Chapter 3148: Chapter Seventy-Two: Hunting the Prey

The first glimmer of dawn rose on the horizon, and Jia Man City gradually awoke.

In the courtyard of Lu Hua Manor, Su Xiao sat cross-legged before a pond; counting today, the deadline for the fourth loop of the main quest still had eight days left, which seemed ample but was not.

If he found the Ultimate Worm and died in battle against it, Su Xiao would have no regrets—it would merely be a case of inferior skill—but if he died from the punishment of failing to find the Ultimate Worm, that would be deeply vexing.

Su Xiao did not want to mark his path to strength with such a stifling end, so yesterday, at great risk, he conspired with Kinsley to use the dangerous item s-001.

Now s-001 has been returned to the containment vault of the Agency headquarters; this is no longer important. Earlier, Kinsley took s-001 for several hours, and in those hours much could be done—for example, letting several death-sentenced agents use s-001 to alter their own futures.

Kinsley acts steadily; he summoned thirty death-sentenced agents from the monastery under the Eclipse Organization and had them all use s-001 to alter their futures.

The alteration is simple: these death-sentenced agents will, within the next five days, be in the same large region as the host of the Ultimate Worm—for example, both in Jia Man City, Youke City, etc.

By increasing the number of death-sentenced agents, Kinsley raised the odds of finding the Ultimate Worm, but this is not without cost, for the thirty death-sentenced agents of the monastery altered their futures, and within just a few hours, various problems arose there.

More closely tied to the monastery than the Eclipse Organization? No—if one speaks of the closest ties, it is actually the containment facility of the Containment Agency; the monastery and the containment facility share many similarities, cooperating openly while secretly vying against each other.

At the outset of the Holy Knights' schism, the monastery and the containment facility were in fact one institution, called the Settlement; after the Holy Knights split, they divided into two: one side aligned with the Containment Agency, the other chose to affiliate with the Eclipse Organization.

Thus, Warden Wei Ke also became implicated; due to "unknown causes," many in the containment facility began showing signs of aging, and internal factional conflicts started to surface.

Su Xiao and Kinsley both anticipated this outcome; in their subsequent plans, the containment facility and monastery could do the least, so they would be dealt with first.

If the first future alteration failed to find the Ultimate Worm, and the containment facility and monastery collapsed, then it would be the turn of the Finance Department and the Merchant Guild Alliance; after those two also fell, it would be the Agency and the Eclipse Organization suffering the consequences of s-001—why these two last? Because they are the ones containing and restraining vast quantities of dangerous items.

Once the Agency and the Eclipse Organization also collapsed from using s-001, the alliance would only be able to fend for itself.

The ill effects of using s-001 go further still: those thirty death-sentenced agents are also a problem, for after using s-001, each person craves to monopolize s-001 and use it again to alter their own future.

Even death-sentenced agents who feel no desire for wealth, beauty, or power become like this after using s-001; what ordinary people would become after using it is easy to imagine—an endless craving.

Kinsley's solution is to promise that among these death-sentenced agents, whoever first contributes to finding the Ultimate Worm will be allowed to use s-001 again; competition will bring internal strife, but it is also a temporary means of stabilizing the situation.

What remains to be done is simply to wait, release those death-sentenced agents, and assign people to track them—where they wish to travel is entirely up to personal choice.

The field personnel responsible for tracking will record the travel routes of the thirty death-sentenced agents, then transmit them to the rear intelligence department, which will consolidate the thirty agents' travel routes onto a single map; each intersection point of these travel routes may be where the Ultimate Worm resides.

When the thirty death-sentenced agents, within five days, all happen to have visited a certain place by chance, that place is very likely where the Ultimate Worm is located.

Su Xiao calls such a place a "Nest Point"; a "Nest Point" is not necessarily unique, but it certainly will not be numerous.

Once a "Nest Point" is found, the rest is easy: Su Xiao and Kinsley's intelligence subordinates will swarm in and conduct a carpet-like sweep, and the extraordinary ones from both sides will also encircle that area.

Simply put, the thirty death-sentenced agents are unstable trackers.

Last night, the thirty death-sentenced agents were released; among them, sixteen chose to temporarily remain on the South Great Road, and fourteen went to the Eastern Continent.

To Su Xiao, this is good news: this分流 of routes indicates the Ultimate Worm likely did not go to a deserted island at sea—it is either on the Eastern Continent or the Southern Continent.

Didi di di~

Su Xiao's communicator in his pocket rang; he glanced at the encrypted text on it—this was a message from Kinsley: the thirty death-sentenced agents now have eighteen who went to the Eastern Continent and twelve who remained in the Southern Continent.

This message signifies one thing: the Ultimate Worm has an over eighty percent probability of being on the Eastern Continent!

This is exhilarating good news; Su Xiao even feels that the weight pressing on his shoulders has lightened by half.

"Boss, what do you think of her?"

Bahha flew in, and accompanying Bahha was Ge Ya, who wore her hair in a single ponytail, applied light lipstick, dressed in a patterned black dress, had a metal skull ring on her right index finger, and wore a faint, elusive smile.

Su Xiao assessed Ge Ya: not bad, she had the right vibe—pure appearance, attire leaning toward darkness and mystery, and a subtle allure.

The white-haired youth and Aqi of the protagonist team—one emotionally inept, the other utterly devoted to his girlfriend—Ge Ya's appearance was certainly not for seduction, but to appear as a mysterious helper.

