Chapter 316: The Heavens

As it happens, right at the moment Tang Luo exhaled.

Bloody Mary swallowed her horrified words and likewise opened her mouth to exhale.

Unlike Tang Luo's attitude as if blowing away a tiny insect, she did not move.

Bloody Mary's exhalation still carried panting breaths, unrestrained and fervent, like a lover's invitation before a kiss, making one involuntarily want to draw near.

Yet the breath exhaled was like the coldest polar wind, enough to freeze all passion, and life itself, together.

That was the breath belonging to death.

However, what this death-representing breath encountered was the Glazed Flame.

Bloody Mary didn't even have time to let out a final scream; nearly transparent, with only some pale golden Glazed Flame, it had already engulfed her whole body.

The next second, a pile of ashes scattered onto the washstand, and falling along with them were two Fate Fragments of unequal size.

The mirror before him returned to normal, but an eerie human-shaped black shadow was imprinted on the mirror surface.

It was the last trace Bloody Mary left in this world.

Of these two Fate Fragments, one was certainly Bloody Mary's Fate Fragment; the other should be the Fate Fragment of Heavenly Slayer Star Black Whirlwind Li Kui.

Stored equipment and items won't drop out.

But Fate Fragments will, whether held, becoming a Fate Holder, or merely stored away.

As long as a God-Demon Walker dies, they will definitely appear.

Tang Luo collected the two Fate Fragments, opened the bathroom door and walked out; Xiaotian Dog, lying on the counter, leapt up, jumped onto Tang Luo's shoulder, lay down, tail drooping, lightly sweeping.

Seeing Tang Luo come out, Edwin instinctively looked inside the door, as if wanting to see something.

But inside it was pitch black; Edwin saw no person or corpse.

"That..." Edwin hesitated and asked, "Is she dead?"

He wasn't sure if he had failed to lure out Bloody Mary, or if this Monk Xuanzang before him had already killed Bloody Mary in just a few minutes.

"Dead." Tang Luo said, "Now it's your turn."

"I have a bomb inside me!" Edwin retreated two steps, roaring desperately; he had sent a signal from the start, yet until now had not waited for any rescue.

Proving all the pre-arranged bodyguards in the manor had already been dealt with.

These two didn't silently avoid those professional bodyguards and sentries to infiltrate; they came in after dealing with them.

Open and hidden guards totaled a full fifty people; could they all have been dealt with?

And these two aren't afraid of crossing the line?

You must know, Edwin only had these bodyguards protect himself, and did not actively have them go after or attack other God-Demon Walkers.

In such a situation, if another God-Demon Walker wanted to deal with Edwin, the best method was to bypass these bodyguards.

If all fifty were dealt with, it would absolutely be suicidal behavior.

But it also wouldn't be like actively provoking ordinary people, causing trouble; that invisible high-voltage line would rise significantly.

Killing twenty or thirty people is no problem.

Moreover, if Edwin ordered these people to directly attack other God-Demon Walkers, and the other side killed them in return, those heads would still be counted on Edwin the instigator.

God-Demon Walkers can use real-world resources to protect themselves, and can also use these resources to investigate other God-Demon Walkers.

But they cannot directly let ordinary people act.

If they want to act, they must do it themselves; otherwise it's tantamount to putting themselves in a perilous situation.

Of course, if a God-Demon Walker happens to be a criminal, and you're a police officer, bringing people to arrest them is another matter entirely.

Simply put, in the real world, the God-Demon Game's requirement for God-Demon Walkers is to keep a low profile, not cause trouble; when encountering danger and threats they can counterattack; to act against other God-Demon Walkers, don't involve too many ordinary people.

Edwin's original call for help was to muddy the waters, giving himself a chance to escape.

But by now...

Those bodyguards weren't killed, of course, but knocked unconscious by Tang Luo and company, not a single one let off.

After waking up, they wouldn't know what happened at all, only remember they seemed to have fainted, not even leaving aftereffects.

At most an extra collective dizziness anecdote — the kind that could get on "Approaching Science".

Naturally within the range of that line.

With the bodyguards dealt with, Edwin still had a final trump card.

He pointed at the hideous wound on his chest and said: "A prop bomb I brought back from a mission world; once I die, it will explode, the entire manor will be leveled in an instant! You won't escape either!"

Final trump card — mutual destruction!

As long as the other side doesn't want to die, it works.

"I can become Wulin Mythology's spy." Edwin didn't pause at all, continuing; he had to show his stance, "You can leave a backdoor on me, set restrictions, whatever; I can betray the Gods Alliance!"

Ao Yulie stood unmoving; this kind of thing naturally required Master to decide.

"A spy?" Tang Luo looked at Edwin and said, "You seem like a scholar?"

"Hmm—" Edwin froze, then said, "My Fate is Moriarty, Holmes's opponent, the one who single-handedly built a criminal empire; I'm confident I can be a good spy."

