Chapter 72: Timely Intervention

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Timely Intervention

He stepped forward and reached for the sword’s hilt. He was about to end the matter permanently.

"Mr. X," Mira’s voice stopped him.

Xavier paused.

Mira looked at Victor, then back at him.

"Could you leave him alive for now?" she asked.

Xavier glanced at her. Mira had already witnessed enough of Mr. X’s ruthlessness to know that once he decided someone deserved to die, he would not hesitate. But she still had questions.

She needed answers about her mother and who was behind the Sinclair family. So she did not want Victor dead yet.

Xavier remained silent for a moment. Then he withdrew his hand from the sword. He did not step away.

His stance was obvious. Ask whatever you need. When you’re finished, I’ll deal with him.

Mira gave him a grateful look.

"Thank you, Mr. X," she said, turning toward Victor.

"Tell me everything you know about my mother."

Victor’s breathing was ragged.

"And tell me who is protecting the Sinclair family," Mira continued.

Her mother’s survival was the only thing occupying her thoughts.

If Victor knew where her mother was, Mira needed every piece of information he had. But the mysterious family standing behind the Sinclairs was equally important. This situation had already gone far beyond a simple family dispute.

Victor looked at her and gave a bitter smile.

"I don’t know much more about your mother than you do," he said.

His eyes shifted toward Xavier. Only now did he truly understand how badly he had miscalculated. He had thought Mira was the prey.

He had never imagined that such a terrifying expert was secretly standing behind her. Victor had not even seen the attack coming.

The difference between him and Mr. X was greater than the difference between himself and Mira. There was no chance of fighting his way out.

And if he refused to cooperate, Victor knew exactly what would happen. Mr. X would kill him. Immediately.

Victor swallowed. He had no intention of dying for the Sinclair family. If there was even a small chance of surviving, he would take it. The only thing that mattered now was proving that he still had value.

"The person protecting the Sinclair family is Collins Lindsay," he said.

Mira’s expression changed.

"Have you heard of the Lindsay family?" Victor continued quickly.

"They’re one of the most powerful families in the area. Collins is the eldest son of the family, and he’s also one of the country’s most outstanding young martial artists." His voice became more urgent.

"If you kill me, my brother will become suspicious immediately. That could create even more trouble for you."

Victor looked directly at Mira.

"Let me live," he said. "I can work as your informant. Or I can use my position inside the Sinclair family to help you locate your mother." He forced a smile.

"I can help you investigate the Sinclair and Lindsay families from the inside. Isn’t that worth keeping me alive?"

Victor understood one simple rule. A person who had no value had no reason to live. So he had to prove his value before Xavier decided otherwise.

Across the room, Xavier remained silent. The name Collins Lindsay meant very little to him.

Before becoming Mr. X, Xavier had lived an ordinary life and had never been connected to the circles occupied by the province’s most powerful families.

But Victor’s reaction told him enough. The Lindsay family was clearly far more powerful than the Sinclair family.

Xavier quietly memorized the name. The Lindsay family. And the Bloodshadow Cult. Both had already crossed into his sphere of concern. He would deal with them when the time came.

Mira, however, understood exactly what Victor was talking about.

She had heard of the Lindsay family long before today. In the area, the Lindsay family was an enormous force.

Their influence extended across business, politics, and the martial world, and even the Extraordinary Division had to consider the family’s position when dealing with matters that involved them.

Collins Lindsay was even more famous. Mira had once paid close attention to the national rankings of young martial artists.

Before everything happened to her, she had dreamed of entering that list herself. She had wanted to become famous through her own ability.

She had wanted her parents to see their daughter standing among the country’s most talented young martial artists.

But before she could achieve any of that, her father died, her mother disappeared, and her Celestial Core was forcibly removed. Her life had been destroyed before she ever had the chance to prove herself.

Fortunately, her mother might still be alive. Her own injuries had also begun to recover. There was finally something worth fighting for.

