Chapter 176 – The Most Urgent Mystery to Solve

“Alright, I understand.”

In the villa room, Xu Qianqian had just ended a call and put away her phone.

“How did it go? What did your father say?”

Nearby, Su Ming was holding Little Hai’er. Seeing Xu Qianqian finish her call, he immediately stepped forward to inquire.

Xu Qianqian turned her gaze toward Su Ming.

From the look in Xu Qianqian’s eyes, Su Ming could tell she had gained some information.

“It’s confirmed,” Xu Qianqian stated. “Within just one hour after the Mist Waves interference was used, only one person among Longyao City’s upper echelons requested a report from the detection department.”

Hearing this, Su Ming snapped his fingers.

It was a gesture of triumph.

“The use of Mist Waves interference should normally only affect alchemical industries and special rituals. While it would cause considerable trouble for the alchemists, within such a short span of one hour, it’s unlikely that Longyao City’s upper echelons would notice such an abnormal situation and immediately request a report from the detection department.”

Su Ming grinned as he spoke.

“Being able to react so quickly and immediately request a report from the detection department almost certainly confirms that the other party is conducting investigations with a specific purpose.”

Such a person, without a doubt, is the collaborator of the terrorists who have been stirring up trouble behind the scenes in Longyao City and conducting cruel rituals.

So, it’s now basically confirmed.

“That upper echelon in Longyao City who requested the detection department’s report is suspicious,” Su Ming declared with certainty. “And the traitor among Longyao City’s upper echelons is most likely the one who hired the Sin mercenary group and has been trying to capture Little Hai’er all along.”

“Mi-ling!” Little Hai’er understood Su Ming’s meaning and immediately let out an indignant cry.

Clearly, upon learning news about the bad person who’s been trying to capture her, Little Hai’er was reminded of all the past grievances and new hatreds.

In contrast, Xu Qianqian’s expression turned grave.

There was no helping it.

Since this matter has been confirmed, it proves that the terrorists who secretly attacked the Wang Family and are conducting cruel rituals are indeed from Sin.

Knowing this, Xu Qianqian couldn’t help but feel quite heavy-hearted.

“Facing one of the largest and strongest forces in the underground world—such a powerful enemy would absolutely be a disaster for Longyao City.”

This was what Xu Qianqian was thinking about.

The strength of the Sin mercenary organization is indeed enough to make anyone wary.

Facing this massive force that reportedly has two Seven-Star Professionals leading it and dominates one side of the underground world, even Yinze City—the strongest of the Four Base Cities—probably wouldn’t dare claim it could withstand them.

After all, Yinze City only has one Seven-Star Professional, and its overall strength still falls somewhat short compared to Sin.

To confront Sin, the largest mercenary organization in the underground world, it might require gathering all the combat capabilities of all Four Base Cities to have a chance.

If it’s just Longyao City alone, it fundamentally cannot withstand Sin’s malicious schemes.

Thinking of this, Xu Qianqian couldn’t help but start worrying about whether the ambush they’re preparing to set up would actually succeed.Using 『Sin』 as the opponent, even with the combined efforts of various forces in Longyao City, the chances of a successful ambush were relatively slim.

Xu Qianqian felt deeply troubled by this.

Seeing her concern, Su Ming spoke up with an air of nonchalance.

“Don’t worry, even if our opponents are from 『Sin』, our chances of winning are still high,” Su Ming said. “I don’t believe 『Sin』 would deploy all their top-tier combatants to Longyao City.”

Large organizations have their advantages, but they also have their drawbacks.

For one, they have too many areas to manage and cannot concentrate all their energy, manpower, and resources on a single task.

Otherwise, if they truly wanted to accomplish something, they wouldn’t need to operate covertly like this—they could simply charge in and overwhelm Longyao City outright.

The fact that they haven’t done so isn’t because they don’t want to, but because they can’t.

“You have to understand, the underground world isn’t as harmonious as the surface. Dog-eat-dog and double-crossing are commonplace.”

“And as one of the dominant forces in the underground world, 『Sin』 surely has many sworn enemies, with countless others watching them closely, ready to tear a piece out of them at any moment.”

“On top of that, every Base City despises these Underground Professionals, and many major forces and powerful Families keep a close eye on the scum leaders of the underground world. It’s easy to imagine that 『Sin』 simply can’t evade so many watchful eyes and concentrate their forces solely on Longyao City.”

