My starting summon is a small skeleton-Chapter 371 - 368 Ninth Apostle

"All King-level, but why do I feel like you guys are a bit weak?"

Lu Wu emerged from the flames,

muttering to himself as he moved toward Number 67.

Number 67, pinned down by the "Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword," couldn’t move, but the Thunder Snake beside him seemed almost unaffected.

"Retreat!"

At this command, knowing he couldn’t beat his opponent, Number 67 prepared to ride the Thunder Snake to escape, but he was too late.

"Since you’re here, don’t leave now, huh!"

Lu Wu pounced with a sinister smile, grabbed the Thunder Snake by its tail, and gave it a violent twist,

smashing the ten-meter-long Thunder Snake heavily onto the ground.

The scene was as shocking as it could get.

And Lu Wu was as ferocious as they come, charging forward, violently stepping on the snake’s head, fists clenched with sparks of electricity, punching the King-level Summoned Beast to death.

As the Thunder Snake was killed, Number 67’s face turned pale, obviously suffering from the backlash.

And while the Thunder Snake was killed, the people who came along with Number 67 and 71 were also suppressed by Granny.

With that, this sudden attack came to an end.

Having dealt with the Thunder Snake and covered in snake blood, Lu Wu stood up and slowly walked toward Number 67,

as if a demon god from hell himself.

Lu Wu couldn’t for the life of him understand.

Was he not cautious enough?

Or was it because his good looks were to no avail?

Even if he just sat at home, his handsomeness would break through the heavens, and would people still come after him because he was good-looking?

Why, having been in District 12 for less than half a month, did someone come to kick down his door?

Today, he must have these people give him an explanation!

"Come on, let’s have a good talk."

Looking at the man in front of him, resembling a demon god, Number 67 couldn’t help swallowing his saliva, his face showing complete submission and flattery compared to before.

"It’s a misunderstanding, all of this is a misunderstanding. We’re not bad guys; in fact, we came here without any ill intentions!

Just now, it was just a little joke we played on you."

"That’s not what you said a moment ago. The one lying down over there said you weren’t good people, that you didn’t come here to do anything good.

Also, by your account, am I someone without a sense of humor who can’t take a joke?

Do I, lacking any sense of humor, owe you an apology?"

Lu Wu sneered as he approached Number 67, grabbed his neck in one hand, and hoisted him up.

"Cut the crap with me, and speak—who are you guys, and what do you want?

I advise you to be honest and cooperative. After all, I’m not a nice guy, either. I’ve learned more forms of punishment than you can imagine.

And I believe you wouldn’t want to try them all, would you?"

"Stop, stop, stop... I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!"

Number 67 seemed to be a lot softer than Lu Wu had expected; a slight scare and he immediately confessed.

"Well, we are from the Zero Organization.

I am the 67th Apostle, and the one you killed was the 71st Apostle.

We were here on a mission.

We received a task because there was a strong reaction of evil energy here, and our superiors sent us to check it out.

If it’s an item, we’re to retrieve it; if it’s a person, we’re to recruit them, to bring them into our fold."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wuyi’s eyes narrowed.

The look he gave Agent 67 grew several degrees more dangerous.

Although Lu Wu could guess that these people were likely involved with "Zero", hearing him admit it outright still sparked an impulse in Lu Wu to kill him.

After all, a significant reason for Lu Wu’s downfall to the 12th district was due to the Zero organization.

However, what was pressing now was not venting anger, but solving the problem.

"You’re trying to recruit me? Your methods are quite unique, aren’t they?"

"It’s not deliberate, really, it’s a misunderstanding..."

"Cut the crap, tell me, who assigned you this task?"

"The Ninth Apostle!"

Agent 67 was spineless, responding immediately and even preemptively answering questions Lu Wu hadn’t asked.

"The Ninth Apostle is the one in charge of the Zero organization in the 12th district, and is extremely powerful. It’s said that she has almost reached Half-step Epic status.

She was supposed to come herself, but got held up at the last minute, so she delegated the task to us.

But the Ninth Lord takes this task very seriously.

