EFB Chapter 111 The Arnold Family and the "Peerless Genius"
Chapter 111 The Arnold Family and the "Peerless Genius"
Chapter 112 The Arnold Family and the "Peerless Genius"
Rabble's eyes narrowed dangerously, like a venomous snake assessing its prey in the shadows, and the chill emanating from him almost froze the moisture in the air.
"The Arnold Family —"
He slowly repeated the name, his voice low and smooth, revealing no emotional fluctuation.
"That Arnold who entrenched himself in the South, touting himself as 'free trade' and 'absolute neutrality'?"
The young man who stepped forward seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that Rabul knew their names, and the apology on his face appeared more sincere.
He even inadvertently revealed a hint of superiority unique to the core members of large forces, a sense that was ingrained in their very bones: "Indeed. I am Kyle Arnold, and this is my sister, Sena Arnold."
"She—alas, she grew up under the protection of her family, and is kind-hearted, but sometimes too—idealistic, lacking understanding of how the outside world works. We are truly sorry for disturbing your—uh, official duties. We will leave immediately and dare not bother you any further."
He deliberately chose neutral and somewhat relatable terms like "official business" and "rules."
They were trying to bring the other party's bloody behavior into a framework that was understandable and unquestionable, and were eager to draw a line, showing that they had no intention of getting involved in a deeper vortex.
"Brother! Why are you apologizing to them!"
Sena, however, completely failed to grasp the subtle negotiation and compromise in her brother's words. Instead, she felt that her brother's bowing down to these "cold-blooded butchers" was cowardice and betrayal!
Her voice was shrill with anger: "They killed people! In broad daylight! Shouldn't we stop this evil, arrest and try them? Is the Arnold family afraid of these cowardly thugs who dare not show their true faces?!"
Kyle Arnold's face instantly turned ashen. He yanked Sena's arm hard, his voice laced with suppressed anger and panic, and hissed, "Senna! Shut up! You have no right to speak here!"
He was inwardly groaning; his younger sister, who was excessively pampered by the family, was a complete troublemaker!
She couldn't sense the condensed, tangible, and icy killing intent emanating from the other party, an aura that no ordinary force could cultivate.
The mental pressure he felt from the leading man in black even surpassed that of some of the resident, formal wizards within the family!
The terrifying speed and ruthlessness with which the other side just displayed, deciding life and death in an instant, would probably make slaughtering their team, which was mainly composed of apprentices, no more difficult than crushing an insect.
"Hiding their heads and tails? Thugs?"
Rabble finally spoke again.
He gently weighed the metal box containing the Moon White Fox in his hand; the lid and clasp made a soft but unsettling "click" sound.
The sound was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent woods, causing every one of Hick's men to involuntarily tense their muscles and hold their breath.
He didn't look at the emotionally charged girl, but instead fixed his cold eyes on Kyle Arnold, who was trying to smooth things over.
Today, I've truly experienced firsthand what the Arnold family calls "goodness" and "justice."
His tone was imbued with an extreme, almost soul-chilling sarcasm.
"With a naive and foolish piece of nonsense, you killed the very object you claimed to be saving. Is this what you call—nobility?"
Sena's face flushed crimson instantly, as if she'd been slapped hard: "You're lying! It was you! You did it! You killed him!"
"Oh?"
Rabble finally turned his gaze to her, and his empty eyes made her feel as if she had been splashed with ice water. She subconsciously took half a step back, and all the words stuck in her throat.
"If it weren't for your foolish scream, full of righteous indignation, which pathetically distracted him at this critical moment, revealing a fatal flaw, I might have had to spend even more time. In the end, you helped us deliver the final blow. Should I—thank you for your help?"
This vicious and precise logic, like a poisoned icicle, ruthlessly pierced through the moral barriers she had erected.
Her mouth gaped open, her face quickly turning from flushed to deathly pale, and her body trembled uncontrollably.
She instinctively wanted to retort, but found that the other person's words haunted her like a nightmare, a terrible...
A thought she didn't want to admit was growing within her—perhaps what he said was true?
This disruptive realization plunged her into immense confusion and suffocating pain.
"Your Mightiness!"
Kyle quickly stepped forward, completely shielding his swaying sister with his body. His tone became more respectful than ever before, even carrying a hint of pleading.
"My sister was ignorant and blinded by her unrealistic fantasies, and her words offended you! Please forgive her! We absolutely, absolutely have no intention of being enemies with you or the great being you represent!"
"This is a completely unfortunate misunderstanding! We swear on the honor of the Arnold family and the future reputation of our trade that we will leave immediately and will never reveal a single thing we saw or heard here today to the outside world!"
His only thought now was to get his foolish sister away from this deadly place as quickly as possible, away from this terrible man.
Labour stared at him silently, his gaze seemingly able to pierce through his skull and examine his very soul, calmly assessing the costs and benefits of the killing.
Killing them all is the simplest and most thorough option, and it will ensure that the information is not leaked to the greatest extent possible.
Although the Arnold family is powerful, their core interests are far to the south, making it difficult for them to extend their reach into this region.
With no way to verify the truth, they might not be willing to fight to the death over the disappearance of a few apprentices.
However, it's unnecessary.
Making an irreconcilable blood feud with a large business family out of thin air just to silence them is not a wise move and has a very low cost-effectiveness.
The sensible and yielding attitude shown by the other party's leader offered an alternative solution.
Most importantly, the core objective—the Moon White Fox—has been safely acquired.
Adding unnecessary complications is not the best option.
"roll."
Finally, Rabble uttered a single, cold, emotionless word from his thin lips.
Kyle Arnold felt like he had been granted a pardon. He didn't dare say another word, nodded vigorously, and almost roughly dragged the dazed and collapsing Sena back quickly.
