Chapter 42: The Narcissistic Intelligence Chief

Damien looked at Robin with eyes full of admiration.

As expected of a holder of the Silver Wing Medal; both the assassin and Matthew had undergone rigorous training and yet failed to detect him, but Robin had.

"No wait, you're my superior officer, why would you..." Robin frowned as he looked at him. "Hold on, this identification proves nothing! Who on earth are you? What is your conspiracy?"

"Conspiracy?" Damien smiled and shook his head. "I've knocked out everyone else, and you are in my hands too. With absolute strength, is there any need for a conspiracy? If I wanted to capture you alive, I could have easily knocked you out and carried you away. If I wanted to kill you, it would be just a flick of the finger."

"Hah, could it be that you're trying to win my trust first, and then trick me into giving up the code to the acoustic telegraph?" Robin sneered. "Or perhaps make me pass false information to the Black Mountain Army..."

"Ha, quite cautious, aren't you?"

Damien released Robin and said, "Alright, to prove myself to you, I'll go wake one of them up."

"Don't do anything foolish. You should be able to tell by now just how vast the gap is between the two of us."

With that, Damien led Robin toward Matthew's room.

Robin remained extremely vigilant, his eyes darting around as if searching for a gun or something similar.

Damien felt a helpless amusement, yet his appreciation for Robin grew even deeper.

To still be thinking of a counterattack in a desperate situation was a quality not found in ordinary people. Unlike that fool Matthew, whose first thought in any desperate situation was self-sacrifice.

Soon, the two arrived at Matthew's room.

Damien hadn't used any sleeping pills on Matthew; the latter was currently hooked up to a ventilator, sleeping soundly.

"Oh, my foolish student, none of you noticed me being in here for so long. Have all the things I taught you been fed to the curly-haired baboons?"

"Well, you're concussed, so that's somewhat excusable. What about the others? What a completely hopeless bunch."

"If not for me, the Grand Duke's intelligence department would be riddled with holes!"

"Sigh... I suppose I shouldn't blame you all for being utterly useless. I can only say that I am simply too brilliant."

Damien seemed to be talking to himself.

Robin's mouth twitched. The slightly chuunibyou style of Matthew's intelligence reports—could it be that he was influenced by this guy?

Finished speaking, Damien shook Matthew.

Slowly, Matthew opened his eyes and looked blankly at Damien.

Taking advantage of the moment, Damien removed his mask.

Seeing that face clearly, Matthew was utterly shocked. "Teacher, why are you here? Wait, where is this?"

"You're still in the basement of the café," Damien said with a smiling expression.

"Teacher, I..."

"Alright, you're injured right now and need to recuperate. Just rest." With that, Damien pressed a spot on Matthew's neck, and he promptly drifted back to sleep.

"Well? Do you believe me now?"

Damien turned back to look at Robin.

"Forty percent," Robin replied indifferently. "How would I know if you haven't used some mental-type extraordinary trait or disguised yourself to look like his teacher?"

"You..." Damien felt a slight headache coming on. "What will it take for you to believe me?"

"As long as you don't make me talk about the Black Mountain Army, and don't ask for any intelligence regarding them, I can temporarily believe you."

"Fine." Seeing that he wouldn't need to knock Robin out and drag him along, Damien felt quite relieved. Otherwise, dragging an unconscious person along the road would have been rather lonely.

"I'm curious, how did you discover me?" Damien looked the war hero up and down.

"Do you think I'll tell you?"

"It must have something to do with an extraordinary trait, right? I certainly didn't trigger any traps." Damien didn't seem to take it to heart. "Ha, I've noticed that many people who awaken extraordinary traits think they are the center of the world, the protagonists in plays and novels."

"If it were five hundred years ago, thinking like that wouldn't be a problem at all. But nowadays... transcendent individuals aren't as powerful as you might imagine."

Robin desperately wanted to retort.

Damn it, not powerful?

Infiltrating soundlessly—even with full knowledge of the terrain, personnel, and layout here, relying purely on normal personal capability would never achieve this.

Although transcendents had experienced two rounds of nerfs, much like certain game champions, a nerfed transcendent was still a transcendent.

These transcendents weren't terrifying on a battlefield, because no matter how fast this guy in front of him was, he couldn't reach the level of Quicksilver or the Flash; under a barrage of heavy firepower, he would still be riddled with holes.

However, for a person like this to carry out assassinations and intelligence work in an urban environment—their utility was simply immeasurable.

Come to think of it, a B-minus agility rating made this man the intelligence chief under the Grand Duke. That meant the identity of that fellow Wade earlier probably wasn't simple either.

Robin had looked at the business card Wade left him; business cards in this era didn't have phone numbers, only a location where he could be found.

"Alright, let's go." Damien took out paper and pen, wrote a letter, and left it by Matthew's bedside.

"Let them have a good sleep."

"Once the Grand Duke takes Volsini City, they won't be getting a good night's sleep for a while."

Watching Damien's expression and listening to his words, Robin suddenly thought of a certain internet meme.

What was the most terrifying thing about standing guard in the military?

When the sentry woke up from sleep, only to find himself covered in an officer's overcoat adorned with wheat-sheaf and star insignia, a vigorous old man holding his rifle and standing guard in his place, while the regimental commander, company commander, and various other officers were doing push-ups nearby...

...

As Damien escorted Robin away, Robin finally learned the man's extraordinary trait.

[Extraordinary Trait: Dark Walker]
[Dark Walker: Conceals oneself within the darkness, making it extremely difficult to be noticed. Combat effectiveness increases during the night. Can carry a person weighing no more than three hundred pounds into the shadows; can carry a maximum of two people.]

This extraordinary trait possessed unparalleled advantages in both intelligence gathering and assassination.

Coupled with a B-minus agility rating, this man truly deserved his current position and status.

Soon, Damien brought Robin to the roof of a six-story building.

The guards patrolling on the rooftop seemed completely blind at this moment, paying zero attention to the two of them.

Looking down from the building, the blood of the protesting crowds had already cooled down. Even if it hadn't cooled, they were exhausted, injured, and terrified.

The number of people still protesting on the streets was now extremely small. Guards and soldiers, armed with riot shields and batons, were driving the remaining civilians away.

Bang, bang...

Watching those batons relentlessly slam down onto human bodies, Robin couldn't help but feel a shiver in his heart.

Because Marquis Hyde had rushed to the front lines immediately after Grand Duke Benito dispatched his troops, Volsini City had been left without leadership, prompting the Marquis's second son to take charge of affairs within the city.

The second son took command of military affairs within the city, joining forces with the security bureau to suppress the ongoing civilian unrest.

A portion of the people had been dragged into prisons, while a small minority had been beaten to death or trampled to death.

Just as Marquis Hyde had anticipated, as long as they spilled blood and made arrests, it would disperse the majority of the crowd—or at least temporarily quell the riot.

"Do you think what the Grand Duke is doing is right?" Damien suddenly asked Robin.