A Truly Unfathomable Man

After another round of fooling around, Su Ming and the others ultimately accepted an extermination quest.

The quest was rated C-rank. Their target was a Blade Fiend located inside an abandoned factory in Huaming District.

It was a brutal Phantom Demon whose limbs were all blades, capable of tearing the human body apart with ease.

Not only were its limbs made of blades, but its body was also as sharp and hard as steel. Even when an ordinary Hunter put all their strength into a strike against it, the blow might only produce a burst of exploding sparks, without causing the slightest injury.

On top of that, Phantom Demons possessed astonishing regenerative abilities. Even after being wounded, they could recover rapidly. Among Lesser Phantasmal Demons, Blade Fiends were considered extremely difficult targets to exterminate. They had high attack, high defense, and great speed, so many people were unwilling to hunt such deadly and dangerous Phantom Demons.

Thanks to this, before the entrance to the Spirit Fiend Abyss was detected, this Blade Fiend had always remained unchecked in that abandoned factory, living freely without anyone coming to exterminate it.

It was only now, in order to deal with the threat that was approaching, that the Base City authorities decided to clear out as many of the previously unchallenged Phantom Demons remaining in Huaming District as possible. They wanted to prevent them from causing trouble at a critical moment or disrupting the construction of the defensive line, resulting in losses of manpower, resources, or even time.

Thus, the quest to exterminate the Blade Fiend had been posted here, waiting for a "fated person" to accept it.

And Su Ming and the others were the fated people it had been waiting for.

The six of them boarded an off-road vehicle provided by the military for the use of professionals and drove toward the factory.

The factory was not in a remote location, nor was it far from the Academy District. With the off-road vehicle, they reached their destination in roughly half an hour.

"This is the place, right?"

Lei Hao sat in the driver's seat, gripping the steering wheel as he drove the vehicle to the front of an uninhabited abandoned factory.

"Th-this is really the place?"

"I'm suddenly a little nervous."

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu unconsciously took An Zijin's hands from either side, their pretty faces filled with nervousness.

There was no helping it.

Although the place seemed to have been abandoned only recently, no one knew what had happened here. Bloodstains could be seen everywhere, along with some extremely obvious signs of battle. The site looked almost like an ancient battlefield, and even the air seemed to be filled with the stench of blood.

An environment like this naturally had a certain degree of lethality for girls. What was more, this was Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu's first mission. No matter how confident and self-assured they had acted before, they could not help feeling nervous now.

An Zijin, on the other hand, remained completely composed, her adorable face calm as she followed closely behind Su Ming, as though staying behind him granted her immense courage. She looked entirely at ease.

Su Ming naturally had no idea what the girls behind him were thinking. He merely looked at the scene before him and spoke thoughtfully.

"Looks like a massacre took place here."

It was obvious at a glance.

"According to the intelligence, this place wasn't abandoned long ago. There were no original plans to abandon it either. It was only because the Blade Fiend suddenly broke in and hunted down everyone working here as prey that the factory was abandoned."

Ye Bai checked the information on his phone, his expression somewhat heavy.

"Everyone in the entire factory was killed?" Su Ming muttered. "Then it's not hard to understand why the Blade Fiend has been hiding here instead of leaving."

The place was not remote, and the factory was not small. There must have been quite a few people working here at the time.

Now that the Blade Fiend had hunted down so many people and obtained a massive amount of food in one go, it was perfectly natural for it to occupy the factory as a base and slowly consume and digest all the blood food it had acquired.

Otherwise, given the brutality and bloodlust of Phantom Demons, they absolutely would not hole up in one place when they lacked blood food.

"The people above probably know that too, which is why they didn't raise the priority of this quest and send someone to exterminate it directly, right?"

Lei Hao jumped down from the vehicle with his beloved greatsword in hand, looking carefree.

"Since it'll obediently stay here and slowly digest the blood food it obtained, leaving it alone for a while until it finishes digesting the food and leaves isn't an unacceptable option."

Ye Bai put away his phone.

Seeing Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai standing before the abandoned factory and discussing things freely without the slightest hint of tension, Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu exchanged glances.

"Are the seniors not nervous at all?"

Jiang Wanyu could not help asking.

At that, Su Ming and the other two exchanged glances before smiling together.

"Don't underestimate us, junior." Lei Hao laughed loudly. "We might not be top students or elite students in the academy, but we've been doing this for a year no matter what. We've gone on countless Phantom Demon extermination quests. How could we still feel nervous?"

"Rather, we're used to it by now, aren't we?" Ye Bai spread his hands, looking confident. "We were terribly nervous at the beginning too. If we hadn't had seniors leading us back then, we might never have dared to step into Phantom Demon territory."

