This foreign place was like a medieval fortress. A huge white-stoned city was in its core, while squat houses and worn-down tents lined its perimeter. The sky was gloomy, and in this sparse, cloudy land, the streets were crowded with people selling craft, alcohol, or themselves.
Pallid, white faces were all over the city, their eyes betraying a sense of wretchedness. Everyone wore tattered clothing and were malnourished, with many giving off a very pungent smell. It was unknown when was the last time they had a shower.
The bald man led the tall and short pair toward the huge city. Xia Fei quietly followed behind them; there were presently plenty of eyes around, and his combat suit stood out like a sore thumb, so with some quick thinking, he quickly darted into an old and graying tent beside the road.
There was a kid roughly seven or eight years old inside this tent, seated on the ground, playing with a broken toy model of a hovercar. His complexion was grayish like an adult, while his frame was skinny and small. His fingernails were dirty, all caked with mud and sand.
The kid actually had no idea that Xia Fei had entered his tent, only staring at him dumbly, as if he did not care for his intrusion into his home.
“Stop looking. That kid is just like the adults you’ve seen—a user of Bliss Powder.” Phantom sighed.
“Bliss Powder?” Xia Fei wondered.
“It’s a kind of drug that will numb the brain of humans, causing them to hallucinate. Anyone using it will become extremely crazy, but after the effects wear off, they’ll be as dull as walking corpses,” Phantom explained.
Xia Fei did not make any comments. There was essentially nothing in the tent besides a few broken bowls. Even the place for sleeping was no more than a collection of straw.
Xia Fei retrieved the only raincoat from a clothes stand and put it on. Before he left, he took out tens of energy bars and chocolate from his spatial ring and put them beside the kid. He curiously nudged at the items that Xia Fei left, a sudden glimmer of light appearing in his eyes as if his interest was piqued.
“It’s no use; giving the kid anything to eat won’t go to his stomach. His parents will take them to exchange for more Bliss Powder when they find the stuff; people who use drugs are completely addicted. There’s no way to save them,” Phantom said.
“Perhaps so.” Xia Fei furrowed his brows. A child would not fully understand their action and would not use such drugs on their own, so he believed that it was this child’s parents who committed the sin.
“Giving their child drugs?” Xia Fei muttered to himself. “This place ought to be called Sin City.”
Breath Control could make Xia Fei unnoticeable, and with that raincoat filled with holes worn on his body, Xia Fei was able to make his way through the crowd without drawing anybody’s attention.
Xia Fei could not help but sigh as he made his way down the road. The locals who used the Bliss Powder came from all age and sizes. It was as if the drug had already become a part of life for the people here.
When he was about a mile away from the huge city, the muddy road turned into a beautiful stone boulevard, and the people here were dressed differently from the people outside and were at the very least cleaner.
The trio was quietly chatting even as they made their way through. There was too much noise around them, so Xia Fei was unable to make out what they were saying even when he pricked his ears. Out of caution, Xia Fei made sure to maintain the distance with the trio, using the terrain around as cover, even as he blended into the crowd.
A moat, roughly fifty meters wide, surrounded the city walls, with a single drawbridge across it. By the entrance to the city were several dozen fierce-looking guards, their unkind stares leered at everybody entering the city. The trio stepped onto the drawbridge as they prepared to enter the city; that short middle-aged man did not forget to throw a few glances behind.
Xia Fei, who was staying hidden while standing in front of a stall by the roadside, pretended to pick the fruits on display even as he thought of how he would get into the city. Xia Fei would not have much of a difficulty relying on his speed ability to dash through the gate entrance, except he had no idea if there was anyone among the guards who had a sort of perception-based ability. It was best not to cause too much trouble since he was on foreign soil, and the smartest solution was to blend in.
That was when a hovertruck came barreling from afar, madly honking loudly, not at all concerned with how packed the roads were. The vehicle was being recklessly driven the whole way as its driver acted completely domineering and arrogant.
The crowd instantly parted themselves very knowingly, no one daring to get in the way of the vehicle. Xia Fei had the sudden thought to bend over and pretend to tie his shoelaces when, actually, he was taking in the hovertruck from the corner of his eyes as it came hurtling over, searching for the opportune moment.
