Chapter Eighty-Eight: Interest

Before Xie Bo flung the lighter, a layer of black armor had already formed over his body, faint tongues of fire flickering from it.

Li Xing was much the same. Back when he had been pouring the fuel into the paddy, he had already summoned his own spiritual armor: a full suit of Western medieval plate, silver-white from head to toe, imposing and splendid to behold.

Once he had finished summoning it, he felt extremely satisfied. He turned toward Lin Zhongqing, intending to show off a little, but the instant he saw what she was wearing, he nearly dropped to his knees.

It was outrageously flashy.

Four white wings spread behind her, moving without wind, while the front of her body was encased in close-fitting white-and-gold armor, chased with engraved patterns, dazzling beyond words.

Just standing there, she seemed born with the radiance of the center of the stage. Compared with her, his own iron shell looked like the outfit of a mere errand runner.

So what if she had Gold-rank spiritual power? Was that enough to make such a fuss? She had even carved decorations into her armor—was she not afraid of weakening its defense?

And wings, too. Did she think this was some game?

Li Xing sneered inwardly, lowering his opinion of Lin Zhongqing by several degrees.

A woman so enamored of luxury and vanity might flourish for a time, her life decked in glory like brocade over flowers, but in the end her achievements were bound to be limited. His own iron shell might not look impressive, but it was plain and unadorned, and its defensive power was the best.

Just then, the rice stalks that had seemed perfectly ordinary suddenly straightened one by one. Then countless heavy heads of grain burst apart all at once and shot toward the people at the edge of the paddy like bullets.

Everyone scattered to dodge. Some of the grain-bullets struck their spiritual armor, but to no effect at all. Even those that seemed aimed at their eyes—places that appeared unprotected—were in fact blocked by layers of invisible spiritual substance.

Taking advantage of the moment, Xie Bo threw the lighter and ignited the fuel in the paddy. In an instant, flames roared skyward.

The rice went madder still, frantically launching the last of their bodies at the intruders. Stalks, leaves, roots—everything flew outward in a wild spray.

Had it been a group of ordinary Bronze-rank people, they would never have survived such an assault, for these were not merely physical attacks; they also carried power from the mysterious side.

Soon after, thick mysterious mist began to rise from the flooded field, smothering the flames layer by layer. Before long, the blaze fed by the fuel was already showing signs of dying out, clearly because the oxygen had been cut off.

But such suppression obviously consumed a great deal of power. Fire fed by fuel was not so easily extinguished.

“President Lin, it’s your turn now,” Li Xing said, standing outside the paddy and watching the movement within with grave concentration. After enduring several waves of attacks, he could feel his strength draining fast.

What left him dumbfounded, however, was that Lin Zhongqing had long since flown up into the air and retreated several hundred meters away...

Those wings could actually fly, he thought blankly.

“Are you fools? If you could have lit it from a distance, why stand so close?”

“As if we didn’t want to back off,” Li Xing snapped in fury. “We had to keep a close watch on what was happening inside in case that golden rice plant escaped. It has legs.”

So that was it—on a contract worth thirteen million, he had ended up serving as a shield?

“Don’t worry. I’m higher up, so I can see farther. I’ll keep watch for you. You can all fall back a little. Once the flames die and the paddy loses its power, I’ll make my move.”

Hearing that, the group immediately began retreating.

At that very moment, a black shadow shot out of the paddy and drove straight at Xie Bo, the one who had lit the fire.

Xie Bo halted his backward steps. The black armor covering him instantly swelled outward.

Yet in the next instant, the black shadow pierced through his chest as though nothing were there.

An expression of utter disbelief remained on Xie Bo’s face as blood burst from his chest in a crimson spray. Slowly he collapsed, one hand reaching toward the sky, as though trying to grasp something.

“How is that possible?”

“How can it be this powerful?”

The one speaking was Li Xing. He was shocked out of his wits and quickened his retreat, with not the slightest intention of trying to save his trusted subordinate.

