Chapter 1 The Red Lotus and the Butcher's Blade

The extradimensional space was filled with shattered flesh and blood. For some reason, after Augustus's mutated self-destruction, his flesh and blood rapidly fermented and expanded, creating a disgusting stench.

Fortunately, Suren had many puppets and threads. Before the flesh and blood could fill the space, he found what he wanted.

A simple ruby ring and a long dagger with a crimson glow.

These two treasures were naturally the Ring of Lilith the Vampire and the demonic weapon, the Dragon Slayer Dagger of Sigurd.

As for whether there were other items in the space, such as storage rings or the implanted devices and materials separated from the corpse, Suren planned to clean them up slowly when he had time.

Now, time was of the essence, and he had to make a quick escape.

After all, by reaping Augustus's memories, Suren realized how much trouble he had stirred up.

This was an old monster who had lived for over a hundred years.

He was also the real power behind the Rodrigues family.

The current Great Councilor Borg Rodrigues, who held a seat in Congress, was the old monster's grandson!

Now that Augustus was dead, the Rodrigues family would surely be furious.

Suren was also glad that this guy, probably to hide his identity, hadn't brought any high-level bodyguards.

Moreover, if someone hadn't been trying to disrupt the government of Lingdun and had severely injured him with a surprise attack last night, Suren wouldn't have been confident in killing Augustus in his prime.

However, although the risk was high, killing this guy was indeed very rewarding.

Not just the treasures, but also the alchemical knowledge and various secrets.

This old monster had been stuck at the threshold of the seventh rank for over a hundred years. His knowledge, the depth of his understanding of the laws, and his grasp of alchemy were absolutely the greatest of anyone Suren had ever reaped!

Reaping the knowledge of a hundred-year-old professional couldn't be compared to reaping five twenty-year-old professionals.

When true knowledge accumulated to a certain depth, the ability to understand the world would undergo a qualitative change.

Moreover, Augustus was the power-holder of a top-tier Luying noble family, and one of the few people in this world who could access the pinnacle of knowledge. His insights were definitely not comparable to ordinary people.

He never expected to capsize in a ditch this time.

Suren didn't know how the person behind the scenes knew this guy was an old monster, but it had certainly benefited him.

If he could truly digest this harvest, Suren's understanding of alchemy would definitely take another big step.

However, these weren't things to consider at the moment.

Suren stored the spoils and asked the black crow on his shoulder, "Great Crow, should we run?"

The black crow cawed, "No problem."

Hearing this, Suren felt relieved and stepped out of the reappearing Extradimensional Door.

...

"Brothers, search! Be sure to find those two guys!"

"The higher-ups have spoken, kill them on sight! All teams, report your situation!"

"The corridor on the first floor is clear!"

"The terrace on the second floor is clear!"

"..."

As soon as he came out, Suren saw a sleazy guy guarding the door, imitating the tone of the people upstairs and shouting, "The warehouse on the first basement level is clear!"

Suren's eyes twitched.

Looking at that lewd expression, who else could it be but Old Cowboy?

This guy had changed into a set of gangster leather clothes and pants, carrying a shotgun and wearing a thick gold chain around his neck. It was probably because of this disguise that he had infiltrated the enemy and hadn't been caught by those gangsters.

The key was, no one in this gangster's lair had noticed anything unusual?

That was real skill.

Seeing Suren come out, the guy quickly walked over, "Oh, Mr. Client, you're finally out! That..."

Before he could speak, Suren saw the genuine anxiety in his eyes and said directly, "Amelia is alive. My doctor is treating her now, she should be fine."

Hearing this, Old Cowboy visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

He patted his chest exaggeratedly and muttered to the air, "That reckless girl, I told her not to touch this case, but she had to. Now she's in big trouble, she should learn her lesson..."

Although he was a bit of a coward, Suren didn't have a bad impression of this Old Cowboy.

Moreover, he felt like he saw some of his own shadow in this guy.

