Free Web NovelChapter 202: Chapter 192: Radiation 4
As he gazed down at the rapidly approaching sea of fog, Lin Hui mentally reviewed the information he’d gotten from Hong Ling and the others.
Blood Ancestors, Fog People... it turned out they all grew stronger by devouring powerful individuals.
’In that case, what the Good Heart Sect said about me being watched by people from the Inner City... could it be some Blood Ancestor-level entity? Are they trying to groom me, waiting for me to mature, only to devour my power in the future?’
The thought flashed through Lin Hui’s mind.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
And the more he thought, the greater his sense of danger grew.
’This won’t do. As soon as I get back, I have to find a No-Fog Zone somewhere farther away and set it up as a second, backup safe zone.’
The Moth Car flew much faster than it had on the way in.
About half an hour later.
Lin Hui parked the Moth Car at the same flight point they had departed from. After a brief chat with the person in charge, he paid a month’s upkeep fee and then returned to Qingfeng Temple.
Aside from broadening his horizons, his true gain from this trip to the city was the Wind Disaster Affinity Special Effect.
With the possibility of powerful figures from the Inner City watching him, Lin Hui’s sense of danger became unbearable. He donned his four masks and headed straight for the Fog Area.
This time, he decided to test the limits of his Wind Disaster Affinity and his own strength. Afterward, he would venture beyond the Fog Area surrounding Tuyue to pinpoint a suitable ruin in a No-Fog Zone.
* ƒrēewebnovel.com
*
*
「Lin Mansion.」
Lin Shunhe’s face darkened as he read the reply from the organization.
"Master, what does the letter say?" Elder Du asked in a low voice from beside him.
"The higher-ups are telling me to be patient for now," Lin Shunhe replied, his voice low. "This is a critical time. The black fog has sealed the passages between cities, which means the corrupting influence outside will be much stronger, and the monsters will be greatly enhanced. They will wait until this period is over before deciding whether to dispatch an emissary to deal with it."
"So Lord Black Face wants you to feign ignorance," Elder Du sighed.
"..." Lin Shunhe fell silent. He released the power of his Evil Soldier, and a black shadow flashed across his hand, devouring the letter.
"Master," Elder Du cautioned urgently.
"...I know. I understand... We’ve gotten through things like this before, haven’t we?" Lin Shunhe muttered. "I still need to deliver the bereavement payment to the Zhao family. I’ll go see to it. Now that Old Zhao is gone, it’s just his wife and child... How will they get by now...?"
This was already the tenth disappearance in town this month alone. He’d thought it would stop after one or two cases, but this time was completely different. The string of disappearances felt like someone had found a good spot and was intent on shearing it for all it was worth.
What was even stranger was that despite so many people vanishing, almost no one in town was talking about it. The Government Office had disguised the disappearances as various accidents, completely concealing any common threads between the cases.
Lin Shunhe instructed Elder Du to watch over the mansion in his absence. He then took a few men with him, crossed several blocks, and came to some farmland on the outskirts of town.
In the middle of the fields stood a small, square, grayish-white courtyard containing a three-room house. This was the Zhao Family’s home.
Old Zhao had been one of his caravan leaders. He was a kind and righteous man, well-liked by many, and Lin Shunhe was no exception. They were even regular card-playing buddies.
But now...
Amidst fields of dark green and pale yellow, Lin Shunhe led his men along a narrow path toward the courtyard.
WHOOSH.
Suddenly, a gentle breeze swept by.
Lin Shunhe and the three men behind him froze in unison, their bodies locked in place as if someone had hit a pause button.
It wasn’t just them. For a hundred meters in every direction, the surrounding fields fell utterly still, as if a scene in a movie had been paused.
SWISH SWISH.
Two figures—a handsome man and a beautiful woman in white robes with gold trim—soared through the air above Lin Shunhe and his men, making a beeline for the courtyard.
The pair landed gracefully on the muddy ground outside the courtyard gate.
"This is the place," the man of the pair explained with a smile. "I was chatting with the man of the house on the street the other day, and he mentioned that his family has a history of long-lived elders. One even lived to be over a hundred. He claimed it’s because they all have exceptionally healthy and strong hearts. That’s the secret to their longevity."
"And the truth?" asked the woman. She had soft, waist-length golden hair and skin so pale it seemed to glow, yet her eyes were as dark as two black holes.
"The truth is, he wasn’t lying. I dug out his heart, examined it, and absorbed his lifespan. It was indeed close to a hundred years. So, the moment I found such a prime resource, I immediately brought you here to enjoy it," the man said with a smile.
"You already took the best one. What was the point of bringing me here?" the woman said impatiently.
"Not at all. There’s still a child in the house," the man chuckled. "Only four or five years old, the perfect age when lifespan is at its peak. Absorbing it will definitely make your skin even more supple."
"Fine, then. I’ll give it a try," the woman said. "Ever since someone here absorbed a one-hundred-and-fifty-year lifespan, more and more nobles have been flocking to this town. It’s a wonder you could still find a decent resource."
The woman nodded reluctantly, accepting his reasoning.
The two pushed their way in. To them, the locked wooden door was like paper, breaking with a gentle touch.
A few minutes later, two figures flew out of the courtyard, each clutching a person. One captive was large, the other small.
The larger one was a woman—Old Zhao’s wife. The smaller was a child, a little girl in a light-green padded coat, her hair tied in two small pigtails.
No living creature nearby could witness this scene, as they had all been rendered temporarily unconscious.
Except for Lin Shunhe.
He saw everything.
Having joined the Good Heart Sect and met many of its experts who traveled to and from the Inner City, he recognized the power that had just paralyzed him.
