Chapter 218: The Client: Steel Brotherhood Upper Echelon

Hayman awoke to find he didn’t have an ounce of strength. At the same time, every muscle in his body stung with pain.

His memories came flooding back. He was in the clutches of that mutant named Jack.

He knew it wasn’t the Steel Brotherhood because he’d taken in his surroundings.

"So, how do you feel?" Qi Suian noticed Hayman was awake and leaned closer. "This is a suppression agent I specifically formulated to target mutants, pure-bloods, and your kind—the Corpse Eaters."

"The weakness must be the agent’s main effect," Hayman said calmly. "But I’m not sure if the stinging pain in every inch of my body is also part of its design."

He had, after all, once been an Elder of the Holy Angel Sanctuary, a Level 1 Sanctuary, and was now a Cardinal of the Corpse Eaters. An emotional breakdown or hysteria was simply beneath him.

He’d faced death more than once. Naturally, he was rock-steady.

"It’s a side effect. I thought I’d worked out all the kinks, but it looks like there are still a few flaws. Judging by your expression, though, the pain can’t be that bad."

"Just bear with it for now. I’ll switch you to the new batch next time." Qi Suian loved this kind of honest feedback.

"So I’m going to be alive for a while. That’s good news, I suppose." Hayman’s tone was laced with gallows humor.

"Indeed. In my view, you’ve practically combined the strengths of both pure-bloods and mutants. The only drawback is your need to consume them to maintain your genetic and cellular stability."

"Once you get rid of your unstable genetic and cellular structure, the entire planet will be yours," Qi Suian said seriously.

"I appreciate the sentiment. A shame, then, that many Cardinals among the Corpse Eaters have strived for that very goal, yet none have succeeded." Hayman wasn’t surprised.

As the number of Corpse Eaters grew, it was inevitable that some would want to break free from this limitation.

Most Corpse Eaters have no qualms about consuming pure-bloods and mutants. What they truly resent is the *need* to feed at regular intervals.

It becomes one of their weaknesses.

"Then it seems I’m quite a bit ahead of you. The suppression agent, to a certain extent, allows you to maintain stability without needing to feed."

"Of course, if I can eliminate the side effects of weakness and pain, it could completely replace your need to feed," Qi Suian said, his eyes crinkling into a smile.

Hayman, however, remained completely unfazed. "Then my congratulations to you, Jack," he said impassively.

"If you can’t make it among the mutants in the future, the Corpse Eaters will consider taking you in."

The two exchanged idle banter as Qi Suian meticulously dissected Hayman.

Hayman remained remarkably calm about being cut open and disemboweled, showing no signs of panic.

Of course, the agent’s anesthetic properties might have been why he couldn’t feel the pain of the dissection.

Besides, Corpse Eaters themselves have an extremely low perception of pain.

Newly turned Corpse Eaters still feel pain. But as radiation exposure increases and their condition becomes more unstable, their nerves gradually deaden.

The more powerful the Corpse Eater, the less pain they feel.

In the wasteland, this is a rare and desirable ability. You don’t have to worry about a painful death.

"We’ve been chatting for so long, I suppose we’re friends now." Qi Suian was stitching up Hayman’s stomach as he spoke. "You wouldn’t mind telling me about the Corpse Eaters, would you?"

"If it weren’t for that first sentence, I’d be happy to oblige," Hayman retorted, then said: "Who the first Corpse Eater was is lost to history. But the origin of the Corpse Eater Organization..."

Hayman was a pragmatist. He knew that even if he stayed silent, the man had plenty of ways to make him talk.

It was better to speak freely and avoid the unpleasantness in between.

The Corpse Eaters’ origins weren’t anything grand. They were simply a case of their kind banding together for survival.

The reason they could grow strong was thanks to the power struggles and oppression of the privileged within the various Sanctuaries.

Basically, in every Sanctuary, people become Corpse Eaters every year. The larger the Sanctuary, the greater the number.

There are always dark corners the light can’t reach, and there are always losers who become sacrificial lambs.

Hayman was the latter.

But when he left, he took a suit of Level 2 Bionic Armor with him, which is how he successfully became a Cardinal of the Corpse Eaters.

A position second only to the Pope.

The structure of the Corpse Eaters was more like a loose organization of mercenaries. If someone gives them "piglets," they carry out the mission.

Regardless of success or failure, one payment of "piglets" was for one attempt only.

There’s no such thing as fighting to the bitter end. You won’t see a high-level Corpse Eater taking over to continue the hunt after a low-level one dies, pursuing the target until either it’s dead or all the Corpse Eaters are wiped out.

Isn’t that just plain stupid? Risking the entire faction for a bite to eat?

Even if they did demand retribution, they wouldn’t go after the target. They’d go after the client.

The client’s intel was faulty, and the payment in "piglets" was insufficient. Therefore, they demand extra payment as compensation.

As for the mission? They abandon it.

The target they were hunting was certainly broke, but the client who could pay in "piglets" was definitely loaded.