Their family's group immediately surrounded them in a tense manner, turning around as quickly as possible as if avoiding a plague, and disappearing hastily into the dense forest path, as if a moment's delay would result in being swallowed by eternal darkness.
Labour only slowly withdrew his gaze after the group's presence had completely faded away.
He didn't even glance at his trembling subordinates, who were too scared to breathe, and simply turned away indifferently.
"Clean up the scene and remove all traces. Complete within five minutes, then assemble and return."
His voice returned to its usual stillness, as if all the events that had just occurred—the naive girl's ridiculous accusations, the Arnold family's unexpected intervention, and even Ralph's death.
It was just a speck of dust brushing against the black robe; it could be flicked away without leaving a trace.
His men immediately sprang into action, as if whipped by an invisible lash.
Flames erupted, engulfing the corpse; swirling earth smothered the blood; and a special powder was sprinkled to neutralize and dissipate the dissipating magical energy.
Everything proceeded in an orderly manner amidst silence and repression.
Rabble looked down at the cold metal box in his hand.
From inside the box came extremely faint, almost negligible scratching sounds.
What Lord Hick desired has been successfully obtained.
As for that naively laughable young lady from the Arnold family—
Not a single extra impression remained in his mind.
In this cruel, cold, and dog-eat-dog wizarding world, those who indulge in self-delusion and are considered "kind" often die the fastest and most silently.
Today, she was only fortunate to have a relatively lucid older brother, and—
Herabul did not want to cause Lord Heck unnecessary trouble.
He looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through layers of shady trees, looking towards the dark canyon stronghold.
It's time to go back and report.
"Brother! Why didn't you stop them? Why did you let those killers go? They didn't look like good people!"
On a forest path far from that bloody place, Sena finally recovered somewhat from the huge shock. She glared at her brother, who was walking ahead with a serious expression, her tone full of doubt and grievance.
"This is not our sheltered garden, Sena! This is the heart of the Aikar region, fraught with danger!"
Kyle abruptly stopped and turned to look at her overprotected younger sister, feeling a splitting headache.
"Do you know how close we were to death just now? Do you know who those people were? What kind of power they possessed?!"
"So what?!"
Sena stubbornly raised her chin, her eyes gleaming with a more obsessive light, the remnants of shattered idealism.
"As a wizard who has wielded power, it is wrong to kill an ordinary person who has already given up resisting! This is basic morality!"
Kyle's long-winded explanation clearly failed to convince his sister, who had grown up being fed all sorts of beautiful fairy tales and moral fables.
She firmly believed that what she saw was pure evil, and that there was no need to consider the cost in fighting evil.
"I can't be bothered arguing with you anymore! Remember what you promised me before we left: you'll follow my orders during this operation!"
'
Kyle rubbed his temples hard, feeling an unprecedented sense of powerlessness towards his younger sister.
If she hadn't been so willful and insisted on refusing to ride the flying monster arranged by her family under the pretext of "getting closer to nature," and instead insisted on hiking through this damned dense forest, how could they have run into this deadly mess and almost been wiped out?
Seeing her brother's frustrated yet fearful expression, Sena pouted, crossed her arms, and her face was filled with longing for her brother.
Disdain and strong dissatisfaction with "cowardly" behavior.
One day later, in the dark canyon.
Deep within this canyon, named according to the will of its master, lies a hidden stronghold.
"This is... the Moon-White Fox that our mentor has been searching for?"
Hick leaned down slightly, looking at the creature on the experimental table that was trembling with extreme fear and curled up into a small white ball of fluff. A complex look of sighing flashed in his eyes.
The legendary creature that his mentor had searched for years to find had ended up in his hands in this way.
"Is this... the thing that can heal me?"
Ginny also came over, her clear eyes curiously examining the little creature on the table whose fur was as pale as her own, and asked softly.
Hick nodded slowly.
His gaze shifted from the Moon White Fox to Ginny's pale yet unusually calm face, and he couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of admiration for his mentor's discerning eye.
No wonder her mentor chose her as his assistant.
The experiments he conducted himself, the processes and results of which are often difficult for ordinary people to look at directly and may even cause strong physical discomfort.
He had assumed that this girl, who looked as fragile as a porcelain doll, would be afraid and resistant.
However, after he drew a blood sample from her on one occasion, the girl was not afraid at all. Instead, she volunteered to perform what she called her "job"—to be a lab assistant.
Hick initially didn't take it seriously, even with a hint of mockery and a desire to test her, wanting her to witness firsthand what truly dark and cruel experiments were like, hoping to discourage her from trying.
After all, judging from the notes and operating manuals left at this base, the experiments conducted by the mentor did not seem to involve living human subjects.
But Ginny's subsequent behavior surprised him greatly.
While conducting experiments that would give even seasoned executioners nightmares, Ginny not only perfectly executed every instruction he gave!
No matter how bizarre or bloody the instructions are, they can remain completely unfazed.
She would even look at the physiological reactions of the test subjects under various extreme stimuli with a purely academic and inquisitive gaze.
These actions convinced Hick that her claim of being an "assistant" was probably not unfounded.
So, in the past few days, besides regularly providing blood to help Hick save experiment points, Ginny has spent most of her time assisting him in completing various experiments.
Although to outsiders, Hick's experimental methods were quite different from conventional research aimed at rigorous record-keeping and data accumulation.
He often does whatever he pleases, repeating the same experiment a maximum of three times before turning to other, more imaginative directions, and he cares nothing for data recording.
Faced with this almost "destructive" and "playful" experimental style, Ginny initially showed some confusion, but afterwards all she could see was almost blind worship.
Clearly, she had come to regard Hick as some kind of unconventional, extraordinary genius.