Chapter 276: Aries and Cain

Keynes.

The moment he revealed his face, Wen Xishu recognized the name: Cain.

His eyes were now a sniper rifle.

At this moment, the "sci-fi drama" began.

Cannon took half a step back, exiting the danger zone, and Night Demon also noticed that Cain had paused for a moment. Such a terrifying existence did not make Night Demon think of situations like "will he also shout 'for the Ultimate Killer King'."

Facing a formidable enemy, the killers were well aware of the gap in strength, yet they did not truly give up because of it.

Cain suddenly spoke:

"A power that draws close to the night—"

"It would be a pity to kill you. As one of my Kindred, you will become an extremely excellent vampire. Crystal City welcomes you."

Cain extended an invitation. Perhaps because Cain felt no threat, he spoke very slowly—so slowly that it gave people a deliberate feeling.

Night Demon did not respond to the invitation; he simply retreated violently, because in the next second, Cannon had already changed weapons.

Cannon’s movements could be described as smooth and fluid.

The heavy-firepower rocket launcher had been broken, but he still had an armor-piercing sniper rifle with super-strong penetration. This was an anti-materiel sniper rifle, not meant for sniping people, but for sniping armored vehicles.

Its weight was even greater than the rocket launcher; in ordinary combat, it could not be carried at all, but Cannon was, after all, an ability user.

He used almost all his strength and, at this moment, fired a shot at Cain.

Bang!

The terrifying power forced Cain to take several steps back.

It was also at this time that Wen Xishu suddenly moved!

This was something that shocked all the killers, because it was rare for Wen Xishu to stop using "hypnosis" and start engaging in hand-to-hand combat!

This made everyone realize that when facing a terrifying existence like Cain, hypnosis had finally failed.

Wen Xishu was not a conceptual god; when facing a god-level existence, even his hypnosis values had moments of being stretched thin.

This was enough to show that this was a tough battle.

If even the mage who cuts the backline started charging forward, then the battle must have reached its most intense moment.

The Scorpion Blade in Wen Xishu’s hand drew a cold arc!

Bizarrely, Cain’s body seemed to have lost its defensive power, and that small blade was actually able to break through Cain’s skin!

The super-heavy armor-piercing sniper rifle had only made Cain take half a step back, yet Wen Xishu’s blade could break Cain’s defense!

At this instant, Cain also said in disbelief:

"How do you have this blade!"

This blade was crucial.

This blade also caused Cain great pain.

At this moment, all the killers realized that this blade had its own story and its own mission!

Cain had been wounded; this high and mighty god actually appeared somewhat fragile.

Cannon knew that opportunity must not be lost and immediately fired another shot. The massive recoil caused his aim, intended for the head, to strike the chest instead.

Cain should have retreated but did not; instead, he forcibly steadied his body and raised a hand, knocking away Wen Xishu’s blade.

The wound created by that blade caused Cain such intense pain that his movements slowed down.

Opportunity must not be lost.

Night Demon suddenly rushed up. As the existence whose combat capability at night was closest to a vampire, Night Demon began to forcibly restrain Cain’s body.

Cain’s body was dragged, but he simply roared, sending Night Demon flying.

Night Demon only felt as if his bones were about to be shattered.

Cannon’s third sniper shot came; this time, he finally landed a headshot.

Of course, an existence like Cain could not be killed even by a headshot. Cain’s body lost its balance, but he soon stood up again and looked at Cannon.

Countless bats flew toward Cannon.

Cain wanted to get that blade, but the blade was gone!

That blade had vanished into thin air!

Cannon and Night Demon actually both knew what was going on, and Wen Xishu was also very clear about it.

Everyone’s blood began to boil, and Cannon shouted:

"Shadow! Now is the time!"

A bizarre figure appeared behind Cain.

This assassin, who had been hiding the entire time, finally waited for the moment to launch a fatal strike. The dagger pierced through Cain’s chest and stabbed through Cain’s heart.

Cain roared again, sending the successful Shadow flying. At the same time, as if making a final desperate struggle before death, Cain instantly rushed in front of Cannon, attempting to kill him in one blow.

