“Mister Lone Bamboo, I’ve heard that you are in a rush to find me. What is the matter?” Sleepless Duke asked Lone Bamboo.
“Kahn delivered some special goods to you. I would like to know what they are.” Lone Bamboo told her directly.
Sleepless Duke sighed and said, “I suppose there is no use hiding anything. The goods Kahn gave me were a bunch of living creatures.”
“Why would you do that?” Lone Bamboo asked.
“You should both know that after we eat living creatures, our mental fortitude may develop problems,” Sleepless Duke said tiredly. “Eating them is indeed a very dangerous thing for us to do.”
Then why are you buying them?” Han Sen asked.
“It is simple: if I don’t eat living creatures, then I will never improve. We level up faster that way. Without eating living creatures, our gain of power is slow. I am a Duke, and if I don’t eat living creatures, I will not become a King. This is our goal, is it not? No matter how much treasure I am given, I will never level up. Eating living creatures is the only way to accomplish this.” Sleepless Duke spoke with a mournful voice.
“Are you or one of the creatures responsible for the murders?” Lone Bamboo frowned.
“One of the living ones escaped. I was afraid of Sky Palace finding out, and so I did not report it.” Sleepless Duke gave a wry smile. “I never thought things would come to this. I thought that since this was taking place on Planet Night Ghost, I could find the foe quickly and kill it. But I have failed to find it, and as a result, so many innocents have lost their lives.
I cannot hide this any longer.”
“What is the creature that escaped you?” Han Sen asked Sleepless Duke.
“I do not know.” Sleepless Duke shook her head.
Han Sen’s voice grew hard. “How could you not know? You were the buyer! How can you not know what you were buying?”
Sleepless Duke’s expression was bitter now. “I needed high-level creatures. I couldn’t go for something too big, as I would be found out. There weren’t many that were suitable for purchase, so my requirements weren’t strict. I asked for anything that was a Duke. I checked the receipt, and one of them said it was a crystallizer. It did look like a crystallizer, but how could it be that powerful?”
“Crystallizer?” Han Sen frowned. He did not expect this would have something to do with a crystallizer.
Sleepless Duke went on to say, “A crystallizer cannot escape from its cage and kill so many Night Ghosts without leaving a trail. I think it must have been a race that merely looked like a crystallizer. I tried to confirm this with Kahn, but he told me it was just a Duke crystallizer, and that he did not know anything further.”
Sleepless Duke started to say something more, then hesitated.
“Say it,” Lone Bamboo commanded.
Sleepless Duke hesitated again, but she went on to say, “It is rare to see a crystallizer in the geno universe. I don’t know too much about them. I have searched for information about them after the murders began, but there is little to learn. One strange thing, however, is that crystallizer blood should be red. The crystallizer that was sent here, however, had blue blood.”
“Blue blood?” Han Sen jumped.
Yes, blue blood. It was injured when it was sent here, and it was bleeding. It looked as if it had been badly damaged, and that was why I planned on eating it first. So, I removed the spell that had been put on him, and I locked him in a room. But when I was ready to eat and went there to see him, he was gone. Nothing in the room was damaged or out of place. It was as if he had just vanished.”
“Take us there,” Han Sen said.
The blueblood crystallizer sounded an awful lot like a Blood Legion member. They looked just like crystallizers, so anyone in the geno universe would assume that’s what they were. And furthermore, blue blood was exclusive to members of Blood Legion. Crystallizers and humans were supposed to have red blood.
Sleepless Duke brought Han Sen and Lone Bamboo to the prison cell. Han Sen used his Dongxuan Aura, but he couldn’t catch the trace of anyone other than Sleepless Duke.
You really locked him in here?” Han Sen looked at Sleepless Duke. An injured creature must have left a substance behind, and it would at least be dripping blood.
Yes. He left some blood behind, but I cleaned it up.” Sleepless Duke brought out a box and showed it to Han Sen and Lone Bamboo.
Lone Bamboo, when seeing it, frowned. “That is its blood?”
Han Sen’s eyebrows rose. It was just a blue crystal in a box, and the crystal looked similar to Han Sen’s own crystal blood.
“I feel strange, knowing that its blood turned to crystal. They are crystallizers, but they aren’t supposed to have this ability. It’s what has got me thinking that he isn’t actually a crystallizer,” Sleepless Duke said.
Han Sen picked up the blue crystal from the box. He knew that it was indeed a blueblood crystal. And just like his own blood, it left no molecules behind for him to detect. That was why he could not find a trace.
“It looks like the person Kahn sent was from Blood Legion,” Han Sen guessed to himself.
“Gentlemen, what I have told you is the truth. If you want to punish someone, punish me. But this has nothing to do with my people. Please help them and find the creature responsible. It cannot be allowed to kill more Night Ghosts,” Sleepless Duke begged.
You’re coming with us to talk to Kahn. We have to find out where he got that crystallizer Duke from. If we find out who he is, we will be able to take action,” Han Sen said to Sleepless Duke.
“Okay, I will follow you.” Sleepless Duke really was eager to cooperate.
Han Sen went back to the Taurus base, but when they reached it, the gate had already been smashed open. They ran in, and they found black water and scattered bits of armor all over the place. The armor belonged to the Taurus.
They ran in and soon noticed that not a single Taurus had survived the assault.
Pang! A noise echoed out of a nearby hallway.
“What is that place?” Han Sen asked Sleepless Duke.
“That is their company’s warehouse,” Sleepless Duke said.
The three ventured toward it. After a few turns, they did indeed reach a very large warehouse. Outside it, Kahn was fighting a human-looking man.