Chapter 304 - -

Chapter 304: Chapter 301 - "Ding Dong!"

"Ding Dong!"

[Special Soul Clan Blood

Type: Potion Class Prop

Effect: Apply to wounds, recovering 10% of your total health per second for ten seconds.

Description: Apply type, this item is restricted to use by Soul Clan.]

A heart-shaped stone as red as blood, like a diamond, fell into the bloodied water.

Su Ming’an silently picked it up and wiped the blood off of it.

Blazing white lightning illuminated the ruby stone, making it look stunning and glittering with a warmth still present.

Whether killing the Soul Clan or the Soul Hunters, one would receive the corresponding "spoils of war." For the Soul Hunters, the "spoils of war" are medals they regard as a lifetime honor, while for the Soul Clan, it’s their fiery hearts.

...Su Ming’an still didn’t understand where the difference in persona between the Soul Clan and Soul Hunters truly lay.

Among the Soul Hunters, there were those who, like Valen, considered it their duty to eradicate the Soul Clan, abhorring them as if they were their sworn enemies, and then there were those like Ral’ya who would readily abandon the Empire, freely traveling with others for the sake of romantic notions.

Among the Soul Clan, there was also the tragic existence of Saya, who had no idea what she did wrong before she transformed into an animal driven by her bloodline’s desires.

Perhaps there never was any difference between them.

In his eyes, both races were essentially "human."

"Human" driven by "physiological hunger"... and "human" driven by the "spiritual honor of slaying an enemy."

He put away the Heart of the Soul Clan and also collected the Soul Clan Blood that was stored in a little bottle.

He had already checked Nailuo’s condition, and there was nothing wrong; she had been punched by Saya, but no bones were broken. It was just this haughty girl’s physical strength that was wanting, and she had passed out from it.

He asked Ming to carry her back to the rest area.

When they passed the sixth-floor cabin, he went in to look. The blond young boy lay on the ground, no longer breathing. His body was covered with wounds caused by sharp claws, evidently Saya’s doing.

Once the Soul Clan succumbs to hunger and goes into a frenzy, they can even become killers of their own kind.

The Duke died at the hands of the maddened Saya.

Through the full-length mirror in the Duke’s room, Su Ming’an saw his own eyes, which had now returned to their originally dull golden hue.

...It must have been when Saya bit him that his eyes turned to blood red due to the momentary stimulation; but once calmed, the color would revert to its disguised state.

He took out a Yate Stone and placed it in his palm, checking it once more.

...The Yate Stone still showed no reaction.

He could now be certain that he was from the Soul Clan, and an Upper Soul Clan member at that; Duke Recsai and Saya must have been transformed by him, as both were originally normal humans.

The Duke’s cry of "Father" must have been for that very reason.

After Saya was transformed, she became a "high-ranking Soul Clan member." Therefore, Su Rin who transformed her, must have an identity even higher than that of a high-ranking Soul Clan member.

...But the Yate Stone could not detect him.

Moreover, he possessed a special ability to solidify the energy of the Yate Stone.

...What exactly was he?

Su Rin had infiltrated the Yate Empire for over a decade, becoming a down-and-out noble who seemed incompetent in both literature and martial arts, transforming Saya, transforming the Duke... He could even surmise that many high-ranking individuals had been transformed by Su Rin as well. The entire Yate Empire was like a sieve riddled with holes. Even two S-class Soul Hunters had become members of the Soul Clan.

He ruined Saya, the Duke, the honor of the Soul Hunt, and the Yate Vessel that was seen as the hope of the Empire.

He was simply a perfect villain from a story.

And even so, the system notification was telling him—that he was on the right track.

It seemed he was meant to do this, to become the standard villain.

Su Ming’an stood in place, thinking for a moment, when he suddenly noticed a red circle moving in the bottom right corner of his vision.

This was a hint for a portable Weakness Insight skill, indicating that there were clues he needed in the Duke’s room.

He went over, unlocked a carved redwood cabinet with Erase and saw a letter inside.

He opened the letter and found it was a forged identity document stamped by the Yate Imperial family, with a photo of Su Rin attached.

He pocketed the envelope and left the room.

He had already decided that upon reaching the Maritime City, he would join the Soul Hunter faction first.

In previous experiments, he had mastered the method of not solidifying the Yate Stone’s energy, so even if he encountered a Yate Stone, his identity would not be exposed.

After joining the Soul Hunters, his title as a "Soul Hunter Descendant" would be extremely beneficial, allowing him to instantly eliminate any Soul Clan members with combat power below 800, which would greatly aid his combat operations.

But he also considered the possibility of faction imbalance—if the faction became unbalanced later and he couldn’t gain advantages from the Soul Hunter faction, he could switch sides and join the Soul Clan faction, just like he had done in the world of Ming Hui, flip-flopping between sides.

...With his grasp of both factions’ information, he should be able to achieve a Perfect Pass on this instance quickly.

He descended the stairs to find that there were hardly any people left on the Yate Vessel, with only the terrifyingly disfigured corpses on the floor and big smears of blood on the walls, resembling the scene of a horrific crime.

He walked out along the quiet corridor and was taken aback by the sight at the hatch.

A tall woman with a North Country face stood by the door like a wooden stake, motionless in the slight rain, as if she had been drenched into a stupor.

There was no one left on the deck outside, the lifeboats had set off, leaving only some crew members and civilians without the right to board the lifeboats to take refuge in the underground cabins.

The woman standing at the door was particularly conspicuous.

Upon hearing noises, she turned around, her eyes filled with anger, which quickly turned to fawning.

