Chapter 621: The Lady Driver Who Covers Her Eyes When She Pilots
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was Lin Huang's first time in Division 3. Although he knew something about the place from Mr. Fu, the information was from many years ago and might be outdated. He planned to settle down in a hotel room and find out more about Division 3 on his own, but he did not expect "tour guides" to be sent his way. Of course, he took advantage of them.
Sun Ba and the rest brought Lin Huang to an abandoned warehouse which was one of their gathering points. They did not dare to bring Lin Huang to their base camp.
"Dear Master, please ask whatever you have in mind. We'll answer whatever we know!" Sun Ba pulled a chair out for Lin Huang as they entered the warehouse while they stood aside. They were actually worried that Lin Huang might kill them.
"Isn't there anyone in the Sweep City who does anything about your scamming?" Lin Huang asked his first question. Theoretically, core zones should have better safety protocols than Division 7. However, the Sweep City, which was an A-grade foothold in a core zone, seemed to be less safe than any of the A-grade footholds in Division 7.
"It must be your first time in Division 7, Master." Sun Ba smiled when he heard that question.
Lin Huang glared at him. Sun Ba then stopped smiling and started explaining, "Actually, in Division 7, besides No. A1 to No. A10 footholds that require a pass for entering, the other footholds aren't as safe. Our Sweep City isn't the only one."
"Why's that?" Lin Huang found Sun Ba's reply to be ridiculous.
"It's normal that you don't know about this as many people outside the core zone have no idea about this. Division 3 is labeled a core zone to the outside, but it's just a piece of chaotic land. There are many underground organizations' headquarters here. In fact, 80% of the popular underground organizations, including the top ones, have their headquarters based here." Lin Huang was surprised by what Sun Ba said.
"Did the Union Government close one eye to this?" Lin Huang asked.
"No, they approved it. 200 years ago, the Union Organization had an agreement with the underground organizations to let go of Division 3. From the outside, Division 3 is still under the Union Government's territory, but it's really the territory of all the underground organizations."
Now, Lin Huang finally understood why Division 3 had such low security. It made sense that Sun Ba announced his ties to the Purple Crow in public so nobody would do anything to him. If that happened in Division 7, someone might have reported him to the Union Government as soon as he said that.
"So, those people from the health department who were giving out fines aren't fake? They were genuine staff?" Lin Huang had thought the staff who were acting like gangsters were bogus. He had never seen anybody who issued fines for lack of cleanliness in Division 7. However, such a thing happened in the territory of the underground organizations.
"They're considered real staff, I guess, but they don't belong to the Union Government," Sun Ba smiled as he explained.
"Are they from the Purple Crow?" Lin Huang speculated since Sun Ba pretended to be one of the Purple Crow members earlier.
"Yes, Sweep City is under the control of the Purple Crow," Sun Ba confirmed.
"There are 33 A-grade footholds in Division 3. Besides Sweep City that's terrorized by Purple Crow, which organization took over the other footholds?" What Lin Huang was asking was not pictured on the map.
"No. A1 to A.10 are under the Union Government. No. A11 to No. A13 belong to Dynasty. No. A14 and No. A15 belong to the Heretics, while No. 16 and No. 17 belong to the Purple Crow…" Sun Ba told Lin Huang accordingly. Basically, No. A11 to No. A27 belonged to the top underground organizations, while No. A28 to No. A33 belonged to the other underground organizations.
Besides Dynasty, the remaining top underground organizations were similar in terms of abilities. The numbering followed the time of agreement from the Union Government and was not related to the power of each organization. Sweep City was No. 3A17 which belonged to the Purple Crow. Later on, Lin Huang asked Sun Ba a couple more questions before leaving.
Sun Ba and the rest were relieved as they watched Lin Huang leaving their field of vision. They were afraid that Lin Huang might kill them after finishing his questioning. After leaving the place, Lin Huang activated Lin Xie's Emperor's Heart Ring and checked into a hotel in the central zone of Sweep City. Although the security was terrible, Sweep City was much more crowded than most of the A-grade footholds in Division 7. The population was even bigger than the White Capital's.
Standing on the hotel's balcony, Lin Huang felt refreshed as he watched people flying across skyscrapers on their flying mounts. People were using flying mounts in the White Capital too, but not as many as there were here. Most of them had Zephyr Dragons as their flying mounts in the White Capital. It was a mini sky dragon that was either red, green, or blue. However, Lin Huang saw more than 20 different types of flying mounts after standing less than three minutes on the balcony. There were different sizes with varying levels of combat. It was a messy scene.
"Stupid dragon, can you stop looking at others' butts? Didn't I feed you this morning?" Lin Huang looked amusedly at a lady who was shouting at her dragon. It was a cool blonde lady riding on a red dragon. The dragon was looking at the Inky Duck's fat butt as it flapped its wings. It was looking around distractedly as it flew in a straight line. Everything that came its way was destroyed.
Lin Huang frowned as the dragon was flying towards the balcony.
"Stupid dragon, you'd better stop now. There's someone over there!" The blonde lady slapped the dragon's head, but it totally ignored her screaming and slapping. All it was focusing on was the Inky Duck's butt. It had set its mind on biting its butt. Soon, the dragon flew into the balcony where Lin Huang was standing. To the dragon, Lin Huang and the balcony was just an obstacle to it.
"No!" The blonde lady covered her eyes and screamed as the dragon was going to crash into Lin Huang.
However, the blonde lady felt an intense force coming her way and yanked the dragon from going forward. She almost fell off the dragon's back. She opened her eyes and saw a dark shield that was fading away. A young man stood in front of the dragon unharmed. Meanwhile, her dragon had passed out and was falling to the ground. Just when they almost landed on the ground, she snapped out of the zone, leaped and landed on Lin Huang's balcony.
"Thanks! Luckily, you managed to make it stop." The blonde lady knew that her dragon had just passed out. However, she was curious about Lin Huang when she noticed his combat level. Her dragon was on gold flame-level while the young man in front of her was just a crimson flame-level like she was, yet he had managed to stop her dragon.
Before she could say anything, there was a bunch of people coming after her. They were demanding compensation for the stuff that her dragon had destroyed.
"I'm so sorry, I'll pay…" The blonde lady bowed and apologized to the people sincerely. She then turned around and said to Lin Huang, "I'm so sorry. I'll thank you again after I've settled the compensation."
"There's no need. It's just a small matter." Lin Huang shook his head.
"I have to. I'll be back tomorrow and treat you to a meal." Without waiting for Lin Huang to reply, the blonde lady leaped down and recalled her dragon before leaving with the victims.
"So, she's an Imperial Censor…" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow when he saw her recalling her dragon.
Chapter 622: An Interruption that Came Out of Nowhere
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang planned to visit the black market after lunch. Although he had obtained a lot of information from Sun Ba for free, some of the information would need to be purchased at the black market, including where a specific triple mutated monster would appear, the different monster types, and the combat levels across the danger zones. The main reason why he had chosen to come to Division 3 was to look for a suitable Life Fire monster for himself to level up. He was even more determined since Mr. Fu had been attacked.
Just when he was about to go out, Lin Huang sensed someone following him. The person seemed to linger on the balconies of the same floor for a while, and he was coming closer to his room. He frowned as he observed the balcony. He had no idea if it was a thief or someone else. Soon, the person arrived on his balcony. Just when he was ready to attack, he looked closer and realized that it was the blonde lady that he had seen this morning.
The lady stood behind the sliding door on the balcony. She was surprised when she saw Lin Huang, but soon she was overjoyed as she waved at him.
