Chapter 163 Demos <TOC> Chapter 165 Attack from the Sky
Translator: SumTLMan
Li Mu was taken aback; he never expected that the so-called grand commission he had been involved in for so long was actually targeting himself.
He surreptitiously glanced at the two inconspicuous Shen siblings behind him. It was these two who had been pulling strings behind the scenes; it seemed they were eager to obtain the holy relic within Luoyan’s body.
Among so many top-notch experts at the fourth energy level, even if Li Mu remained vigilant, he might not be able to escape unscathed if he were surrounded.
However, since he had found out about it beforehand, there was plenty of room for maneuvering.
Although Li Mu’s mind was filled with countless thoughts, his face remained expressionless.
Demos was exceedingly generous; she directly used her authority to grant all the assassins present access to the Scarmaggio family’s exchange privileges. As a reward for participating in the mission, they could each exchange one item directly, with more rewards after the mission’s success.
Attendants distributed tablets to every assassin present, who could use them to browse all the items available for trade from the Scarmaggio family.
Ordinarily, this privilege was only available to major gangs among the Twelve Seats of Raginbeard. Some assassins even encountered a tablet computer for the first time, not knowing how to operate it.
Demos had utilized marauders before; she knew that without offering significant incentives, these proud assassins wouldn’t put forth their full effort on her behalf.
The Scarmaggio family had a proverb:
“To command a dog, first feed it well.”
Marauders wouldn’t believe in promises. They were famished beasts, unable to wait for long and unwilling to trust others’ words. If a leader of a marauder faction always made promises and talked about the future but couldn’t satisfy his subordinates’ desires, his fate would be to have his head severed by them one night.
To truly motivate them, their demands should be met promptly.
The Scarmaggio family could provide far more than the Silver Python could, whether it was the latest weapons, master-crafted chips, precious psychic metals, or even various slaves for sale.
Numerous energy seals and energy techniques were also available in abundance.
Li Mu quickly scanned the offerings and focused all his attention on the energy technique. He discovered that most of the energy techniques listed for exchange were far more exquisite than those the Silver Python offered for sale, at least on the level of White Rhino energy technique and White Elephant energy technique.
Among them, one energy technique was particularly outstanding:
《The Luo-Style Genesis Energy Technique》
This is a energy technique developed jointly by the esteemed professors of medicine and martial arts masters from the High Frankish Empire. Its primary purpose is to stimulate the body’s stem cells with psychic energy, enabling rapid division and differentiation after physical injury, viral infection, or exposure to high levels of radiation. This process expels apoptotic cells and heals wounds.
Moreover, it can enhance the combat capabilities of the practitioner by catalyzing stem cell differentiation, amending innate bodily deficiencies, and transforming the body to become more suitable for battle.
If the psychic energy is powerful enough, it can even regenerate severed limbs within seconds and catalyze the regrowth of missing brain tissue through stem cell stimulation.
The only drawback is that the regenerative process consumes vast amounts of psychic energy and various nutrients, requiring prompt replenishment after combat.
Perhaps due to the high psychic energy requirements and the lack of direct improvement in combat capabilities, the Scarmaggio family decided to trade this energy technique.
Having cultivated the Seven Fungi Life Manipulation energy technique, the Scarmaggio family doesn’t need this technique to heal their wounds.
For an ordinary psychic, the energy may be exhausted just to heal a simple knife wound. However, Li Mu, who possesses extraordinary talent and has replenished his source essence through the Book of Heroes and the Soul Spring, has no such concerns.
Once everyone had chosen their desired items, the attendants collected all the tablets.
“I’ll give you half a day to rest, resupply your weapons and equipment, and then we’ll set off tonight,” Demos said.
Raginbeard City is not devoid of spies from the Xingdu Federation and Eastern Xia. After all, they are targeting a Xingdu Federation security officer, and any delay might risk exposure.
After dispersing, Li Mu warmly embraced Simpson’s shoulder, feigning excitement.
“So it’s a mission from the Scarmaggio family. We’ve really hit the jackpot this time.”
Simpson was somewhat smug. He had been a hitman broker for nearly ten years, always struggling in the lower ranks and recruiting marauders whose minds were filled with money and drug addiction.
Viper was his first genuine hitman recruit. It was because of Viper that he hadn’t been expelled by the Silver Python.
With Simpson’s savings, he couldn’t afford to retire in Raginbeard City.
The two went downstairs to have a few more drinks.
In the Silver Python’s trading hall, all hitmen could enjoy free drinks. Li Mu grabbed two more bottles of alcohol, and the two drank heartily.
Unobtrusively, Li Mu inquired about some information regarding the Scarmaggio family from Simpson.
Due to the lack of any for of internet, the wasteland was largely isolated, with most information circulating only within a region. Ordinary farmers and scavengers might only know about the news from the settlements nearby.
Although he was somewhat well-informed, his knowledge was limited; he only knew that an extremely mysterious family ruled over Raginbeard. It was not until today that he became aware of the existence of the Scarmaggio family.
Simpson’s knowledge was also very limited; he only knew that the Scarmaggio family governed Raginbeard through a council composed of twelve gangs. It was rumored to have been established by a group of high-ranking officers who had interfered with the Western Army of the United Coalition Forces back then.
Before the Great Catastrophe, Xindu Federation was the second most populous country and had always been a weak link in human civilization. If it were to become a completely fallen area for the Olden Day Rulers to cultivate the descenders and their believers, the complete annihilation of humanity would be imminent.
Using the Xindu Federation as a base for attack and a springboard, the Olden Day Rulers would be able to convert humans into the descenders en masse, create powerful psychic weapons, and ultimately destroy the entire human civilization.
Thus, at the time, the major military powers of the world dispatched Intervention forces, forming the United Coalition Forces to resist the encroachment of the Olden Day Rulers and the descenders.
The Eastern Army was composed of the Great Xia, while the Western Army was formed by multiple Western countries.
During the battle against the descenders, the Western Army was heavily damaged and directly disbanded. Some high-ranking officers and powerful awakened individuals fell and became marauders, developing the city of Raginbeard in the Avonigada Swamp.
The remaining scattered remnants of the Western Army formed various settlements of different sizes to the west of Raginbeard.
The Scarmaggio family often organized the marauders into expeditionary forces to invade and attack these settlements, constantly searching for something.
Those who participated in the expeditions were deeply wary and kept their experiences a closely guarded secret.
Rumors had it that the Scarmaggio family was collecting pre-catastrophe technology, while others said that their secret arts were incomplete and they sought the missing parts in those settlements. Some rumors even mentioned a powerful sun-level holy relic.
Li Mu took another sip of the sugarcane wine, not expecting such a connection between Raginbeard and Eastern Xia.
“Simpson, prepare 50 kilograms of high-explosive dynamite for me. It might come in handy for this mission.”