67: Chapter 67 Outrageous! Dad and Little Sister are actually comparing whose wanted level is higher?

When Su Yun said, "You couldn't possibly be that Night Owl, could you?", the atmosphere in the living room instantly turned cold.

Su Jianguo felt the hairs on his entire body stand on end.

He stiffly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, forcibly suppressed his violently pounding heart, wiped the sweat off his palms onto the seams of his trousers without a trace, and waved his hand: "What nonsense are you spouting! Your dad is just an ordinary office worker. How could I have anything to do with that S-Class terrorist wanted by the entire territory? You are insulting the intelligence of the Investigation Bureau!"

Su Yao leaned back on the sofa, rubbed her brow, and replied wearily: "Little Yun, don't make such jokes. Night Owl is at least a top-tier S-Class Monster Hunter, capable of burning rivers and boiling seas with Abyss Black Flame. Dad can even throw his back out just moving a bag of rice. How can they be compared?"

The corners of Su Jianguo's mouth twitched twice.

Moving rice and throwing his back out was just a pretense to avoid going to parent-teacher meetings!

He could currently punch through a load-bearing wall with one blow!

But to cover his identity, he could only nod while biting the bullet: "Your sister is right. I'm just an ordinary commoner. That kind of scum is far removed from our family."

Su Yun nodded, holding his glass, his tone as casual as if he were chatting about the nice weather today: "That's true, Dad's temperament is indeed a bit lacking."

Su Jianguo's clenched fist under the sofa cushion opened and closed, closed and opened silently.

He counted to three in his heart.

Endure.

"Beep!!"

The blood-red wanted notice on the TV screen was finally removed. The image shifted back to the studio.

The female host looked excited, speaking at a rapid pace: "Breaking news! After several hours of citywide lockdown and investigation, the alert has now been officially lifted. According to the Supreme Command of Daxia, an anomaly in the Abyss rift occurred at the Northern Reservoir this afternoon, and a Half-step King Level Strange Tale attempted to descend upon Linhai City."

A blurry long-range video appeared on the TV screen.

Dark clouds gathered over the reservoir, and one could vaguely see huge purple lightning striking down. Under the reflection of the lightning, the entire northern skyline was dyed an ominous crimson purple.

"At the critical moment, Daxia S-Class Executive Jiang Xu stepped forward and, with his own power, slew this Half-step King Level Strange Tale and successfully applied the Seal to the Abyss rift! Currently, Executive Jiang Xu is receiving treatment due to spiritual energy exhaustion. Let us pay tribute to this hero who guards our city!"

The living room fell silent.

Su Yun sat on the sofa, his movement of drinking water pausing.

He stared at the justice badge representing the officialdom on the screen and fell into a brief silence.

Jiang Xu slew it?

That World-Swallowing Prison Wolf was clearly torn apart and eaten alive by himself, with its Law core chewed up and swallowed along with it. That old brat Jiang Xu was being pressed into the ground and rubbed by the Prison Wolf at the time, with over a dozen broken bones. If it weren't for him being in a good mood and stuffing some Abyss Laws into him for a forced transformation, his ashes would have been scattered into the reservoir by now.

And yet, this headline directly credited it to him?

Su Yun lowered his eyes, his fingertips gently tapping the side of the cup.

Fine then. Free labor, it's reasonable to give a little psychological reward.

Just consider it as issuing a certificate of merit.

"Half-step King Level!"

Su Jianguo gasped sharply, standing up directly from the sofa.

Although his injuries had healed, he still maintained an awe engraved in his bones for such terrifying existences as the Half-step King Level. He knew the concept of the Half-step King Level all too well. That was an existence above the absolute ceiling of human power; even if all of Daxia's S-Class combat strength were assembled, they might not be able to stop one.

"Yaoyao." Su Jianguo turned his head to look at Su Yao. "Is what the TV says true? Did Jiang Xu really take down a Half-step King Level one-on-one? What exactly happened at the Northern Reservoir?"

On the surface, only the eldest daughter, Su Yao, in this family worked at the Investigation Bureau, so she would know the inside story best.

Su Yao clenched her hands into fists, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.

In her mind, that sky-covering web of flesh and blood in the pump room appeared once again. Those densely packed purple-black tentacles wove into an organic dome, the scarlet eyeballs on the surface slowly rotating, as if examining the tiny humans—no, as if examining the livestock in its farm.

And that creepy phrase, "long-term meal ticket."

She couldn't say it.

Once the truth was revealed, her father, mother, younger brother, and younger sister... all of them would fall into absolute despair. The cost of knowing the truth was too great.