"Um..." she started with a sycophantic tone, "could you please terminate your command...? I’m sorry for attacking you with a special prop, but making me stand here isn’t solving anything..."

Su Ming’an remembered.

Right before he rushed to the rooftop, this player Luna from the Sword of the Yellow Rose Guild had ambushed him with her Charm judgment prop.

At that time, he had simply given her the order to "stand there" before he left, without bothering to think about what would happen to her afterward.

He had not anticipated that the order to stand there would persist. After all, the prop’s effect lasted for six hours, and her teammates had long since fled, leaving her alone to stand in the rain.

"Cancel the command effect? Sure," said Su Ming’an, "Let’s trade for it."

Luna was quite decisive. Upon receiving Su Ming’an’s response, she immediately threw a bracelet from her wrist to him.

"This is the best piece of equipment I have. I’m giving it to you in exchange; take it if you want, but if you don’t, there’s nothing else I can do. Standing here for six hours is better than being blackmailed," Luna said.

Su Ming’an glanced at the attributes.

[Yellow Rose Chain (Red Level): "I have no ropes around me, no shackle around my neck, yet I’m still a prisoner unable to escape."

Physique +5

Swordsmanship Mastery Skill level +1

Durability: 9/10

Equipment Requirement: None.

Special Skill (Yellow Rose Lock): Lock onto a player or NPC, making your next physical attack unavoidable by the target. (This skill is suppressed by higher-ranking judgment skills, and if the target has Red Level or higher defensive skills, this skill is invalidated.)

Nice find.

Su Ming’an pocketed the bracelet and walked past her.

The equipment he was currently wearing on his wrist was the Mist Chain, the effect of which was to erode the weapon attached to it. However, switching bracelets after attachment could work too, so there was no conflict.

"Do what you want to do," he said.

He didn’t quibble over the effect of a mere command, for a player of that level could no longer offer him much of value. Rather than wasting time on her, it was better to do something more meaningful.

Luna moved her feet and found she could move again, letting out a sigh of relief.

She refrained from stabbing him in the back and didn’t act rashly. After hesitating for a moment, she immediately ran toward the underground cabins to take refuge.

Now that all the lifeboats had been launched, her only choice was to seek refuge on the ship.

Su Ming’an made his way to the deck.

His clothes were soaked through with rain, and there was a large bloodstain on his chest, making it difficult to distinguish between rainwater and blood. Perhaps frightened by his current appearance, Luna chose to withdraw.

He stood on the deck, gazing towards the lifeboats gradually drifting away.

At the moment he stepped onto the deck, he heard the system prompt.

[Basic Information of the Yate Vessel Personnel:

Current Total Survivors: 239/2980

Captain: Austin (Alive)

Vice Captains: Ya Wen (Deceased), Recall (Deceased)

High-ranking Guests: Duke Reksei (Deceased), Duke Collier...]

A long list of personnel appeared before his eyes.

At the same time, a complete map of the Yate Vessel materialized in his hands.

Su Ming’an roughly calculated, and it appeared that the number of crew members he could command now exceeded the number of passengers.

He returned to the cabin and ordered a few special crew members to prepare a small boat.

He watched as the crew members enshrouded Saya’s body and placed it on the small boat.

It was now getting dark, and the rain had lessened slightly. The thick, blood-red sunset spilled onto the sea surface like molten lava rolling over the cold sea.

The girl lay quietly with a serene expression on the small boat, her hands resting on her abdomen, and her long dress trailing in the corner of the boat like cream on a cake.

After death, she looked no different from an ordinary human girl, her fingers delicate and slim. Except for the blood on her body, nobody would have imagined what she had experienced in life.

She once looked approachable and beautiful, like a blooming tulip.

Like a noble princess of a kingdom.

By her side stood the grave and upright S-class Soul Hunter butler, and she had been raised since childhood to be a noble young lady, her every action once trained to the highest standard of perfection.

And now, she lay here, as serene as any ordinary girl.

Gazing at her peaceful expression, Su Ming’an extended his hand and pushed—

"Splash—"

The small boat rocked in the waves, and the waves splashed onto her hair.

On the vast sea, her golden hair gradually faded and mingled with the bloody sunset.

The sea breeze blew through his black hair, the wind whistling by his ears.

He turned his head in the drizzle, the rain beating against his hair.

"Ding-dong!"

The system’s prompt seemed belated.

[Upper Soul Clan: Higher beings within the Soul Clan, possessing greater strength than ordinary members. They have special blood in their hearts that can transform humans into the Soul Clan.

The Upper Soul Clan are very rare and cannot be born through the propagation of the Soul Clan. Their method of birth is extremely special.]

Su Ming’an sighed softly.

Right now, he was probably an existence even more bizarre than a member of the Upper Soul Clan.

...He could create Upper Soul Clan members.

"Ming, how’s the Captain?" he checked the view from Ming’s perspective.

Having sent Ming up to rescue people just now, Captain Austin, who was under surveillance, naturally broke free from control. After sending Nailuo back to her room, Ming had rushed over immediately.

"...The cabin door is locked." Ming responded from the other side. "I’ll teleport inside."

Su Ming’an frowned slightly.

Austin was someone who feared death, and though he had talked big about Imperial Glory, he had cowered and could only be ordered to steer the ship properly.

But now, something about the man seemed off... and he even locked the door?

Ming immediately teleported into the captain’s cabin, only to discover that the room was flooded with seawater.

He met a gaze filled with despair.

"Boom—"

The cabin shuddered violently, and screams came from the lower decks.

Su Ming’an, who had been standing by the sea’s edge, was thrown overboard by the shock.