Now that he had obtained Humanity's Supreme Treasure, the Red King had no reason to stay any longer. He bought plane tickets that night and brought the Mind Master and his companion back to headquarters.
Perhaps having Humanity's Supreme Treasure in hand put him at ease. Throughout the journey, the Red King no longer had the feeling that someone was watching him, and he slept on the plane.
On the way back, the Red King had already reported the results of the operation to the professor. Overjoyed, the professor came to the airport in person to welcome him.
As soon as he left the airport, the Red King saw the professor wearing a rare smile. He looked several years younger.
To show how much they valued the Red King's success, all Seven Kings had turned out. Even the Soul King, who was still recuperating, had come.
The Seven Kings' luxury cars lined up outside the airport exit, drawing everyone's attention. Every passerby stopped to look; not a single person failed to turn their head.
"My God, that's a Koenigsegg One:1! There are fewer than ten in the world, and it costs over twenty million dollars!"
"And there's a Rolls-Royce Sweptail! That costs at least twelve million!"
Experienced car enthusiasts recognized the luxury vehicles and marveled at them, raising their phones to take pictures from a distance.
No one dared approach to pose for a picture with the cars. Black-clad bodyguards in sunglasses stood on either side of each vehicle, built like iron towers, with bulges at their waists. Every one of them carried a gun.
The Seven Kings cared nothing for the cars' value. To them, they were merely transportation. What mattered was power and their standing within the organization.
Seeing the Red King receive such an honored welcome filled the Soul King with envy.
The Red King's place should have been his.
The Red King sensed the Soul King's jealousy and curled his lip in disdain. He had earned this honor.
You think you have any right to envy me? Do you know how terrifying it was to watch Calamity every day, constantly fearing for my life? Could you have done it?
For now, only the professor knew about Calamity.
The Mind Master and his companion, following behind the Red King, had never seen anything like this. All the senior figures at headquarters had come to welcome them in person. Overwhelmed by the honor, their legs went weak.
"Professor, I've accomplished the mission." The Red King presented the wooden box with both hands.
Everyone's eyes focused on the box, their gazes burning with eagerness. Was that the wooden box containing Humanity's Supreme Treasure?
Rather than take the box, the professor gripped the Red King's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, his eyes crinkling with a smile. "Good. Excellent work!"
"Professor." Deeply moved, the Red King felt that a man would die for someone who truly appreciated him. Even if the professor asked him to return to No. 2 Middle School to watch Calamity, he would do it.
The professor and the Red King shared a car. Holding the wooden box, the professor did not rush to examine it, instead asking about Calamity.
"According to the information we gathered, she doesn't seem to have ever hidden her identity. She calls herself the strongest Superpowered Person in history."
Over the past few days, the Red King had obtained plenty of information about Chu Xiaoyao from Wei Hang, not just about Zhou You.
"She's never hidden her identity..." Recalling Chu Xiaoyao's supremely arrogant bearing, the professor shook his head with a wry smile.
"That certainly sounds like her."
Still, the professor could understand. If he had possessed that kind of ability at Chu Xiaoyao's age, he would probably have been even more arrogant than she was. That strength was hers from birth.
One difference between Superpowered People and Cultivators was that superpowers were innate. Although their limitations were obvious, their strength was beyond question, making it easy for them to develop the attitude that no one in the world was above them.
The stronger a Superpowered Person was, the more likely they were to develop such a personality, because they never encountered anyone who could match them. There was no shortage of unruly, arrogant individuals among the Seven Kings.
From the Red King's description, Chu Xiaoyao could share a desk with Zhou You and speak civilly with her classmates. Compared with how she had behaved at headquarters, she was showing considerable restraint.
"It seems she's matured quite a bit."
"But there was some strange information too. She also said she had a Black Dragon sealed inside her and had Chiyou's bloodline, or something like that," the Red King said in puzzlement. He had learned these things from Wei Hang as well, though they were only scattered snippets.
The professor was equally puzzled. "Delusions of grandeur?"
At Calamity's age, that sort of adolescent fantasy was normal enough.
"By the way, what's the story with Calamity's deskmate, Zhou You, from the report? Does Calamity really have such poor taste in people?"
The professor recalled the report that the Mighty Warrior had written and formatted, with the Red King's name attached.
According to the report, Zhou You was anything but an ordinary high school student. To put it kindly, he was an experienced womanizer. To be blunt, he was scum.
The Red King nodded. "It's even worse than that. He's worse than the report makes him sound. That Zhou You has a disciple of Dragon-Tiger Mountain completely besotted with him. Right at the school gates in the morning, he was saying things like, 'Don't ship it discreetly. Just come to me.'"
The professor wore an odd expression, feeling that something was off. "Is your information reliable?"
"Very reliable. The Mind Master hypnotized Zhou You's classmate. The classmate heard it himself."
"All right."
The professor chose to trust the Red King.
"Professor, the seal on the box..."
"Don't worry. We have someone in the organization who specializes in handling seals."
"This seal won't be easy to deal with."