Some burdens could only be carried by her alone.

"Whatever the news broadcasts is what happened." Su Yao forced herself to make her voice sound steady, though her throat tightened involuntarily. "Captain Jiang exhausted all his efforts to hold the rift. The specific details are the highest secret of the Supreme Command; I am only a peripheral agent and have no right to ask."

Su Jianguo nodded: "That's true, an official hero is indeed remarkable."

"What's so remarkable! Jiang Xu is just stealing the credit!"

A crisp voice exploded abruptly in the living room.

Su Qing was sitting cross-legged on the single sofa, holding an orange, her face full of indignation.

She had already been extremely disgusted by Jiang Xu's crazy proposal to "bet the lives of all humanity on one big gamble." Watching that guy who had fused with Abyss power in the reservoir pump room, clamoring to hand over the fate of all humanity to a monster to judge—just recalling it made her blood boil.

Now it was even better, he had even stolen the credit on TV.

"Sis, even you are lying along with the officials! It wasn't Jiang Xu who killed it at all!" Su Qing peeled the orange skin, juice splattering all over her hand, but she didn't bother to wipe it. "Jiang Xu couldn't even take a single move at the time, he was probably scared to the point of wetting his pants! If it weren't for that tentacle monster, our Linhai would probably have become a paradise for Strange Tales!"

The living room fell into a dead silence.

That kind of dead silence was not quietness; it was a vacuum feeling where all sound was sucked away simultaneously.

Su Jianguo turned his head, staring at his younger daughter with wide eyes.

Su Yao sprang up from the sofa, her face instantly turning pale, staring dead at Su Qing.

In her pupils surged disbelief and fear—those pieces of information were the highest secret of the Supreme Command, and even the S-Class personnel present had been issued the highest-level gag order.

Su Yun held the water cup, glancing at Su Qing calmly.

Yo.

This little girl went there too, huh.

Come to think of it, Dark Blade is a member of The Watchers, and Lin Wanqing is the person in charge of Jiangcheng, so it's reasonable for her to bring her to the reservoir.

But she actually dared to leak it directly now?

Su Yun took a slow sip of water.

Interesting.

Feeling the strange gazes of her whole family, a layer of cold sweat suddenly seeped out of Su Qing's back.

Oh no.

Her mouth was too fast.

She was just a third-year junior high student!

How could she possibly know the top-secret battle details that even the Supreme Command had blocked?!

Su Qing's brain worked at high speed.

She could feel Su Yao's gaze like a scalpel, peeling away her disguise layer by layer.

"You... how do you know so clearly?"

Su Jianguo's voice was trembling.

This was not a question, but more like an interrogation.

A father's instinctive vigilance had already been maxed out.

Su Qing swallowed her saliva, her brain working frantically.

Within three seconds, she arranged at least seven excuses in her mind, finally choosing the one that was the most risky, but also the least likely to be debunked.

"I... my net friend told me!"

"Net friend?" Su Jianguo's brows twisted into a knot. "What kind of net friend could know such secrets?"

"Just... just that Dark Blade!" Su Qing thought quickly, bringing out her own alter ego directly. "That Watcher called Dark Blade! I played games with her online before and added her as a friend. She's the type who loves to show off, and she was bragging to me on WeChat just now, saying she was at the reservoir scene at the time and saw everything clearly!"

To increase credibility, Su Qing even took out her phone and shook it.

The phone screen actually only had a delivery order notification, but the speed at which she shook it made it impossible for anyone to see the content.

Su Yao was half-sitting, half-standing, staring at the phone in Su Qing's hand.

Her first reaction was shock: Dark Blade actually had contact with her own sister?

Her second reaction was anger: A member of The Watchers actually dared to leak top secrets on WeChat?

But following that, a third thought surged from the depths of her mind, a vague sense of incongruity.

What Su Qing said sounded more like the feelings of an eyewitness, rather than the retelling of a narrator.

The string in Su Yao's heart tightened.

But she didn't pursue it.

Because she herself was lying as well.

Mutually guilty, so mutually letting it go.

Su Yao slowly sat back down, pressing that hint of incongruity deep into her heart.

"Click."

The anti-theft door was pushed open.

Lin Wanqing walked in, carrying a dark-colored handbag.

She had just rushed back from the reservoir scene; her disguise had been removed, and she had changed into a simple and elegant home dress.

The makeup on her face was light and appropriate, and even her hair had been recombed, showing no signs of anything unusual.

But as soon as she entered the door, she heard her younger daughter shouting a name.

"Dark Blade".

