Book 3: Chapter 36: Betrayal

Hearing Matthew’s call, the Japanese girl hesitated for only a few seconds before obeying. Junko wasn’t a fool—if she had survived the novice stage, she understood that most of their progress was due to Matthew’s planning, unlike Jote who claimed half the credit. She knew Jote had simply executed the plans well.

Most importantly, Junko’s Soul Mark had received the prompt that the hidden Plot Mission was completed. Before using the Phantom Demon Pearl, Matthew had submitted the hidden Plot Mission. Except for Jote who was kicked out of the team, both she and Matthew had completed this hidden Plot Mission.

However, if Matthew merged the Phantom Demon Pearl into his Law Body, there would definitely be no Faction Reputation points to exchange afterwards. The Japanese girl was actually quite satisfied with completing this highly rewarding hidden mission—she wasn’t as greedy as Jote.

In Junko’s view, intercepting Jote was within her capabilities, and Jote’s behavior was truly disgusting. Since Matthew still saw her as a companion, she naturally should cooperate with him to kill Jote. As for whether Matthew would share some of the spoils with her later, the Japanese girl had no such expectations. She only hoped that showing loyalty now would allow her to remain in this temporary team.

The fights between primary Reincarnators hadn’t yet transcended the scope of ordinary martial artists. Jote’s weapon was a butterfly knife, and from his skilled knife techniques, it seemed he had been a good knife fighter even before becoming a Reincarnator. The Japanese girl fought empty-handed, but she was agile and nimble, seeming to have some proficiency in both karate and judo.

“Junko, don’t you understand yet? Matthew is just using us. He won’t stay as our teammate forever. He’ll abandon us sooner or later, just like kicking away a dog that has lost its value.”

Veins bulged on Jote’s neck as he grew frantic. Junko was very cautious, constantly moving around and never engaging him in close combat. Without being able to inflict serious injury on the Japanese girl, he couldn’t break free from her harassment.

“I’m not as greedy as you. Matthew planned the whole operation. Even if he takes the lion’s share, I have no objections.” Junko rolled her eyes and said coldly, “Without Matthew’s strategies, we wouldn’t even have made it into the Undersea Temple. We’d probably be struggling to survive in Paris like those novices.”

“So what! Junko, you’re too naive. In the Superstring Space, besides ourselves, there’s no one we can rely on.” Jote said fiercely, “As long as we’re strong enough, we can join established strong teams like the Fūma Group. There’s no need to follow Matthew at all…”

“Joining an established strong team—is that your new plan?” A low voice came from behind Jote.

“What is that… Matthew?” Jote spun around like a whirlwind. When he saw what stood behind him, his pupils couldn’t help but contract.

Under the bright lights of the dock square, a monster over two meters tall stood quietly not far behind Jote. The monster had a pig’s head and a human body, covered in white bristles. The muscles on its arms were prominent, its fingers thick and short, with nails black and yellow like rake prongs. Two sharp tusks protruded from its lips, exposed to the air.

“Matthew? You completed the bloodline transformation!” Junko blinked, looking the humanoid monster up and down, and asked softly, “Your current appearance isn’t very nice!”

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t expect that bloodline serum to be mixed with wild boar genes!” Matthew rubbed his pig face, grinned, and clenched his fist fiercely. “But it feels so good to have power!”

“I originally thought it would take at least 10 minutes, but Gadurot’s Phantom Demon Pearl sped up the transformation!” Matthew’s figure suddenly moved. He raised his arms in front of him and charged towards Jote like a wild bull. “Junko, you can step back now. Let me deal with this traitor!”

Matthew’s charge wasn’t very fast, yet Jote felt his body immobilized by a force of energy, making it temporarily impossible for him to evade.

“Bang!” When he was still two meters away from Jote, Matthew suddenly lowered his body, dropped to all fours, and lunged forward, hitting Jote’s abdomen hard with his head. Then he jerked his head up, using his long tusks to hook the enemy’s crotch and fling him into the air.

“I hate the skill that comes with this bloodline!” After tossing his opponent, Matthew stood up and muttered.

Many low-level bloodlines leave biological genetic instincts in the genes—these are the skills inherent to the bloodline. Matthew’s “Wild Boar Charge” just now belonged to this category. When activated, this skill could use energy to restrain and delay the target’s evasion reaction within a certain range, making it a good control-type attack skill. The only drawback was that the action looked too unsightly.

“Pfft!” Jote felt the world spinning. His spine hurt so much it felt like it was about to break, and he couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

Looking at Matthew who was approaching him again, Jote tried to push himself up a few times but still couldn’t rise. He had completely lost sensation below his hips—it seemed his spine was seriously injured. Despair instantly showed on his face.

“Boss Matthew, you’ve won. The Dark Gold Equipment is yours. Please spare me!” Jote gasped rapidly a few times and lay on the ground as if accepting his fate.

“Hmph!” A cold smile appeared on Matthew’s pig face. He lifted Jote from the ground with one hand.

“Bang!” Matthew punched Jote’s abdomen again. “At this point, how can I possibly let you go!”

