44: Chapter 44 The Deadly Trap of a Professional Assassin

In the VIP room of the viewing hall, the air was so thick it felt like it could condense into droplets. Director Li Jianguo stared fixedly at the light screen; the battle within Yixiantian Canyon had already concluded.

That encirclement army, which he had personally organized and composed of over a dozen geniuses, had now turned into a ground full of data fragments and the pathetic silhouettes of the defeated.

And that Jiang Xun was unhurriedly cleaning up his "spoils of war" like a composed scavenger.

He had won, and he had won so thoroughly and easily. The inescapable net carefully laid out had not only failed to harm the opponent in the slightest but had instead become a stepping stone for the opponent's rise to godhood and a buffet table for gathering evidence.

Shame—an unspeakable shame and panic—clutched Director Li Jianguo's heart like two giant hands.

"Trash! A bunch of trash!"

He could no longer maintain his mask of a refined director. His face contorted as he grabbed a piece of expensive porcelain from the table and smashed it onto the floor, the crisp sound of shattering particularly piercing in the silent room.

He knew that the moment Jiang Xun obtained those chat logs and transfer records, he had already lost. Conventional means could no longer bring this kid down.

Once that evidence was leaked, not only would his position as director be unstable, but the entire Li family would face utter destruction.

"It can't end like this... it absolutely cannot!"

Director Li Jianguo's eyes were bloodshot, and a crazed thought sprouted in his mind. Since he couldn't win within the rules, he would break them! With trembling hands, he opened an encrypted communication channel and dialed a number that had been hidden for years.

"It's me."

His voice was hoarse and dry.

"I want someone to die in the preliminaries."

An electronically processed, emotionless voice came from the other side of the channel.

"Target: Jiang Xun. I want your 'Blood Blade' to take action and perform a physical deletion on him within the game server. Money is no object."

He emphasized the words "physical deletion" heavily, each word dripping with reckless madness.

This was the most malicious method: directly attacking the core essence of the Divine Kingdom. If successful, the target's Divine Kingdom would shatter at best, or they would suffer brain death and completely disappear from this world at worst.

"Target information confirmed."

The electronic voice remained flat.

"Fifty million Faith Points. Pay half as a deposit now. We will disguise ourselves as the data stream of eliminated players to infiltrate. Once the mission is over, settle the remaining balance."

"Fine."

Director Li Jianguo hardly hesitated and immediately transferred the funds.

Ending the communication, he slumped back into his chair, gasping for breath. The last bit of sanity in his eyes was swallowed by madness. He had bet everything, including the blood money he had scraped from the veterans' pensions.

"Jiang Xun, even if I fall, I'll make sure you're buried with me!"

Meanwhile, in the Ancient Jungle battlefield, at a dark marshland.

Jiang Xun stood quietly at the edge of his Divine Kingdom. His expression hadn't changed, but behind his usually gentle glasses was now an icy sea capable of freezing souls.

On his retina, that row of angry, trembling text from Lame Zhang had not yet faded: embezzling war pensions from disabled veterans, using heroes' life-risking money to nurture his own son and buy people's loyalty.

Before Jiang Xun's eyes, the image of Lame Zhang's empty pant leg surfaced again, along with Old Ghost's severed arm. Fury surged in his chest like magma deep within the earth, searing every inch of his nerves.

But he didn't let this fury cloud his mind. The angrier he became, the clearer and calmer his thinking grew.

He encrypted and backed up the evidence obtained from Wang Tao's Divine Kingdom once more. Then, he received another highest-priority communication from Old Ghost.

"Kid, be careful! That old dog Director Li Jianguo has probably gone crazy."

Old Ghost's text carried a hint of urgency.

"My informants in the black market sent word that the 'Blood Blade' squad took a big contract, and the target information highly overlaps with yours. These guys are mad dogs who specialize in dirty work. They are experts at data stream infiltration and direct attacks on the Divine Kingdom's essence. Their methods are sinister."