But he did not succeed; his hand only touched Cannon before he knelt to the ground due to his severe injuries.

Cannon felt like he saw his great-grandmother beckoning to him. He could feel his internal organs being injured by this seemingly light touch from Cain, and his entire body was knocked flying by the force of the blow, crashing heavily into Canon.

Had Cain used even half a point more force, he would have died without a doubt. Even Canon behind him would have died.

Yet, Cain knelt on the ground in pain and began to breathe heavily:

"You... why do you have that blade?"

Cain actually gave up on attacking. It was as if he knew his body had reached its limit and wanted to keep a breath of life to die with clarity.

Cannon lost his combat capability, Night Demon lost his combat capability, Shadow lost his combat capability, Canon lost his combat capability, and Cosmos remained unconscious.

But everyone was still alive, and everything was going according to Wen Xishu’s expectations.

"I didn't expect you to find a weapon that could restrain me! I, Cain, would actually be killed by you nobodies in Crystal City."

The killers were all breathing heavily. They had sustained very serious injuries, but every person who was still conscious heard the underlying meaning in Cain’s words.

They had actually... won?

Cannon could not believe it. The god-like Cain, the King of Vampires who had made such a grand entrance not long ago, had actually been killed by them?

Was this a hallucination?

The pain of his broken ribs made Cannon believe this was not a hallucination.

They had just performed a perfect coordination: he drew the fire, Night Demon restrained Cain, and finally, Shadow completed the assassination.

Of course, without Canon’s array and Cosmos’s Crisis Disappearance Domain, perhaps Cain would not have even appeared.

In short, the five killers worked together to complete an impossible assassination.

Cain clutched his heart; clearly, that blade had caused him fatal damage.

His life had reached its final stage.

He was wounded far more heavily than their group!

Night Demon found it hard to imagine. Cain had only appeared, and he had needed to muster 120,000 percent of his courage just to convince himself not to run away, yet such an enemy... he had just rushed up regardless of his own life and actually created an opportunity for his teammates.

This was truly a miracle! To be able to defeat such a person was simply a miracle.

Their hearts were filled with excitement because they had truly killed Cain.

Wen Xishu was also excited:

"You really did it..."

He could see the bullet comments floating from Cannon and the others, but his own heart was actually calm. From the moment Cain revealed his name, he knew that Cain had lost.

The moment Cain became interested in Night Demon, Wen Xishu used astonishing typing speed to write Cain’s first line: A power that draws close to the night, it would be a pity to kill you.

Because his hand shook at the time and he paused for a moment, Cain’s line also paused after finishing the first half.

From that moment on, Cain’s lines, actions, and development all followed Wen Xishu’s plan. To facilitate the subsequent plot, Cain’s speech was also set by Wen Xishu to be especially slow.

In fact, the sniper rifle repelling Cain, the idea that Night Demon could restrain Cain... it was all science fiction.

Cain’s strength was such that he could kill them just by standing there and looking at them. That Cannon’s weapons could make Cain feel a tingling sensation was already an advancement in technology.

The reason for all the preceding attacks and the reason they achieved results—it was all because Wen Xishu had arranged for Cain to be acting.

One has to let these killers have their fun, right?

Since this journey stemmed from their obsessions—being unskilled but having a great addiction—and he happened to have the power to rewrite the script, he would let them have their fun.

That blade capable of breaking Cain’s defense was the Scorpion Blade.

The Scorpion Blade was strong, but it really couldn't break Cain’s defense; it wasn't a prop focused on combat. If this thing could kill Cain, even Scorpio would be laughing.

The instruction Wen Xishu wrote was actually that Cain’s body would begin to crack, his functions would rapidly decline, and after suffering the blade wound, his body would lose its defensive capabilities.

Next, the killers saw a weakened Cain. Although Cain was strong... they didn't notice that Cain had already been weakened to the extreme.

In this battle, under Wen Xishu’s control, the amount of "water" Cain let out was comparable to the Pacific Ocean.

But in the eyes of the killers, that blade had a special effect against Cain, so everything seemed reasonable. "We did it!"

