Chapter 159: A General Has a Sword, But Does Not Slash Flies: The Dead End of the Ants

For the very first time, the Black Widow felt fear—a profound and chilling terror.

She felt as though her neck had been suddenly seized and tightly shackled by a mighty, divine force. No matter how desperately she struggled, it was all to no avail.

Heaven and earth stood completely still. They could no longer sense the movement of any living energy; they could only feel the endless, frozen grip of death.

Trapped within the domain of the divine space, they felt as though they had plunged into hell, being devoured by infinite darkness.

"No... Respected sir, things are not what you think. The reason we stole the Ginseng Fruit was simply to conduct research on it, to see whether..."

"To see if it was a fake or the real deal? Heh, no wonder. For a hundred years, the nature of you Yamato people hasn't changed a bit. Reminds me of back in the day... Cough, cough. Never mind, let's not dredge that up."

"You know what? You bunch of ants have wasted quite a bit of my time."

A dragon has a reverse scale that, if touched, brings certain death; a phoenix has a vulnerable neck that, if violated, means inevitable doom.

His time was precious, and Chu Xiaoyu had no spare leisure to waste on them.

Having extracted the information from their minds and learned the whereabouts of the Ginseng Fruit, Chu Xiaoyu saw no further need to waste time on these walking corpses. "You know, there is a saying: generals use swords to slay dragons, but sometimes, when there are simply too one-sidedly many flies and mice, one must purify the air."

Chu Xiaoyu's words were clear enough; they all had to die.

Zhao Donglai, Song Bochao, the Black Widow, and the others were instantly seized with panic.

Their bodies were locked in place, unable to twitch even slightly. Terror gripped every single one of them. They all wanted to live; not a single one of them wanted to die.

"Sir... Sir, oh no, Master, I beg you, spare us! We never really wanted to steal that Ginseng Fruit in the first place. It was all due to the pressure and threats from their Aokiji Society; we truly had no other choice!" Zhao Donglai cried out, begging for mercy.

He really didn't want to die. Life was so wonderful; who would want to die?

Song Bochao joined in, crying and pleading as well, "Ma... Master, we know we were wrong now. I will tell you where the stolen Ginseng Fruit is hidden—it's at Black Widow's residence, No. 156 Dongfeng Road... Master, please spare us..."

"I'm sorry, your repentance comes too late. How about this? I'll let you make a choice for yourselves. Twenty-four hours from now, you can choose your own outcome: either way, your Zhao family, your Song family, and the rest... will be instantly wiped off the map of Beichuan's East Capital after just twenty-four hours."

"Choose one of the two. Think it over carefully."

***

Sacrificing the smaller ego to preserve the greater family—such a trade was exceptionally cost-effective.

Zhao Donglai and Song Bochao felt the world go black before their eyes, completely losing sight of any dawn of hope in life.

Witnessing her two partners being summarily sentenced to death on the spot, the Black Widow felt nothing but overwhelming shock.

She didn't want to die either, so she tried using the Aokiji Society as a bargaining chip: "Master, although I don't know your name yet, please allow me to address you this way. You cannot kill me. If you kill me, you will incur the wrath of our Aokiji Society."

"Our society leader is a formidable figure. She has slaughtered numerous grandmaster-level powerhouses across the globe. Let me put it this way: the Crimson Flame Demonic Blade in her hands has slain no less than ten grandmasters. She is..."

"Oh, is that so? And what is the name of this formidable and tyrannical leader of yours?" Chu Xiaoyu looked at the Black Widow's dying struggle with an amused expression.

"I'm sorry, I cannot directly tell you our leader's real name, but she has a renowned global moniker: the Thousand-Blood Enchantress..."

"Thousand-Blood Enchantress? Hrrm... That's a rather catchy nickname. Thank you for letting me know."

Ah...

Suddenly, the Black Widow felt her body ignite. Her vital energy surged turbulently, and her internal organs ruptured violently. Bound and unable to move, she could vividly feel every single organ in her body burning away.

What a terrifying power!

Hearing the Black Widow's tragic and shrill screams—sounding like an evil ghost crawling out of purgatory only to be cast back into the deepest abyss to suffer eighteen different tortures—everyone wet themselves on the spot.

They had no idea when the domain of the divine space had been lifted. Every single person released collapsed limply onto the ground, still entirely unable to move.

As for those two dead dogs, Zhao Donglai and Song Bochao, only twenty-four hours remained for them. Once this time passed without them making a choice, their two families would undoubtedly be uprooted entirely.

It was a multiple-choice question fit for an elementary school student, yet the truth of the outcome was unimaginably cruel.

The Ginseng Fruit stolen by the mysterious syndicate reappeared at the auction house, instantly setting off a firestorm in the newspapers and public opinion.

Just what kind of family was the Gu family?

The aftershocks of last year's luminous pearl auction incident had barely settled when the stolen Ginseng Fruit reappeared—returned safe and sound, a cold case that even Interpol had failed to crack.

***

Consequently, the clueless onlookers speculated wildly, whispering that a terrifying and mysterious figure must be hidden behind the Gu family.

With such a mysterious figure protecting them, it would be difficult for the Gu family *not* to become the number one family in Beichuan.

Even the former top family, the Su family, had been trampled into the mud by the Gu family. That mysterious force sent a deep, chilling shudder through every single family, large and small, in Beichuan's East Capital.

From then on, whenever anyone crossed paths with a member of the Gu family, they had to nod and bow like a pug.

A tiger's backside could never be touched; those who touched it would surely die.

An auction that shook the entire continent of Divine State was now in full swing...

Some rejoiced while others sorrowed.

The next day, startling news suddenly broke out in the East Capital: Zhao Donglai, head of the Zhao family, and Song Bochao, head of the Song family, had both committed suicide by hanging.

The news shocked the entire city of Beichuan.

What?

Both Zhao Donglai and Song Bochao had kicked the bucket? And they both hanged themselves?

The matter was utterly bizarre.

Where unusual things happen, monsters are bound to lurk!

However, after the police conducted an on-site investigation, no unusual clues were found. Both Zhao Donglai and Song Bochao had indeed died by hanging, ruling out the possibility of homicide.

Later, rumors circulated that the two family heads had chosen to end their lives because their family investments had failed, resulting in catastrophic business losses that they simply could not bear, driving them to suicide.

As for the Black Widow—the esper and member of Yamato's Aokiji Society—she had mysteriously vanished alongside them.

The Black Widow disappeared so thoroughly that it was as if she had never existed in this world at all.