Su Ming laid out his analysis point by point for Xu Qianqian.

“You really don’t need to worry too much. At the very least, the 『Sin』 faction currently in Longyao City doesn’t have the power to casually dispose of an entire Base City.”

Taking all this into account, Su Ming wasn’t overly concerned.

As he said before, the chances of success were quite high.

And even if they failed, Su Ming had a way to escape.

“We’re not without a chance of winning, so don’t overthink it.”

Su Ming tried to reassure Xu Qianqian in this way.

“You’re right. Worrying won’t help at this point. We have to go through with it now.”

Xu Qianqian finally relaxed, her anxious expression fading and returning to normal.

Only then did Su Ming shift to the main topic.

“Who is the high-ranking official in Longyao City who accessed the investigation department’s report?”

Given that this person was targeting Little Hai’er and had some hidden hostile relationship with him, Su Ming needed to know the identity of that Longyao City official.

Xu Qianqian didn’t hide this information.

“Do you know the Mo Family?”

Xu Qianqian posed this question.

“The Mo Family?”

Su Ming was slightly taken aback.

Naturally, he was familiar with this Family.

Not because they were a prominent Family in Longyao City.

While the Mo Family’s influence and strength in Longyao City were not insignificant, compared to top-tier Families like the Wang Family, Xu Family, and Li Family, the Mo Family was still slightly inferior.

There were two reasons for this.

First, they were a newly established Family, having joined Longyao City only about twenty years ago. Compared to the other long-standing, deeply rooted Families in the city, their history was relatively short.

Second, their Family did not have any Six-Star Professionals. Their strongest members were only Five-Star, which naturally made them inferior to those top Families who possessed Six-Star Professionals.For these two reasons combined, the Mo Family’s influence and strength in Longyao City fell considerably short of the top-tier families, only qualifying as a first-rate lineage.

Yet, when it came to reputation alone, the name of the Mo Family in Longyao City, in some respects, even surpassed that of top families like the Xu Family and Li Family.

The reason was simple.

“You mean that Mo Family which was once exiled, accepted by Longyao City twenty years ago, and thus joined the city?”

Su Ming looked at Xu Qianqian with extreme astonishment.

“Correct.”

Xu Qianqian nodded emphatically.

The Mo Family of Longyao City was a lineage with extraordinary origins.

Unlike families like the Xu and Li Families who started from scratch in Longyao City and gradually grew into Hunter families through their own efforts, the Mo Family belonged to an externally accepted clan.

“The Mo Family originally descended from a collateral branch of a Super Family from the continent’s heartland, possessing a Bloodline originating from Nightmare Species,” Xu Qianqian revealed what was once sensational news in Longyao City.

“Being a collateral branch, their Bloodline grew increasingly diluted over long generations of Legacy inheritance. The Mo Family had long lost the inherent potential of Nightmare Species Bloodline. Not only reaching Seven-Star rank, but even achieving Six-Star rank became increasingly rare among Mo Family members.”

Consequently, this collateral branch of the Super Family was gradually neglected by the main family, their status within the clan declining steadily while growing increasingly distant from other clan members, until finally becoming completely isolated.

Faced with this situation, one Family Head of the Mo Family, driven by extreme resentment, made a disastrous decision.

What exactly that decision was remained unknown to outsiders.

People only knew that afterward, the Mo Family provoked public outrage, resulting in numerous clan members being executed while the survivors were expelled by the main family, even exiled, forbidden from ever returning to the clan or even reentering the Base City where the family resided.

“Under these circumstances, the Mo Family eventually drifted to the coastal regions of the continent, entering the sphere of influence of the Four Base Cities, and joined Longyao City twenty years ago.”

“And a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even having lost the Bloodline potential to produce Seven-Star Professionals, with even Six-Star Professionals becoming increasingly scarce, the Mo Family still possessed Five-Star Professionals and multiple Upper-Rank Professionals, making them a major lineage.”

“Leveraging this advantage, the Mo Family quickly established firm footing in Longyao City and continuously developed over these twenty years.”

Evidently, the Mo Family’s development trend remained quite positive.

Even though no Six-Star Professional had yet emerged, the current Family Head of the Mo Family had become an outstanding figure among Five-Star Professionals. Through family influence and personal strength, he successfully entered Longyao City’s upper echelons, becoming a member of the city’s high-ranking leadership.