"I'm back!"
Lin Huang shook his head and opened the balcony door for her.
"Can't you use the front door?"
"I wanted to, but I don't know your name and your room number, so I could only follow what I remember. This lousy hotel has balconies that look the same. I forgot which room it was, so I had to look from balcony to balcony. Luckily, I got the right floor." The lady's explanation made Lin Huang realize why she had lingered on each balcony for a little while earlier.
"Please, come in," Lin Huang welcomed the lady into his room.
"Oh, it's nothing special! The one I'm staying at is nicer," The lady looked around as she entered and commented.
"It's not bad," Lin Huang simply said, not wanting to dwell on the topic.
"Didn't you say you would drop by tomorrow?"
"I was bored, so I thought I would come now." The lady peered at Lin Huang. "Can't I do that?"
"I have something to do in the afternoon." Lin Huang did not bother to answer her question.
"Let's go for lunch together. It's my treat," the lady initiated.
"I had lunch." Lin Huang pointed at the lunch box in his dustbin. It was lunch hour, so the hotel restaurant was full. He ordered take-out and had his lunch in his room instead.
The lady thought Lin Huang was just polite, but she realized that he was telling the truth when she saw the lunch box.
"A lunch box… I'll treat you a better meal." The lady looked at Lin Huang emphatically as she concluded that Lin Huang was poor, judging from the room that he was staying in as well as the food that he had.
"It's alright. I know you're being nice, but I really have something to do now." Lin Huang opened his door, making it evident that he wanted her to leave.
"Where are you going? I can go with you since I've nothing to do in the afternoon." The blonde lady was reckless and was not afraid that Lin Huang might be a human trafficker.
Lin Huang figured that she must come from a wealthy family background since she managed to live with such poor social skills.
"I'm going to the black market. It's not a place for a lady like you."
People who went to the black market were usually people from the underground organizations. Lin Huang thought that the lady might be scared if he said that, but she gave an unexpected response.
"Oh, the black market! I've never been there. My dad and sister won't allow me to go. I can't find the place by myself. I heard there're a lot of good stuff in the black market, and I've always wanted to go there. Since you're going, you should bring me along then." The blonde lady looked anticipatedly at Lin Huang.
"I have proper business to settle at the black market. It's inconvenient to bring you along," Lin Huang rejected right away. He started thinking that this lady was even more difficult than Sun Ba the scammer.
"All you'll have to do is to bring me to the black market. You can do your own thing while I look around myself without disturbing you. We'll meet at the entrance for dinner. I'll bring you somewhere good."
"I'll bug you every day until I repay you if you don't promise to bring me along," she insisted as she noticed Lin Huang's deep frown.
"What I did this morning was just something menial. You don't have to take it so seriously." Lin Huang did not expect the lady to be so stubborn.
"It's something small to you, but it's not to me," she said in all seriousness.
"If you didn't do what you had this morning, my stupid dragon would've destroyed more stuff, and I'd have to pay more compensation. Moreover, what my stupid dragon did might have even killed people. My dad would definitely ground me. I hate being grounded!
"Also, my dad taught me that we must remember those who helped us. You've helped me so much, so I must thank you with all my heart. If you don't accept it, this debt will stay in my heart forever."
After hearing the long story, Lin Huang did not want to retort back because he knew if he did, the lady would not give it up easily since she was stubborn. He thought about it and nodded eventually.
"Alright, then. I'll bring you to the black market, but you'll have to listen to me. Don't run around there. Wait for me while I'm settling my stuff. I'll show you around when I'm done. Also, everything comes to an end after dinner. You'll go home and pretend that you never knew me and I never knew you."
Although the lady looked naive, Lin Huang had his guard up whenever someone got close to him due to Mr. Fu. His disguise would usually work for people under imperial-level, but people with unique skills might still be able to see through his disguise.
"Got it!" The blonde lady nodded in excitement after hearing his confirmation.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yao Huanhuan." She extended her hand for a handshake.
Lin Huang realized that the lady had not paid any attention to what he said. He had told her to pretend not to know each other, but now that she was introducing herself, he was not sure if she had done so on purpose.
"Wu Ming." He shook her hand anyway.
"Why's your name like that? It doesn't sound like a name. Which 'Ming' is that? Is it the 'Ming' from 'Guang Ming'? Can I call you Xiao Ming?"
Lin Huang ignored her questions and stormed out of the room.
"Close the door!" He said to Yao Huanhuan who was left behind.
Chapter 623: Killing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang had found out the location of the black market from Sun Ba. It was located near a busy street in the southeast of Sweep City. He summoned Thunder and rode on it once they got out of the hotel entrance. Yao Huanhuan was surprised to see the flying mount summoned.
"You're an Imperial Censor too?"
Lin Huang nodded. He already knew that Yao Huanhuan was an Imperial Censor when they had first met in the morning.
"What a coincidence! Me too!" Yao Huanhuan seemed to think that they had something in common which made them even closer to each other now. She then summoned her flying mount, a Tweedle Bird. Perhaps she was worried that her dragon would destroy things again, so she did not summon it. Her flying mount was a gold flame-level double mutated Tweedle Bird. It drew attention when it chirped loudly as it was summoned. No less subtle were its colorful feathers.
The Tweedle Bird seemed to be proud that people were looking at it. Just when it was ready to chirp again, it noticed Thunder glaring at it not far away. It stopped making any noises and stepped aside. Thunder was different from the Tweedle Bird as it was a cruel predator while the Tweedle Bird was a pet with a melodious voice. Although they were both double mutated, even if they were on the same combat level, Thunder was much higher than the Tweedle Bird on the food chain. Let alone when Thunder was an immortal-level rank-1 now while the Tweedle Bird was only on gold flame-level.
"Why are you so scared, Xiao Hong?" Yao Huanhuan noticed the change in her pet's behavior and patted Tweedle Bird's wings as she smiled. The Tweedle Bird was upset and ignored Yao Huanhuan by turning its head away.
"Let's go." Lin Huang patted Thunder and flew into the sky.
Yao Huanhuan rode on Tweedle Bird and chased after them.
As Lin Huang rode on Thunder, he figured that he had been too busy earlier and he needed to groom this old partner again. He planned to activate an Advanced Card to upgrade it to triple mutation, then use the Reborn Card and the Blood Thickening Card. After all that was done, Thunder should go through an ability transformation. He had used up his Advanced Cards, Reborn Cards, and Blood Thickening Cards earlier, so he put this aside. Now that he was left with 340 card draws, he would start a new round of cross-ranking kills after he leveled up to blue flame-level in a few days, and he would get even more card draws by then.
Sweep City was almost the same size as the White Capital which was 15 million square kilometers. It was almost of the size of Russia on Earth. The distance from the hotel to the black market in the southeast was 2,500 kilometers away, and they took more than 40 minutes to arrive. Thunder landed on top of a skyscraper following Lin Huang's command while the Tweedle Bird followed. He then caressed Thunder's wings and recalled it back into card form.
"Your pet is so well behaved!" Yao Huanhuan enviously commented.
She then fed the Tweedle Bird with a jelly bean and recalled it much to its chagrin. It was Lin Huang's first time witnessing a relationship between an Imperial Censor and its pet, and he found it was interesting. All of his Monster Cards did not need to eat. Unlike regular pet monsters, they needed to be fed and had to shit every day. Although his monsters had a character of their own, they would not throw tantrums like this Tweedle Bird or ignore instructions like the dragon this morning. Basically, they obeyed whatever Lin Huang said.