Lin Wanqing's movement of changing shoes paused slightly.

In her mind, the short person who was just over 1.5 meters tall in the pump room immediately appeared.

With shadow power surging all over her body, standing behind Ye Qingqiu, she actually dared to represent the entire The Watchers organization and issue a political stance statement. That might be excusable; after all, young people are impulsive, which is understandable.

But she would never forget that one sentence.

"Since we are all protected livestock, will it have to distribute spouse packages to us in the future? Otherwise, how are the leeks supposed to produce little leeks?"

The dignity of the Former Saintess was revealed inadvertently.

"Xiao Qing, who were you talking about just now?" Lin Wanqing asked as she changed her shoes and walked toward the living room. Her tone was steady, but every word carried an irrefutable chill. "Dark Blade?"

Su Qing shrank her neck, not daring to make a sound.

She could feel that unique aura radiating from her mother.

It wasn't the anger of an ordinary housewife, but rather a condescending displeasure that emanated from the marrow of someone in a position of power.

Every time Su Qing felt this sense of oppression, it was even scarier than facing an S-Class powerhouse.

Lin Wanqing walked to the coffee table and set her handbag down heavily.

"How did I teach you to behave? Do not associate with those unsavory people online." Lin Wanqing stood in front of Su Qing. Her voice wasn't loud, but hearing it made one want to stand at attention. "I heard that Dark Blade talks nonsense, acts eccentrically, and has absolutely no bottom line. You won't learn anything good by making friends with someone like that online."

When she said the words "I heard," her tone was remarkably natural.

But if Su Qing knew that her mother had been at the Northern Reservoir pump room and heard with her own ears that "spouse package distribution" remark by Dark Blade that made everyone's blood pressure skyrocket, she would probably have wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground on the spot.

Lin Wanqing added coldly in her heart.

If she really had a daughter like that, she would definitely beat her until her bottom blossomed.

Su Qing lowered her head, picking at an orange peel, feeling so aggrieved that sour water welled up in her heart.

Seeing his wife lose her temper, Su Jianguo instantly perked up.

This was simply a god-given opportunity!

Earlier, when Su Qing had pointed at the TV and called him an "old beast" and "scum," he had been forced to suppress a bellyful of fury to hide his identity as Night Owl. Fifty-two years of pent-up blood was stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down, and he had almost given himself internal injuries from holding it in.

Now that his wife had set up the firepower and pointed the direction, and had shoved Su Qing's head into the firing range, if he didn't know how to open fire, then these fifty-plus years would have been lived in vain.

"Did you hear what your mother said!" Su Jianguo's voice was like a booming bell as he pointed at Su Qing and reprimanded her with full, robust energy, sounding exactly like a battalion commander disciplining new recruits. "Look at the kind of trash you make friends with! That Dark Blade, not only did she disturb the public previously, but she also took your brother bungee jumping in the sky! Isn't she completely just a delinquent girl?"

Su Qing suddenly raised her head, her eyes wide. "Dark Blade is not a delinquent girl! She is very powerful!"

"Powerful my foot!" Su Jianguo spat, his saliva flying as he launched a direct verbal assault. "If she were truly powerful, would she be wanted? If she were powerful, would she hide in the shadows all day long, not daring to show her face?"

His hand suddenly pointed toward the TV.

"Just a moment ago, when the TV was broadcasting Night Owl, how enthusiastically were you cursing? Calling him a beast and trash in every breath."

Su Jianguo sneered, his laughter filled with the gratification of finally catching an opportunity to counterattack after being cursed to his face by his own daughter for over ten minutes.

"This is what you call a double standard! Night Owl is at least an S-Class Monster Hunter, and he acts openly and honorably. What is your internet friend Dark Blade, anyway? I heard she's only around 1.5 meters tall, with short little legs, a bad temper, and she's not very bright. Sooner or later, she's going to be arrested and end up in prison!"

Su Qing's face instantly flushed crimson.

Short little legs?! Not very bright?!

"Dark Blade is not short! She's petite and agile!" Su Qing stood up in anger, the orange peel in her hand squeezed until juice flowed everywhere, and she retorted loudly, "Besides, no matter how bad Dark Blade is, she is ten thousand times better than that Night Owl who colludes with anti-human terrorists!"

"Bullshit!"

Su Jianguo was completely broken.

A desire to win that he hadn't felt in fifty-two years surged exponentially at this moment.

The pent-up frustration from being cursed to his face by his daughter for over ten minutes, the feeling of being forced into a sworn brotherhood by Bai Cang, the irritation of being chased and blasted by Saintess Lin Xinglan's Holy Light, and even the speechlessness from being force-fed medicine by his youngest son—all this anger found an absurdly ridiculous vent at this very moment.

