The Mastermind

Click, click.

Several pieces of white bone fell to the ground from the Ruixiuli's huge bone sword, and strangely assembled themselves into a small bone hand, then quickly crawled away and disappeared into the grass.

These sword-boned skeletons!

Ruixiuli's lips twitched slightly, then he casually raised his eyes, pointing his bone sword diagonally at the Naga leader, making a provocative challenge.

The Naga leader frowned, her bone sword separating? What kind of bizarre fighting style was this?

But Ruixiuli didn't give him any time to think. The two instantly transformed into two blurry shadows, wreathed in violent winds and Magic Power fluctuations, and engaged in a fierce battle!

Seeing this, the remaining Naga roared and prepared to attack. Five giant dragons, carrying observers on their backs, crashed into the Naga horde like meteorites. The immense impact shook the earth, instantly shattering the Naga formation, and a chaotic battle erupted in an instant.

Su Ming's gaze, however, bypassed the chaotic battlefield and locked onto the Naga High Priest on the other side, whose aura was profound.

With a flick of his wrist, the whip binding the Naga warrior's corpse loosened, and he stepped forward.

Jielusi moved swiftly, urgently blocking his path, "Guild Master! Leave this enemy to me!"

"What?" Su Ming raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to keep me in a greenhouse so that I can become an enemy and threaten me?"

If children are constantly overprotected, they will lack opportunities to gain experience and lose the basic ability to cope with risks.

"But this Naga priestess is very strong!" Jielusi said worriedly, "You need to hone your skills in real combat; there are still several ordinary Magister over there..."

Not far away, Elder Mo Yuan had just stomped a Naga Magister was attempting to cast a spell into the mud and was about to stomp on it a second time. He stopped upon hearing this, "This one—want you to play with it?"

"No need." Su Ming charged toward the Naga High Priest like an arrow released from a bow, his long whip whistling as it pierced the air.

"Occasionally, we'll tackle something tough," he said with a hint of amusement, "Just to sharpen our teeth!"

Jielusi sighed helplessly, her figure following closely behind, protecting her like a shadow.

****

Before long, both Su Ming and his opponent were panting heavily.

The Naga Clan high priestess was skilled in defense and spell dismantling, and she steadily withstood many of Su Ming's tricky attacks.

Her counterattack was fierce, but it was completely negated by the faint light emanating from Su Ming's seemingly ordinary clothes and the timely buffs such as "Shield Spell" and "Elemental Deflection" applied by Jielusi.

"Could you be any more shameless?!" The high priestess's fangs almost crushed the scales. She wasn't known for her aggressive attacks, and the opposing team's equipment and support were practically fighting as if they were wearing a turtle shell.

"Nonsense, you're a whole rank ahead!" Su Ming said.

He didn't use any items in today's battle, relying purely on magical power to fight head-on—this Naga had no idea how much he was holding back!

Su Ming glanced around briefly; the others and dragons had already finished. Ruixiuli and the dragons had formed a circle around them as if they were watching a gladiatorial contest, like a VIP audience.

All that remained where the Naga leader stood was a pool of barely recognizable crimson flesh—this Master Rank warrior, in his desperate struggle on land, had only managed to leave a shallow scar on Ruixiuli's shoulder.

The remaining Naga warriors were even more shattered, their remains scattered everywhere.

[How come there aren't a single survivors left?] Su Ming frowned and asked via message.

"We did our best," Ruixiuli voice, "But unfortunately, we only managed to end their lives before they could commit suicide."

Su Ming understood after a moment's thought: those who could be sent to carry out this kind of mission must be die-hards.

Or perhaps some means forced these Naga to die when faced with mission failure!

Su Ming turned his gaze back to the high priestess, who was also panting heavily. He knew that if she hadn't been trying to find an opportunity to take him down with her, she probably would have committed suicide without hesitation as well.

****

On the other side, Jielusi was kneeling in the mud, trying to tend to the injured dragon, the soft white light casting a holy glow upon her.

"Is my injury more serious?" Rupert looked enviously at his colleague who was receiving treatment, wiping away the blood that kept seeping from the corner of his mouth.

"Didn't you see he couldn't even utter a whimper?" Jielusi said without looking up.

"That's because he's naturally introverted and doesn't like to talk!" Rupert protested. "Even a chatterbox like me has human rights!"

"You can move over there," Jielusi said, pointing to the group of dragons cheering them on. "They can keep you company."

In the middle, Su Ming once again distanced himself from the High Priest. His "Bone Spear - Armor-Piercing Modification" combo had just hit the enemy's deep blue water shield, creating holes but failing to inflict significant damage.