The Corpse Eater Organization is no small fry. They’re going to demand compensation from the one with deep pockets, not some poor bastard.

Squeezing every last drop of oil from a target’s bones wouldn’t yield as much as scraping a single layer of skin off the client.

And "piglets," are actually just mutants and pure-bloods, used as food by the Corpse Eaters.

Other things are of little use to Corpse Eaters.

With provisions, there’s no panic.

"Then who hired you to kill us? I remember our security measures being quite good."

"It must be someone from the south. The northern Sanctuaries would just besiege us directly. There’s no need for them to do something so pointlessly convoluted," Qi Suian naturally was able to guess some of it.

From the beginning, Prince Storm Sanctuary gathered its forces directly, even bringing Level 3 Bionic Armor. If it weren’t for the strength of Qi Suian and the Tai Sui God, no one could have dreamed of escaping.

There would have been even less need to use the Corpse Eaters as a backup plan.

So the most likely possibility is that someone from the south interfered.

"Correct. It was the south’s doing. Which faction do you think is behind it?" Hayman smiled.

"Your asking that question tells me it wasn’t the Pure-blood Sanctuaries," Qi Suian countered, following Hayman’s logic. "So, was it the Steel Brotherhood?"

The smile on Hayman’s face grew wider.

"Correct. It was a job from the Steel Brotherhood."

"But as for who commissioned it, I don’t know. That mutant was very cautious and didn’t leak a single bit of information," Hayman held nothing back.

Everything he said was true, and he had no reason to deceive Qi Suian. After all, his very life was in the other man’s hands.

"That makes sense. It must be someone with significant power and authority. There’s no way they’d let you find out who they were," Qi Suian conceded.

The reason was simple. If the Corpse Eaters really found out, not only would they not carry out the mission, they would use the information to blackmail the person and make them do their bidding.

It was true the Corpse Eater Organization was a loose band of mercenaries, but that didn’t mean they had any scruples.

Backstabbing clients, blackmailing targets—they’d done it all before, usually when they had no other choice.

"It seems Kemp and Cummings won’t be making it back to the Steel Brotherhood alive. What a pity," Qi Suian sighed.

If the order had come from a Sanctuary, they might have had a chance to survive.

But the enemy was a high-ranking person within the Steel Brotherhood, which meant Hayman wasn’t the only assassin. Since the client was operating remotely, they certainly wouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket.

"And here I thought you were deeply attached to them," Hayman said, a veiled jab at Qi Suian’s cold-heartedness.

"Don’t you dare slander me," Qi Suian corrected him earnestly. "My relationship with them was one of pure, transactional self-interest. Feelings were never part of the equation."

He’d caught the sarcasm, of course, but couldn’t care less.

As long as a test subject could provide him with sufficient value, he wouldn’t mind if they cursed his family for eighteen generations. In fact, if they missed any ancestors, he’d feel obligated to help them fill in the blanks.

"Now then, let’s talk about your Corpse Eater Pope. I’m quite interested in him."

"And I’d be even happier if you’d embellish the tale with a few of the Corpse Eaters’ secrets," Qi Suian said, his attention already shifting to studying the Level 2 Bionic Armor.

For Qi Suian, a skill like multitasking was second nature.

-----------------

"Another ambush! Damn it!" Cummings’s face was grim.

The attack had come swiftly. Kemp knew that if they didn’t make a sacrifice, they would all die.

So he and the remaining elite mutants stayed behind to cover the retreat for Cummings, who fled with the modification technology.

No matter what, they had to bring the modification technology back to the Steel Brotherhood.

They weren’t just protecting technology; they were protecting the future of all mutants.

Once the Steel Brotherhood falls, then in the face of the resource-starved pure-bloods, the only fate for mutants will be slavery.

So even though Cummings desperately wanted to stay and fight alongside them, he chose to leave.

As for why it was him, it was because he had sufficient value.

Compared to Kemp, he had a close enough relationship with Jack. As long as Jack wasn’t dead and went to visit their Steel Brotherhood in the south...

...perhaps Cummings could obtain the Steel Armor technology from him.

Even if it was just a possibility, Kemp was willing to take the gamble.

’This definitely wasn’t the pure-bloods’ doing...’ Cummings thought as he ran, piecing things together.

’There’s a traitor in the Brotherhood.’

Cummings knew how important the modification technology was. A traitor within the Steel Brotherhood would know, too.

’I can’t go back the original route, or I’ll be attacked again.’

’Next time, I won’t have Kemp and the others to hold back the enemy for me.’

’But going off-route will be dangerous, too.’

’It’s a gamble, but it’s much safer than being ambushed and killed by Corpse Eaters.’ Cummings’s expression hardened with resolve.

The Corpse Eaters in this ambush weren’t as strong as the last ones; otherwise, he never would have escaped.

But who’s to say another Cardinal wouldn’t appear in the next attack? He was no match for Level 2 Bionic Armor.

For the sake of safety, changing routes was the best and most convenient solution.

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