Chương 23: Thieving Heaven

Nyx kept up the speed of his vehicle while opening the private chat. There, twenty minutes ago, Arcane Archivist had responded to his query about whether the Heavenly Demon was indeed taking on the level 70 zombie wolf by herself. And the answer was yes—she'd been fighting them non-stop since the start of the night. Yes, them. Because Just now another message had arrived detailing her current situation.

She'd not only already beaten one level 70 wolf approximately five hours ago, but she was now facing off against another two giant zombie wolves, had finished off one, and was about to deal a finishing blow to the last. Now Nyx had zero idea how this guy was scraping this data in real time. But he didn't care. Under the contract he'd placed upon himself, requiring him to only speak the truth on the business private chat, the Archivist couldn't lie.

Nyx paid him his compensation and was now driving toward the location. [Time left until the Sonic Engine enters Cooldown period: 20: 53]"Twenty minutes, huh." At top speed, Nyx began to turn his Armoured racer around. The Heavenly Demon was in the Eastern Desert area, and according to the Archivist, he could reach that place faster by going through a rather hidden passageway. An underground tunnel that started from the Southern Black Stone Mountain and ended just at the periphery of the Eastern Desert.

The benefit of taking this path was the lack of zombies and how smooth it was for vehicles. Unbeknownst to Nyx, this path had long since become a route for people traveling between long distances. The tunnel also connected to one other location: the Northern Misty Mountain. The only place it didn't connect to was the Western Stardew Mountain. Wind howled past him as Nyx dodged around the many straggling zombie wolves, and zombie walkers that were beginning to weaken with the rising sun overhead.

He ran over some of them outright, the sound of crunching bone rising from below. Fortunately for him, the Fatball zombies weren't around anymore, or he'd have had a lot more trouble on his hands.

"They're probably only summoned by that blood mist." He considered the reason behind their absence after sunrise—they couldn't all have died, after all. Not everyone carried an anti-materiel gun, and even shots to the neck or head were useless, since their fat covered those spots too.

"Could they have died from sun exposure alone?" That would be strange. Why would a zombie as special as them die from sun exposure so quickly when the normal ones didn't? Something about this felt deeply wrong. But it wasn't the time to dig into it. Up ahead, he could finally see the entrance to the special tunnel. It was much larger than he'd expected, spanning nearly the size of an underground expressway. Several vehicles were parked outside it, with people shooting at the remaining straggling zombies.

A group of middle-aged men stood at its center, waving red flags, an AK in each one's hands. Nyx couldn't hear what they were saying, but their gestures made it clear enough: something along the lines of "hey, please slow down." Well—maybe minus the please. But he had no such luxury. He pressed the key on his operating panel, and a loud honk blared outward. Seeing his vehicle showing no sign of slowing, the group opened fire. The bullets hit his windshield like raindrops; it didn't even flinch.

Seeing this, they scattered immediately, and Nyx zipped past them. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Hey, are you fucking crazy!?" Nyx shook his head—he wasn't crazy, but he was certainly in a crazy hurry to act like one. His focus sharpened into a single point, heartbeat intensifying as he swept through the dark tunnel, headlights carving the way ahead. It took total concentration to navigate the sharp turns. At times his vehicle skidded sideways, nearly grazing the walls. He still refused to slow down, knowing that could send the tires into chaos and cost him all control.

He glanced at the speedometer—it kept climbing, nearing a terrifying 300 km/h! Not slowing down was indeed the right call, since the sheer speed let him reach the other end of the tunnel quickly, sunlight greeting him as he emerged. Exiting the tunnel, he found no other people on this side—only zombies. He began to slow down slightly, catching the sound of trembling ground and something sharp clashing against something equally sharp.

As Nyx drew closer, he spotted a women who looked to be in her twenties, dressed in black trousers and a sports bikini, red hair tied in a bun, locked in combat against a four-horned Zombie Wolf! The system revealed its level as he approached. [Elite Zombie Fenrir — lvl 99] Nyx didn't slow his vehicle any further—instead he circled it to keep up the momentum. Watching her fight, she seemed to notice the sound of his engine.

Yet she didn't turn; instead, she ran up the wolf's body, her blade gleaming in the sunlight as it sank into the wolf's softer neck. Ignoring its bony, skeletal face, she severed its head from its shoulders in a single sweep. Nyx focused on the wolf and mentally activated his unique skill, Usurper. [Usurpation Successful] He didn't wait to hear the rest. The Heavenly Demon spun toward him, seemingly reacting to the sudden lack of exp she'd received.

Her fiery orange pupils went dazed for a second before hardening into a glare. Nyx had already angled his vehicle back toward the tunnel by then. Seconds after he entered it, he heard the roar of an engine kicking into full gear.

"Shit, gotta go fast!" Nyx poured everything into keeping his speed from dropping even half a km. The chime of his level rising gave him the energy and dopamine he needed to keep pushing. Within a few more minutes, he was out the other side. From there, he made a straight line for the Western Stardew Mountains. …. After escaping the Heavenly Demon's pursuit, Nyx didn't leave his cave in the Stardew Mountains.

Instead, he opened the regional chats to see what was happening, and sure enough, one of the pinned posts wasn't from a fleet, but from a single person. The Heavenly Demon. And her real name was on full display for everyone to see for the first time. Regional Chat [@ReginaRare I will find you, thief.] [????] [??????] [???] [Chat, who's this?] [No idea man, about ten minutes ago this seemingly random post got pinned.] [Who's got enough money to pin a threat on this economy?] [Guys… that's the Heavenly Demon.] [What do you mean?] [How are you so sure? Got proof, or is that just your headcanon?] [Yeah man, don't go raising my blood pressure like that, we don't have many doctors out here as it is.] [Also, who'd dare steal anything from HER?] [It's the Heavenly Demon, he's right. She was busy fighting multiple giant zombie wolves to the East—actually, that was one of the reasons we could escaped from there alive. But then something weird happened…] [The fuck, bro, don't leave us hanging!] [Dude just dropped a cliffhanger, gotta buy his subscription to unlock the extra content, lol.] [Sigh, let me finish for him. So this weird, dolphin-like vehicle shot through the tunnel like a missile, ignoring our signals to stop. It went in, and came out a few minutes later—didn't even slow down! And a few seconds after it left, the Heavenly Demon's vehicle shot out of the tunnel too, in furious pursuit. Seems like she couldn't catch him, and came back on her bike back to us to dig up info on his whereabouts.] [Shiii, don't tell me it's the same thief who robbed us blind earlier tonight.] [So he stole from two powerhouses in the same day?] [So it's the same guy who stole from the Heavenly Fleet AND the Heavenly Demon?] [What is he? The usurper from the abyss?] [Dude's got beef with anyone with the prefix "Heaven,", lol.] [Also, how does the Heavenly Demon look? Is she a hottie or what?] [Not telling. I have no wish to die.] Nyx felt his heartbeat spike again as he read the chat. Had he been a bit too greedy?

He took a slow, deep breath, trying to shake off the doubt weighing on his chest.

"It was worth it…" he told himself.

"The benefits I've gathered are huge—high risk, high reward, as they say." Some climb the heavens step by step, spending an eternity on it. Others climb it in a single leap. He'd rather take the latter whenever he could. With that thought, he opened his system panel. He'd gained a lot of levels and skill shards.

"Time to absorb all these benefits!"