novelraw Chapter 471: Blackwater Town
Chapter 471: Blackwater Town
An invisible pressure descended.
They felt every cell in their bodies scream, every nerve fiber snap.
"Pop!"
Its head was the first to burst.
Followed by its neck, its chest cavity, disappearing inch by inch into the air.
A series of explosive sounds rang out.
They were crushed into bloody mist by Su Zhan's pressure.
Only a few human corpses remained in the cavern.
Su Zhan's golden vertical pupils swept across the empty cavern, confirming there were no more living beings.
He turned and left.From beginning to end, he never uttered a word.
......
The Mist did not completely dissipate after the war's end.
It merely shifted from the battlefield where two armies clashed to more shadowy corners.
A cleansing operation targeting the remnants of the Transcendence Society suddenly swept across the entire nation.
An immortal legend who had just been bestowed the supreme honor of "Guardian of Daxia," tireless, immediately transformed into the coldest Sweeper after the award ceremony ended.
His figure no longer appeared at public occasions meant to boost morale.
Instead, he moved like a ghost, appearing in abandoned factories, deep underground mines, remote mountain villages, and any corner where the filth of the Transcendence Society might be hiding.
Su Zhan's operational mode was simple and brutal.
Relying on information provided by the Supreme Council.
Lock onto the target, then descend.
A dark red streak of light would tear through the sky with the most domineering posture, or directly pierce through the ground, appearing before them.
The process that followed was almost monotonous, yet shockingly awe-inspiring each time.
Sometimes, it was silent pressure.
All life within the stronghold would have their existence erased in an instant.
Sometimes, it was pitch-black flames.
No matter how the opponent struggled, they would be completely incinerated from matter to soul within a few breaths.
Occasionally, they would encounter some tough nuts who relied on their own strength.
Perhaps Calamity-level Aberrant elders.
But before Su Zhan, their struggles seemed so laughable.
Often, with just one encounter, the opponent's proud abilities would crumble before the absolute power gap and the tyrannical nature of the Flame of Destruction.
The so-called fierce battles never lasted more than three moves.
The efficiency was shockingly high.
Often, news of a stronghold being uprooted and all its members slaughtered would just reach the Council through special channels when the coordinates and brief intelligence of the next stronghold would already be sent to Su Zhan's communicator.
He almost needed no rest, moving from one location to another.
The network the Transcendence Society had painstakingly built over many years collapsed like rotten wood under this devastating assault.
This one-sided slaughter naturally elicited completely different reactions.
At the level of Daxia's officialdom and ordinary populace, Su Zhan's prestige reached a new peak.
Although his methods were ruthless, leaving no survivors, in the overarching environment of deep hatred for the Transcendence Society, this iron-blooded approach instead greatly boosted morale.
Especially in areas that had once suffered greatly under the Transcendence Society, Su Zhan's actions were seen as righteous thunderbolts, a war hero continuing to rid the people of evil.
The Council was even more pleased to see this outcome; Su Zhan's existence and actions greatly alleviated their pressure on internal stability maintenance.
Among the remnants of the Transcendence Society, however, Su Zhan became the veritable incarnation of a demon.
They no longer felt safe hiding in the shadows; that dark red figure seemed able to smell the taint of corruption on them, always accurately finding them.
Many peripheral members began to defect.
Core members became like startled birds, constantly relocating their strongholds.
Su Zhan himself paid no heed to this polarized reputation.
He neither needed the populace's gratitude and admiration, nor cared about the Transcendence Society's curses and hatred.
He was simply completing a task that should have been done long ago.
Settling old scores.
And, after his strength had entered a prolonged bottleneck period, finding something meaningful to pass the time while stretching his limbs.
He was like a silent god of death, holding a scythe, methodically harvesting lives according to his own list.
......
One hundred meters underground, an abandoned mine shaft stronghold.
The air still carried the unique odor left after the Flame of Destruction incinerated flesh and blood.
On the ground, several scattered piles of black ash in different locations were the only proof that those fanatical Transcendence Society members had ever existed.
In the center of the cavern, the magic circle had long since vanished, leaving behind a smooth pit.
Su Zhan hovered in the center of the dead-silent cavern, his golden vertical pupils calmly sweeping over those ashes.
These utterly annihilated existences had not even left behind the tiniest soul fragments; Time Reappearance couldn't read information from nothingness.
His gaze finally settled on the relatively intact corpses of the innocent victims.
They had died in extreme pain and terror, their expressions twisted, their eyes hollow.
During the previous indiscriminate pressure execution.
Su Zhan had not specifically distinguished them from the Aberrants.
Now, these cold corpses became new clues.
Su Zhan slowly descended, standing beside the corpse of a middle-aged man.
This man wore tattered clothes, his palms rough; he must have been a laborer in life.
Su Zhan crouched down, extending his right hand covered in fine scales, his index finger gently touching the corpse's forehead.
Time Abyss Pupil, Time Reappearance.
Trace all the memories of this corpse before its death.
Countless fragmented memories rapidly flowed through Su Zhan's mind.
He saw...
Being roughly stuffed into a burlap sack, thrown into a shaking carriage, surrounded by other suppressed sobs and moans...
Being dragged through damp mine tunnels, rocks scraping against skin...
Several figures in black robes pointing and gesturing at them...
Silent internal screams, longing for family, fear of death...
A massive shadow descending, that cavity filled with sharp teeth approaching, an indescribable stench of rot...
The ultimate pain before consciousness was completely devoured...
These memories filled with negative emotions held no value for Su Zhan.
What he needed was information about the Transcendence Society itself.
Su Zhan switched targets, pointing his finger toward another, relatively younger female corpse.
The same process, reading memories still filled with fear and despair.
His finger landed on a third corpse.
A man with tattoo marks.
This man, before being abducted, might not have been an ordinary refugee.
Time Reappearance activated.
A chaotic flood of memory fragments surged...
Combat, explosions, comrades falling, capture, torture... then being brought to this cavern.
Unlike the pure fear in the other two corpses' memories, this man's memory fragments contained more observational information:
He remembered the general direction of the mine tunnel they came through and several key fork markers.
He overheard the guards chatting casually, mentioning a place name.
Blackwater Town.
Seemed to be a transfer station.
While being dragged toward the magic circle, he struggled desperately, catching a glimpse from the corner of his eye of an inconspicuous black bone plaque hanging from an Aberrant's waist.
It seemed to be carved with a symbol resembling three overlapping eyes.
Blackwater Town.
Three-eye symbol.
Su Zhan withdrew his finger and stood up.
His form transformed into a dark red streak of light, shooting straight up along the vertical passage he came through, disappearing underground.
......