She instructed us to communicate with her as soon as the mission was complete. If I didn’t report back to the Ninth Lord immediately, she would come over in no time."

Lu Wu gave him a glance.

Agent 67’s little schemes were all too obvious.

As Lu Wu was eyeing Agent 67, Granny approached, her eyebrows tightly furrowed—it was clear she had heard what Agent 67 had just said.

For Lu Wu and his party, Agent 67’s words were undoubtedly very bad news.

They had never imagined that they would attract the attention of the Zero organization just days after arriving in the 12th district.

It really was one trouble after another, a real headache.

But no matter how much of a headache it was, the problem had to be resolved. Granny quickly suggested, "They must want that item, right? Let’s leave the item and go."

Granny didn’t specify, but Lu Wu knew she was referring to the corpse of Old Thief Cimu.

The very thing these people had come for.

Given the current situation, Granny’s suggestion seemed to be the best option.

Even Agent 67, whom Lu Wu had captured, praised the idea, "Right, right, the Ninth Lord wants that item imbued with Evil Energy. If you just leave the item and our lives, the Ninth Lord won’t pursue the matter."

Lu Wu scoffed, "Really? Your Zero organization is so reasonable? An Apostle’s life is worth so little?"

"That’s why you should spare my life. As long as you let me live, I can report to the Ninth Lord and buy some time, so by the time she arrives, you all would have already fled, and she won’t pursue it."

Agent 67 was indeed fighting for his life.

Conveniently, as Agent 67 made this plea, the necklace around his neck flashed.

Lu Wu frowned, while Agent 67’s eyes lit up with excitement, eagerly making a suggestion to Lu Wu, "It’s the Ninth Lord! She must be checking on the progress of the mission. Let me take the call and handle it for you."

Lu Wu and Granny exchanged a glance, and finally, Lu Wu nodded.

"Go ahead."

With Lu Wu’s permission, Agent 67 then proceeded to answer the communication device.

"Ninth Lord!"

"How’s the mission going?"

A seductive female voice came from the necklace, to which Agent 67 respectfully replied, "My Lord, we were delayed on the road, it will take some more time to reach the destination. Please give your servant 60 minutes, and I assure you the mission will be accomplished."

"Hmm!"

After giving a nasal affirmation, the other party hung up.

Agent 67 lifted his head, a sycophantic look on his face, "See, just give her another report in 60 minutes, and I can help you get through this completely!"

Lu Wu and Granny looked at each other, and Granny was the first to speak, "You take her away, I’ll watch him here!"

"Wait another sixty minutes before leaving!"

Lu Wu shook his head and refused.

"No, I’ll do it!"

Although Granny was a King-level Peak existence, she was already old and her combat power was much worse than a typical King-level Peak.

Moreover, given the serious injuries she had suffered before, her current combat power was unknown, but likely not even at the level of King Level 1 Star. Leaving her to buy time was akin to sending her to death, so Lu Wu rejected the idea without hesitation.

Agent 67 really wanted to say, "You all go, I’ll definitely be honest."

But now was not his turn to speak.

So, he obediently squatted in a corner like part of the scenery.

Granny wanted to argue, knowing the risk of staying behind was high.

But Lu Wu didn’t give her the chance, nor did he discuss with her, "Don’t talk anymore, there isn’t much time left.

Take her to District 11, it’s relatively safe there, this is the map to District 11.

Once you get to District 11, find a place to hide. I will come and find you once I’m done here."

Lu Wu said, fishing out a map to District 1 from his embrace and handed it to Granny.

Granny was still Granny, after all.

She was nearly a hundred years old.

Her experience was vast; she had seen big events.

Faced with the current situation, she knew arguing further was futile, so after a deep glance at Lu Wu, she took the map he passed to her. After packing up for a while, she hefted Cimu Qingzi’s Ice Coffin, and after Lu Wu thoroughly checked to ensure they were not carrying any tracking items, he allowed them to leave.

Once Granny left,

Lu Wu walked over to Agent 67.

Since he had to wait for sixty minutes anyway, he might as well do something.