After muttering to himself, Old Cowboy remembered something and said to Suren in an exaggerated tone, "Oh, there are so many people outside, you have to be careful! And there's a barrier of some kind glowing outside, blue and shiny, like a kind of boundary, probably to restrict spatial techniques."

Old Cowboy was a bit of a coward, but he was very observant and his hints were very obvious.

Hearing this, Suren looked out through the ventilation hole in the wall and indeed saw a blue barrier in the sky.

"Prism Barrier?"

Suren was slightly surprised.

Even without the All-Knowing Eye, he recognized what the shimmering blue barrier was at a glance.

He had encountered this barrier once before.

It was the barrier used by the North Sea Fleet in the Battle of Moros City-state to restrict his spatial movement.

Suren pondered, "So the North Sea Fleet is also involved? That's not right, Duke Raphael and Oleg, the King of the North Sea, are enemies, how could they cooperate? Moreover, the North Sea Fleet should be infiltrated by the Lance family now, there's no reason for them to come after me."

A bit unexpected, but also reasonable.

Knowing that he had spatial abilities, they would inevitably have means to restrict them.

Now that the person was killed, it was time for the next step.

That was to bring the "murderer" who assassinated the top noble to justice.

However, this wasn't quite the situation he had expected.

There wasn't a single sixth-ranker in the entire building?

...

In Suren's perception, although there were many people in this Martin Arms Company headquarters, and it was very noisy, they were all low-level gangsters.

Suren had originally anticipated that after he came out, this place would be surrounded by countless Lingdun police officers, military intelligence agents, or sixth or seventh-rank experts from other extraordinary organizations.

As soon as he dared to show his face, he would be captured in a matter of seconds.

Then the mastermind's conspiracy would succeed.

Suren would be captured, interrogated in various ways, and only by admitting that he was "Fick" would he have a chance to survive. But no one could save him. The next step would be to be at the mercy of others.

Because he had guessed this outcome, his original plan was to directly consume a large chunk of [Plane Crystal] after killing Augustus and not give those pursuers a chance at all.

But now, it seemed unnecessary?

But why weren't there any experts coming to arrest him?

Suren recalled all his previous arrangements, and a flash of inspiration made him realize, "Tsk tsk... that Shadow Earl has quite a bit of influence."

The Lingdun police and military intelligence were controlled by the Bonaparte royal family. Even if the major nobles had some connections within, they could never completely control them.

So, this was probably not Yekaterina's doing.

Then the only possibility was that Suren had Sabina ask the Shadow Earl how much trouble that "pipe gold coin" could solve.

Now it seemed the use was very significant.

[Plane Crystals] were rare treasures that couldn't be found, and they were gone once used. If he could save them, Suren didn't plan to waste them.

Moreover, he also wanted to see what other tricks the mastermind had up his sleeve, without the expected capture. Maybe he could force some rats to jump out and expose themselves.

Besides, if it was the Rodrigues family who came, Suren wouldn't mind killing a few more.

The essence of a evil god's manipulation of believers was a large-scale PUA. Suren didn't think that believers with Bloodline Worms in their bodies could possibly change their minds. The best way to redeem them was to send them to hell.

He could also reap a little experience along the way.

The knights of top noble families mostly came from major alchemical academies. Reaping one could yield more knowledge than killing a hundred pirates.

Thinking of this, Suren walked up the stairs, planning to leave this building directly.

Old Cowboy didn't know how big this incident was, but he had a vague guess. He watched Suren walk out like this and asked in surprise, "You... you're just going out like that? Want to consider other routes?"

Someone so cautious shouldn't be able to see that there were dangers lurking everywhere.

Then the guy answered his own question and suggested a route that matched his stable personality, "What I mean is, I took some time to check the drainage pipes in this building, they're quite spacious. Well... although they're a little dirty, they're safe."

Suren didn't explain much, smiled, and shook his head, "I have other arrangements. Be careful yourself."

Old Cowboy's expression twitched slightly with awkwardness, but he didn't forget to say one more thing, reminding him, "I think it's more important to be safe. I have a feeling... this thing seems to be coming for you."

