Chapter 127: Greed Traps Me
“Tell me, how many Heaven Rank experts are stationed in Cicada City now? Are all 11 there?”
Commander Zuo pondered briefly before replying: “Within Cicada City, the number of Heaven Rank should not exceed 7. Without a major crisis, the maximum mobilization number won’t exceed 3.”
The Tiger Demon was delighted upon hearing this, as the situation was much better than expected, and pressed: “What’s the reason? Explain it.”
“Survival in the Underground World is not easy. Each major Insect City has its own industry and positioning. The larger the Insect City, the more profit value it creates. But expenses and consumption also increase accordingly, making maintenance more difficult. Controlling the breeding of Spirit Insects at the base level is just the most basic industry. In addition, armed forces need to be dispatched to expand outward, mark and patrol territories, harvest through encirclement hunts and gathering, and clear threats…”
“Furthermore, strong experts must be arranged to open underground trade routes, carrying resources for trade cooperation with other Insect Cities and commerce with Immortal Sects to purchase cultivation necessities. At the same time, high-end combat forces also accept employment to carry out missions outside. As far as I know, there should be 5 who are not in Cicada City. As for the Heaven Rank remaining in Cicada City, especially the five Supreme Experts who control the ‘Dream Holes,’ they usually enter secluded cultivation periodically, escaping into Nightmares to seek breakthrough opportunities.”
“If no major events occur, among the five Supreme Experts, 4 need to be stationed in Cicada City’s core area, dividing their attention to regulate 13 Dream Holes, maintaining energy interaction with Cicada City’s underground Root Tendril Magic Array. This force is the most powerful, yet it is the trump card for sustaining Cicada City’s operations and cannot be easily mobilized. Therefore, the highest power maintaining Cicada City’s daily order is 3 Heaven Rank.”
After understanding his own situation, the Tiger Demon asked curiously: “Then, if I attack the Incinerator or the Pill Room, is the most dangerous scenario just facing 3 Heaven Rank?”
Commander Zuo completely couldn’t understand where the new Boss got the confidence to fight one against three, contending with three Heaven Rank?
Do you know the gold content of Heaven Rank on their home ground? Especially since behind these three, there are four ‘Supreme Experts’ operating Dream Holes to provide them with destiny blessings.
No! If really three Heaven Rank mobilize together, then there must be one Supreme Expert. In that situation, he held a pessimistic view on whether the new Boss could leave Cicada City alive. At that time, he could only tearfully inherit the Animal Husbandry Village and develop it into his private property.
“The two targets I selected are not core hubs of Cicada City. As long as we don’t attack the secluded cultivation sites of the five Supreme Experts, merely invading one of the two targets won’t trigger the most dangerous situation. It might even only draw out one Heaven Rank. If the master withdraws fast enough, or the process is concealed enough, not even a Heaven Rank will be drawn out.”
Commander Zuo replied sincerely. The crime plan he devised never considered provoking Heaven Rank from start to finish. Everything was planned around Earth Rank hijacking standards. With the danger level reduced by one, maximize profits as much as possible.
The Tiger Demon sensed the employee’s sincerity but felt somewhat belittled. This operation sought stability, but this ‘stability’ was its active choice, not something bestowed by others.
“Are you looking down on me? Do you think I can’t retreat unscathed from Cicada City’s rulers, so you picked these two low-difficulty, low-value targets?”
Although Commander Zuo had never surfed the web on Earth, he felt the egg-pain of facing a xxn’s unreasonable entanglement. It was completely unreasonable, only talking emotions.
So he replied helplessly: “It’s not like that! It’s just that my level is limited, and the detailed defense layouts I can access and obtain, the most suitable are these two places. Cicada City’s core area is all controlled by the Cicada Tribe’s direct lineage; even outsider Heaven Rank can’t access it. Let alone me, just an Earth Rank Commander. What I’ve provided for the master is already the limit of my abilities and the highest value.”
Tiger Demon: “Alright, you pass. Where is your current patrol area? If I make a move, will it implicate you?”
“As long as the master makes a move, shadow traces will inevitably be left. I’ve been captured once before, so I’ll definitely be suspected. Regardless of success or failure, I’ll proactively enter lurking status. If contact is needed, the master just needs to meet in dreams. As for my patrol position, both targets have nothing to do with me; please help yourself.”
As the hijacking planner, Commander Zuo had long left sufficient escape routes for himself and evidence to clear suspicion. But some hard flaws couldn’t be washed away: he had just brought an ‘Eggplant Head Ghost,’ and then suffered retaliation from Nightmare Demonic Creatures, with an inside ghost providing intelligence support… it was already playing with fire.
Tiger Demon: “Which target do you think is more suitable?”
“Naturally, the Incinerator has higher value, is easier to succeed, and convenient to transport… even core equipment can be hijacked to speed up camp construction.”
Tiger Demon nodded: “Very good, I decide to attack the Pill Room!”
