Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1024 Clearance Plan
After Zuanji finished explaining everything, Shouguizhizi finally looked away from Zuanji.

The ever-present Eye of Horus, and the spider-like creature lurking deep within the soul, also quietly retreated.

In that instant, Zuanji was like a drowning man struggling to emerge from the water, gasping for breath, his throat filled with hoarse wheezes. He collapsed to the ground, his limbs flailing about, coughing and rolling around like a dehydrated fish.

"I'm alive... I'm still alive!" His heart was filled with ecstatic joy at surviving.

His eyes darted around in their sockets as he panted and muttered to himself, a sense of relief rising within him.

The suffocating feeling that came from the depths of his soul made him almost think that he would be torn to pieces in front of the Lord of the Horizon and the Son of the First Return.

But now, it seems they're too lazy to even lift a finger; these big shots might just ignore you like a fart.

Xia Xiu glanced at him indifferently. He didn't speak, nor did he look at him a second time.

Without saying a word, he turned around and walked briskly toward the exit.

The young man who had just returned also turned around, preparing to leave.

Drill Thorn's eyes suddenly lit up.

Like a death row inmate seeing a sliver of light, his face covered in blood, he opened his mouth to shout at Xia Xiu's departing figure, but dared not actually utter a sound, only laughing wildly inwardly:
"It's done...it's fucking done! These big shots just treated me like a fart!"

"Hahaha...that works...I'm incredibly resilient, and as long as I recover from my injuries, I might actually be recruited into Horizon's team! Those people at the top just like to make the most of everything, killing a few commoners is nothing to them."

however.

A soft click.

His smile froze.

A chilling aura of death swept over me from the left front, as familiar as a replay of that "pre-death experience" I had just witnessed.

He turned his head stiffly.

The boy hasn't left yet.

He simply raised his right hand.

The azure ring worn on the index finger is changing.

Surface cracking, component reassembly.

The cube-shaped magical mechanism whirred rapidly between the boy's fingers like intricate gears, eventually constructing a long, narrow, silver-blue magical pistol that resembled a work of art.

[Gorgon] is ready.

The son of the first returnee remained indifferent, his eyes cold and almost devoid of emotion. He slowly raised the muzzle of his gun, pointing it at the utterly terrified drill thorn.

"No...don't shoot! I'll confess!"

Startled, Zuanji retreated repeatedly, scraping his knees on the ground until they bled, and his voice became distorted.

"I really told you everything! I didn't hide a single word, I swear! Whatever you want, I'll find out for you! I'm still usable! I can do things! I can join the wolf pack! Sweeping, cleaning containment chambers, setting up outposts, acting as bait—I can do it all!"

"Spare me this once, and I'll turn over a new leaf! I'll serve the Horizon! Sir, sir, you're too kind to remember such a humble person like me!"

His voice was already trembling with sobs, and his face was contorted with extreme terror.

Lupercal did not lower his gun.

He simply held up the Gorgon silently, its muzzle pointed at the group of pitiful creatures slumped on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

His expression was indifferent, and his eyes were expressionless.

"You know you're just a nobody?" His tone was completely flat.

[Gorgon] has begun operating.

The magical device given to him by his father was vibrating slightly, its body shimmering with a pale blue light. Low-frequency vibrations hummed softly in the air, and a pulse of energy snaked along the gun's body, exuding a deadly stillness.

The drill was terrified.

His face was deathly pale, his teeth chattering, as if someone had punched him and shattered his spine. He collapsed to the ground, trembling as he crawled backward, his buttocks dragging in an arc, bouncing on the ground like a dead fish with its spine severed.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I was wrong! I was really wrong!"

He cried uncontrollably, his voice hoarse, like a broken gong howling.

Lupercal did not respond.

The boy simply lowered his head slowly, and in his left eye, the suppressed [Eye of Horus] seemed to be quietly watching the writhing sludge in front of him.

“Didn’t you say,” he began softly, “that you thought Amber’s psychosis was cool?”

"Now, this is pretty cool too."

The sound wasn't loud, but it felt like a fine needle piercing the nerves of a thorny thorn.

Zuanji froze, his mouth still open, but he couldn't utter a word.

Lupercal tilted his head, as if confirming something.

The next moment, he pulled the trigger.

boom!
There was a flash of fire.

[Gorgon] spat out a high-density energy blast.