But now she had discovered that the force standing behind the Sinclair family was the Lindsay family.

Mira’s heart sank. That was not an opponent she could afford to underestimate.

She was still trying to process the implications when a sudden sound cut through the training hall.

Mira’s eyes widened. She turned toward Victor. For a moment, she could not understand what she was seeing. Then her expression froze.

Victor’s head had already fallen from his body. His eyes remained open, filled with disbelief. He had clearly never expected to die so suddenly. The light slowly disappeared from his eyes, and his body went completely still.

Xavier stood nearby, his sword dripping with blood.

He had already made his decision.

Mira stared at Victor’s lifeless body, then slowly turned toward Mr. X.

"Mr. X, you..." Confusion flickered across her face.

She had specifically asked him to leave Victor alive because she still had questions. So why had he suddenly killed him?

Before she could finish, Xavier’s expression changed.

"Someone’s coming," he said.

His heightened senses had already picked up faint footsteps approaching from outside the martial arts hall.

Since breaking into the Spirit Platform rank, his perception had become far sharper than before. Even sounds that an ordinary person would never notice could now reach his ears clearly.

Xavier immediately understood why. They had just killed someone inside the city.

It was not the same situation as when he had dealt with Ethan Carter, when there had been no witnesses besides himself and Mira.

This time, someone was approaching. If the newcomer turned out to be an enemy, that was one problem. If it was an official investigator, that was another.

Either way, leaving Victor’s corpse lying in the middle of the training ground would only create unnecessary complications.

Xavier waved his hand. Victor’s body disappeared into his spatial ring.

As far as Xavier was concerned, he had nothing to fear personally, since whatever crimes Mr. X committed had nothing to do with Xavier Kane. But Mira was different.

She was a student of Arcadia Academy and had only recently begun working with the Extraordinary Division.

Getting caught beside a dead member of her own family could create trouble for her, even if she had acted in self defense. Xavier had no intention of allowing that to happen.

Mira, however, quickly understood what was happening.

"It might be Minister Samuel Bush," she said, looking toward the entrance.

"I contacted him before I came here and told him the Sinclair family might be targeting me. He said he would come as quickly as possible." She gave Mr. X a reassuring look.

"Don’t worry. Minister Samuel is trustworthy."

Xavier nodded. If that was the case, there was no reason to hide the evidence.

He immediately brought Victor’s body back out of his spatial ring and dropped it onto the floor.

Then he stepped aside and waited. Part of him wanted to see exactly what kind of person Samuel Bush was.

A few moments later, hurried footsteps approached from the corridor.

"Mira!" Samuel’s voice echoed through the building.

He entered the training ground and immediately stopped. His gaze swept across the room.

The signs of battle were impossible to miss. Broken sections of the floor. Bloodstains. Scattered debris. And in the center of it all, Victor Sinclair’s headless body.

Samuel’s eyebrows twitched. He had expected trouble but hadn’t expected this.

He already knew Victor Sinclair. The man was a Spirit Platform martial artist and was not someone ordinary Foundation Establishment fighters could easily defeat.

That was precisely why Samuel had rushed here the moment he received Mira’s message. He had considered several possible scenarios on the way.

He had imagined finding Mira injured and pretending to arrive in the middle of a confrontation. He had even considered having to fight the Sinclair family himself.

But he had never imagined arriving to find Victor dead while Mira was standing there completely unharmed.

"Mira, what happened?" Samuel asked, his gaze shifting around the room.

"What exactly happened here?"

As he spoke, his attention finally settled on the unfamiliar young man with a mask on his face standing nearby.

Mr. X.

Samuel’s expression became slightly more serious. He could sense something dangerous about the man. It was not an obvious display of strength, but his instincts were warning him that this young man was not someone he could afford to underestimate.

Spirit Platform? Samuel quietly assessed him, the thought leaving him somewhat stunned. When had someone this young appeared in the region with such strength?

Mira hesitated briefly before deciding there was no reason to hide the truth.