Suren raised an eyebrow noncommittally and said calmly, "Yeah. It's coming for me."

That old detective had only this much information and could already deduce that this game was for him, he really had great skills.

Old Cowboy frowned and didn't say anything more.

Suren didn't talk nonsense either. He put away the unowned Extradimensional Door and walked straight up the stairs.

A gangster saw him immediately and shouted, "He's here!"

Before he could finish speaking, a gunshot rang out and a bloody hole appeared in the man's forehead.

As soon as he showed his face, the entire building instantly became lively.

Like a summer thunderstorm, the sounds of various guns, "噼里啪啦," were deafening.

...

The secrecy surrounding Augustus's hiding here to prolong his life was very high.

Not to mention outsiders, not even many people within the Rodrigues family knew about it.

After Lawrence the Razor Party's Bear was killed by Suren, no one knew what was going on.

However, Parrot Street was the base for various arms smuggling gangs in Lingdun, and all the major gangs had been calling for reinforcements. In a short time, most of the gangs in Lingdun City had been mobilized.

When Suren came out, the streets were already filled with various modified motorcycles, and the gangsters holding weapons were packed like sardines.

Suddenly, gunshots rang out, and before the gangsters at the door could figure out what was going on, they saw a man holding a black umbrella to shield himself from the rain and carrying a black scythe, walking out steadily.

Just as this young man in black walked out of the hail of bullets, a terrifying aura of death instantly enveloped the entire place, and hundreds of people retreated in unison.

Suren looked up at the sky. At this moment, the dense rain in his eyes seemed to be stained with blood.

A faint mist had begun to drift through the streets.

In Lingdun, the foggy days were gloomy even during the day.

At this time, Suren seemed to sense some gazes. He turned his face and looked at the distant towers with clear views, Delling Street at seven o'clock, Fish Market Street at nine o'clock, and Tailor Street at three o'clock... many groups of people were hiding behind the scenes watching.

But none of them seemed to have any intention of intervening.

Seeing this, Suren's mouth curled up slightly, "The water in Lingdun is really deep."

...

At the same time, when Suren looked over, the people on several towers also saw him.

On the clock tower at the crossroads of Delling Street, a thousand meters away, several people in black police uniforms were watching with binoculars.

A man with a handlebar mustache and a monocle led the group, exuding an imposing aura.

He had three silver police stars on his shoulders.

This was Megan Charles, the chief of the Lingdun General Police Department, a seventh-rank professional known as "One-Eyed Dragon."

Beside him, the communicator kept ringing.

He had been here for nearly ten minutes, but he had been watching the show the whole time, with no intention of interfering.

Finally, a subordinate received a very difficult communication and couldn't help but say, "Chief, are we really not going? People at headquarters said that the person who was assassinated might be a big shot from the Rodrigues family. And the bureau has confirmed that the councilor is furious and wants our General Police Department to rescue the person. The higher-ups are facing a lot of pressure..."

Charles didn't put down the binoculars and said in a complicated tone, "It's not that we're not going, it's that we can't go."

The subordinate said again, "But if something really happens, how will we answer to the councilor?"

Charles didn't want to explain too much and only said, "Didn't you notice that the people from military intelligence are here too, but no one is doing anything? Things aren't as simple as you think. The big shots are fighting, it's not something we little police officers can interfere in. Don't blindly choose sides, or you'll get into big trouble..."

"..."

The subordinate seemed to understand, but he didn't say anything more.

...

On the other side, eight hundred meters away on Fish Market Street, on the roof of a three-story building.

Several men in trench coats were also closely watching the battlefield.

The rain was falling, but strangely, it seemed to be separated by an invisible barrier when it fell on them, not wetting their trench coats at all.

"Boss, are we really not going to intervene? The big shots in Congress put pressure on our military intelligence, saying we must capture that murderer on Parrot Street. We've been here for so long, if we don't show up, I'm afraid the director will be under a lot of pressure tomorrow."

"Then let the bald director worry about it himself. That person said he wanted to protect this guy, who in the vast Lingdun City dares to interfere?"

