CHAPTER 423: 225. SUDDEN MISFORTUNE

The Ninth Special Zone, south of Ant Street.

A regular apartment building.

This area belongs to the slum category, the entire building is deathly silent, even more eerily quiet than usual.

Shadows can be seen flitting about within.

They are residents who have lived here for a long time.

At this moment, however, their behavior is strange, walking like zombies, faces numb, eyes devoid of any sparkle or humanity.

But this is just a slum.

No one cares about the life and death of these ordinary people.

No one will pay special attention.

As the saying goes, the greatest hidden ambition lies in the city, this is the truth.

In the depths of the building, the floorboards above and below, the walls on either side have been broken through, bloodiness and eeriness linger over the heart.

The entire building is painted with scarlet by blood, red cloth with skulls hangs everywhere, special spells are written on the walls, special charms are drawn on the floor.

In the left corner of the wall hangs a head with open eyes, the eyes are bloodshot, a scarlet mass that emits the stench of decay, but those eyes seem alive, constantly surveying left and right like a surveillance camera.

Monitoring in real-time.

The air is thick with a stench of decay and a strong foul odor.

Deep within a temporarily excavated basement.

The bloody smell is even more overwhelming.

The basement walls are stacked with one corpse after another, forming a human wall, the floor of the basement is engraved with a hexagram array, each vertex of the hexagram stands a corpse with severed limbs.

The surrounding scene, the scarlet light, the rotting odor, all combine to make one’s skin crawl.

Everything arranged around seemed intentional, as if some sacrificial array was being conducted.

A follower in a red robe entered the array.

He took out a pouch he carried with him, pulled out a handful of white bone powder, and scattered it continuously around the array. As the white bone powder sprinkled upon the array,

the parts delineated by the array that came into contact with the white bone powder would glow red.

A particularly strong scent wafted through the air.

Following the red-robed man, a hunched figure in a black robe also descended.

The black-robed man’s bare arm beneath the robe had skin like tree bark, dry and withered, evident old age, he was an elder.

Strangely, something seemed to writhe beneath his withered skin, pushing up bump after bump.

He slowly opened his mouth, voice hoarse, making people extremely uncomfortable, creating a sense of unease.

"Antonia, are you going to remotely trigger the sacrifice?"

The red-robed man called Antonia didn’t stop his hand’s action, responding, "The plan has reached this step, there’s absolutely no stopping now.

This isn’t our turf.

It’s clearly impossible to mobilize all manpower to retrieve that Little Princess.

The only option is to remotely trigger the array to start the sacrifice ritual."

"Remotely triggering the array... you should know the consequences."

"It just means losing ten years of life, offering my life to the Monarch of Flesh and Blood, I don’t regret it."

The black-robed man remained silent for a moment then said, "The lord will remember your sacrifice! 30 followers are ready to offer their own flesh and blood, you may begin at any time."

"Understood."

Having completed the preliminary ritual, Antonia sat cross-legged in the center of the array, continuously muttering incomprehensible spells.

The surface of Antonia’s skin also began to writhe.

As if something lively moved beneath the skin, moments later a large amount of red liquid seeped from his skin pores, merging into the entire array.

Upon closer inspection, those so-called red liquids were actually countless tiny insects smaller than ants.

Though these insects were small, their immeasurable numbers crowded together appearing both terrifying and eerie.

Antonia’s entire vitality visibly declined.

Similarly above this basement, 30 cultists sat naked with crossed legs inside the array, each with a look of fervor in their eyes.

As the array activated, the skin of each of these 30 cultists also began to rise and wriggle.

Apart from their fervor, expressions of agony began to emerge on their faces.

One person abruptly seized a sharp knife beside him and plunged it into his chest, in a swift motion blood surged forth, as the skin opened up, all the flesh seemed drawn forth, gushing from their chests, converging upon the central array!

All 30 cultists did so in turn, the entire scene blood-soaked and horrifying.

In nearly no time, these 30 cultists had offered up their skin, flesh, and innards.

Left on the ground were merely thirty blood-stained skeletons.

The basement already shone with red light as he beheld the coagulated ball of flesh and blood, Antonia slowly exhaled a breath.

Mouth continuously murmuring, "Little Princess, my Blood Archbishop’s great enterprise is just short of you!"

...

Council Hall.

To be honest, what Huo Wuji said made the expressions of everyone present in the council quite unpleasant.

But there’s no doubt that his radical and tactless words did help Xia Yuansi avoid a lot of danger.

At least those within the Ninth Special Zone who wish to use the Little Princess to achieve their goals have to reconsider.

Rough on the outside, refined inside.

This Huo Wuji is a fierce person.

