Chapter 11.2 – From the End to the Beginning
Su, who was sitting upright on the couch, nodded.
He sat in Fazir's favorite position. Each day before sleeping, Fazir always enjoyed sitting here and drinking a bit while reading.
Fazir brought out a small bottle of wine and two wine glasses from the outer room. After filling it up, he placed it in front of Su and then sat down on the opposite side of him. "1980s brandy. This is truly good liquor."
Su simply took a whiff of the alcohol and did not actually drink any. He stared at Fazir and asked in a slow and unhurried voice, "Your status within the company is rather high?"
Even though Su's eye was extremely pretty, Fazir still preferred not to be stared at by it. Under Su's line of sight, not only did the bathrobe not serve the slightest bit of defensive use, Fazir even felt as if his already sagging muscles were being peeled back layer by layer.
Under such a close distance, Fazir clearly understood that there was not the slightest hint of forgiveness or mercifulness in Su's cold gaze. Several dozens of years of experience told Fazir that it was best not to lie in this situation.
"I am the Roxland Company's executive board member." Fazir gave a straightforward reply. However, he used a small trick. He was banking on the fact that Su was like most of the new era youngsters, someone that didn't understand the olden era's company infrastructure and way of assigning status. Roxland Company was an old style company, with their operations and framework not much different from that of the olden era.
"Mm, a real executive." Su's reply left Fazir completely startled. No matter how you thought about it, this wasn't knowledge that a hunter or mercenary should possess.
"Why did you all pursue me?" Su's next question directly struck the core.
Fazir hesitated for a moment, but he immediately saw an ice cold radiance flash within Su's eyes. He sighed and stood up. He fetched several pictures from the old-fashioned briefcase next to his bed and placed them in front of Su. "It is rumored that this thing was obtained from your body. I've heard that you are an outstanding hunter, so you should understand the value of a thing like this."
Su carefully reviewed these photographs. Fazir began to doubt whether or not he was engraving these photographs directly into his mind.
"Where was the specimen obtained from? Be specific." Su placed those photographs into his own pocket without any intention of returning them to Fazir.
"The first time we discovered this sample was when an agent of ours in Asmo…" As soon as Fazir began to speak nonsense, Su suddenly leaned forward. His right hand grabbed Fazir's mouth, and his left hand pressed Fazir's right hand against the coffee table. Afterwards, he used the glass that was full of wine and slammed it down on Fazir's middle finger. Su's long and slender left hand erupted with an unimaginable amount of force. With a kacha sound, Fazir's middle finger was completely squashed!
The unimaginable pain made Fazir cry out involuntarily, but it was stifled by Su. Su's hand seemed to even firmly close Fazir's nose, not even letting the slightest snort sound. Fazir's face immediately went from red to purple, and then he lost consciousness.
Su didn't move.
A few seconds later, Fazir woke up again from immense pain. His right hand was still nailed to the table without budging in the slightest. He passed out again.
Fainting and then waking up; this process was repeated several times before Fazir got used to the pain. His head was full of cold sweat and he finally managed to endure it and not shout. This was an old man close to sixty years in age, moreover without any ability, so being able to adapt to this inhuman torture in just two minutes was something Su still found admirable. Su loosened his right hand and poured another cup of alcohol for Fazir and even brought the wine glass to his lips. Fazir trembled as he drank it all, and the alcohol was able to ease a bit of his suffering. However, Su's left hand didn't move in the slightest.
"Don't tell me any lies," Su said calmly. "Tell me now. Where did this specimen come from?"
Fazir didn't know how much Su knew, but his many years of experience told him that it was best not to tell too big of a lie. As a result, he explained everything from beginning to end, but he obviously left out quite a few details in between.
What left him frightened was that Su nodded and said, "You didn't tell me everything, but what you said can't be considered lies. The specimen came from my pistol, right?"
"Correct." Cold sweat continuously flowed down Fazir's forehead. Su's left hand was pressing down on his right hand like a steel clamp.
"Apart from Li Gaolei, where did the other two individuals who were pursuing me come from?" Su continued to remain calm.
Fazir resisted the pain with difficulty and explained Laiknar and O'Brien's backgrounds. Then, he spoke about what Roxland Company exchanged for. When he heard about the fifth level ability formula, he calmly said, "Bring it out."
