Chapter 173 – I'll Go Trip Them Up

On his third visit to Xu Qianqian’s Villa, Su Ming did not go to the reception room or the backyard but instead entered Xu Qianqian’s bedroom.

Xu Qianqian led Su Ming into her room, leaving him somewhat startled as he belatedly realized the situation.

What surprised Su Ming even more was the way Xu Qianqian’s room was decorated.

The room lacked any pink, girlish colors and did not have the opulent, golden brilliance typical of children from major Families. Instead, it appeared exceptionally plain, simple, and monotonous.

“What? Surprised?” Xu Qianqian asked indifferently upon noticing Su Ming’s astonished expression.

“A little,” Su Ming replied, snapping out of his daze and scratching his cheek. “But thinking about it, this does seem like your style.”

The girl named Xu Qianqian had always been straightforward and uncomplicated, never needing extravagant decorations or superficial gestures.

However, he wondered if such a life might be too dull for this Young Miss.

“My room in the Xu Family isn’t like this,” Xu Qianqian said, as if she had sensed Su Ming’s thoughts. “Of course, it’s mostly because I don’t really like that home.”

After speaking, she turned to Su Ming.

“Where’s Little Hai’er?”

As expected, the Young Miss’s first concern was the pet she had once cared for.

“Meeling!”

Before Su Ming could respond, the mermaid girl let out a cheerful cry, dispelled the mist, appeared in the room, and leaped toward Xu Qianqian.

Xu Qianqian caught her effortlessly, and her cool, delicate face softened involuntarily.

“It seems you’ve been doing well,” Xu Qianqian said, gently stroking the mermaid girl’s small head, making her beam with joy.

Watching this scene, Su Ming shook his head and sighed.

They say it’s easy for girls to become close—all it takes is a suitable topic and a little rapport. Those words couldn’t be more accurate.

Even the aloof Young Miss Xu and the timid, shy Phantom Demon girl had grown so close after spending some time together. It was almost unbelievable.

Fortunately, Su Ming had no intention of trying to understand the way girls think.

He retrieved the identity plate with the character “King” from his backpack and handed it to Xu Qianqian.

“This is what I took from that strange guy who turned into sand,” Su Ming explained as he passed the identity plate to her.

Xu Qianqian took it, glanced at it, and immediately confirmed its origin.

“Yes, this is an identity plate of the Wang Family. Only those with the Wang Family Bloodline possess it. The strange Attackers frequently appearing around Longyao City lately have been carrying these as well,” she stated.

“Are you sure?” Su Ming pressed. “Are these people really all from the Wang Family?”

“Absolutely,” Xu Qianqian affirmed with certainty. “The higher-ups have already verified their identities and confirmed that every one of them is from the Wang Family, all possessing the Wang Family Bloodline.”

“Of course, most of them are from the collateral branches,” she added, returning the identity plate to Su Ming.

Su Ming, however, did not take it back.

“Collateral branches?” Su Ming mused thoughtfully. “What about the direct descendants of the Wang Family?””The Wang Family’s main lineage consists of only two people.” Xu Qianqian stated: “One is the current Family Head of the Wang Family, who is also the current mayor of Longyao City, and the other is the mayor’s daughter, the only child of the Wang Family’s main lineage.”

“So few?” Su Ming couldn’t help but be startled.

It was well known that major Families, due to Bloodline considerations, typically advocated for having many children and raising them extensively, continuously expanding their branches, as this was how they could persistently develop and strengthen their Family.

For instance, Xu Qianqian’s grandfather had several children, and these children also had numerous descendants, with only Xu Yongfeng having just Xu Qianqian as his sole daughter.

Even so, the Xu Family’s main lineage across three generations still amounted to several dozen people.

But what about the Wang Family?

Despite being one of the oldest and most powerful Families in Longyao City, their main lineage consisted of only two people, which was truly peculiar.

Regarding this, Xu Qianqian explained as follows.

“The Wang Family is different from other Families. From birth, the Rank of their Bloodline is confirmed. Only those whose Bloodline Rank meets the standard are considered main lineage descendants. If the Bloodline Rank does not meet the standard, they are demoted to the branch lineage.”

The Young Miss Xu recounted this matter in a rather emotionless tone.

