CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 77: GOOD LUCK

Fuck, just because he had white hair they could do whatever they wanted!?

I was a guy, damn it!

"Le Yu had never really had an accurate sense of his own aesthetics; after all, he had survived the internet age, schooled by countless veteran netizens. Whether it was pretty girls or pretty boys, even if he wasn’t into it, his group chats were always flooded with ’Hey, my friend wants to see this’ shit, his tastes had become so picky—a big reason why modern folks were so single—the more model types you saw, the less you could take ordinary reality."

"So Le Yu didn’t really get what was so special about Yin Yinyin anyway. I mean, so he was a little thinner, a little shorter, paler, thinner lips, bigger eyes. Looked totally average to him!"

But he didn’t realize that this sickly rich-kid style was still crazy deadly in this era. Yin Yinyin was already S-level goods, but add that head of white hair, and it was straight up SR-level!

Only right in this moment did Le Yu realize these guys weren’t dragging him off for some bloody capitalist exploitation—they wanted his body!

"He had been thinking if there was any slick way to get out of this mess, but after hearing their conversation, he completely lost it—no time for twisted plans, just bust some heads, or he’d be the one getting busted!"

When the deputy boss gave the order, the two guards came over, lifted Le Yu up and carted him away. The guard on his right swept Le Yu with this look that gave him goosebumps, face even turning a little red and his throat audibly gulping.

"Boys need to protect themselves out there, that’s just common sense."

Sorry, you’re right about that.

"Le Yu touched the Saint’s Relic on his wrist. Sandwiched between two guards and on the way out of the jail cell, he was thinking if he should explode now or wait until he actually got to their room... or maybe wait till the second-in-command took his pants off... In theory, no man’s more defenseless than when he’s dropped his pants, and if Le Yu could, he definitely wanted to chop the root of this bastard’s troubles first, then send him straight to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, or else he’d never get this resentment off his chest."

"No one knows a man better than a man. Le Yu knew exactly what kind of pain would hit this type of shithead the hardest!"

Also, Le Yu hadn’t eaten for two days and nights—sure, the Ice Blood Physique could force his body through it, but he was still weak in body and spirit, no way he’d last a drawn-out fight, so he had to make sure he exploded in the most favorable conditions.

All the other "chosen" got dragged off elsewhere, but Le Yu was led by the deputy boss up toward the top levels of the mine. But after barely a few steps, he saw this big scar-faced dude rushing over.

The scarred guy looked at Le Yu, his face full of grief and shock, grabbing the deputy boss’s sleeve and wailing, "Please, second boss! I beg you, let him go! I’ll give you anything! Please!"

"With real tears and snot, anyone would’ve cried hearing him."

"If Le Yu hadn’t already known Yin Yinyin’s folks were pushing up dandelions, he’d have thought this scar-faced thug was Yin Yinyin’s long-lost dad just reappeared."

"’Boss Huo, you oughta know how dangerous Sword Concealers are,’ the deputy boss said coldly, ’You think I’d just hand him over to the Young Master? I’ll check him myself tonight—if he’s clean, you can give him to the Young Master tomorrow.’"

"’Give?’... Scarface blanked for a second, wanting to correct the wording, but seeing the deputy’s hand moving to his sword, he immediately changed his tune, ’No need to trouble you, second boss. Let me handle it!’"

"’It’s only for one night, and I’m an old tea hand, my tea game’s always been strong!’"

"The deputy boss raised his eyebrow a little, ’You haven’t slept in two days. Can you even do it?’"

Men could never admit they couldn’t. The scar-faced guy pounded his chest hard, "No problem, trust me—in the morning, I’ll make him up super fancy and well-behaved. As soon as he’s handed off, he’ll be a perfect, smart little gift for the Young Master!"

"Great. You’re gonna die for at least five minutes, and you’re losing your ass in the process."

Just as Le Yu was itching to make his move, the deputy boss shook his head, saying, "That’s enough, go back and rest."