"Ruthless, still you scholars are ruthless." Tang Luo said.

Edwin let out a slight breath of relief, as if he had kept his life.

"Let me talk to Kongming; I believe he'll accept." Edwin threw his final blow.

The guy before him couldn't communicate properly, simply a big gorilla that only knows how to swing its claws.

The main method of handling things is smashing the other's head, a believer in "violence solves most things".

What Edwin hated most was this kind of hard-to-communicate-with guy who was stronger than him.

But Wulin Mythology's Kongming was different; Zhuge Liang Fate, past data and performance also showed this person was a wise man.

He would surely agree to his conditions; this was the feeling of meeting one's match, the tacit understanding between smart people.

Next would be a lengthy showdown!

Edwin couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement — a desperate turnaround!

"You've decided." Two minutes later, hearing Kongming's words, Edwin's body stiffened.

You've decided?

As for who this "you" refers to, naturally it's the Monk Xuanzang before his eyes!

But why would the Sage, renowned throughout the martial world, let a brainless brute make the final decision? Isn't that like bringing a Husky home and letting it run wild?

I have the Moriarty fate, you have the Zhuge Liang fate — it's already been made perfectly clear!

Even if it's not the Holmes fate, don't you intend to clash passionately with each other through wisdom?

"Mm, then kill him, feels like too much trouble." Tang Luo said.

"Alright." Kongming hung up the phone.

Edwin's wishful thinking wasn't bad; for a moment there, Kongming was indeed tempted.

But on second thought, he was already exhausted, didn't want to die of overwork; who knows when Tang Luo would give him another distant, unsolvable problem, like a mathematics researcher facing a Millennium Prize problem, always unable to resist thinking about it.

Add another Moriarty, and would Kongming ever get to sleep again?

And with Tang Luo around, what need for spies? Just brute-force through and be done with it.

Find one, brute-force one; could brute-force the entire Gods' Alliance to death alive.

So-called schemes are only born when strength isn't enough — they exist to make up for the lack of strength.

Does a tiger need a scheme to kill a rabbit? Find the rabbit, pounce, slap it dead, done.

Most importantly, Kongming knew very well that he actually had no qualification to usurp the host's role and make decisions in Tang Luo's place.

Since Tang Luo said the family (father and son) must be whole and complete, then whole and complete they shall be.

Kongming didn't want to consume the bond between them on this kind of matter.

"You can't kill me... I really have a bomb inside me!" Edwin's voice sounded somewhat distorted.

"Mm, I believe you." Tang Luo nodded, "Little White Dragon, take him up to the heavens."

Putting a bomb inside yourself, that capable? Then go up to the heavens; once up there, no need to fear a bomb.

The sky is so vast, more than enough to withstand an explosion.

Many big shots of the Journey to the West world, to avoid collateral damage, like to fight above the Ninth Heaven.

The words barely fell before the scene before Edwin's eyes blurred completely, his whole person entering a high-speed movement state almost impossible to endure, his ears filled with the howling of mad wind.

Might have been one second, might have been half an hour.

Heavy pressure nearly crushed him to pieces.

When Edwin "stopped" and was vomiting uncontrollably, he also discovered he was in incomparably thick cloud layers.

Before he could utter any last words, a sharp, thick dragon claw (finger) pierced through from behind his back, or rather tore Edwin into upper and lower halves.

Firelight flashed, the explosion's sound like muffled thunder.

He really did put a bomb inside himself; wasn't lying.

After a while, Ao Yelie returned to the manor villa, patted the dust off his clothes, and incidentally tidied his hair, restoring his image as a dashing young master of the turbid world.

"Master, fate fragment." Ao Yelie presented Edwin's fate fragment.

He knew Tang Luo needed this to heal his injuries.

"Let's go, wander around other places." Tang Luo accepted the fragment, patted Xiaotian Dog's head, and said.

The answer Edwin never got before death — why Tang Luo could find him so fast — the reason is actually very simple.

Because Tang Luo didn't follow normal clues to investigate at all.

He just went to Edwin's residence on file, had Xiaotian Dog sniff around, and confirmed one or two scents that were relatively likely.

Then following the scent, tracking by smell, that's how simple it was.

The clues Edwin deliberately left, spider-silk horse-tracks and such, Tang Luo didn't even glance at them; even if he looked, he had no interest in deciphering them.

What? A few playing cards on the bed with special numbers and symbols — who the hell knows what they mean.

Sniffing the scent settles it.

But afterwards, this method might not be usable.

After all, Edwin's residence was certain — his home, and his high school dorm where he stayed a long time; any of them could let Xiaotian Dog lock onto the scent.

In the data Kongming gave, only a portion had clear addresses, and they weren't necessarily long-term residences.

Whether Xiaotian Dog can sniff anything out, leave it to fate.

Three fate fragments, plus four pieces of equipment — already counts as a worthwhile trip.