After a simple lecture to First, Xu Bai explained his plan.
First listened for a while, then realized the plan once again involved him launching a sneak attack. His mood immediately sank. He protested a few times, but in the end, he obediently followed the Beast Tamer's orders.
That night.
Outside the little courtyard.
"Are you sure this is the place? Did you get a good look?"
"Of course. This is the one!"
Under cover of darkness, a small figure nimbly climbed over the courtyard wall. If Xu Bai had been there, he would have recognized the person as the one who had followed him during the day.
After landing, the small figure looked around like a mouse. Seeing nothing nearby but a large Blue Silver Grass swaying gently, and no guard dogs or the like, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he poured some grease into the crack by the door and carefully eased it open. A burly man stepped inside.
"That kid's pretty clever, living in a place like this. If you hadn't spotted him today, we might never have known there was such a fat lamb in Huangshan City."
The burly man clicked his tongue and scanned the courtyard, his eyes glinting with the green light of a hungry wolf.
After a pause, he asked uncertainly, "Are you really sure the kid has a Space Soul Tool? This house doesn't look like it has anything worth taking."
"Don't worry. I saw it clearly. The kid bought something at a shop, then deliberately went down an empty alley. When he came out, the stuff was gone."
The small figure lowered his voice, excitement and greed in his tone. "I followed him the whole way. He used the same trick at several shops, and by the time he got home, his hands were still empty. What more proof do you need that he has a Space Soul Tool?"
"In that case, it's our lucky night. We're going to get rich!"
The greed in the burly man's eyes deepened.
The two approached the door. Just as they were about to push it open, the short man hesitated. "You don't think the kid might be a Soul Master from the academy, do you? I asked around this morning. He's the only one in his family, which isn't what you'd expect of an ordinary kid."
"Are you stupid?"
The burly man smacked the short man on the back of the head, looking annoyed. "If he can use a Soul Tool, how could he not be a Soul Master? Even if he is one, so what? From what you said, the kid's ten at most. At that age, becoming a One-Ring Soul Master would already make him a once-in-a-century genius."
"But a One-Ring Soul Master is nothing but a clay chicken and a straw dog in front of me, a Battle Soul Grandmaster of the Power Attack System."
"If the kid hands over the Space Soul Tool without a fuss, fine. But if he dares resist, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
A vicious glint flashed in his eyes.
Hearing that, the short man finally relaxed. He pulled a piece of wire from his clothes and quickly picked the lock.
The two slipped inside.
The room was pitch-black. Fortunately, faint moonlight seeped through the window, sketching out the shape of the furnishings.
"There's nothing worth taking here. Let's check the bedroom and see if the kid's asleep." The burly man gave the order, and he and the short man entered the bedroom together.
Neither of them noticed the pair of eyes that suddenly opened in a shadowy corner of the living room. In the faint reflected light, they glimmered a dim gold.
In the bedroom, the burly man slowly approached the bed. In the darkness, he saw that the blanket was spread perfectly smooth.
He reached under it and felt around. It was still warm; the kid had clearly left only a short while ago.
"We've been spotted!?" The burly man spun around in alarm and glared at the short man. "Did you fucking give yourself away while following him?"
"N-no. I stayed far behind him the whole time. There's no way he could've spotted me..." the short man stammered, an inexplicable dread rising in his heart.
But the burly man had no time to listen to his excuses. He stomped his foot, and a white Soul Ring and a yellow Soul Ring rose beneath him. At the same time, a stone hammer appeared in his hand, and he slammed it hard against the ground.
Seeing this, the short man hurriedly used Martial Soul Possession. A white Soul Ring slowly rose beneath him.
His Martial Soul was a rat, and after his Martial Soul Possession, he looked even more shifty-eyed and ratlike.
The light from the Soul Rings instantly illuminated the room, revealing its current state to the two men.
Countless iron needles, throwing knives, and similar objects were floating in the air, surrounding them on all sides. It was as if they could be shot full of holes at any moment.