At that moment he felt overwhelming relief that he had designated Xie Bo to light the fire. Had it been some underling instead, the creature’s hatred and full assault would surely have fallen on him. Who would waste power on a mere lackey whose only role was arson?

Still, it was a pity. Xie Bo had been quite useful. But since the man was his own kind, that meant he could never be used forever.

“I told you to light it from farther away, and you just wouldn’t listen. There are dangerous things in this world besides your big boss,” Lin Zhongqing called from afar, laughing with unconcealed delight in their misfortune.

She herself could have killed Xie Bo without lifting a finger, but the existence behind him was someone she still regarded with real caution.

And yet now, without the other side making the slightest mistake, her elder brother from the East had effortlessly brought him down with a casual little trick, while everyone could only suspect the black shadow.

Only then did the people who had retreated into the distance finally see what that black shadow that killed Xie Bo really was.

It turned out to be a golden rice plant scorched black by the flames.

Its head was a cluster of grain, its stalk a body, its leaves arms, its roots forked into legs—a perfect humanoid shape. At that moment, the top of its head was still embedded in Xie Bo’s corpse.

Washed by blood, it had regained its golden hue tinged with red, looking deeply eerie, yet carrying a strange thread of nobility.

“That’s it! Capture it!” Li Xing ordered his men to surround it, but few of them moved.

What a joke. A manager ranked among the top five strongest in the Chamber of Commerce had been killed in a single strike. If they rushed forward, would they not meet exactly the same end?

At that moment, Lin Zhongqing swooped down from the air. A white-and-gold chain appeared out of nowhere, binding the golden rice plant tightly before yanking it free from Xie Bo’s corpse.

The fierce little golden rice plant, so valiant a moment ago, did not even possess the strength to struggle against that white-and-gold chain.

Good. The thirteen million in hiring fees had indeed been worth it. That single chain looked simple, but behind it lay many, many things.

Only then did Li Xing let out a breath. As long as the mission was completed, the death of a Xie Bo meant nothing. Men like him, clawing their way upward, were everywhere. He had merely seized a few opportunities and been ruthless enough to profit from them.

Now that he was dead, all the better. The Chamber of Commerce could wash its past clean and walk a more upright road from here on.

To put it bluntly, as long as the big boss remained, even if all these so-called upper echelons died, it would only mean replacing them with another batch.

“Let me go!” the rice creature suddenly cried, struggling in anger.

“You shameless people—why? Why, when we went to such lengths to hide ourselves away, even veiling our traces with heavy fog, would you still refuse to leave us alone?”

“Is it wrong that we only wanted to live in seclusion and peace, harming no one?”

Li Xing stepped forward, pressed down on its head with one hand, and gave it a pat. “Anything that can live hidden away in this world must be utter trash. But you’re not trash. You’re gold—gold that shines wherever it is placed.”

“Damn you. If I had known this day would come, I should have listened to that one. Then I wouldn’t have had to watch all my descendants burned and slaughtered across the ground!” The golden rice seethed with hatred.

“Oh? That one?” Li Xing’s eyes sharpened. “You can tell me all about him later. Perhaps I can secure you better treatment. Don’t worry—we won’t mistreat you. If you cooperate obediently, one day you’ll have hundreds of millions of descendants.”

The golden rice fell silent.

The courage it had summoned just now had already ebbed away. After seeing all its children and grandchildren burned and butchered, it wanted even less to die. It still had to carry on its race. It still wanted to live longer.

Yet neither did it want to reveal a willing spirit of cooperation at once. That would be a desecration of those descendants who had fought so bravely.

So it chose silence.

Just wait. When I grow stronger, I will avenge you. That one just now was only the interest.

Still, something felt strange. Its blood had surged, its resolve set on mutual destruction, even dying together if it came to that. Yet the man had proved strong only in appearance and empty within, and had died in a single blow.

So the humans outside were not as mighty as the inherited memories had made them seem.

They were merely lives that could be killed with ease.