Chapter 59 – From Su Ming's Perspective

Beneath the moonlit night, the previously silent Warehouse Street was abruptly shattered by a sudden explosion.

Flames illuminated the surroundings, stirring commotion in every corner of Warehouse Street.

“Hurry!”

“Something’s happened!”

“Get over there quickly!”

Numerous Underground Professionals who had been standing guard and patrolling were startled, then immediately rushed toward the source of the explosion without hesitation. Their chaotic footsteps added a grim, murderous atmosphere to Warehouse Street.

Su Ming and Xu Qianqian watched everything from the shadows, almost instantly realizing what was happening.

Su Ming turned to the three thugs.

“Did you already succeed in capturing that Phantom Demon Cub from the superior mutated species?” Su Ming questioned the thugs in an authoritative tone.

The thugs, already terrified of Su Ming, immediately nodded repeatedly in response to his questioning.

“We… we successfully captured the cub yesterday and locked it up. What’s going on now?” The thug’s face was also pale.

Although it was a cub of a superior mutated Phantom Demon, a cub was still a cub. Before fully developing, the cub’s power remained immature.

This was precisely why the cub had been constantly fleeing from pursuit by this Underground Mercenary Group, whose members were at most Three-Star Professionals.

If it were truly a mature superior mutated Phantom Demon, this group would have been completely wiped out long ago.

But before growing and developing fully, the cub only possessed power equivalent to a mutated species among lower-tier Phantom Demons, not yet reaching the level of superior Phantom Demons.

This gave the Suspicious Group their opportunity.

Of course, the cub wasn’t to be underestimated either—it had managed to evade capture for over a month before finally being caught after entering Huaming District, showing considerable capability.

And now, something had clearly gone wrong with the captive.

“I think the cub might have escaped and is causing trouble now,” Su Ming easily deduced the current situation.

Xu Qianqian immediately turned to Su Ming, saying, “This is a good opportunity.”

What kind of good opportunity?

It went without saying.

“You want to intervene?” Su Ming met Xu Qianqian’s intense gaze and calmly said, “I wouldn’t recommend that.”

Based on earlier deductions, Su Ming believed there might be significant hidden secrets behind this incident beyond what appeared on the surface.

The situation was deeper and more complicated than either Su Ming or Xu Qianqian had imagined.

For this reason alone, Su Ming advised against Xu Qianqian getting involved.

Doing so would only drag them into this affair, potentially with no benefit in the end.

“But I can’t just stand by and watch,” Xu Qianqian stared intently at Su Ming. “A Phantom Demon Cub with high potential to evolve into a Nightmare Species could cause too much turmoil.”

If the cub were captured and handed over to the upper echelons of the Base City, it could completely alter the Family influences and political landscape of the Base City.

If the cub successfully escaped, the situation could escalate further, eventually drawing all of Longyao City into the conflict, turning this Base City into a battlefield for countless competing forces.

In such circumstances, from Xu Qianqian’s perspective, she could no longer afford to stand idly by.After all, she was the Young Miss of the Xu Family. No matter which outcome the situation with the cub led to, neither was something she wished to see.

“So what do you plan to do?” Su Ming stared directly at Xu Qianqian and said, “Do you want to seize that cub?”

From Xu Qianqian’s perspective, neither allowing the cub to fall into someone else’s hands nor letting it hide freely in Longyao City was acceptable.

The former could potentially threaten the Xu Family’s status, causing shifts in influence and power.

The latter could pose a threat to the entire Base City, forcing the Xu Family—one of Longyao City’s top Hunter Families—to intervene eventually.

But if Xu Qianqian could capture the cub herself, the situation would be different.

The Xu Family might become the ultimate beneficiary, advancing rather than retreating, while Xu Qianqian herself might obtain the Bloodline of a Nightmare Species and secure a Seven-Star pass.

By all accounts, Xu Qianqian couldn’t possibly turn a blind eye to this.

“I have no choice but to do this,” Xu Qianqian stated.

“Is that so?” Su Ming replied indifferently. “Actually, there’s another option available.”

“What?” Xu Qianqian fixed her gaze on Su Ming.

“Let the cub escape back to the Spirit Demon Abyss,” Su Ming suggested. “The cub likely came to Huaming District because it sensed the Spirit Demon Abyss Entrance and wanted to return. If it succeeds, all conflicts would cease to exist.”

“This…” Xu Qianqian furrowed her brows.

“Personally, I think this is the best choice,” Su Ming stated bluntly. “If the Xu Family obtains the cub, it would still trigger shifts in power and politics—just with your family as the ultimate beneficiary. But for commoners like me, we’d prefer maintaining the status quo.”

This was Su Ming’s most direct perspective.

He could theoretically remain detached and unaffected, as changes in the Base City’s power structure wouldn’t concern him.

