Everyone stood frozen, staring at the severed arm on the ground and the frozen, ice-sculpted figure of Zahilter. For a moment, no one knew what to say.
“What happened here?” After a brief hesitation, Coarmy was the first to speak up, with everyone else turning their gaze toward Luca.
Naturally, Luca couldn’t tell the full truth. Instead, he gave a half-truth, half-lie: “I’m not entirely sure either. These people were tailing me and Detriumph to my house, and were about to make a move against me.”
As Luca took in the sight of Detriumph and the others, their heads all severed, he couldn’t help but gasp in shock. Dozens of people—killed with a single strike. The kid was ruthless.
“I’ll inform Mr. Drumph. You stay here for now,” Coarmy said, hurriedly pulling out a communicator and dialing Drumph’s number.
The Willow Family had a significant influence, and with so many of their people dead, even Coarmy and Quagmire didn’t have the authority to make decisions. They needed Drumph’s help.
In his office, when Drumph heard the news, he shot up from his chair, his eyes wide in disbelief. “Zahilter and Detriumph are dead?”
After learning the details, Drumph’s expression shifted, showing signs of confusion. While he didn’t get along with Zahilter, he knew the man wasn’t easy to kill. For him to have been slain so suddenly in Celephais would undoubtedly cause a stir.
Even Drumph couldn’t say for certain whether Luca would make it out of this unscathed.
After a brief pause, he ordered, “Seal off the area. No one should approach. I’ll head over immediately.”
Then, he made a few more calls, all to familiar faces in the capital.
…
As the central figure in this incident, Luca wasn’t about to go home and sleep. Instead, he was invited to the police station for a “chat.” While Donald and Darabont were anxious, they had no choice but to wait outside for updates.
Not long after, Drumph hurried into the interrogation room.
The mismatched socks he wore made it obvious just how rushed he had been.
He gave Luca an odd look and said, “You really are something. All those people, and you managed to take them all down without making a sound.”
“They were too weak,” Luca smiled and asked, “What’s the Willow Family’s stance on this?”
Drumph’s expression was strange. “I was about to mention that. They’re not pursuing it. In fact, they’ve decided to bury the incident. I honestly don’t know if they’re crazy or just playing some game.”
Their own family members had been killed, and instead of seeking revenge, they had swept the matter under the rug. It seemed bizarre, to say the least.
“Maybe,” Luca replied casually. He wasn’t the least bit surprised. Countries around the world were hunting for information on Zenith Technology Company. If it got out that the Willow Family had ties to Zenith, even their immense power wouldn’t be enough to save them. And even if they weren’t making a public fuss, Luca was certain these people wouldn’t give up quietly. Zadownlow, for example, was probably fuming with hatred toward him right now.
The Willow Family decided not to pursue the matter, and in the end, the whole incident fizzled out, handled as an accidental explosion at a factory.
However, the commotion Luca caused was too big to ignore. Many people in Celephais were jolted awake by the sudden explosion, and a number of them witnessed the stunning spectacle. They filmed it and posted the videos online, causing quite a stir.
In the video, the sky was split in two: on one side, the night was dark as ink, with the full moon hanging high; on the other, a fierce storm swept through, with snow pouring down like a waterfall. In the center of the storm, a silver figure could be seen hovering in the air, resembling a god!
The comment section below the video was filled with discussions, most of which were praising the special effects as realistic, with many people refusing to believe such a Transcendent being could exist. Only a few claimed they had witnessed a battle between two people, but, of course, no one believed them.
…
Although many had died, this wasn’t an ordinary incident—it was a Transcendent event. Naturally, it didn’t need to follow regular legal procedures.
After completing the usual formalities, Luca left the police station. Donald, Darabont, and the others had been waiting outside for quite some time. As soon as they saw him, they immediately gathered around.
“Are you okay?” Susie asked, concern in her voice.
Luca smiled and reassured her, “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
This wasn’t the time or place for further discussion. After saying his goodbyes to Quagmire and the others, Luca headed home with Susie and the rest.
On the way, Darabont and the others asked about what had happened.
Seeing that Luca wasn’t willing to talk much, they didn’t press the issue.
Before long, they arrived at the villa.
After calming everyone down, Luca retreated to his bedroom. The smile on his face slowly faded as he sat down and began to think.
Zadownlow’s strength was even greater than he had expected. In the end, the man had managed to use a spatial item to escape the lethal blow, despite losing an arm in the process.
This conflict was far from over. By killing Zahilter and severing Zadownlow’s arm, Luca had definitely made an enemy of the Willow Family. He knew they would come after him sooner or later.
But, at least he had gained something valuable from the whole ordeal.