"Ah...? So we're just watching?"

"What else? We can't get involved in this matter. Just watch the show. Didn't you notice that those old foxes from the General Police Department have been here for a long time, also watching the show? Hahaha, interesting. It seems that a big shot originally set up a game and wanted us to clean up the mess. Now it's good, that person intervened, things are out of control, tsk tsk... the next scene will be a good show."

"Oh..."

"Don't be idle either. Write down all the combat personnel in the bureau who disobeyed orders, and all the people who put pressure on us and smoothed things over... someone will deal with them later."

"Yes, boss!"

...

Three o'clock, Tailor Street.

"Oh, my precious daughter, look, look, the man's out! Hahaha, sure enough, a fight broke out..."

Bartolo was watching with binoculars with great interest.

Seeing the fight break out again, this Duke was like a qualified spectator, explaining and commenting, "Oh, this kid hasn't been seen for a few months, this domineering aura is used so smoothly, tsk tsk... not bad, not bad. Looks like he's had a high-level expert guiding him. Oh, I almost forgot, the mysterious Mr. Mirror from the Dawn organization is an eighth-rank..."

Speaking, he blinked his mouth, "But then again, this kid's face is really big. The General Police Department, the Royal Security Office, and the military intelligence have all been here for a while, but no one dares to stop him. Haha, I originally thought I would have to help, but now it seems unnecessary."

Hearing this, Yekaterina also looked over, obviously guessing something, and murmured, "I didn't expect that person would come out to protect him..."

Bartolo obviously knew who his daughter was talking about and echoed, "Yes, that person hasn't been involved in politics for a long time. The 'Mist Moon Coup' was so big back then, but he didn't show up, I didn't expect he'd do it for this kid this time. Tsk tsk..."

Speaking here, the previously serious tone suddenly changed, and this Duke suddenly went off-topic again, "But it seems that your vision in choosing people is really good."

Yekaterina had long been accustomed to her old man's teasing, her expression didn't change, and she said, "That old man has a big picture, he only cares about Luying and alchemical civilization. He probably thinks the 'Dawn' ideology is good. As he comes to the end of his life, he probably wants to leave something behind for the world."

Bartolo pursed his lips, obviously not interested in political matters.

Instead, he continued to watch the battlefield, and his gossiping heart burned again, "Katyusha, who do you think that kid killed? As soon as he came to Parrot Street, the entire Lingdun intelligence department almost exploded. The family intelligence team just sent a message saying that there's a big movement on the Rodrigues family's side, they're ignoring the royal ban and gathering the Knights in the city. If I didn't know it was for this, I would have thought they were going to stage another 'Mist Moon Coup' like they did a few years ago."

Hearing this, Yekaterina's eyes also showed some doubt, but it gradually became clear, and she said, "No one I thought of before matched up. It seems it can only be that legendary 'Shadow of Rodrigues.'"

Bartolo's eyes turned, "Hehe, if that person was really killed, it'll be lively."

After a pause, he thought of something again, "However, looking at the current situation, the official side won't intervene, the military is suppressed by General Rostov, and top-level professionals can't come. These people are probably not going to be able to keep that kid. Hehe, Raphael worked so hard to set up such a big game, I'm afraid it's going to fail now, I really want to see how wonderful his expression is..."

...

Suren fought his way out of the Martin Company's headquarters.

Those gangsters, whose strongest were only third or fourth rank, couldn't stop him at all.

But after all, it was an arms district, and the fight was lively, all kinds of guns that could be seen on the market were revealed.

And the best goods were military firearms smuggled from Mafa.

But in Suren's current eyes, that's all they were.

A thousand guns and single-soldier artillery pieces were fired at him, but most of them were blocked by the gargoyles.

The rest couldn't break the [Rune Adamantine] body with the aura of dominance.

Guns weren't completely without threat, if there were enough alchemical bullets, they could still hurt people.

But even if the Lingdun gangs were rich, they couldn't burn millions on ammunition.

Moreover, when faced with threatening heavy firepower points, a few swipes of the black scythe would extinguish them instantly.

