Chapter 99 - 99: A Not-So-Simple Night

[East Borough—the primary turf of the Zmanger Gang] Ever since the towering highlanders took over a few years ago, this place had become a forbidden zone for ordinary people—one of the most chaotic areas in Backlund. Firearms and ammunition, murder and kidnapping, gang warfare—if the law prohibited it, they would almost certainly engage in it. Every morning, over a dozen corpses would be carted out of here, only for a fresh wave of highlanders to replace them. Edward had come tonight with the intent to execute the ringleader—but that didn't mean he would completely ignore the rest of the gang members. "Spirit Exitus." Cloaked in his Invisibility Cloak, Edward moved silently through the district. With each Soul-Snatching Curse he cast, the already violent and aggressive highlanders became even more unhinged. Chaos erupted quickly. The Zmanger gang members grabbed whatever weapons were nearby and, without hesitation, turned on comrades they had been laughing and boasting with just moments before. Gunfire, explosions, the clash of weapons, and blood-curdling screams filled the night with a symphony of violence. Edward took advantage of the chaos and headed straight for the villa nestled at the heart of the district. To his surprise, he hadn't encountered a single Beyonder along the way. On second thought, it wasn't that strange. The Loen government tolerated these gangs only under the condition that they could be crushed at any moment. Just like that guy, Meursault—it was only after being bribed by the Intis ambassador that he became a Beyonder. With a wave of his hand, seven or eight highlanders under his Soul-Snatching Curse stormed the villa. A string of gunshots followed immediately. A few minutes later, the gunfire stopped. After reinforcing himself with another Protego Maxima and confirming the scene through divination, Edward stepped inside. The sight that greeted him was a floor soaked in blood and bodies strewn across it. Activating his Spirit Vision, he found only one survivor. A thin middle-aged man—the leader of the Zmanger Gang. He didn't look like a Highlander, nor did he appear particularly brutal. On the contrary, there was a subtle air of refinement about him. As the last man standing, he too was riddled with bleeding bullet wounds and sat slumped on the floor like someone freshly baptised in blood. He panted heavily, pointing a large-calibre pistol toward the entrance. From deep within his throat, he growled, "Come out! I know you're there…Beyonder!" "How dare you?! Don't you know we Zmanger—" "Petrificus Totalus!" "Reducto!" Two spells hit in rapid succession. He didn't even have time to scream before his body shattered into rubble. "Done. Job's finished." For an ordinary Sequence 7 Beyonder, killing a gang boss surrounded by hundreds of armed thugs would require either meticulous planning or the use of special magical items. But for a wizard, it was simple: the entire operation, from start to finish, took less than twenty minutes. By tomorrow, everyone would chalk the incident up to gang infighting. "Next…" Edward grinned, cast a Banishing Charm, and began rifling through the house. He wasn't about to make the same mistake Klein had by leaving the Capim mansion empty-handed! With the help of divination, he soon discovered a hidden safe behind a bathroom mural on the second floor. One clean Alohomora, and the complicated metal door swung open with ease. Inside were bundles of banknotes reeking of an odd smell, and a scattering of gold coins. Edward, of course, didn't hesitate to pocket the lot. As for the ledgers and letters he couldn't make heads or tails of, he swept them all up too—he could always go through them later and toss whatever turned out to be useless. Unfortunately, there was nothing with mystical properties to be found. After collecting everything, he cast several cleaning spells to erase all traces of his presence. "Let's return." ——— As soon as they got home, Lilith suddenly leapt out from the darkness— "Waaah!!" Edward quickly put on a startled expression again. Sure enough, she was very pleased to have scared her big cat once more. Tail held high, she rubbed against his calf smugly and declared, "Miss Lilith hid even better this time than last time!" "Well, of course! Lilith is a natural-born queen of the darkness." "That's right! Miss Lilith is the queen!" She lifted her chin proudly. Then she sniffed the air and asked curiously, "Edward, I smell blood. Did you kill someone?" "Yup." Edward sat down on the spot and spread out all the loot he'd just collected. "Wow! Sooo much money!" Lilith batted at the gold coins with her little paws, making them clink and jingle. Delighted by the sound, she started pawing at them even more enthusiastically, soon chasing a coin across the floor with playful kicks. Edward quickly sorted through the night's gains. Paper bills plus gold coins totalled a little over 4,000 pounds. At first glance, it didn't seem like much, especially compared to the thousands—sometimes tens of thousands—needed for Beyonder formulas and materials. But for a regular street gang, this was already a massive fortune. Next came the ledgers and letters. He flipped through the ledgers briefly—mostly routine income and expenses for the Zmanger Gang. The letters, however, were mostly correspondence with certain individuals from the Feynapotter Kingdom. The phrase that appeared most often was, "Hurry up and send more highlanders." At this point, Lilith abandoned the coins and ran back over. She lifted her upper body, placed her front paws on Edward's wrist, and craned her neck to see—looking for all the world like she could actually read. "Lilith, you're always so curious whenever I'm reading or writing. How about learning to read?" "Mm…" She hesitated. Edward continued his sweet-talking, "Once you learn, you'll be able to read books and write too. Miss Lilith will become a clever, educated and wise little kitty—leaving all the other cats in the dust." "Mm…" "Oh? Is Lilith worried she won't be able to learn? But from what I know, Lilith is super smart. Learning to read is child's play for her—not even a puff of effort!" She immediately nodded seriously. "Right! No puffing effort at all!" (Mispronouncing "not even a puff of effort") "Alright, then