Inner Destroyer

　When Qi Xing is free, he will stop by and make this mafia family disappear.

　Damn it! Even if a supernatural being doesn't understand how to manage politics and institutions, wouldn't he dare to walk over and let the physical properties of a mafia that enslaves prostitutes and practices obscene magic disappear from the face of the earth?

　What happens after we kill it? Will some other criminal organization come to fill the gap? What the hell! Can't we deal with it later?

　"How do you know I'm in Japan these past two days? Why are you paying attention to this?"

　Qi Xing asked again.

　"Yes, my friend told me to pay attention to the movements of the top experts in the church and the 'Association'..."

　Caesar stammered,

　"He also asked me to help deliver a container to bypass the police and the 'association' inspection... I don't know what's inside."

　Qi Xing frowned: "What friend? Who?"

　Caesar did not answer this question.

　Suddenly, his eyes widened, his pupils contracted rapidly, and his skin turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if all his blood had been drained by an invisible force.

　"help me……"

　He struggled hard, trying to call for help, but all he could make was a hoarse whimper from his throat, and he squeezed out a few words with difficulty from his teeth.

　Everything happened extremely fast.

　Before Yi Lian could react, Qi Xing had already reached out and held Caesar firmly. He saw a strange black vein appear on Caesar's neck, like a venomous snake swimming under his skin, slowly crawling towards his face.

　His eyeballs began to bulge, and a trace of dark blood oozed from the corner of his mouth. Then, an indescribable smell of corruption began to fill the air of the entire warehouse, making people sick.

　His skin began to crack as if on fire, and black liquid seeped out from the cracks, emitting a strong stench. His mouth opened as wide as it could, and a low, wailing sound came from his throat, but it didn't sound like a human voice, more like a beast.

　Qi Xing grabbed Caesar's head and quickly activated his true energy - but he immediately discovered that this was not poison, nor even an ordinary spell.

　But it was something that was deeply ingrained in Caesar's blood, flesh, and bones.

　The energy he poured into Caesar's body only gave Caesar enough time to raise his head and scream out a strange name: "Spartacus Noir!"

　As soon as he finished speaking, Caesar's body suddenly stiffened. Black veins erupted from his heart, spreading rapidly like ink staining paper until they covered his entire body. With a muffled thud, he collapsed to the ground, his eyes hollow and unfocused, his life completely gone.

　Black blood flowed from the corner of his mouth and dripped onto the ground, making a hissing sound, as if corroding the ground.

　Cold sweat slid down Elaine's neck.

　Qi Xing watched the black bloodstains slowly spreading across the ground. A hideous face, a strange mask, emerged from the bloodstains. One side of the mask was smiling, while the other was crying. It was both a mockery and a warning.

　After a moment, Qi Xing finally asked, "Silenced? What the hell is this?"

　He didn't understand what kind of evil method this was, but he knew that Elaine probably knew it.

　He noticed that Elaine's expression wasn't very good. Her fingertips trembled slightly, but she quickly clenched them into fists, her nails pricking her palms. The dim light of the warehouse cast shadows of varying shades on her face, masking the momentary panic in her eyes.

　All this happened in a split second. After a moment, her expression returned to its usual calm, as if she didn't care at all.

　She explained, "It's a voodoo curse."

　Voodoo, Vodou, and Vodou are essentially the same word, which comes from a language in West Africa and means "gods" or "souls".

　The famous voodoo, a primitive religion that originated in West Africa and combines ancestor worship, animism, and spiritualism, is somewhat similar to shamanism. It remains the state religion of many African countries and is also prevalent in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States.

　"Is there a voodoo sorcerer of this caliber in Italy?" Qi Xing was finally a little surprised. "But it's possible that they escaped from outside, so we asked them to help smuggle things in..."

　This "friend" had apparently cast a spell inside Caesar that would activate upon detecting the key words, killing him.

　"Black Spartacus"... Hmm, I've never heard of it.

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　first name.

　Elaine glanced at Qi Xing, and her meaning was very clear - what to do next?

　Qi Xing thought about it and shrugged. "No big deal. I'll just submit the report to the Association and see how they react. It shouldn't be a big case anyway."

　He is the world's top master of the righteous path, not an ordinary criminal policeman.

　It may sound a bit cruel, but any incident that Qi Xing handled personally was either because he was patrolling around and happened to find bad guys causing trouble and just killed them, like today, or the last time he saved the magical girl; or because things had gotten out of hand and the "Association" came to ask for help, like the cruise ship incident a few days ago.

　It was just a voodoo sorcerer cursing a Mafia official, most likely a minor incident involving gang members robbing each other. If it were a minor matter, Qi Xing would have neither the time nor the interest to intervene. He wasn't a toilet-clearing expert, so why would he have to do every trivial task himself?

