Chapter 46: The Crimson Supreme

Ye Mingqiu's hand trembled slightly as a vivid scene suddenly flashed through his mind.

The Crimson Butcher, losing control during an experiment, frantically destroying everything in sight, and tearing up a photograph of his daughter. Yet, deep within his monstrous state, a fraction of his paternal will lingered, compelling him to piece the fragments of the photograph back together and scrawl a crooked line of text with a pen.

Could that really have been how it happened?

Probably. His usual handwriting was always neat and orderly; under normal circumstances, he would never have written with such distortion... A truly respectable opponent.

My family... Heh...

A momentary wave of melancholy washed over Ye Mingqiu, but he quickly brushed the emotion aside. After all, having spent so many years wandering alone, he was long accustomed to solitude.

After packing up his spoils, he departed.

...

Early the next morning, inside the café.

Ye Mingqiu stepped into the café, greeted by the crisp, rain-washed outdoor air. He smiled and waved at the manager, calling out, "Good afternoon, Manager. I'm actually here with money today."

"Welcome," the elderly manager said with a smile.

"A cup of macchiato, please."

Ye Mingqiu made his way to a corner of the café, basking in the serene and peaceful atmosphere. Having fought through the entire previous night, he felt a bit drowsy this morning. A cup of coffee would help restore his mental clarity, setting him up nicely for his upcoming operations.

The money he carried had been looted from the Crimson Butcher. Although the man was a Crimson Adept, and Crimson Adepts were essentially crimson monsters hiding among human society, maintaining such a disguise required dealing with everyday people, which naturally meant money was a necessity.

More importantly, the various experiments conducted by the Crimson Butcher required massive funding. Without wealth, he would never have been able to procure so much experimental equipment, let down conducting the research itself.

Furthermore, most of the apparatus the man purchased were unconventional experimental tools, making them impossible to trade through online networks. The vast majority of transactions had to be conducted in hard cash, which explained why Ye Mingqiu had managed to confiscate a substantial amount of currency from the adversary's laboratory.

"Ah~"

Ye Mingqiu stretched luxuriously. Reading through those research documents all night had consumed a significant amount of his energy, but the harvest was correspondingly bountiful.

First of all, Crimson Adepts were the byproduct of humans acquiring crimson power. The root of this crimson power was boiling blood, which originated from source blood, and source blood itself came from the Crimson Supreme.

According to ancient legends, the Crimson Supreme had existed since primordial times, once ruling the world and treating all living beings as mere sustenance.

Then, a hero was born. Wielding a sharp blade, the hero slew the Crimson Supreme, hacking his physical form into over eighteen hundred tiny fragments. The boiling blood scattered across the skies, while the source blood was devoured and divided among various creatures.

In reality, however, the Crimson Supreme had not perished. He regenerated from the minuscule blood clots and integrated his own will into the boiling blood and source blood, compelling every entity that possessed them to prey upon humanity.

This was not a biological necessity for survival, but rather a curse inflicted upon mankind by the Crimson Supreme—a manifestation of his endless hatred for the human hero.

All the source blood in this world had originated from that very era.

The Crimson Supreme, "killed" by the hero, had since concealed himself within human society, maintaining a low profile while silently accumulating strength to regain control over the Crimson Adept faction and reclaim the scattered source blood—along with anyone who possessed it.

According to unofficial histories, to this day, the Crimson Supreme had still not fully healed from the sword wounds inflicted by the hero, which was why he dared not act rashly. Even when forced into battle, he was unable to unleash his peak-era strength.

Who knew if those tales were true or false?

Though Ye Mingqiu had already gathered a vast amount of intelligence, his second-stage quest was still incomplete.

This was not due to a lack of gathered information, but rather because the quest time limit had not yet been reached, allowing the reward pool to continue accumulating. There was no need to rush submission; if he could acquire even more intelligence within the remaining time, he might reap even greater benefits.

[Quest Completion Rate: 256%]
[Quest Status: Ready for Submission and Completion]

Aside from the experimental data, slaying the Crimson Butcher had also yielded a Bronze Treasure Chest. Unfortunately, his luck had been rather poor lately, resulting in a drop of...

A single packet of salt.

At the time, Ye Mingqiu had been so infuriated he almost slammed the salt packet onto the ground. Logically speaking, defeating a tier 3 target as a tier 1 entity should have granted an extra drop-rate bonus to the treasure chest, increasing the probability of acquiring high-tier items. Yet, his luck was simply abysmal, resulting in nothing more than a packet of salt despite the bonus.

He stared at the piles and piles of mundane household goods stored inside his spatial inventory and fell into deep contemplation.

Is my chest-opening luck really this abysmal?

Fortunately, slaying the Crimson Butcher had also yielded a guaranteed drop—the Crimson Butcher's bone blade.

[Bone Battle Blade]
Tier: Tier 1
Quality: Silver
Category: Greatsword
Attack Power: 22-26
Equipment Requirement: Strength 20
Weapon Traits:
① Overbearing: When attacking with this weapon, if the user's Strength exceeds the opponent's, deal an additional 20% piercing damage.
② Devastation: Attacks carry the devastation attribute.
Description: A weapon forged from the residual bones of an unknown creature. Its material is incomparably tough, possessing extraordinary destructive power. Perhaps... it has other uses besides being a weapon.

It was an exceedingly powerful weapon, its offensive performance even surpassing the Blood Spear due to its devastation attribute, which provided substantially higher destructive capacity. The Blood Spear, by contrast, was better suited for enhancing survivability.

Ye Mingqiu suspected that this Bone Battle Blade might actually be fashioned from the bones of the Crimson Supreme during his prime.

The Crimson Butcher had noted in his journal that he seized the Bone Battle Blade during a robbery among criminals, believing its existence was unknown even to the Crimson Supreme. Whether the Crimson Supreme actually knew about it, however, remained uncertain.

Perhaps the Crimson Supreme knew and simply did not care, or perhaps he truly was unaware.

In any case, this weapon was extraordinary. It was best not to pull it out casually within this world, lest the subordinates of the Crimson Supreme discover it and trigger even greater risks.

"Click!"

The crisp sound of a door pushing open echoed through the room. A familiar face entered the café—it was Changfeng. He glanced at Ye Mingqiu sitting in the corner, and his gaze noticeably shifted.

He suspected that Ye Mingqiu might be the green-faced, fanged monster, yet he lacked the courage to confirm it.

"Yo, good morning~"

Ye Mingqiu smiled and waved at him, looking as cheerful as someone seeing an old classmate.

"M-morning."

On the other hand, Changfeng was far from happy. Although he felt that Ye Mingqiu probably wasn't that terrifying monster—especially since the other party claimed to be a mage and had even used magic—some gambles were simply too dangerous to take.

Win the gamble, and you gained nothing; lose the gamble, and you lost your life. Only a fool would stake their life on such a chance!

"How was your outing yesterday?"

"It was all right. Just so-so."

"Oh."

Ye Mingqiu nodded, then asked, "Then why did you come to this shop again? Is it because you like it here? Or... is there some other reason?"

His smile was bright and sunny, yet in Changfeng's eyes, it appeared terrifying, resembling a smiling demon. Despite the warm spring-like exterior, Changfeng felt as though he could be devoured down to his very bones in the next second.

Changfeng took a deep breath and replied with a forced smile, "Because my friend likes coffee, we chose this place for our date. There's no special reason."

"Ah~"

Ye Mingqiu nodded.

So there were other "friends" involved, huh~