The Ultimate Evolution

The most remarkable thing that distinguished G-spot from other item souls was that it was a chatterbox.

Everyone in Party Ace had seen much of the world, so they had encountered various kinds of item souls before, from low grade ones to high grade ones. For example, the weapon soul of the Evil Sword Apophis from before. It had its own dignity. It had only begged for its life once, and once it saw that begging was useless, it did not utter another word.

But G-spot had been chattering excitedly from the moment it woke up. It would ask questions every time it saw something new. In the end, only Melody and Old Charlie had the patience to keep talking with him. Of the two, the former was simple and naive, while the latter was sophisticated and shrewd. Only they had enough energy to deal with this tireless thing.

Sheyan seized this rare moment of peace to check his gains. Only then did he realise that through G-spot’s decomposition of the Evil Sword Apophis, he had received 80 achievement points and more than 300,000 utility points! That was about one third of the production cost of the sword.

Sheyan’s achievement point initially stood at 241/400, so needed 159 more to promote. He got 30 achievement points after he went on a streak and killed those Awakeners in a killing spree. Now that he got 80 achievement points from Apophis, his achievement point total became 351. At this rate, he might actually be promoted before his Major General Blood Armour finished production.

Those 300,000 utility points had also solved a pressing need. Melody’s stay would cost quite a bit of money, not to mention the debt they originally had…. These extra money finally pulled Party Ace a considerable distance back from financial collapse.

Eventually, the item soul appeared to have run out of energy. After contentedly speaking a few final words, it transformed into a pool of asphalt-like liquid and re-attached itself to Sheyan’s ‘Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves’. It then fell asleep. This whole series of actions was very similar to a person who moved to a bed lazily and pulled a blanket along the way.

But unlike before, the liquid metal life-form was now “embossed” on the gloves in the form of black and red stripes. Compared to the faint layer of glow before, it now felt more aggressive and more powerful, like a tiger that was sleeping soundly on the ground. The mere sight of it would cause fear in others’ hearts.

Sheyan checked the properties of the gloves and was overjoyed to see additional lines of text below the properties of ‘Ultimate Impact’:

[ This equipment has gained a bonus ability: ‘Extinction’ ]

[ This bonus ability will disappear when the liquid metal life-form disengages from the equipment. ]

[ This bonus ability will not work on long-range weapons. ]

[ The precedence of this bonus ability is equal to the highest precedence level among all the abilities possessed by the wielder. ]

[ ‘Extinction’… ] (Repeating details are omitted.)

Sheyan did not forget to also check the details of the mission regarding the liquid metal life-form:

[ Silver Mission Series Hidden Branch, Chapter 3: Devour ]

The mission required Sheyan to feed 100 pieces of equipment to the liquid metal life-form after it woke up. Just as Sheyan expected, Evil Sword Apophis did not simply count as one piece of equipment. The progress bar had advanced from 5% to 35%. Apophis had actually counted as 30 pieces of common equipment.

Sheyan finally heaved a sigh of relief. He felt that his luck had finally turned around.

Ever since he ran into Bind – no, ever since he ran into the Stockholm Party – Sheyan had felt like he was swimming against the current. The resistance he faced had always been much greater than he expected, and this resistance had reached its peak when they were ambushed previously. Their party was almost wiped out, and Mogensha was killed.

But from then on, Sheyan had started to feel the resistance gradually weakening bit by bit, until the pressure completely vanish presently. With him gaining ‘Extinction’ and the opponent losing Apophis, he already had enough chips to face the coming troubles head on, be they in the dark or on the surface. To be more precise, the so-called troubles alluded to Bind and the arrogant Rocky.

“Do you know what I’m thinking about, Seaman?” Zi suddenly asked.

Sheyan turned to look at her. From her charming, provocative eyes, he saw a challenge. This was the way it was with strong career women; they would always try to prove that they were stronger than men, but they would also wish to be conquered by a man deep down in their hearts.

With that in mind, Sheyan replied with a meaningful smile, “Of course. You’re thinking about something that I said before.”

Zi immediately frowned and retorted in a mocking tone, “I’m thinking about something that you said before?”

“That’s right. After that condescending guy called Rocky left, I said that if we can actually get rid of Bind, the look on Rocky’s face would be very spectacular,” replied Sheyan in a relaxed manner.

