Dimensional Slime Rancher-Chapter 2: How annoying! Shut up and die!

The high-pitched humming of the swords resonated within the tiny, twenty-square-meter space of the shop, violently assaulting their eardrums.

Within that split second when the flashes of light appeared, Ren grabbed onto the collar of Xiaoyi’s floral dress and casually pulled her behind the counter, preventing the little girl from getting embroiled in the sudden carnage.

Assassination! This was a coordinated, high-level attempt to assassinate the Third Prince of the Grand Xia Empire!

Xia Ming, however, seemed to have fully expected it. He sat calmly on his wooden stool, his handsome face carrying a completely indifferent expression.

The moment the four assassins closed in, Xia Ming’s pristine white robes suddenly fluttered without any wind.

His gentle, scholarly eyes underwent a terrifying transformation, shifting into the cold, ruthless gaze of an apex predator.

It was as if a mountain of corpses and an endless sea of blood were hiding behind his royal facade.

"To deploy four peak Foundation Establishment experts to assassinate a ’toothless’ prince... My brothers must truly be desperate," Xia Ming snorted coldly.

A surging, violent wave of Core Formation Qi gushed out of his body, clashing directly against the deadly assassins.

However, the assassins remained completely silent and steadfast. Their blades didn’t waver, continuing their fatal trajectory toward Xia Ming’s heart.

These were top-tier professionals who focused on killing with a single, perfect strike; they were definitely not going to be intimidated by a prince flexing his aura.

Xia Ming’s palm slammed down onto the display counter next to him.

The explosive true energy of a Core Formation expert was instantly released, generating a massive kinetic impact that propelled his entire body soaring into the air.

"Hmm?" Xia Ming’s pupils slightly constricted as he looked down in shock at the glass counter he had just smacked with all of his strength.

"This glass took the full brunt of my Core Formation Qi... yet it doesn’t even have a scratch?!"

CLANG!

A deafening sound of clashing metals echoed out.

The tips of the four assassins’ swords collided together in the exact space where Xia Ming’s heart had been a millisecond prior.

A sharp, melodic shockwave rang out as the lethal Sword Qi from the four experts dispersed and violently erupted within the small shop.

However, the explosion of Sword Qi that should have easily leveled a small building did not cause any damage to the Dimensional Ranch.

It was as if the destructive shockwave was instantly swallowed by an invisible, invincible forcefield.

Xia Ming’s figure floated gracefully in the air, his toes lightly touching down on the converging tips of the four enemy swords.

His white robes hovered, and his hair fluttered, making him look like a descending immortal.

The five of them formed a strange, deadly standstill in the center of the shop, but the surging, chaotic energy swirling around them undoubtedly displayed the extreme danger of the current moment.

The cozy, stress-relieving mood of the slime shop was completely ruined by this freezing clash of killing intent.

And this made Ren very, very dissatisfied.

Within the unnervingly quiet store, only the crackle of true energy colliding between the five cultivators could be heard.

"If you idiots are looking for a fight, take it outside to the alley. Otherwise, you’ll all be processed as biological waste," a serene, incredibly bored voice suddenly sounded out.

The sudden appearance of the flat voice was like a bucket of cold water being dumped on their serious, life-and-death atmosphere, causing all five combatants to be momentarily shocked.

The little girl, Xiaoyi, was peeking over the counter, looking at Boss Ren like he had grown a second head. He was slowly walking out from behind the counter, a cup of hot tea still in his hand.

That was right!

At such a perilous, high-stakes moment involving royal succession and elite assassins, Ren expressionlessly opened his mouth and voiced his annoyance about property rules.

How was he going to run a respectable business with people bleeding all over his clean floors?

The four assassins, who had been entirely focused on pinning down Xia Ming, became momentarily distracted by Ren’s ridiculous interruption.

Even though Xia Ming was taken aback as well, his combat instincts were razor-sharp. Making use of this microsecond of distraction, he let out a low growl, heavily stepping down on the tips of their swords and knocking the blades toward the floor.

Landing smoothly, he swiftly struck out with both palms, hitting the chests of two assassins and forcing the entire group to stagger backward.

"Are you seeking death, peasant?" One of the assassins coldly turned his gaze toward Ren, his voice rasping like sandpaper.

In the assassin’s eyes, Ren... a mere Stage 3 Qi Condensation weakling was nothing but a noisy ant that could be easily crushed with a casual flick of a sword.

This ant actually dared to interrupt an imperial assassination!

"I am the owner of this Dimensional Ranch," Ren expressionlessly replied, taking a sip of his tea.

"Did you read the ’No Violence’ sign on the door before trying to stab a customer?"

"What a joke." The assassin shook his head beneath his bamboo hat. He couldn’t be bothered to care about a delusional shopkeeper; an ant couldn’t affect the grand scheme.

Their only objective was the Third Prince.

Since Xia Ming was a Core Formation expert, the assassins didn’t dare to be complacent.

Even though there were four peak Foundation Establishment killers working in perfect synchronization, their opponent was a prince of the blood.

He definitely had deadly trump cards hidden up his sleeves.