As he thought about that, Lin Huang figured that he might not be a qualified Imperial Censor. Although Yao Huanhuan would occasionally be tortured by her pet monsters, looking at the way she communicated with them, despite not being an extraordinary Imperial Censor, she was much more qualified than Lin Huang was in many ways.
"Let's go." Lin Huang then looked away from Yao Huanhuan and glanced at the streets down below.
"So, it's in the busy streets down there? It's so crowded!" Yao Huanhuan recalled Tweedle Bird and studied where Lin Huang was gazing. However, she was looking at the busy streets next to the black market.
"Follow me." Lin Huang leaped and fell gracefully to the ground.
Yao Huanhuan shrieked and followed him by leaping at the edge of the building.
Soon, the both of them landed at different paces. Lin Huang then walked into the black market that was ten meters away while Yao Huanhuan followed him excitedly.
When they arrived at the entrance, Yao Huanhuan looked at the busy streets that were 20 meters away. She was disappointed.
"Oh, so it's not that way!"
"Follow me, don't run around. It's not my problem if the human traffickers take you away," Lin Huang warned her and walked into the alley ahead.
"What human traffickers? Do you think I'm a three-year-old kid?" Yao Huanhuan giggled.
Lin Huang stared at the naive Yao Huanhuan who was still giggling.
"Are there really human traffickers?" Yao Huanhuan was stunned when she noticed Lin Huang's serious expression.
"Of course, this is a black market. Any of the stores could be doing human trafficking businesses," Lin Huang revealed the truth.
"Hmph, if they dare to touch me, I'll get my stupid dragon to bite them." Yao Huanhuan remained carefree.
"It's better that you don't let your dragon out, or else people might follow you. In this black market, there might be immortal-level and even imperial-level people here. To them, your dragon is priceless. Don't show your wealth off here, or else you'll get yourself into trouble," Lin Huang said.
Just when Yao Huanhuan wanted to object to Lin Huang, the door of the house ahead was opened. Five young men who dressed like gangsters walked out of it, all of them on gold flame-level.
"Kill the man, keep the lady. Let's take turns to have fun with her later." The leader with blonde hair and a nose piercing glared at Lin Huang and focused his attention on Yao Huanhuan.
The men around him had dyed hair like watercolor had been splashed onto their heads. They had nose piercings too.
"F*ck off!" Lin Huang did not hold back. In the black market, the more timid you were, the more you would be bullied. Of course, you would need to have abilities yourself to be fearless, or else you would leave this place as a dead body. Killing was prohibited in all footholds besides the black market.
"Wow, are you trying to be a hero here?" The leader with blonde hair then looked at Lin Huang amusedly.
"You won't have the time to if you don't run now." Lin Huang stared at the leader and ignored the rest.
"Kill him! Kill the lady as well. We can have fun with her even if she's dead!" The leader was taken aback by Lin Huang's response, but he soon snapped out of it.
Yao Huanhuan was terrified when she saw the men coming towards her. She was planning to summon her dragon. Suddenly, five crimson glows flashed in the air as Lin Huang raised his hand. There were holes that were the size of thumbs on the five men's foreheads. They then fell onto the ground. After killing the five of them in one hit, Lin Huang moved his finger and retrieved their Emperor's Heart Rings with his Telekinesis. He then kept the rings in his storage space.
"They're dead…" Yao Huanhuan was shocked as she stared at the dead bodies on the ground which were still bleeding in their heads.
"Let's go." Lin Huang did not bother about Yao Huanhuan who was in shock and gestured at her to leave. He crossed the dead bodies and proceeded to walk ahead. Yao Huanhuan looked at Lin Huang who was getting further and ran after him following a moment's hesitation.
Chapter 624: Shopping at the Black Market
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Since the five gold flame-level men were killed in a single hit, the store owners and visitors, who were ready to watch an exciting show, returned to the stores. They proceeded to do what they were doing and pretended not to have seen anything. Besides showing his stunning ability off, Lin Huang had just sent everyone a message that he was a crimson flame-level genius who had the ability of an immortal-level. Everyone knew that such a genius must be a core member of a top organization. People who dared to touch him would suffer a horrible death.
Lin Huang brought Yao Huanhuan deeper into the alley. As soon as they disappeared, a few people dashed towards the dead bodies. In less than a second, the bodies were taken away, and there were even two individuals who fought each other for a dead body. To ordinary people, a dead human body was useless. However, to many of the business owners in the black market, it was something valuable that could be sold to puppeteers or witches. A complete gold flame-level human body could be sold at a higher price than a gold flame-level monster carcass.
Of course, Lin Huang had no idea about all that. Even if he did, he had no one to sell the bodies to. As they entered the alley, they soon arrived at the main street of the black market. There were more stores there, but business was slow. Including Lin Huang and Yao Huanhuan, the number of visitors were less than half of the number of stores that were available.
"It's so quiet." Yao Huanhuan was upset as she walked into the alley. She did not speak until she saw the actual black market.
"Most of the trading is done online now, so fewer people are shopping at the brick and mortar stores," Lin Huang turned around and explained to her.
"Then, why didn't you do it online?" Yao Huanhuan asked.
"There're many scammers online who sell fake stuff and fake information. I prefer to shop at the stores. There are fewer scammers here," Lin Huang explained patiently.
"But what if there are scammers at the stores? They might just close their stores and leave after scamming you." Yao Huanhuan was determined to get to the bottom of this.
"If that happens, I'll try to look for the scammer when I have the time and make him pay for the price." Although Lin Huang's tone was calm, Yao Huanhuan could sense that the cold tone in it. She recalled the dead bodies at the entrance of the black market.
"Do you… always kill?" Yao Huanhuan asked after a moment of silence.
"If I don't kill, they would've killed me." Lin Huang did not answer her question directly.
"Is this why you refuse to tell me your real name? Are you afraid that I'm here to kill you?" Yao Huanhuan knew the name that he had given her was fake. She had just been pretending earlier.
"Too many people want to kill me, so I have to be careful," Lin Huang admitted that he had his guard up against Yao Huanhuan.
They became silent after that conversation. Soon, Lin Huang finally found the store selling information that Sun Ba had told him about.
"Wait for me at the hall. Don't run around and create trouble. There are many people like the five men in the black market, and there are even more powerful people than that," Lin Huang reminded Yao Huanhuan again as they walked into the store.
Lin Huang then followed the female staff into a room. There was a lady who was in her early 30's in the room. She had a voluptuous body, but she was not fat. Her combat level seemed to be hidden using a relic, so Lin Huang could only sense that her aura was just like an average person's.
"Dear Sir, what would you like to know?" The lady sounded extraordinarily sweet which made Lin Huang feel comfortable. She did not use any bewitching skills, but her voice was distinctive.
"I want to know all the details of holy fire-level and immortal-level triple mutated monsters that are located in Division 3. Also, I need all the details of the danger zones and forbidden lands as well as the monsters in them," Lin Huang requested directly.
The lady raised her eyebrow and smiled.
"Not many people ask for such information. It's a massive amount of data, and I'll need some time to put them together. Could you come back tomorrow?"
"Sure." Lin Huang nodded.
"Is there anything else that you need?" The lady asked.
Lin Huang thought about it and nodded. "All the details of the organizations in the Division 3 footholds."
"That's tough. I can only provide you info on A- to C-grade footholds although the C-grade foothold data is just a tough one, let alone the D-grade. But it seems like no organization wants to take over the D-grade footholds," the lady explained.
"A- to C-grade are good enough." Lin Huang nodded.