“Heh heh, my life isn’t worth a piece of Dark Gold Equipment. Boss Matthew is so smart, you’ll definitely make the right choice!” Blood trickled from the corner of Jote’s mouth as he laughed strangely.

“My current choice is the right one!”

“Crunch!” Matthew grinned ferociously and twisted Jote’s neck. Staring into Jote’s wide-open, unseeing eyes, he said, “We’ve already used up all our recovery items. On your body, including that newly acquired Dark Gold item, there are only four pieces of Reincarnator equipment in total. The Bloody Cube can be drawn two to three times. If I still don’t get that Dark Gold Equipment after all that, then I’ll just admit I’m unlucky!”

Yoshida Junko watched quietly from the side. Suddenly, a strong light dazzled the corner of her eye, and she instinctively turned to look at the other end of the battlefield. That corner only had a pile of scattered sandbags and discarded wooden crates. The Japanese girl scoffed at herself and was about to turn back when her pupils contracted—she saw what seemed to be some words carved on one of the wooden crates…

Matthew threw aside Jote’s corpse and took the Bloody Cube floating in the air, his eyes flickering slightly.

“Junko, we… Huh? Junko?” Matthew turned around and found that the Japanese girl wasn’t waiting for him in place. She had gone somewhere, and he frowned slightly.

“Matthew, I’m over here!” Just as Matthew was puzzled, he saw Yoshida Junko leaning over the ship’s rail, peeking out from the sole remaining Phantom Demon battleship in the dock square, waving at him. “I think we should search this abandoned Phantom Demon battleship. We might get some rewards!”

“Okay!” Matthew smiled faintly and ran quickly towards the battleship, though he didn’t hold much expectation inwardly. Based on his judgment, this ship was unlikely to yield much. Still, they had enough time, so searching it wouldn’t hurt.

“Jote is dead. You should cancel the bloodline change now. This appearance is too ugly!” Junko waved her hand, a slight smile appearing on her cold face.

“Haha, I still need to get used to this new body. I’m not a woman—what do I need a pretty image for?” Matthew shook his pig head with a light laugh.

“Suit yourself then! But don’t get too close to me looking like that. I’ll search the bow; you search the stern!” Junko said jokingly, but as soon as she turned around, her smile vanished, replaced by a trace of seriousness. Her nails dug into her palm, drawing a trickle of blood.

“Junko, I’m done searching. Nothing good. How about your side?” Matthew’s voice soon called from outside the ship.

“He finished in less than two minutes?” Junko dropped the wooden crate lid she was holding, her mind blank for a moment. Then, as if remembering something, she jolted and called out loudly, “Matthew, wait a moment longer, I’ll be right out!”

“Junko, come out quickly. We don’t have much time left. If we don’t leave the Undersea Temple soon, it’ll be dangerous.” Matthew stood outside the ship, touching the slowly receding bristles on his arm, and shouted somewhat anxiously.

“I’m coming!” This time, Junko didn’t delay any longer. She quickly walked out of the cabin, grabbed the ship’s rail, and jumped down. She staggered upon landing, almost falling flat on her face.

“Haha, you’re so clumsy!” Matthew reached out and helped the Japanese girl up. Seeing her pale face, he teased, “You look a bit unwell. Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go. Let’s leave this place!” Junko took a deep breath and walked quickly towards the exit passage of the dock square.

“Okay!” Matthew agreed and strode after Junko. A strange smile suddenly appeared on his face. He gently raised his hand and thrust it sharply towards the back of the Japanese girl’s neck. His sharp nails looked exceptionally terrifying under the light.

Junko, walking ahead, suddenly crouched down. As if foreseeing the attack, she rolled on the ground, avoiding Matthew’s seemingly certain strike. After getting up, Junko didn’t look back. She ran rapidly in a zigzag pattern towards the edge of the square. Only when she reached the piles of wooden crates did she stop, turn around, and look at Matthew who was chasing her.

“Why?” the Japanese girl asked with a bitter laugh.

Matthew remained silent, his face dark as he continued to pounce towards her. Junko gritted her teeth fiercely and kept circling around the wooden crates, refusing to engage Matthew in combat.

After chasing for a while without catching her, Matthew’s face showed anger. He roared at Junko, “You can’t escape! You can only end this by killing me. Come on, fight bravely!”

“Willing to talk now?” Junko said coldly. “Is your bloodline transformation time about to end?”

Matthew jolted all over, narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked cautiously, “You know?”

“Someone told me that a smart person like you, with a 100% chance to get Dark Gold Equipment, would never gamble on the Bloody Cube just for revenge—unless killing Jote could bring greater benefits.” Junko said expressionlessly.

“He also told me that if you didn’t cancel the bloodline transformation after killing Jote, there was over a 90% chance you would attack me too. I just didn’t dare to believe it…” For the first time, Junko’s cold, beautiful face lost its composure. She shouted agitatedly, “Tell me why!”

“Someone told you…” Matthew’s face finally changed dramatically. He nervously looked around.