"Even if Night Owl is wanted, it's an S-Class Red Wanted Notice for the entire territory!" Su Jianguo slapped the coffee table, causing Su Yun's water cup to jump. "It was issued personally by the Daxia Supreme Command! It was broadcast directly on an eighty-five-inch TV! Do you understand what kind of prestige that is?!"

"As for that internet friend of yours, Dark Blade, with her amateur skills, if she really caused trouble, the High Command wouldn't even bother to glance at her."

"At most, she's just an A-Class wanted criminal, destined to be posted on utility poles to keep company with missing person notices!"

Su Qing was so choked up she couldn't say a word, her eyes reddening with anger.

She opened her mouth, wanting to retort. But every word Su Jianguo said happened to step exactly on her most sensitive pain points as Dark Blade—height, combat strength, and wanted level. And she couldn't fight back with her real identity; she could only defend herself in the tone of an "internet friend."

This feeling of being stifled was exactly the same as the situation her dad had been in when she called him an "old beast" earlier.

Su Yun sat on the single sofa nearby, holding his water cup in one hand, while the thumb of his other hand absentmindedly rubbed the rim of the cup.

He looked at Su Jianguo's flushed face; this legendary Monster Hunter was currently using his own S-Class wanted notice as a medal of honor to crush his daughter.

He then looked at Su Qing's trembling little frame; this The Watchers Dark Blade was desperately trying to maintain her "internet friend" persona, only to be rubbed into the ground by her own father.

The father and daughter stood face to face, one an S-Class wanted criminal, Night Owl, and the other a former A-Class wanted criminal, Dark Blade. The two were competing over whose wanted level was higher.

And both parties thought they were merely speaking up for an unrelated outsider.

Su Yun lowered his head and took a sip of warm water, hiding the uncontrollable smile at the corner of his mouth behind the rim of the cup.

Su Yao sat on the sofa, watching her father and sister, who were arguing until their faces were red over "which wanted criminal is more high-level," and could only feel the veins on her forehead throbbing.

This world was already crazy enough.

A Half-step King Level Strange Tales had descended, mysterious monsters were farming humans like leeks, and the strongest executive of Daxia had turned into a hybrid monster and was even volunteering to act as security for the monsters.

Why did the vibe at home have to become so sick as well?

"Enough!" Su Yao interrupted sternly, her voice carrying the iron-blooded dignity honed from years in the Investigation Bureau. "Dad! This competitiveness of yours is a bit bizarre, isn't it? Night Owl is a bona fide human traitor. Why are you proud of using his wanted level to suppress Xiao Qing's internet friend?"

Su Jianguo choked, his face turning beet red.

He had really lost his head just now.

What was there to boast about for an S-Class defector wanted by the entire territory? A normal person certainly wouldn't consider this an honor. But he was the one involved! He knew that every single charge in that wanted notice was a frame-up! Those so-called "proofs of treason" were nothing but dirty water unilaterally splashed on him by that lunatic Bai Cang!

Su Yao turned to look at Su Qing, her tone equally severe. "And you! Delete that Dark Blade's WeChat immediately. This kind of dangerous element—even though she isn't wanted right now—might be executed on the spot by the Investigation Bureau any day. Are you tired of living, daring to associate with her?"

Su Qing bit her lip, clutching the orange in her hand that had been mangled out of shape, daring to be angry but not daring to speak.

Orange juice seeped out from between her fingers, dripping stickily onto her pants, but she didn't bother to wipe it off.

The living room was briefly silent for two seconds.

Su Yun set down his water cup and stood up.

"Alright, stop arguing." He picked up the tissue box from the coffee table, pulled out one tissue to hand to Su Qing to wipe the orange juice off her hands, and then pulled out another to hand to Su Jianguo.

Su Jianguo was stunned. "Why are you giving me a tissue?"

"To wipe your sweat." Su Yun's tone was sincere to the point of cruelty. "Dad, it hasn't been easy for you. Having to whitewash a wanted criminal while also competing with Xiao Qing for prestige, your blood pressure must have spiked quite high."

He patted Su Jianguo on the shoulder and added softly.

"Don't worry, no matter how heinous the things Night Owl has done, he has absolutely nothing to do with our family. Right?"

Su Jianguo took the tissue, his fingers trembling slightly.

He looked into his youngest son's eyes, which were clear to the point of being almost transparent, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and finally, he just muttered, "Right. Absolutely nothing to do with us."