I'll arrange your lessons tomorrow. Lilith will study hard, won't she?" "I will!" "Lilith will become clever and wise, right?" "Right!" "Great. Then it's a deal." "Okaaay~" Lilith felt like something wasn't quite right…but after all that flattery, she was so pleased she completely forgot about it. Edward continued reading the letters. Most of them, once read and deemed useless, were casually burned on the spot. The large pile of ledgers and correspondence quickly dwindled. Until he picked up a thick envelope made of parchment. "Huh? Parchment for an envelope? That's pretty formal. What's inside, cash?" The wax seal had already been broken—someone had clearly opened it before. He pulled out the contents: five or six sheets of paper folded together. The moment he unfolded them and took a glance, he froze— Chinese? A quick skim told him the tone and structure weren't from the Emperor—it matched more with the style of that other suspected transmigrator from last time. Just as he was about to flip to the next page, pea vines suddenly dangled down from the ceiling, weaving into a lush forest. Flowers of every vibrant colour bloomed throughout the room. From the midst of the floral tapestry, a woman emerged—wearing a round leather hat, a yellow, girlish tiered dress, and black leather shoes. Her chestnut hair framed a figure of perfect proportions. It was like a scene out of a fairy tale. Even Lilith, usually on high alert, gleefully pranced among the flowers, chasing butterflies. The entrance, the outfit, the aura— No need to guess who this was. "Good evening." The noble and stunning lady greeted him with impeccable manners. It was a habit honed from years of princess-like upbringing. Edward finally understood why tonight's operation had gone so smoothly. He swallowed nervously. "Good evening." "I apologise for disturbing you at this hour, but the journals in your hands happen to belong to me. They merely ended up with those gangsters by chance." "…." Edward couldn't tell if she was telling the truth, but he immediately offered the pages with both hands, meekly and without hesitation. "Thank you." She extended her long, pale fingers and accepted them with grace. "Uh—no problem. You're welcome." She nodded slightly. "May you have a pleasant dream tonight." As her words fell, the surroundings changed in an instant. The pea vines, the forest, the blossoms, the butterflies—all vanished without a trace. Only Lilith remained, still gleefully frozen mid-butterfly-pounce. She leapt into Edward's arms in confusion, then spun her eyes in dazed circles. "Huh? Where'd the flufferflies go?" Edward flicked her on the forehead. "Can't count on you for anything." She tilted her head in confusion, big eyes blinking wide. "Good thing I memorised the first page of that diary, or this would've been a total loss." He closed his eyes and recalled the content of the page: "Today, I met a woman. She seemed strange and refused to leave my side. I got so annoyed, I beat her up." "Ugh, I've been here for days now. It's boring. Even more boring than before. The food sucks too. I don't like it here!" "That woman's been following me for over ten days now. I beat her up a few more times, but she still won't leave. She won't talk either. What a weirdo." "Today, that woman finally spoke. I thought she was mute. She told me her name..." That was where the page ended. The rest must have been written on the next page. "Bloody hell! Rambling on forever and just when it might actually get useful, it cuts off?!" Sigh—Maybe that name was just some nobody, like a background soldier. Even if he knew it, what good would it do? That was the only way Edward could console himself. ——— The Zmanger Gang's internal conflict gradually settled down. A group of highlanders, finally free from the Soul-Snatching Curse, didn't understand what had just happened—but it was clear their gang was finished. The less-injured ones rushed straight into the boss's villa, grabbing anything they could carry—truthfully, if they had this kind of money, they wouldn't even need to be gangsters. "Hey? Looks like there's a basement here." A highlander with several gashes on his arm opened a small hatch in the storeroom that led underground. "No wonder we haven't found any cash—it must all be down here!" "Let's go! Get in there!" Two bold highlanders lit makeshift torches fashioned from table legs and headed down first. Just as the rest prepared to follow— A bloodcurdling scream echoed from the pitch-black depths, accompanied by wet, crunching, chewing sounds. "Run!!" The others didn't hesitate—but when they turned around, they found their legs sinking into the floor—no! Not the floor—flesh. Red, squirming, pulsing flesh. "Help!!!" "Monster! There's a monster!!" "AAAAAH!" The mass of flesh rapidly closed in, engulfing everyone present. It formed into a massive cocoon of meat, pulsing like a giant heart. Thump...Thump...Thump... Minutes later, the cocoon contracted violently in all directions. The blood and meat merged and moulded into the shape of a man. His skin grew paler and smoother, his features sharper and clearer—until the grotesque mass was gone, replaced by a strangely beautiful man: Mr. A. A week ago, using the power of a Spawn of the Evil God, Mr. A had fought a battle with the Apprentice Path's High-Sequence Beyonder, the Saint of Secrets. The result was supposedly a draw—but the Saint of Secrets had retreated entirely intact. While he'd burned through all his recorded abilities, he suffered no real injuries. Mr. A, however, had collapsed immediately after returning. He barely managed to leave a hibernation command for the Aurora Order before slipping away into the most chaotic part of Backlund. There, he began secretly hunting gang members to slowly recover, while absorbing the surrounding negative emotions to nourish the Spawn of the Evil God. Originally, he would've needed another three to five days to fully recover. But tonight's chaos—and those highlanders walking into his lair—allowed him to finish early. "Slaughter. Blood. Greed. Corruption…I love the scent of this place." Mr. A took a deep breath, intoxicated. "Now…it's time to figure out how to invite that friend of mine for a little meeting—with my Lord." ——— [Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.