However, based on a bold speculation, Su Ming believed that even if Xu Qianqian obtained the cub here, the coming conflicts would still occur—possibly even more intensely.

In Su Ming’s eyes, the cub had become a bomb that could potentially blow up all of Longyao City at any moment.

Under such circumstances, Su Ming couldn’t remain completely detached.

After all, Longyao City was his home. His parents and family lived here, and no matter how carefree he might be, he wouldn’t want to see city-wide conflicts erupt.

If things really came to that, Su Ming might have to consider relocating his parents to another Base City.

Xu Qianqian seemed to grasp some of Su Ming’s meaning and fell silent.

Su Ming had no intention of disturbing her further. He turned and walked toward the three thugs.

“What… what do you want? No! Stop! Aaaaaah…!”

Amid the thugs’ screams, the three Underground Professionals soon lost consciousness and were thrown by Su Ming into a shipping container.

He threw the scorpion in as well.

It wasn’t actually a living creature, but rather an alchemical tool.However, it was practically no different from a living creature—at the very least, no different from a real scorpion. It could crawl, move, and its venomous stinger would instantly inflict a lethal poison, causing death within minutes.

This was a small gadget Su Ming had obtained from a package, and now it came in handy.

Su Ming wouldn’t show any mercy to a group of Underground Professionals either.

After all, Underground Professionals were either violent problem children or fugitives with multiple crimes on their records—not a single one of them was harmless.

Moreover, the conversation between Su Ming and Xu Qianqian had already been quite revealing, exposing a lot of information. To avoid being dragged into the deep waters behind it all, Su Ming had no choice but to play the ruthless villain this time.

By the time Su Ming returned, Xu Qianqian seemed to have made up her mind.

“Regardless, let’s go take a look first,” Xu Qianqian said. “At the very least, I need to ensure that cub doesn’t fall into the hands of these Underground Professionals.”

“Suit yourself,” Su Ming replied without objection this time.

Because this was his thought as well.

“What about you?” Xu Qianqian asked Su Ming. “Are you going?”

Having decided on her own stance, Xu Qianqian also wanted to see what position Su Ming would choose.

Would he be tempted by the Bloodline of a Nightmare Species?

Would he stand by and watch as Longyao City descended into a battlefield of conflict?

Xu Qianqian wanted to know.

All along, she had been observing Su Ming, trying to uncover how deeply he was hiding and what kind of person he truly was.

Now, the opportunity had arrived.

Xu Qianqian wanted to see if, faced with such a situation, Su Ming would still choose to retreat as he always did.

Unfortunately, Su Ming seemed utterly unmoved.

“Let’s go take a look,” Su Ming said with an unchanged expression. “We’ll decide what to do next after we see how the situation develops.”

With these words, Su Ming headed toward the direction of the explosion.

Xu Qianqian watched his retreating figure for a long while before finally following.

……

“Boom—!”

The sound of explosions echoed incessantly, thick flames and billowing smoke spreading everywhere.

A figure was sent flying backward from the flames and smoke, retreating a considerable distance in a thoroughly disheveled state.

“Boss!”

“Boss!”

Two Sorcerers appeared beside this person, circular arrays floating around their wrists, their gazes fixed on the disheveled figure in panic.

“I’m fine!”

A low response came as the disheveled figure lifted his head, revealing a rather ferocious face.

This person was the leader of the Underground Professionals here—the Three-Star Hunter who had been leading the mercenaries of 『Sin』 in pursuit of the cub, Yi Junchuan.

At this moment, Yi Junchuan gripped a full-length blade, his mask shattered, his black clothes soaked through, his entire being exuding an air of embarrassment.

And ahead of Yi Junchuan, above the flames and smoke, a mass of water mist undulated.

It was a cloud-like fog of water.

Within the mist, a humanoid silhouette seemed to flicker in and out of view.

“Tch!” Yi Junchuan’s expression turned grim. “Even though we already trapped it in a cage, it actually managed to escape. As expected, even the cub of a Hazardous Species mutant is no pushover.”

The figure within the water mist was undoubtedly the mysterious Phantom Demon Cub.

“Boss!”

“Boss!”One by one, the Underground Professionals quickly arrived at this moment, gathering around Yi Junchuan.

“Take action!” Yi Junchuan said coldly: “Same as before, surround it and don’t let it escape. Remember, don’t hurt it!”

“Yes!” The group of Underground Professionals immediately raised their weapons.

The Phantom Demon in the water mist seemed to know what they were going to do next, so it fled toward the distance without hesitation.

“Don’t even think about escaping!”

Yi Junchuan immediately led his subordinates in pursuit.

This scene had frequently played out over the past month.

However, this time, a third party intervened.

Yi Junchuan would never have imagined that in the direction the Phantom Demon was fleeing, two students – one male and one female – were heading this way.

(End of Chapter)