“The current Family Head of the Wang Family, Longyao City Mayor Wang Xiao, has two older brothers, two younger brothers, and one younger sister—six siblings in total. Yet, he is the only one who became a main lineage member of the Family; all the others were relegated to the branch lineage.”

“Mayor Wang himself has three children, but only one daughter’s Bloodline Rank met the standard, allowing her to become part of the main lineage. The other two were adopted by branch lineage members after birth.”

“Therefore, the Wang Family’s main lineage has always been the smallest among all the major Families.”

However, through such selective methods, the main lineage members chosen were all individuals with the most noble Family Bloodline.

Su Ming could almost imagine how exceptional and full of potential these main lineage members of the Wang Family must be.

For example, that Mayor Wang Xiao himself is an Upper-Rank Professional, and as high as Five-Star.

As for his daughter, Su Ming was not clear.

“So what’s going on now?” Su Ming pointed at the identity card in Xu Qianqian’s hand and said, “How have all these branch lineage members of the Wang Family turned into that ghostly appearance?”

That eerie appearance was clearly abnormal.

Since the higher-ups in Longyao City had already discovered these matters, they must have conducted thorough investigations and obtained some intelligence.

And as the Young Miss of the Xu Family, with her father being one of the higher-ups in Longyao City, Xu Qianqian certainly possessed quite a bit of confidential information on this matter.

Otherwise, why would she call him over in the middle of the night to discuss it in person?

It was undoubtedly because such confidential information couldn’t be carelessly discussed over the phone.

Sure enough…

“Although it hasn’t been confirmed yet…”

Xu Qianqian lifted her gaze and looked at Su Ming.

“But based on expert analysis, they unanimously believe that these members of the Wang Family might have been used as sacrifices in some kind of cruel ritual.”

When such words came from Xu Qianqian’s mouth, even Su Ming felt a chill run down his spine.

“Sacrifices?”

Su Ming’s expression changed slightly.”That’s right.” Xu Qianqian also looked rather grim as she said, “These members of the Wang Family have actually been drained of all their blood. Their life force has long been exhausted, leaving only empty shells that were casually discarded by the one who performed the ritual. That’s why they wander around various parts of Longyao City like the living dead.”

They have no reason because they died long ago.

Their search for food is probably just their bodies acting on instinct.

Under normal circumstances, they should have become desiccated corpses left to rot in the wilderness. However, due to the ritual, some residual side effects remain on them, causing them to exist in a state between life and death, forced to wander like the living dead.

“Who could have done such a thing?”

Su Ming sighed, offering a moment of silent mourning for these pitiful people.

“The perpetrator hasn’t been identified yet,” Xu Qianqian continued. “Originally, the higher-ups suspected that upper-level Phantom Demon that still hasn’t been found.”

After all, the Wang Family members died from having their blood drained—this manner of death naturally makes people suspect Phantom Demons first.

But this incident clearly wasn’t the work of Phantom Demons.

“When Phantom Demons suck blood, they only drain people dry. Except under special circumstances, they don’t transform people into the living dead after draining their blood,” Xu Qianqian explained. “Moreover, the ritual power remaining on the Wang Family members doesn’t resemble the work of Phantom Demons either.”

Why would Phantom Demons need to perform rituals when sucking blood?

Even though upper-level Phantom Demons possess intelligence no less than humans, human-made signs like rituals are typically only created by humans—Phantom Demons generally wouldn’t do such things.

Therefore…

“The higher-ups still suspect that there’s an unidentified organization behind this incident.”

Xu Qianqian told Su Ming all this.

“Maybe it really was the doing of 『Sin』, who knows?”

This is truly a disaster.

The largest mercenary organization in the underground world actually committing atrocities in Longyao City, harming the Wang Family and using them as sacrificial offerings for some ritual—this has undoubtedly crossed the Base City’s bottom line.

If things go wrong, Longyao City could really be thrown into chaos by 『Sin』, or even completely destroyed.

“Why does this Base City have to suffer so many disasters?”

Su Ming scratched his head, looking thoroughly annoyed.

With the entire Base City’s survival at stake, he couldn’t just stand by.

His family still lived in the Key Protected Area in the city center, and all his friends were at the Academy, right here in Longyao City.

If something happened to Longyao City and Su Ming could still remain uninvolved, that wouldn’t be heartless—it would be downright conscienceless.