"If you're not in a hurry, you can collect all of them tomorrow." The lady smiled at Lin Huang.
"Sure!"
After transferring the fee, Lin Huang gave her Lin Xie's contact number.
"Just send everything to this number tomorrow."
"Please come back soon!" Lin Huang left after hearing the lady's sweet voice. He soon noticed that Yao Huanhuan was no longer at the hall. He frowned and asked the staff who had brought him into the room, "Do you know where the lady went?"
"She went into another trading room after you left," the staff explained.
Soon, Yao Huanhuan returned.
"Didn't I ask you not to leave?"
"I heard from the staff that they sell information here. I happen to have something to ask. Moreover, I didn't leave this store. That's not considered leaving!" Yao Huanhuan denied.
Lin Huang did not want to argue with her.
After leaving the store, Lin Huang shopped at the black market with Yao Huanhuan just like he promised. She would stop whenever she saw something interesting like a curious kid who stopped to look at fun things. After shopping at most of the stores, Yao Huanhuan bought many peculiar things that Lin Huang did not know about. She said she spent all her money on items that she had never seen before as collectibles. Lin Huang did not bother to tell her that some of the odd pots that she had bought were spittoons from the olden days.
They finally got out of the black market when it was past 6 p.m. Yao Huanhuan projected the map, pinned the location, and summoned her Tweedle Bird. She then waved at Lin Huang.
"Let's go! I'll bring you somewhere good!"
Chapter 625: A Kid from a Rich Family
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was proven that Yao Huanhuan was from a wealthy family as she brought Lin Huang to a posh restaurant called the Sweep Gourmet. The restaurant looked like a glorious palace and was decorated just like a palace where a real emperor lived. It was not the obnoxious kind of decoration whereby gaudiness ruled over class. The settings were just right. It seemed like every corner of the restaurant was carefully designed.
Lin Huang secretly searched for the restaurant on the Heart Network and found out that it was opened by a demigod. The restaurant was a demigod relic just like the Union Government headquarter in Division 7. It was also the first official restaurant in Sweep City and ranked No. 9 in Division 3. It was famous from excellent word-of-mouth and delicious food. There might only be one flaw that the restaurant had -- its menu was so freaking expensive!
Of course, almost everything was served here including double mutated imperial-level monsters. As long as one had enough Life Crystals, they could even order a triple mutated monster or rare types such as dragonkin. However, the price of such monsters would be even more expensive than purchasing them alive from an Imperial Censor.
Yao Huanhuan seemed to be a regular customer. She brought Lin Huang straight to the third floor and asked for a private room. He was shocked to see the prices on the menu. The price of a plate of meat was equivalent to a third of a monster carcass on the market. The restaurant's profit must be sky-high.
For instance, an adult Swine Beast weighed more than five tons, and its meat made up 70% of its body. Taking away its bones and pure meat that occupied 35%, the meat was only 1.75 tonnes. Assuming a plate of stir-fried meat weighed 0.5 kilograms, one Swine Beast would be equivalent to 3,500 plates. Moreover, the Swine Beast's bones could be used to boil soup, make braised pork, and be barbecued… The gross profit would at least be thousands of times more. Deducting the labor and other costs, the restaurant's clean profit was hundreds of times more than a typical restaurant's.
They ordered four dishes and one soup for dinner. It cost more than 5,000 Life Crystals. A modified grade-3 relic only cost 4,000 Life Crystals while 5,000 Life Crystals could be spent on a customized grade-3 relic. Lin Huang was embarrassed to let Yao Huanhuan pay, so he went to the counter to settle with the excuse that he was going to the loo. The staff at the counter then told him that the dinner was complimentary. Lin Huang was surprised as he did not know that Yao Huanhuan was such a big shot. He returned to the private room on the third floor without asking any further.
He did not plan to find out more about Yao Huanhuan's identity as they would not be seeing each other after dinner. No matter how interesting her identity seemed to be, it was none of his business. Yao Huanhuan had no idea that he had attempted to pay. It would be a total joke to know that a crimson flame-level person could not hold his bladder after one meal, but she pretended not to bother. It was 8 p.m. when they were done with dinner, and the sky was completely dark now.
"Thanks for dinner," Lin Huang said after noticing that Yao Huanhuan finally put her chopsticks down.
"How was it? Sumptuous, isn't it?" Yao Huanhuan was contented.
"Pretty good."
"I'll treat you again some other time."
"I'll be leaving Sweep City in two days." Lin Huang planned to leave after getting the monster's location to get himself a suitable Life Fire monster the next day.
"Where're you going?" Yao Huanhuan asked immediately.
"Not sure yet. I'll only decide tomorrow after obtaining the information," Lin Huang said truthfully.
"Will you come back?" Yao Huanhuan asked in anticipation.
"Not sure, we'll see."
"Oh…" Yao Huanhuan seemed to be gloomy to hear his answer.
As they walked out of the restaurant, Yao Huanhuan stood at the entrance and asked Lin Huang, "Can you tell me your real name now?"
Lin Huang hesitated before nodding. "My name is Lin Xie."
Since it was a new identity, Yao Huanhuan would not be able to find anything. Besides, he would leave the next day if everything went as planned. There was no way for her to look for him.
"I'll remember that!" Yao Huanhuan nodded firmly before she grabbed Lin Huang's hand and introduced herself again, "My name is Yao Huanhuan. From now on, we're officially friends."
Lin Huang wanted to withdraw his hand, but he did not. What Yao Huanhuan did was out of his expectations.
"I need to go home now, or else I'll get scolded. See you if we have the chance in the future." Yao Huanhuan withdrew her hand and summoned her white dimensional relic. She stepped into it and waved goodbye at him.
Lin Huang smiled and shook his head as he watched Yao Huanhuan disappear together with her dimensional relic. The lady was even weirder than he thought. He then summoned his dimensional relic and vanished from where was. After he returned to the hotel, figuring that he would have a long day tomorrow, he got ready for bed when it was past 11 p.m. after reading some news. However, something caught his attention.
The headlines were "Little Princess Dating A Strange Man in the Middle of the Night" and the photo was of him holding Yao Huanhuan's hand at the entrance of Sweep Gourmet.
"Princess?" Lin Huang tapped on the news in doubt.
Three sentences into the news, Lin Huang finally found out Yao Huanhuan's true identity. She was the daughter of Sweep City's first family.
Although Sweep City was under the Purple Crow, the Yao family was the first family who lived in the Sweep City 700 years ago. They were also an Imperial Censor family. In Division 3, besides the top eight families, the Yao family was the first echelon family. They held a high status as they had been in Sweep City for many years. Even the Purple Crow would avoid them as they were the real royal family.
The restaurant's demigod founder was Yao Huanhuan's great-grandfather. Now, Lin Huang finally understood how Yao Huanhuan could eat for free. She was the youngest member in the family at only 17. She had a sister called Yao Lan, and the both of them were the only two daughters in the youngest generation of the family, so they were precious. They were called the Big Princess and Little Princess in Sweep City.
The most popular thing about the little princess was that she would get a new summoning monster every six months. When she obtained her new monster, she would destroy the city. However, she did not do that on purpose because she had yet to master the summoning monster which was triggered by the environment and would start destroying buildings. The dragon that Lin Huang encountered earlier was one such situation.
At first, nobody dared to ask for compensation as the Yao family was a significant royal family after all. However, she would always initiate the compensation and would always pay more than twice the price of the damages. Since then, everyone got used to it and would ask for compensation from the family. They even welcomed the Little Princess to destroy their houses.
