After Neps and the other five joined the fight, it didn't take long before the ten Silver Guards were all slain on the spot.
However—
Not a single person wore a look of relief.
Instead, every face was shrouded in heavy gloom.
They stared at the two corpses of their fallen companions on the ground, breathing hard, rage boiling in their chests.
"This won't work, Neps. We can't keep going like this!"
A bespectacled man suddenly spoke up. "That kid can clearly track our movements. He knows everything we do. We crossed the entire Life City from the West City to the East City, and yet he still appeared the very moment we engaged the Gold Guards!"
"If we don't deal with that kid first, then for the next three days, we can forget about hunting Gold Guards altogether!"
At his words—
Everyone's expressions darkened even further.
For them, being unable to hunt Gold Guards was practically a death sentence.
After all—
The sole purpose of entering the Life Ancient City was to obtain Life Stones.
Hunting Silver Guards could also yield Life Stones, yes—but each time, only fifteen ordinary Life Stones.
The returns were far too small.
But hunting Gold Guards was different.
With good luck, two high-grade Life Stones could drop.
Even with bad luck, at least one high-grade Life Stone would always drop from the two Gold Guard generals.
And a single high-grade Life Stone was worth sixty to seventy ordinary Life Stones.
The difference in profit between hunting Silver Guards and Gold Guards wasn't small—it was enormous.
Neps didn't respond immediately.
He fell into silence.
Silence.
More silence.
After a long while, he suddenly lifted his head, his eyes flickering sharply.
Everyone immediately turned to him.
"I've got an idea."
Neps spoke with a ferocious expression. "Think about it—by now, nearly forty people have probably died at that kid's hands. His mad slaughter must have already put everyone in the relic on edge."
"They're anxious. They're uneasy."
"So we can unite them."
"Thirty people—no, not even that. Twenty! Twenty people will be enough!"
"With just twenty people, we can weave a net from heaven and earth and surround that kid completely—kill him without escape!"
At those words—
The light slowly returned to everyone's eyes.
What they failed to notice—
Was that not far away, inside a nearby alley—
A large golden-furred mouse was tilting its head, listening to their conversation with a bored expression.
…
"Not bad luck this time."
Elsewhere—
In the East City of the ancient city, inside another alley—
Zhao Xuan looked at the high-grade Life Stones he had just found on the two Gold Guard corpses he'd opportunistically looted, his smile bright and genuine.
"Easy money—another one hundred fifty to one hundred sixty billion."
"At this rate, it probably won't take long before I gather the full seven-and-a-half trillion."
The thought excited him once again.
"I really wonder just how much benefit tempering my skull with life energy and breaking through to the Seventh-Rank Venerable realm will bring."
As that excitement surged—
Suddenly—
"Chirp! Chirp!"
A familiar sound rang out behind him.
"You're back."
Zhao Xuan turned around, looking at the big golden mouse that had appeared silently behind him at some unknown moment.
"How is it? What are they planning now?"
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
The golden mouse squeaked rapidly, relaying everything it had overheard without missing a detail.
"They want to unite others?"
Zhao Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly, a cold glint flashing within them.
"And you think I'd let that happen?"
…
East City, somewhere else.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A six-member ability user squad was efficiently slaughtering a Silver Guard unit.
At that moment—
One of the women in the group suddenly changed expression.
"Someone's coming. But only two people."
The other five also stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
But—
They didn't panic.
The six erupted together, completely crushing the Silver Guards who were already on the brink of collapse.
Immediately after—
They struck one after another, killing the Silver Guards in rapid succession.
In the blink of an eye, only four Silver Guards remained.
And at that moment—
The two uninvited guests approaching them had already entered their field of vision.
Those two didn't rush forward recklessly.
Instead, they stopped at a distance, just outside the squad's alert range.
The six glanced coldly at them, then turned back and charged toward the remaining four Silver Guards.
In an instant—
Under the combined assault of six people, the last four Silver Guards fell one after another.
"Neps, what are you trying to do?!"
Only then did the leader of the six-man squad turn his gaze toward the two outsiders and ask coldly.
"Felimon, don't misunderstand."
Neps spoke calmly. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm here to propose an alliance."
"An alliance?"
Felimon's eyes flickered, and he rejected it outright.
"No need. We have no interest in getting involved in your conflict with that Kyushu man."
"Naive—utterly naive!"
Neps snorted coldly. "Felimon, you may not realize this yet, but Huggins, Teplang, Walton—all of them are already dead at that kid's hands!"
"There are no fewer than thirty people who've died to him!"
"Among them, aside from Huggins' group—who had conflict with him from the start—the others had no grudge against him at all. And yet he still killed them."
"So don't comfort yourself with thoughts like 'we have no enmity, so he won't target us.'"
"That kid is completely blood-drunk now. With his killing nature, do you really think he'll spare you?"
"The only reason he hasn't come after you yet is because we're standing in front."
"But once we're dead—I guarantee it—I swear it—he will turn his eyes on you next!"
At those words—
Felimon and his five teammates all sank into silence, their expressions darkening.
Before they could respond, Neps continued:
"Of course, if you truly believe that with just the six of you, you can handle Zhao Xuan, then fine."
"As for me, I'll be honest—at my current strength, I have no way of dealing with that kid unless I completely give up hunting Gold Guards for the next three days."
"Oh, and one more thing."
"We already have three people who've died at his hands."
The atmosphere grew even heavier.
And at that exact moment—
Suddenly—
"Someone's coming! It's just one person!"
The woman who had earlier detected Neps and Jenny with Observation Haki suddenly spoke again.
"The speed is extremely fast!"
--------------------------------------------------
Read Chapters ahead: [email protected] / KaiOynx