Southwind City Is Doomed! [Path of Slaughter]

Yuan Chenyang dropped his hand as if shocked by electricity. Su Chen watched him thoughtfully.

"Sun Tai, take the others outside first, but don't go too far." His face was taut as he said in a deep voice, "And don't contact the outside world. Warn the people in the building not to leave and not to expose their identities."

"Yes!"

Fatty Sun could not help glancing at the Shadow-Hiding Garment, unease filling his heart as he left with Zhao Xiong and the others.

"...How did you kill him?" Yuan Chenyang carefully lifted the Shadow-Hiding Garment. Once the metal box was fully revealed before him, his expression grew even graver.

"Starved him first, then poisoned him." Su Chen was concise. His actions had gone from settling a personal grudge to ridding the people of a menace, so he was naturally justified.

"You noticed something was wrong with him long ago?" Knowing how sly this kid was, Yuan Chenyang added, "I want the truth."

"There was no evidence," Su Chen answered honestly. If there had been evidence, he would have been brutally interrogated in the Inspection Department long ago.

Yuan Chenyang shook his head. "If you hadn't found this thing, you wouldn't have notified me, would you?"

Su Chen considered it. "There wouldn't have been any problems on the surface. Jiang He had already divorced him."

If he had not found this thing, he naturally would not have notified Yuan Chenyang. But even if someone suspected him of having something to do with Qi Chuan's death, so what?

After pondering for a moment, Yuan Chenyang asked again, "Whose man do you suspect he was?"

Without hesitation, Su Chen said, "Zhou Xian's."

Yuan Chenyang was not surprised. He carefully lifted the Shadow-Hiding Garment, and a flash of golden sharpness appeared out of nowhere, exploding against the metal box as he swiftly withdrew.

Even Su Chen felt a chill run down his spine, yet the metal box was completely undamaged.

"Hm?" Yuan Chenyang seemed to notice something was off. He cautiously stepped forward, carefully stretched out his hand, and picked it up.

Then his expression suddenly turned ugly. "The Weird God's Power parasitizing inside is gone!"

Su Chen's gaze flickered. "What Weird God's Power? What is this thing?"

"This is a weird artifact, made of meteorite iron. Weird Gods can place a portion of their power within it." Yuan Chenyang turned it over in his hands, his expression worsening. "Large-scale Weird God sacrifices, summonings, and blessings all require this thing as a vessel."

"By my estimation, Black Tuo's power should have been parasitizing it. But it's actually empty. What the hell did they do in Southwind City?" The veins on Yuan Chenyang's forehead bulged. "We were still a step too late. Southwind City is about to fall. We should have investigated everything thoroughly long ago!"

"Uh..." Su Chen hesitated.

"Fortunately..." Yuan Chenyang's tone then carried a trace of relief. "It's just an empty shell. Otherwise, I could only have put justice before family."

"What do you mean?" Su Chen was curious, so he asked.

"I told you before, your spiritual talent makes it extremely easy for you to gain the favor of these Weird Gods. If Black Tuo's power had still been inside, it would definitely have corrupted you."

Yuan Chenyang further explained, "Your career path would have been severed. You would have become a Weird God's puppet and lost your mind."

"That disgusting?" Su Chen looked shaken. What had happened to him would be hard to explain.

"That's right..." Yuan Chenyang took the chance to lecture him. "Weird Gods are not good things. Perhaps they can grant all your wishes, but it will definitely be through another method that makes you suffer terribly."

"So you must keep your distance from these things."

"Don't worry," Su Chen said solemnly, nodding.

"Go back first. I'll handle things here." Yuan Chenyang waved him away, then suddenly asked, "When Jiang He came to see you yesterday, was it to get Qi Chuan to sign something?"

"Yes." Su Chen did not know why Old Yuan had suddenly asked that.

After going downstairs and greeting Fatty Sun, the two walked a little farther away. Su Chen asked in a low voice, "Brother Sun, is there any convenient way to identify Weird God believers?"

