Chapter 262 - 261: Stealing the Corpse

They’d swept the second and third floors. A carpet search wouldn’t have been this thorough.

And yet, they found nothing.

’All those heavy guards for... this?’

At Red Snake’s urging, Ling Yanzhi carted off the gold, jade, and several boxes of Beast Crystals piled up in the third-floor warehouse.

Red Snake said excitedly, "It’s all for baby!"

Ling Yanzhi nodded.

Red Snake remembered the person who’d arrived on Emperor Wolf Star on the same ship. "I wonder where he went. He was clearly taken to the second floor after he was bought."

They’d searched so many rooms. The customers seemed to have fled, leaving only a few half-dead slaves. Questioning them revealed they had all been purchased recently.

It answered its own question. "He probably escaped in the chaos."

Red Snake wagered, "I’ll bet the people in the holding cells were all framed."

Ling Yanzhi paused as he passed the holding cells.

Perhaps it was the mask, but he looked like a customer coming to pick out a slave.

No one seemed to think his arrival meant they would be saved.

Ling Yanzhi raised an eyebrow and pointed to a random person. "How’d you end up in here?"

The man looked up, his expression complicated. "I’m a Wuxing person. I came here for fun with a friend. We were staying at a hotel when my things went missing. I went to report it, but the Star Police accused me of crying wolf, saying I was the one who stole my friend’s money."

Ling Yanzhi’s brow furrowed. "A real friend?"

"Really. We’ve known each other for eight years. Besides, he’s in here too." Seeing Ling Yanzhi’s disbelief, the Wuxing person yanked the man beside him over. "This is my friend."

Even being locked up couldn’t stop people from gossiping.

Someone asked, dumbfounded, "Then how did your friend get in here?"

The Wuxing person’s friend looked exasperated. "I tried to get him out, and the Star Police accused me of trying to bribe an officer."

Ling Yanzhi’s frown deepened. "Doesn’t the Slave Market only accept convicts with life sentences or other major felonies?"

The Wuxing person—an offworlder himself—had the nerve to give Ling Yanzhi a look reserved for clueless outsiders. "You’re not from around here, are you? Emperor Wolf Star has gone insane. Even petty theft is a major crime now. Steal a peanut, and you’ll get a life sentence."

"..."

Ling Yanzhi squeezed his eyes shut.

He slashed open the electronic door. "If you believe you’ve been wronged, get to Goose Sea before three o’clock this afternoon. The Alliance will have a starship there to pick you up."

Before they could react, Ling Yanzhi had already left the third floor.

He returned to the first floor to find Xi Yu gone.

"Ayue!" Ling Yanzhi scanned the area, his heart skipping a beat.

His nerves frayed, he even considered that he’d been deliberately lured away.

A familiar presence emanated from a corner.

Xi Yu, who had been squatting motionlessly in a corner, slowly stood up. He was cupping two eyeballs in a handkerchief. "I’m here."

Ling Yanzhi knew the Xi Family had a peculiar way of thinking, but right now, he really wanted to beat Xi Yu up.

’Of all times!’

Xi Yu explained, "I was standing guard for you."

He gestured downward with his finger. "You forgot to confirm your kills. One of them was playing dead."

Ling Yanzhi followed his gaze and saw several equally hideous men on the floor.

He couldn’t remember fighting them at all, much less whether they were dead or alive.

He reached up to rub his nose in embarrassment, only for his fingers to meet the cold surface of his mask.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

A crowd of slaves, dressed in customers’ clothing, came running down from the third floor.

A cacophony of noise also erupted from outside the Slave Market.

Ling Yanzhi adjusted his mask. "Let’s go. We’ll clear a path for them while we’re at it."

Xi Yu bundled up the handkerchief and stored it away. "Still no Soul Beasts?"

’His Yang Zhang is so adorable.’

’The people on Emperor Wolf Star would surely be jealous of him.’

Ling Yanzhi’s tone was languid. "Not a good idea. Red Snake... ’borrowed’ a few things for baby."

Xi Yu got the hint. He opened the door.

