America: The Cremator

Chapter 163 Dance to your heart's content, Miss Zena!

Looking at the light blue system notification box, Su Long sneered and repeated, "Speedboat 0837, full of fuel, can go directly to St. Thomas Island."

Zena nodded repeatedly, a glimmer of hope in her eyes: "Yes! Yes! As long as you let me go, that ship is yours!"

You will all leave here alive!

"What a perfect escape plan." Su Long sighed, then his face suddenly darkened. "Unfortunately, I don't really like watching fireworks in the middle of the sea."

Zena's expression froze abruptly, her face turning deathly pale. Just as she was about to speak in defense, Su Long's left hand shot out with lightning speed, grabbing Zena's collar and lifting her into the air.

Ignoring Zena's panicked struggles and screams, Su Long reached his right hand directly into the inside of her shirt, roughly tore open the close-fitting fabric, and began to grope in the lining of the lampshade without expression.

Soon, his fingertips touched a hard object, he pinched it, and pulled hard. An electronic key with a special anchor logo appeared in his palm.

He held the key up to her eyes, staring into Zena's terrified eyes, and said, slowly and deliberately, "Let me guess, this is the real key to the secure speedboat, isn't it, Miss Zena?"

Zena's face turned ashen, and she shook her head frantically, stammering incoherently, "No! No! That's just my personal locker key! Speedboat 0837 is the real one! Believe me, I'm really not lying to you!"

Su Long scoffed, mercilessly piercing her last pretense: "Speedboat 0837?"

"Let me guess, perhaps the ship's fuel tanks are already filled with high explosives, and it will automatically detonate once it sails more than two nautical miles away from the island?"

"You never intended for us to leave alive, did you?"

"I'm trying to use a false intelligence to save your life. Once we're out at sea with that bomb ship, you can completely eliminate these threats and also curry favor with Epstein and Garrison."

"As for the truly safe ships, they are actually hidden in a closed dock behind the port, and the key to start those ships is this one."

Su Long chuckled a few times and sincerely praised, "You've certainly got a good plan, Inspector Zena. Your professionalism in not forgetting to trick others and curry favor with your master even on your deathbed is truly an eye-opener."

"But wanting both is unrealistic~"

Zena was completely devastated. She couldn't understand how Su Long knew about these top-secret information that even the Blackwater mercenaries didn't know.

"Devil—you are a devil!" Zena screamed hysterically, her legs kicking wildly in the air. She had completely lost her mind and kept repeating the words.

Su Long released his left hand and casually threw her to the ground. Zena slammed heavily onto the steel plate and cried out in pain.

Su Long dusted off his hands and looked at her coldly: "I don't consider myself a chivalrous person, nor a sadistic killer."

"But you've repeatedly plotted against me, treating us examinees like free expendable resources. Even now, with death looming, you still show no remorse, trying to trick me into going with a bomb ship. Since you like hell so much, I'll just have to send you down there myself."

.

Ignoring the excruciating pain, Zena suddenly rolled over and knelt on the ground, clutching Surong's tactical boots tightly with both hands, sobbing and pleading, "I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! Please, please let me go! I can give you money! I can go back to the station and testify against Garrison for you! I'll do anything!"

Su Long kicked her away, his eyes devoid of any pity, and calmly pronounced her death sentence: "You don't know you're wrong, you know you're going to die."

After saying that, Su Long slowly raised his right hand, and the anti-slip steel plate under his feet immediately emitted a dull mechanical roar. Then, the bulkhead of the crematorium rose up from the ground, trapping Zena tightly in the center.

Unlike the previous fully enclosed crematorium, the front of the raised bulkhead this time was a single piece of thick, transparent, high-strength, high-temperature resistant glass.

Zena was forcibly restrained in the very center of the crematorium, forced to stand upright like a roast duck hanging in an oven, completely unable to move.

Su Long stood outside the glass window, looking at Zena's face filled with despair inside, and chuckled, "Dance gracefully, Miss Zena."

"boom!"

A devastating purple-gold flame erupted from the bottom of the furnace, instantly climbing up her calves and spreading upwards until her entire body was engulfed in flames. Zena's clothes were burned away, and her flesh rapidly charred under the intense heat, emitting a nauseating burnt smell.

The intense pain acted directly on her nerves, and Zena opened her mouth wide, letting out a scream that was extremely shrill.

Her legs twitched and leaped wildly, trying to avoid the rising flames beneath her feet, but to no avail. Her movements were comical and distorted, like a frenzied dance of death.

Three minutes later, the bizarre support bureau inspector was completely reduced to ashes in the transparent crematorium.

A flash of blue light appeared on Su Long's retina, and a familiar system notification popped up.

[Burning the corpses of elite bureaucrats grants 5 experience points.]

[Obtain the entry - Master of Lies!]

Su Long raised an eyebrow slightly. He hadn't expected that this Zena, who looked so vulnerable, could actually provide a full 5 experience points, and even had an additional attribute. Considering the mercenaries he had just hired, this wave of experience gain was quite considerable.