"Received."

Jiang Xun replied with those single word. He closed the communication and slowly looked toward the distance.

He had originally thought that obtaining evidence of Director Li Jianguo rigging the competition and then sending him away step by step would be the best ending. But now he had changed his mind. Dealing with this kind of animal who had no moral bottom line—simply ruining his reputation was far too lenient.

What he wanted was for Director Li Jianguo himself to personally package and deliver all his incriminating evidence into Jiang Xun's hands.

"Since you want to come..."

Jiang Xun pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cold light.

"...then come."

With a thought, his massive Divine Kingdom began to shrink, turning into a faint projection that descended into the depths of the foul-smelling marsh ahead.

The light of the Divine Kingdom flickered, and its defensive barriers looked fragile and broken, like a damaged Divine Kingdom that had just survived a major battle and exhausted its energy.

It was a perfect bait. Having done this, he issued a series of cold commands to the believers within his Divine Kingdom.

A large number of Dwarven Runic Golems silently sank beneath the mud of the marsh, blending into the environment. The Ghost Wolf Cavalry Regiment turned into ethereal shadows, lurking in the dark shadows of the dead trees surrounding the marsh.

The Undead Musketeer Battalion, meanwhile, constructed a crescent-shaped encirclement position on the outer hills, their dark muzzles pointing toward the center of the marsh. A net prepared for the hunters quietly opened.

Half an hour later.

Three nearly undetectable blurred data streams silently permeated the competition server. They disguised themselves as recently eliminated players, perfectly deceiving the system's routine scans.

The data streams quickly reorganized, turning into three figures shrouded in black robes that descended onto the outskirts of the marsh.

"Codename 'Blood Blade 01', arrived at target area."

The leading figure spoke in the squad channel, his voice cold and professional.

"Number Two, Roger."

"Number Three, Roger."

"Very good. According to intelligence, the target just went through a major battle. His Divine Kingdom's energy consumption is massive; he's at his weakest right now."

Blood Blade 01's gaze swept over the faint projection of the Divine Kingdom in the center of the marsh, a cruel smile hanging on his lips.

"Just a student. Even if he has some skill, he's ultimately a flower in a greenhouse."

"Make it quick. Finish him, take the money, and leave."

The three figures were like specters, moving without a sound as they quickly converged on the center of the marsh.

With every step, they precisely avoided the dangerous areas of the marsh, demonstrating extremely high professional standards.

In their eyes, this mission was nothing more than an easy outing.

Soon, they arrived within a hundred meters of the Divine Kingdom projection. This distance was enough to launch a fatal assault on its essence.

Blood Blade 01 raised his hand, preparing to give the order for the general attack, his face wearing the ease of a nearly completed mission.

"Just a student. Mission accomplished."

He said contemptuously.

Before his voice could fade—

A sudden change occurred!

The originally calm marsh suddenly began to churn violently.

Giant hands forged from runic steel abruptly burst out from the mud beneath their feet, death-gripping their ankles!

Immediately following, hundreds of runic golems roared as they rose from the marsh, covered in rotting sludge. Eerie blue runic light ignited in their eyes as they locked onto these three uninvited guests.

"What?!"

The faces of the three Blood Blade squad members changed drastically.

"It's an ambush!"

They tried to break free, only to find that the strength of those golems was extraordinary. The steel arms on their ankles were like iron pincers, rendering them immobile.

Before they could react further, pairs of crimson eyes lit up in the shadows of the surrounding dead trees.

Hundreds of Ghost Wolf Cavalrymen emerged silently, completely cutting off all their paths of retreat.

What made their skin crawl even more was that on the more distant hills, hundreds of eerie blue points of death-light lit up—those were the black muzzles of the Undead Musketeers.

They were surrounded.

A seamless encirclement with no way to the sky and no path into the earth.

Just as the three fell into a deathly despair, a flat voice with a hint of playfulness rang clearly in their ears and across the entire marsh.

"Welcome."

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."