Based on Zahilter’s actions, it was clear that Zenith Technology Company had sent them to kill him. The reason for the attack was simple: they had noticed the anomaly within him.
Luca had no idea how they had tracked him down, but one thing was certain—this was a major problem. Zenith Technology Company was backed by the Ancient Gods, entities with powers far beyond ordinary humans, both in the real world and in the game world.
If they were determined to kill him, Luca would have little chance of survival.
He had to get the Celestial Pearl as soon as possible.
His eyes flickered for a moment. Just as he was about to enter the game, the bedroom door suddenly opened.
Susie’s figure appeared in the doorway, her head poking in. “Are you asleep?”
A smile appeared on Luca’s face as he replied, “Not yet.”
Upon hearing this, Susie cautiously opened the door and walked in. She was wearing a thin white nightgown, with little bear slippers on her feet. She trotted over to Luca, throwing herself into his arms. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly wrinkled her nose and said, “You smell so bad.”
Luca froze for a moment before remembering. He had probably picked up the scent of blood.
“I’ll go take a shower,” Luca said as he patted her on the backside. However, Susie didn’t move.
“I want to shower too,” she looked up at him, her eyes flashing with mischief. After speaking, she deliberately rubbed her body against his.
Luca looked at her face, so close to his, and immediately understood what she meant.
“Then let’s shower together,” he smiled and didn’t refuse. With a wave of his hand, he cast a barrier to isolate the sounds from the room, then picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bathroom.
Not long after, the sound of rushing water and Susie’s giggles could be heard from the bathroom, gradually turning into gasps and murmurs of pleasure.
…
The next morning, with the first light of dawn creeping in, Luca was awoken by a phone call from Coarmy.
“Already starting this early?” He carefully pulled his arm out from under Susie’s head, massaging his sore back as he spoke.
He had expected to wait until noon for the operation to begin. He didn’t expect it to start so early. If he had known, he wouldn’t have spent so much time last night.
“I just received the notification myself. There’s a monster at a middle school, and there have already been casualties. We need to handle this quickly,” Coarmy said in a serious tone, then paused in surprise. “I hear someone else’s voice in the background. Aren’t you at home right now?”
“It’s just me, you must’ve heard wrong,” Luca glanced at Susie, who was still fast asleep. As he got dressed, he asked, “Where’s the location? I’ll head over right now.”
Coarmy didn’t suspect anything. “Celephais Middle School.”
Luca hesitated for a moment. He remembered seeing that name in some previous documents. If he recalled correctly, Celephais Middle School had been mentioned in the files.
But it’s summer break. Even if there were some students still attending make-up classes, there couldn’t be that many. And surely, the school would have evacuated by now, right?
Unable to explain everything over the phone, Luca hung up and immediately took a taxi to the center of Celephais City.
He was a former student of Celephais Middle School, so he was very familiar with the area.
By the time he arrived at Celephais Middle School, Quagmire and the others were already there, and even Yelling and his group had arrived.
Outside the school, a perimeter had been set up, with a large number of armed police officers stationed around.
Passersby were casting bewildered glances, unsure of what had happened inside.
“What’s the situation?” Luca asked as he looked at the tightly closed school gates. Even from a distance, he could feel a strong, oppressive demonic energy emanating from within, causing him to frown.
Coarmy rubbed his temples and replied, “There are a few Silver-grade monsters inside. A group of students who had sneaked in to play basketball got trapped in the gym. I was about to have Quagmire and the others go in, but they’re running out of time. We need to rescue them quickly.”
Upon hearing this, Luca understood the situation. Without further delay, he turned to Quagmire and the others and said, “Let’s go. We need to get in there and see what’s going on.”
With time running out, no one questioned him. They grabbed the briefcases with the equipment and entered Celephais Middle School.
Onlookers, seeing the group with the briefcases, grew curious about their identities. Someone murmured, “Are they negotiators? They look so professional.”
The police had officially stated that there were hostage-takers inside, so the onlookers’ assumption wasn’t entirely out of place.
As they entered the gates of the school, they were greeted by the sight of a spacious campus, with the gym located behind the main academic building.
Luca and the others made their way across the campus and through the teaching block. It wasn’t long before they reached the red-colored gymnasium.
At the outer perimeter of the gym, they saw a group of grotesque creatures that resembled spiders. Each of these monsters stood at least two meters tall, with grayish-white skin and multiple malformed arms sprouting from their bodies.
The most striking feature was their heads—human-like faces that were stiff and devoid of hair, with hollow, dark eyes that sent a chill down anyone’s spine.
Faintly, the group could already hear the panicked roars and cries for help coming from inside the gymnasium.