"I didn't know I would be famous on my first day in Division 3…" Lin Huang wondered if he should laugh or cry after reading about the Yao family.
Chapter 626: Scary Instinct
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next morning, Lin Huang went to the buffet breakfast on the second floor after washing up. Just when he was getting his food, he noticed that many people were watching him. He did not bother at first, but as he sat down after exploring the buffet spread and getting the food that he wanted, he realized that almost everyone in the restaurant was staring at him. Some of them were even pointing and talking about him.
"What's this about?" Lin Huang looked down at himself. He seemed to be dressed alright today. He then turned on the selfie mode on his Emperor's Heart Ring to see if there was anything on his face. He was getting more and more skeptical.
"Why are all these people looking at me?"
On the double, Lin Huang left the restaurant after finishing his breakfast. Noticing that the staff at the entrance was looking curiously at him too, he could not help but ask, "Why are you guys looking at me? Is there anything wrong with me?"
"Dear guest, didn't you read the local news?" The female staff asked him back.
"The local news?"
"About you dating Little Princess last night. Everybody knows about it now. It's the biggest news of the year in Sweep City." The female staff smiled.
"People in Sweep City has nothing better to do…" Lin Huang thought to himself when he heard the staff's answer.
After he returned to his room, he found out that the comments of the news last night had blown up.
"Little Princess is mine! The strange man can go f*ck himself!"
"Judging by his look, we know that he's a bastard who scams little girls!"
"5 credit points to get the strange man's address who dated Little Princess. I want to stab him to death!'
"Upvote to that! Credit point +1. Don't forget to livestream when you stab him to death!"
"I support that! Credit point +2. I'll give you chicken feet if you livestream that."
"Credit point +3! Please get more chicken feet and marinate them… Ahh, I'm drooling!"
"Credit point +4. We've found a man-eater here! I'm reporting this!"
…
They were almost 100,000 comments on that single piece of news. Lin Huang then registered a new account on Weibo and found out that all the locals were talking about the same topic. Tens of thousands of threads had been created in a night and it was increasing. There were new threads coming up almost every second. It was mind-blowing.
Lin Huang was speechless.
"That girl did this to me!"
His plan was to stay low for a while in Division 3 so that he could focus on leveling up. He could always show off when he reached immortal-level. He did not expect himself to become famous in Sweep City on the second day after arriving in Division 3. If the topic became the number one in the browsing section, not only Sweep City, all of the other footholds in Division 3 would see his face. Luckily, his face was a disguise. Even a demigod could not tell how he really looked like from his picture.
Lin Huang calmed himself down and read the other news as well as the public information about the black market. He received a message from the lady from the black market when it was past 9 a.m. Before he could view the attachments, the lady sent a video call request. Lin Huang frowned and decided to pick up the call.
"Morning, dear customer!"
"Why are you calling?" Lin Huang asked.
"Mainly to tell you about the documents that I've just sent you." The lady sounded sweet as usual.
"Of course, but I'm sure there's something else besides that."
"Go on."
"Do you know that many people contacted us to find out about you after the news got out last night?" The lady smiled.
"And then?"
"We did a check on you, but we didn't manage to get anything, so we didn't really make much money from that."
"Are you saying that you want to pay me a portion of what you made?" Lin Huang remained calm. There was nothing much about Lin Xie, so it was only natural that the lady did not manage to get anything.
"You're so good at joking." The lady smiled.
"Stop beating around the bush. Say what you need to say." Lin Huang knew very well that the lady had not just called to chat with him.
"Alright then, I shall get straight to the point!" She became serious.
"Since you asked for information about monsters, I'm sure you're going to kill a number of them. Could you sell us the monster carcasses after that? We'll buy them at market price since we don't have many monster carcass resources."
"Why me?" Lin Huang asked.
"We need the stock urgently. We've already contacted customers who hunt and you're one of them. You've proven that you have stunning killing abilities. That's the kind of collaborating partner that we're looking for."
"I can sell them to anyone I want. What do I get if I sell them to you?" Lin Huang asked practically.
"As long as you agree to do this, you'll be our partner and we'll guarantee not to leak your identity," she said slyly, "Especially your identity that's being investigated to find out who you really are."
Lin Huang's heart skipped a beat. The lady knew that he was using a fake identity.
"Why don't you tell me who I really am?" Lin Huang remained calm on the surface.
"We don't know as we didn't investigate." The lady was honest.
"But I can't guarantee that nobody will spend a sum of money to find out about you. Trust me, no matter how you hide, there are ways to discover your real identity as long as someone pays. If we become partners, we'll keep this a secret and even come up with fake information when it's needed."
"I'm just an ordinary person. There's nothing to investigate about my identity." Lin Huang smiled as he shook his head. "I'm not sure how you even came up with this false assumption that my identity is fake. Without any practical benefits, I won't come all the way here just to sell the monster carcasses to you. I can sell them anywhere else at the same price. That's more convenient for me. I'm hanging up if that's all you have to say."
"Wait!" The lady was surprised by Lin Huang's response, but soon she came up with a new plan. "We'll give you a 20% discount if you're asking for information or purchasing items from us!"
"Can you give a better discount?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow.
"20% is the highest that I can get for you." The lady shook her head and smiled.
"This is the best that I can do. Please don't make it tough for me."
"Alright then, it's set!" Lin Huang agreed.
Lin Huang was relieved as he hung up the call. He had almost admitted his fake identity. Luckily, he was smart enough to deny it.
On the other side, the lady frowned as she looked at Lin Huang's identity in her hand.
"So, did he agree?" A man in glasses asked as he stood at the door.
"Yes, he did. He agreed to the 20% discount that I offered." The lady forced a smile.
"Didn't you say that you could get him to talk since you know that his identity is fake?" The man in glasses was surprised.
"He denied it." The lady shook her head.
"I've investigated his identity, but there's nothing wrong with it. My instincts tell me that he's using a fake identity, so I tried to trap him, but I failed. Perhaps my instincts were wrong. It's not the first time anyway…"
"Maybe you're too tired. Rest more, alright?" The man in glasses comforted her.
Chapter 627: Yao Family's Reaction
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Early morning in the Yao residence in Sweep City, Yao Huanhuan walked to the dining room while humming after washing up. Her mother, father, and sister were seated. The three of them were peeking at her as they ate slowly.
"Sis, when did you come back?" Yao Huanhuan was surprised to see the young lady home.
"This morning," Yao Lan replied.
"So early? Don't you always come back during lunch? So, you've decided to come back during breakfast now?" Yao Huanhuan giggled.
"I had a last-minute mission in the middle of the night which was just near home, so I dropped by.
"Oh." Yao Huanhuan chatted with her sister before joining them for breakfast.
"Huanhuan, where did you go last night that you had to come home so late?" Her mother asked a while later.
"Didn't I tell you that I bought my friend a meal? We ended up shopping in the afternoon, so I bought him dinner before coming home." Yao Huanhuan skipped the part where she went to the black market.
"You bought someone a meal?" Yao Lan thought it was odd.
"Yeah, I told you about the guy who blocked my Dumb Dumb yesterday morning," Yao Huanhuan said with a smile.
"Dumb Dumb?" Yao Lan thought that she could not understand her own sister anymore.
"The dragonkin that you got her earlier," her mother explained helplessly.
"Didn't you call it Hong Hong?" Yao Lan frowned.
"I changed its name yesterday. It's so dumb!" Yao Huanhuan explained.
"I suppose you rode on it before even coming to an agreement with your summoning monster?" Yao Lan glared at her.
