Chapter 344 - 321: An End Befitting the Crime

Chapter 344: Chapter 321: An End Befitting the Crime

Silver Fox was right. Guan Tong had indeed overlooked the existence of the Flying Fire Fleet.

It was a true game-changer, its power previously held in check only by the large number of hostages on the ship.

But Mizusawa Chun had blown up the ship to cover his own escape. The consequence of that action was that the fleet no longer had any reason to hold back.

While Guan Tong and Mizusawa Chun were locked in their confrontation, the fleet had locked onto their position. Now, a barrage of missiles rained down from the sky, unleashing a furious bombardment on the body of the three-headed Great Serpent.

The scales on the serpent’s body could indeed resist bullets, but the destructive power of bullets and missiles were on completely different levels.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi watched with their own eyes as the three-headed Great Serpent that Mizusawa Chun had become was blown to smithereens. Its massive body exploded into clouds of blood and mist that spread across the ocean’s surface.

After the round of bombardment ended, only Mizusawa Chun’s three heads were left floating on the blood-red sea. It seemed he had exhausted all his power just to protect these three heads from being blown to pieces.

But this deathbed struggle was utterly meaningless.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi exchanged a glance and rushed forward.

The expressions on all three of Mizusawa Chun’s heads were listless. Seeing the two approach, he knew his end was near.

But he didn’t give up. Instead, he began to beg for mercy.

"I surrender. Don’t kill me."

"..."

Guan Tong was silent. ’Surrendering at this point seems meaningless,’ he thought.

Shangyuan Zi went a step further, grabbing one of the heads and crushing it with all her might. "This is for Shangyuan Guangmei."

After learning that her biological mother had been sent to a laboratory several months ago, she had abandoned all hope.

She had either died in the experiments or been turned into a member of the Snake Slave Army.

Either way, it meant they would never have a chance to speak again, and Shangyuan Zi would never be able to ask the questions she desperately wanted to.

With one of his heads destroyed by Shangyuan Zi, the expressions on Mizusawa Chun’s remaining two heads grew frantic.

His life and power originated from the seven heads that had grown after he obtained his bloodline ability and enhanced his Psychic Power, for a total of eight including his original one.

Only when all eight heads were destroyed would he be truly killed.

Now only two remained. Mizusawa Chun knew Shangyuan Zi hated him to the core and would never let him go.

He had to find a new...

SHINK!

Guan Tong manipulated a Shadow Blade, piercing the head Mizusawa Chun was just about to speak with.

For an enemy guilty of such monstrous crimes, Guan Tong had no desire to hear another word, nor did he believe there was any reason for him to continue living.

Mizusawa Chun, now with only one head left, was still not ready to give up. He screamed, "I have many secrets to confess! Don’t kill me! I’ll accept imprisonment by North Star!"

He didn’t want to die.

He still wanted revenge.

As long as he could survive, as long as one head remained, there was still a chance he could escape in the future.

Then he could grow back his other heads, rebuild the Snake Slave Army, and unleash the true power of the Ten Thousand Serpents Realm.

Just then, Silver Fox’s voice came through Guan Tong’s and Shangyuan Zi’s earpieces.

"Guan Tong, Shangyuan, the captain wants you to take him alive—"

Before he could finish the words "take him alive," Mizusawa Chun’s last remaining head was seized by a black figure.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

The crisp sound of chewing followed.

Guan Tong stared, slightly stunned, at Coal Ball as it devoured Mizusawa Chun’s final head.

Shangyuan Zi was also surprised, wondering what species this beast was that looked like a cheetah but could swim.

"...Too late."

Guan Tong’s voice held a hint of regret, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

After a moment of silence in the earpiece, Silver Fox sighed. "Well, never mind then. A helicopter is heading your way. Get ready to return."

The call ended, and Guan Tong took off his earpiece.

Just then, Coal Ball paddled over to his side, chirped a few times, and leaped onto a floating platform made of Shadow, vigorously shaking the water from its fur.

Guan Tong patted its head. "Good job."

’For a scumbag like Mizusawa Chun, a death like this certainly fits his crimes.’

"Is that your... pet?"

Shangyuan Zi sized up Coal Ball.

"What is it?"

"A cat."

"...A cat?"

Shangyuan Zi was bewildered. ’What kind of cat grows that big?’

As if reading her mind, Guan Tong joked, "In this day and age, even multi-headed great serpents are showing up. Is a big cat really so strange?"

"..."

The sound of a helicopter grew closer in the distance. Guan Tong asked, "What are your plans now? I know I asked before, but I thought maybe you’d have a different answer this time."

Last time, Shangyuan Zi had said that after she found out what happened to her parents, she would have no more ties to this world and might end her own life.

But this time...

"I don’t want to die anymore."

Shangyuan Zi gave a new answer.

After everything she had been through, many of her views had changed.

"People like Mizusawa Chun... I want to kill them all. Do you think that makes me an extremist?"

