Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 245: The Unique Usage of the Forbidden Artifact

The lights of the entire building went out at the beginning of the ambush.

The corridor was quiet, with only a few assassins walking quickly. They held guns, but couldn't find the target in the building.

The assassins knew that the Federation reinforcements downstairs had arrived. They were all from the Federation army, so they knew what would happen next:

The Federation army would quickly obtain the architectural design drawings of this building from the database.

Then, the command vehicle would establish an intelligent Holographic Sand Table within 2 minutes based on the design drawings.

At that time, all exits would be blocked, and it would be impossible for them to leave calmly.

Moreover, once they were caught, they would inevitably Face^[-] endless cruel torture and eventual secret execution.

The Li Clan never recruited soldiers from Koshima and the Shendai Family; this was common knowledge.

At this time, the assassins were only mechanically executing the final task left by the commander: to kill the person in the building who had executed a decapitation strike against them.

In the dim corridor, five assassins maintained communication silence. This scene was happening on different floors, with everyone divided into several teams, trying to complete the search before the Federation army entered the building.

At this time, someone questioned, "It is said that the decapitated officer secretly infiltrated City 18 two years ago and has been living here as a civilian...Before tonight's assassination plan of Li Changqing began, even we didn't know his identity. To the outside world, he was just an ordinary resident of this building. How could the Li Clan achieve such a precise decapitation?"

This was a question from the depths of their souls.

All the assassins couldn't figure out the answer to this question.

They knew they might encounter a counter-ambush, and even had two backup plans to deal with the "counter-ambush," but they didn't expect the person in charge of the plan to die so quickly...

At this time, someone in the back suddenly said, "Have you considered that this might be a coincidence?"

"How could it be a coincidence?" Among the five assassins, the one in the front sneered, "The other party pretended to escape into the building, but had already figured out how to escape the pursuit through the elevator shaft, and even used the central air conditioning maintenance access to find the officer's room directly and kill him. There are no such coincidences in this world; novels wouldn't even dare to write like that!"

The assassin in the back thought for a moment and said, "It's also possible that he climbed up from the elevator shaft, just wanted to find a room to hide, and happened to meet the officer."

"Your guesses are unfounded," the assassin in the front said coldly.

"Okay," the last assassin sighed.

However, at this moment, the assassin in the front asked, "He Haoyang, you came down from upstairs just now, didn't you find anything unusual? I always feel something is wrong. The gunshots came from upstairs. We went up from the bottom, you came down from the top..."

As he spoke, gunshots rang out behind him.

Four consecutive shots, all hitting the assassin's back of the head.

Qing Chen changed back to his own appearance and sighed, "I told you I didn't want to decapitate, but you didn't believe me. Besides, Li Changqing killed the person, why are you looking for me so hard?"

He flicked his wrist and pierced the transparent silk thread of the Marionette into the bodies of the two assassins, skillfully completing the sacrifice.

He watched the Marionette greedily suck, and suddenly wondered if this thing possessed its own life?

First, Qing Chen confirmed that some Forbidden Artifacts had life and consciousness, such as Forbidden Artifact ace-005 Da Fu.

So, does this Marionette, which seems to be just an object, have life?

He couldn't tell.

"Wait," Qing Chen suddenly thought of another problem. The function of Knight True Qi is to impose a debuff on one hand, and to turn all things into blades on the other.

Li Shutong had told him before that in critical moments, hair is the most dangerous weapon in the hands of a Knight.

But a Knight can't always pull out hair to fight, can they? What if they go bald pulling out hair all the time? Didn't the master start reading middle-aged health care manuals?

Moreover, hair and leaves are not strong enough and are easily broken.

Then, is there anything in this world that is not easily damaged, easy to carry, and suitable for combat?

Qing Chen looked at the blood-sucking Marionette, what in this world is tougher than a Forbidden Artifact? Not many.

Theoretically speaking, Forbidden Artifacts are difficult to destroy by physical means.

Thinking of this, he suddenly poured the True Qi in his arm into it. The originally soft and transparent silk thread instantly tightened!

The silk thread that was still sucking blood was crimson, like a taut red bowstring!