It was Void Power, dispersed to affect a wide area!
It was also combined with a wide-area application of the Heart God Technique. That man and woman were masters of at least the Priest Level.
Lin Shunhe had heard that they could also absorb the lifespans of others—that the nobles of the Inner City’s Moon Tower could devour human lives—but he never expected to witness it with his own eyes.
Lin Shunhe stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.
His fists slowly, unconsciously, clenched.
He had previously suspected other causes for Old Zhao’s disappearance, but now it was clear... The nobles from the Inner City’s Moon Tower had learned of his family’s hereditary longevity, so they had come for him, to tear out his heart and devour his lifespan.
And now, having found Old Zhao to be a ’good source,’ these members of the Original Blood Nobility hadn’t hesitated for a moment before returning to seize his wife and daughter...
Lin Shunhe wanted to intervene, but he was held in place by the Void Power and paralyzed by the fear of ruining his organization’s plans.
By the time he finally resolved to act, they were already gone...
"Huh? Master, why did you suddenly stop walking?" one of his men finally asked in confusion.
"It’s nothing..." Lin Shunhe had seen this many times before; he knew they would have no memory of what had just happened.
Aside from him, people with insufficient strength wouldn’t even have a memory of what those two from the Original Blood Nobility had done. For them, even detecting their presence was an extremely difficult task...
Gazing at the now-empty courtyard in the distance, Lin Shunhe stood still as a nameless rage built and surged within him.
"Let’s go. We’re heading back," he said softly.
"Master, weren’t we going to the Zhao Family’s home?" one of his men asked, confused.
"There’s no need. It seems no one is home," Lin Shunhe said flatly. He was a father himself. Every day, his daughter Lin Xiaoliu’s endearingly clumsy form would toddle around him, calling him "Daddy" in her sweet little voice.
He loved Lin Xiaoliu dearly. So when he saw the Zhao Family’s chubby little girl being carried off by the Original Blood Nobility, his rage had burned to an absolute peak.
But his own power was too limited... and the organization just kept telling him to be patient. This wasn’t the first time.
He had been patient more than once... Just how much longer did he have to wait?
He had asked Lord Black Face a few days ago.
But he received no reply.
’Perhaps... blindly relying on others was my mistake from the very beginning...’ Lin Shunhe closed his eyes, feeling the fire raging in his heart.
’I have to do something...’
He told himself.
If he didn’t do something, if things went on like this, he would go mad sooner or later.
’The Outer City has always been chaotic anyway. If one or two of the Original Blood who come here to snatch people happened to die here...’ An incredibly dangerous thought inexplicably rose in Lin Shunhe’s mind.
Of course, he couldn’t hunt the Original Blood Nobility himself, but he knew who could. As a Hall Master for a branch of the Good Heart Sect, while he didn’t directly command its martial forces, he could easily find a pretext to mobilize them.
He knew he was playing with fire, but... when he thought of all the people who had disappeared—of the brothers he had known for so long...
Lin Shunhe knew that, no matter what, he had to try.
If something happened to him, his connection with Liu Wu Jun would likely protect his family from being implicated.
At worst, he would pay with his own life.
At this very moment, Lin Shunhe felt as if he were young again, squatting outside the South Nine Gates, seeing the Wanfu Meat being transported out for the very first time.
That impulse to do *something*, to accomplish *something* in order to find peace for his heart—it was all so familiar.
*
*
*
「Fog Area, Jade Sea.」 frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
The jade-green ocean churned with violent waves beneath the fog.
"My lord, I beg you! Have mercy and spare us!!"
On a black cargo ship that had just docked, its sails already lowered, more than half the crew lay dead on the deck.
The captain, a heavily bearded man from the green-eyed Python Race, was on his knees, weeping in despair and kowtowing repeatedly to a figure standing on the deck.
"We truly have no valuables! This is just a refugee ship, we’re all fleeing from Xingdiao! We ran out of food and supplies on the journey long ago! My lord, please, find it in your heart to let us go... If we make it back, we will burn incense in your name for the rest of our lives!!"
The captain’s words had no effect on the figure.
Dressed in a gold-trimmed white robe, he seemed to be gazing out at the distant Jade Sea, his eyes apparently piercing the thick fog to see the waters beyond.
"Your noise is starting to annoy me."
The man’s expression remained unchanged as he lowered his head and glanced at the captain.
"My lord..." The captain trembled and cried out urgently.
But he had barely started to speak.
POP!
His entire body exploded in an instant, like a balloon pierced by a needle.
Countless fragments of flesh, bone, and clothing scattered into the fog, falling into the Jade Sea to be swallowed by the waves.
"Husband!!" Seeing this, the cabin door flew open. A beautiful young woman with tears streaming down her face rushed out, scrambling frantically toward where the captain had been.
"Oh? This one is quite beautiful. I haven’t harvested anything worthwhile on this trip; she’ll make a fine gift for my little brother." Seeing the woman’s attractive features and figure, the man’s interest was piqued.
He immediately raised a hand and pointed at the woman.
An invisible wave of Void Power descended, instantly freezing the woman in place.
"Time to go. I suppose this trip had some meager gains after all." The man rose into the air, launching himself from a point of white light condensed from his Internal Strength, and gracefully headed back toward Tuyue.
But just as he leaped onto the shore.
A man in white holding a sword suddenly emerged from the fog on the bank.
The man wore four masks, and his black hair was tied in a high ponytail that fell to his waist.
Despite being in the Fog Area, he moved as if on a leisurely stroll, completely unhurried and at ease.
It was none other than Lin Hui, who had been searching for a ruin in a No-Fog Zone.