The trajectory was straight and crisp.

The spikes exploded on his forehead instantly, like an iron spike piercing a watermelon, and a thick flower of blood bloomed in the air.

—A wildly imaginative and outlandish idea.

A fist-sized hole blasted open behind the drill's head, and the drill fell backward.

With a thud, it crashed onto the cold metal floor, like a piece of rotten flesh encasing an empty bone shell, its death extremely gruesome.

His eyes were still open, but they were no longer focused.

The air was filled with a burnt smell.

The smell was a mixture of blood, gunpowder, and the stench of urine. Drillthorn had lost control of his bladder before his death, and the filthy liquid slowly seeped from beneath his body, mingling with the brain matter that had spilled out after his skull shattered.

Lupercal sheathed the Gorgon and calmly returned the gun to the ring on his finger. The ring disassembled and reassembled with a snap, transforming back into a deep blue metal band and set back on his right index finger.

He didn't even glance at the corpse again, but simply whispered:
"Keeping someone like you around... will only taint the purity of humanity."

After saying that, he turned and left the containment room, heading towards the door.

……

……

Outside the door, Xia Xiuzheng stood at the end of the corridor, side by side with Karen, the class monitor of Class 7.

Karen reported to the Lord of the Horizon in a calm tone, but with a somewhat somber expression:
"Whenever we kill a Devil Fruit user, the power within him will automatically detach from the host, and a mutated Devil Fruit will appear nearby a few hours later."

“We’ve deployed a high-frequency identification and monitoring network, and the energy field records all show consistency,” Karen continued. “This phenomenon isn’t man-made; the entire process doesn’t require any medium or ritual. It’s like a natural phenomenon—once a Devil Fruit user dies, their power acts like a catalyst, automatically seeking out nearby ordinary fruits to parasitize.” “It’s like…instinct.”

Xia Xiu didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly, his eyes darkening.

“And—” Karen continued, “this newly formed fruit doesn’t just quietly wait to be discovered; it attracts people to eat it. It’s like… a temptation. We recently found out that several street thugs became ability users this way. They even thought the fruit was a ‘gift from God.’”

"What does the Shepherds think?" Xia Xiu asked.

“They suspect it’s related to the roving rule entities,” Karen whispered, “saying it’s one of the manifestations of ‘the corruption of the natural order.’ Originally, the transformation of matter required a medium, a ritual, a price… but now, some kind of distorted causality is taking over that part of the process.”

Xia Xiu did not answer immediately, but turned to look at the distant horizon of Far East City.

The sky was gray, and the smog had not yet dissipated.

He narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "As expected... the influence of the dead light is far deeper than I imagined."

When the door to the containment chamber was pushed open, the air still smelled of burnt blood.

Lupercal, the son of the First Prince, walked out steadily, his face showing no emotion. He simply stood in front of Xia Xiu.

Xia Xiu glanced at him, his expression calm: "It's all taken care of."

Lupercal nodded slightly, his tone respectful: "It's all done, Father."

Xia Xiu didn't press for details. He simply narrowed his eyes slightly, glancing over the checkpoint at the end of the corridor, and casually asked:

"What are you going to do with the information you got from him?"

Lupercal responded in a deep voice without the slightest hesitation: "The intelligence can roughly confirm three reactionary forces."

He looked up, his gaze calmly sweeping over the blue-glowing monitoring terminal at the end of the corridor. His speech was slow, yet extremely authoritative:

"The first force is the local street gangs, active in the ruins on the west side of the old city—most of them are a group of people who survived the fruit mutation in the early days. They gained power and then declared themselves kings. They refused to accept the governance of the horizon."

"The second group is a cross-regional infiltration organization. All three Storm Kings have planted people in Far East City, and their main area of ​​activity is currently the financial district—a place with a large population and concentrated funds, making it the core area for the spread of rumors. In addition, there are remnants of the Church of St. Cuthbert who are also active in the area. They secretly preach through the Masked Organization, inciting public sentiment and advocating the divine oracle for the purification of heresy."

"The third route is the most hidden, and also the most dangerous."

His voice lowered by an octave.

"A tech-savvy gang. The Black Bell Experiment Zone, hidden deep within the sewers of the ninth-floor old city."