Whoever dared to shoot would be decapitated in the next second.

After killing a few more times, the street gradually quieted down.

Besides, the black scythe, crow, and gargoyle costumes were too special, and the gangsters recognized that the person they were besieging was actually the legendary... Death himself!

Who wouldn't be afraid of a madman who dared to kill twenty thousand people, let alone seeing the real person now?

Without top-level professionals, no one could stop Suren.

...

Suren didn't intend to make things difficult for these gangsters who didn't even know why they were involved in this matter.

If no one acted, he wouldn't cause more killings.

He held a black umbrella and walked leisurely on Parrot Street.

The rain washed the blood from the corpses onto the street, and leather boots stepped in the scarlet water, making a splashing sound.

Suren looked at the "Prism Barrier" around the street and at the black crow on his shoulder.

He once again marveled at the influence of that Shadow Earl. Even now, he hadn't seen a seventh-rank professional come to intercept him.

If no one else came, Suren felt he really had to slip away.

However, he obviously couldn't leave so easily, at least the Rodrigues family was coming.

Just then, he suddenly heard the orderly sounds of marching, "铿嚓""铿嚓."

It came from the corner of the street and was getting closer and closer.

Looking over, at the end of the misty street, a fully organized Golden Armored Knight suddenly appeared. They wore standardized full-body golden heavy armor, held spears and giant shields, and rode identical third-rank magical beasts, Scaled Bone Horses.

The entire legion was gleaming with gold, looking like a golden flood appearing on the street.

"Golden Holy Shield Heavy Armored Knight Legion?"

Looking at these golden knights, Suren knew that the Rodrigues family had arrived.

This was one of the most elite knight legions in Luying, along with Barrett's "Holy Judgment Legion," and its combat power was extraordinary.

Looking over, there were a full three hundred riders.

This was a number that violated the Luying royal family's city marching ban.

In his soul perception, these guys had strong soul fluctuations, starting at the third rank, with the fourth rank as the backbone, several fifth-rank professionals, and two sixth-rank legion commanders.

They weren't like the scattered gangsters on the street.

Three hundred people, their auras connected, giving the feeling of an unbreakable steel wall.

As soon as this group of golden knights appeared, the gangsters all hid far away.

On the vast street, there was only Suren, confronting those three hundred golden knights whose faces couldn't be seen clearly.

...

Seeing Suren holding a black umbrella on the street, the legion commander raised his hand, and everyone stopped.

Orders were strictly enforced.

Then, pointing with his knight's spear, the warhorses all took their first step forward.

"踏!"

"踏! 踏! 踏!"

"..."

Immediately, the entire knight legion suddenly charged.

The auras of the three hundred golden knights converged into one, becoming sharper and sharper, and finally gathered into a visible golden spear!

Facing the sharp edge, Suren's pupils suddenly contracted, and he was locked on by the legion's killing intent, his back tingling, and he exclaimed, "What a strong legion combined attack!"

He had no doubt that even if gargoyles stood in front of this legion's charge, they would be crushed instantly.

He had long heard that the heavy armor of this Golden Holy Shield Heavy Armored Knight Legion was of extremely high quality.

Now, looking at it, it was indeed extraordinary.

The overall quality reached the "Golden" level, and those officer armors even reached the "Dark Gold" level.

Suren identified the armor's defensive level at a glance. This thing was difficult for even a fifth-rank professional to break.

But the cost was also extremely high. Not to mention secret blueprints, the material cost alone wasn't cheaper than Suren's fifth-rank puppets!

It was a bit expensive, but it had its worth.

With this armor, it was equivalent to having three hundred golden knights with fifth-rank combat power!

"It's all money, what a pity..."

Suren sighed in his heart.

Even seventh-rank professionals wouldn't dare to directly confront this legion's charge, and he naturally didn't have this ability.

Moreover, this charge wasn't just a physical collision. This kind of legion combined attack could also remotely activate spear qi, which was equivalent to gathering the combat power of all the knights and condensing a combined spell, with a power roughly equivalent to... at least a seventh-rank spell!