"My turn!" The high priest's eyes were bloodshot. Even though her cultivation level was a rank higher than her opponent's, she was becoming increasingly disheveled in the battle. This kind of protracted combat was not her forte, and being on land, she had the power of Magic Power, but instead became a punching bag for her opponent to hone his spellcasting skills.

An unprecedented sense of humiliation seared the High Priestess's nerves. She gritted her teeth, and her Magic Power surged violently as she pounced on Su Ming like an arrow released from a bow. A ghostly light, as if to destroy everything, condensed on her serpentine staff!

A cold, mocking smile curled at the corner of Su Ming's lips.

The High Priestess's heart skipped a beat! In a flash, she realized that she had been lured by Su Ming to the area below Elder Mo Yuan without her noticing!

These dragons were indeed "observing," but who says they could only "observe" and not "fight"?

Mo Yuan's vertical pupils flashed with a cold light, and his enormous Dragon Claw pressed down. A rune array composed of pure dark energy appeared out of thin air, pressing down on the High Priest!

The high priest was terrified and hastily mobilized all his Magic Power to try and defend against the attack from above.

Boom!

The dark cage clashed violently with her protective magic.

The shield shattered, and the backlash of Magic Power caused the high priest's vision to go black. Seeing that all hope was lost, she was about to commit suicide when she saw Su Ming in front of her had already taken the strangely shaped gun from his back and pulled the trigger at her.

Puff puff puff!

Seven or eight probe bullets, each trailing a thin, springy metal wire, shot out and pierced the high priest's scale-covered body. Immediately afterward, Su Ming pressed down hard on the button on the gun handle with his thumb.

With a crackling sound, blinding blue-white lightning surged wildly along the metal wire. The high priest's body instantly stiffened like a wooden stick, falling straight to the ground, thick smoke rising along with the acrid smell of burning flesh.

She couldn't even scream; she convulsed violently under the continuous high-voltage electric shocks, and finally, with her eyes rolling back, she completely lost consciousness.

"The guild leader is amazing! We finally caught one who was still breathing!" A necromancer ran forward excitedly, quickly pried open the high priest's mouth, and took out a self-destructing runestone emitting an ominous red glow from under her tongue.

The other necromancers immediately began to busy themselves, summoning the souls of the dead Naga. But strange runes suddenly lit up on the surfaces of those corpses, like burning chains, binding the newly emerged souls tightly, and then tearing them apart and dissolving them inch by inch amidst mournful, silent wails.

"You guys are being targeted," Mo Yuan sighed.

Zijin's "Desecration Coffin" spell can prevent this, but the spell is very difficult to cast. Currently, besides Zijin, only Bowers and Stacy are capable of casting it.

All those present could do was watch as those souls turned into specks of firefly light and vanished.

All eyes were once again focused on the only Naga High Priest who was still barely moving.

"How should we interrogate her?" Ruixiuli looked at Su Ming. "If we awaken this high priestess, she will definitely resist to the death and try every means to kill herself."

A dragon's roar echoed from the horizon, and a graceful dragon silhouette, shimmering with emerald light, swooped down—it was none other than Elder Zhimeng.

Su Ming's lips curled slightly, and he gestured with his chin towards the unconscious high priest, "Let this guy have a sweet dream, then he'll know everything, right?"

****

Su Ming wove a nice story:

The Naga High Priestess "awakened" in the icy waters, with turbid floodwaters surging and raging around her.

The Naga support team, having completed their earthquake demolition mission, arrived at the scene, rescued the High Priestess, and drove away Su Ming and his group. One of them was carefully bandaging her "wounds."

At this moment, they are carrying out a large amount of super Crystal Dragon materials that are shimmering with a faint light from the warehouse, preparing to take advantage of the raging flood to evacuate, and then go downstream along the White River to return to the embrace of the ocean.

"What a wonderful dream!" Elder Zhimeng Weaver clicked his tongue. "Looks like I need to find a partner who can weave stories."

"Indeed," Su Ming nodded, "You need a good screenwriter to bring your dream-making abilities to their fullest potential."

About an hour later, Su Ming received a report from Zhimeng.

From the words extracted from the Naga priest's dream, it was learned that the entire mission's objective was initially these Super Crystal Dragon materials. A mysterious "patron" paid the Naga a substantial fee to steal these from the Final Bone Mad Machines.

Su Ming had already returned to his office at the Ruby Base, and Elder Zhimeng also came over for a sumptuous lunch.