However, the fact that the other party has a nuclear bomb truly surprised Chen Che.

He pinched Xia Na’s butt and asked, "Nana, have you heard about this person?"

Xia Na whispered, "If I’m not mistaken, he should be the son of the Huo Family from the Great Yan Dynasty, one of the four ancient families... the Cui Family, the Huo Family, the Li Family, and the Wang Family. It is said that these four families are millennia-old clans passed down from the era of civilization.

Their depth is unfathomable.

Each family holds 1 to 3 nuclear bombs.

With such a trump card in hand, these families can securely establish themselves."

After the Wasteland era, humans with evolved genes have developed resistance to nuclear radiation.

Radiation basically doesn’t harm humans.

But nuclear bombs remain the world’s most powerful weapon.

The blast can easily destroy a city.

If the Huo Family’s nuclear bomb falls on the Ninth Special Zone, the entire zone would be razed to the ground under the nuclear blast.

"As for this young guy... it’s possible that it’s him.

Rumors have long circulated on the Wasteland that the Huo Family of the Great Yan Dynasty has a young prodigy who reached stage six of the Flesh and Blood Calamity at a young age... He set his own coming-of-age rite to traverse an ecologically dense area alone and reach a predator’s territory, single-handedly killing a total of 436 predators.

He then safely returned carrying the left ears of these people, and since then, his reputation skyrocketed...

Seems like it must be him."

Upon hearing about Huo Wuji, Chen Che couldn’t help but grit his teeth; this is truly fierce.

Xia Yuansi proudly lifted her little chin like a small peacock. She naturally understood the reason behind Huo Wuji’s words.

This way, her safety in the entire Ninth Special Zone is assured; there’s no need to worry.

The Ninth Special Zone would spare no effort to protect her.

Xia Yuansi preserved everyone’s face by pretending to scold Huo Wuji for being rude, and after exchanging just a couple of sentences, the call was cut off under further instructions from Huo Wuji.

Vazmir stood up, rubbed his aching forehead, thinking how the Ninth Special Zone ended up with such a hot potato?

Vazmir looked at An Nishang and said, "Director An, since the Little Princess was found by your Judicial Bureau, safety matters will be handled by your Judicial Bureau.

Director An, I trust in your personal capability and strength.

If anything unexpected happens during this period, Director An can freely mobilize the entire Ninth Special Zone’s military to serve."

An Nishang nodded, not out of any willingness to accept the Little Princess as a hot potato, but because this should indeed be the responsibility of the Judicial Bureau.

Refusal is out of the question.

Upon seeing Xia Yuansi’s pridefully raised little chin,

Chen Che knew that this person’s true nature was about to be exposed.

With such a powerful backing, indeed, no one would dare to offend the Little Princess.

Luo Qingtian initially wanted to use the Little Princess as leverage.

But there’s no doubt that Huo Wuji’s threat worked.

After thinking for a while, Luo Qingtian dismissed the idea; the Little Princess is not to be touched.

It’s like a hornet’s nest; touch it, and you’ll be stung all over.

The meeting concluded at this point.

Vazmir personally stood up and declared the meeting adjourned.

Everyone began to leave.

Chen Che approached Xia Yuansi, patted her shoulder, "Hey, let’s go."

He asked Xia Yuansi to leave but found that she remained completely still.

Chen Che was shocked, wondering if Xia Yuansi was going to cause a scene, he turned his head and saw Xia Yuansi hugging her arms around her chest, her pure amber eyes trembled, and she looked up fearfully at Chen Che.

Xia Yuansi’s lips trembled as she said, "Save... save me... please... save me..."

After saying this, Xia Yuansi fell forward, and Chen Che instinctively stepped forward to catch her in his arms, still in confusion.

Only then did he notice the runes on Xia Yuansi’s skin shining brightly.

He was stunned, lifted Xia Yuansi’s skirt, and indeed, every rune engraved on her delicate skin was continuously flashing.

"Damn! What’s going on?"

The commotion also successfully drew the attention of the other attendees.

Seeing the Little Princess fall down and unknown if she’s alive, everyone’s scalp went numb.

Her family’s side had just threatened to protect the Little Princess’s safety, and the next moment she’s down.

What now?

"What the hell did you do, Chen Che?" Luo Qingtian asked sternly.

Chen Che replied angrily, "I did nothing! Did you not see her inexplicably fall? The runes on her are glowing! These runes were left on her by the Blood Archbishop. It must be those cultists causing trouble!"

Deputy Director Guan Ning of the Finance Bureau quickly approached Xia Yuansi, closely inspected her, and frowned, "Witchcraft and Gu Technique! The Witchcraft Calamity is cursing with an Array!"