Causes and Consequences

The Suppression lasted for 3.5 seconds, and Zhao You's Life Value plummeted. As a Mental Specialist, his Life Value were inherently a weakness.

Before the Suppression period ended, Zhao You's Life Value plummeted to rock bottom, and he was then killed by Bai Xiaowen's final bullet.

The battle was essentially over at this point. Three of the four Advanced Awakened had launched the sneak attack were killed, leaving behind three gleaming silver treasure chests.

The last awakened one, Zhang Zhan, whose attributes were halved, had his arms held down by Fatty and Kitz, one on each side. He had also lost the ability to resist.

"Your name is Zhang Zhan, right? Who sent you?" Bai Xiaowen asked.

Zhang Zhan remained silent, displaying an expression of Unyielding.

The Skeleton Champion suddenly stepped forward and swung his greatsword repeatedly, severing Zhang Zhan's hands and feet.

Zhang Zhan screamed, nearly fainting from the pain, blood gushing out!

"Don't play dead," Bai Xiaowen said calmly. With the Awakened's physique far exceeding that of ordinary people, losing an arm or a leg wouldn't necessarily lead to death.

"You... you're so ruthless!" Zhang Zhan's eyes showed resentment, but even more so, fear.

"It's just a necessary measure to prevent you from escaping," Bai Xiaowen said. "You should know my resolve—if you continue to resist, I'll shoot you dead and give you a quick death."

Zhang Zhan fell silent.

"If you cooperate honestly, I might spare your life. Losing an arm or a leg isn't a Severe Injury; you can recover after a Spirit Realm Plane. Besides, there's no need for you to resist. I have battle records from the Spirit Realm Rules, and I know the real names of all four of you. I'll submit them to the Awakened Association for investigation; I don't believe they can't find out."

Bai Xiaowen paused for a moment and then said, "Think carefully about whether you want to live or die."

Zhang Zhan's expression changed several times, and finally he said dejectedly, "What do you want to know?"

"Who sent you?" Bai Xiaowen asked the first question.

"Zhao Yannian ..." Seeing Bai Xiaowen narrow her eyes, Zhang Zhan immediately added, "Zhao Yannian is the vice president of the Boutu Guild and also Zhao Zhixiong's father. I think you should know why he wanted to kill you."

Bai Xiaowen nodded slightly. "It seems things have been exposed after all. What about that person named Tai Shuisheng?"

Zhang Zhan: "Tai Shuisheng has already been secretly executed by Zhao Yannian... He returned alone and reported that Zhao Zhixiong had died in the Jiajing Plane. The Taipei Zhao Family was enraged because Zhao Zhixiong was Zhao Family rising star, a promising talent. Tai Shuisheng said that Zhao Zhixiong died at the hands of the Ming Army general, which Zhao Yannian simply could not accept, because Zhao Zhixiong possessed not only return items but also teleportation items..."

After a pause, Zhang Zhan continued, "Furthermore, Tai Shuisheng's testimony didn't stand up to scrutiny. Zhao Yannian arrested him and interrogated him thoroughly, quickly uncovering the truth. Then, Tai Shuisheng killed Zhao Yannian."

"What kind of background does this Zhao Family have? Even if Tai Shuisheng is an Awakened One under his command, it's not like Zhao Yannian can just kill him whenever he wants, is it not illegal?" Bai Xiaowen said, frowning.

Zhang Zhan: "The Zhao Family has always been a powerful force in Taiwan. Even the Awakened Association of Taiwan has to give Zhao Family face..."

"Understood. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away; the government is generally more lenient towards Taiwan. The Zhao Family family is powerful, and they certainly won't put the law in their eyes..."

The crime of murdering an awakened being is no small matter, but without evidence, a conviction is ultimately impossible.

Bai Xiaowen knew in his heart that it was probably retaliation from the Boutu Guild, and he could also find out that Zhang Zhan and the other three were Awakened Ones connected with Zhao Yannian of the Boutu Guild. But that alone was not enough to prove that Zhao Yannian was the mastermind, so Bai Xiaowen detained Zhang Zhan and interrogated him about the ins and outs.

These scenes were recorded by Psionic Camera in stealth mode; this is the evidence.

"I originally thought that this matter couldn't be kept secret any longer, and that Zhao Zhixiong's backers would try to use their connections with the authorities to file charges against me. Only if those failed would they resort to other means. I didn't expect you to remain silent all this time and only make your move now," Bai Xiaowen said.

Zhang Zhan was silent for a moment before saying, "Zhao Yannian said that you have considerable influence on the mainland. Even if this matter is brought up with the authorities, it may not yield any results and might even alert the enemy."

Bai Xiaowen sneered, "Zhao Zhixiong wanted to kill me first, so of course he should be prepared to be killed by me. I'm in the right. Isn't that why Zhao Yannian didn't want to go through official channels?"

Zhang Zhan nodded silently.

"Why only send the four of you? Not even one Hero Class. You're really underestimating me," Bai Xiaowen said.

"Hero Class are all local celebrities with promising futures, so they wouldn't want to take on this kind of job," Zhang Zhan said. "Zhao Yannian himself is willing to come and seek revenge, but as the vice president of the Boutu Guild, he's too conspicuous and might attract attention after arriving in Jinghai Base City."

"The four of us Advanced Elite Class should have been a sure thing against you, a level 5 Hero Class. Zhao Yannian collected your information and made predictions through the internet and leagues, and the results were all that we were destined to kill you. To that end, he specially gave Zhao You an S-Tier item, the War Shackles, to eliminate the last variable. But I didn't expect you to have hidden so much strength."

That's true. If four level eight or nine elite Elite Awakened cooperate well, they have a high chance of winning even if their target is Advanced Hero Class.

Bai Xiaowen smiled. He hadn't actually been deliberately hiding too much. However, as an Awakened One, in this information-rich Psychic Energy Era, to balance personal safety and World Fame, he could never stop moving forward and ensure that the information gathered by his enemies remained lag behind.

Enemies are only temporary, but becoming stronger is eternal. Once you reach a certain level of strength, enemies will no longer dare to oppose you.

To give an example, if the one who killed Zhao Zhixiong was Evolver, would Zhao Yannian still dare to retaliate like this? He probably wouldn't even dare to have the thought of being an enemy of that person. He can only blame his own son for courting death by provoking a powerful figure.

Bai Xiaowen asked a few more questions, and Zhang Zhan answered them all without hesitation.

It turns out that Zhang Zhan and the other three had arrived in Jinghai Base City before Bai Xiaowen entered the Dead Spirit Lake, using aliases, of course. While Bai Xiaowen and his fellow alumni from Jinghai University were traveling in a convoy into the Dead Spirit Lake, the four of them had been secretly following them, hoping to find an opportunity for Bai Xiaowen to be alone.

However, Bai Xiaowen acted with other college students the entire time, making opportunities difficult to find. As for attacking and killing someone in front of other college students... they weren't that depraved.

Then it dragged on until now. Actually, the timing wasn't very good, because Li Beihai and other awakened members of the Super God Guild could appear at any time. But the four of them couldn't wait any longer. They discovered that Bai Xiaowen went to the Wilderness Zone very infrequently. If they didn't seize this opportunity, who knew when the next one would come.