"Didn't I tell you many times that you need to train your summoning monster for at least three months before bringing it out in public?!"
"But it behaved well when it was at home!" Yao Huanhuan denied.
"That's just the preliminary training. You'll need more training such as anti-interference. You've always brought your summoning monsters out in public after finishing the preliminary training and ignored the other training. It's normal for it to go crazy when it sees so many people and flying mounts all around it!" Yao Lan gave her a lesson, knowing how reckless Yao Huanhuan was.
"So, how many streets did it destroy yesterday?
"Not many. Less than two streets," Yao Huanghuan chuckled.
"All thanks to my friend. If he didn't slap Dumb Dumb to make it pass out, I've no idea how much compensation I'd need to pay. So, of course, I had to buy him a meal to thank him."
"He made your gold flame-level triple mutated dragonkin pass out with one slap?" Yao Lan raised her eyebrow.
"Your friend is an immortal-level?"
"Hehe, he's only crimson flame-level," Yao Huanhuan said excitedly.
"Sis, you might not be able to fight him even if the both of you are on the same level. He didn't only slap Dumb Dumb, he even killed…"
Yao Huanhuan then realized that she had said something that she should not have, so she stopped immediately.
"What did he kill?" Her father, who had been quiet, frowned and asked when he heard that.
"No… Nothing." Yao Huanhuan looked down and shoved a bread into her mouth.
"Did he kill people in front of you?" Her father demanded.
"No, no," Yao Huanhuan denied. She knew that if her parents found out what Lin Huang had done, they would ask her to stop being friends with him.
Her parents looked at each other. They knew how she behaved like when she was lying, and it was obvious that she had just lied.
"You're not allowed to see this person anymore!" Her father said furiously.
"Huanhuan, try not to get close to people like that. Since you've already bought him a meal, you've already paid your deed." Although her mother's tone was gentle, the message she was trying to send was the same as Yao Huanhuan's father.
"Huanhuan, the triple mutated gold flame-level dragonkin that I got you actually has the ability of an immortal-level rank-2. Your friend is just on crimson flame-level, but he managed to settle the dragon that was a level higher than him. That proves that he's a real supreme genius. I would've lost to an immortal-level rank-2 monster if I were to fight one when I was on crimson flame-level, let alone settling it in a single blow. Such a person must be trained by a powerful organization, and there are only a few such organizations in Division 3 besides underground members. I know most of them, but I've never heard of such a person. That possibly mean he's a member of an underground organization, most probably one of the top ones," Yao Lan analyzed Lin Huang's identity.
Yao Huanhuan did not say a word as she already knew that Lin Huang was a member of an underground organization. It was not difficult to conclude that from the way that he had killed and how familiar he was with the black market. However, she did not think that Lin Huang was a bad person.
"I'm full. You guys go on." Yao Huanhuan put the bread down on the table and left. The three of them looked at her leave without stopping her.
After Yao Huanhuan left, Yao Lan spoke to her parents, "You guys have spoiled her. I think the guy didn't know who Huanhuan is, so he wasn't interested in her. Now that it's all over the news, it's too risky to let her get close to that guy."
"Old Yao, get something to find out who that guy is." The mother looked at her husband desperately.
"Whether it's related to Huanhuan or not, this person must have some kind of intention. We must find out what he's doing in Sweep City."
"Yes, we should. The father nodded and glared deadly.
"If he's coming for the Yao family, no matter which organization he's from, I won't let him live.
…
Lin Huang, who was tens of kilometers away, had no idea that he was being targeted by the Yao family After hanging up on the call from the lady, he looked at the documents that she had sent immediately. The first one was of the organizations in all footholds of Division 3. It detailed the records from A-grade to C-grade footholds and even included the contradictions between the organizations as well as the fights that had happened in the past.
He had a rough skim through and started looking at the second document. The second one held the information of severe danger zones and forbidden lands as well as where the monsters were. Lin Huang noticed that the number of severe danger zones in Division 3 were more than thrice the number that they had in Division 7. There were 18 forbidden lands, which was almost triple what Division 7 had.
He then looked at the last document about holy fire-level and immortal-level triple mutated monsters in Division 3. It was the most important document to him at that point. He then started looking for the Life Fire monster that suited him the most…
Chapter 628: Third Life Fire Monster
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Four-Faced Beast was an immortal-level rank-5 triple mutated monster. It had a gigantic head with four human faces that faced different directions. Besides the four faces, it had 16 muscular arms and four strong legs. If it was placed on Earth, it would definitely be classified as a deformed human caused by severe nuclear radiation. Obtaining its tinder would give Lin Huang the ability to form extra arms during battles.
The Argus Scorpiodemon was an immortal-level rank-6 triple mutated fiend. It had four large and eight small eyes on its head. Besides that, there were tens of yellowish fangs exposed in the middle of its head. The entire head and body were covered with a brown, hard carapace. Its dark purple pinchers were bigger than its head. There were irregular spikes growing on its head all the way to its tails. It had three long tails on its back with a green iridescent shimmer that could be seen under the sun. Obtaining its tinder would give Lin Huang the ability to master more than 300 types of venom.
Meanwhile, the Cimmerian Corpse was an immortal-level rank-6 triple mutated spirit monster. It was covered in a big black robe that almost covered its feet as it floated around. In its loose sleeves were five black claws measuring almost 50 centimeters in length like the tail of a scorpion. It had a rotten human face with maggots squirming all around. Its tinder would give Lin Huang the ability to control bones whereby he could form a black bone structure that could be a weapon or a shelf. The strength of the bone structure was as powerful as a supreme relic.
…
The black market provided Lin Huang with the information about more than 30 triple mutated monsters. After some careful elimination, those that he was able to kill shrunk the list to less than half while the rest were monsters that were above immortal-level rank-7. He was not surprised by that as there were not many triple mutated monsters since the beginning. Moreover, all of the powerful Imperial Censors would follow the trails of triple mutated monsters and hunt them down as soon as they found one that was suitable for them.
Besides Imperial Censors, geniuses, who would able to fight triple mutated monsters, would kill them to obtain their tinder or their monster souls. Those triple mutated monsters that were not killed or captured were weak and nobody wanted them as a pet or a monster soul. Meanwhile, the powerful ones could not be killed by geniuses or tamed by Imperial Censors. Sometimes, they appeared in areas that were difficult to access such as forbidden lands which death rate was high.
Lin Huang frowned as he finished reading the document. There was only one monster that was related to Sword Dao among the 30-odd monsters, but it was an immortal-level rank-9 monster. Besides, the tinder of the monster was only a legendary-level Sword Dao skill, and not the Sword Heart that he desired. Lin Huang was not interested in the Sword Dao skill as he had Mr. Fu and Qi Mu Xiong's memories. With his One Page Sword Scripture, he was already on his path in Sword Dao, so skills that were below god-level could not interest him anymore.
A holy fire-level only had five chances to get to Life Fire. Lin Huang did not want to waste the opportunity on a Sword Dao skill that was unnecessary. Moreover, he would need to waste a Provisional Transformation Card to level up his combat level to kill the immortal-level rank-5 monster. However, besides that monster's tinder, there was none that he was happy with. He could not make a decision until lunch time.
Feeling helpless, he summoned Bloody for advice as well as contacting the hotel staff for service. Soon, the staff sent two portions of lunch. As Lin Huang ate his lunch, he waited for Bloody to read all about the monsters patiently so that it could give him some suggestion. As he was finishing lunch, Bloody had read everything about the monsters.
"I've ordered lunch for you. You can eat it before advising me." Lin Huang pointed at the plate.