The road was muddy, and when the hovertruck encountered some muddy puddles, water got sprayed everywhere as it careened through. Everyone around raised their arm in an effort to cover their face with their sleeve.
This was when Xia Fei’s kicked the ground forcefully, darting right under the hovertruck in an unimaginable bicycle kick maneuver, making it onto the truck bed through an opening in the canvas sheet.
Everything happened in nanoseconds, so no one noticed anything.
The suspension system of the hovertruck was already damaged, so the vehicle was bumpy. However, Xia Fei was very comfortable on that truck bed because it was stacked with bags of flour.
Xia Fei rubbed his nose. The flour had a very strange smell to it, a very tantalizing aroma.
He pulled out a short knife from his spatial ring and lightly poked one of the bags, watching as a dark yellow powder slowly trickled out from within.
“This is Bliss Powder. The drugs this vehicle is carrying may be worth well more than a hundred million star coins,” Phantom said.
Xia Fei nodded. Seeing that this place seemed to be home to drug dealers, what with the huge amount of drugs being rampantly driven right into the city so unscrupulously and the many addicts all around, Xia Fei had come to the conclusion that this was no good place. There was also a high probability that the man by the name of Hook was a drug dealer.
It was evident that this vehicle possessed plenty of privileges, able to charge through the city gates without any interrogation. Xia Fei peeked through the opening on the canvas of the truck bed and could tell that they had already made it into the city, which was why he quietly sneaked out.
The whitestone city was very prosperous. Though there were quite a lot of people in the crowd, few appeared to be pale-faced like the people outside, which only highlighted how the ones in the city could still discern for themselves, opting not to touch that fatal yellow powder.
There was a large structure right at the heart of the city, which looked very similar to a stadium. The top of it had a composite pulse laser shield, so not even a bird could fly in. There would be bursts of enthusiastic cheer coming from within the stadium. It was as if some exciting event was being held inside, for the hoarse cries of the audience could be heard in their total engrossed state.
His tattered raincoat was already not suitable in the current setting he was in, so Xia Fei did the same thing he did before, taking a short cotton robe, which was light blue in color, from a nearby house. He even found a wide-brim strawhat to complement his look before he dove back into the crowd.
The bald man and his two brothers only managed to get into the city after two minutes, and there was an additional young man with small beady eyes next to them. The bald man was particularly attentive to the young man, not even daring to show off in front of him.
The group of four headed toward the city center, while the small-eyed young man kept looking around for delicious food on the way, tasting anything he fancied as they walked forward. If he liked what he tried, he would get someone to pack up some for him, not even handing any money for his purchases. All these vendors gingerly smiled as they handled his requests, not at all having the courage to say a word in response despite their resentment.
The group spent some time strolling several rounds on the streets before arriving in a mansion within red walls. The place was strictly surrounded by guards, with just the top-grade hunting dogs around numbering in the dozens. The young man led the trio not through the main entrance but through a side door, instead, located into a small alley after a turn.
A portly woman opened the door for them, not asking any questions upon seeing their faces, holding the door wide open for the three to pass through and enter the mansion.
Xia Fei, who was hiding in a corner, saw everything clearly. If his guess was correct, the owner of this mansion was the puppeteer pulling the strings for this entire affair.
Xia Fei was not in a rush to get in. He circled around the outer walls of this mansion once before he chose the most suitable point for him to breach the place. This place had few guards, and there was even a secluded thicket next to the high wall, quiet everywhere around.
Ducking into the alley, Xia Fei picked up a small rock and lightly tossed it out.
The rock struck the hunting dog next to a guard, and the pain of the blow caused it to bolt wildly. The guard was holding onto its leash, so when the dog went crazy, its huge strength ended up dragging the guard along the ground with it.
“HELP! THE DOG’S GONE MAD!” yelled that innocent guard.
“What’s wrong?”
“The dog’s gone crazy; quickly stop him!”
The guards around all ran to restrain the dog to save their companion. The moment they all cleared the area, Xia Fei used it to make his way up the walls and into the mansion.
…
This was a very large mansion, so much so that it could be described as grand. It was just that the interior decoration was similar in style to the stone-built city, so while it gave off quite the atmosphere, the finer details lacked any personality to speak of, making it fairly unconventional.