"No."

"...Is your previous invitation still open?"

"Of course." Guan Tong shook her hand. "Welcome to the organization that currently consists of just you and me, and doesn’t even have a name yet."

...

Darkness receded, and the light rose.

「On the morning of January 6th.」

The cleanup was proceeding rapidly.

North Star had dispatched numerous ships overnight to salvage the containers that had fallen into the sea. Some of the luckier Yingqi People were rescued, but most had suffocated to death.

The Mizusawa Clan was completely wiped out that night. Their private soldiers and many key members had been on the cargo ship; when the ship blew up, they perished with it.

The death of their leader, Mizusawa Chun, completely destroyed the clan’s system of control over Sakura Prayer. When the news broke, the country fell into chaos.

However, North Star was prepared for this. They dispatched a large number of personnel to maintain order in the cities of Antu and Banzhen, where they would remain stationed until the dust settled.

Furthermore, after a night of salvage operations, North Star’s ships recovered a vast amount of evidence from the cargo ship, incriminating many individuals involved in the experiments.

Forcing thousands of people into containers and sending them to a cargo ship for experiments was not something the Mizusawa Family could have done alone. It involved personnel of all ranks who were part of the same network.

Under strict pressure from North Star, the Sakura Prayer Public Security Bureau—its ranks now drastically changed—acted swiftly. They arrested and detained all involved individuals regardless of their status, pending further investigation and trial.

For a time, over a third of the personnel in Sakura Prayer’s entire administration building were taken away. It was a spectacular scene.

However, the ordinary Yingqi People watching from the roadsides all applauded. After seeing the evidence released by North Star online, their scalps tingled with fear, and a chilling sense of dread washed over them.

The Apocalypse Rules were terrifying, but compared to being captured for experiments and turned into Snake People monstrosities, dying to the Apocalypse Rules seemed a better fate.

Such a drastic personnel change would have undoubtedly caused a national uproar in peacetime, even drawing attention from around the world.

But in the current era, especially with global attention focused on the Parasites who had declared a new nation in the Black Banner Country region, the major events unfolding in Sakura Prayer seemed minor in comparison.

For Guan Tong and the others, however, it was a monumental event, as they had personally participated from start to finish and brought about this final outcome.

Even Guan Tong, who was usually rather stoic, was filled with a multitude of feelings about it.

For instance, Mizusawa Chun’s power was far greater than he had expected from someone who held great authority. If they had fought one-on-one with both at full strength, winning would have required an immense amount of Psychic Power.

This made him once again inwardly wary of the title "World’s First Ascender" that others had placed upon him. ’It’s one thing for others to flatter me, but if I actually start to believe it and become arrogant, then disaster won’t be far behind.’

Beyond that, however, he also felt a great sense of accomplishment.

He felt that by helping to eliminate the Mizusawa Clan, he had directly or indirectly saved many people from suffering horrific persecution.

Otherwise, if Mizusawa Chun had been allowed to continue his secret experiments, he would have eventually turned the entire country of Sakura Prayer into a "Snake Country," transforming all the Yingqi People into his "Snake Slave Army."

At that point, the neighboring North Star Country would have been under immense pressure. North Star’s high command had undoubtedly foreseen this, which was why they had fully supported Guan Tong’s operation this time, even sending a naval fleet to assist, all to eliminate this future threat.

As for other gains, Guan Tong felt that Shangyuan Zi joining him was very important.

It meant that, nearly two years after the Apocalypse Rules appeared, he had finally established his own organization. Even if it was small, with only two members, it was a breakthrough from zero to one, which was especially significant.

As for how this small organization would develop, how it would recruit more members, or even what it would be called... all that could come later. There was no rush.

But the matter at hand for Guan Tong was celebrating his birthday.

That’s right. That afternoon, Guan Tong couldn’t refuse the little girl Chen Na’s insistent proposal and ended up holding a small birthday party in Pinglu at dusk.

Besides him, the guest of honor, only a few people attended.

From the investigation team, only Chen Na and Silver Fox were there. Shangyuan Zi was in low spirits because of her mother and didn’t want to be a downer, so she didn’t come.

As for Suzuki, she had returned to her work at the Public Security Bureau. She wasn’t that close with Guan Tong and wouldn’t be forward enough to suggest celebrating his birthday. Besides, Guan Tong had some reservations about her, suspecting she might have a spore problem.

When he had first captured her in the forest, she had confessed to using spores extensively to help Profile his identity. Guan Tong had kept this in mind and planned to investigate it further later.

Besides Chen Na and Silver Fox, the only others invited to the birthday party were Chen Na’s mother, Wang Yan; Guan Tong’s friend, Xu Xiaotian; and Shi Jingyi from the academy.

These were all people Guan Tong was relatively close to and could trust. Since he was going to celebrate his birthday and they were all in Pinglu, he simply invited them all over.