Bloody then extended its two antennas, grabbed the plate and poured the food into its mouth. It put the plate back where it had been after licking the plate clean. Lin Huang had just finished his food and passed his plate to Bloody when he saw what it had done.
"You can clear this as well."
Bloody did not mind Lin Huang's leftovers and licked his plate clean too.
"I sure hope the staff clean the plates when they get them back," Lin Huang mumbled to himself.
Bloody then started speaking after spending a couple of seconds finishing its lunch, "I think this is the Life Fire monster that suits you best." Bloody used its antenna to point at one of the monsters on the projection.
"The Devil's Psykid?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow when he saw the monster that Bloody was pointing at. It was a human kid monster on the screen. It looked like a little boy that was less than 1.2 meters tall with a black cloak. Its face was hiding under the hood. Half of it was a skeleton while another half was perfectly fine. Its eye on the right looked scary.
The Devil's Psykid was a triple mutated fiend that was skilled at Telekinesis and spirit attack. In the document, it stated that it was an immortal-level rank-6. It was the perfect range for Lin Huang to fight without using a Transformation Card. However, he eliminated this monster as his Life Fire monster from the beginning.
"The Devil's Psykid's Life Fire has Demonic Telekinesis. I already have Divine Telekinesis. Wouldn't it waste my time killing it?" Lin Huang shook his head as he explained.
"Master, you got something wrong. Telekinesis is an ability that can be strengthened continuously. The Divine Telekinesis that you have will be strengthened when you obtained Demonic Telekinesis," Bloody paused.
"Moreover, the most important part is although the Devil's Psykid doesn't have Supreme Intelligence, it's a monster with high intelligence. The telekinesis that it has is already on a terrifying level whereby it's comparable with a supreme genius who's an expert in telekinesis. You won't be just getting its telekinesis skill when you get its Life Fire, you'll also obtain its experience in telekinesis. It's a whole package. If you obtain this skill, Master, you'll save two to three years mastering telekinesis."
"The path to telekinesis doesn't sound bad." Lin Huang was convinced after hearing Bloody's explanation.
"With this new identity in Division 3, it isn't convenient for me to use my sword. My close-distance ability is limited, so the most I can fight is an immortal-level rank-2 or rank-3 monster…"
There were actually many telekinesis skills and techniques in Qi Muxiong's memories, but Lin Huang did not have the time to train earlier. It would take time to master telekinesis, so he had put it aside. Not that there was a shortcut available, but he would not want to let it go.
"Sure, let's go for the Devil's Psykid then!"
Chapter 629: The Second Most Dangerous Forbidden Land
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The immortal-level rank-6 Devil's Psykid was a great source of tinder as well as an excellent choice as a summoning monster. It had not been captured or killed by anyone mainly because it was locked on the second layer of the forbidden land, Abyss Brink. The Abyss Brink existed 800 years ago before the first Virtual Eye opened, and it was the second most dangerous forbidden land in this world.
The Abyss Brink almost covered the entire world. If one was to shrink the world map many times smaller, the Abyss Brink was like a gigantic, complicated spider web. Its ocean covered 8 of the 12 safe zones while the entire Abyss Brink covered the 13 safe zones, including the land of origin. Mr. Fu and the rest who were involved in the building of safe zones could not help this. Besides the borders of the world, no matter where the safe zones were built, they would always land on the Abyss Brink.
This particular forbidden land was dangerous as the Abyss Brink did not have any monsters that were below transcendent-level. Even the least powerful monster on the first level of the Abyss Brink was a holy fire-level monster. There were even many immortal-level monsters wandering on the first layer of the Abyss Brink. Meanwhile, on the second layer where the Devil's Psykid was located, the least powerful monster was an immortal-level rank-1, and there were even imperial-level monsters. On the third level, even an imperial-level person would not dare to enter as the least powerful monster was on imperial-level, and there were even demigod monsters.
There was also a fourth level in the Abyss Brink, which was called the virtual zone, as well as an isolated forbidden land that was the most dangerous forbidden land in the world! Its entrance was located on the third layer while its opening times and location were different every time. The period for which the entrance stayed open differed from time to time as well. It was like a ruin that opened irregularly, which was why it was called a virtual zone.
The virtual zone's existence was similar to the Abyss Brink's whereby it had opened way before the first Virtual Eye. However, all of the ancient recordings during the ancient epoch had never mentioned anybody surviving the virtual zone after entering it. This forbidden land that existed in isolation was like a massive black hole that engulfed everything.
With Lin Huang's current ability, he was unwilling to risk his life in the Abyss Brink. If he had to, he would usually explore the first level and would not go to the second level as there were just too many life-threatening monsters there. However, after hearing about all the benefits that killing the Devil's Psykid would give, he decided to risk his life this time.
"Although it's the second layer of the Abyss Brink, it should still be safe if I follow the coordinates that were provided to find the Devil's Psykid and get out from the place as soon as I kill it," Lin Huang comforted himself. The six God Crashers that he had were only down to three to four shots but to be safe, he decided to reload all of them just in case something happened.
After spending the entire afternoon and half his evening preparing for his trip, he went to bed right after that. He had no idea that the Yao family had been doing all sorts of investigation throughout the day.
In the middle of the night, Yao Huanhuan's father, mother, and sister Yao Lan gathered in their family reading room.
"So, did you manage to get anything about the guy?" The mother asked.
"This guy is hiding very well. There's nothing wrong in his network history on his Emperor's Heart Ring. He has never downloaded any 'movies' before. I mean, which young kid like him has never watched those sort of 'movies'? I remember when I was younger…" The father started, then he realized that his wife was staring angrily at him, so he changed the topic.
"Ahem, so that shows that he's hiding many things. Although it's been a short period and the people investigating him could only find his basic information, it proves that there's a powerful organization that's concealing his identity for him. If he's from a Union Organization or some member from a prestigious family, he wouldn't conceal his identity like that. It's no surprise that he might even be a member of an underground organization. It's just that we haven't managed to find out which underground organization he belongs to."
"So, you're saying that you didn't manage to find out any sh*t about this guy?" The mother was dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation.
"Don't say that! At least now I know he's not interested in our Huanhuan." The father smiled.
"Why so?" The mother asked.
"He has bought a ticket to the Abyss Brink today and he'll leave Sweep City tomorrow," he explained with a wide grin.
"He's only a crimson flame-level but he's going to the Abyss Brink. Is he digging his own grave?" Yao Lan rolled her eyes.
"Supreme geniuses usually have high expectations. Didn't you say that you wanted to explore the Abyss Brink when you had just reached white flame-level?" The father had a less biased judgement towards Lin Huang ever since he found out that Lin Huang was not interested in his daughter.
"Moreover, as Huanhuan described, the possibility of this guy risking his life on the first level of Abyss Brink is low."
"Since he's going to the Abyss Brink, why can't he just go from another city? Why must he come to Sweep City?" Yao Lan still could not get over the fact that this strange man had gotten so close to her sister.
That's my sister. Get off, bastard!
She had rejected a mission in the middle of the night when she saw the picture of Yao Huanhuan holding a strange man's hand. What she had said in the morning was just an excuse.
"I found out that he didn't come to Sweep City on purpose. He was sent from another safe zone's dimensional portal." Many people had witnessed the incident involving Lin Huang with Sun Ba, so that was not difficult to find out.
"You mean this guy came from a safe zone outside of the core zone?" Yao Lan raised an eyebrow.