They have already made contact with the Fifth Church and acquired some kind of contagious, polluting Membrane virus. They are conducting live experiments on Devil Fruit users, creating mutated, half-human, half-monster specimens, intending to construct a morbid society infected by the virus.

Xia Xiu didn't interrupt, but just listened quietly.

Lupercal continued, “According to my plan, I intend to recall all the top combat forces registered within the Horizon Lineage, including the combat echelons of the top ten squads of the Wolfpack Force, as well as the manpower of the Secretariat and the Shepherds.”

His tone grew increasingly cold:
"I plan to launch a comprehensive cleanup operation targeting three major areas. We will completely eradicate the cancer in the old city, eliminate the source of rumors in the financial district, and penetrate the deepest part of the Black Bell Experimental Zone."

“These people are not worthy of sharing order with us.”

Xia Xiu nodded slightly after listening.

He didn't say many words of praise, but Lupercal understood perfectly well the approval in his eyes at that moment.

"The plan is fine."

Xia Xiu spoke calmly, his silver cane twirling gently in his hand, as if he were deep in thought.

"However, the wolf pack is still too small right now."

He paused, his tone neither fast nor slow, yet carrying a clear, unquestionable command.

"It's not too late to make a move when the number of people reaches two hundred. The timing is not right to act now."

Lupercal listened attentively, then nodded and solemnly replied:
"Yes, Father. I will expedite the expansion process and utilize all available resources to get the troops up and running."

"I aim to complete the first phase of basic expansion of the wolf pack force within a month and a half."

"One month." Xia Xiu glanced at him indifferently.

The boy's heart tightened, and he quickly lowered his head: "...Yes, sir."

Xia Xiu did not continue on this topic, but instead tapped his cane lightly and turned his gaze to the outside of the detention area.

“I will continue to hold down Far East City and stabilize the Black Wall. The ‘Dead Light’ is still trying to infiltrate the boundary of the Web, and this city still needs me to hold it together.”

He spoke as if to himself, or perhaps to the successor beside him.

"As for this cleanup operation... I will not interfere; you will be in full charge."

"But before the official start of the war, let the Shepherds keep an eye on those three forces and gather comprehensive information on their movements. We must strike decisively and leave no room for future troubles."

Lupercal spoke calmly, yet with an undeniable sharpness.

"Understood. I will have the intelligence network infiltrate in advance, and once the wolf pack is ready, I will personally lead the expedition."

After saying this, he slightly raised his head to look at his father, Xia Xiu, his voice lower but more resolute.

"In addition, I plan to secretly establish a special agency for this purge operation."

"Its name is—the Purification Committee."

When he uttered the name, there was no hesitation in his tone, as if the name had been brewing in his mind for a long time, just waiting to be put into practice.

"The Purification Committee will not be publicly disclosed, nor will it be part of any organizational structure. It is only accountable to me personally."

"I will select the most reliable warriors from the Wolf Pack, and together with the judges from the Cleric Corps and the psionic agents from the Shepherd Corps, we will form a special operations team dedicated to the purge mission."

"The first phase of the operation will be—decapitation."

"We will identify and mark these three reactionary forces to find their core leaders, high-level Devil Fruit users, and the central hubs for funding and supplies."

“Prioritize them according to their level and eliminate them one by one before they realize what’s happening.”

"The second stage is a complete strangulation."

"This will no longer be precision strikes, but rather widespread military suppression and eradication."

"All areas that refuse to obey takeover, participate in riots, or harbor reactionary forces will be sealed off, cut off from supplies, and expelled. If necessary, physical elimination will be carried out directly."

"Ground tactics will be handled by the Wolf Pack forces, while the Shepherds should take over the mental pollution and Membrane virus issues. All members should utilize the Horizon Lineage to conduct a digital cleanup of the relevant areas."

"The third stage is economic strangulation."

"The underground economic chain that reactionary forces rely on cannot continue to exist. We will freeze all illegal trading networks, cut off the channels for the flow of goods, and block the financial flow in the old city."

"I will authorize the intelligence network to use the economic monitoring module to cut off all sources of funding and include those businessmen, priests, and even gang leaders who secretly fund them on the purge list."

Lupercal's voice wasn't loud, but his tone was as firm as if it were cast in steel.

He stood ramrod straight, like a drawn sword, its edge sharp but without any excess killing intent, only a resolute determination to kill.

"This time, in the name of the wolf pack, I will cleanse this city of all its filth."