City of Sinful Mist (The Black Death) Chapter 136: Release from Prison

Ma Fushao was once again summoned by Orb-Weaver to serve as manual labor. Naturally, he was not alone; Zhao Xingluan was there, along with two members of the Butterfly Organization’s Mantis Division.

As previously mentioned, the Mantis Division is the dedicated combat unit within the Butterfly Organization. Much like spiders, mantises are solitary by nature. However, while the former are typically intelligence-focused players, the latter are pure combatants. As for the Wasps and Ants, those are the divisions that specialize in group warfare.

The two Mantis members were not particularly high-level, only reaching Level 5. Yet, this force was certainly sufficient to surround and overwhelm a Level 6. The only reason they had waited until now to intervene was to ensure Liu An had absolutely no chance of escape. When you kill someone, you kill them thoroughly.

Though, come to think of it, it seemed that even without their intervention, that newcomer might have managed to corner this guy anyway. The spiders certainly recruit high-quality talent.

Orb-Weaver stood in the distance, hands in his pockets, lurking in the shadows. Once again, he did not join the battle personally.

On the battlefield, Ren Yin fired her weapon again, utilizing high-grade ammunition provided by Wu Tong. Liu An, with several gaping maws splitting open across his body, was knocked flat by the force of the explosions. Li Xiaoyue opened her *Dark Fairy Tales* and began to recite the story of Sleeping Beauty. Thorns coiled around Liu An’s body, causing his consciousness to drift into a heavy haze.

A baseball bat and a set of insectoid claws swung in from the left and right. Although Li Xiaojing and Wang Xiaodie were both only Level 3 players, the danger level was manageable given that they were striking a target already under suppression.

The next moment, the baseball bat was caught in a maw, but the insectoid claws successfully severed one of Liu An’s arms. Dark energy surged from the wound.

"Make way, hot water coming through!" With a nonsensical roar, Ma Fushao lunged forward, piercing Liu An with his spear and pinning him to the ground. However, he immediately saw countless willow branches lashing out toward him.

"Damn it, that was a bad move!" Ma Fushao scrambled away, narrowly saved by Li Xiaojing, who blocked the strike with her bat.

The trio retreated rapidly. Liu An’s frantic assault was merely his final death throes. Once Wu Hui’s arrangements were set in motion, Liu An still held onto hopes of a counter-kill, but the arrival of Ma Fushao, Zhao Xingluan, and the two Mantis members cut off all paths of retreat. Liu An’s chance for survival was completely extinguished.

Even as a Level 6, he stood no chance against such a coordinated encirclement. Typically, five players one level lower—even if they were mediocre—would be enough to guarantee victory. Now, there were five Level 5s present, along with numerous Level 3s and 4s.

Liu An clutched his face and burst into wild laughter. "So, it really was a trap? Layer upon layer—a truly exquisite design."

"Come then, kill me! Once I am dead, you will have only one target left to deal with. But before that happens, many of you will die!"

A massive mouth suddenly tore open behind him, swallowing the Level 5 player Wu Hui had brought in for support. Zhao Xingluan’s eyes narrowed as he extended his bandages in a desperate attempt to pull the man out, but he managed to snag only half a severed leg. Though Liu An appeared to be on the verge of collapse, he was by no means easy to finish off.

Wu Hui watched the creature, which looked less and less human by the second, and took a deep breath. Most of Liu An’s primary combat strength had been neutralized by his own hand, yet even so, the remaining team had struggled for so long to finish him. A Level 6 player was truly not to be underestimated.

He no longer needed to intervene personally. He could take a moment to call Ke Wenbei and tell him that the extraction was no longer necessary. Ren Yin had set up a teleportation formation inside the villa for their escape, and Ke Wenbei had already taken control of his cousin to provide a getaway vehicle on the other side. This had been one of his contingency plans, alongside contacting Gao Cheng, luring nearby Tribunal members to the scene, or negotiating with the enemy. But those were no longer needed.

Wu Hui and Orb-Weaver stood at different distances, quietly watching the battlefield, watching their enemy die.

Further away, someone else was watching both of them and the battlefield as well. Smiling Face, a Level 6 member of the Tribunal, stood halfway up the mountain, his mask mirroring the exact same smile as his own face. To him, Liu An was a liability. Even if Wu Hui and Orb-Weaver hadn't dealt with him, he would have found a way to intervene. But now, it seemed unnecessary.

The fugitives and lunatics he had released were already wreaking havoc across the city. All he had to do now was find a place to hide and wait for the game to end. With this much chaos, he doubted anyone would notice him.

"Those two bosses are fighting quite intensely," he mused. "If no one stops them, just how much destruction can a Level 7 player cause? Let me witness it. It will help me make more accurate assessments when I encounter similar situations in the future."

The demons were unleashed.

It wasn't just the fugitives from the prison who had escaped, nor was it just the players causing mischief. It was the demons in the hearts of everyone in the city that had broken free. Human consciousness consists of the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is instinct, the ego is the calculation for self-interest, and the superego is morality and ideals. The id is the cornerstone of life, upon which the ego and superego battle for control.

Now, the people’s superegos—especially the parts concerning morality—were rapidly collapsing. Every street was filled with looting and violence, as if the city had reverted to a time before the Human Alliance government existed.

Liu An finally died.

Under these circumstances, it would have been a travesty if he hadn't. His intelligence was not low, but his vision was too narrow. He spent his days taking pleasure in murder, smug in his own cruelty, yet in reality, he was no different from an ordinary person addicted to base, low-level pleasures. No matter how high his intelligence, a person like that is riddled with flaws.

Liu An was pinned to death by Ma Fushao’s spear. Li Xiaojing and Wang Xiaodie returned to Wu Hui’s side. These individuals could all be considered part of the Butterfly Organization’s faction, though with varying degrees of intimacy. Zhao Xingluan was the exception; he leaned closer to the Tribunal, and once he reached Level 5, he would hold a status similar to Guan Shanting as a squad leader.

Orb-Weaver approached through a shadow node.

"I’ll take the corpse," he said. "As compensation, I will give each of you a shadow node. You can use them for teleportation in critical moments, or for reconnaissance in daily tasks."

The distribution of spoils is theoretically a troublesome affair, but Orb-Weaver was surrounded by comrades and had offered compensation. Wu Hui had nothing to say; suppressing the urge to take out these people and claim the spoils for himself, he reached out and accepted the so-called shadow node.

"Don't worry. It has no surveillance functions, so there’s no need to be overly suspicious. This item can only have one master; once you control it, I cannot," Orb-Weaver added.

Wu Hui met his gaze, said nothing, and stowed the item away. The corpse pinned to the ground by Ma Fushao still twitched occasionally.

"Liu An said before that after killing him, there would be one player left. Do you think he was lying?" Wu Hui asked.

Orb-Weaver replied, "Hard to say. The minds of people like that don't work like ours."