Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 224

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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224. Intelligence of Repayment
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“How have you been?”
Even as I tried to steer toward the main point, he asked after my well-being. Given how crude he could be, he might not have understood my intent.
Yet the way he looked straight ahead while glancing sideways suggested he understood perfectly well.
Something was there. My meeting with Liu Zhen had ended well enough for me—or rather, somewhat worryingly—but our relationship wasn’t bad.
Still, he wasn’t the type to contact me without reason. There had to be something.
“Yeah. I’ve been doing well. How about you?”
I decided to play along for now.
“I’m trying to do well.”
Liu Zhen nodded, his face bearing traces of fatigue. How should I put it? There was a sense of effort in his expression.
Trying to do well. Naturally, my thoughts drifted to his ambitions regarding a coup. How was that progressing?
It would be difficult. Realistically, it was still impossible. After our sparring match, I’d heard that Liu Zhen, who had been somewhat arrogant before, was training harder.
As the previous record holder, his level had risen considerably.
‘But he’s nowhere near my level.’
No matter how much Liu Zhen now thought of himself as a swordsman or viewed China’s Advance Team as a rotting Murim Alliance, realizing a coup according to plan would be impossible.
I’d heard that the Advance Teams across the world had accelerated their level growth due to my emergence.
Being chased so fiercely from behind meant they were forced to enter Gates more frequently. Of course, casualties had increased accordingly, but that wasn’t my fault.
There was quite a gap between Liu Zhen and the Advance Team that controlled China’s political power.
‘The circumstances are different too.’
The reason the previous Chinese coup had been possible was partly due to the conflict between non-awakened politicians and awakeners. If the rumor about American assistance was true, their intelligence network must have been compromised as well.
Fighting against the Chinese Advance Team, which had seized power and greedily consumed elixirs and items, was disadvantageous for Liu Zhen.
So that suspicion arose.
Could it be that he’d contacted me to ask for help with that?
-Crackle!
Then the connection experienced a brief disruption. The call cut off momentarily before reconnecting in less than a second.
But Liu Zhen’s expression had changed from before.
“I can’t talk long. This time was hard to arrange.”
Was he really asking me to help with the Chinese coup? I had no intention of participating in such madness.
I struck first before he could speak.
“I can’t help with your side’s affairs.”
“What are you talking about?”
Liu Zhen tilted his head in confusion. Was I wrong?
“Assassins are coming.”
“Assassins?”
What nonsense was this? This wasn’t a martial arts novel. Assassins?
“They’re a group made by gathering high-level Rogues who follow the Chinese Government’s orders and kill people.”
“So they’re actual assassins?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that what I said—assassins?”
“Is that even possible in the twenty-first century?”
Liu Zhen’s expression darkened, as if he were looking at a fool.
“They dangle money, items, and social status, and fools come running. For the corrupt Murim Alliance—the evil sects, that is—eliminating cooperative factions is dirt cheap.”
Now that I thought about it, this guy was obsessed with martial arts novels. Even the Chinese Government managed Gate incidents at the national level by linking them to martial arts.
Hearing it put that way, I could see the logic. Honestly, the current Chinese Government was hardly what I’d call a legitimate administration.
Awakeners who’d staged a coup held the reins of power—it was indistinguishable from dictatorship.
Well, wasn’t it? Was dictatorship always the same? Anyway, that wasn’t the point.
“Where are they going?”
“After you.”
“After me?”
“And my master as well.”
Liu Zhen’s master was the one who wielded S-rank spear arts—the one who’d lost to Shin Chang.
But that wasn’t what shocked me.
“To kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Are they insane?”
* * *
A natural question. My mind grew tangled. I activated Swift first, buying myself time to think.
The world slowed. I turned the pieces over in my head. I’d assumed the Second Gold Ticket event was an Übermenschen conspiracy.
‘Was it China instead, not Übermenschen?’
I’d thought only Übermenschen would pull something like this. But there was a piece I’d overlooked—China harbored deep enmity toward me as well.
Hadn’t I relentlessly trampled on the pride of those obsessed with face?
“Is China trying to start a war with Korea?”
Even so, it was shocking. If this came to light, it wouldn’t end quietly. No matter how powerful China was, pulling off something like this without consequences would be difficult.
Korea would certainly respond, and neighboring nations that heard of this would do the same.
A legitimate Hunter dead? Couldn’t that happen in their own countries too?
Liu Zhen continued quickly.
“No, we won’t appear on the surface. We’ve joined hands with Übermenschen.”
My doubts eased slightly. So Übermenschen was the primary force after all. But my worry deepened.
Übermenschen assassins, Chinese killers, and an S-rank spear master.
How many would come just to deal with me? With two weeks remaining, the path ahead felt increasingly bleak.
Many questions lingered.
“What about China? If your master moves, it won’t be easy to avoid outside attention.”
“It seems they have a means to conceal external observation.”
Perhaps they’d obtained an item? That was possible. The world held many items I didn’t know about.
If only one or two existed and the government controlled them, there’d be no way to know. Hadn’t I never seen a coordinate-designated return Secretary before?
“Sigh…”
“I understand your feelings. Fighting against evil sects must weigh heavily on your heart.”
What nonsense was he spouting now… No, let it go. In this critical time, wasn’t this friend providing invaluable information?
“Thank you for now. Really.”
Suddenly, memories of the past surfaced. Honestly, continuing that conversation with Liu Zhen back then had been more my meddling than anything.