The courtyard was large and spacious, while the sculptures used to decorate the space were big and shoddy. Even the hunting dogs bred were large Saladilla wolfhounds, which were burlier than humans. The paths were wide, while the trees flanking these paths were quite old. Their large canopies hanging above gave off this suffocating pressure to anyone who looked up.
Technically, such a courtyard, which put great emphasis on open spaces, should be ill-suited for hiding, yet Xia Fei hardly had a problem doing so. Breath Control helped provide him the best defense by concealing his general presence, so even someone walking right past him would hardly even notice him.
Xia Fei speculated that the owner of this mansion was living in the center of the courtyard or the back, so he intentionally followed along the main path as he searched, going wherever there was the most concentration of people.
Sure enough, Xia Fei heard the bald third brother Lu’s laughter from a pentagon-shaped building as if he was having a happy conversation with someone.
There were plenty of muscular guards keeping watch, so slipping in would not be easy. Fortunately, there were plenty of large trees planted on both sides. Since there was no way for him to get through the path ahead conventionally, Xia Fei decided to look up in the sky, instead.
No one was around when Xia Fei dexterously climbed up the top of a tree, moving toward the balcony using its branches.
Since entering the mansion compound, Xia Fei had yet to find any sort of surveillance device. This was extremely incongruent with the atmosphere that such a place would give; it was as if the owner was very confident, believing that the many guards and dogs were enough for defense.
The balcony on the third floor was about seven to eight meters apart from the closest tree branch. A gust of wind blew, and its leaves rustled along. Xia Fei used this moment to leap from the tree and land softly on the balcony.
Opening a window and sneaking right in, Xia Fei made his way down to the first floor, easily locating a single living room, where the bald Lucien was chatting eagerly with an old man with a hooked nose, while the short and tall pair, who had accompanied him, stood a fair distance away.
Aside from these people, there were also dozens of big, burly guards who were spread all around as they kept a lookout. There were also several pretty women who were constantly pouring tea and water for the guests.
Needless to say, the hooked nose, old man should be the aforementioned Hook. Xia Fei was somewhat disappointed, for he thought that Hook would be someone with a metal hook attached to his right hand like the Captain Hook from the story books on Earth, but he was wrong. Hook was called that not because he had a metal hook for a hand or that he used a metal hook as a weapon but that the shape of his nose was as such.
This nose might actually weigh more than two catties. He had never in his life seen such a huge nose before, not to mention that it was tall and straight, with the tip of his nose curved, like an eagle’s beak that grew strangely, on that old man’s face. It took up a good one-third of his face, and anyone who looked at him would immediately be drawn by this uniquely large nose.
Hook used his thumb to dig his nose, seemingly unconcerned with his image. The size of the average man’s nose could only take just a small finger at most, yet this old man could reach in with his whole thumb and barely fill half his nostril. Xia Fei even suspected it to be too big that it could contain an entire fist.
“Mmm, you’ve done well for this task, and I’ll most definitely reward you guys handsomely. Be it money or women, just ask; there’s nothing that I, Skyhook, can’t do,” Hook said.
The bald Lucien and his two underlings were very excited and hurriedly said, “Lord Hook, it is our honor to do tasks for you; how could we accept a reward for it? We’re happy as long as you are.”
Skyhook laughed uproariously. “You b*st*rd, all you know is flatter me. How about this: From here onward, you guys are all considered my men. I have a piece of land on Weiner-7. I originally want to let one of my underlings take care of it, but it is unfortunate that the lad isn’t careful enough, getting himself apprehended by the Narcotics Enforcement Bureau some time ago. I’ll let you guys get a crack at it, instead.”
Xia Fei was slightly stunned. It was apparent that what they were discussing was about the drug trade, and Hook wished to let the three of them act as his middlemen, in charge of supplying to the addicts within the region.
There was business to be made here, for whenever there were drugs, there would also be addicts. The prosperous capital ring was no exception to this, though he did not expect Hook’s influence to actually penetrate right into the heart of the capital.
Lucien nodded his head repeatedly. The drug trade was a hugely profitable line of business, where countless people would risk their life for it but never able to make a living out of it. They were all people who were knee deep in the underworld dealings, and there was nothing they dared not do. Naturally, working for Hook would not be long term, but they should be able to earn quite a lot in three to five years, and by the time they had their fill, they could just wash their hands off the business entirely and still have enough saved up not to worry about living expenses for the rest of their lives. If they were unlucky and found themselves captured, then they could only blame their luck and insufficient skills.
