Chapter 187 – Elites, Upper-Rank Hunters

Xu Family Estate, Separate Residence.

This was a rather large separate residence located beside the main building.

The Xu Family Estate had one separate residence on each side of the main residence, and this was one of them. It housed some collateral members of the Xu Family along with high-status stewards, servants, and other personnel, making it a frequently visited building within the estate.

After nightfall, Su Ming, cloaked and masked, silently slipped out from the main residence and entered this separate building.

His destination was a specific room within the separate residence.

The elites who had accepted the secret mission issued by the Six Great Families would gather in this room. From there, they would exit through the rear door of the separate residence, follow a typically unused path, discreetly leave the Xu Family, and head toward the ruins.

Although Su Ming would have preferred to act alone for greater freedom to stir up trouble, the ruins were unknown territory—potentially filled with traps and dangers. After some consideration, Su Ming ultimately decided to set out with the main group.

After all, having a few meat shields and clumsy teammates to take the fall for him wasn’t a bad idea, right?

With Gao Xu and Li Jing both visibly part of the operation, Su Ming felt no moral qualms about letting them stumble into traps, block attacks, and serve as human shields.

Thus, Su Ming arrived at the gathering room, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

“Tch…”

The moment Su Ming entered, several gazes turned toward him, accompanied by a click of the tongue.

The room was already occupied, and among those present was one of the “lucky” teammates Su Ming had chosen to take the fall.

“Just as I thought, you rude brat showed up too.”

Li Jing was already there, his aged face full of displeasure as he watched Su Ming enter.

“Aren’t you here too, old man?”

Unleashing his true self, Su Ming didn’t hold back, grinning as he retorted, which only deepened Li Jing’s irritation.

Being called “old man” at this moment was particularly embarrassing for Li Jing.

Among those present, he was the only one whose age clearly placed him in a different generation.

The others included men in their thirties or forties, a vibrant young woman, and some promising young talents who appeared to be in their prime. Only Li Jing was a white-haired old man, making him feel as if he had regressed in life.

The others didn’t show him much respect either; no one acted humbly or deferred to him as a junior would to an elder just because of his age.

Everyone present was an elite selected from the Six Great Families, all Four-Star Professionals. At the same Rank, unless there was a direct senior-junior relationship between them, no one would play the game of respecting the elderly and cherishing the young here.

In fact, some might even look down on Li Jing.

After all, being the same Rank as everyone else at his age clearly indicated exhausted potential and a low Bloodline Rank, suggesting he might never advance beyond this point in his lifetime.

Under such circumstances, those arrogant individuals who believed they still had room to grow and could reach greater heights in the future would naturally scorn Li Jing.

They just didn’t say it outright.

Su Ming, however, went straight for Li Jing’s age and seniority, almost as if he were stabbing him in the back. It was impossible for Li Jing not to feel humiliated.At that moment, Li Jing made his move.

“I say, this kid isn’t even from one of our Six Great Families. Why should he be allowed to participate in such a confidential mission?”

These words weren’t directed at anyone in particular, but rather at everyone present.

Clearly, he wanted to drive a wedge between Su Ming and the members of the Six Great Families, aiming to have Su Ming ostracized and isolated.

Unfortunately, everyone present merely glanced at Li Jing, then at Su Ming, and said nothing.

“You all…”

Li Jing’s expression immediately turned even uglier.

Just then, a voice finally spoke up.

“Though I’m not sure what’s going on, since he’s already made it here, it means the elders of our six families have all agreed to let him join. If you have objections, you should take them up with the elders, shouldn’t you?”

This was spoken by someone in the corner of the room.

Su Ming turned his head to look at the speaker.

It was someone Su Ming didn’t recognize.

Yet, for some reason, the person smiled at Su Ming, showing no hostility whatsoever. Instead, there was a sense of goodwill, as if they wanted to befriend him.

“You are…?”

Su Ming asked directly upon seeing someone he didn’t know speaking up for him, immediately curious.

“Me?” The person pointed at himself, then smiled and said, “I’m Duan Xiaofei.”

This was none other than Duan Xiaofei, who had previously been working with Gao Xu but was captured midway.

“From the Duan Family?”

Su Ming understood.

“Just a branch family member.”

Duan Xiaofei waved his hand dismissively, acting as if it were no big deal.

This made Su Ming feel somewhat intrigued.

However, Duan Xiaofei didn’t engage in further conversation with Su Ming. Instead, he turned to everyone present and spoke with a smile.

“Since I’ve introduced myself, why don’t you all do the same? Let’s get to know each other. After all, we’re about to carry out the same mission together.”