Ge Ya's current identity is that she received brutal training since childhood, excelling in assassinating VIPs, infiltration, and rear-area sabotage; she once served in the Southern Alliance's "Yeseqi Unit," then infiltrated the Agency, where she served as a minor head in the Intelligence Department; after failing to assassinate the Agency Legion Commander, she changed her identity and infiltrated the Eclipse Organization, once attempting to poison the Eclipse Organization leader Kinsley.

Due to shifting circumstances, she returned to serve the Southern Alliance, participated in the Western Continental Campaign as a member of the Second Legion's assassination squad under Colonel Gewi, fighting at the front lines.

Afterward, all seven of Ge Ya's comrades died on the battlefield; her long espionage career and the tragic deaths of her comrades left her with severe war-related post-traumatic stress disorder; she openly denounced the Southern Alliance and is now the top wanted criminal of the Agency, the Eclipse Organization, and the Southern Alliance, with a bounty of 98 million tower pounds—the highest bounty in history; her full name is Hesoxi Ge Ya, also known as the Deadly Rose.

A tumultuous life needs no explanation—this refers to Ge Ya; as for the truth of these deeds, let the protagonist team investigate; if they uncover even a hint of falsity, Deputy Bei Luo Ke will eat feces upside down.

Su Xiao looked at the documents in his hand, then glanced at Ge Ya.

"Ge Ya, with this file, you working under me would be a waste of talent."

"Ha, haha."

Ge Ya lost composure in a second, foolishly laughing while scratching her head; one could say this is a girl who acts 24 hours a day.

"Regain your former unruly and unrestrained demeanor—do you know what I want you to do?"

"Of course I know—sowing discord……ah no, I am contributing to the Agency."

Ge Ya puffed out her chest, nearly saying she embraced justice and stood shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

"You are indeed to sow discord; you have three days to complete this task, after which I will transfer you to the Eastern Continent branch."

"My Lord Bai Ye, do we still have a branch in the Eastern Continent?"

"..."

Su Xiao did not continue; though the Eastern Continent branch is lackluster and usually unmanned, if Ge Ya wished to remain in the Southern Continent, her fate would be only one: to be used by Su Xiao and then disposed of, for her identity is too sensitive.

"If I go to the Eastern Continent, will I no longer have to kill people?"

"Mm."

"Then I will go; I actually……dislike ending others' lives, warm blood staining my hands, plus the slick, lively brain matter, soft organs steaming with heat~"

As Ge Ya spoke, her lips unconsciously curled into an arc, and her legs pressed together.

Seeing this, Su Xiao understood why Kinsley had sent Ge Ya over—and even discarded her at the Agency; with such a personality, not joining the Agency would be a utter waste.

"Get lost quickly, don't loiter here."

Under Bahha's "seeing off," Ge Ya left the courtyard; shortly after, the silver hound of the Warhound Squad stood on the courtyard wall, nodding at Su Xiao.

While releasing Ge Ya, Su Xiao naturally left a safeguard—the silver hound is that.

"Boss, should we release that thing now?"

Bahha perched on the fence near Su Xiao; what it referred to was a peregrine falcon.

Kinsley had engineered a supernatural peregrine falcon; Su Xiao used "N715-Count" as a chip to exchange for this supernatural peregrine falcon from Kinsley; after leaving the nutrient solution, this supernatural peregrine falcon can survive 4–5 days, which is sufficient for Su Xiao.

He named this intelligent supernatural peregrine falcon Horus and established a one-for-one trade: whenever Horus uses s-001 to alter its future, Kinsley's side will release two young peregrine falcons awaiting supernatural organ transplants.

After Horus used s-001, a new condition was added to the transaction: if Horus succeeded in using s-001 and did not die, it would have to use s-001 again—this was not surprising, as all beings who had ever used s-001 behaved the same way.

With Horus now possessing wisdom, it could of course use s-001; the future it altered was singular—it would burn its life and soul as payment to sense and hunt a single person, and this was the inevitable fate awaiting it after giving everything, that person being known as Violator 14023.

The iron cage in the backyard of Gubao was flung open, a brown-black afterimage shot into the sky, and it let out a sharp falcon's cry.

If that contract breaker who fled with incredible speed had kept hiding, Su Xiao might not have paid attention, but that guy reappeared last night, flashing across Gaman City in a blur, seemingly unsatisfied, then flashed back the same way.

The two times he darted across Gaman City, he swept past near Su Xiao, even entering his hunting range; because the enemy's speed was too great, the hunting permit would just activate and immediately deactivate, then reactivate and deactivate again.

At the instant he locked onto the target, Su Xiao was certain the other party had also sensed him; he didn't believe the other would do this for no reason—clearly, they were confirming his position and the strength of the surrounding defenses.

Why would a rule-breaker as steady as an old dog, who had hidden until the ends of the earth, suddenly appear now? Su Xiao speculated this might be related to the Fairy, and perhaps this ultra-fast rule-breaker had already allied with the Fairy—both were rule-breakers, making such cooperation quite plausible.

The speed-system rule-breaker scouted the situation, determined Su Xiao's surrounding defense strength; if the defenses weren't too strong, the Fairy would come knocking and engage Su Xiao in a brutal but short battle, but if the defenses were too strong, the Fairy would choose to wait and watch, as it was doing now.

Su Xiao wasn't sure if his speculation was accurate; he had previously not sought out that speed-system rule-breaker because it hadn't directly threatened him, and the hunting mission carried no penalty—but now, that guy had started acting dishonestly.

Su Xiao gazed at the sky where the peregrine falcon Horus hovered; the Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in his hand from its sheath, which he then fastened to his waist.

The hunt begins.