"But deputy boss..."

"Didn’t you get it? I was just making up excuses to put you off," the deputy boss said, frowning, "Are you making me slap you?"

"But—"

Slap!

The deputy boss smacked him so hard he spun in circles, even spitting blood from his gums. He clutched his face, trembling, fixed his eyes on the deputy boss, looking humiliated as hell, "Deputy boss, you, you—"

"What were you gonna say?" The deputy’s look was nasty.

"Come on, fight, go on, just give him an uppercut," Le Yu was getting hyped inside.

"So this was what it felt like to be the disaster that brought kingdoms to ruin. Nice, he liked it."

"—Take this," the scar-faced guy said, handing over a glass bottle of clear liquid and looking super sheepish, "Deputy boss, you got me wrong, I was just bringing this oil for you. I tried it, it’s super slick—someone as macho as you’s definitely gonna want this."

The deputy boss raised his eyebrow, took the gift, "All right."

That was it?

Le Yu eyed the scarred guy’s departing back, sneered, then followed the deputy boss up toward the higher levels of the mine.

"This is Red Moon Fortress, under the Silver Blood Jing Family’s mining business," the deputy boss started randomly talking as they walked up, "Three hundred guards permanently stationed, plus sixty supervisors, and sentry posts within ten miles. If the signal fire’s lit, the nearest Heyang Army will show up to back us up in half a day."

He paused, "Running is pointless."

"Was that a warning for me? But I wasn’t even thinking about running. I mean, I’m about to cut off your source of lust here."

"Not long after, Le Yu found himself in an upper room of the mine. The decor was miles better than downstairs—there was a desk, a sofa, independent lighting, they’d even cut windows into the rock. It just reeked of capitalist corruption."

"You two get out and shut the door. Tell the guys outside not to bother me till dawn."

The guards gave each other knowing looks. "Got it."

"Once the guards left, Le Yu fingered the iron wristband, eyeing the deputy’s back, murder in his eyes. He was all geared up for a fight—just needed that second-in-command to drop trou."

"Name’s Yin Minghong. What’s yours?" The deputy boss took off the twin swords on his waist, sat in the desk chair like he didn’t have a care with Le Yu at his back.

"So he was the type who wanted a chat before getting naked, huh... Le Yu thought for a second and replied, "Le Yu.""

"Oh? Then who are Yin Yinyin and Qian Yuliu?"

Le Yu’s face changed. He saw the deputy boss take out two medals from his pack and lay them on the desk—one medallion said "Meteor" on the front, "Qian Yuliu" on the back; the other said "Starseeker" on the front, "Yin Yinyin" on the back.

"He’d actually grabbed the Qian Yuliu and Yin Yinyin medals as souvenirs on his way out, but if someone else got ahold of those, it was indisputable evidence!"

"Boss Huo doesn’t know a damn thing. They think you’re just from some assassin group, never realizing you’re actually with the White Night division of the Backlight Organization," the deputy said icily, "In Dongyang, White Night is a group that has to be exterminated. Silver Blood’s been obsessed with finding Backlight Particles, and you’re a senior White Night cadre... If Silver Blood controls you, it’s like having a key right to the enemy’s core."

The deputy boss drew his sword and walked toward Le Yu,

"Looks like my luck’s in."

...

...

"Good thing you used the password Mr. Lin and I agreed on. Otherwise, there’s no way I’d have dared meet you. If it took another two days, I was about to bounce too. You guys got lucky."

Out in a residential house in the Star Engraving outer city, Xia Lingguo and Gao Jin had tracked down a White Night contact who’d survived—a young man.

Xia Lingguo caught the hidden meaning and asked, "What happened?"

"The night the city was taken, I got jumped while transporting night soil. If I hadn’t blown up a powder charge I had on my wagon and stirred chaos, you guys wouldn’t be seeing me now," the young man said with a laugh.

Gao Jin froze. "So that’s why there was crap all over Central Street a few days back..."