　After sending the female exorcist Catalina back safely, Qi Xing and Elaine returned to Rome to rest.

　Of course, there was a reason why he came all the way from Japan to Rome today.

　The Association sent a formal letter to Qi Xing this morning, inviting him to return to Rome for a meeting—not that they intended to cause trouble for Qi Xing personally. They probably didn't have the guts to do that—in fact, they were probably intimidated by Qi Xing.

　They probably wanted to talk to Qi Xing about the silver coins in Judah and, of course, about Samael.

　027: Strong Brain

　Qi Xing's home is not in this world.

　This ridiculous butter quagmire had never been his home.

　Over the past ten years, he has basically been traveling around the world. After becoming "Rep Master", he has been responding to the "Association"'s requests for help and has no place that can be called "home".

　However, Sister Elaine knew that such a habit was definitely not good for the mental health of a hero—or a veteran.

　Therefore, she helped Qi Xing rent a private residence in Rome for a long period of time, capable of meeting the living and training needs of two or more people. Although it was only a three-story building, it already contained a library, an armory, and various training equipment. The villa also had a private chapel.

　It's a safe, private, and peaceful place. It boasts comprehensive security measures and even exorcism services. Only volunteer nuns from the Roman Catholic Church regularly visit to clean the place.

　The last time he was here was four months ago. Qi Xing didn't really consider this place his home, but when he walked in and put his feet on the carpet, he still felt a little melancholy.

　Samael's shadow emerged from his own, looked around, and frowned. "The 'strongest man in the world' lives in a boring house like this?"

　No wonder she complained. The entrance hall was surrounded by smooth stone, and there was not a single painting or decoration in the room. There were no statues, no crossed weapons, and no embroidered tapestries.

　The only wall decoration was the Seal of Saint Benedict, which Elaine had placed on the wall above the staircase opposite the entrance. It consisted of a cross with the Latin inscription "The Holy Cross is our Light" on the vertical bar and "The evil dragon is not my master" on the horizontal bar. The prayer "Away, Satan" was inscribed on the edge of the medal.

　This is the core exorcism prayer of Christianity, also known as the Holy Medal of Exorcism. In essence, it is the holy talisman for supernatural protection.

　The real Satan, the evil dragon, the ruler of this world, saw this and of course curled his lips in displeasure.

　"I don't like extravagant decorations. Isn't it nice that this place is fully functional?"

　Qi Xing said calmly.

　"really?"

　The evil loli glanced at the nun who was busy behind and said nothing.

　Elaine was busy moving Qi Xing and her luggage back to their respective rooms, throwing some clothes to wash, and then going into the kitchen to help him make dinner.

　It was already a little late today, and Elaine was not a super robot maid, so of course it was impossible for her to make a whole meal for Qi Xing immediately - but soon, the aroma of butter and garlic wafted from the kitchen.

　In a frying pan on the stovetop, a golden chicken thigh is sizzling in butter, locking in the juices. The skin is fried until crispy, and the fat slowly seeps out, melting into the butter at the bottom of the pan.

　A few cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of fresh thyme swirl in the oil, releasing an enticing aroma.

　This is Elaine's pan-fried chicken thighs with butter and garlic sauce. The chicken thighs are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, juicy when cut, and a spoonful of the sauce made with the frying fat, white wine, and cream is drizzled over them, creating a fragrant aroma.

　The side dish is finely mashed potatoes garnished with a little chopped parsley, and a slice of lightly toasted French bread for dipping the sauce brings out the flavor of this dish to its fullest, simple yet refined taste.

　Qi Xing chopped off a piece of golden chicken with a fork. The first bite revealed its tenderness and juiciness, tinged with the sweetness of butter. The garlic and herbs were perfectly embellished, neither overwhelming the flavor but leaving a lingering aftertaste in every bite.

　Really delicious!

　The loli evil god just floated by, watching Qi Xing eat and Elaine busying around for him with cold eyes.

　There was an obvious flaw that she had already discovered, but she hadn't planned to tell him yet - Dear Qi Xing, haven't you noticed that having an exorcist nun busying yourself around cooking, doing laundry, taking care of housework, writing work reports, and being your secretary, so that you don't have to do anything except practice and kill enemies...is this already a greater luxury than any decoration?

　That means there are fewer people.

　The devil was thoughtful, planning how big a harem he should design for his chosen king in the future, and how many maids he would need. After all, the true strongest, the Emperor of the Earth,

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　, he should have a new batch of virgins to take a bath with him every day, right?

　This is actually not the point.

　The point is, she didn't believe that Qi Xing had no desires at all, and she doesn't believe it even more now.