Although Su Ming was somewhat helpless, he could only entertain them properly. These dragon elders would take away thousands of gold coins from him every month just by eating their meals.

"In other words, it wasn't a sabotage operation or assassination at all, but rather a theft for money." Su Ming rubbed his temples; the enemy's tricks were truly overwhelming.

"A wealthy patron capable of such a large-scale operation must be quite powerful," said Jielusi, who was also holding a lunchbox and facing Zhimeng.

"Perhaps it's some large, wealthy merchant guild?" Zhimeng deftly forked a large piece of honey-glazed beef leg. "The Crystal Dragon materials are currently divided between you and the dwarves. If we could steal a portion of them, they would definitely be incredibly valuable!"

Su Ming slowly shook his head, "The amount of money that could move the Naga Queen and make her willing to invest such an elite team is beyond the reach of ordinary merchant guilds. Merchants are profit-driven and wouldn't throw a large amount of gold coins into such a risky situation with uncertain returns."

He was deep in thought when the office door was pushed open, and Ainuobia strode in, placing several documents on his desk.

"President, Ambassador Dalilan'an of the Star Empire is here again," she reported.

"Another one—" Su Ming abruptly stopped himself from saying "freeloader."

"Just follow the established procedures with the Foreign Affairs Office," he instructed. "By the way, what was Dalilan'an's reaction when we arranged for him to experience our new steamship yesterday afternoon?"

Ainuobia shrugged. "Dalilan'an said he had urgent business to attend to and declined."

This was rather strange, Su Ming frowned. An ambassador who had come specifically to negotiate the purchase of marine steam engines wouldn't even bother to look at a live demonstration of the product?

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Su Ming!

He immediately said to Ainuobia, "Send another invitation to Dalilan'an, telling him that we have a steamship on the White River equipped with the three-times more powerful steamship he requested, and invite him to inspect it!"

Although no such ship existed, Ainuobia immediately set to work. She soon returned with a reply: Ambassador Dalilan'an had accepted the invitation, but claimed that he had "caught a cold and was feeling unwell" on the way and had sent his deputy to visit on his behalf.

"Dalilan'an, he knows something's going to happen on the White River and's worried about being swept away by the flood!" Su Ming's eyes flashed coldly, and he slammed his hand on the table. "That bastard, Xialike!"

Despite the lack of direct evidence, the Star Empire is undoubtedly the most interested force in this batch of materials originating from the Super Crystal Dragon.

King Xialike did not make a trade request to Su Ming - according to the standards of the agreement with the dwarves, the starting price for their investment would be in the tens of millions of gold coins.

However, the dwarves used the alchemical materials that Su Ming urgently needed to exchange for the materials at market value, resulting in a much lower actual cost. The Star Empire did not have such a convenient method.

Therefore, it can be inferred that the cunning Lord Xialike chose this much more "economical" route: by paying a low commission, he could make the Naga people, who were financially strained due to preparations for war, take the risk and come to plunder.

Even for the Naga Clan, this weakens their enemy's strength—killing two birds with one stone!

Given Xialike's scheming abilities, he is absolutely capable of doing something like this.

As for risks, they are virtually nonexistent. The Naga elites carrying out the mission will never know the identity of the mastermind behind it all; this secret will undoubtedly remain solely in the hands of the Naga Queen.

Therefore, regardless of whether the theft mission succeeds or fails, the Naga race will bear the full blame.

Meanwhile, King Xialike of the Star Empire remained beautifully hidden behind the scenes!

"That bastard!" Su Ming said angrily.

"Then—should we get a steam engine for them to see?" Ainuobia asked hesitantly.

"A visit?" Su Ming sneered. "Detain Dalilan'an, then send a diplomatic inquiry to Xialike!" He instructed, "Tell them that the Naga High Priest we captured has confessed that Ambassador Dalilan'an participated in and planned the theft of the Crystal Dragon materials! They also irresponsibly destroyed the White River embankment during the operation, causing serious damage to our White River basin and the Celestite Hydropower Station!"

Ainuobia gasped, completely bewildered by this sudden turn of events. She glanced blankly at the other secretaries in the office; their faces were equally puzzled.

Wasn't that new lake something we deliberately created ourselves?

"Wouldn't this anger the Star Empire?" Ainuobia asked worriedly. "The decisive battle with the Divine Covenant Faction is imminent; making enemies now—"

"This level of friction isn't enough to cause a falling out." Su Ming's lips curled into a meaningful smile. "Since Xialike Like dared to do it, why shouldn't I dare to expose him?"

A calculating glint flashed in his eyes. "And this incident perfectly fills a gap in our strategy!"