It was just meddling born from disliking the prospect of promising talents like Liu Zhen entering the Übermenschen, when I could have simply left it alone.
I never imagined it would come back to haunt me like this. Is this why people say you should live righteously?
In any case, the situation had become difficult, but it wasn’t the worst possible outcome.
‘At least it’s better than not knowing.’
I set aside my tangled thoughts for now. Liu Zhen had said time was short. He’d gone through considerable effort to create an opportunity to contact me.
“Are you sure you’re okay telling me this? Surveillance and control must be strict there.”
A belated concern struck me. If this call leaked outside, my enemies would learn that I’d discovered the Übermenschen’s conspiracy.
That meant they’d prepare even more thoroughly on their end.
“Don’t worry.”
Liu Zhen laughed with confidence.
“I have allies helping me. People standing against the horse demons who control the Murim Alliance.”
“You’re certain about this?”
“Don’t worry. My life is on the line too. Time is running short. Ten seconds. Now, just pretend to call back from where the previous call dropped. That’s all you need to do.”
Right. This guy wasn’t a complete fool either. If this got discovered, his life would be forfeit too, so he must have prepared thoroughly.
The gratitude I’d felt earlier swelled a bit more. Wasn’t he risking his life to tell me this?
A sudden thought struck me—this man was preparing meticulously in his own way. He’d created a means to evade Chinese Government surveillance, even if only briefly.
I’d thought him a fool from the countryside, indoctrinated by the Chinese Government’s martial arts ideology, but he was far more impressive than I’d given him credit for.
-Click!
The call cut off briefly again. Liu Zhen continued with a composed expression.
“The call dropped for a moment. Did you hear? I said I’m trying to live well.”
His acting was quite convincing.
* * *
The information Liu Zhen provided was naturally relayed to Saebyeokbit and the Hunter Association. Questions about its credibility did arise.
They questioned the reliability of the intelligence.
-What if Liu Zhen is in league with the Chinese Government and is actually lying?
However, such doubts didn’t persist long. After all, if Liu Zhen were allied with the enemy, there would be no reason to tell us.
-There’d be no reason to tell us something we don’t know. And even if he suspected we did, we were only focused on the Übermenschen anyway.
In other words, if Liu Zhen were the enemy, staying silent would be the advantageous move. The response from our guild members who knew the past was far simpler.
“We’re receiving payback for what happened at the last Guild Conference.”
“I honestly thought it was dangerous back then, but I never imagined it would turn out like this.”
Thus Liu Zhen’s information gained a degree of credibility. Even if it were false, preparing further wouldn’t hurt us.
“If that’s the case, we should put the Iron Wall Guild on standby as well.”
“We should.”
Our original plan had been simple. Just Saebyeokbit, us, and Fist King from Russia responding to the Übermenschen.
Fortunately, Fist King, having spoken with Shin Chang, had agreed to our plan, so his participation was assured.
We didn’t know the enemy’s numbers or strategy, but we’d tried to minimize information leakage.
And I believed this force alone would be sufficient.
‘With just Shin Chang and Fist King, we have the world’s 2nd and 3rd ranked hunters.’
But now Chinese assassins and Liu Zhen’s master were coming. Wang Tao, ranked 7th in the world rankings.
Thinking about it this way, Liu Zhen’s information was truly worth its weight in gold. We had no choice but to gather more allies on our side.
To be honest, I wanted to call for more reinforcements. There were hunters in the United States connected to me and Yeon, and Dawn Light had close relationships with foreign hunters as well.
However, that wasn’t possible. Information about what we knew could leak out.
-We could call them, but we’d have to go through inter-governmental cooperation, and there’s no guarantee information wouldn’t get out in the process.
-They’ve already infiltrated high positions in the Chinese government.
From the start, even within the Korean Hunter Association, only the Association President and Seo-ung knew about this matter for security reasons.
Telling foreign nations? That was impossible.
Fist King was an exception. He had deep ties with Shin Chang and could move independently regardless of Russian government intentions.
Moreover, if we used one coordinate-designated return secretary card, there would be no need for secret entry.
-If they’re aiming for something like this, they’ll definitely do it again sometime.
-Our best response is to prepare while we know about it.
Could we prepare like this next time? No. If we postponed it, a far worse situation would definitely come our way.
My growth rate was frightening, but having advance knowledge of the enemy’s entry and receiving help from Dawn Light, Fist King, and Iron Wall Guild would be far more convenient.
In other words, now was the best time.
Frankly, if they started targeting the old man who walks alone or our guild members, I felt like I’d lose my mind.
“The fact that the Chinese side said they could blind eyes means there’s some kind of item. I’m not sure what it is, though…”
“We’ve set aside mana bombs as much as possible for now. As for the necessary item lists…”
“Let’s redraw the deployment including Iron Wall.”
“Rather than having Shin Chang handle Wang Tao, wouldn’t it be better if others held the line and dealt with the enemy?”
With two weeks approaching, many words were exchanged. Honestly, I had quite the headache too.
And time passed quite quickly.
-I’m glad you’re safe. About a month has passed. The Ring of Conspiracy…
Thanks to Seo-ung and the Association, Chun-bae woke up.
-He said not to worry. When asked why he entered the Gate, he said thinking about that day made his fists itch, so he went and came back quickly.
Dawn Light confirmed Fist King’s participation once more. And so two weeks passed quickly…
[Secondary Gold Ticket Winners Entering! Event Proceeding Tomorrow!]
The day of the secondary Gold Ticket was approaching.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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