Trying to instigate me to assault the Incinerator to rob more precious Bug Gold to help you with Heaven Rank Armor Casting? I insist on robbing Pills to cultivate and train more potential newcomers, aiding their cultivation dreams, and grooming Ghost Companion reserves.
Conversation ended, the Tiger Demon obtained the firsthand ‘Cicada City Today’ patrol defense map, then escaped into shadows again, starting to shuttle around circuitously.
With an inside ghost’s assistance, plus Shadow Dream Hole blessings, everything was effortless, no different from its free entry and exit of the Central Urban Area. Even because the Lower Urban Area was a vast and empty underground world heart without complex tunnel intersections, the infiltration difficulty dropped significantly instead.
Soon, it arrived at the Eastern Urban Area. Without rushing to assault the heavily guarded Pill Room, it bypassed a guard squad instead, climbing along the shadows cast by buildings to the top of a conical high tower, surveying suitable escape route channel exits.
Then, cross-referencing Commander Zuo’s provided patrol timetable, it observed the Pill Room’s security and Magic Array. This was a cubic building with a palace-style gate cave entrance but no windows, looking extremely defensively strict, like a closed stone block with no gaps.
The specific internal layout structure and array arrangement of the building, even Zuo Fan didn’t know, so it could only rely on itself.
Patient observation + waiting, until a patrol squad approached, the Tiger Demon took a deep breath, merged into shadows again, swam quickly closer, then merged into the shadow cast by a guard’s footfall instant, and strived to restrain its aura.
The squad ascended the steps, entered the arched gate corridor interior, then split off four people to hand over with the gate guards on sentry. When everything ended, the Tiger Demon remerged into new shadows and, from inside the Shadow Layer, observed outward the ‘defense Magic Array’ projected mapping traces on the Shadow Layer.
The Pill Room’s defense level far exceeded the Central Urban Area’s civilian warehouses; the Magic Array’s integrated one body setup meant even in its Shadow Layer, faint energy circuit mappings could be seen, like twisted tree branches’ shadows projected on walls.
Little Spicy Stick spoke: “This building’s walls internally incorporate massive Root Tendrils, woven into a ‘Magic Array,’ creating a cage and integrated into Cicada City’s large defense development. With my current data accumulation, it’s completely undecipherable!”
Tiger Demon: “So?”
“Hard charge! We’re not suited for tech flow. The Central Urban Area already proved the King’s theft skills; now, it’s time to show true home invasion robbery techniques!”
The Tiger Demon’s expression turned serious; unexpectedly stuck at the first step upon infiltration, it couldn’t help praising: “This world’s gold content far exceeds Xihong Realm.”
Then it activated the supernatural ability Claw + Universe Within The Belly. After days of immersive passive cultivation, the Boss Template underwent a wave of epic reinforcement; it didn’t even know to what extent it had been strengthened now?
It could only feel its whole body Bone armor even thicker and more solid; even without stacking Spatial Power, it possessed terrifying damage and defense. Especially pure physical domain impacts highlighted immense strength like a flying brick.
This point was probably inherited from the Snake Demon’s attributes. According to Little Spicy Stick, unlike the Underworld-leaning ‘Tiger Demon Spiritual Root’; the Snake Demon sealed in the Immortal Scripture mainly leaned toward ‘gigantification + power.’
By continuously devouring prey to expand its body size, using huge and solid scales for defense, and terrifying power for violent crushing and constriction. The power the Snake Demon’s Physical Body could burst was proportional to the Universe Within The Belly’s intensity.
Now, all this was inherited by the Tiger Demon, allowing the Tiger Demon, which lost Demonic Energy manipulation (Physical Body reinforcement), to pick up a set of Exoskeleton Armor (Claw) to wield power again.
As the Exoskeleton received a new round of optimization, the Universe Within The Belly inside its body also slowly expanded under the Shadow Domain’s nourishment and completed full replication of Sanctuary.Space Attribute data.
Sharp invisible Spatial Fluctuations wrapped the Bone Claw; fully armed Tiger Demon in the Shadow Layer, with Shadow Dream Hole floating behind, at this moment swung a claw, directly from inside the Shadow Dimension tearing a space rift, severing the Pill Room’s defense Magic Array while opening a path between two different ‘shadows.’
Inside the Lower Urban Area, the perfectly integrated Pill Room stood unmoved, with no cracks or flaws on the whole. However, the defense alarm suddenly sounded, warning of enemy intrusion from outside.
In the visually unobservable Shadow World, the Tiger Demon embedded the Shadow Dream Hole in the torn channel, linking the Pill Room’s internal independent Shadow Space with the Dream Hole and external Shadow Layer. And used the Shadow Dream Hole itself to jam the self-healing ‘Magic Array.’
The Tiger Demon didn’t hesitate, turning into a puddle of shadow slime darting into the Pill Room, then splitting out countless shadow tentacles connecting Eggplant Head Ghosts one by one, Shadow Magic Worms one by one, rampaging to search for Pills.
