Swallowed Star: Reboot

Chapter 22: Kill! Jade Marrow!

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The situation had become a bit of a deadlock.

After the initial clash, the two sides pulled back. Randolph forced a smile and said, "Mr. Jiang, this is all a misunderstanding. How about we stop and talk this through?"

"There's nothing to talk about!" Jiang Chengbo snapped coldly. "This is Hanxia territory. You Glory Legion mercenaries have no business being here. Need I spell out why you came? Tried to assassinate my nephew? Then stay here—forever!"

He spun his Overlord Spear and charged at Randolph, clearly ready to fight to the death.

Hidden in the crown of a parasol tree, Jiang Zhe observed the battle raging in the sky.

With his current neural response speed, all he could make out were two blurry figures—like brilliant meteors clashing, separating, and clashing again!

The battle zone already spanned half the district.

"Uncle is holding Randolph down to prevent him from turning on me!"

"If that guy took a shot at me, even with my Black God suit, I wouldn't survive a single hit from someone of his level!"

If Randolph had really targeted him, Jiang Zhe already had an escape plan—just like Luo Feng in that classic novel: burrow into the earth.

Although planetary-level powerhouses could also tunnel underground using Black God suits, the underground environment was clearly more advantageous for a spiritual force user—offering better flexibility, even with a huge power gap.

Jiang Zhe shifted his attention from the sky to two uninvited guests quickly approaching from the northwest.

Two "giant grasshoppers" leapt across rooftops, heading straight for his hiding spot. Their path was too direct—it was clear they had a way to track his position.

"Two War Gods?"

Jiang Zhe licked his dry lips, eyes gleaming with killing intent.

Ten throwing knives silently slid from the leather pouch on his waist and plunged into the ground, tunneling through the soil. He had set a trap where the two War Gods were most likely to land.

"Haha… Karzon, look at that dumb kid, just squatting there like a duck. Doesn't even think to run."

"Not that he could get far from us. The vice commander's already tied down that Councilor—our job just got a lot easier."

The bald Black War God Yanpu laughed, already fantasizing about how to spend the reward money.

"My son's a junior warrior now. With that dose of Jade Marrow, he could absolutely become a War God in the future!"

The mohawk-sporting Karzon congratulated him, but reminded him to focus.

"Stay sharp, Yanpu. Save the celebration for drinks later."

"First let's kill this brat. Snuffing out a genius—what a thrill."

They shared a wicked grin. As mercenaries from the continent of chaos, humanity had long withered in their hearts.

The two leapt down from the rooftop—over 30 meters high.

Jiang Zhe easily predicted their landing spot—right in the middle of the street in front of him. Putting on a show, he leapt out of the tree like he was panicking, dashing in the opposite direction.

"Haha, where do you think you're going? Die!"

Yanpu roared, releasing brute strength approaching 100 tons in an instant, and hurled a sword as wide as two palms with terrifying force.

Grinning maliciously, he seemed certain he'd cleave Jiang Zhe in two.

Hearing the sonic boom behind him, Jiang Zhe smirked. This was his favorite trick: bait the enemy into wasting their weapon.

"You're really not fully evolved, huh? So easy to fool?"

The Black God suit was already hidden beneath his S-grade combat uniform. It clung tightly to his body like a wetsuit, even covering his jawline with a thin layer of black membrane.

10x power boost—activate!

In just a thousandth of a second, Jiang Zhe twisted his waist and swung his spear in a backward arc—Moonlit Glance Over the Shoulder!

The spear slammed into the incoming sword. Two powerful forces collided—

And it was Jiang Zhe who had the upper hand. The massive sword, like a rootless weed, was smacked away and sent crashing into a building, disappearing from view.

"What? He's a War God?!"

"That just now… how is that possible?"

Their initial exchange lasted only a moment, and the two War Gods were still mid-fall. As they crashed into the asphalt, creating two deep craters, the absurd sight left them stunned.

"If you dare come, you'll die here!"

Dozens of meters away, Jiang Zhe grinned. To the War Gods, that smile was chilling—and he gave them no time to react.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ten silver streaks—like lightning—burst from the ground beneath them.

Supersonic speed!

In barely a thousandth of a second, they were about to meet their targets face to face.

But War Gods were War Gods for a reason—with their near-unnatural reflexes and micro-movement skills, they could avoid the most efficient attack lines with just a slight shift.

Still, dodging one or two was possible—but five?

Yanpu, the slightly weaker of the two, tilted his head to dodge one blade, only to have another carve out a chunk of flesh from his neck.

Unarmed, he barely managed to deflect a third knife with his arm, but his combat suit tore open and blood gushed out.

Then came the fourth.

A knife pierced the back of his neck—straight into his brain. It shredded his brain tissue and blew off the top of his skull.

Mouth agape, Yanpu fell to his knees, blood pouring from all seven orifices, eyes lifeless.

Yanpu, junior War God—dead.

Beside him, Karzon faced the same deadly storm.

He barely dodged two knives, parried two more, but the last one slipped through his side and slashed upward.

His right arm flew through the air in a spray of blood. Karzon screamed in agony.

Jiang Zhe didn't hesitate. Using his spiritual power, he drove one final blade straight into Karzon's mouth—his head exploded like a watermelon.

Karzon, mid-tier War God—dead.

Spiritual Apprentice, 6th rank; Actual Combat Power, 7th rank (2x genes); 8x spiritual amplification—slaughtered 8th rank warriors like slicing melons.

So mundane, so ordinary—this is the power of a spiritual force user.