Fatty Sun hesitated before shaking his head. "Not that I know of. Some people are only low-level believers with strong self-will. You can't tell anything from their everyday behavior."

"Some don't even believe in Weird Gods at all. They're just driven by profit, so there's even less to investigate. At any rate, it's hard to find such methods around Southwind City."

Su Chen fell into thought, recalling Zhang Hongbo's method. That was an auxiliary method used only when there was irrefutable evidence. If they suspected the wrong person, the damage to their mind would be irreversible.

After waving goodbye to everyone, Su Chen left.

"Imprisonment, poisoning, stalking, murder—none of that gets him in trouble?" Han Da looked envious.

"Shut up." Fatty Sun barked, his expression dark. "If any of you dare let word of tonight get out, don't blame me for being merciless."

In the room, Yuan Chenyang glanced at Qi Chuan's corpse, walked to the window, activated his wristband, and called a contact.

"Old Yuan?" An aged voice came from the wristband. "Why did you suddenly think to contact me?"

"Old Jiang, Qi Chuan is dead," Yuan Chenyang said flatly.

The wristband fell silent, leaving only faint crackling noises.

"How serious is it?"

"Weird Gods." Yuan Chenyang uttered two words.

Jiang Rong's tone became more urgent. "You should know it definitely has nothing to do with me."

Yuan Chenyang said directly, "I'll have someone suppress this matter. Cut ties as soon as possible."

A long silence followed.

"Thank you," Jiang Rong said slowly.

"Fine." Yuan Chenyang ended the call. He could not help looking at Qi Chuan's corpse again and muttered, "What a rare handle."

"Yuan Chenyang is quite something." Jiang Rong's expression kept shifting.

"Weird Gods?" Jiang He, seated opposite him, rose in uncontrollable fury. "Is Qi Chuan brain-dead? He dared collude with Weird Gods?"

"Perhaps it wasn't what he wanted. Once someone catches the attention of a Weird God... sigh..." Jiang Rong sighed and pointed at Jiang He. "I told you long ago not to provoke someone like him, someone with no way out. If you were really going to marry him, then you should have settled down!"

"They have nothing to lose, but we still do!"

Jiang He's momentum faltered. She turned her face aside and sat back down.

Jiang Rong secretly shook his head, then said, "I didn't expect Yuan Chenyang to notify me in advance. We should thank Su Chen too."

"Thank Su Chen?" Jiang He did not understand.

"Su Chen definitely told Yuan Chenyang everything that happened that night," Jiang Rong said leisurely.

"At that time, the academy had not yet been robbed, and Black Tuo had not surfaced either. Qi Chuan truly wanted to kill you, which instead ruled us out as suspects."

Jiang He snorted and unconsciously touched her cheek.

"Things are about to get tense," Jiang Rong murmured. "Zhang Hongbo is gone, Feng Chang is gone, Zhou Xian has to avoid suspicion and win me over as well. Yuan Chenyang is making big moves."

"I wonder what this [Low-Tier Weird God's Power] actually does."

Su Chen opened the panel and stared at the blood-red text, which looked deeply ominous.

The careers he had yet to take were [Storm Hunter] and [Arcane Scholar].

"Although it can also be used on a third-tier career, leaving it alone won't make it produce a smaller one. Who knows what kind of mutation it might cause?" Su Chen weighed the pros and cons. "I'll choose [Storm Hunter]. If something really goes wrong, I still have the second-tier Strongman career as a backup."

Spiritual careers were difficult to obtain, while physical ones were easier.

Having made up his mind, Su Chen did not hesitate. He used [Low-Tier Weird God's Power] on [Storm Hunter].

On the panel, the blood-red Weird God's Power transformed into strands of intertwined bloody threads that coiled around Storm Hunter.

[Storm Hunter has been tainted by Weird God's Power and is gradually becoming frenzied. Path of Slaughter activated: Kill three second-tier career holders to evolve the career tier to second-tier top grade.]

"Path of Slaughter? Evolve?"

Su Chen's expression became quite vivid, and he could not help feeling delighted. Good... very good.

He had personally experienced the power of a top-grade career.