Chapter 415 - The Death Leaderboard
Chapter 415: The Death Leaderboard
A silver pearl had appeared in the command deck of Vampire. This was the Winterwarmth Pearl which had been extracted from the Watergloom. Xia Fei had installed the pearl on a base and then placed it in the center of the command deck.
There was a fragrance like that of lotus leaves in the summer hanging in the air. It was not a thick scent, but it energized the spirit, and Xia Fe could even feel his brain working faster.
Furball, that scoundrel, was naturally hungrily eyeing the Winterwarmth Pearl, but after a stern warning from Xia Fei, he had put aside the idea of eating it. Still, he had moved his nest from the sofa to the command deck, sleeping right next to the Winterwarmth Pearl. He apparently liked to be around this faint scent.
Not long after Xia Fei had left the Scarlet River Valley planet, Duabi and his pursuit team arrived. Originally, no one knew of Hezar’s death, for he was a loner ascetic who had little contact with the rest of the insectoid race. Duabi had only been able to find this place because Xia Fei uploaded this information to the insectoid internet.
Hezar’s death would be a massive shock to the insectoid race, and Xia Fei had no reason to keep it a secret. Thus, he thrust Hezar’s head onto the highest mountain on the planet, took a picture, and uploaded it on the internet.
The entire insectoid race exploded into an uproar!
Everyone was stunned!
When Hezar was still alive, no one liked him, and he did not like the members of his race, either, but his death had flipped the insectoid race upside down. None of them wanted to believe that this most unique and solitary warrior of the insectoid race would die at the hands of a human!
Hezar could die, and many people would celebrate his death, for he had only been a name to the insectoids, but he could not be allowed to die at the hands of a human! This was a grim blow to the Sacred Guild and to all the members of the insectoid race!
Duabi frowned as he took down Hezar’s head, looking much older. Even the domineering Hezar died. He could no longer think of anyone in their race that could stop Xia Fei.
He was even more confused on how Xia Fei had managed to counter Hezar’s ability. Theoretically, when a speed ability user was placed against the energy drain ability, there should have been no chance at victory no matter how powerful the speed ability user was. At worst, Hezar should have been able to deal some severe wounds to Xia Fei in return.
Yadan pursued his lips. Among all these insectoids, only he and Mingjing did not care about Hezar’s death. Mingjing was High Priest Ryun’s disciple, and it was normal for her not to care about what happened with the insectoids. As for Yadan, it was purely because of his carefree personality as if nothing in the universe could make him care.
Mingjing closed her eyes and used her powerful ability to search the planet. After a few moments, she excitedly came back to her senses and wrote a line on her electronic notebook.
“The battlefield is by a river in the southwest. I sense very powerful energy traces from the other party. I should be able to gather enough information to construct a model of the enemy this time.”
Duabi was taken aback, hastily asking, “Lady Mingjing, is this true?”
Mingjing firmly nodded.
“Come on! Let’s head to the southwest immediately,” Duabi swung his hand and said.
*Whoosh~*
The Ladybug-class light cruiser quickly descended on the site of Xia Fei and Hezar’s battle. Almost immediately after disembarking, Mingjing activated her ability and began gathering the scattered information on Xia Fei.
When dealing with Hezar, Xia Fei had brushed past Hezar, but this had resulted in a significant amount of energy being drained. This unintentional consequence ended up leaving a hidden problem for him.
When Hezar’s body was converted into energy by Furball, a large quantity of Xia Fei’s energy had scattered. Even though Furball had absorbed more than half of it, a significant number of energy particles had sprinkled themselves around the shore.
Mingjing had already gathered some of Xia Fei’s energy particles, so she was able to distinguish the energy particles that belonged to Xia Fei and collect them easily.
She became very strange when she released her ability. She was like a freezing little girl, her small body constantly shivering. Duabi and the others were used to this, so they used this time while Mingjing was using her ability to curiously gather around the Watergloom’s corpse.
“Is this a snake?”
“Doesn’t look like one. Have you ever seen a snake with a six-lobed mouth like this?”
“If it’s not a snake, what is it?”
“Some sort of coelenterata exotic beast. Forget it. In any case, Hezar clearly sucked it dry. Look at its shriveled corpse as if it’s been exposed directly to the sun for too long. That’s the typical sign of a exotic beast that’s been attacked by Hezar. What a pity! Hezar was such a strong warrior, but he died at the hands of a human.”
Everyone emotionally sighed, feeling regret over Hezar’s death.
Yadan sneered. “Do you know what Hezar’s death means?”
Duabi did not much like Yadan’s gloomy tone. Frowning, he said, “It means that the insectoids have lost another powerful Sacred Warrior.”
“Wrong.”
Laresh said, “It means that the sixteenth place on the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard is now empty.”
“Also wrong.”
Everyone was confused on what Yadan meant.
“It means that no one on the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard except High Priest Ryun can stop that human warrior.”
“Oh.” Duabi grunted. Everyone knew that, if one did not count High Priest Ryun, Hezar was the true king of the leaderboard. He was an uncrowned king, only placing sixteen because of his eccentric personality and his dislike for interacting with other members of his race. However, in terms of actual strength, Hezar was definitely in the top five!