This bullet comment appeared above the heads of every killer, except for the unconscious killer Cosmos Igor.

Of course, Wen Xishu had to admit that tonight, Cosmos, Canon, and Cannon could indeed be called the MVPs. Shadow and Night Demon were, to some extent, "carried" to victory.

However, under his arrangement, Shadow also had a highlight moment in the end.

With all killers arranged in their places, giving the bosses who created these obsessions a chance to fully resolve them—this was the cultivation a good Trick Tower person should have.

The killers were indeed filled with a sense of satisfaction.

Although they had survived time and time again before, it was all thanks to Wen Xishu’s hypnosis—"For the Ultimate Killer King!"

Now, although they still won relying on Wen Xishu’s blade, in the end, they had a sense of presence, they had contributed, they had fought, they had reaped, and they had won.

Wen Xishu’s hypnosis had also reached its limit; in the end, it was through our efforts that we defeated the invincible Cain together!

Without us, Wen Xishu would have found it difficult to achieve the final victory.

If Cosmos were still conscious, all five killers would probably think: The six of us are truly too amazing.

That said, the assassins were also very clear that Wen Xishu’s strength was worthy of the title of Ultimate King of Killers.

This was a satisfying, hearty battle; they already felt that their lives were fulfilled. To be able to assassinate such an existence in a place like Crystal City, they had no more regrets in life!

Wen Xishu’s final instruction:

"Next, Cain will answer everything asked of him without reservation. As long as he knows it, regarding the savior plans of various countries and the secrets of the Three Towers War, he cannot hold anything back. After everything is asked, Cain will die from his severe wounds."

Wen Xishu slowly stood up, pretending that he, too, had been severely wounded:

"King of Vampires, you are truly a respectable opponent. Aside from this blade, is there anything else in this world that can hurt you?"

Cain’s true inner thoughts were very stifled at this moment.

He had first wounded himself, and now he had to be arranged to cooperate by saying all sorts of humiliating lines. But he really had no choice.

What appeared in the eyes of the few assassins was a Cain who was about to die and thus felt relieved of everything:

"As a reward for defeating me... then I will tell you. I fear silver; silver bullets can penetrate my defenses."

Wen Xishu was somewhat surprised. How was it exactly the same as in stereotypical vampire literature?

Do vampires actually fear silver?

He found it very strange:

"If one possessed silver, could a person with no strength to truss a chicken kill you?"

He was preparing for his journey to the Desire Tower.

Cain shook his head:

"Impossible. Although I fear silver, even if pierced by a silver dagger, I would only be weakened. Even if my heart were pierced, I would not die immediately. If it were truly an ordinary person, no matter how weak I am, I could easily kill them in return."

Then what if one prepared a pool of liquid silver? Melting it completely?

But was this really feasible?

Wen Xishu rejected this thought internally. In Crystal City, finding a silver pool that a vampire fears... that was indeed quite unlikely.

"Perhaps an obsession is an obsession precisely because reality cannot fulfill it... Maybe I shouldn't dwell on how to take these few assassins to the Desire Tower to kill the King of Vampires."

Wen Xishu began to think about this question seriously.

Yes, he had the invitation letter and could now head to the Desire Tower to change history.

But the limit of what he could do seemed to be saving these few assassins; as for killing the King of Vampires like this in the Weird Tower, that was too sci-fi.

Without the quill, this group of assassins wouldn't even be able to wait for the arrival of people like Edward.

Wen Xishu decided to change the question:

"When did you become a vampire? I want to know your past. Regarding how you became a savior, and the source of your Lionheart Kingdom’s salvation plan."

Although killing the target would allow him to learn some of the King of Vampires' past from the character biography function brought by the Scorpion Dagger this time, hearing it from the person himself obviously provided more information.

Keynes was silent for a moment:

"That was a few years ago. I discovered that at night, my speed would be very fast, and I had an extreme craving for blood. Once, my younger sister’s finger was cut, and I helped her suck the wound, but I ended up biting off my sister’s finger."