Su Ming had heard that in recent years, the Mo Family had undertaken numerous initiatives supported by the Family Head’s position.

For instance, the Mo Family actively sought marriage alliances with top lineages in Longyao City, aiming to salvage their increasingly diluted Bloodline and reawaken its latent potential.

Additionally, the Mo Family secretly adopted many homeless children, training them to strengthen the family’s power and influence.

“My father once told me that while training private forces is something every major family and power does, the Mo Family appears to be the most extreme among all factions in this regard.”Xu Qianqian said to Su Ming, “The Mo Family has cultivated the largest number of private soldiers among the major families and factions in Longyao City, which has frequently drawn targeting and scrutiny from councilors during high-level meetings.”

These were just routine political struggles among the powerful figures, something Su Ming cared nothing about.

There was only one thing that concerned Su Ming.

That was…

“You’re bringing up the Mo Family at this moment, could it be…”

Su Ming narrowed his eyes.

“Correct.” Xu Qianqian replied indifferently, “The Longyao City higher-up who just accessed the detection department’s report is the current Family Head of the Mo Family, one of the city’s high-ranking councilors—Mo Leng.”

In other words, this Mo Leng was highly likely the Longyao City higher-up who had hired 『Sin』, the one coveting Little Hai’er’s Bloodline.

He was in a cooperative relationship with 『Sin』, and might even be exchanging benefits with them, betraying Longyao City to obtain what he desired.

After learning the other party’s identity as the Mo Family Head, Su Ming began making numerous connections.

For instance, why would the other party be so fixated on Little Hai’er—to the extent of hiring Underground Professionals, inviting wolves into the house, and even betraying crucial intelligence about Longyao City?

Because the Mo Family were once inheritors of the Nightmare Species Bloodline, former members of a Super Family from the continent’s heartland.

They knew the glory that the Nightmare Species Bloodline could bring.

Having lost that glory, they had taken wrong paths and made erroneous decisions, resulting in their expulsion and exile from the main family, suffering heavy losses until they were forced to settle in a “remote backwater” like Longyao City.

They were certainly unwilling to accept this fate.

Thus, to reclaim their past glory, they wouldn’t hesitate to collaborate with Underground Professionals, introduce 『Sin』 into Longyao City, and betray the city—all to obtain Little Hai’er, the Phantom Demon Cub with potential to evolve into a Nightmare Species.

Su Ming even suspected that this very ambition of Mo Leng and the Mo Family was being exploited by 『Sin』.

After all, it was evident that mercenary organization from the underground world had ulterior motives in Longyao City, attempting to achieve some unknown purpose through a cruel ritual.

To accomplish this goal, they needed intelligence from the Wang Family, required entry into Longyao City, and needed opportunities, channels, and methods to discreetly conduct their ritual within the city.

All of this necessitated the full cooperation of a local powerful figure in Longyao City.

Thus, the Mo Family was chosen.

Otherwise, why would a once-in-a-millennium Phantom Demon Cub like Little Hai’er specifically appear in Longyao City rather than elsewhere?

Given Little Hai’er’s timid nature and complete lack of the Phantom Demon’s bloodthirstiness, forcing her to voluntarily enter a human settlement full of unfamiliar enemies would be utterly unreasonable.

Even if by some coincidence Little Hai’er had mistakenly entered Longyao City, why was the Mo Family—neither the strongest nor most powerful faction—the first to learn of her existence, rather than any other family or organization?

This was clearly premeditated.

Someone with an extensive intelligence network had learned about Little Hai’er’s special existence. To achieve their own goals, they drove her to Longyao City to lure the Mo Family into taking the bait and cooperating with them.If it weren’t the dominant force of the entire underground world capable of achieving this, Su Ming wouldn’t believe it.

In other words…

“The true culprit behind everything isn’t the Mo Family, but the underground mercenary organization 『Sin』.”

That was the real mastermind, the entity that orchestrated everything.

The only questions remaining were…

“What is their goal?”

“What purpose does the ritual they’re conducting serve?”

“Why do they need to use members of the Wang Family as sacrifices?”

These were perhaps the most crucial mysteries to unravel in this turmoil.

Su Ming already had a premonition.

This time, chaos comparable to the Huaming Campaign would erupt.

Longyao City was already mired in quagmire, plunged into darkness.

He, from the very beginning, couldn’t stay out of it.

(End of Chapter)