Hook and Lucien were not on the same level of existence, so a simple few words and the former quickly sent the trio away. Xia Fei was depressed. The entire conversation he overheard was only them talking about drug trade, yet not a word on Avril’s business came up. Just why was that the case?
After Lucien departed, Hook stood up and stretched himself. He then beckoned a well-built man from the side, asking, “What are the matches on for today in the Death Matrix?”
The man answered, “We haven’t gotten any fresh blood recently, so it’s just the usual fights. Today’s finale features an Advanced Starbase rank warrior with a plant-type ability against a primary Star Domain rank warrior with gravity ability. The plant user is well-versed in controlling the Angel’s Trumpet, so it’s still quite an interesting match.”
Hook pouted. “What’s the f*ck*ng use of having a plant-type ability? It’s nothing more than turning into a big brambly tree and stuff. To think you’d organize something like that. Make tonight a death match. It’ll be a speed ability user at the Advanced Star River rank competitor going up against Butcher.”
The well-built man had a difficult expression on his face. “Lord Hook, we don’t have a competitor at Advanced Star River rank. That Intermediate Starbase rank pretty boy got maimed by Butcher several days ago and has long been tossed to the mass graves outside the city. You ought to know that’s what happened.”
Hook was completely unfazed. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ve already prepared the competitor for you. Inform Butcher to get ready. The enemy he’ll be going up against is very strong.”
Xia FEi could feel his heart tighten as a sense of foreboding crept into his mind. ‘Something’s wrong. There must be something off here, but what?’
His eyes searched all around as Xia Fei made certain that his escape route was unimpeded. This was his habit. Every time he entered foreign territory, he would always prepare at least two escape routes.
Just as Xia Fei turned around, beam after beams of pulse laser suddenly erupted and completely sealed off the first floor.
‘Crap! This is a trap!’ Xia Fei did not waste any time as he exerted strength to his legs and went sprinting.
In front of him was a seemingly ordinary concrete wall, and his Celestial Moon on his right arm emitted a series of shrill screeches through the air as he prepared to destroy the wall. This was the last escape route he had thought of in the event of the worst-case scenario.
Eighteen disk blades soared and formed a circle, flying right out as it dove toward the wall. According to Xia Fei’s plan, this series of attacks would break a round hole in the wall big enough for him to fit through, putting him in the back garden once he made it out. At that point of time, he would depend on both his speed and psychokinetic abilities to carve out a bloody path.
*Clank clank clank.*
The disk blades accurately dug into the wall, yet the wall itself did not crumble from the attack. Instead, it was as if Celestial Moon had come into contact with a magnet, causing all his blades to get adsorbed and to be stuck to its surface.
Concrete debris flew freely.
Xia Fei could not help but be extremely shocked at this sight. It turned out that this wall, which was his only way out, had a thick black metal alloy sandwiched between the concrete, rendering the attack from Celestial Moon useless. This alloy was sturdy and tough. The sharp Celestial Moon could not break it at all as the blades just sank into the wall.
From a distance, Hook’s bodyguards heard the commotion and each came to surround Xia Fei so that he would be unable to get away.
Hook turned to look at Xia Fei with knitted eyebrows. “This house cost me quite a lot when I constructed it; every wall is reinforced. You can try it if you don’t believe me.”
Xia Fei already had a clear understanding of what had happened at this point. The whole conspiracy thing was just a scheme that he had been blindsighted from the very start.
He felt quite a bit annoyed deep down, but Xia Fei still chose to remain composed, calmly walking to the wall to pluck out his disc blades before he fitted them back to the mechanism on his right arm.
Even the best fumbled at times. Xia Fei was not perfect, so of course he could not have everything calculated without a flaw. It was just that this mistake he had made was quite a bit tragic. Not only had he fallen for someone else’s trap, worse was the fact that Xia Fei had no idea where he was.
Turning back around, Xia Fei very coldly stared at Hook. “Skyhook?”
Hook nodded, not saying a word.
Xia Fei rotated his wrist as he walked over. The bodyguards kept backing away, their eyes trained on Hook. As long as he gave the order, the dozens of strongmen present would not hesitate to pounce.
“I wish to know just one thing,” Xia Fei calmly stated.