High above, the two councilors were still locked in battle, but they couldn't ignore what was happening below.

Jiang Zhe's sudden reversal, his swift, ruthless takedown of two War Gods—it shook Randolph to his core.

His mind reeled.

What the hell is that thing down there?!

By Jiang family rules, that kid had only been training for a little over a month—and he already had the power to slaughter War Gods?

And he's a spiritual force user, the rarest and strongest kind?

Randolph's heart sank.

Clashing once more with Jiang Chengbo, he used the recoil to blast himself backward and shouted: "Enough! I admit defeat! I'm willing to pay compensation and reveal the mastermind!"

"No need!" Jiang Chengbo roared. "Your death is the best compensation!"

He charged again, spear flashing.

At this point, it wasn't about revenge anymore—Jiang Chengbo's killing intent was boiling.

He was no gentleman; he'd made his name crushing skulls with this Overlord Spear.

This was his first battle since advancing to Councilor level. More than anything, he wanted to kill a fellow Councilor—that was his obsession.

Earlier he'd said Jiang Zhe had a violent nature—but truthfully? The whole Jiang family had issues.

The massive sword and spear clashed again.

"You think you can kill me? Not with your power!" Randolph roared, still confident.

"Not enough? What if you add me?"

Suddenly, a shadow burst from the ground beneath Randolph, filling the battlefield with icy air.

"Ice? You're Jiang Lie?!"

"Damn it! I forgot about you! What are you trying to do?!"

Randolph panicked. He could sense death closing in.

"No Councilor has ever died in an internal conflict—if you kill me, First Speaker Hong will never let you go!"

"Stop now! It's in both our interests!"

As he spoke, he swung his sword at Jiang Lie's ambush. But when the Overlord Spear struck his weapon, Randolph's face changed.

"How? I'm wearing Black God armor! How strong is your force output?!"

Jiang Lie replied coldly: "Take that question with you to hell."

With a twist of his wrist, he used finesse over brute strength to disarm Randolph, then unleashed his strongest spear thrust.

Everything froze. Randolph's body moved like molasses.

The spear pierced straight through his chest.

"I have Black God—"

The thought ended there.

Pain and emptiness bloomed from his chest. Randolph stared in disbelief.

The Eight-Treasure War Dragon Spear went straight through him.

"What… is this… My Black God…"

Jiang Lie pulled the spear out and said quietly, "Everyone who's seen this outcome… is dead. You're no exception."

"Holy shit."

Jiang Zhe couldn't help but curse aloud.

His grandfather and uncle might not understand the ranking of universal metals, but Jiang Zhe did.

Highest-tier F-grade metal could damage Black God armor. Lowest third-tier weapons couldn't even scratch it.

The Ice Emperor, the Third Councilor, had once used a Black God suit to trap the Space Drill. (Urban legend, maybe.)

This alloy spear? It just earned even more respect from Jiang Zhe.

Heart pierced, Randolph gasped a few times before dying. Jiang Lie caught his falling body, flew down to Jiang Zhe, and dropped it with a thud.

He cut open the combat suit and searched the corpse.

"Grandpa, there's a hidden pocket on his right side." Jiang Zhe scanned it with his spiritual sense and pointed it out.

Jiang Lie found it and pulled out a vial—thumb-sized, filled one-third with jade-green viscous fluid.

"What is it?" Jiang Zhe asked, though he had a guess.

"Jade Marrow. This is three doses. The two War Gods you killed must've had some too. That makes five in total. Market value? 150 billion. Real cost? Probably half that."

Five doses?!

Jiang Zhe glanced at the fallen mercs—suddenly, they didn't look so ugly anymore.

This Councilor really was an international friend!

Before Jiang Zhe could scan their bodies, Jiang Chengbo walked over with two more vials.

"This Jade Marrow is a Hanxia specialty. Every dose is traceable. Someone has to explain how five doses got out. Jia Yi owes the Jiang family an explanation!"

"Jia Yi's in a tough spot too," Jiang Lie sighed, then made two calls.

The first was to "close the net"—the recipient seemed to be Jia Yi himself, suggesting this went far beyond the surface. Even tracking the communication watch location wasn't something ordinary powers could do.

The second call confirmed: mission complete. He urged the other side to wire the remaining payment.

Once Jiang Zhe understood the deal, he looked at his grandfather differently.

Then he looked at Randolph's corpse—and pitied him.

That poor guy had been a walking dead man from the start. His head traded for an S-grade alloy weapon production line and five doses of Jade Marrow.

The bounty issuer? The Glory Legion commander himself!

Jiang Zhe and Jiang Chengbo exchanged looks, both realizing they'd been in the dark.

The truth became clear—The Wang family hired the Glory Legion to kill Jiang Zhe. But the Legion's commander leaked the info to Jiang Lie, took Wang's payment, and hired Jiang Lie to kill his own power-hungry vice commander, Randolph.

In the end, both Jiang family and the Glory Legion won big. The only loser? The Wang family.

Jiang Zhe gasped—so many layers!

"After this, the HR Alliance HQ in Europa will be laughing their heads off," Jiang Zhe muttered.

He looked at his grandfather—why was this tied to the HR Alliance again?

Jiang Lie explained: "Recently, the HR Alliance shifted more business to our Jiang family—not just because of you and me, but also to provoke the Wang family. That's what triggered all this."

"They handed us a poison pill wrapped in sugar."

"The Wang family already had one leg broken (politically). Now they treasure their new economic leg. Anyone trying to touch their slice gets bit. You've seen it. The poison hit hard—but we cured it."