The specialist the professor mentioned was also a Superpowered Person. The Red King did not know him well, only that he focused on research. Like the professor, he always wore a white lab coat and spent his time conducting experiments in the laboratory. His ability seemed to be called "Falsehood-Breaking."
Apparently, Falsehood-Breaking's function was to break seals.
"Revealing Truth, how long will this take?" The professor addressed the man by his codename.
The laboratory had been cleared out. Only the professor, the Red King, and Revealing Truth remained in the spacious room.
Revealing Truth activated his ability and gently knocked on the wooden box, his movements friendly, as though he were visiting an old friend.
The seal's patterns gradually emerged, expanding to fill the entire space. The interwoven, overlapping lines shone like stars. A single glance made the Red King dizzy.
Revealing Truth understood much more of what he saw and could not help marveling. "Judging by its style, this seal predates the Song Dynasty. That matches the time when Humanity's Supreme Treasure disappeared. It seems this really is Humanity's Supreme Treasure."
"You can tell its age just from the seal's style?" The Red King knew nothing about seals.
Revealing Truth smiled as he explained. "Usually, the distinctions aren't that obvious, but the Tang-Song Period marks a dividing line. You know about the Demon Calamity a thousand years ago, don't you?"
The Red King nodded. This was common knowledge. "The Demon Calamity that swept through the Cultivation World during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms?"
Revealing Truth continued, "That Demon Calamity nearly wiped out the Cultivation World. Calling it an apocalypse would be no exaggeration. Countless sects fell, and even many experts in the Golden Core and Creation realms perished, leaving gaps in their legacies."
"It wasn't until the Song Dynasty that the Cultivation World gradually recovered and began restoring those legacies. But they weren't the original legacies, after all, so the styles of seals, formations, spells, and so on became somewhat different from what they had been before."
"I learned something new."
"Revealing Truth, just tell us what help you need." The professor knew Revealing Truth well. He was not a talkative man. If he had said this much, he wanted something.
Revealing Truth held up three fingers. "Three doses of Top-Tier Enhancement Serum."
The professor frowned. Three doses were rather a lot.
Revealing Truth chuckled. "Breaking this seal will put an enormous drain on my ability, and I can't stop halfway through."
"Those three doses of Top-Tier Enhancement Serum aren't to strengthen my ability. They're to replenish what I expend."
Enhancement serum did more than strengthen superpowers. It could also replenish expended power, like a mana potion in a game. However, using it this way was so extravagant that few people did it.
"You know me. I always tell it like it is."
In the end, the professor agreed to Revealing Truth's request and had three doses of Top-Tier Enhancement Serum brought from storage.
The serum came in test tubes. The glossy black liquid resembled petroleum, but a slight shake sent points of light rippling across its surface, like a river of stars in the night sky. It was the culmination of the professor's painstaking work.
Revealing Truth knocked on the wooden box again, but his movements were clearly no longer as friendly as before. He was getting serious.
The seal's patterns appeared, like the stars filling the heavens, shifting endlessly. Standing nearby, the Red King sensed an indescribable aura rising from Revealing Truth. It was not a true aura, but the confidence he possessed as a Seal-Domain Master.
Countless lines resembling those of the seal appeared at Revealing Truth's fingertips. Ten lines continually extended and branched, like towering trees growing strong.
These lines struck the seal's nodes. The seal shook, taking the entire laboratory with it. A small earthquake swept through headquarters.
When headquarters had first been built, Golden Core Cultivators had been the hypothetical enemy, so it was sturdy enough to withstand Golden Core attacks.
The Red King was astonished that Revealing Truth could cause such a disturbance. An ability like this qualified him to be a Seven Kings Candidate, if not one of the Seven Kings themselves. Yet the Red King barely knew him.
The professor cleared up his confusion. "Revealing Truth's ability is very powerful, but it's too specialized. It can only break seals, so he chose to devote himself to research."
"This is harder than I expected!" Revealing Truth said hoarsely. Maintaining his current state placed an enormous strain on him, no less than repeatedly sprinting a hundred meters.
Without hesitation, he gulped down a dose of Top-Tier Enhancement Serum.
The serum nourished his body, replenishing his depleted power and restoring his stamina.
One dose, two doses, three doses.
As he drained the third dose of serum and his power neared exhaustion, the impregnable seal finally cracked and shattered.
The seal was broken.
"Fuck, finally!"
Revealing Truth slumped to the floor, swearing for once. He had never handled a seal this difficult before. He had truly surpassed his own limits.
He was smiling too. He had gained a great deal from this experience. Once he recovered his strength and reviewed what he had learned, he believed his ability would improve significantly.
"Thank you for your hard work." The professor handed him a fourth dose of Top-Tier Enhancement Serum.
Revealing Truth froze.
The professor paid no attention to whether Revealing Truth intended to use that dose to strengthen his ability or replenish his depleted power. All his attention was on the wooden box.
Was he finally going to obtain Humanity's Supreme Treasure?
Usually so composed, he was unusually excited. The hands he used to conduct experiments were trembling.
With shaking hands, he opened the wooden box. A stack of banknotes lay quietly inside, bearing the words "Heaven and Earth Bank" and denominations so large they were staggering.
"Underworld Currency?"
Before you continue