In just a few short minutes, they had been surrounded by a startling number of people in military uniforms.

’Mobilizing several regiments for a single Slave Market?’

’I was hoping Yan Yu or Admiral Yan would be here. It would’ve been fun to mess with them.’

’Since they’re not, I’ll just have to settle for messing with their men.’

After all, after what happened with Yan Yu, Emperor Wolf Star had sent wave after wave of people to capture Jian Yu.

Xi Yu didn’t really want to fight the military.

’Whatever. I’ll just pretend I don’t know they’re military.’

Xi Yu glanced at Ling Yanzhi.

End it quickly.

If they couldn’t reveal their identities, they’d have to unleash their full power. Other than Pei Yin, who’d been forced to go all out on his trip home, none of the others had ever cut loose in front of anyone.

Their eyes met, and with a tacit understanding, they unleashed their full power.

Xi Yu tapped his toe on the ground and shot forward like an arrow from a bow, spinning into the enemy ranks.

A sharp WHINE filled the air as dense, purple Soul Power spun violently, sweeping out in a massive wave.

The vanguard of the first regiment had no time to react before a huge swath of them were knocked off their feet by the tyrannical soul energy.

Knocked out cold.

Meanwhile, Ling Yanzhi’s figure traced an arc through the air.

In an instant, countless black specks, shimmering with a dark luster, coalesced around him.

The black specks writhed, like the heads of snakes emerging from the shadows.

Shrieking, they spun together, converging into a vortex the size of a tornado.

As the vortex swept past, it left a trail of bodies in its wake, all of them poisoned and unconscious.

Only a few remained standing.

They had been too far away to be caught in the attack. They stared at each other, then backed away in fear.

"Since when did Emperor Wolf Star have two more Level 3S Awakeners?"

First came bewilderment, then elation, and finally, terror.

They turned tail and fled.

No one dared to spectate, which meant no one blocked their path. Their escape was unimpeded.

That is, until they collapsed mid-stride, just as expected.

Ling Yanzhi dusted off his hands. He rolled his neck and stretched his shoulders, the joints cracking with a series of loud POPS.

They ducked around a corner and hid.

A head peeked out from the Slave Market, then another, then a third, stacked on top of each other like building blocks.

The door opened, and a crowd of people scrambled out, fleeing frantically in the direction of Goose Sea.

Ling Yanzhi leaned against the wall, his gaze dropping to the time on his Star Brain.

1:30 PM.

The walk from here to Goose Sea would take half an hour at most.

The Alliance’s deadline was three o’clock, but they usually lingered until five.

He had already filed his report, and the Alliance had dispatched a ship to a nearby location. As long as these people got there before three, they should all be able to get aboard safely.

His thoughts ran their course. Ling Yanzhi switched off his Star Brain and narrowed his eyes languidly.

He turned his head, his peripheral vision catching Xi Yu staring intently at the eyeballs wrapped in the handkerchief.

"..."

Yan Mingjiao had shrieked for so long her voice could deafen a man.

Just looking at her eyes made him feel disgusted.

Ling Yanzhi suppressed the wave of nausea. "What is it? Something wrong with the eyes?"

Xi Yu said quietly, "They don’t look like human eyes."

Ling Yanzhi glanced up. "Prosthetic eyes are common these days. Maybe hers were injured, or maybe she was just chasing a trend and got cybernetic ones?"

Xi Yu’s expression was serious, but his tone was almost childlike. "When her tongue was gone, she was furious. When the first eye was gouged out, she became... sluggish. The moment the second eye dropped, she went completely silent."

’Like a robot whose eyes were its batteries.’

The usual calm, rebellious arrogance in Ling Yanzhi’s eyes slowly gave way to seriousness.

Xi Yu wrapped the eyeballs up in the handkerchief and placed them in the preservation compartment of his Space Ring. "Little Eagle is better at this stuff than I am. I need to take these back to him."

He straightened up. "Be a good boy, Ayan. You wait here. I’m going to go steal Yan Mingjiao’s body."

The corner of Ling Yanzhi’s mouth twitched. "..."