Returning to the Mysterious Era

Chapter 110 - People's Physiques Cannot Be Generalized

The cloaked men's real name was Dead Blood. More specifically, their species were known as Dead Blood.

Cassius, who had fought against Dead Blood, was quite familiar with their strength and characteristics. They were a kind of anomaly with dual forms, fearless, and possessed a powerful regenerative ability.

Other than that, Cassius had obtained some other information. For instance, Dead Blood was actually a mass of blood that could enter the human body and establish a bizarre symbiotic state, providing the host with immense strength and extraordinary regenerative capabilities.

But it didn't come without a cost. The more the host relied on and used the power, the more Dead Blood took over the host's blood circulatory system, eventually replacing human blood entirely and gaining complete control over the host. The blood could even confuse and control the host's brain.

Some Dead Blood, after gaining full control, would drain the host dry before searching for another host. In that case, the former host would quickly shrivel up like a mummy and die. However, if they found the perfect body, Dead Blood might not want to leave. It may even try to live as a human.

In other words, the cloaked men had attacked the Wind Elephant Sect in the ruthless battle that night for that very purpose. The Covert Martial Artists' strong bodies and abundant vitality were precisely what they craved. A pugilist's body was undoubtedly an excellent vessel which meant that after his Third and Fourth Senior Brothers died, their bodies would have been controlled by Dead Blood.

Rage surged through Cassius. Death was the final fate for Covert Martial Artists, and yet, Dead Blood used its evil and filthy nature to manipulate seekers of the Dao of the Covert Martial Arts. Their corpses wouldn't be able to rest in peace! No one wanted to be treated that way after death, and there was no way that Cassius could accept having his body invaded by a lump of filthy blood, nor his brain manipulated by sinister blood flowers.

After hearing this, Cassius's thoughts immediately went to Duststorm. Ace of Spades's White Bird mentioned that Duststorm had a group of combat personnel similar to the bio-humans in Captain Hongli comics. They seemed almost identical to Dead Blood; was that where Duststorm got their confidence from?

Were their higher-ups a group of humans controlled by Dead Blood, and the organization a dark creature group fronting as an underground force? Or perhaps, Duststorm discovered how useful Dead Blood was and allied themselves with them to create a force of highly powerful regenerative combatants. Were the two currently still working together? Regardless, Cassius thought that they were doomed to fail; Duststorm would eventually get themselves trapped if they continued down that road.

Well, everyone had their own opinions. Cassius may have felt that it was dangerous, but perhaps Duststorm liked taking that risk. Duststorm had originally been a small, obscure underground force and it had only been recently that they shot up to power, seizing vast territories and making a lot of money. Perhaps much of it could be attributed to Dead Blood.

Cassius sat on the Rococo-style sofa, gathering his scattered thoughts together, and decided to buy some mercury the next day. After extracting this particular detail from the Shadow Demon, he found out that mercury had a certain suppressive effect on Shadow Demons and Dead Blood. Unlike how sunlight can turn vampires to ash in horror movies, the most the substance could do was suppress them. The dark creatures loathed mercury as it weakened them, but other than that, it didn't play too critical of a role.

Cassius sat in thought for a while before going down to the entrance of the basement to check. Once he confirmed it was locked, he returned to his bedroom. The light from the third floor's window on the right glowed a pale yellow, like it was the only lighthouse amidst the surrounding shadows.

The next morning, Cassius awoke to the crisp sound of birdsong and gently rubbed his forehead. With the bright sunlight streaming through the window, he realized that it was . He turned to check the clock on the bedside table and saw it was past eight in the morning. Cassius probably wasn't accustomed to the recent change in residence yet, hence the later wake-up time.

Throwing off the covers, he got up and took a cold shower. With a white towel draped around his neck, Cassius examined his muscular body in the mirror. The scratches on his arms and chest had healed, leaving only faint white scars and dots. Since his physique had surpassed human limits, his recovery from minor injuries was naturally much faster than ordinary people.

Once he was dressed and groomed, Cassius went to the living room to make breakfast. Unlike in Jessica Apartments, where the screeching horns of passing vehicles on Flag Street could often be heard, his new house was tranquil. All he heard was the rustling of leaves in the breeze and the chirping of a couple of birds perched in the treetops.

There were some obvious disadvantages though. The place was on the city outskirts and the population was sparse. There weren't dozens of bustling breakfast spots like on Flag Street which meant Cassius had to make his own breakfast. Fortunately, he was a pretty good cook, so he wasn't worried.

In no time, a fragrant piece of buttered toast was on the table. Fried eggs, grilled sausages, and a vegetable salad followed a few minutes later, along with a cup of hot milk. Cassius sat down immediately and started chowing down. The table was near a window, offering a view of the street beyond the low wall. There was a certain charm in eating while gazing out of a window.

Five minutes later, the plates were clean. As usual, Cassius took out a black bag from beside the sofa and placed four antiques on the coffee table, one by one. He gently stroked them, but no lingering attachment energy surged out. As expected, he couldn't help sighing. The four antiques could restore lingering attachment, but they were limited to lasting only for four days. This gave Cassius about 0.1 lingering attachment energy each morning.

He glanced at the top right corner.

[Lingering Attachment: 5.4]

Not bad. 0.4 of lingering attachment energy was almost equal to one antique with lingering attachment, which meant that Cassius essentially got one for free. He put the antiques back into the bag and set it aside, then stepped into the basement to begin the morning's interrogation. The Shadow Demons couldn't reveal certain things, but Cassius could still indirectly question them to glean some information. It'd just take some time.

Moreover, the information he extracted could be ambiguous. But it hadn't been easy for him to capture these Shadow Demons so he had to make the most with what he had. He may not have such an opportunity in the future again and he was eager to know about that dark world. Thus, another round of intense interrogation began in the dungeon.

Cassius didn't push the Shadow Demons too far and gave them a break every now and then. During that time, he soaked in medicinal baths and practiced Covert Martial Arts until noon.

As struggling sounds came from the basement, a car horn blared at the courtyard entrance. Cassius left the dungeon and looked out from the first-floor window. A black sedan was parked to the right of the iron gate and a tall, coldly beautiful woman was peering inside the house. It was Violet.

Cassius opened the window and called out, "Hold on a moment." When he caught sight of his hands, which were drenched in blood, he felt he probably shouldn't open the door, so he went back to the washroom to clean off the blood. He cleaned up the blood drops on the floor for good measure.

Click.

The bluish-black iron gate swung open to one side.

Cassius got straight to the point. "Is there something White Bird needs from me?"

"Boss, Lord White Bird requested that I inform you of the small gathering in Baichuan City that the Ace of Spades assassination department is having on 158 Binan Street. It starts around 1:30 p.m. Also, it's best not to let anyone outside of our circle know about this, as the assassins from the Duststorm have been quite uncontrollable lately..." Violet glanced at Cassius. She seemed to detect a faint, but familiar, scent from him. Blood.

"A gathering? Alright, I understand." Cassius nodded slightly. White Bird had essentially organized this assassination department gathering to confirm Cassius's high-level status. In other words, if he was acknowledged at the gathering, he would become the Jack of Diamonds. He absolutely could not miss it.

"I'm off then, Boss," Violet said. After a few times of interacting with him, she could sense Cassius was someone who was rather cold and taciturn. She understood that her boss had a strong sense of independence and disliked having someone hovering around and disturbing him. Violet turned and was about to head for the driver's seat of the sedan.

"Wait, give me a second. I'll change and ride with you." After exchanging looks with Violet, Cassius explained, "My car... uh...I accidentally broke it. I don't think it'll run."

He coughed twice and continued, "By the way, doesn't Ace of Spades have a car repair business? Could you help me get in touch and have my black cloud sedan repaired?"

"The car's broken? Didn't we just deliver it to you the night before? It's barely been two days," Violet said, puzzled. The black cloud sedan was of mid-to-high quality. How serious of a collision could it be to render it inoperable?

"I accidentally flipped it over into a ditch, and broke all the glass. If it can't be fixed, I can just get the same model as a replacement, that would be fine," he said as he led Violet to the courtyard.

On the open ground at the edge of the courtyard, a battered black cloud sedan sat under the sun. Just as Cassius described, three of its four side windows were shattered, with jagged edges protruding out. The black paint also had scratch marks, exposing the silvery-white metal underneath. It looked pretty badly damaged.

"How did it end up like this?" Violet walked over, examining the rearview mirrors and glass. "Hmm? What is this?!" She crouched slightly, her white fingers slowly brushing over the car body where there were five deep and evenly spaced claw marks.

Glancing to the side, she noticed many such claw marks etched into the black paint of the black cloud sedan. Not only had they scratched the paint, but they had also seemingly gouged out the underlying metal. There were faint, but still visible, traces of black blood around the area.

This... this was a car crash?! Who the hell would believe that!

The marks on the car clearly looked like it had been damaged in a battle! It didn't look like it had been struck by firearms, but something like claws from a large animal?!

Violet took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak when Cassius stepped in to explain, "I wasn't used to driving such a high-end car for the first time, so I accidentally flipped it into a ditch on the way back. I tried to pull it back onto the road, but there wasn't a good place on the surface to grip onto. I tried several times but nothing worked. Those claw marks are actually from me."

"You made those? What kind of joke—" Violet suddenly paused. Cassius's words sounded a bit absurd, but were they reasonable? Yes, actually!

If a car flipped into a ditch, a normal person would crawl out and call a towing company. But Cassius definitely wasn't normal. Because what normal person could withstand bullets from a light machine gun? And could a normal person sprint after a car, slam into it so hard that it slid sideways?

Different people had different ways of solving problems. People's physiques couldn't be generalized!

Cassius flipping the car back onto the road by himself, his fingers leaving marks on the steel could also be considered quite normal. After all, that assassination attempt had happened a scant few days ago...

Okay, maybe I just haven't seen enough of the world yet. Violet swallowed back the words she was about to say.

"What do you think? Ace of Spades can probably fix it, right?" Cassius probed.

Violet paused for a moment before saying, "Yes, but I don't have connections there, so you'll need to talk to Lord White Bird. As long as it comes from him, it'll be done." She stood up, wiping the black grime from her fingers.

"Alright." Cassius nodded.

Immediately, he went back to the building and changed into a loose formal outfit. It was a black trench coat, which looked more appropriate. According to what White Bird had told him, the assassination department gathering was unlikely to be peaceful, and he would likely have to deal with a few troublemakers.

The coat was loose enough to allow Cassius to move freely. If he activated the stage two of accelerated blood flow, the coat would explode regardless.

However, Cassius didn't believe there was anyone in Ace of Spades assassination organization who could push him to his limits. After all, the previous top assassin, Jack of Diamonds, had been shot dead by Duststorm which meant they had only just became a pugilist. Maybe not even that. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

If the strongest assassin was like that, the other assassins in the organization likely weren't much stronger. Cassius was going there to support White Bird and secure a high-level position while he was at it. He was quite interested in the Jack of Diamonds position.

Cassius had already figured that the Ace of Spades antique department wouldn't refuse assistance from an expert in the assassination department. After changing clothes upstairs, he went to the basement and knocked out each of the two Shadow Demons with a single punch. Then he quickly left the residence and got into Violet's car, which drove toward the outskirts of the city.