　He obviously has a lot of desires, he just won't admit it.

　After dinner, Qi Xing drank tea.

　Elaine read a few emails to him.

　"First, there was an official email from the Association, requesting a meeting with you at the Rome headquarters as soon as possible. That's the main reason we came back today."

　"Next, several important figures related to the Church—the Vice President of the Privy Council of the Holy See, the Master of the Knights of the Holy Lance, the Grand Master of the Wolf Brotherhood, and Duke Vlad Tepesh—have sent you private letters requesting a meeting."

　The others were fine, but the last one really surprised Qi Xing: "Ah? Dracula came to Rome in person?"

　"Of course not. You know that the Duke will not leave Romania."

　Elaine picked up the physical letter sent by Dracula.

　"But it seems that Duchess Remina has actually come to Rome in person."

　Many of these old monsters disliked using email in formal written form, let alone social media. Dracula himself, however, was on Facebook and Instagram, posting selfies and photos of his pets. He was quite the adorable old man. Qi Xing would occasionally like his posts.

　"Please write a formal reply for me to the Vice-Pontiff, the Grand Master of the Knights, and the Grand Werewolf Mentor. We'll see when we're free to arrange it." Qi Xing pondered for a moment and replied, "I'll personally write a reply to Grand Duke Dracula—I quite like that old man."

　"Okay." Elaine raised an eyebrow. "You're the most famous vampire in history, and Satan himself. You really do enjoy dealing with dark creatures."

　"Maybe it's just because I'm born in the Year of the Snake," Qi Xing said calmly. "This year is the Year of the Snake, and Dracula and Satan are both dragons and snakes—wow, what a coincidence!"

　This joke wasn't funny. Although Samael, floating nearby, was amused, Elaine just scowled as she took out the next letter.

　The email, unsigned and sent through the Association's encrypted channels, contained a brief and abrupt message: "Wake up, everyone. Greetings, are you home?"

　For some reason, the sender clearly didn't want to talk much in writing.

　"Reply him with 'I'm here'."

　Qi Xing said, so Elaine did as she was told.

　But things have just begun.

　"In short, the leader of the Knights of the Holy Lance, Dracula's wife, and a bunch of bigwigs from the Vatican—all of them have come to Rome now."

　After saying that, Qi Xing rolled his eyes: "Hey, why is this happening?"

　The nun glanced at the loli evil god floating nearby, looking around, and muttered, "I think the reason is obvious."

　Three days ago, when Elaine was writing the report, she hesitated about how much content to report to the "Association" and the Vatican, and whether to conceal some parts.

　She even considered hiding the silver coins and the contract between Qi Xing and Samael from everyone! As the assistant and essential monitor assigned to Qi Xing by the church, this was an absolute dereliction of duty!

　But Qi Xing said to Elaine at that time: "Don't worry about such trivial matters. If you feel you need to say something, just report it. You can report on the silver coins and Samael."

　For a moment, Elaine was completely bewildered. If she hadn't known Qi Xing wasn't that type of person, she might have suspected he was testing her. "Is this really okay? The reaction from the Association and the Vatican might be fierce."

　"no problem."

　Qi Xing's answer was very calm, but the content of his words was even more intense.

　"I haven't figured out how to do it yet, but I've decided to change this ridiculous, rotten world."

　"I know that anyone who tries to change the world will attract opposition. So I don't care. It would be better if you report everything about the silver coins and Samael. This will allow them to show up in advance."

　Qi Xing was deeply moved by his experience on the cruise ship.

　At this point, he has made a firm decision, so he doesn't bother to hide it from others.

　He is not the kind of person who travels through time and space and has gained powerful strength, but still tries every means to hide the fact that he is a time traveler; he is not the kind of coward who is so powerful but still dares not show the true essence of his power to the public.

　There is nothing to mourn for the righteous and strong.

　"If anyone knows I took the silver and comes out to cause trouble for me, I'll kill them all and hang their heads in the square."

　Although there are still some things he hasn't figured out, Qi Xing has made up his mind after meeting Samael and learning the truth about the world.

　Determination and will are the most important. As for how to do it specifically... to be honest, thinking about it while doing it is definitely better than standing there hesitating.

　This determination even made Elaine tremble. So she honestly wrote the report and submitted it to the "Association".

　As expected, a slew of high-ranking officials from the Vatican and related organizations rushed to Rome. Elaine scanned the list and saw a dozen ministerial-level officials who were even more senior than her boss. For someone working within the system, this was enough to give her a headache.

　What's worse is that if they come to cause trouble for Qi Xing... Elaine knows that no matter who they are, they will be beaten to death by Qi Xing.