Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gao Peng kept himself busy the entire journey. Every night, he talked at length with Dumby and helped Dumby distill the snow-white finger, which gave off a cold sheen.
Taking these foreign bones into its own body didn’t affect Dumby at all. Its unique physique allowed it to merge freely with other skeletons. It then turned those skeletons into its own bones in order to completely absorb their nutrients. Of course, this wasn’t a skill unique to Dumby. Many Bone-type monsters could speed up their evolution using this method.
This also proved how important a good corpse is. Life was a competition. Even in death, beings competed through bone quality.
Dumby finally managed to integrate the god’s fingerbone. Its other body parts couldn’t withstand the power of it, only its deified fingers barely able to handle it.
One week later, Gao Peng arrived at Rock City along with the xix. Before he even caught sight of it, Gao Peng sensed a grave aura. It permeated the air; every now and then, soldiers on patrol were visible.
Gao Peng saw a dozen soldiers guarding the city gate. “Who are you?”
“We need to check you.”
“Come, take off your hat.”
The soldiers were all very aggressive. Perhaps because they’d been on duty for so long, they were all ill-tempered. Some were even explosive.
On the left hovered a mirror-like familiar. It had a cloud of white mist carrying it from beneath. The mirror glinted each time it passed over someone. Almost everyone made it through the city gates without trouble. Before entering, everyone had to be hovered over on by this familiar, whether they were entering or exiting the city.
In the line of people exiting on the left, a person wearing a cloak quietly left the crowd after they noticed this mirror familiar.
“Halt!” Two hidden soldiers suddenly commanded their familiars to attack. They attacked with a roar.
Growl! The cloaked person’s familiar was subdued before it could even react. The cloaked person was also captured. The mirror familiar shined over them, then a wisp of green mist floated above their head.
The commander of the gate security came out to pacify the crowd. “This is a surviving supporter of the Douwen Sect. Don’t be afraid.”
“No, I’m not!” The person’s cloak was removed to show a green girl with purple hair. She yelled frantically, “I just happen to have a Poison-type familiar, but I’m not part of the Douwen Sect. Let me go.”
“Hmph, we can’t know if you’re a survivor until we inspect you. If you’re not a survivor of Douwen Sect, why did you try to flee?” The gate commander scoffed.
“I realized I had forgotten something at home, so I was going to get it,” said the girl.
“Take her away!” The commander didn’t want to listen to her explanations.
Everyone watched this numbly. No one came out to stand up for her.
“What is that familiar? It looks strong,” Qing Qing exclaimed.
Gao Peng glanced at it.
[Monster Name]: Mingguang Mirror
[Monster Level]: Level 62 (Emperor-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect/Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Mystic
[Monster Ability]: Delusion Cracking Level 5, Invisibility Investigation Level 5, Aura Tracking Level 4
[Monster Description]: A Mirror-type familiar able to distinguish auras in a crowd. It can distinguish auras, investigate an enemy’s tracks, and crack delusions. Due to its unusual abilities, it has been widely targeted. It is now extinct in the wild. It has a cowardly personality but is incredibly curious. It enjoys reflecting itself off of other mirrors, because it makes it feel like it’s infinitely bigger.
What an interesting little mirror. Gao Peng chuckled. The Mingguang Mirror shined on Gao Peng and found the droplet of water hiding in his clothes.
“Hm?” the Mingguang Mirror sensed something. It couldn’t help but be curious about what it was. I look, I look, I look some more! Hm? What kind of water droplet is this?
In the Mingguang Mirror’s perception, this droplet of water grew bigger and bigger, until it finally became a vast ocean.
Glub, glub— As if it was in a deep sea, the dark, lonely, sealed ocean closed around it. Only the sound of swift currents resounded in its ears. Suddenly, eight spots of yellow light glowed in the ocean beneath it. The yellow lights came nearer and nearer, closing in distance. The delusion broke through reality like a huge mouth from the abyss was going to swallow it. Rows of dense, sharp teeth and a bottomless throat were before it.
Squeak!!! The Mingguang Mirror startled awake and trembled like a frightened kitten. It quickly turned around, too scared to look at Gao Peng. If its master hadn’t ordered it to watch the city gates, it would’ve already fled by then.
The strange phenomenon there attracted the attention of the gate commander, as the Mingguang Mirror was his familiar. Walking over with quick steps, he saw how scared the Mingguang Mirror was and understood that it must’ve seen another fierce familiar. The creature was known for being chicken.
“Your Grace, please come in.” The gate commander, who wore a sour face 99.9 percent of the time, was now smiling like a flower. This led the other people around to have different impressions of him. Maybe this commander was actually a warm and compassionate person?
“That’s okay, I still have some friends in line. I’ll wait for them here,” Gao Peng said with a smile.
“No, no, if they’re Your Grace’s friends, then they’re definitely not part of that Douwen Sect!” The commander said as he patted his chest with certainty.
“Oh?” Gao Peng raised an eyebrow.
“Haha, strong people like Your Grace would have no need to join the Douwen Sect.” The gate commander rarely ever saw the Mingguang Mirror this frightened. In the past, it only ever acted like this when it saw a very influential person.
“That’s okay. You have your responsibilities, and I shouldn’t be an exception,” Gao Peng said calmly. “Let my friends get checked too, then we can enter the city.”
“Understood.” The commander bowed and nodded. After he made the Mingguang Mirror scan the six, he welcomed Gao Peng into the city with great respect. When they made it away from the crowd, he secretly gave Gao Peng a token.
“Your Grace, this is a token of my identity. There are frequent searches for the survivors of the Douwen Sect. This token will save you a lot of trouble,” the gate commander whispered.
Gao Peng nodded and patted the gate commander’s shoulder. “Thank you for your kindness.”
Once Gao Peng was a distance away, the gate commander rushed back to the gate and ordered his subordinates to continue keeping watch, then he left the city to head to a mountain villa in the suburbs. “General, another strong individual above Saint-tier has entered Rock City. I followed your orders and gave him a token.”
“These random freaks are all showing up after the God of Plague’s death.” In the depths of the palace, an imposing nine-foot-tall man dressed in red armor tossed a chunk of raw meat into the pool of blood before him.
“Greed is really a bottomless pit.” The man sighed and turned around. His once handsome face looked like it had been skinned. The bloody surface was ghastly and hideous; his eyes were bloodshot. Behind him, the pool of blood toiled. In it was great danger.