"After that, I went to a mental hospital. But later, I began to attack doctors and nurses. I had an extreme craving for blood; only after being sated with blood did I have the appetite to enjoy normal food. Otherwise, all food would only make me feel it was disgusting and repulsive."

"In order to drink blood, I began to attack others."

"Later on... I should have gone to prison, but my life took a very major turn. As it turned out, people from the Intelligence Bureau found me, and they actually said I was a savior."

"I also found it ridiculous. I thought of vampires; I was like a vampire now. I had heard that strange things were appearing all over the world."

"I didn't expect that I was one of them, and a disgusting vampire at that."

"But the people from the Intelligence Bureau treated me like a treasure."

"The apocalypse was approaching, and many strange things were happening all over the world. They told me that my sister, whom I had bitten, began to become bloodthirsty, and she began to miss me... She posted online in the middle of the night, saying I was innocent."

"The doctors and nurses I had bitten were the same."

"They began to worship me."

"And at night, they also became extremely powerful. A nurse even snapped the necks of several men in an alley at night."

"And as their numbers kept growing... I began to become more and more powerful."

"The people from the Intelligence Bureau seemed to have known this for a long time and had observed me for a long time. It wasn't until after I should have gone to prison that they found me and began to ask me if I was willing to start the Bloodline Project together."

"This plan is very simple—Lionheart Kingdom needs to survive. In this global weird storm, every country has some talented people... these talented people determine the direction of the future. The person who determines the direction of Lionheart Kingdom is me."

"The people from the Intelligence Bureau said that if we chose the conventional way, like the Freedom Federation, trying to build an ark to escape, or hiding in the sky like Xiong Su, or hiding underground like Longxia... all of those are wrong."

"In the era of the weird, we must become a part of the weird. Just like the pandemic back then, our Lionheart Kingdom chose natural evolution."

"Of course, there were others who made the same choice, such as the Island Nation."

"But the Island Nation’s random evolution and radiation mutation were also extremely inhumane. Especially since it was full of uncontrollability. I also know that Hujiang seemed quite chaotic in those years, earning the infamy of Weird Talk City."

"The Intelligence Bureau told me that those bitten by me would only worship me fanatically, but they still have their own thoughts. Although bloodthirsty, even animal blood or artificial blood can satisfy their appetite, and... they are very powerful."

"At night, they have the strength and speed to easily break human limits, and some even master other abilities."

"We only need to abandon the day... abandon the sunlight, and we can still maintain human decency and survive this great evolution!"

"Compared to other countries, our salvation plan doesn't require hiding, nor does it require becoming monsters that are neither human nor ghost. Vampires at least still have a human appearance, don't they?"

"Next, we only need to overcome one difficulty, which is the blood production plan. In this way, we humans only need to reverse day and night."

Abandoning the sunlight made Wen Xishu feel a bit emotional.

He knew which country Lionheart Kingdom corresponded to, and he was also clear that this country had a nickname a hundred years ago—the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets.

The Lionheart Kingdom of a hundred years ago called itself the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets, and a hundred years later... it feared the rising sun and became the Empire of Eternal Night.

This was indeed somewhat ironic. The apocalypse.

Wen Xishu also noticed a key node and frowned:

"They formulated a salvation plan just because of these things that happened to you? You said earlier that they seemed to have known about you for a long time."

Cain shook his head:

"To be precise, it wasn't formulated by them, but by a woman holding a ram-headed staff... who formulated it. Perhaps you are not unfamiliar with that woman."

The eldest sister of the Twelve Constellations, Aries.

Wen Xishu thought of this person immediately.

This actually involved Aries? Wasn't she specialized in the ancient timeline?

But then again, the Bloodline Project did indeed reveal a sense of the ancient; the term "vampire" itself was very ancient.

As of now, counting the Reverse Seven Project that An Rong was in, it seemed that quite a few constellations had participated in some "salvation plans."

Wen Xishu knew that it would be difficult for him to have such a good opportunity again to directly interrogate a "savior."

The Cain before him, although defeated by him in the obsession world, would likely be an existence on the level of Mr. Jin if placed in the real world.

"How much do you know about that woman? Is your becoming a vampire related to her?"

(End of chapter)