"That's impossible!" Fazir gasped for breath as he spoke. "That isn't a single medicine, but a complete formula. With the formula, Roxland Company can make the medicine, and from there, it will be a fifth level ability that truly belongs to the company! The formula is at central headquarters, and that isn't something that I will casually carry on me. Taking out the formula requires the board of directors' agreement. Otherwise, not even the board's chairperson can take it out!"
"Central headquarters' address."
Fazir widened his eyes. "You're crazy!"
"Central headquarters' address."
Seeing Su's calm gaze, Fazir could only concede. He gave out the company central headquarters' address.
"Right now, tell me everything you know regarding the Black Dragonriders."
Fazir already knew Su's simple and direct style, and unless he completed answered the questions, Su definitely wouldn't allow him to treat his injured finger. The twitching pain made it so that he could pass out at any moment. He could only try to reply as concisely and complete as possible.
The Black Dragonriders were a mysterious organization. How great their numbers were, and where their headquarters was located were things that no one knew. At the very least, groups like Roxland Company definitely couldn't find out, even if they had already been in relations for over ten years. All who knew about the Black Dragonriders had one opinion towards this mysterious organization: it was powerful, unimaginably powerful!
The Black Dragonriders' official members weren't large in number, but each dragonrider would have a different number of subordinates. It was a bit similar to the ancient knight system recorded in the olden era's medieval ages. Most of these subordinates lied between servants and slaves. It was rumored that some of the more powerful dragonriders would have almost a thousand subordinates! Once you added these subordinates to the dragonriders, then a terrifying number would be produced. From what Su personally experienced, these subordinates were definitely not simply decorations to flaunt their identities.
Every single member of the Black Dragonriders was an important figure.
Apart from the great individual strength of the Black Dragonrider knights, they each came from great families with huge manpower and financial backing. These families were not groups that Roxland Company could provoke. The small portion that did not come from influential families even more so couldn't be offended. It was quite obvious that without the backing of a family, they either possessed astonishing potential or the strength to suppress a force like the family of a Black Dragonrider. Only then would they obtain the Black Dragonriders' recognition.
From Fazir's understanding, the Black Dragonriders seem to be the military force of some organization. This organization possessed an immeasurable amount of hidden power. This organization that could establish and order the Black Dragonriders as well as the countless families behind them was only known to a few truly powerful figures in this age of turmoil.
This legendary colossus was rumored to be called the Blood Parliament.
Su sat there calmly without asking any more questions. Fazir carefully observed him, but he did not notice any fluctuations in his green eye. This old man suddenly felt the strange feeling of despair, and this was the first time he regretted his actions. It might be as Li Gaolei said: this might be a lone wolf that shouldn't have been provoked.
In the past fifty years, Fazir had observed the great changes that took place over this great generation, and he had also seen all types of people. However, he had never seen someone like Su. Despite losing his right eye and having bandages wrapped in a criss-crossed manner across his face, the parts of Su that were revealed, like that green left eye or his soft and glowing hands, were already beyond what simple words like pretty and delicate could describe. This was a type of perfection that had already exceeded Fazir's greatest imagination!
It was a frightening type of perfection.
The sound of water droplets could be heard in the quiet bedroom; this was the sound of Fazir's blood dripping off the small table and landing on the ground. After hearing this depressing sound for a long time, Fazir instead noticed that he was rather calm.
"It seems like I've finally provoked a huge problem." Su finally spoke. His gaze suddenly became deep, and his voice became more melodious and attractive.
"An extremely great problem." Fazir added in Su's place, "The Fabregas family is an extremely well known great family. That Laiknar you killed was an extremely important young man from that family. He and O'Brien were only initial rank knights in the Black Dragonriders. From what I understand, this mission was just a trial for young knights, but something unexpected happened during this trial. There is another piece of bad news. The Black Dragonriders' range of actions might be limited, but the Blood Parliament definitely isn't. I believe that there are just too many companies or organizations out there that are willing to do everything in their power to gain even the slightest bit of favor with the Blood Parliament."
"Like Roxland?"
"Like Roxland!"
Su remained silent for a bit. Absolutely no emotion could be seen in his tranquil eye.
Heavy footsteps sounded from the outside at this moment. They stopped outside the door, and then with a crash, the door was forcefully kicked down by someone.
Li Gaolei had a cigarette in his mouth. He rubbed the stubble covering his face with satisfaction and walked over in a grandiose manner. When he saw the circumstances of the insides of the room, he suddenly froze, and the cigarette fell from his mouth.
"You want to fight?" Su asked as he closed his beautiful eye.
"I surrender." Li Gaolei laughed bitterly.