He casually waved his hand in mid-air, and the massive trillion-cremation furnace domain began to collapse and dissipate, allowing everyone to return to the bunker exit.

As the area dissipated, a sudden "snowfall" began to fall from the sky.

Unlike the gray-black embers brought by the sheep demon servants before, these white ashes were fine and light, dancing in the sea breeze, looking just like real snow.

Hannah, clutching the Bible, nervously glanced around before rushing to Suron, asking in confusion, "Suron, where are the others? Where did they go?"

Surong brushed the white ash that had fallen onto his sleeve and said in a relaxed tone, "They? I've taken them to play with Baphomet."

Hannah paused, looked down at the thin layer of frost-like ash covering the ground, and unconsciously swallowed.

She knew Su Long was very strong, but the fact that he could burn more than thirty armed men to ashes in just a few minutes still greatly shocked her.

Hedley walked over to Suron and asked, "Where's Zena? She should know quite a bit about this."

"We burned it all together," Surong replied casually, then changed the subject, "But before burning her, I had already gotten all the information I needed to know."

Su Long looked at everyone and recounted the information he had obtained from Zena in its entirety, omitting only the parts about the system and the activation of the terms.

When they heard that Epstein and Garrison had colluded to trick them, the test takers, into becoming free cleaners, and even planned to kill them all as sacrifices afterward, everyone's faces turned extremely ugly.

Evan punched a nearby tree, gritting his teeth and cursing, "These bastards! Treating us like expendable resources? I've never suffered such a loss in my entire life!"

Lia stood beside her brother, not saying a word, but the murderous intent in her eyes, as she gripped the specially made long whip tightly, spoke volumes.

Isaac toyed with the horn in his hand, sneered, and said in a hoarse voice, "I've seen plenty of collusion between the powerful and the businessmen. Treating human lives as numbers to cover up their mistakes is indeed their usual trick, but they've chosen the wrong target when they're targeting us."

Hedley snorted coldly, elegantly adjusted her black velvet gloves, and calmly said, "Garrison is in Seattle. Once the relevant evidence has been collected, the Campbell family's legal team and law enforcement team will visit him in person."

"Does the chairman of an evaluation committee really think he can control everything in the Witcher world?"

She paused, her brow furrowing slightly, and continued, "As for this Epstein—he has a complex web of interests behind him, and moving one part can have far-reaching consequences. Although the Campbell family is not afraid of him, they cannot take immediate action against him and need to slowly gather solid evidence."

Su Long wasn't interested in any of this, nor was it something he should be concerned with. So he waved the electronic key in front of everyone and urged, "We can talk about revenge later. The most important thing now is to get out of here."

"This is Epstein's home turf after all. The news of the annihilation of that mercenary squad won't stay hidden for long. Who knows what other tricks he has up his sleeve on this island, or whether he'll send other troops over?"

He twirled the key between his fingers and held it in his palm: "Zena told us that there is a closed dock behind the port on the east side of the island, where a truly safe speedboat is moored. We'll go to the port now, get on the boat, and head straight to St. Thomas Island."

Hannah immediately nodded in agreement; she didn't want to stay on the island for even a second longer.

Evan slung his longbow back over his shoulder and dusted himself off. "Let's go. I'll scout ahead."

Su Long nodded, and just as he was about to turn around, a sharp, intense pain suddenly exploded in his mind. A strong sense of dizziness, accompanied by churning stomach cramps, rushed straight to his throat without warning.

"vomit"

Su Long's legs went weak, and he knelt down at the entrance of the bunker, retching incessantly.

Hannah was startled by the sudden turn of events. She quickly knelt down, gently patting his back as she anxiously asked, "Suron! What's wrong?"

Hedley leaned down to examine Su Long's face and said, "These are symptoms of severe mental exhaustion. You just unlocked the Holy Domain, and in such a short time, you used it twice in a row, and both times it was at a high intensity."

She paused for a moment, then advised, "The Sanctuary is indeed the exorcist's most powerful trump card. It can forcibly drag other creatures into your rules, but you must understand that the number and size of these dragged-in creatures, as well as the area that the Sanctuary can cover, will all be a burden on the exorcist."

"No matter how powerful the supernatural force or how skilled the exorcist, it is impossible to create a domain that would drag all living beings on Earth into it, because forcibly altering the physical and spiritual rules of the real world requires an unimaginable amount of mental energy to support it."

"It's already a miracle that you were able to support two such grand manifestations of rules in the very early stages of your awakening. But the price of this miracle is that your brain is now on the verge of collapse."

Listening to Hedley's analysis, Su Long smiled bitterly to himself. He originally thought that his 50 points of mental attribute would be enough to support him to squander it recklessly in the domain.

After all, he only felt slightly strained when facing Baphomet, but now it seems that although the system's values ​​are powerful, the domain's consumption is increasing exponentially.

After fighting the A-level monster Baphomet, his mental strength had already been greatly depleted. At this point, let alone fighting another A-level monster, he would be struggling to fight 30 mercenaries.

