The Peculiar High Knight

Chapter 39: A Peculiar High Knight

Qin Xia walked along a path leading away from the cave, but not towards the combat zone.

After speaking with the gladiators, Qin Xia decided to meet the patriarch of the House of Tal, though it wasn't his primary objective.

"Since you're a sorcerer, I won't blindfold you. It'd be useless anyway."

The person in charge walked ahead.

Qin Xia observed everything around him, memorizing it all, including the path he was taking and what lay upon it.

Every few steps, an autocannon was mounted overhead. Qin Xia estimated the caliber to be around 19 millimeters. He didn't know what ammunition the Nucerians used for their autocannons, but regardless of the ammo, weapons of that caliber were incredibly powerful.

It could pierce through the ordinary-looking blast gate in the cave as easily as a knife through tofu.

However, the autocannons were merely the most commonplace items here.

From the gaps, hidden channels, and vents in the walls of this metal corridor, as well as various other marks, Qin Xia's past life experience allowed him to analyze that this corridor was undoubtedly filled with numerous traps, including, but not limited to, corrosive liquids, flames, and laser grids.

Soon, Qin Xia arrived at another intersection.

Standing in the middle of the intersection, Qin Xia could see some signs.

[Security Armory]

[Check Post]

[VIP Lounge]

"That's the exit," the person in charge pointed to the end of the road directly ahead. "If you have the ability to escape from here, you'll have achieved more than half of your objective for leaving the arena."

Qin Xia followed the direction the person in charge was pointing and saw the exit check post.

Some employees were conducting checks before entering their workstations within the arena.

However, at the end of that road, beyond the check post, stood a steel statue that resembled a large mechanical entity, motionless as it lay upon a steel platform.

It was extremely conspicuous.

"Stop with the nonsense. I know you don't have such good intentions; you just want me to die," Qin Xia retracted his gaze.

The person in charge showed a look of displeasure at being seen through, glared at Qin Xia, and led him down another path leading to the lounge.

Upon arriving outside a room whose facade was so luxurious it was jarringly out of place with the entire environment, the person in charge gestured for Qin Xia to enter.

"Be careful and don't speak carelessly," the person in charge whispered a reminder. "Otherwise, I fear your venomous tongue might curse everyone in this entire arena to death."

"Don't worry, I doubt your control-freak master is that insane," Qin Xia replied.

The person in charge said nothing further and quickly opened the door.

After Qin Xia entered, the person in charge closed the door and left.

The moment he entered the room, Qin Xia was stunned by its opulence and insane luxury. He recalled his growth within the White Scars Chapter, when they had gone with the Chapter to defend a crystal-producing world.

The Governor's mansion on that world was only as magnificent as this lounge.

Qin Xia looked at the dining table.

Beside the table, laden with food Qin Xia couldn't recognize, a middle-aged man dressed in lavish attire was arranging cutlery. He seemed to have obsessive-compulsive disorder, personally placing each piece of cutlery in what he considered the correct position.

He also didn't seem to trust servants; the attendants stood nearby, awkwardly watching their master do the work they should have been doing.

"Oh, you've arrived."

Sensing the gaze from behind him, Tark put down the last piece of cutlery that needed straightening and turned to look at Qin Xia.

His face wore an enthusiastic smile, and his eyes were equally enthusiastic, even showing some admiration and approval.

But Qin Xia didn't analyze the man's psychology or personality, because he knew that the superficial aspects of people like this were all false.

"Please, sit," Tark pulled out a chair from the edge of the rectangular dining table. After Qin Xia sat down, he himself sat in a chair opposite him.

Qin Xia didn't even feel like using a knife and fork. He had already accomplished what he most wanted to do after agreeing to share a meal: gathering information that could be used in his escape from the arena.

However, it wasn't entirely because his true intentions lay elsewhere; another part of the reason was Qin Xia's suspicion towards Tark's identity, and he didn't believe any of the friendliness Tark displayed was genuine.

"Do you know..."

Tark held his knife and fork, devouring his food voraciously, while his servants constantly cut and served him food from the table. These personal slaves knew what their master liked.

"The Butchers you killed, the ones whose necks you twisted into knots with your sorcery, they were all my nephews, all members of the Tarkos Family."

Tark said this while still eating ravenously and with a smile on his face.

Qin Xia's heart leaped, and he secretly prepared to channel his psychic power to twist this family patriarch's neck into a knot.

He didn't want to do it, because choosing to act meant certain death, so he wasn't prepared to kill Tark at this dinner.

But since the other party had brought up the matter of blood feud, he had to...

"I have to thank you for this," Tark swallowed a mouthful of food and raised his glass with a smile. "Those brats, though young, were quite capable fighters. Their father, my thirty-first brother, was a warrior, and he trained those brats from childhood. I never expected you to kill them all."

"I mean no disrespect, friend."

"Absolutely no disrespect."

Tark tilted his head and smiled, raising a hand to signal Qin Xia not to misunderstand him.

"It was only then that I saw how great your potential was, and I am also certain that my decision to have my family's slaving parties conceal that you are a sorcerer was the right one."

After offering a compliment, Tark looked at the slave beside him. "Bull tendon, thank you."

The slave raised his hand, scooped up a piece of stewed bull tendon, and placed it on Tark's plate. "Why did you suddenly want to eat bull tendon today?"

"We all have our whims, don't we?" Tark smiled at the slave, then began to eat the bull tendon.

Qin Xia's expression was blank. He neither picked up his cutlery nor spoke, staring at Tark's every move.

He hadn't expected that it was the patriarch of Nuceria's most powerful family who had helped him conceal that he was a sorcerer.

Concealing that a gladiator was a sorcerer, and then having that gladiator kill his brother's son... Qin Xia thought Tark was insane. If he himself were also insane, then he would realize that there truly was a madman helping him conceal this.

"Aren't you curious why I wanted you to kill my nephews?" Tark asked with a smile.

"I'm not curious," Qin Xia replied. "People like you find family ties less useful than doormats. You don't know what love or trust is; you only know suspicion and murder, even towards your own blood relatives."

"No, that's not the reason," Tark said. "People of your status have always held prejudices against us nobles, but I am truly not as you describe. Guess again."

"..." Qin Xia was silent for a moment, then spoke again, "I don't know."

Tark took a swig of wine, smiled for a second, then his expression suddenly turned ferocious and vicious. Like a manic episode, he pounded the table and howled, "Because I fucking hate all the nobles in Nuceria! All of them!"