"There're supreme geniuses outside of the core zone…"
The dimensional portal in Sweep City sent people randomly from divisions outside of the core zones. Besides Sweep City, to save energy, besides the dimensional portal in No. A1 to No. A10 footholds, all of the other A-grade footholds in Division 3 would transport people at the same time. The operation was only done once a day.
The dimensional portals in Division 3 were like receiving terminals that received people who were sent across the safe zones at the same time. Therefore, Sweep City could not determine which division was Lin Huang sent from.
Hearing Yao Lan's doubts, the father said in all seriousness, "Lan Er, don't underestimate anyone's birthplace as one's ability. There are also supreme geniuses who are comparable with the people in Division 1 to Division 3, so it's normal that there are supreme geniuses in other divisions."
Yao Lan was quiet as she stared at the table. Nobody knew what she was thinking about.
A while later, she peered up from the table.
"I shall visit the Abyss Brink as well. There's a mission taking place there."
"Lan Er, please don't find fault with the kid. After all, he didn't do anything to our family. Don't create trouble out of nowhere and offend the organization behind him." The mother frowned.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to find fault with him. I'm just going for a mission and I shall see what's the guy that Huanhuan has so many good things to say about is like." Yao Lan smirked.
Chapter 630: Yao Lan's Probe
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next morning, Lin Huang checked out of the hotel after breakfast and headed straight to the dimensional portal terminal to the Abyss Brink. The dimensional portal to the Abyss Brink was located at a different place from the usual foothold dimensional portal as the both of them were hundreds of kilometers apart. Just like the usual dimensional portal, it was operated by a team that handled the daily maintenance.
The dimensional portal would only be opened at 9 a.m. once a day. If a person missed it, he would have to purchase a ticket again and come back the next day. There were already 30 to 40 people at the dimensional portal when Lin Huang arrived. Most of them were having breakfast or drinking coffee at the stores nearby. Some of them sat on the bench reading news and scrolling on social media sites.
He went into the cafe and got himself a seat after ordering a cup of black coffee. He started reading the news. Soon, the waiter served his drink. He waited patiently for the dimensional portal to open as he sipped on his coffee. As he was finishing his coffee, a young lady in her early 20's walked into the cafe. The lady smirked when she saw Lin Huang. As she passed by where he sat at the al fresco area and ordered her coffee, she turned around and headed towards Lin Huang's table.
"Hi, anyone sitting here?" The lady asked as she stood across Lin Huang at the table.
"No." Lin Huang was so engrossed in reading the news that he did not even look up when he responded.
The lady frowned when she realized that Lin Huang did not even bother to look at her.
After a moment of silence, the lady suddenly spoke, "Eh, aren't you the guy who dated Yao Huanhuan?"
Lin Huang then looked up and studied the lady. His eyes lit up. She looked like she was in her early 20's and was almost 1.7 meters tall. She had a pair of long legs and a pretty nice body but… her breasts were a little too small.
"You've got the wrong guy." Lin Huang looked away after checking her out.
"How is that possible? You look exactly like the guy in the picture!" The lady exclaimed and projected the picture in the news.
"The picture only shows the side profile of the man. I admit his side profile looks a little like mine, but if you compare me and him, you'll realize that his front profile isn't as handsome as mine," Lin Huang started rattling nonsense.
"Ever since the news was published that night, people have told me that I look like him yesterday. It's irritating. So, I'll tell you once again that the guy in the news isn't me. Our side profiles just look slightly similar."
The lady was stunned like she did not expect Lin Huang would deny her like that. She almost believed that she had the wrong guy, but soon she snapped out of it.
"It's you. Stop denying!"
"Lady, you've really got the wrong guy. Can't you see that we're wearing different clothes?" Lin Huang proceeded to deny.
"Different clothes?" The lady was stunned. She then studied Lin Huang and looked at the picture before realizing he was playing a fool with her.
"You can change your clothes! Do you think I'm a three-year-old?!"
"I've already told you that I'm not the guy in the news. What do you want from me?" Lin Huang spread his arms wide.
"Whether you admit it or not, I know you're the guy!" The lady insisted.
"Whether you believe me or not, I'm not," Lin Huang insisted.
The staff finally served the lady's coffee, and she calmed down slightly. Lin Huang then proceeded to read the news again.
After taking a sip of coffee, the lady interrogated, "What's your relationship with Yao Huanhuan?"
"We're not in any relationship. I don't even know her," Lin Huang replied callously without even looking up.
"Alright then, maybe I've really got the wrong guy." The lady finally let it go.
"I've told you that since the beginning, there's nothing that I can do if you don't believe me." Lin Huang had his eyes on the news page.
"Since you said you don't know Yao Huanhuan, that means you're not from Sweep City then? She's the Little Princess of Sweep City. Nobody in the foothold doesn't know her. Even if they've never seen her, the name should ring a bell," the lady proceeded to probe.
"Yeah, I'm not," Lin Huang gave a short reply.
"Then, why are you here in Sweep City?" The lady asked.
Lin Huang frowned when he heard that. If the lady recognized him from the news, what she asked should be all about Yao Huanhuan. After all, Yao Huanhuan was the person everybody cared about while he was just a sidekick that rode on the wave of fame. However, now that the lady had started focusing on him instead of Yao Huanhuan, he had his guard up towards her.
"I'm just passing by," Lin Huang gave a short reply again.
"So, where are you from?"
"Why don't you guess?" Lin Huang glared at the lady, trying to figure out if the lady had investigated him.
"I can't guess. Forget it if you're not telling." The lady did not fall into his trap and changed the subject instead.
"Why are you going to the Abyss Brink? I guess you can tell me that?"
"To hunt for Life Fire monsters," Lin Huang told the truth.
"Me too. My name is Lan Yao. Let's form a team." Yao Lan gave a fake name and suggested that they form a team.
"No," Lin Huang rejected her directly.
"Why not? It'll be safer if the both of us are together."
"I'm used to doing things on my own," Lin Huang replied.
"So, you want me to go on my own? What if something happens to me?" Yao Lan showed a pitiful expression.
"Then, you shouldn't go or get a few friends to go with you. There's no difference if you go now or later since you're hunting Life Fire monsters."
Yao Lan had no idea what to say to Lin Huang as what he said made sense.
"What's the matter with you?" She did not expect to be backhanded so many times by him.
"Lady, let me give this to you straight. We're on different roads. I'm going to the second layer of the Abyss Brink." To Lin Huang, she was just another crimson flame-level. To prevent her from following him, he revealed his plans.
"You're going to the second layer?" Yao Lan was shocked to hear that and she could tell that Lin Huang was not lying. However, the second layer of the Abyss Brink was not a place for her as an immortal-level rank-3. Lin Huang was only a crimson flame-level, but he had the guts to go to the second layer. To her, he was digging his own grave.
"You're only crimson flame-level and you're going to the second layer? Do you plan to die there?"
"There's nothing that I can do. The Life Fire monster that I'm looking for is on the second layer. I'll leave right after I kill it." Lin Huang shrugged.
"Do you think the Abyss Brink is a place that you can just enter and leave as you wish?" Yao Lan thought Lin Huang was being ridiculous.
"Never mind then. I'm not stopping you from killing yourself. Have fun!"
Yao Lan stood up and left immediately, not bothering to speak to Lin Huang anymore. To her, as long as he got to the second layer, it was impossible for him to get out alive. It was unnecessary for her to waste her time on a person who was going to die soon.
"I've finally chased her away." Lin Huang looked at the time. It was already 8.40 a.m. and the dimensional portal would be opened soon. He ordered another cup of coffee as he waited patiently.