Volume One: Intrigue in the Imperial Capital-Huang Huo (Part One)

"You don't want to know about your supernatural abilities, the Blood Fiend, the World Crossing Gate, or our 'organization'?"

My heart felt like it had been struck by a hammer, my blood surged, my mind went blank, I even forgot to think, I just stared blankly at this man.

"Hmph, judging from your reaction, you must already know a little about all this! It seems I guessed right, you inherited the power and memories of Blood Fiend in some way... Even your appearance is somewhat similar to hers, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you are her successor."

"Who... who exactly are you? And what is your 'organization'? The tragedies of the two families, and that I·B, are all inextricably linked to your organization! What are you—!?"

The sound disappeared.

In my excitement, I launched into a long string of questions, but by the end, only my mouth was moving; my voice had completely disappeared.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I'll explain everything you need to know from the beginning. Feel free to ask me anything you don't understand... Of course, I advise you not to do anything out of line. I won't harm you, but I might harm others."

"... Sorry, I was too excited."

I obediently sat back on the bed and put the Charging Blade aside.

"Yes, that's a good child."

The man smiled, a smile more terrifying than a cry.

"Let me introduce myself first. My name is 'Huang Huo,' and I'm Blood Fiend's old partner."

"Huang Huo..."

A sudden, Huang Huo! The name pierced my mind like a flying needle, and a flood of memories, both familiar and strange, surged from the depths of my consciousness!

Seeing my reaction, Huang Huo seemed quite satisfied. "As expected, you inherited some of her memories. That's great, it will save a lot of trouble. Now I'll continue."

Clearing his throat, the man— in Huang Huo —began to speak.

Let's start with our organization.

Our organization has existed for... not a very long time, probably only a few hundred years, far less than the two great families of the capital. But if we're talking about strength... you've seen that unlucky guy I. B., right? In the capital, he'd definitely be one of the top experts, but in the organization, he's just a newcomer with no experience. The higher-ups are all strong enough to completely overpower Si Nan Changzheng or Victor Cleon. By the way, I and the Blood Fiend from back then were both high-ups."

In other words, it's an extremely powerful organization, right?

"Then what is the purpose of your existence? Why build World Crossing Gate? I don't even know the name of your organization..."

"No name."

"Ah!?"

"When the Leader created the organization, he kept nagging about how 'names are too troublesome,' so he ended up not coming up with a name. What a careless guy, isn't he?"

How can someone like that be Leader?

"Let's talk about the World Crossing Gate. The World Crossing Gate is something that only exists in the oldest ancient texts. It can connect two different worlds. Legend has it that a long, long time ago—maybe thousands of years ago, maybe tens of thousands of years ago—there was a man who called himself the 'Craft God.' He completed the design of the World Crossing Gate and gathered the powerful beings who possessed Divine Item of heaven and earth at that time, and successfully built the World Crossing Gate. But for various reasons, he was unable to step into the World Crossing Gate and died with regret."

Why couldn't I cross the World Crossing Gate?

"It's no use knowing now, there's no need to tell you."

"Well..."

Well, if he doesn't want to talk, he doesn't have to. As long as I know that the "World Crossing Gate" can indeed help me get back to Earth, that's enough.

"Then there's the question of 'why build the World Crossing Gate.' This is both the Leader's order and the purpose for which the Leader created this organization. In other words, our incredibly powerful organization ultimately exists only for someone's own selfish desires."

"Who exactly is your Leader...? Since he's the Leader, he must be very strong."

"That's right, he's very strong, extremely strong, beyond description, so strong that even if everyone in the organization turned against him, they couldn't take him down. And his personality is terrible—irritable, impatient, lazy, with a twisted sense of humor... he has absolutely no charisma. But he doesn't need to pretend to be a 'benevolent ruler.' Whether he treats his subordinates well or provides them with benefits, it's all just a means to get them to obey. His power is so immense that even without those tricks, he can subdue everyone with sheer violence."

That's awesome.

"So, starting a few years ago when Blood Fiend finally found the blueprints for the World Crossing Gate, we began collecting the materials for it, with her as the World Crossing Gate. The six materials— the Gleaming Gold South-Pointing Compass, the Rakshasa True Word, the Truth Incantation, the Crystal Realm Fruit, the Boundary Breaking Armor, and the Crimson Lotus Karmic Fire —are all unparalleled divine Divine Item of heaven and earth, and even we wouldn't be able to obtain them easily."

"But according to Blood Fiend's memories, it seems that she was the only one handling things at the beginning..."

"That's right, she's been doing all the hard work, which is also the Leader's intention—to find someone to scout ahead and clear the way, to find out the situation of the six materials and whether they are easy to obtain, and then the real action begins. But as I just said— the Leader is an impatient and ill-tempered person. Although his original intention was only to have Blood Fiend act as the vanguard, he would have preferred that Blood Fiend directly snatch the items and hand them over to him. In the end, in order to satisfy the capricious Leader, poor Blood Fiend had no choice but to go alone to the Rakshasa Divine Sect, which possessed the Rakshasa True Word. After a great battle, we lost contact with her, and the Rakshasa True Word disappeared—but now I know where the Rakshasa True Word is!"

His eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light as he stared intently at me—but just as I was about to run away, the fierce light in his eyes dimmed again.

"Now let's talk about you... First of all, you're not from Spirit Star, are you?"

!!!!????

What the hell!?

How did he figure that out!?

No, no, no, acting too surprised will only make me more vulnerable to being led by the nose. Calm down, stay calm!

"... So what? And how did you figure that out?"

"It's just deduction. Our spies went to the place where Blood Fiend and Rakshasa Grand Sect Master fought fiercely and found a lot of traces of spatial distortion. At the time, we all thought it was just the result of their intense battle, but now that we've seen you... I'm afraid it's not as simple as spatial distortion."

"..."

"Did you know? Regarding the creation of the World Crossing Gate, the Truth Incantation and the Rakshasa True Word are actually the core of the portal. The Gleaming Gold South-Pointing Compass acts like a navigation tool, while the other three items ensure the portal's stable existence. In other words, if it's just about temporarily transporting someone to another world, the Truth Incantation or the Rakshasa True Word alone is sufficient. That great battle inevitably awakened the true power of the Rakshasa True Word, allowing the dying Blood Fiend to travel to another world—your world!"

"!!!"

"Then it's easy to guess. You met in that world, and due to some accident—I guess it was when Blood Fiend was trying to regain her power by eating you—the door opened again—resulting in Blood Fiend being completely destroyed, and you obtaining some of her power and memory fragments. Moreover, the Rakshasa True Word that Blood Fiend was carrying at the time also entered your body, which is why you went berserk and became a monster, slaughtering I. B!"

"As for why you're interested in the World Crossing Gate... you probably guessed its purpose from its name, right? You want to take a gamble and use it to get home, right?"

"Right?" He looked at me with a hint of smugness.

Just how smart is this guy...? His reasoning is almost flawless, it's terrifying!

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The results of the top class interview haven't come out yet, and I'm getting anxious waiting...

Oh, and I've started a new poll. Choose your favorite character!