"Now it's our turn to lead you." Su Ming reached out and rubbed An Zijin's little head. "Just follow behind us, watch carefully, and learn properly. Don't act on your own under any circumstances. Understand?"

"Understood, Brother Su Ming." An Zijin obediently responded.

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu nodded repeatedly as well, and the way they looked at Su Ming and the other two changed somewhat.

Before this, in the eyes of the two girls, Su Ming and the other two were merely an enemy and two weirdos. They were not exactly famous figures in the academy either, so the girls had never really felt the dignity those three possessed as seniors.

Only at this moment did the girls finally feel how reliable Su Ming and the other two were as seniors.

This eased much of the nervousness in Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu's hearts.

"Then let's get ready to start the raid!"

Lei Hao looked as if he were preparing to enter a dungeon and fight monsters. He raised his greatsword and headed straight toward the abandoned factory.

"Su Ming, we'll take the rear."

Ye Bai called out to Su Ming.

"Okay."

Su Ming naturally had no objections.

An Zijin, Yao Beibei, and Jiang Wanyu were all newcomers, so they still needed their safety looked after to prevent any accidents.

Thus, with Lei Hao leading the way, Su Ming and Ye Bai would cover the rear and protect the three junior girls in the middle.

"Zijin, stay between us."

"That's right. We'll protect you."

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu protected An Zijin by placing her between them.

"I'll just follow Brother Su Ming!"

An Zijin voiced her objection, but Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu forcibly dragged her along without giving her a chance to resist. She could only be carried away like a little calf about to be sold, her eyes brimming with tears.

The six of them formally entered the abandoned factory and began their first mission in Huaming District.

At the same time, in a room on the top floor of the Academy District's residential building, a beautiful girl was answering a phone call.

"Really?" Xu Qianqian murmured. "He's started too?"

"Yes, Eldest Miss." A respectful voice came from the other end of the phone. "Your friend has just begun his first mission. Should we continue monitoring the situation and report the latest intelligence to you?"

"Mm." Xu Qianqian answered faintly. "Tell the people on your side not to let anyone disturb him. They only need to keep an eye on the situation in Huaming District, watch over the situation around me, and flush out the rats who ambushed me before."

Xu Qianqian naturally had not forgotten what had happened to her before, and she certainly would not allow her enemies to take advantage of this opportunity to harm her again.

Thus, Xu Qianqian had already made arrangements for people to provide support and investigate the matter at all times.

Just now, she had been listening to the investigation report and had "incidentally" paid attention to Su Ming's movements.

The person reporting from the other end of the phone was one of Xu Qianqian's trusted aides.

"Yes, Eldest Miss." The reporter remained extremely respectful. "I'll restrain the others and make sure they don't disturb Young Master Su."

Among the people under his command, there were indeed quite a few who were not very well behaved.

There was no need to question their loyalty to Xu Qianqian.

As trusted aides specially raised by the Xu Family for Xu Qianqian, they had been taught from childhood to place Xu Qianqian above all else. They would never harbor ulterior motives.

But sometimes, being too loyal did not necessarily mean they would not cause trouble.

At least, after word spread among them yesterday that Xu Qianqian had been harshly berated by Su Ming on the train, many of them had immediately become murderous, declaring that they would tear Su Ming to pieces.

If Xu Qianqian had not been holding them back, would the dignified Xu Family really have ignored someone publicly insulting its treasured daughter?

Of course not.

Su Ming had no idea that he had already entered the sights of many people in the Xu Family.

And they were not merely those subordinates who were fiercely loyal to Xu Qianqian.

"As for my side, I'll make sure to restrain them properly," the reporter said in a low voice. "But Eldest Miss, your brothers and sisters also seem to have some ideas about Young Master Su."

A faint chill immediately surfaced in Xu Qianqian's eyes.

"Don't worry." Xu Qianqian spoke calmly. "They won't dare cause trouble openly."

In other words, that did not mean there was no possibility of them causing trouble in secret.

But there was nothing she could do about that.

After all, Xu Qianqian's brothers and sisters might not have refrained from doing such things in secret before.

For example, the ambush that had left her seriously injured.

"Keep an eye on Su Ming's situation at all times. If you discover that anyone from our side intends to do anything to him, report to me immediately." Xu Qianqian issued the order. "Be careful. That fellow is cautious and wary by nature. Don't let him find out."

"Yes." The reporter immediately acknowledged the order.

After the call ended, Xu Qianqian finally lowered her phone.

The first person who came to mind was not the upcoming battle in Huaming District, nor the family infighting. It was Su Ming.

"I never thought that one day, I would be harshly berated by a man without the slightest restraint."

Xu Qianqian murmured softly before suddenly smiling.

"What a truly unfathomable man."

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