The burly man let out a bitter laugh, a look of resignation flashing in his eyes.
"Fuck, I've been had!"
After cursing a couple of times, he activated his Soul Ring, lifted the stone hammer, and prepared to use his Soul Skill.
But the countless iron needles and throwing knives in the air weren't about to give him time to wind up.
In the next instant, a flash of white light appeared, and the burly man instantly turned into Louis XVI, complete with a human-fountain cosplay.
"P-please, senior, spare me! Spare my life!"
Blood splattered across his face, instantly shattering the short man's mental defenses. He collapsed to his knees, his face contorted with terror.
How could he have known that the little kid he'd followed would be such a ruthless character?
Instantly killing a Soul Grandmaster—that was something only a Soul Elder could do.
But a Soul Elder under ten? Was that even human...
"Spare your life?" Xu Bai's amused voice came from outside the bedroom. It was childish, but to the short man it sounded like a devil's whisper. "First tell me: besides you two, who else knows what you planned to do tonight?"
"Senior, no one else knows about this." The short man hurriedly answered. After a pause, he felt that wasn't quite right and added,
"In our line of work, we believe secrets make success. Even if we pull off a job, we—we wouldn't tell anyone."
"In that case, there's no reason to let you live!"
As his voice fell, the iron needles in the air trembled, about to shoot forward.
"Senior, stop! I remember now—there are two more people who know about tonight!"
The short man spoke at lightning speed, banging his head against the ground, his whole body tense.
"Who?"
"M-my eight-year-old son and my eighty-year-old mother. I told them where I was going..."
The short man answered sheepishly.
"Do you think I'm easy to fool just because I'm young?"
"This junior wouldn't dare! I really do have an eight-year-old son and an eighty-year-old mother, and a gravely ill wife as well. If I weren't trying to keep them alive, I'd never have taken this crooked path."
"This junior can swear on my Martial Soul that I won't tell anyone what happened tonight. If I do, may my Martial Soul shatter and kill me."
"If I die, they won't be able to survive either. I beg you, senior, spare my life for their sake."
Then he burst into tears, sobbing so pitifully that anyone who heard him would be heartbroken.
But Xu Bai only snorted. "You might not tell anyone, but you could write it down. Do you still think you can play me for a child?"
"This junior is illiterate!" The short man heard a glimmer of hope and hurried to answer.
"Illiterate?" In the shadows, Xu Bai's lips curled into an amused smile. He thought of a very funny meme from his previous life and slowly walked out.
First followed close beside him.
Hearing movement, the short man instinctively looked up. The moment he noticed First beside Xu Bai, he was so terrified that his guts nearly split. He mentally slapped himself hard several times.
This time, he really had been blind. He'd kicked an iron plate.
Xu Bai glanced at the short man kneeling on the ground, and for a brief moment, he felt dazed.
Only now did he truly understand the underlying logic of this world.
The weak were prey to the strong; might made right.
Xu Bai quickly composed himself and spoke coolly. "I'm a kind-hearted sort, and I can't stand to see people suffer. You're in such a sorry state that sparing your life wouldn't be out of the question—but that's up to fate."
The short man was overjoyed. "Please tell me, senior! How do we leave it to fate?"
Under normal circumstances, if the other party said something like that, there was a very good chance he would live.
Xu Bai continued, "Since you say you're illiterate, I'll write down six characters and let you choose one. If you pick a character that means death, you die. If you pick any of the others, you live."
With that, he grabbed First by the tiger tail. Amid First's resentful glare, he dipped it in the burly man's blood and slowly wrote on a clean spot.
Once he was done, the short man hurriedly crawled forward. On the ground, he saw the six characters: death, perish, pass away, decease, collapse, and expire.
Short man: ?????
He jerked his head up, staring at Xu Bai in disbelief.
Xu Bai only smiled brightly. "What are you looking at? Pick one."
The short man: "You bastard..."