Lu Wu casually took out Old Thief Cimu’s corpse and began to absorb and refine the Evil Energy within, while chatting with Agent 67.

He was quite interested in the Zero Organization.

Although his interest was more in how to destroy it, he had to understand it in order to obliterate it.

Now that such a great opportunity was before him, Lu Wu was certainly going to seize it well.

On Agent 67’s part,

To hold onto his dear life, he chatted with Lu Wu with utmost sincerity.

Whatever Lu Wu asked, he answered; he even shared things Lu Wu hadn’t asked about.

From the organizational structure of Zero to the distribution of their power, and even some of their secrets he knew.

It could be said that this guy really surrendered all the information he had.

Thanks to him, Lu Wu gained a certain understanding of the Zero Organization.

Externally, the impression of the Zero Organization was primarily one of madness and cruelty.

They often did things that went against humanity.

And the reason — Lu Wu found out from chatting with Agent 67.

The reason the Zero Organization acted like this was because it was established with the goal of destroying the current world.

Hmm, an organization founded with the aim to destroy the world.

But their destruction was different from the usual sense.

Or maybe, using the word ’destruction’ is somewhat inappropriate; the word ’reset’ might be more apt.

The core goal of Zero was to take control of the "Gate" and reset the current world.

To return the world to a state without Summoned Beasts.

This was the original intent behind the creation of Zero by its leader, and it’s something that had been etched onto the doctrine of Zero, something every member must be clear about.

"The leader says, it’s because of the existence of Summoned Beasts that this world has become the distorted form it is now.

As long as Summoned Beasts exist in this world for even one day,

this world will always be one where the strong prey on the weak, a dog-eat-dog world.

Countless people are doomed to live at the bottom of the world, with no hope for their entire lives.

This is not the world he wants, nor should the world be like this.

So, we of Zero are to find the ’Gate’ and reset this world, to bring it back to the era without Summoned Beasts.

To completely free people from this dog-eat-dog world."

Agent 67 spoke without a hint of emotion.

Clearly, even he, as an Angel Envoy, did not agree with such doctrine.

One could say, probably ninety-nine percent of Zero, possibly even that leader, never took this so-called doctrine seriously.

But once the doctrine was established, it justified any heinous act the organization carried out.

After all, they were going to reset the world.

What burden is there in doing anything if the world is going to be reset?

On Lu Wu’s side, he just smirked upon hearing such doctrine, not taking such nonsense to heart.

He was concerned not with the doctrine, but with the structure of the Zero Organization.

How to join, how it operated,

the extent of its power, the details of their bases, and such.

Agent 67 didn’t really love to talk about these, but he spilled the details.

Joining Zero was simple. If you were an Evil Summoner and could recite the doctrine, you could join.

You didn’t have to go looking for the organization; once you made a name for yourself, they would come to find you.

And once in the organization, climbing up the ranks was even simpler; push the person above you down, and you take his place.

Choose whom you wish to challenge.

If you win, the position is yours; if you lose, well, you end up below them.

How the organization operated was more complex.

Agent 67 only talked about District 12 with him.

In District 12, which had a smaller territory, the highest leader of Zero had just been the Ninth Envoy.

She was the boss in this area; everything operated under her commands.

Her word was law.

Agent 67 obviously avoided delving into the operation, but he seemed quite willing to talk about bases.

He told Lu Wu about nearly all bases in District 12.

He even disclosed where their stronghold was, embodying the notion of leaving no stone unturned.

In their conversation, Lu Wu enjoyed himself immensely.

With their chat, the sixty minutes passed unnoticed.

Seeing that it was about time, Lu Wu asked Agent 67 to report in to his superiors.

With that, Lu Wu had nearly completed his delaying mission. As soon as Agent 67 sent his status report, Lu Wu could simply slap him dead and walk away.

However, just as Lu Wu told Agent 67 to report in, Agent 67’s mouth curled upward, "Seems like there’s no need to report."

"Why?" Lu Wu was startled.

"Because I’ve already arrived!"

A beguiling voice rang out from nearby.

The next moment, a terrifying aura exploded, bearing down on Lu Wu like a mountain...