98: Chapter 98 Slaughter of the Village

Having resolved the issue of being marked, Ronan rushed toward Jiuwan Village alone.

This was the first place he had set foot in after arriving at Moonless City.

Looking at the familiar village entrance and pigsties, Ronan couldn't help but sigh at how things had changed while the scenery remained the same.

To think that the young man who had guided him would become an accomplice in an attempt to kill him.

Ronan stood dazed at the village entrance, watching faces—some familiar, some strange—pass by, his mind filled with a thousand thoughts.

These ordinary people coming and going possessed no supernatural abilities. Under the full effect of his Concealment, they didn't notice someone was watching them at all.

“Did you hear? The lords in the city are making a fuss again, coming here all day looking for people for no reason—”

“Everyone be careful of those mercenary thugs. Hide your young wives well.”

“Did Parker really become a store manager, or is he just bragging—”

“He really did. He's the one arranging all the village's business now—”

“Any news since the Hunter's wife ran away? I heard she was some noble lady—”

Ronan walked along the village road, listening to the simple neighborhood gossip, and arrived in front of a house.

This was the home of Hunter, the Hunter. He wondered if there was any news about his wife—

Hunter's family was truly miserable. His wife had gone mad and run away, and he was paralyzed, left to be cared for in turns by his elderly mother and another disabled relative.

Ronan couldn't help but want to see how he was doing now.

Thus, he expanded his Spiritual Domain.

Immediately, his entire worldview felt like it had been struck; his eyes widened, and for a moment, he couldn't regain his composure.

He scanned back and forth several times to confirm he wasn't hallucinating.

Under the scan of the Spiritual Domain, he saw that every villager's home had a basement dug out.

And inside these basements, one or two disabled people were generally imprisoned.

Especially in the Hunter's house before him, there were actually three disabled people imprisoned in the basement.

One was even locked up with iron chains, hair disheveled, looking like a wild beast.

Another lay prostrate on the ground, covered in scars, breathing more out than in, clearly not long for this world.

The only one barely able to move was brewing medicine for Hunter, while Hunter's mother watched her closely from the side.

These disabled people had dull eyes and would only obey Hunter's words; they had become a group of machines without any emotion.

Every household was abusing disabled people, using them as servants.

He suddenly remembered a conversation Drill Mouse once had with him:

The villagers here actually have servants serving them, and "the servants' limbs aren't quite whole."

At the time, he thought Drill Mouse had misunderstood the situation at the Hunter's house. It turned out he had misunderstood Drill Mouse.

Where did they find so many disabled people?

Ronan was bewildered.

As the Spiritual Domain spread further, the basements were filled with various torture instruments, the blood on them never drying year-round.

He then realized—no, these people's disabilities were all inflicted upon them!

They weren't brought here because they were disabled; rather, after they arrived, the villagers deliberately crippled them to prevent them from escaping.

Recalling how quickly Parker had established himself in Moonless City's Ruby Dream Hall, there was clearly a major problem here.

The Ruby Dream Hall originally had a black market chain for selling human organs.

It was very likely that the disabled people imprisoned in every household's basement were actually bought through human trafficking organizations.

Because they were bought, they were treated as mere cargo to be locked up;

And thus, their hands and feet could be broken to prevent the cargo from escaping on its own.

Ronan's expression turned grim.

He didn't find Parker's figure, nor did he see any newborns or women who had just given birth in the village.

Combined with the village chief's previous reaction, it was clear that Parker had been deceiving him from the very beginning.

Just as Ronan was feeling extremely disappointed and angry, he saw Parker returning from outside.

By now, Parker had long lost his original greenness and former fawning attitude. As the owner of the newest Sapphire Dream Hall in Moonless City, he had gained an air of a merchant.

Dressed in gold and silver, he walked with a brisk pace.

As soon as Parker returned to the village, the villagers enthusiastically surrounded him, showering him with greetings and praise.

He smiled and waved, responding briefly before returning to his own home.

He was seen taking a disc out of a storage device and fixing it to the ground, then quickly pulling out a special mask to put on.

The mask fit his entire face, with the nose and mouth area extending outward, looking like a bird's beak.

After Parker put on this special mask, he leaned down and performed a series of operations on the disc on the ground.

Before long, wisps of white smoke began to slowly rise from the disc.

The white smoke gradually increased, yet it blended into the darkening twilight, making it hard to detect.

Ronan saw a wisp of white smoke drift toward the poultry outside the house next door. Those chickens and ducks didn't even have a chance to squawk before they melted into a pool of deep green liquid with an eerie luster in the blink of an eye.

What a bizarre toxicity!

Not just the poultry; the movements inside the house next door also ceased the moment the white smoke entered.

Gurgling deep green liquid flowed out from inside the house.

In the place where the white smoke was thickest, Parker remained unharmed.

The mask he wore seemed to effectively prevent his entire body from coming into contact with the white smoke, allowing him to walk freely within it.

In a short while, the entire Jiuwan Village was completely enveloped by the white smoke.

The village, usually brightly lit, was now silent. Deep green liquid was everywhere, and not a single living person remained.

At the village entrance, the masked Parker turned his head and looked at this filthy place where he was born, his heart devoid of joy or sorrow.

“The Master ordered the removal of all possible hidden dangers. This counts as the final cleanup—”

He muttered to himself, completely unaware that in the distance, a figure had been staring at him the whole time.

Ronan had already hurried out of the village upon witnessing the toxicity of the white smoke.

Hearing Parker's self-muttering now, he realized this was a return to destroy evidence.

“You just killed everyone you've known since childhood like that?” Ronan asked.

Although there might not have been a single good person in this village, to be able to kill so dispassionately was something Ronan knew he couldn't do.

“Who?!”

Parker looked toward the sound and saw a familiar face.

“So it's Lord White Night. Long time no see.”

He took off his mask and greeted him with a smile, not at all looking like someone who had just murdered an entire village.

“I let them die without a shred of pain; that's already a benefit I've sought for them.”

Parker had a look of composure. “Evil people like them, who have committed crimes such as kidnapping outsiders, slave trading, and abusing extreme torture, should be considered to have deserved their deaths, right?”

Seeing Ronan remain silent, he continued, “Lord White Night, I know you have an extraordinary status, but if you were to kill me for these wicked criminals, wouldn't that be a bit—”

Parker didn't dare say it outright, but his words were entirely meant as moral kidnapping.

He was certain Ronan wouldn't kill him; "deserving what one gets" had always been used to justify many unjust events.

That is to say, although his methods were ignoble, it could be considered as ridding the people of an evil.

Parker thought to himself that next time he must apply to the Master for a powerful bodyguard to protect him, to prevent the kind of problem he was encountering now from happening again.

Who would have thought that while he was still secretly calculating, a scorching Ray pierced straight through his skull.

“How... could...”

His consciousness sank into boundless darkness.

“Ah, as for killing you, it really doesn't have much to do with these people.”

Ronan added airily.