“Including High Priest Ryun, all those in the top five are enigmatic masters. Some of them are in seclusion, and some are carrying out secret missions for the race. Those insectoids won’t appear for just any reason, so it seems that there is no longer anyone on the leaderboard that can stop the human warrior’s slaughter.”
Duabi felt that Yadan was implying something and sternly asked, “What do you mean?”
Yadan smiled. “If there’s no one strong enough to stop him, then all of the people on the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard will start fearing for their lives.”
All of them were struck dumb. None of them had considered this problem before, but this was a problem that could not be ignored!
Xia Fei was clearly using this leaderboard to choose the next target to kill. With the death of someone as strong as Hezar, all of the elite warriors on the leaderboard probably understood that they were no match for Xia Fei. They would all grow afraid, worried that Xia Fei would be coming for them next.
Regardless of cultivation or status, these elite warriors were all paragons to the rest of the insectoid race. If they grew afraid and began fleeing for their lives, he could easily imagine the magnitude of the effect it would have on the ordinary populace.
The world of Sacred Warriors was about to fall into turmoil!
Several minutes later, Mingjing finished gathering information. She took out a white handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
“Miss Mingjing, did you gather enough information so that we can begin pursuing that human warrior?” Duabi hastily asked.
Mingjing lightly nodded. Mental Trace was a very wondrous ability. By constructing a model of Xia Fei, Mingjing seemed to know him for real, as if there were no secrets between them.
For some reason, Mingjing felt an inexplicable attraction to Xia Fei’s model—an intimacy that seemed to come from their shared origin. This was completely different from the feeling she had with her master or senior brother.
Mingjing did not know the reason, so she buried it deep in her heart.
…
On the outside training ground of Soaring Martial Arts Academy, a stalwart and large insectoid coldly observed several hundred students, walking back and forth. The slightest mistake or the slightest lack of attention would result in a sharp bark from him or even a beating.
Martial arts academies were a new thing in the insectoid race. As a supplement to the Sacred Guild, martial arts academies could accept both nobles and talented ordinary citizens. After graduation, they could take a test, and if they passed, they could be promoted to a Sacred Warrior.
The strict hierarchy of the insectoid race meant that ordinary citizens basically did not have any chances of achieving meteoric success, so when martial arts academies that could accept ordinary citizens appeared, they immediately became popular. After all, this was an authentic chance for a sparrow to become a phoenix. Once someone became a Sacred Warrior, they could break free of their status as an ordinary citizen, and even their descendants would benefit.
A teenaged insectoid excitedly ran over, constantly calling, “Dad! Dad! The newest Sacred Warrior Leaderboard just came out! You’re ranked ninety-nine! You entered the top one hundred!”
The large man slightly froze for a moment, and then he fell silent, his face turning green.
“My dear Pang, it’s not the time for the ranking to be announced. Where did you hear that from?” The large man frowned and asked.
“The rules of the leaderboard have been modified. Starting today, it will be updated every week. Look, this is the newest ranking.”
After saying this, the youth turned on his microcomputer and opened the leaderboard page. The big man inspected it and truly did find his name at the end of the list.
The big man sighed and stroked his chin, saying nothing more.
The youth did not understand why his father was not happy. The nearby students also happened to hear the topic of their conversation.
“Master has entered the Top 100 of the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard?!”
“That’s a good thing! Why are you so surprised?”
“What good thing? Don’t you know? A human warrior has entered our territory and has been targeting and killing warriors on the leaderboard? Even Hezar was killed by him.”
“That human is vicious, not even sparing family members. He even killed all several thousand of the beautiful girls that former Cabinet elder Hami kept at his side, not sparing one!”
“He even kills beauties?!”
“I know, right? What if he comes here after our master? We’ll be caught up in it!”
“In any case, I’m not coming tomorrow. Nothing is more important than my life.”
“I’m not coming, either.”
The chattering of the students made the middle-aged man sigh.
“My dear Pang, go home to your mother and have her pack up and get ready to stay at her hometown for a few days.”
The youth never imagined that the heroic father he looked up to would have this attitude. He dropped his head, his excitement vanishing.
The two of them put aside the training students and returned home. The youth timidly asked, “Father, are you afraid that that human warrior will come looking for you?”
The veins on the man’s forehead bulged as he gruffly replied, “Afraid? Your father has never feared anyone! Son, I’m doing this for you and your mother! You should realize that the Sacred Warrior Leaderboard has now become a death list!”
Similar scenes played out all across the insectoid territory. The leaderboard that had once stood for glory and honor was now an eyesore. Everyone on the leaderboard now felt fear in their heart and could no longer eat or sleep in peace, worried that Xia Fei might suddenly appear to take their head.
Those not on the leaderboard prayed to their gods to protect them from getting on the death list, and some insectoids even came with large heaps of money to the drafters of the list, doing everything in their power not to be placed in the Top 100.
As for the one who had turned that glorious leaderboard into a death leaderboard, he was now infamous. Xia Fei was now the most hated and most feared existence in the insectoid race, and a bizarre atmosphere swept through the insectoid race!