurtured 50% of the Blood of Destiny each? The answer is that the Blood of Destiny would reach an unprecedented level.

The authentic Child of the World in this world had basically been used up by Kingsley, which led to a large portion of the world power that should have been bestowed upon the authentic Child of the World being transferred to Aiqi and the white-haired youth.

Taken individually, Aiqi and the white-haired youth did not possess the fortune of the authentic Child of the World, but if they were combined, the world power they bore already exceeded that of one authentic Child of the World.

This was also the reason Su Xiao agreed to Kingsley's plan. He wanted to nurture an unprecedented Blood of Destiny through the two Children of the World (fake), then use alchemy to improve the "Holy Father" imprint to its limit, and finally manufacture a lightning-summoning object.

Of course, there was a risk that the Blood of Destiny would not be recoverable once released, but without risk, how could there be a possibility of creating the strongest lightning-summoning object?

The Blood of Destiny merged into the bodies of Aiqi and the white-haired youth. Initially, they were vigilant, but after a moment, they discovered that they felt better than ever before.

"Go in. We only rescued No. 0; the No. 5 mother body could not be... rescued."

The "resurrected" Huaziwo spoke weakly. This point should be criticized; he actually forgot his lines at a critical moment. Fortunately, Xiang Bubu Wang, who had blended into the environment, kicked him.

"Excuse me, who is the Lord Leader you mentioned? Is it Mr. Kingsley?"

The white-haired youth asked urgently. Huaziwo rolled his eyes and fainted, thinking to himself, "If I forget my lines this time, will my colleagues tease me when I get back?"

The white-haired youth, having received no answer, fell silent. In fact, he had thought of this long ago, but he remained vigilant to prevent all of this from being a conspiracy.

"Bai Fa, Mr. Kingsley might really be our benefactor. Remember on the fishing boat, Manli said there were too many coincidences in what we experienced? At the time, I was actually intentionally interrupting her."

Nainai Ni spoke with shifty eyes. The other four felt a tremor in their hearts. Their instinctive thought was that Nainai Ni was an informant for the enemy, and they were unwilling to accept this.

"Nainai Ni, you..."

As Aiqi spoke, the expression in his eyes was very painful.

"You didn't guess wrong."

"Nainai Ni, we... forget it, you were forced."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I mean, I had vaguely guessed this possibility before, but I was just worried that the more we knew, the faster we would die."

Nainai Ni looked around at her four companions indignantly. As the clever one, she had actually thought of many things others hadn't.

"Uh~, I still thought you were a spy."

"Pfft, ouch."

Nainai Ni kicked Aiqi's shin with her toe. Aiqi winced in pain; the sour sensation was unimaginable.

The group walked into the research institute with solemn expressions. When the white-haired youth saw an empty glass column, he rushed forward in a few steps, trembling as he pressed his hand against the outer wall of the column. Tears streamed down both sides of his cheeks.

The white-haired youth felt that the person who had been trapped in this glass column was like a brother and a father to him.

"You... you guys look."

Nainai Ni looked as if she had seen a ghost, pointing ahead. The white-haired youth looked in the direction she pointed, his pupils instantly shrinking to the limit. At this moment, he understood everything: he was born right here.

Glass columns stood on both sides of the corridor. Inside these columns were many white-haired test subjects who resembled the white-haired youth. Some had transplanted animal limbs, while others were just heads, with a large number of tentacles below their necks.

The scene before him stimulated every nerve in the white-haired youth. He walked forward with his head hanging low and pushed open the metal door on the inner side of the laboratory.

Creak~

The two metal doors were slowly pushed open, and a long corridor appeared ahead. The five members of the protagonist team walked to the end of the corridor and all stopped.

In the hall ahead, there was an empty space, ethereal whispers, and thin white mist drifting.

A metal chair was placed in the center. A figure sat on the chair, legs crossed, the tip of a sheathed long sword resting on the inside of his elbow, with the middle section resting diagonally across his legs.

It seemed that because of the arrival of the five, the man sitting on the iron chair opened his eyes. A faint red glow appeared in the center of his pupils. A sense of impending battle with the villain boss surged in the hearts of the five.