Star Gate

Chapter 154: Slaying Solar, Destroying Sunflare (III)

Hao Lianchuan’s gaze shifted to the side as he grumbled to himself and caught sight of a middle-aged man who seemed honest, but wore a look of worry. It was a driver from Qiao Mining Industries.

Mu Sen wants to kill him? Why?

Hao Lianchuan even had the impulse to stop the inspector general, but someone appeared in front of him at this time.

“Director Hao, my teacher says...” Li Hao began.

Hao Lianchuan didn’t hear a word of what Yuan Shuo purportedly said. Actually, Li Hao didn’t say anything either. Killing intent suddenly flashed through Mu Sen’s eyes and he cut down the driver with the long blade in his hand!

“The Qiaos have colluded with bandits to ambush Professor Yuan!” he roared. “He deserves to be executed! Any who dares move will be treated as co-conspirators!”

Boom!

Only now did the Plenilune realize that Mu Sen was attacking him. He quickly raised a hand in defense and erupted with immense fire attributed power. But the blade arrived just as his strength billowed!

A Plenilune could not save himself from a peak Sunderer ambush at such a close distance.

Pfft!

The man’s head was pierced through and smashed to pieces. His upraised hands were likewise destroyed.

Hao Lianchuan frowned and swept an offended glance at Li Hao. All of these people had ignored him and even purposefully obstructed him! Li Hao, Yuan Shuo, Liu Long, Mu Sen...

Silver City was a tightly-knit whole that water could not seep into. They covered for each other and didn’t trust even the Night Watchers. It was plain to see that they had their secrets, but didn’t trust Hao Lianchuan with them!

Irritation built in the director’s heart, yet he snorted coldly and deployed a fire dragon. Six supernaturals stirring restlessly in the crowd were immediately burned to ashes!

Not only were the Qiao superhumans scared out of their wits when Mu Sen attacked, but so were others with ulterior motives up their sleeves. Unfortunately for them, they forgot Hao Lianchuan’s level of strength.

He couldn’t be bothered with interrogating them, so ignited his fire dragon and just burned those unstable factors to death!

“Have you forgotten that I’m still here?” Hao Lianchuan bit off coldly, apparently directing his words at the cowering group in the hall, but in reality meaning them for Mu Sen and Li Hao. Do you take me for a dead man? Killing someone in front of me and eliminating all of the suspects, what are you trying to do?!

He was infuriated! White Moon had just reached an accord with the three great organizations and others, but here was a massive problem dumped into his lap! Damn it! And I thought Silver City would be fine for the short term.

“Everything’s fine now, Director Hao,” Li Hao kept his voice down. “It’s just a local Silver City corporation colluding with some evil supernaturals to ambush my teacher. Everything’s over now.”

Hao Lianchuan tilted his head at the young man, the look in his eyes chilling to arctic levels. He recovered his calm only after a long moment.

“Have Liu Long present a detailed case analysis tomorrow!” He ignored Li Hao and frowned at Mu Sen. “Have someone clean up the bodies. It’s a gory mess here. This is the Inspectorate, not a wet market!”

He turned toward the trembling crowd in the hall. “There is no need to be afraid,” the director said calmly. “The Night Watchers are everyone’s guardian so long as you hide no skeletons in the closet, do not disrupt society, refrain from committing murder, abstain from breaking the law, or others. We are not butchers!

“We would request your presence a little while longer tonight as we hunt down the criminals running through our streets. Please enjoy yourselves. It is an occasion for celebration that the Silver City Night Watchers strike at lawbreakers and kill transgressors on its first day of formation! I hope everyone takes this as a warning and do not think to violate the law just because you are superhuman!”

“We would never!” chorused a pale crowd. They were truly frightened out of their wits. A Solar was awful beyond belief! Hao Lianchuan had casually burned eight superhumans to death with a few fire dragons. Although they were Slayers and Starlight, but how many Darkmoon and Sunderers were present?

The strongest was the one that Mu Sen had killed, an action that still palpitated the hearts of those present. They already knew that the inspector general was strong as he could cleave a flying Darkmoon to half with one stroke. Despite the advantage conferred by an ambush, he’d easily dispatched a Darkmoon powerhouse moments ago—one that seemed very strong. They could tell from this that the fatty was likely a peak Sunderer.

Mu Sen wore a smile on his face again after killing his target. He glanced at Li Hao and waited for Hao Lianchuan to finish. “Don’t be afraid, everyone. All of you alive are good, law-abiding citizens. So long as you are registered, the Inspectorate and Night Watchers will not only leave you to your business, but will also provide what help we can within our purview.

“Once Director Liu and the others return, we will all have a few drinks to steady our nerves. Silver City will be at peace after tonight! Please bring a message from the Inspectorate and Night Watchers when you return home to those who might’ve forgotten to register or were in closed door cultivation for too long. Do remember to come register once out of seclusion!”