This was also Luying's most traditional and powerful legion attack mode.

Under normal circumstances, once locked on by the knights within the charging distance, there was no escape.

Unless Suren could teleport thousands of meters away, he wouldn't be able to escape the knights' qi lock.

Moreover, these iron bumps in full-body armor were obviously suppressing his puppet legion.

The golden armor's defensive rank reached the fifth rank.

Attacks below this rank were completely "immune."

It also came with cheering, excitement, frenzy, and other legion auras, almost immune to most negative status attacks.

Even seventh-rank professionals would have a headache looking at it.

Suren didn't have a puppet legion as extravagant as three hundred fifth-rank puppets. If he really had to fight head-on, he would be crushed instantly.

The black scythe could kill.

But even if he hacked one by one, he wouldn't be able to kill many in a short time.

By that time, the cavalry would have already charged back and forth and chopped him into mincemeat.

Normally speaking, unless it was legion versus legion, this kind of charge was unsolvable.

Unfortunately, that was the past.

Now, times had changed.

...

After fighting with Luying for hundreds of years, the Mafa Empire had long researched countless ways to break this kind of knight legion charge.

Suren had previously kidnapped a group of Mafa mechanical engineers in the North Sea, and he happened to know about some secret research projects.

Faced with the golden flood rushing towards him, he didn't dodge or avoid it. With a condense spell, a few strangely shaped machines suddenly fell down around him.

These machines looked like cannons, but they weren't large-caliber gun barrels, but dense, honeycomb-like muzzles, with thirty-six gun barrels on each machine.

The Mafa military called this secret weapon the Thirty-Six Barrel Storm Warhammer.

And Suren felt that the name Metal Storm, which was similar to the weapons in his previous life, was more appropriate.

For mechanical warriors, all fear stemmed from insufficient firepower.

As long as the firepower was sufficient, fear?

It didn't exist.

Currently, the top-level six-wheeled Vulcan cannons that the Mafa military had revealed on the battlefield had a maximum rate of fire of six thousand rounds per minute, which was already a very terrifying number.

And this Thirty-Six Barrel Storm Warhammer had a single barrel rate of fire of up to 60,000 rounds per minute. The theoretical rate of fire for the entire machine exceeded one million rounds per minute.

It wasn't even in the same order of magnitude.

Even for the Mafa Empire, this kind of "super gun" was only in the laboratory stage and was far from being mass-produced.

Because there was a problem that hadn't been solved, which was the volume of ammunition for individual soldiers.

The rate of fire was terrifying, but the premise was that there was enough ammunition.

Consuming a million rounds of ammunition per minute, assuming each round weighed ten grams, a million rounds was ten tons, requiring a very large ammunition supply compartment!

It was roughly equivalent to a few trucks loaded with bullets, which were only enough for this weapon to fire for a few minutes.

And Suren's void law ability perfectly solved this problem. He could arrange folded space within the gun barrels, allowing this theoretical super-gun blueprint to become a few physical objects. (This was also one of the main research projects of that group of Mafa mechanics in the North Sea.)

This thing also had quite a few shortcomings, such as a low aiming star and very troublesome ammunition loading.

But its use was much simpler and more brutal.

It was more useful than shells and could easily tear through various solid defensive devices.

Such as tearing apart the decks of mechanical ships and solid city walls.

And also, for example...

Smashing the armor of this kind of Luying traditional heavy armored cavalry legion in front of him!

Watching the golden flood rushing over, Suren visibly painfully pulled his fingers, triggering the switch of the Thirty-Six Barrel Storm Warhammer.

In an instant, it sounded like ten thousand thunders exploding, deafening.

Alchemical bullets of various colored flames poured out of the gun barrels, like a fire dragon's breath.

In an instant, on the vast street, a metal storm of death swept towards the knight legion!

...

Seeing this terrifying and exaggerated scene.

Not only the Golden Knight Legion,

In the distance,

The various parties watching the battle were all greatly shocked!