Chapter 322: Ancient Nobles (3)

“Very good.”

Han Su agreed, relieved. He looked as if a weight had been lifted from his mind. Only then did he suddenly ask, “How do you all feel about our major defeat in Qinggang?”

This was a question he should have asked the moment he saw Wei Lan, but Han Su had waited until now to bring it up, as if it were an afterthought.

After encountering such terrifying opponents like Abyssal Studio and the City Slaughter Sacrifice, no one could remain unaffected.

Especially after fighting a brutal battle only to suffer a crushing defeat and then discovering that this terrifying opponent was merely an Executor pushed to the forefront…

Han Su wasn’t sure if some of his companions would feel fear, or even think about backing out.

“Great…”

But unexpectedly, Wei Lan didn’t even have to think about it. She met Han Su’s gaze and said, “That battle was great proof that we have the courage to face this war, wasn’t it?”

“Ah…”

Looking at Wei Lan’s bright smile, Han Su suddenly understood the significance of the Queen’s Organization’s presence in various cities.

Seeing such a resolute smile when his heart was filled with gloom was incredibly reassuring.

That one sentence answered everything. Han Su didn’t press the matter further. Instead, he let out a soft breath and said, “In that case, do me a favor and send a message to Lu Neng. Tell him to come over. Also, I brought a boy out with me from the Ancient Castle. Help me find him. I have a feeling he’ll be an excellent teammate.”

Wei Lan smiled and nodded, her figure vanishing along with the surrounding mirrors.

Only then did Han Su turn to the Little Lamb Girl beside him. His conversation with Wei Lan had been conducted in an encrypted form; Wei Lan was an expert in that field.

But with her right next to him, she could have tried to eavesdrop on their conversation through some method if she had been curious.

Han Su had actually been watching to see if she would, but she showed no suspicious behavior at all. While Han Su was talking to Wei Lan, she had been crouching on the ground, fiddling with the green grass. The moment she saw Han Su turn to look at her, she immediately stood up, looking as if she would follow him wherever he went, without any objection.

This left Han Su unsure of what to say. With a slight lift of his chin, he gestured for her to follow him out of the village.

Without the slightest refusal or hesitation, she walked ahead of him, making sure to stay within his line of sight at all times.

When Han Su walked slowly, she walked slowly. When Han Su walked quickly, her little short legs surprisingly managed to keep up a fast pace. One in front of the other, they soon left the village, filled with the stench of blood, and arrived in the wilderness at the temporary base of the Queen Bee Mercenary Squad—a structure made of three stacked trucks. There, they saw Lalei, staring with wide eyes.

He hadn’t bothered with the Mercenary left outside the village earlier, because he knew Wei Lan would surely help him deal with any troublesome opponents.

He just hadn’t expected Wei Lan to be so thorough as to leave him alive.

‘Probably to make it easier for me to question him for information.’

He strode toward him. The moment he got close, some kind of mirror-like restriction around Lalei silently faded away. The Mercenary leaped to his feet, his face filled with terror, but Han Su immediately drew his gun, pointed it at his forehead, and said, “I’m taking over everything related to the Queen Bee Mercenary Squad, including the funds in the account and this current mission.”

“Any objections?”

“…”

“I… I…”

Lalei was both shocked and terrified. The muscles on his face twitched, his expression torn.

But facing Han Su, he couldn’t vent the anger he felt as a human. Driven by some force, he slowly sank to his knees.

His gaze toward Han Su flickered between unbearable doubt and fear, and a pure, docile submission.

Using the knowledge from the Emperor’s Book, Han Su understood the change Lalei was undergoing and slowly began to feel at ease.

Akbar was dead. The hive had lost its Queen Bee, and Lalei had become a lost and helpless worker bee. Influenced by the contaminated Divine Material in his body, he would enter the “King-making Platform” state to cultivate a young bee from within the colony to become the new Queen Bee. This was his instinct as a worker bee. And Han Su’s current status happened to fit the criteria of a “young bee” who had just joined the group.

Even his recent fight with Akbar had left traces of the Queen Bee’s pheromones on him, which would also influence Lalei.

However, he wasn’t a perfect creature; he still possessed human intelligence and the ability to think. Thus, he also instinctively felt that something about this was wrong.

This was Han Su’s first time doing something like this, so of course, he had to observe. According to the knowledge from the Emperor’s Book, Lalei’s behavior would be influenced by his base logic, making betrayal impossible.

Because pledging loyalty to Han Su, and even cultivating him into the new Queen Bee, was his base desire—an addiction that overrode everything else.

It was also somewhat unconventional. In a bee colony, worker bees aren’t actually loyal to the queen.

They are loyal to the hive.

So, although Lalei could sense Akbar’s death, and the human part of him wanted revenge, the “bee” part of him only wanted to establish a new order.

“I… will obey you!”

Finally, after a few seconds of struggle, Lalei lowered his head deeply.

Han Su’s expression relaxed. He slowly holstered his gun, gaining a new level of Understanding of the Emperor’s Book.

‘This knowledge is so useful.’

“In the name of the Queen Bee Mercenary Squad, send a message to the Independent Investigator in Giant Horn City. Tell them our mission is complete and the target is in our hands.”

After a moment of thought, Han Su gave Lalei a direct order: “However, the intelligence they provided was faulty, which nearly got our entire squad wiped out. Therefore, the price they offered is no longer reasonable. It needs to be raised. Also, contact the Lord of Skinning Manor at the same time. What we have doesn’t have to be sold only to Giant Horn City.”

“If he’s willing to offer better terms, we can consider it!”

“…”

Lalei froze for a moment. He subconsciously wanted to say that this might harm the Queen Bee’s reputation, but he couldn’t bring himself to object.

The natural way Han Su was giving orders was too captivating for him. He liked this feeling of order, as if the hive had a new Queen Bee.

“Yes!”

He agreed obediently and immediately opened a computer, beginning to operate it as Han Su had instructed.

Han Su, meanwhile, glanced silently at the well-behaved Little Lamb Girl, his mind racing. ‘Now that I’m on a new life path, my goal is simple: I need to learn about these nobles and those Circuit Knights as quickly as possible. And what’s the fastest way to understand a group?’

The answer surfaced in his mind almost instinctively: ‘War!’

‘War is the fastest way to understand a society or a group. You can even peer directly into their essence!’

‘So, should I just provoke a fight between the two sides?’

The thought appeared in Han Su’s mind so naturally that it almost seemed self-evident.

Han Su himself was slightly surprised. After some self-analysis, he found the reason: on this life path, his life had been too difficult.

Back in Qinggang, he had lived in a comfortable reality. Although he was affected by the “Flashing,” his overall environment was stable and peaceful, so the hostility in his heart wasn’t that strong.

But this life path was different. Scrabbling his way up from the very bottom, he had come to a deeper understanding of this world, and his actions had naturally grown more ruthless and decisive.

After all, humans are beings anchored by their memories.

He didn’t mind these harsh thoughts that were emerging. After all, he would need that kind of ruthlessness when facing those mysterious nobles.