Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - What Money Couldn't Buy (One)

"It seems most of the people have dispersed, and the sea is completely stained with blood. Let's get started!"

As I spoke, I snapped my fingers lightly.

A muffled thud came from the depths beneath the sea, followed by the sound of something shattering—a series of crashing, shattering sounds, along with a buzzing noise like a bathtub drain plug being pulled out. If I'm not mistaken, it was the sound of several sections of the water barrier of the Business Capital being blasted apart by my Blood Flame, with tons of blood rushing into them.

Well then, give it a try.

The monstrous wave of blood was even more powerful than a tsunami, crashing into the now-deserted commercial Business Capital. The magnificent, golden buildings trembled under the onslaught of the blood wave, seemingly on the verge of collapse.

The blood wave didn't just randomly crash around; instead, it acted like a moving city wall, filtering through every building without missing a single one. After the blood wave passed, aside from staining the streets and buildings blood red, it caused almost no damage.

Between each level, countless tiny silver specks of light— Moon Elf —flew about, following the blood waves. Whenever the blood waves advanced to a new area of buildings, they would gather around, and once they found nothing amiss, they would immediately disperse. This continued for an unknown period of time.

All the Moon Elf suddenly gathered at an office building on the fifth floor of the Business Capital —the deepest part, built directly on the seabed. This office building was very tall, and its exterior was not as ostentatious and luxurious as the other buildings, but its simple and dignified structure still added to its imposing presence.

But one phenomenon destined it to be different.

Only it remained completely unstained by the blood as the wave of blood swept over it.

It was as if there was an invisible wall around it, and all the blood bypassed it on its own, without even touching the ground where it was.

"Are you sure, Haoyue?"

"Of course, the Moon Elf sent back a message: only that building remained unstained by blood; the blood seemed to have eyes and avoided it."

"It seems pretty much settled. Is everything ready?"

It doesn't really matter where Yu He's office is moved to.

As Yu He's base and residence, it's impossible that there were no defensive measures in place; consequently, the current location of his office must also have defensive measures in place.

Therefore, all you need to do is use a lot of blood to go through all the large buildings in the entire Business Capital and see which one has a built-in defense mechanism.

It's just that the workload is huge, but it's not difficult for me right now.

After all, we are all at our peak right now.

I snapped my fingers again, and instantly, the entire Blood Sea stopped undulating as if it had been paused. All the blood tide in the Business Capital withdrew from the broken water barrier, and some of it turned into crystal walls to repair the leaks in the water barrier. After all, no one wants to fight in the wet and sticky blood.

With a thought, the Blood Sea immediately opened a hole. Neumann remained on the surface, while I, Haoyue, and the Sick Spider formed one group, Xiao Wu, Sin Annihilation, and Little Ying formed another. We all dived down one by one.

"One last time, Neumann will provide remote support, the three of us will be the advance team, and the three of you will provide backup outside... Also, Little Butterfly, who was captured, is very likely with Yu He. It's possible he'll use Little Butterfly as a shield, and then..."

I swallowed hard, trying to calm my agitated heart.

What should I do if it really develops like this?

No... no matter what, I have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

"At that time... please remain rational. That's all, let's begin!"

Business Capital, the lowest level--

As the location of the management and administrative center, this place has lost all its usual hustle and bustle.

Against a blood-red backdrop, the streets are deserted and buildings are stained with blood, turning the area into a ghost town.

Xiao Wu, Sin Annihilation, and Little Ying formed an equilateral triangle, surrounding the target building in the middle, while we stood at the building's entrance.

I squeezed Haoyue's hand tightly, which was standing next to me. The soft, boneless touch calmed me down a bit. I then patted the Sick Spider's head, and this time she didn't pull her hand away.

"Sick Spider, are you nervous?"

"... No way!"

"Haoyue, what about you?"

"I'll always be Xiao Ye's strong support."

"Then, let's go in."

Although my initial thought was to blow up the entire building—after all, it would be a piece of cake for me—who knows if there might be a trap?

After entering the gate, we paused for a moment. The building's miraculous defensive capabilities, which had allowed it to evade the blood waves, were now welcoming us.

"Haoyue?" "Yes."

With a gentle flick of her sword, Haoyue's moonlight blade pierced through dozens of ceilings, opening a passage from the bottom to the top. We didn't have the patience to climb the stairs one floor at a time. As for why I was so certain Yu He was on the top floor? It was simple: because of that familiar oppressive aura—the oppressive aura of the upper floors—that emanated from the highest point of the building.

Yu He made no attempt to avoid the issue; he had already prepared to welcome me.

As we ascended rapidly through the passageway that ran through dozens of floors, we encountered no obstacles, which seemed inconsistent with Yu He's usual approach of utilizing manpower. Or perhaps a trap awaited us at the end? But even if there was a trap, it didn't matter; we had to get through it anyway.

