Just then, Meng Jueluo’s body began to decay at a visible rate. That eerie white smoke spread out wildly, like a demon breaking free from its cage, brandishing its claws menacingly.
She Quan happened to accidentally inhale a breath. In an instant, his mind went hazy, his eyes becoming vacant and hollow, as if his very soul had been ripped away from him.
He stumbled a couple of steps, then collapsed to the ground. In the last moment before his consciousness faded completely, he mustered every ounce of strength left in his body and gritted out a curse:
“Bāgě yālù!” (Damn it!)
The wind seemed so weak and powerless against this eerie white smoke. No matter how hard it blew, it could barely stir the smoke at all.
In that moment, the white smoke advanced like a massive army pressing down on the border, surging toward Renith with overwhelming force. Against the backdrop of that enormous volume of smoke, Renith’s figure looked tiny, as if she could be swallowed up at any moment.
“Two thousand glorious years…”
With his very last breath, Meng Jueluo’s voice was weak, yet carried an endless sorrow.
After saying these words, his body completely decayed, turning into a pile of bare bones. The divine statue, which had been radiating an eerie glow, lost its support. It crashed heavily to the ground with a loud “clang,” breaking into two pieces and kicking up a cloud of dust.
“Book of Holy Code, page 84, Earth Magic — Rock Thorns.”
Renith, floating mid-air, looked stern as she muttered the incantation. In an instant, countless sharp rock thorns burst out of the ground, rising higher and higher, easily piercing through the entire underground space and sending up a cloud of dust.
Renith cast the Mage’s Hand. The magical hand grabbed She Quan and flew him out of the underground space.
Then, Renith used Earth Magic again. The ground instantly swelled up, tightly sealing the entire library.
Renith suspected that this strange kind of smoke shared some similar properties with the Elf Leaves — substances that could instantly knock out anyone who inhaled them.
Just like She Quan in Renith’s hand right now — he was already floating on cloud nine, half-drunk and half-sober.
“Lady Renith, the underground space is completely sealed. That white smoke is spreading very slowly, and it’s getting fainter and fainter.”
Renith wasn’t confident she could directly confront this smoke. This was a high dose of an unknown gas, and she knew in her heart that if she took even one breath of it, she probably wouldn’t be able to just stand there like nothing had happened.
What Meng Jueluo meant by “can overcome” clearly referred to a situation where Renith stood her ground without running, resisted head-on, and inhaled a large amount of the smoke.
But that was just one of the possible outcomes from the “simulation.” Renith wasn’t that foolish. Unless it was a very specific situation, running away from a fight you can’t win is a pretty standard survival rule.
“But what am I supposed to do about this guy~”
Renith looked at She Quan, who was being held up by the Mage’s Hand, and furrowed her brows slightly.
He probably wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. So, she called over Filof and had her tie She Quan up tightly with a strong rope, then tossed him into a corner of the library.
Renith had plenty of questions she wanted to ask him, and she didn’t want him getting beaten to death by guards, the police, or somebody else, mistaken for a homeless person.
After dealing with She Quan, Renith and Filof went over to the massive statue.
This statue was still continuously giving off white mist. Renith casually tossed out a Holy Light magic spell. The holy light formed a sharp blade, easily slicing off a corner of the statue.
After carefully inspecting it, she found that the stuff was no different from ordinary stone.
There must be some kind of mechanism inside.
So, without any hesitation, Renith dismembered the statue completely.
From inside, she pulled out a palm-sized amethyst crystal. It was this crystal that kept emitting that hypnotic, bewitching sound — the very same sound that had lured students toward the abyss.
Renith looked through the crystal and saw a familiar force inside.
This power was transcendent, radiating a mysterious and mighty aura. Without a doubt, it belonged to Alegua’s level — or even higher.
Renith knew in her heart that she couldn’t handle this force. Trying to destroy it would probably cause more trouble. So, she decided to chip off a small piece of the crystal for research without damaging the main crystal.
The crystal capable of storing this kind of force was also a rare and excellent material. It might even be more premium than the four elemental crystals embedded in her codex.
Renith carefully collected a tiny bit of powder, put it into a delicate glass bottle, and carefully stored it away in a separate dimensional space.
As for the remaining crystal…
Well, this thing was obviously harmful. It wouldn’t be a good idea to leave it with anyone. Even though Renith had some resistance, wearing it for too long would still give her a splitting headache.
So, Renith first used Earth Magic to dig a deep pit. She buried the crystal deep underground. After making sure she couldn’t hear that annoying sound anymore, she set up a sealing barrier, filled the pit back up with dirt, and sealed away all the danger beneath the ground.
After handling all of this, Renith hovered in mid-air again to check the current battle situation.
The situation was mostly as Renith had guessed. Only two points were different and caught her attention.
“What is that? A monster? Or something else?”
The chimera on the ground was way too conspicuous. Its massive body looked like a small mound, and Renith couldn’t ignore such a giant creature.
Down there, Manville, Vistad, and a bunch of gang members were nervously facing off against this behemoth. Their eyes were full of fear.
And on the street behind them, a group of students carrying guns was slowly advancing toward them.
These students had a thick, invisible white mist clinging to their bodies. They had been thoroughly brainwashed by something external. Those redundant, useless, sinful, fanatical thoughts had taken root and sprouted in their minds, like malignant tumors. It would be very difficult to correct them now.