Without any search needed, it confirmed itself surrounded by numerous Pills’ packages. Around it front, back, left, right were huge shelves, with rows of shelves holding bottles of Pills.
On each row of shelf surface, massive Root Tendrils entwined, forming a defense layer as part of the Magic Array, drawing energy from Cicada City via Root Tendrils to maintain and nurture the Pills. Not just storage and protection, but also slowly improving Pill quality in reverse.
And inside this Root Tendril defense layer, on the surfaces of Pill bottles with shell patterns, sheets of Talismans were pasted, suspected to be self-destruct devices.
It casually grabbed an Eggplant Head Ghost, claw-lifted and tossed it at the shelf; those dense Root Tendrils immediately drew energy, bursting True Qi damage, bouncing the Eggplant Head Ghost back.
The Tiger Demon swung a claw; fingertip felt slight resistance, with a bit of force like cutting a tough preservative film, severing the space behind the Root Tendrils’ shadows.
Tiger Claw swept horizontally, fully collecting a whole row of Pill bottles. When it withdrew, the shelf and its surface Root Tendrils looked undamaged, but its original defense array was broken, and faintly triggered self-destruct program?
So it struck again; countless shadow tentacles burst from Tiger Claw gaps, threading back and forth inside the shelf like snakes coiling around bottles of Pills, then all scraped into its own shadow.
Ping-ping-pang-pang sounds rang out; a shelf of Pills was swept into the shadow, then fell into the connected Shadow Dream Hole.
After simple trial, it continuously swung claws, breaking open row after row of shelves, stuffing Ghost Companions one by one into shelf spaces; with a hard squeeze infusing Shadow Pollution, these Ghost Companions sprayed massive vines, sweeping down rows of Pill bottles into the Tiger Demon’s shadow; on the other side, it actively opened the Shadow Dream Hole, linking Nightmare outbreak suction to draw Pills into Shadow Space, then filtered and isolated by barriers.
From time to time, the Tiger Demon also let pass some shattered self-destructed shelves, those energy-containing ‘Magic Array Root Tendrils,’ throwing them as fuel into the Nightmare Dimension to inject fuel for the Shadow Dream Hole.
For a moment, only a skeletal Tiger Demon was seen twisting wildly inside the Pill Room, claw after claw violently tearing the Magic Array, then stuffing Ghost Companions in to sweep goods, subsequently destroying even the shelves and sucking into the shadows underfoot, leaving not a single scrap, with an extremely ugly eating manner, leaving perfect cleanliness wherever it went.
Outside the Pill Room, urgent alarm sounds rang, quickly drawing nearby patrol squads, then an Earth Rank peak Commander arrived at lightspeed and immediately activated the Magic Array’s power, attempting to completely seal the Pill Room and trap the intruder inside.
However, the Shadow Dream Hole’s existence jammed the integrated one body Magic Array, like tossing an alloy rod into a precise complex mechanical structure to jam the rotating Gear, causing the entire system to clog.
The energy originally driving the Magic Array also rapidly poured into the Shadow Dream Hole, causing the Nightmare Dimension to start feedback, but the Tiger Demon didn’t actively absorb this power, instead infusing it into Eggplant Ghosts and Shadow Magic Worms for more efficient destruction, helping it plunder bottle after bottle of Pills.
“Hurry hurry hurry! Outside has reacted; I can sense a more massive power gathering and descending!”
Little Spicy Stick, also having control over the Shadow Dream Hole, clearly sensed outside changes. Commander-level guard power was limited; attempt to seal and close the Pill Room failed; then Cicada City’s true controllers immediately perceived internal changes.
Just like a person feeling stomach cramps immediately rubs the abdomen for relief. That force mobilizing the entire Cicada City came fast, gathering even faster, completely unlike the slowness Commander Zuo described.
Little Spicy Stick suddenly screamed: “Holy crap, we’re done for, too late! This Pill Room’s space is locked down. Boss, we’re trapped here!”
The Tiger Demon was silent, just single-mindedly cutting the Magic Array around shelf peripheries, crazily sweeping goods, ignoring Little Spicy Stick’s screams and warnings.
Seeing the Pill Room’s external space forcibly locked and sealed, Little Spicy Stick disheartened: “Boss, were we too greedy? Not quitting while ahead, that’s why we’re trapped?”
“Only sweeping for a minute and fleeing, wouldn’t that be a wasted trip?” The Tiger Demon wasn’t too worried about its situation, because the Shadow Dream Hole’s connection to the Nightmare Layer was still there, still able to draw Magic Array-infused Nightmare energy exchange.
Merely an escape route cut off, it could return to Happy Home anytime; what was there to panic about?
Little Spicy Stick also understood this, so calmed down: “Do you think robbing the Incinerator would be more worthwhile? Directly hijack Bug Gold and withdraw calmly?”
“No matter which side we rob, escape won’t be in time! Robbery requires the resolve to fight out of encirclement; loot this side empty, then go to the next goods area!”
