```
Task? What task?
The guard captain looked puzzled.
Chen Qi surveyed his surroundings and noticed that the guards were all keeping their distance from him.
They will listen to my orders, right... Chen Qi spoke in a commanding tone:
"Give me a map of the distillery, and don't move from here. I'll be back."
"Okay, okay..."
The guard captain was full of doubt yet managed to suppress his curiosity.
If his salary had been higher, he might have mustered the courage to interrogate this mysterious officer!
But now, he didn't even have the authority to question.
It's that easy...
Chen Qi took the map with both hands, pulled out the black blade wrapped in entwining bandages, and headed towards the distillery's warehouse.
Currently in the warehouse, more than a dozen laborers were strenuously moving barrels of liquor.
According to the information provided by the client, the person with the black gloves should be one of these laborers.
Seeing the blade at Chen Qi's waist, an old laborer's face filled with difficulty as he stepped back:
"Sir, sir, didn't you say you would never use us for experiments..."
Recently, many factories in Black Mine City had been plagued by numerous disappearances of miners, causing widespread panic.
"Everyone, rest assured, I am only here to find some shadows."
Looking at the many busy laborers, Chen Qi couldn't help but frown.
Dove's Sensing!
As he activated his sensing ability, the spiritual power fields around the people began to emerge slowly, but to his surprise, most of them had an exceedingly thin layer of spiritual power field.
Is the information incorrect? Or is my sensing weak?
Can't identify them... Chen Qi gripped the black blade tightly in his hand.
Could the subordinates of Black Gloves, aside from the criminal shadows that followed, be capable of concealing their own spiritual power fields?
Although he had higher inspiration, his sensing skills were relatively ordinary.
I need to change my approach... Chen Qi's leather glove gripped the black blade tightly as he walked into the crowd.
People under Black Gloves should all have shadow affinity...
Since he had an affinity for shadows, he might be able to detect something.
And, as he approached a laborer who was nearly two meters tall, he faintly sensed a trace of shadow affinity.
"Found one."
Chen Qi casually remarked, turning his head.
And in that instant, the sound of breaking bones began to pull and stretch.
"Damn it! Where did you come from?"
The shadow of the laborer beside him began to distort as if pulled by an invisible force, gradually lifting off the ground and turning into a mass of pitch-black, flowing shadow, then like twisted liquid, it formed into a peculiar suit of black fur armor!
A monster covered in black fur swung a fist the size of a pot at him!
Burst. Upwards Slash!
Chen Qi drew his black blade in one swift motion and slashed upwards, bisecting the shadow creature at the waist.
Accompanied by black blood spilling onto the ground... Chen Qi silently struck another blow behind him, defeating another shadow monster.
Immediately afterward, shadows started to appear on three other people as well.
As they ran, they shouted loudly:
"Black Gloves won't let you off, Black Whale won't..."
Slash!
Chen Qi didn't give them time to speak. He quickly advanced and cut down the three monsters created by Black Gloves.
With each raise and fall of his blade, blood sprayed, and these shadow monsters became corpses on the ground.
So weak... Chen Qi couldn't help but feel disappointed.
He had thought they were weak, but he hadn't expected them to be even weaker than he had imagined.
Not a single one could withstand a single blow.
The other laborers looked towards Chen Qi, their faces filled with terror.
"Don't move, take a break, and rest assured, I won't hurt you..."
Task complete! Chen Qi crouched down to examine the corpses.
Although he had completed his task, he faintly sensed something amiss.
These people were weak, too weak, unusually so—
Their bodies' strength was even inferior to that of a First Order book-affinity Transcendent.
Most of their bodies were frail, and usually, the stronger the spiritual power field, the stronger the power.
Moreover, the pitch-black shadows on their bodies seemed to be shapeable...
A Second-tier shadow-affinity Transcendent's shadow disguise technique? Chen Qi couldn't help but think.
This Transcendent Skill could change one's height and appearance, considered a fairly practical ability.
However, these people clearly didn't have the spiritual power field or strength of Second-tier.
And the price of their power was their weak spiritual power field.
These people, they could conceal their spiritual power while changing their appearance?
A special Transcendent, dedicated to hiding spiritual power and identity. In terms of rarity, they might surpass common combat Transcendents.
After all, few would pay attention to a person with a weak spiritual power field.
Such Transcendents were exceedingly rare.