Expressions shifted minutely through the crowd. Were there more unregistered supernaturals in Silver City?

Of course!

Were there any who dared remain unregistered after tonight?

Probably not, unless there was truly something afoot. With the grand showing by the Night Watchers during the reception and establishing their authority via a killing, unregistered superhumans wouldn’t even know how they died if they were found out.

The entire hall was so uncannily quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Li Hao and the others didn’t dare twitch a finger. They looked at the door. Is everything okay on the chief’s side? wondered the young man. They were up against three Sunflares! The mines were slightly removed from the city. Battle might be over by the time Yuan Shuo rushed to the site. It was difficult to say what the outcome would be.

They were fully prepared against their unsuspecting foes and Liu Long was a Dominator. That should prove enough for the task, right?

This operation was not without its consequences. Take Hao Lianchuan, for example—the director would likely leave Silver City with a poor impression of Li Hao. He would probably think less of the city as a whole.

They’d hoodwinked those above and bullied those below!

If put into more serious terms, the Silver City Night Watchers and Inspectorate had shown a blatant disregard for their direct supervisor. It would be normal for a grudge to develop after today if he was a more narrow-minded or petty person.

The events had also enabled Li Hao to better understand Mu Sen. The inspector general was a hell of a character! He didn’t ask too much and didn’t seek to confirm his guesses. He killed whoever was slated to die. The decisiveness of a martial master was also on full display when it came to Mu Sen.

The other issue was the jade sword...

Li Hao’s thoughts turned to Stellaris. It’d absorbed a bit of the black shadow in a manner that seemed to be replenishing itself. Not only Stellaris, but so did the stone blade of the Zhangs exhibit the same behavior. When he launched a joint offensive with his teacher, both weapons seemed to have caught sight of something delicious and eagerly devoured the black shadow.

What was so special about it? The two weapons hadn’t swallowed the scarlet shadows. Did it have something to do with the ruins? Perhaps the ruins that the Qiaos had found contained resources that could replenish the weapons!

A light shone out of Li Hao’s eyes when his thoughts traveled here. He needed the energy in the sword, as did his teacher. His teacher had suffered grave injuries after deploying the Incantation of the Blade of Blood. Although he’d absorbed a tiny bit of energy, it was far from enough. Absorbing all of it may not be enough.

Who knew how much trouble they’d encounter in the days to come? He had to help his teacher recover as quickly as possible.

......

As Li Hao considered these questions, projectiles carpet-bombed the Qiao mines. One of the mountains was bombed out of existence and revealed vague hints of ruins beneath the terrain.

Liu Long raised his ax high and hacked a fleeing Sunflare to death. He promptly occupied the attention of another while the third Sunflare ran for another minor mountain. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fight with his comrade, but that he wanted to kill the snipers hiding in the mountain.

Bullets shot at them as the Sunflares fought, forcing them to reveal their weaknesses. They needed to kill the annoying gnats with the guns first! As powerful as Sunflare defenses were, they still easily died when sniped during a battle with a Dominator.

Bam!

An artillery shell exploded next to the running Sunflare, but was adroitly evaded. Chen Jian braced a bazooka on his shoulder and fired again. His target dodged just as nimbly, demonstrating the might of a Sunflare.

The fervent light of battle glinting from her eyes, Liu Yan wielded blades in both hands. Sunflares were domineering and she was plainly no match. However, their enemy faced not just her martial master comrades, but three more supernaturals in the car.

Liu Long pummeled his opponent like he was the wave, keeping them so off balance that they couldn’t find their footing. He obviously had the upper hand. All would go well so long as he kept this one preoccupied a little while longer.

“Kill!” Liu Yan growled and rushed forward. There was an entire cultivation level gap between an initial Sunderer and initial Sunflare, but they weren’t afraid!

“You court death!” The fire supernatural she faced seemed young and glared with fury. He wasn’t of a mind to exchange blows. He just wanted to kill them as soon as possible, then go back to his comrade to eliminate Liu Long. With the happenings here, had something happened to their leader?

There was no time to consider the possibility. Fire energy erupted, meeting a tiny shield in Liu Yan, Chen Jian, and Wu Chao’s hands.

An ice crystal shield!

These objects were exceedingly fragile, but suppressed a great portion of the fire energy as soon as the two met. The force of impact shattered the shields, however. Such was the drawback of ice crystals. Otherwise, they would be kryptonite against mysterious power.

The fire supernatural didn’t mind. Ice crystals were easily broken and provided only momentary resistance. These guys would die all the same.

An explosion rang from his rear as a beam of golden light shot out. It was the Fullmoon Wang Ming, a metal supernatural!