The worst part is…

“There might very well be accomplices of 『Sin』 among Longyao City’s upper echelons.”

What Xu Qianqian revealed was exactly the terrible situation Su Ming had just thought of.

Neither of them had forgotten that the person who hired 『Sin』 to capture Little Hai’er back then was among Longyao City’s upper echelons.

Among the city’s leadership, there were accomplices of 『Sin』—at the very least, partners who exchanged information with them.

“I’ve already told my father about all this. He’s joined forces with several other high-ranking officials in Longyao City and is secretly gathering evidence to expose that person and obtain all the information from them.”Xu Qianqian gazed at Su Ming and said, “I’m telling you this because it does concern us.”

Su Ming understood her meaning.

After all, it was Su Ming and Xu Qianqian who had found the mercenary group of 『Sin』, eliminated them, and rescued Little Hai’er from their clutches.

The high-ranking official hiding in the shadows of Longyao City must have known about this.

At the very least, they would have known that Xu Qianqian was involved in these events.

Thus, to avoid being exposed, they might send people to destroy evidence and target Xu Qianqian, along with everyone close to her.

“Of course, with my father and others keeping watch, they won’t be able to act recklessly,” Xu Qianqian said. “But what I fear is that they might still maintain contact with 『Sin』 and have them take action.”

All of this was merely speculation.

Whether it was truly 『Sin』 who attacked the Wang Family and used them as sacrificial offerings for a ritual remained unknown.

But it was better to be safe than sorry.

As long as there was even the slightest possibility, Xu Qianqian had to warn Su Ming so he could be mentally prepared.

She herself wasn’t too concerned; the key issue was Su Ming.

After all, it was she who had dragged him into this mess in the first place.

The thought of involving Su Ming again weighed heavily on her heart.

If she had known how deep these waters ran, she would never have asked for Su Ming’s help in the investigation.

Fortunately, Su Ming’s involvement hadn’t been exposed, and it was unlikely anyone would suspect he had assisted her.

Even if they did suspect him, the fact that Su Ming had ties to Yun Langyue of the 『Cloudflow Commerce』 would make even 『Sin』 think twice before acting.

『Cloudflow Commerce』 had branches in all Four Base Cities, and its nature was entirely different from any Family or faction within Longyao City.

While 『Sin』 might not fear any direct threat from 『Cloudflow Commerce』, the commerce group’s widespread influence and extensive business networks meant it couldn’t be easily eliminated. Who knew if among its connections were merchants involved in the black market or underground world, with close ties to various shady organizations?

Considering this, any suspicion would likely dissipate in the face of such risks.

Thinking of this, and recalling that Su Ming himself possessed considerable strength, Xu Qianqian felt somewhat reassured.

Yet, the thought that Su Ming might have to rely on his 『Cloudflow Commerce』 connections to escape being implicated by her left her with mixed emotions.

Su Ming had no idea about Xu Qianqian’s inner turmoil.

He wasn’t worried about being exposed himself.

However, he did feel that as long as he had Little Hai’er with him, they could be targeted by those with ill intentions at any time.

In that case…

“There’s no other way. I’ll have to take some action too,” Su Ming decided.

“What do you plan to do?” Xu Qianqian was slightly taken aback.

Su Ming suddenly smiled and said, “I’ll throw a wrench in their plans.”

As he spoke, he flipped his hand and produced an object.

It was something shaped like a firework.

“What is this?” Xu Qianqian turned her gaze to the firework-like item.

Su Ming didn’t answer, instead looking at the firework himself.He could clearly see the detailed description of this firework.

Hindering Mist Waves: An alchemical tool crafted from volcanic ash of the Spirit Demon Abyss’s demonic volcanoes and special metallic magnets. When launched into the air, it disperses magnetic ash with hindering properties, covering a specific area. It can interfere with alchemical potions, alchemical tools, alchemical weapons, and even uniquely effective rituals.

“This…”

Xu Qianqian was utterly astonished upon hearing Su Ming’s explanation.

She had never heard of such an alchemical tool before.

Yet, there was no doubt that once used, this alchemical tool would unleash remarkable hindering effects.

Su Ming truly intended to trip up those who were committing misdeeds in the shadows.

And not just any small obstacle—a major one at that.

(End of Chapter)