Even among Black Gloves' subordinates, there definitely wouldn't be more than ten.
And here, there were no less than five such Transcendents!
Quite the expenditure... Chen Qi turned to the labor foreman nearby:
"When did these few people come? And what were they doing?"
The labor foreman hesitated to answer:
"About three months ago, I think. They were mainly responsible for transporting goods, very diligent. They have wives to support at home and are honest folk. We really don't know anything..."
```
The foreman of the porters seemed to shrink in on himself, terrified that Chen Qi would cut him down.
Three months ago?
Chen Qi stroked his chin and asked,
"What kind of wine were they transporting?"
"Flower wine… the wine that's reserved for distinguished guests…"
Chen Qi suddenly felt a chill.
Before, on Fenrir's ship, Fenrir had offered him plenty of wine.
I haven't been poisoned, have I?
In the Witch Sea, there are some extremely special poisons.
"Let me see the wine they were transporting."
"Okay, okay, this is what they just brought in."
The porter handed a barrel filled with flower wine to Chen Qi.
Chen Qi took a bottle of wine out of the barrel and then carefully examined it.
Inside the bottle, there were some tiny black hair-like pieces floating around, but as time passed, these black pieces were dissolving continuously and slowly disappearing into the wine.
From the outside, there appeared to be nothing wrong!
They disappeared so quickly… Chen Qi was startled.
"This wine? Is it for the ships?"
Chen Qi confirmed once again.
"Yes, yes…"
The porter stuttered.
These poisons must be the creation of some special crack.
The people from the Black Whale Group had actually infiltrated the winery and poisoned it.
And they had been doing it for a full three months!
This task he was on seemed to have snagged a big fish!
Chen Qi stood up and rubbed his hands together.
Typically, poisons of this invisible kind wouldn't be too potent.
And with Pharmacist Flower Witch at Chen Qi's back, even if he were to be afflicted with a potent poison, it wouldn't be a big problem.
As long as he still had a breath left, Flower Witch could save him!
But for the Blood Blade Pirate Group, this was a fatal blow.
Chen Qi took two bottles of the wine, planning to go back and request Flower Witch's help:
"I understand now."
Then, after confirming there was no other business, he instructed the winery staff to deal with the matter and to disguise it.
This was more important than he had imagined.
Discover stories at empire
To prevent any major figures from getting involved… Chen Qi left the winery as quickly as possible.
After Chen Qi departed, the plump security chief was incredulous.
At this time, when the Blood Blade Pirate Group was without a leader, someone actually came to their winery and uncovered the Black Whale Group's scheme.
In terms of efficiency, it was nothing like their Blood Blade Pirate Group!
The guard looked at the many barrels of flower wine in the warehouse.
Consider that these were destined for the officers' ships!
If it weren't for that person, this wine was meant to be sent to the frontline!
If the frontline had drunk this wine! The consequences would be unimaginable!
"Who is this Levin under exactly!"
The security chief couldn't help but marvel, immediately walked to the security room, and activated the radio communication device.
"Hello, is this Lord Fenrir? I have an urgent matter to report."
The security chief was very anxious.
Unexpectedly, the voice on the other end was very soft.
"No, I am Lady Blood."
"Lady Blood?"
Lady Blood! The security chief was jolted with surprise; the wife of the current leader of the Blood Blade Pirate Group was actually together with Lord Fenrir.
...
...
At dusk, the docks of Black Mine City were draped in a tender golden glow, as if gently caressed by time, appearing exceptionally tranquil and serene.
"Phew… task completed… so tired…"
Chen Qi stretched his weary body, heading towards his cabin ship.
He had completed the mission too quickly; it would be best to wait another day for things to ferment before seeking out Grey Rat for the mission reward.
On the ship, the cloaked Flower Witch sniffed the air, then lowered her head to look into the distance.
It's Chen Qi's scent!
"Welcome back, Qi!"
Flower Witch immediately leaped from the ship, waving and smiling at Chen Qi.
"Mm."
Chen Qi walked forward.
But the moment he approached Flower Witch, Chen Qi noticed her cloak begin to wriggle frantically.
"??"
A faint smile appeared on the Flower Witch's lips.
Something isn't quite right… Chen Qi paused in his steps.
Something was very off, incredibly, it was off by a factor of eleven!
The undulation of Flower Witch's cloak, wasn't it a bit too violent?
And he faintly heard the screams of the Water Elves…