Originally, the Marionette's thread tip only stopped at the assassin's heart, but with this tightening, it directly pierced through the heart and straight through the corpse!

"Eh," Qing Chen was surprised. It turned out that Knight True Qi and Marionette could actually interact!

In this way, couldn't he use the Marionette as a weapon?

Although the Marionette couldn't be thrown as far as the Autumn Leaf Blade, it was much more convenient than carrying a dagger.

Could it be that the old guys in Forbidden Zone 002 knew that the Marionette could be infused with True Qi, that's why they gave this thing to him?

Qing Chen carefully felt that when Knight True Qi was infused into the Marionette, it was consumed especially quickly.

Moreover, once the infused length exceeds 12 meters, the power of the True Qi enhancement will rapidly decrease.

In short, the length of the Marionette he can currently enhance is...

Originally, Qing Chen was thinking of making a 40-meter-long giant blade, but now it seems impossible.

Qing Chen tried again to cut the metal handrail while infusing Knight True Qi, but the "blade" was not as sharp as he imagined, and it could only leave a scratch on the railing.

He knew that the sharpness of Knight True Qi was related to his level, and maybe it would become sharper when he leveled up.

Qing Chen wondered, if one day he also became a Demi-God, could this thing cut iron like mud?

He withdrew the Knight True Qi infused into the Marionette, but the next second, a sudden change occurred. After the Marionette's thread tip regained its soft state, it rushed towards Qing Chen like a small snake, bending like a cobra.

Through the dim light, Qing Chen could even see the crimson silk thread splitting at the front. He seemed to hear a hissing angry sound...

Then, the crimson little snake bit him on the nose.

Qing Chen didn't expect this. The moment the Marionette bit his nose, he infused Knight True Qi into it again, and the little snake immediately straightened again.

His nose didn't hurt, nor was it broken. It seemed that Forbidden Artifacts could not cause harm to their host.

"Strange," he had just been thinking about whether object-type Forbidden Artifacts also had life, and the Marionette immediately gave him the answer.

Are other Forbidden Artifacts the same as this Marionette?

Qing Chen carefully recalled other Forbidden Artifacts in his mind, such as number ace-012, the Steam Train that loved gold coins; if someone stole its gold coins, it would lock them in the train.

Does that Steam Train also have a persistent life?

In the corridor, Qing Chen said to the Marionette in a low voice, "Don't be emotional. Our cooperation is so pleasant. I offer sacrifices to you, and you help me kill enemies. Controlling puppets to kill is also killing, and using it as a dagger to kill is also killing. As long as the final result is good, and you have something to eat, do you care how you kill? So, I'll withdraw the True Qi, don't bite me."

Saying this, he withdrew the True Qi again.

But the next second, the little snake at the front end of the Marionette swept over again, this time, it was even angrier.

However, before it could reach Qing Chen's Face^[-], it became lifeless and straightened again.

This went back and forth more than ten times, and Qing Chen also lost his temper.

The Marionette is a Forbidden Artifact; he is the host.

This time, Qing Chen directly infused and withdrew the True Qi, doing it hundreds of times in one go. The Marionette kept switching between its soft and taut states until it finally became completely motionless.

"Do you still want offerings?" he threatened and coaxed in a low voice, "I'm telling you, if you do this again, I'll dig a pit tens of meters deep and bury you in the ground, so you'll never see the light of day again. Anyway, you're transparent, others can't easily find you. Let's talk this over one last time. If you think we can cooperate, then honestly complete the sacrifice of this enemy."

Saying this, he pointed the Marionette towards the heart of the corpse that hadn't yet finished sacrificing. The little snake paused for two seconds and began to suck again.

It seemed to be planning to end the matter peacefully.

Qing Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

After the enemy turned into ashes, he moved towards another safe passage while saying, "See, isn't this good? Our cooperation is so pleasant. I have more life-saving cards, and you have offerings; it's a win-win situation."

This time, the Marionette's thread tip bent towards Qing Chen, gently pointing to the handrail he had just cut.

At this time, the Marionette had returned to its transparent state. If Qing Chen hadn't looked closely, he wouldn't have been able to see what it was pointing at.