"Arrive..."

I retracted my Flame Wings, the moonlight beneath Haoyue's feet dissipated, and the Sick Spider retracted its silver threads. That's how we arrived at Yu He's office.

"..."

This is such a simple place.

Is this really the office where a man who controls the planet's economic sphere usually works?

The set of desks and chairs looked like they hadn't been replaced in years. The desks were piled with messy documents, and one wall was crammed with filing cabinets. There was hardly any vibrant furnishings, and not even a window.

"... It's practically the office of a shady company from decades ago."

"Compared to other places... calling it rudimentary wouldn't be an exaggeration."

"Perhaps at Yu He's level, the so-called luxury has lost its meaning? That's why he doesn't care about these things."

"Don't overthink it. Since he's not in the office, then—"

We both looked at the wall on the left.

The wall was painted with very ordinary white paint, and there were some smudges near the base.

"Once inside, facing the wall with the filing cabinets, his secret room is on your right."

--That's what Fisher told us.

By the way, after I had squeezed all the value out of him, I dissolved his entire body into blood and flushed it down the drain. I still vividly remember the look in his eyes as he glared at me in the last moment before he was dissolved.

Although we can't be sure if what he said is true or false, and it's even possible that Yu He instructed him to do all of this beforehand, we can only follow his clues, which are both true and false, for now.

"Get out of the way... Fireball!"

With a loud bang, dust flew everywhere, and a hole was blasted open in the bare wall, revealing the secret passage inside.

"... It appeared so easily?"

I thought it required a password or special steps to open, but it turns out it can be blasted open with a single shot?

This welcome is way too obvious! It's like they're telling us, "Come on in!" It's hard not to be suspicious.

"... Bright moon, Sick Spider, beware of traps."

"Understood, I'll shield Xiao Ye with my body when the time comes!"

"Please don't. I'm more than capable of living. You should take care of yourself."

"..."

Xiao Wu stood more than two hundred meters away from the building, her five senses fully activated, keenly observing any movement around her... even though there was no grass.

If you look closely, you can see thin red and black lines of varying density on the ground and in the air. These are the cellular connective tissues that differentiate from the Sin Annihilation, serving as a warning system. The area within a radius of several kilometers is covered by these things.

Now that Sin Annihilation has returned to her peak power, they no longer need to stuff small pieces of meat into their ears to communicate, because Sin Annihilation can transmit sound through these warning threads.

"Sin Annihilation, has anyone else approached this place?"

"No."

"That's good. You can continue to keep watch."

"I definitely won't let Xiao Wu down!"

Hopefully...

Then, the monotonous conversation came to an end.

Xiao Wu knew that talking to Sin Annihilation was pointless, but she couldn't help it. Since earlier, a strange sense of anxiety had been lingering in her heart, like tiny ants crawling inside, itchy and unbearable to scratch.

What the hell?

Was it because I was worried about Ye and the other two?

It seems... not quite.

This anxiety is more akin to a biological's primal sense of danger and cannot be explained by reason or other rational means.

(Could it be... myself?)

Is danger approaching?

As it turned out, we didn't encounter any traps.

The secret passage led to a door, and nothing unexpected happened during the journey, even though I was on edge.

What's even stranger is... I'm actually feeling a little at ease now.

This sense of security is closer to a biological's primal instinct for a safe zone, and cannot be explained by reason or other rational means.

Why does the enemy's headquarters give me this feeling?

"... They went in?"

They both nodded. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the secret room.

The sudden brightness made me squint, but I adjusted quickly.

This is a fairly spacious room, with a very unique furnishing, quite different from the monotonous and boring office outside.

Ivory white floors, agate black ceiling, velvet draped on all four walls, and a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, its soft light illuminating the room.

In the center of the room was a crystal coffin.

"Xiao Ye, that's—"

"... Ah, I saw it."

Inside the crystal coffin, at the bottom, lay a soft velvet blanket. My long-lost daughter, Little Butterfly, lay on it, covered with a quilt made of the fur of an unknown beast. Her long hair was loose, her eyes were tightly closed, her long eyelashes overlapped, and her face had a charming blush. It was clearly an angelic sleeping face, yet it contained an indescribable, forbidden allure.

Normally, I would be moved to tears at this moment and rush over to rescue her from the coffin.

But it was Haoyue who completed this task. She ran over, checked it over, opened the crystal coffin, and took Little Butterfly out without any hindrance or difficulty.

It went too smoothly.

As for me? "..."

Ever since I entered the secret room, I've been staring intently at the other end of the room.

There, a huge velvet blanket was covering something.

You can roughly tell that it's a cuboid.

My breathing became increasingly rapid.

Why?

Why does that rectangular object covered in velvet attract my attention so much?

What is that?

Why is there an inexplicable sense of danger?