Chapter 940: An Improvised Test (1)
There wasn’t much information to swap between the two parties.
Zhen Xun Tian had yet to actually visit the Underteo kingdom, but she did make sure to mark the location on a map.
Zhen Liu couldn’t really share much in the [Chaos] application department, due to relying mostly on instinct and having exactly one [Chaos] heart in his repertoire. However, he was able to provide his great grandaunt a way to break free, should she ever end up in a situation where such actions were warranted.
Regardless, now that the duo had paid off their respective debts to each other…they immediately moved on to more… immediate concerns.
“So…is there any particular reason, why you wanted to stress test my kaijin’s ability to do stealth and coordination shit?,” Zhen Liu asked as he settled into his seat.
It was no coincidence or mere act of whimsy that Zhen Xun Tian had decreed that the security of the Blessed Willow Manor were to be on break this evening. Rather, she had done so purposely after learning that the branch clan had finally dropped in for a visit.
In response to her great grandnephew’s query, Zhen Xun Tian simply provided a small, wry smile before giving her answer in full.
“The moment I laid eyes on Undertow’s gate, I had the distinctive feeling that I would need those who could perform…less than savory acts, in order to fully explore such a place.”
“I see…”
“That and I never actually got to see how your kaijin work when they’re not pretending to be puppets.”
“Ah.”
“Now then…mind if I turn on my own eyes?”
“Go ahead.”
Once Zhen Xun Tian had said her piece and settled into her seat, she did a quick snap with her fingers. When she did, several illusionary displays appeared one after the other, providing views of both the kaijin and their soon-to-be victims.
It should be noted that these displays were nowhere near as good as the ones employed by the Library.
“Oh, it appears that the ones who decided to take my obvious bait were the Plague Birds. Let’s see what your Kaijin can do against them.”
“Hopefully we don’t disappoint, you’ll find that we’re…very adept at handling such people.”
…
[Greed, pride and gluttony…ambition? Is ambition a sin?]
‘If it is, that means there’s no such thing as a sinless leader, Blazejudicator. Anyways, you heard the woman, put on a show.’
[Of course!]*6
‘That said…Logos, Pathos, who the fuck are the Plague Birds?’
<=A poisoner sect that peddle poisons and manmade plagues while operating on the fringes of both the Umbral Spider and Roaring Tide continents.=>
=So try to take them out as gently as possible.=
‘Gently…sure…’
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*Bing-Bong*
Note that the following scenes all happen simultaneously, and will share a singular end line.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
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Scene 1: Kitchen Blitz
[Hey guys…why am I sensing a group of people with very obvious hostile intent coming towards the kitchen?]
[Oh, some jackasses are trying to take advantage of Matriarch Inky’s injuries to cause some mischief. Murders and the like, you know.]
[Ah.]
[Want us to stop them?]
[No, no. Rodenia and I have been wanting to release our stress in a…more productive manner anyways.]
[Oh…in that case, try to be sneaky about it and don’t punch them. They’re the vindictive type]
[Will do.]
…
“…and that should be the last of the cocoa powder. You sure you don’t want me to help you clean up?”
“It’s fine, mother. You’ve been working harder than me this evening. The least I can do is clean up after.”
“Okay. I’ll see you outside.”
“See you outside.”
In the wee evening hours, long after the Zhen Clan had finished their feast, the support staff of Blessed Willow Manor still had work to do.
Dishes had to be cleaned, floors had to be sweeped,kitchens needed to be clear of scraps and ingredients had to be secured.
Luckily, such tasks were handled rather quickly due to the well-trained nature of a majority of the staff. That stated, there were a few stragglers left behind, a duo to be more precise.
One was an androgynous looking young chef with garish green and pink pastel hair, while the other was an amazonian woman with notable muscles.
“Hey, can you wipe that counter while I pack up these tools?”
“Sure.”
These stragglers were employees from a candy shop that Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian had hired on a whim to provide the desserts for the evening.
Their creations were quite delicious, but the mess they made was so large that it forced these two to stay behind while the rest packed up to leave.
As the duo of employees continued to clean up after themselves, a pair of shrouded figures proceeded to sneak into the kitchen.
Their initial task was to simply poison the ingredients and go, but these two employees made things difficult.
The two assassins proceeded to make silent gestures toward each other, indicating that one was going to take out the large one, while the other was going to take out the little one.
Then, in a manner that was like perfect clockwork, while the pastel haired chef and the amazonian woman had their backs turned from each other, they struck with aether empowered daggers laced with poison extracted from the petals of a Silent Spectre Lily.
This poison, upon contact, acts as a powerful paralyzing agent and-
Schnick
Ting!
?!
“Huh?”
Unfortunately for them, they did not anticipate their would-be corpses to be…not made of flesh.
The moment the would-be killer attempted to stab Kit, he found that his dagger wasn’t sticking into soft and vulnerable flesh, but sticky and entangling taffy.
As for the one who tried to stab Rodenia, he found that his blade got bent the moment it made contact with her skin.
Stunned by this sudden reversal, they were soon horrified as Kit and Rodenia transformed before their very eyes.
“You two done fucked up,” Kit said as they willed their body to become more taffy-like in order to ensnare the assassin’s limbs. Once it was deep enough, Kit proceeded to rotate their head a full one-eighty degrees in order to stare their assailant in the eyes.
“What the-”
“Oh don’t feel so sad. I’ll hug you too!”
As for Rodenia, she simply turned around and used all four of her massive, chintous arms to lock her target in a great big hug.
“Now tell me if you can move, so I can squeeze harder.”
…
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Scene#2: Death on a Dancefloor.
[What kind of crazy S.O.Bs try to kill someone out in the open like this?]
[The kind that are about to learn that a dance floor is for dancing, and not murder.]
[I…isn’t this technically not a dance floor?]
[Yeah…meaning we can kill people on it!]
[Yeah!]
…
“Wait, wait, wait, are you serious? An entire squad 3rd tier aether primates? How?”
“Well, it all started with a boxing match…”
Not everyone opted to go to their rooms or call it an evening after the eating portion of the feast had ended.
Some members of the branch clan, the main Zhen Clan, and their respective allies opted to stay and socialize for a little bit longer. After all, it was considered a bad idea to sleep on a full stomach.
Now, normally, such crowded areas would be considered a safe haven for most people. Nobody wants to commit a crime while there were so many witnesses.
However, that’s only applicable to some crimes.
Violently assaulting someone while so many people were present was a terrible idea. Picking someone’s pocket in a crowd was much easier, after all, how can anyone confirm who did the deed when there were so many people.
And in that same vein, assassination via poison or disease was much easier to do in crowded settings, since all it would take would be a single…prick.
Emboldened or comforted by this fact, the assassin proceeded to lose his robes and wear an unremarkable suit in its place.
On his hands was a silver ring, nothing remarkable at first, but if one were to look closer, they’d notice the sharpened edges and the smell of sweet poisons.
The plan was simple, all they had to do was walk-in, run the ring across the flesh of one of his targets and allow time to simply-
“Excuse me, tall, dark and unremarkable. Would you mind dancing with me?”
“Huh?”
However, before he could finish his task and poison one of the elders of the Zhen Clan, a sharp featured woman with blonde hair and eyes that seemed to pierce into his soul appeared out of nowhere.
However, he wasn’t deterred by this woman’s odd request, since it was nonsensical.
“Apologies, miss. But there’s no music, how could we-”
Strum!
As if the universe was in the mood to fuck with him, the sound of a syringes instrument, reverberated through the air.