Qing Chen thought for a moment, "Do you mean killing is okay, but not cutting iron?"

The Marionette actually nodded slightly!

Qing Chen sighed inwardly. It seems that Forbidden Artifacts not only have life, but also dignity.

...

...

When Li Changqing and Wang Bingxu heard the continuous gunshots, they had already set off to go downstairs.

While going down the stairs, they happened to encounter the assassins who also heard the gunshots and rushed downstairs.

In the narrow space, Wang Bingxu moved like a gecko, clinging to the ceiling of the stairs. Before the assassins could raise their guns to his head, the B-level expert had already fallen from the ceiling of the stairs, and while still in the air, he had already lightning-fast kicked out four legs, kicking the assassins away.

The sound of bones breaking was incessant, and it was obvious that the assassins' internal organs were all ruptured, and blood was seeping from their mouths and noses.

"Boss, it's done," Li Changqing glanced at him, "You're quite diligent now, I hope you can be this diligent in the future. I heard from Yinuo that you have always protected her in the Autumn Hunt Team, which is good."

Wang Bingxu hurriedly bowed his head, "It's all for the sake of serving the Boss."

Li Changqing stepped into the corridor first, and she saw the two bodies lying on the floor, "See how they died."

"Okay," Wang Bingxu hurriedly rushed over to check.

Li Changqing looked at the middle-aged man and thought, the most capable person around her is still Old Six.

Years ago, Old Six served in the army. His parents were both seriously ill but had no money for treatment. Li Changqing stepped forward and provided the best treatment for his parents, and then took Old Six under her wing.

Since then, Old Six has never had any ulterior motives.

In fact, the Conglomerate doesn't use threats when buying people's hearts right away. They always show kindness first, and then establish their authority.

Truly smart people don't put a bunch of enemies around them for no reason.

At this time, Wang Bingxu got up and analyzed, "Boss, these two people's wounds are small on the back of the head and large on the forehead, indicating that they were both shot to death from behind. Moreover, when they died, the killer was very close, and there were even slight scorch marks on the deceased's hair, which is almost only possible if someone was holding the back of their head when the trigger was pulled."

Wang Bingxu looked at the corridor, somewhat puzzled, "I can't figure out how the killer got close to them, and why they had to get so close to shoot."

Li Changqing frowned, "Mixed in with the assassins, disguised as an acquaintance?"

Bang bang bang bang.

Continuous gunshots came from upstairs again, then fell silent.

Wang Bingxu immediately judged, "About three floors above us!"

Li Changqing rushed upstairs first, but when they arrived, there were only two more corpses, and Qing Chen was nowhere to be seen.

Now, Li Changqing felt somewhat amused. Qing Chen's whereabouts were too mysterious, sometimes up, sometimes down, making it impossible to judge his thinking and trajectory.

Even the rescuers couldn't find him!

Wang Bingxu sighed, "It's really top-level tactical maneuvering. This building only has two safe passages, and he's played them out...Boss, what should we do now?"

They had been in the building for quite some time. Originally, they were here to rescue someone, but they couldn't even find the person.

This is very embarrassing.

Li Changqing thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed, "Don't look for him. I came back in a hurry because I was worried about him having an accident, but now it seems he's fine. Let's go, let's meet Old Six downstairs and have the Federation army seal off the building."

After saying that, the woman turned and went downstairs without hesitation.

Wang Bingxu was dumbfounded behind her. Shouldn't they be rescuing him?

One person's whereabouts are unpredictable, making rescue impossible; the other simply gave up rescue. What's going on?

Their Boss seemed to trust that young man very much.

However, as they walked out of the building, they saw Qing Chen sitting on a stretcher, receiving medical personnel's treatment...

Li Changqing was really stunned. The gunshots were still overhead before they went downstairs, and now Qing Chen had even left the battlefield before them!

Qing Chen looked at Li Changqing and asked, "Where were you just now? Why did you go back to the building again?"

Li Changqing hesitated for a long time, "I went for a walk."

Qing Chen: "???"

She was really a little embarrassed to say that she had gone to rescue him, because she hadn't even found him!

...