No one responded immediately to Duan Xiaofei’s suggestion.

This gave Li Jing, who had just been embarrassed by Duan Xiaofei, an opportunity to mock him.

However, the next second, before Li Jing could say anything, someone else spoke up first.

“Lu Family, Lu Yang.”

This came from the person in the corner.

He was the young, promising talent mentioned earlier, appearing to be around twenty-four or twenty-five years old—the youngest among those present. Many in the room had been keeping an eye on him, as he seemed to be quite renowned.

His speaking up made even Li Jing, who had been about to mock, shut his mouth.

“Tch.” Li Jing clicked his tongue again, then grumbled reluctantly, “Li Family, Li Jing.”

It seemed even this self-important old man had no choice but to follow the crowd at this point.

Then, the only woman present, a young and elegant married woman standing some distance away from the others, spoke in a cool, clear voice.

“Bai Family, Bai Xuefei.”

Her tone was cold, but her voice had a crisp quality to it. Though she hadn’t spoken before, the moment she did, it felt as if she had suddenly become several years younger.

Many of the spirited men in the room couldn’t help but glance at her a few more times—even Su Ming was no exception.Although Bai Xuefei’s appearance wasn’t particularly stunning—unable to compare with near-perfect beauties like Xu Qianqian, An Zijin, or Yun Langyue—she held her own against charming girls like Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei, who scored around ninety points. In fact, she exuded a mature charm that made one’s hormones stir involuntarily.

Before coming here, Su Ming had learned some information about the Six Great Families from Xu Qianqian.

According to Xu Qianqian, the Bai Family differed from the other top families in that women held higher status than men.

This was because the Bai Family’s Bloodline was somewhat unique, manifesting higher grades primarily in females. Males typically couldn’t inherit particularly good Bloodlines, resulting in almost no Bai Family males achieving Major Accomplishments. They either performed mediocrely in Professional circles or had to seek alternative paths like business or politics to make names for themselves.

Consequently, nearly all notable figures in the Bai Family were women. All existing Upper-Rank Professionals were female, and even successive Family Heads had been women. The current Family Head was an outstanding heroine, recognized as Longyao City’s youngest Six-Star Professional and the only female among the city’s seven Six-Star Professionals, preventing Longyao City from becoming a male-dominated arena.

From Xu Qianqian’s words, Su Ming also sensed that this Young Miss held the Bai Family’s pinnacle figure in extremely high regard, seemingly viewing her as an aspirational role model.

Xu Qianqian didn’t conceal this either, even stating bluntly:

“My goal is that person. If I can catch up to her in this lifetime, or even surpass her, I’ll be satisfied.”

This illustrated the status the Bai Family’s pinnacle held among female Professionals.

Bai Xuefei appeared to be a core member of the Bai Family. While Su Ming didn’t know much about her, judging by the reactions of those around them, this beautiful young woman’s reputation clearly rivaled that of the promising young Lu Yang.

Duan Xiaofei even remarked:

“I didn’t expect the Bai Family to send you.”

His tone seemed quite surprised.

But Bai Xuefei ignored him. After her self-introduction, she fell silent, remaining at a distance from the group without approaching, giving off the impression she didn’t want to mingle with a bunch of smelly men.

Su Ming secretly grumbled:

“Is she the type who looks down on men?”

This wasn’t surprising.

In general society, many women considered themselves superior and looked down on men, let alone in a female-dominated great family like the Bai Family.

Xu Qianqian had also mentioned that the Bai Family had some bad habits, with many viewing men purely as reproductive tools—a notion Su Ming found rather subtle.

“Treating men as reproductive tools… how acceptable is that?”

Regardless, this person would be a teammate for their upcoming mission. He hoped she wouldn’t be a useless teammate.

Otherwise, Su Ming would have no choice but to… well, deal with it accordingly.

Su Ming briefly introduced himself, following the crowd:

“Just call me Ming Wang.”

That was how Su Ming introduced himself.

Everyone remembered his name but showed no dissatisfaction that he hadn’t disclosed his family background.

That Su Ming was from the Yun Family Estate was no secret among the well-informed top families.In the room, the members of the major families had gathered.

Li Jing from the Li Family.

Duan Xiaofei from the Duan Family.

Bai Xuefei from the Bai Family.

Lu Yang from the Lu Family.

And Su Ming.

The only ones missing were the already-defunct Wang Family and the host, the Xu Family.

The Wang Family obviously couldn’t make an appearance.

As for the Xu Family, they happened to arrive fashionably late.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Gao Xu pushed the door open and walked in.

Following behind him, Xu Yanyan entered slowly.

With this, everyone had assembled.

(End of Chapter)