Su Long took a deep breath, unfastened the "Raphael" from his waist, and took a big gulp of the wine inside. The mild and pure spiritual wine quickly spread in his stomach, and the stinging sensation in his brain was immediately relieved by more than half.

A few seconds later, the sharp stinging sensation completely dissipated, the distorted vision refocused, and the nausea that threatened to make me faint was finally suppressed.

Su Long let out a long sigh of relief, slowly stood up with his hands supporting his knees, rubbed his temples, and said with a touch of self-deprecation, "It seems that I still can't use the power of my domain too often."

However, this is understandable.

After all, having gained new power, everyone wants to test it out.

For example, there was a young man surnamed Uchiha who awakened a very powerful eye ability. After that, he would even glare at dogs on the street. As a result, he used his ultimate move as a normal attack every day, and before long, he went blind.

I can't be as reckless as him; I need to take better care of my brain and domain abilities.

Su Long clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back: "Alright, enough chit-chat, let's go, let's head to the port."

The group quickly organized their equipment, left the bunker exit, and advanced rapidly towards the port on the east side of the island along the hidden paths.

The morning sea breeze, carrying a heavy dampness and a salty smell, swept over us, dispersing the lingering white dust in the air.

The island remained deathly silent. The low-level monsters and mutated corpses that had previously ravaged the island seemed to have been frightened into hiding by the powerful demonic aura that Baphomet brought with him.

They traveled smoothly without encountering any obstacles.

Su Long walked at the front of the group, his spiritual vision constantly activated. His gaze swept over the dense bushes on both sides and the shadows of buildings in the distance, keeping a watchful eye on any possible ambush.

Although Zena has been burned to ashes and Epstein's trump cards have been almost completely exposed, in this critical moment, the calmer things are, the less we should let our guard down.

Twenty minutes later, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks gradually became clearer. After passing through a windbreak forest, the private harbor on the east side of the island suddenly appeared before everyone's eyes.

The air above the harbor pier was quiet, with only a few seabirds perched on the wooden posts preening their feathers.

Only after confirming that the camp was empty did Su Long breathe a sigh of relief.

Logically, armed personnel should have been stationed at the port, but Zena was clearly worried that there wouldn't be enough manpower to defeat these exorcists, so she chose to bring all her members with her.

As the group entered the harbor, a white heavy speedboat was quietly moored on the left side of the pier, its hull painted with the number "0837" in striking black paint.

With the information that Su Long had just shared, everyone knew that it was a suicide ship loaded with explosives, so they ignored it and looked past the pier to a huge silver-gray building behind the port.

It was a completely enclosed, independent dock, with huge metal roller shutters tightly shut, and red lights on the access control system flashing in the dim morning light.

"Let's go, the real treasure is hidden inside."

With that, Su Long strode toward the enclosed dock, and the others followed closely behind.

Upon arriving at the access control system, Su Long placed the electronic key with the anchor symbol on the sensor area.

"drop""

A crisp electronic sound rang out, and the red light instantly turned green.

With a low hum of an electric motor, the massive metal roller shutter slowly rolled up, and a faint smell of machine oil mixed with the scent of seawater wafted out from inside the dock.

When the roller shutter door was fully raised, revealing the enormous object inside, even the well-informed Evan couldn't help but whistle.

Moored in the dock's water tank was a luxurious speedboat, entirely black with an aggressive design. Its streamlined hull featured a stealth coating, and five high-horsepower engines were mounted at the stern.

Once this thing gets going, ordinary coast guard patrol boats can't even catch its wake.

"It seems Epstein is quite willing to spend money to escape," Isaac commented, looking at the interceptor.

"Now, it's ours."

After saying that, Su Long boarded the speedboat first, and the others followed closely behind.

It wasn't until he was fully aboard the speedboat, looking at the densely packed buttons and joysticks on the main control panel, that Su Long realized a problem.

He weighed the electronic key in his hand, then withdrew the light from the massive, black vessel, turning to the group behind him: "Alright, guys, we have a new problem now. Who among you knows how to operate this thing?"

Evan shrugged and answered bluntly, "I only know how to drive the beat-up pickup trucks on farms. The dashboard on those things probably has more buttons than I've ever seen in all of them combined."

Isaac shook his head helplessly. He couldn't even put on a headset properly, let alone drive a speedboat.

Surong looked around and, seeing no one respond, was about to go up and investigate himself when Hannah, standing behind the group, suddenly raised her hand and whispered, "Um—I, I know a little."

All eyes immediately turned to her. Hannah felt a little uncomfortable being stared at and quickly explained, "I used to work as a temporary dockworker for a while to earn tuition fees. I did some work docking cruise ships and speedboats. Although I've never driven anything this high-end, the basic operating principles should be similar."

Seeing her flustered expression, Su Long chuckled softly, "Why am I not surprised at all?"

From gun maintenance and first aid to speedboat driving, Hannah truly deserves the title of "Queen of Hired Managers."

Suron stepped aside, making way for the passage to the cockpit, and gestured for it to proceed: "Then it's up to you, Captain Hannah."

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