"I already said. Fighting is strictly prohibited inside the Dimensional Ranch. If you continue to leak your killing intent on my merchandise, you shall be viewed as troublemakers," Ren coldly said, his eyes narrowing. He realized these masked edge-lords were actually ignoring him.

As the future Rancher King of the Multiverse, how could he let a bunch of local thugs ignore his store policy?!

"How annoying! Shut up and die!"

The gaze of the lead assassin suddenly turned freezing cold. With a sharp shout, he abandoned his formation and swiftly charged directly toward Ren, his sword aimed straight for Ren’s throat.

In an instant, Ren was enveloped within a tidal wave of killing intent.

It felt as if he had been plunged into a pool of liquid nitrogen; the sheer pressure of a peak Foundation Establishment expert was designed to freeze the blood in a weak cultivator’s veins, locking their limbs in place.

This was the terrifying coercion of a high-level assassin.

It was absolutely not something a Stage 3 Qi Condensation rookie could resist.

Xia Ming’s expression changed drastically, and he angrily shouted, "How dare you!"

The Prince surged forward, wanting to rescue the miraculous shopkeeper, but he was instantly intercepted by the remaining three assassins, their swords forming a lethal net that blocked his path.

Behind the counter, Xiaoyi was already frozen stiff with fear by the bone-chilling killing intent.

Her large eyes were filled with horror; her tiny hands gripped the edge of the counter, unable to lend a hand. Of course, even if she could move, her meager strength wouldn’t make a difference.

And so, it seemed that the arrogant Boss Ren was caught in a lethal, inescapable situation where he would certainly be beheaded... At least, that was what the Prince and Xiaoyi thought.

For a low-level merchant to actually provoke an elite assassin... calling him ’fearless’ would be a gross understatement. ’Suicidal’ was more accurate.

Xia Ming and Xiaoyi could only watch in despair, expecting Ren to be completely sliced into pieces by the assassin’s incoming blade.

Ren, on the other hand, was incredibly calm.

Even though the chilling killing intent crashed against him, the System’s passive [Intimidation Filter] neutralized the mental pressure entirely.

There was not even a single hint of fear on his lazy, expressionless face.

Those half-closed eyes... looked as if he was watching a toddler throw a tantrum in the middle of a supermarket.

"This ant... He’s pretty good at maintaining a poker face. My sword is an inch from his neck, and he doesn’t even blink?" The charging assassin was slightly surprised by the lack of screaming.

Suddenly, a massive, metallic shadow materialized out of thin air, completely blocking the path of the assassin’s sword.

The sudden eclipse of light cut off the assassin’s line of sight to Ren’s bored face, instantly startling the killer.

"Unit 01!" Xiaoyi excitedly screamed from behind the counter, her eyes lighting up with hope.

It was as if the assassin had slammed into a brick wall. He saw a gigantic, brass-and-chrome golem standing between him and the ’ant’.

The golem casually reached out its hydraulic hand and grabbed the razor-sharp blade of the sword with two metallic fingers.

The assassin gritted his teeth and tried to pull his sword free, but the weapon didn’t move even a single millimeter. It was locked in a vice grip.

Ren lifted his hand, casually patted Unit 01’s broad brass back, and simply said, "Throw this trash out."

He paused, taking another sip of his tea. "Oh, and beat him half to death first, then strip him. He tracked mud onto my clean floor. I hate that very much."

Unit 01’s mechanical optical sensors immediately flashed a vibrant, angry red. The distorted, robotic voice buzzed through the shop.

"Hostile Entity Detected. Violence Protocol Engaged. You will be stripped as an example to others."

BANG!!

A terrifying, overwhelming kinetic force erupted from Unit 01’s chassis.

The robot threw a punch so fast it broke the sound barrier inside the tiny shop.

The resulting shockwave blew the assassin’s bamboo hat into fine splinters, revealing a pale, shocked face.

The assassin’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as he spat out a massive mouthful of blood.

He had been punched squarely in the abdomen by Unit 01; his peak Foundation Establishment true energy armor was instantly shattered into pieces by this single, physics-defying punch...

Unit 01’s large, metallic hand grabbed the assassin by the face, lifting him effortlessly into the air. The elite killer dangled there, staring at the glowing red eyes of the iron puppet in absolute bewilderment and pain.

Unit 01’s other fist piston-punched the assassin in the chest.

The sound of ribs cracking echoed loudly. The assassin’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he instantly fainted, his body hanging limp like a broken doll, clinging to life by a very thin thread.

"Subject judged to be half-dead. Commencing public humiliation protocol," Unit 01 mechanically stated.

Then, the sickening sounds of tearing fabric rang out as the assassin’s expensive stealth robes and hidden armor were violently ripped apart by the machine. In less than two seconds, the elite killer was stripped completely naked, leaving only a tiny, embarrassing loincloth to cover his dignity.

Unit 01 gently waved its massive arm, and the unconscious, nearly-naked assassin was casually thrown out of the front door, flying through the heavy rain like a discarded piece of trash.

The sound of bare flesh intimately colliding with the muddy alleyway sounded out, echoing clearly within the little store.

The remaining three assassins, the Third Prince, and Xiaoyi were all frozen in place.