“Based on what we now know, Rocky may not necessarily have the confidence in killing Bind, nor must he absolutely kill Bind. What he’s striving for is probably Apophis! Imagine the look on his face when he learns that the loot he so covets has been devoured by us!”

Zi snorted and stopped talking.

Thirty-seven minutes later, they boarded a flight to the distant continent of Africa. Their first destination was Libya, followed by Egypt.

***

From the moment the passengers got off the plane, Africa had welcomed all of them with its heat, dryness, and robustness.

Sheyan felt as if their party had traveled to another world when he stepped off the plane cabin. For Libya that was in the midst of a war, it was already a luxury to have a road from the airport which cars could travel through. There was no need to be too critical of the potholes and mud covering the road.

Their goal was the Nigerian Golden Mask. The reason they came to Libya was naturally because the mask had found its way to this place. Zandala, a tribal leader in Benghazi, Libya, had obtained the treasure with the help of the three oil deposits under him. The tribal leader stubbornly believed that the mask was the key to regaining the memory from his past life, so he spared no expense in procuring it.

Sheyan soon found the information provider in a bar decorated with coconut shells on the outer walls. She was a rather plump lady wearing earrings as huge as a bus standing handle. She had dark, shiny skin, and her plump body was almost bursting out of her dress. Only the glittering light in her eyes belied her cleverness and slyness.

“I am Moan.”

The woman had a warm smile on her face. She even stretched out her thick arms to greet them with a hug. Sheyan merely lifted the briefcase he was holding without much emotion.

“We’re in a hurry. Please give us the address.”

The woman took a roll of money from Zi. Her skin color reminded Sheyan of Mogensha. His mood abruptly got low because of that. After the woman counted the money, she actually took out a device to scan the money to verify their authenticity one by one. Finally, she clasped her hands in satisfaction. She stuffed the roll of money into her cleavage, and wanted to leave.

Zi immediately stood up and confronted her in a chilly voice, “What’s the address?”

The woman let out a sudden exclamation, like she had forgotten something. She took out a piece of paper, scribbled a few words on it, and threw it to them. Sheyan grabbed it and took a look at it. He immediately asked with a smile, “What do you mean by this?”

The words written on the paper were “Benghazi, Libya”. That was all. It was like when you ask for a person’s address, and all you got in reply was Cleveland, Ohio. She was obviously playing them.

The fat woman had an abrupt change in expression. “The $13,000 you paid will only get you that much.”

Sheyan stared at her, his grin becoming wider. “You’ll regret these words for years to come.”

The woman suddenly had a very uncomfortable feeling. She slammed her hands on the table and yelled, “Break their legs, then strip them naked and throw them into the jungle!”

Business in the bar was slow; there were only a few people lying face down on the tables, seemingly asleep. When the woman slammed the table, all of them stood up holding AK47s in their hands, their faces expressionless. They deliberately let the outsiders hear the sound of the rifle bolts being pulled, their threatening intentions evident from their actions.

Moan was actually the name of the woman’s husband. He was an arms dealer, an intelligence dealer and a bar owner at the same time. The reason he accepted Sheyan’s request was for the lucrative reward Sheyan promised. The reason he had his wife put on an act was for the sake of his entire family’s lives.

Moan knew the whereabouts of the Nigerian Golden Mask, but he also knew the only fate which awaited him if he sold out the Zandala tribe of Benghazi was to have his entire family left to die in a foul ditch with at least twenty bullet holes in their bodies. However, Moan still coveted the reward…

And that was what Party Ace was encountering. The only reason Moan refrained from murdering them was because these customers came from the United States, so there would be some trouble if he killed them.

Party Ace did not attack them. Reef had even raised his hands in cooperation. However, No. 7 had already slid down like a ghost from atop the back door of the bar. He instantly grabbed the shoulders of two AK-wielding fighters like he was greeting a couple of old friends, and then slammed the two people together.

The AK47s held by the two were smashed into pieces, and their bodies were naturally paralysed. The fighter next to them was obviously well-trained; he leaped to the side, raised his gun and took aim, but No. 7 had already pounced on him. The servant bit, or rather, licked his neck. The man’s finger was clearly already on the trigger, but he simply could not pull it because his body had already been invaded by a poison from the Ndipaya Swamp.

Another of the fighters was already unconscious. Kulutego did not even get into combat; he just threw a coconut shell and the man was knocked out. Kulutego kept chewing on a mouthful of potato chips — his new love.