"You got it," the young man’s tone turned serious. "I was just using the night soil job as cover for doing nighttime intel work. I only handled information, nothing else, and I wasn’t part of the city-takeover plan. But even so, someone came for me. Which means—"

"Which means there’s a traitor in White Night," Xia Lingguo agreed, shared her discovery, and asked, "All we need to do is confirm if Qian Yuliu was White Night’s spy, then we’ll be sure we really have a traitor. Can you contact White Night HQ to check?"

"No need. I already know Qian Yuliu was one of us," the young man said with a grin. "Remember ten days ago, when Qian Yuliu beat up that guy from the Ding Family? Actually, I was the one supposed to get hit that day. My job was sneaking buckets of shit into Inner City, and Qian Yuliu was supposed to help me pass checkpoints... If Qian Yuliu wasn’t one of us, ’Starseeker’ would never have come up with that plan."

Gao Jin rushed to ask, "Then do you know how Qian Yuliu ended up dead at the slaughterhouse?"

"Extreme Divine Weapon, Saint’s Relic," the young man briefly explained the Saint’s Relic unlocking process. "I don’t know the details, but White Night must have split into two teams—one to get Ding Yi, the other to seize the Saint’s Relic. Qian Yuliu was in charge of guarding the slaughterhouse, so obviously he was with Team Relic."

"So, the one who took the Saint’s Relic—the White Night Walker—is the traitor," Xia Lingguo said calmly. "Do you know who took the Saint’s Relic?"

"No clue. For safety, only the actual operatives knew the plan. But... they’re all dead." The young man’s look darkened.

The room went silent. Gao Jin suddenly smashed the table with his fist, burning with anger, "We’re really gonna let the rat go just like that!?"

At that moment, the young man suddenly chuckled. "Not a chance."

Xia Lingguo raised her eyebrow. "So you know who it is?"

"A couple nights back, when Lv Zhong’s army swept into the city, I risked it all to track down ’Starseeker’." The young man explained, "His safe house was a disaster—looked like it’d been ransacked. I figured his identity, like mine, had been sold out by the traitor. But I found his secret passage had been used recently, and the place, messy as it was, was all the work of one person if you looked carefully."

"Starseeker slipped out of the Star Engraving region and made the hideout look like a break-in." The young man sighed. "Classic move."

"I wasn’t certain before, but your intel lines up with mine, so nearly positive—’Starseeker’ is the traitor. And, well, he did have the motive to grab the Saint’s Relic."

"Lucky for us, we nailed the traitor."

Gao Jin muttered the name to himself, "Starseeker..."

The young man jumped up from his chair, serious: "I’ll send our intel analysis straight to White Night HQ now. Don’t worry, White Night never lets rats get away!"

"Pretty soon, word about the traitor will spread across Glorious Radiance, and every White Night Walker will be our eyes and ears, chasing down that traitor, ’Starseeker’ Yin Yinyin!"

"As soon as any White Night Walker spots ’Starseeker’ Yin Yinyin, they’ll make him pay for it!"

...

...

Clink.

With a crisp sound, Le Yu’s handcuffs were cleaved open by the deputy boss in one stroke.

Le Yu stared in confusion, as the deputy boss went to the window, gazed into the distance, and said, "Eat something. Then leave through this window. You’ll have no trouble surviving in the wild."

"Why?" Le Yu rubbed his wrist. He’d been all set to draw his sword for a knock-down brawl with the deputy, but the guy didn’t even bother with a flashlight show—one swing, and it was to cut him loose?

"Because I got lucky. I was the first to find you."

The deputy boss glanced at Le Yu, then suddenly twisted the hilt of his sword open, dumped out a small item, and tossed it over.

Le Yu caught it and looked—it was a White Night medallion! Different color, sure, but the same style as Yin Yinyin and Qian Yuliu’s!

He heard the deputy boss say,

"One more time, the intro—White Night Walker ’Deceitful Needle,’ Yin Minghong."