Isn’t this also a kind of poison?
A spiritual poison that people become dependent on.
Right now, Vistad and his group were about to be caught in a pincer movement, trapped in a desperate situation.
Just as Renith was about to go help, she saw a blurred figure in a black coat suddenly dash out from a corner. She had seen that figure before.
Looks like Renith didn’t need to go after all.
This figure was none other than the Viscount and his group whom she had encountered at the Bolan Gun Factory a few days ago.
Their strength was decent. Renith could confidently leave this battle to them.
But what exactly was that monster?
Renith moved closer to sense it, and found that this thing wasn’t actually a magical beast. Rather, it was a bizarre hybrid — different creatures crudely stitched together using some strange technique.
There were metal plates embedded inside its body, so ordinary bullets couldn’t hurt it. The easiest part to deal with on its whole body was its thighs, which were completely made of flesh and blood.
The Viscount moved. He pulled a sword from his waist, and the blade glinted coldly in the sunlight. The sharp sword was wrapped in “Qi,” and even a light swing produced a piercing sound cutting through the air.
Just as Renith had expected, the Viscount easily chopped off the monster’s limbs. The monster let out a miserable wail, blood splattering everywhere. Then, he casually sliced off the monster’s head. The head rolled to the ground, its eyes still holding onto unwillingness and anger.
No matter how much it was stitched together, the monster was still made of flesh and blood. It couldn’t withstand supernatural power.
After that, the group exchanged a few pleasantries. Vistad and his people didn’t seem to want to get into a conflict with the students, so they hurried away in three big strides.
Renith, who had reapplied her “Light Refraction” spell, didn’t hide her gaze. The Viscount sensed someone watching him, looked around for the source of the gaze, and finally spotted Renith hovering in mid-air.
“All taken care of?”
The Viscount stepped forward and asked.
Renith landed on the ground, moving lightly.
“All done. Their strength was pretty decent. You guys probably could’ve handled them too.”
“Much appreciated,” the Viscount said gratefully.
“How’s the battle going?”
“The city government hall of Mobis City has been taken over by the workers. The barracks on the east and west sides are under fierce attack from worker groups. Both sides are locked in a bitter struggle right now. The Bolan Gun Factory has also been hit by several waves of attacks, big and small. The boss saw the situation turning critical and worried they wouldn’t be able to hold the place, so he sent the three of us out to take action.”
“The police and guards have been beaten so badly they’ve almost lost the ability to fight back. However, the military police have also joined the battle. There’s a baron among them, and their equipment is extremely advanced with terrifying firepower. Our forces are too scattered, so there’s no way we can take them out anytime soon.”
The Viscount reported the detailed battle situation to Renith, point by point.
“Hmm… the city government hall you mentioned — is that the one next to the courthouse on the north side?”
Renith frowned slightly, quickly picturing the map of Mobis City in her mind.
“I think so,” the Viscount replied after a moment of thought.
While she was up in the air earlier, Renith had spotted a group of people at the city government hall who were dressed completely differently from the guards and police. They seemed to be the carefully trained underlings of some noble, and they looked like they were about to make a move on someone inside the government hall.
“Could it be Antina? I’m a little worried. Let me go up and take another look… I’ve got the general picture of the situation. You go ahead and get back to what you were doing.”
A wave of concern rose in Renith’s heart, and she decided to get closer to investigate further.
“Oh, and one more thing. Whatever you do, don’t go into the library basement. It’s dangerous,” Renith warned him seriously.
The Viscount firmly remembered Renith’s words. After all, if even someone at Renith’s level thought something was dangerous, then there was no way he could handle it. Going there would be like throwing an egg against a rock.
Renith rose into the air again and looked down over the entire city. She saw those noble underlings dragging someone out. Although it was a long way off, Renith could still vaguely make out the familiar figure of a woman with short hair.
It really was Antina. Renith’s heart tightened. She immediately decided to descend toward the direction of the government hall.
Halfway down, she saw a figure in a white lab coat walking over from a distance, standing out awkwardly among the crowd.
At first glance, Renith thought it was She Quan who had snuck out, and she was surprised for a moment.
But looking closer, this guy had a face full of bulging flesh and a mean look. He was carrying a leather satchel on his back, bulging with who knows what inside.
The man wasn’t She Quan. It was Demihov, whom Antina and Vistad often mentioned.
Renith became alert. This guy was a transmigrator, and the third person in the “Scholar” branch of Mobis City.
Renith watched Demihov’s every move intently.
What was he going to do?
Ignoring Antina’s shouts, Demihov swaggered straight toward the noble’s army, acting as if he didn’t give a damn about these guards.
He slowly pulled an ID card out of his leather satchel. But as soon as he showed it, a noble guard rudely slapped it onto the ground.
“Oh wow, this thing didn’t work, huh?”
Demihov raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise.
“What a shame,” he sighed softly.
He calmly bent down, picked up the ID card, dusted it off, and stuffed it back into his satchel. As he did, he pulled out a scalpel.
In a flash, Demihov charged at the guard in front of him. With a swift slash, he immediately severed the man’s limbs.
Blood spurted out like a fountain, staining the ground red.
The man was about to scream, but before the sound could even leave his throat, Demihov precisely slit his throat in one clean cut.
Blood gurgled out. His body collapsed limply to the ground, eyes wide open, staring into death.
“Shh… don’t disturb anyone.”
