Chapter 990: Mysterious Cube Q

"No one was captured alive?"

Huang He looked at the two Rat Party corpses in the ruins, his face extremely grim.

"...We've searched everywhere around here and haven't found any other Rat Party members... They're all here." A Usurper whispered, seemingly sensing Huang He's angry oppressive presence.

"Useless!"

During this encirclement, although Huang He and his team had correctly identified the hideout, the main force of the Rat Party still managed to escape. After spending so much manpower and resources, and losing several Usurpers in the Rat Party's counterattack, they had only killed two people and failed to capture anyone alive. They had failed completely.

Out of the corner of his eye, Huang He saw Lan Yu, wearing a beret and looking somewhat disheveled, walking towards them from not far away. His expression grew even gloomier.

"Lan Yu, how did it go on your end?"

"...That Rat Party leader has some power." Lan Yu shrugged, "I fought him for a long time, then he used alchemy to melt the ground and simply vanished..."

"Heh." Huang He laughed mockingly, his anger boiling. "Always so arrogant, but utterly useless when it matters most..."

Hearing this, Lan Yu glared angrily at Huang He.

"What nonsense are you spouting?! Duran is also a Seventh Order, and he even escaped from Sovereign Wuji. Even if you came, you wouldn't be able to catch him! Old man, do you really think you're so capable? Besides, he didn't get away unscathed. I left a mark on him. As long as he's still in the Wuji Domain, I'll find him eventually!"

After a torrent of curses, Lan Yu still seemed unsatisfied and pointed angrily at Hong Xiu, who stood nearby.

"What's more, our original plan was to force everyone underground so this one could capture them all... And what happened? An Eighth-Order Asura Overlord couldn't even catch a single Rat Party member?! It's laughable!!"

Hong Xiu showed no reaction to Lan Yu's verbal attack. She merely spoke calmly:

"I was held up by someone else."

"Someone from the Rat Party could hold *you* up?? Are you joking?"

"Not the Rat Party." Hong Xiu paused briefly. "It was the Twilight Society, Queen of Diamonds."

Lan Yu froze.

Huang He walked among the ruins and, with a casual wave of his hand, cleared away a large pile of rubble, revealing a dust-covered Queen of Diamonds playing card to the open air.

Further beneath the ruins, a web-like fissure stretched for several kilometers, indicating that Hong Xiu had indeed fought someone there.

"The Twilight Society, Q..."

Huang He didn't doubt Hong Xiu's words much. Firstly, Hong Xiu had been in the Wuji Domain for a long time, and even tracing back to the Aurora Domain era, she had never had any dealings with the Twilight Society. Secondly, Hong Xiu had no reason to fabricate a Queen of Hearts out of thin air. Furthermore, when Huang He first arrived at the scene, he saw that Hong Xiu's arm was injured. Although it healed instantly, there were indeed traces of a battle at the site.

But why would someone from the Twilight Society suddenly appear here?

As Huang He pondered, Chen Ling's figure approached from a distance...

"Oh, look, a deserter," Lan Yu said sarcastically, seeing this.

Huang He saw Chen Ling and suddenly seemed to remember something, frowning slightly. "Mr. Chen, where were you just now?"

"I was just..."

"The Twilight Society's Queen of Diamonds attacked me just now. I sensed something was wrong and immediately made him leave this area," Hong Xiu said on Chen Ling's behalf. "He cannot be put at risk, no matter what."

"The Twilight Society...?" Chen Ling was stunned. He looked at the playing card on the ground, his eyes bloodshot.

"It's actually someone from the Twilight Society? Those beasts have come to the Wuji Domain again?!"

Seeing this, Huang He's tense mind gradually relaxed. He had suspected that the Twilight Society's appearance at this time was likely aimed at Chen Ling... But now he recalled that Chen Ling had personally killed a Twilight Society member, and in Chen Ling's current memory, he was a sworn enemy of the Twilight Society. Even if members of the Twilight Society tried to rescue him, it would be difficult to succeed.

Regardless, the appearance of the Queen of Diamonds had to be reported to Chi Tong.

"Alright," Huang He said in a deep voice. "No one is blameless for the failure of this encirclement... Let's head back to the cathedral first."

Hong Xiu closed the car door. From the driver's seat, Chen Ling started the car, slowly following the other Usurpers' vehicles.

At this moment, Chen Ling showed no trace of the anger and malice he had displayed when the Twilight Society was mentioned earlier. His eyes were calm as a lake as he asked Hong Xiu:

"How did it go?"

"I got the information," Hong Xiu summarized concisely. "The person with my memories is held in the cathedral's basement; yours should be hidden among the Rat Party members."

"Yes, I've already reunited with the person who has my memories."

Hong Xiu looked at Chen Ling with some surprise.

"That quickly?"

"When two people's ways of thinking are extremely similar, they tend to find each other easily," Chen Ling smiled slightly. "My end is sorted. Now the problem is how to rescue your person..."

Hong Xiu pondered for a moment. "If I were to force it, I could directly fight my way through the cathedral, break into the basement, and rescue him... but taking him out of the Wuji Domain would be problematic. At most, I can get you out of Wuji unharmed. If we add two more people, it would be very tricky, especially since your person is just an ordinary individual."

Currently, besides a few Rogue Saints, the Wuji Domain is guarded by four Judgment Agents and Sovereign Aurora. It was already astonishing that Hong Xiu could confidently break out with Chen Ling; bringing two more people, even for an Asura Overlord, would be impossible. As for turning the other four Judgment Agents one by one, that wasn't a good option either. Firstly, Chen Ling didn't understand them as he did Hong Xiu, so convincing them would be extremely difficult, and a misstep could expose both himself and Hong Xiu. Secondly, turning them one by one would require a lot of time, and if it dragged on until the Silver King returned, everything would be over.

"Then let's take a safer approach," Chen Ling thought for a moment. "First, I'll figure out how to retrieve my memories. At the same time, we need to understand the situation beneath the cathedral, ideally making contact with the knights down there without alerting others..."

"However, after the Queen of Diamonds appeared, the Silver Government will likely restrict your movements, preventing any contact with the Twilight Society... It might be very difficult for you to contact the Rat Party again."

Chen Ling seemed unfazed by this. He steered the car, speaking casually:

"Opportunities are made by people."

"How can you create opportunities if you're confined to the cathedral?"

"Who said I'd be making them myself?" Chen Ling smiled faintly, his gaze drifting to the factory district in the morning light through the rearview mirror. "Now, I'm no longer fighting alone."