Chapitre 26: Thank You
Kami approached with an expressionless face, quickly coming to the same conclusion after hearing the soldier's report. The situation was beginning to resemble a covert battle between two invisible forces—one trying to infiltrate their ranks, the other working to stop them.
Dongwu City was becoming more complicated by the day.
"Captain, we've found a teleportation array beneath us, but it's one-way. It seems to have been here for a long time. We've also found the original residents, and they know nothing about the basement."
A soldier hurried over, holding a stack of damaged documents, raising them above his head. "Should we interrogate the residents?"
Kami looked toward Mossen, her voice calm. "No need. Right now, the Scarlet Cult poses the greatest danger. Let them fight in the shadows. If divine power descends, Dongwu City might be wiped off the map."
Mossen closed his eyes, and when they opened again, a fierce determination burned in them.
He turned and walked to the front of the army. The demon lion darted toward him, and he hopped on its back. With a casual wave of his hand, he ordered, "Move out quickly. We need to clear the East City District before two o'clock."
"Understood, Captain!" Magath answered, quickly picking up his walkie-talkie to give orders.
The 50,000-strong army, which had been stagnating, suddenly surged into action. Even if they were clearing out family members, their methods were rougher, but at least there were fewer curses hurled.
Dongwu City had its own set of rules, established by the City Lord's Mansion. The laws were clearly laid out in the first few articles of the decree: no one or no unit could disobey military orders, and violators would face immediate execution.
As a result, while verbal abuse lessened, casualties were inevitable.
Garrett and Magath exchanged a glance and rushed ahead without hesitation—one wielding an axe, the other a sword. Their target: the shops in the wealthiest part of the district.
In all of East City, only those areas remained vibrant with activity and revelry.
---
"Huh? No money?"
The smile on Bai Yi's face faltered as he turned to the orc in front of him, whose bloodshot eyes glared with accusation.
It was surprising that instead of halting to investigate the irregularities in their legion, their enemies were accelerating their advance.
The influence of the Night Rose in Dongwu City was even greater than Bai Yi had anticipated. At least thirty members of Night Rose had infiltrated a force of 1,500.
This was a frightening number, considering it had only been three hours since Saab relayed the message.
Such an aggressive expansion suggested there were at least two hundred people in Dongwu City working against the Night Rose.
Moreover, the Berserker who had once courted him carried the [Invitation to the Night], hinting that the Night Rose faction had a high-ranking member—possibly even a golden-level operative.
The ideal outcome would be for the Scarlet Sect to unleash its full force, clashing with all four factions. This would yield the greatest advantage for him. For example, he could infiltrate the Scarlet Sect more safely and expose the hidden threat of Night Rose to the open, increasing the value of the intelligence he possessed.
But that would take time.
Bang!
A loud bang on the table snapped Bai Yi out of his thoughts. The orc gambler stood, red-eyed and furious, pointing at Bai Yi. "You're cheating! How else could you win every time?"
Bai Yi spread his hands in a gesture of feigned innocence. "Do you have any evidence?"
The orc's eyes grew even redder as he panted, glaring at Bai Yi. If he had evidence, he would have overturned the table by now.
At that moment, a noise from outside caught Bai Yi's attention. The image inside his sunglasses shifted, and he took out the half-full sack of copper coins he had just won, shaking it in his hand.
"If you don't have the skills, stop making excuses. How about I buy you some midnight snacks?"
As he spoke, a subtle, powerful fluctuation rippled from Bai Yi's hand. In an instant, copper coins spilled across the table. More than a dozen gamblers, who had already lost everything, froze in shock.
Including the orc, they rushed forward, scrambling for the hundreds of copper coins scattered before them. To Bai Yi, they were worthless. But to the civilians, these were their wages for months of hard labor.
A city wall divided two worlds.
Bai Yi stood, walking toward the exit. As he left, he pulled out a bottle of bronze-level invisibility potion and drank it.
He thought for a moment and made his way up to the second floor.
A pot-bellied man, carrying a Barrett rifle, stomped down the stairs angrily. His face, marked with bright red lipstick, was a sign of his recent... activities.
Bai Yi ascended to the second floor, settled beside a wooden guardrail, and waited patiently. He recalled that the fat man was involved in the casino business and had made a decent profit.
Though his Barrett was a limited-purchase item, the man had still paid a premium to acquire five—making him a customer of some importance.
Unexpectedly, the man was a member of the Scarlet Sect.
It seemed the Scarlet Sect had much greater hidden strength than Bai Yi had assumed.
---
"Who's there? Don't you know where you are? You dare cause trouble in my place? Want to die?" Chifeng barked, raising his Barrett and pointing it at Magath's head.
Magath grinned, his greatsword glinting faintly behind him. A murderous intent hung in the air.
Not everyone was as influential as White Plague. Pointing a gun at the head of a general from the Apocalypse Legion could be a fatal mistake.
"I'm a general of the Apocalypse Legion," Magath said coldly, his voice laced with suppressed fury. "We've been ordered to evacuate. Are you sure you want to defy that order?"
Chifeng's hand trembled, and the gun's muzzle shifted slightly. His arrogance flared. "Approval! I need a formal approval document with the City Lord's seal. Without that, you're breaking the law, and you'll be held accountable for the consequences."
His anger grew, and he pointed at the lipstick stains on his face, sneering, "Damn it. You show up here and cause a scene? I'm scared of you? If anything happens to my brother, I'll bankrupt you!"
Magath's grin widened, exposing his sharp teeth. He drew his sword and whispered, "Want to bet which is faster? Your gun or my sword?"
Chifeng flinched, fear flickering in his eyes. He called out, "Get over here, we've got a tough guy!"
Suddenly, four Barrett rifles were aimed at Magath from the fifth floor.
Bronze-level thugs appeared one by one, their faces twisted with malice as they focused on Magath below.
"Damn it," Magath muttered under his breath. The energy gun Bai Yi had provided had indeed enhanced the basic combat abilities of the Dawn Federation, but even these middle-tier thugs could be emboldened by the lower-level operatives.
This wasn't going to be an easy fight.
He glanced up, irritated, before turning around and walking into the snow.
Chifeng, now slightly more relaxed, simply wanted to stall for time.
The four thugs above exchanged glances, their fingers caressing their Barrett rifles. They knew they couldn't have been so bold before, but now, with a silver-level opponent retreating, they felt emboldened.
They had Bai Yi to thank for this turn of events.
But Bai Yi, from the second floor, was growing increasingly uneasy. His sunglasses revealed something troubling: the members of Night Rose had vanished from his sight.
It seemed they had hidden their presence, their arrogance slipping away.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone