Searching the Corpse

About fifteen minutes had passed since the assassination operation began.

The manor above was probably already awash in blood, while the sewers below remained strangely peaceful. Aside from the trickling of filthy water, there were only the occasional squeaks of rats.

The Weasel Bandit Group were all professional assassins. Their operations usually ended without a sound.

Yet this time, something unexpected had happened.

Boom!

A violent explosion suddenly rang out.

Flames blasted through the floor, and a violent shockwave surged into the underground. Within these enclosed sewer pipes, the noise became even more deafening.

The sudden change made Tiger spring up like an old dog whose tail had been stepped on.

The man who had looked like a drunkard a moment ago instantly turned into a cold, vicious hound lurking in the darkness, his sharp gaze fixed on the depths of the pipe.

Staring at the large hole blasted through the sewer pipe, he muttered to himself, "Huh, that's strange. Why would the boss and the others make such a big commotion? Could something have gone wrong?"

Before he could say anything else, the newcomers immediately went on alert as well.

Rein also pulled the dagger from its sheath, pointing it toward the source of the explosion with a grim expression.

He glanced at Tiger, who had slipped into the darkness, and silently rejoiced. As expected, not acting rashly had been the right choice.

Just then, the Mind Core suddenly issued another alert.

Ding! Warning! A fatal unknown neurotoxin has been detected invading the body. Effect: mild paralysis. Loss of consciousness imminent. Please inject an Antidote Potion immediately.

Ding! Concentration continues to rise. Fatal concentration expected in 1.3 seconds. Evacuate the hazardous area immediately!

1.3 seconds gave him no time to react at all.

"Not good!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Rein seemingly conjured an Antidote Potion into his hand and jabbed it into his thigh.

He had secretly saved it during rookie training. It came in handy now.

At the same time as he injected himself, he immediately spun around and retreated fiercely in the direction indicated by the toxin alert.

He was still wearing a gas mask, yet the toxin had penetrated his respiratory tract without any obstruction. One could only imagine how deadly it was.

Instinct left him no time to worry about exposing his trump card. He chose to flee at once!

"9527, what are you doing?!"

Elsewhere, Tiger's pupils shrank sharply as he watched Rein suddenly retreat.

He was not only shocked by the rookie's bizarre behavior, but also astonished by the terrifying speed he displayed.

Violent Step Sprint was a basic movement skill every thief had to learn. Everyone in the Weasel Gang knew it, and it could unleash tremendous speed in an instant.

But Tiger realized that the speed this rookie had just unleashed far exceeded what he remembered.

This was absolutely not something an ordinary rookie could accomplish!

Tiger had personally trained this batch of newcomers. In his memory, 9527 had been of average aptitude, and his usual burst speed during Rapid Step assessments was only around eleven or twelve meters per second—barely passing.

Yet now, he had erupted with an astonishing speed of nearly fifteen meters per second!

At this level, though he was not an Awakened, he far surpassed every rookie of the same tier!

The other two newcomers were equally dumbfounded. How had the guy who had always ranked dead last in training assessments suddenly become so formidable?

Could he be trying to use the explosion as an opportunity to escape?

"His Movement Technique is this proficient? Did that brat deliberately hide his abilities all along?"

Tiger instantly understood. He had misjudged him!

This quiet rookie was probably the most deeply concealed ruthless character among them.

Though surprised, he sneered inwardly. Even so, it would still be impossible for the brat to escape from his grasp!

But then another doubt flashed through Tiger's mind. "The rookies' supplies are all standard issue. Where did he pull that potion from? Could he have some kind of storage space?"

Clearly, Tiger had also noticed Rein's strange act of injecting himself with a potion.

"That looked like an Antidote Potion from the training center. When did that guy secretly stash one away?"

But reality gave him no time to think further.

Suddenly, a sense of danger rose in Tiger's heart.

The experienced man's expression changed drastically as he instantly realized something.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Tiger saw a staggering figure burst into the sewers through the explosion hole. Just as he was about to flee, an intense wave of dizziness flooded his mind.

Only then did he understand—it was lethal poison gas!

The toxin spread with terrifying speed. The horror in Tiger's eyes had not even fully appeared before his body collapsed limply to the ground.

The other two newcomers did not even get the chance to react. Their eyes rolled back, and they died instantly.

"What the hell? Someone really escaped down through the sewers?!"

Meanwhile, Rein ran desperately to avoid the poisonous shockwave, finding the situation unbelievable.

He had never expected the Weasel Bandit Group's assassination operation to truly go wrong.

When he saw the figure behind him still pursuing him relentlessly, his heart sank.

Clearly, it was neither Tiger nor the other two newcomers. The terrifying toxin had spread rapidly with the explosive shockwave. The three of them had not had time to react and must have already died by now.

"Is the person behind me not a Transcendent? Or are they seriously injured?"

After running several hundred meters, Rein suddenly found it strange.

That person had actually failed to catch up to him?

Before he could think further, the staggering figure behind him suddenly crashed to the ground, face-down in the filthy water.

"Dead?"

Rein froze at the sight.

He stopped and gripped his dagger tightly.

A thought flashed through his mind. If the other party were a Transcendent, killing him would be effortless. There was no need for some scheme of feigned pursuit. But if this person were not a Transcendent, then there was no way he could have escaped the encirclement of so many assassins and made it into the sewers.

The only possibility was that this person had truly succumbed to severe injuries.

Who was this person?

After weighing it for only an instant, Rein chose to approach and investigate.

The toxin concentration shown around him was within safe limits, so he carefully walked toward the fallen figure.

The person's mouth and nose were half-submerged in the sewage. He was clearly dead.

A large patch of blood stained his back, where a black dagger gleaming with cold light was embedded.

Obviously, that was the fatal wound.

"That's... Quinn's enchanted dagger, Black Spine Wolf Fang?"

Rein immediately recognized the black-glowing dagger embedded in the corpse's back, with its horrifying triple blood grooves.

It was the exclusive Transcendent weapon of Quinn, leader of the Weasel Bandit Group.

That meant this strike had been personally delivered by Quinn himself!

"He managed to escape after facing Quinn, who had unlocked his Third Tier Gene Locks. Who exactly is this guy?"

Rein had witnessed Quinn's strength before. An ordinary Second Tier Transcendent could not even withstand a single move from him.

For this man to have escaped alive proved that he was no ordinary opponent.

Still puzzled, Rein turned the corpse's face to the side. When he saw the bearded face clearly, his pupils abruptly contracted.

"Isn't this Baron Morin, the target of this assassination?"

He knew that face all too well. Before the operation, everyone in the Weasel Gang had memorized the target's photograph by heart.

Seeing the corpse right before him, Rein's heart began pounding wildly.

Infiltrating a large territory to massacre an Imperial noble family was far beyond the usual scope of a bandit group's operations.

Since the higher-ups of the Weasel Bandit Group had dared to take such a huge risk this time, it meant Baron Morin definitely carried a great secret!

The poison gas in the blasted passage was still extremely dense. The people above would probably need to wait a while before coming down.

Rein glanced at the explosion hole not far away, and a mad thought immediately crossed his mind.

"Loot the corpse!"

Though he greatly coveted Black Spine Wolf Fang, the dagger that could cut through iron like mud, he did not dare touch it recklessly. Instead, he cautiously began searching Baron Morin's body.