Life is tough, so Honglong resorts to performing?

Chapter 104 Encounter and Battle

"Why is that guy still clinging on? Shouldn't he have already sold off all of his company's assets?"

"The man last night was really nice, so moist..."

"Why, why wouldn't she give birth to our child! Why did she strangle him!"

……

In the upper part of Emerald City, Loren crouched on a street lamp. After applying makeup, invisibility spells, and psychological invisibility, he released his restrained spiritual energy and began to listen to the thoughts that passersby occasionally revealed.

"Each of them, you can only know their faces but not their hearts."

"That's why I don't really like using psionic powers. If you see too much of this stuff, life just gets boring."

Loren crouched on the streetlight, silently listening to the thoughts of the crowd below. He was filtering out the people he might follow and search for: suspected cultists of the Transcendentalists.

According to the doctrines of the Transcendent Ones, the Upper City, with its highest density of mid-to-high-level long-lived beings and a dedicated staff working for them, should be the place where the Transcendent Ones' followers are most likely to be hiding.

After all, in other places, like the downtown area... the rich who die young might not be as hateful as the newly rich neighbor who got rich yesterday, since advantages and disadvantages are relative.

"We have to relocate again. Those damned mad dogs in Cheng'an, and what exactly is that red dragon...?"

Suddenly, the inner voice of a passing half-elf caught Loren's attention.

Cheng An is the City Safety Committee. If it's Hong Long, it's most likely him.
"It really is true that fate brings us together, and things happen so easily. Should I thank Lady Luck?"

Loren stared at the spot where the other person had left, and silently grinned maliciously.

He cast another Featherfall spell on himself, and his dragon wings spread slightly as he glided, tracking his opponent from a distance.

The half-elf being chased by Loren was quite alert, always changing lanes and circling around, showing a strong awareness of counter-tracking. It was clear that he had received professional training and knowledge.

"Not the kind of newly misled Protestant, but at least a seasoned believer..."

Loren thought to himself.

Unfortunately, Loren had already locked onto his mental frequency, and no matter how alert the other party was or how hard he tried to counter-track, Loren could easily find him.

This is what we extraordinary beings are like.

Given that Greenleaf City doesn't really produce many psychics, it's natural that it's overlooked.

After many twists and turns, the other party finally stopped at a doorway.

Loren also stopped at a distance.

"This tastes wrong."

Loren frowned.

From the perspective of a psychic, the air behind that door was filled with the resentful whispers of those who had died unexpectedly; a rough estimate suggested there were at least a dozen such people.

"What's going on? Is it a surprise attack and massacre, or are they performing a blood sacrifice? I've never heard of the Transcendent Ones doing this before?"

Loren was startled. The deaths of the respectable people in the upper city and the deaths of the scum in the lower city were not the same thing.

Normally, no one would provoke the Federation like this.

Just then, the door was opened by the half-elf using a special method, and a bloody smell instantly filled the air.

Before the half-elf could react, a projectile attached to a spider silk slingshot shot out from inside the house, piercing the man's throat with pinpoint accuracy. The sound of machinery turning came from inside the house as it swiftly dragged the fresh corpse inside.

"Shall we go in and take a look?"

Faced with this unexpected situation, Loren's curiosity was piqued. After casting several more spells to protect himself, Loren finally flew towards the back of the door.

Better safe than sorry, that's how cautious Little Red Dragon 1 is.
"Holy crap, is he a real drow, or a drow who practices the art of killing?"

Loren came to the door and was shocked by the horrific scene inside.

The ground was covered in blood-painted spiderwebs, the air was filled with giant spiders made of corpses and specially crafted spider silk, and the walls were inscribed with the Common Language in blood.
"All traitors must die!"

"Tsk, even among the drow, this is considered quite a serious illness."

Loren thought to himself.

To wreak havoc in the cities under the jurisdiction of the Wood Elves, even with the Shifting One as a shield, is still a major event.

Have they already disregarded the impact on the city?

They truly live up to their reputation as the Zhuo Er (a nickname for a group of players).

Despite possessing the best breeding ability among elves, it ranked last among all elven cities during the Federation era. Frost Dragon City, the home of the human-white dragon, was already one of the Federation's top 100 cities, ranking among all races!

"This workload is at least equivalent to an assassination squad. Tsk, with them as shields and scapegoats, it'll be easier for me to take action today."

"But it's best to find it as soon as possible. Once the patrol team discovers the case, their military-grade magic crystal armor's anti-invisibility and anti-psychic abilities will have to operate day and night."

"And I will have nowhere to hide, and I won't be as free as I am now."

With that thought in mind, Loren quickly flew away from the place, while also increasing the range and frequency of his telepathic communication.

"It seems that luck won't always be on my side..."

After searching and observing, Loren did not find any more people who wanted to harm him, but there were a few who were planning to harm the wood elf Danis.

From the casual remarks of those people, Loren could tell that the complete cleanup that Miss Denise spoke of had not yet arrived, because a heavyweight figure had not yet arrived, most likely a legendary powerhouse.

Suddenly, Loren gleaned a panicked yet precise message from the minds of several seemingly normal people by the roadside.

"Dead, all dead, the captain is dead, the vice-captain's squad is wiped out too, someone's gone mad!"

"There's a crazy elf in armor in the upper city who's relentlessly chasing after us and killing us!"

"We must move quickly! Let's go to the central district. There's a former Tier 3 Inspector there who's one of our people. The others have already gone. We also have some self-made Tier 3 armor there, which we can use to build up our defensive capabilities!"

"Once we leave the upper city, I'll report him to the police station. I refuse to believe that madman can escape after killing so many people!"

Loren was taken aback when he heard these thoughts. If nothing unexpected happened, the former third-level inspector should be an old acquaintance of his.
"What a small world!"

Loren became increasingly happy.

However, the armored elven madman also caught Loren's attention; he could even rampage through the city wearing magic crystal armor...

That must be a specialized type, like the elven armor for assassins or rangers. Those things are much more expensive than the magic crystal armor for warriors; they're priceless and unavailable. No wonder he could chase down and kill a whole group of people all by himself.

What exactly did the Transcendent Ones do to warrant such a reaction from the Drow?

As Loren pondered this, he trailed the group at a distance, waiting for them to regroup. Unbeknownst to Loren, in the shadows, another figure was also tracking the group.

It was another long detour. Interestingly, this group never used the teleportation arrays in the city; instead, they kept changing vehicles to counter-track them.

Their counter-tracking tactics actually made it easier for Loren, who was in stealth mode, to track them.

After much deliberation, Loren's telepathic understanding revealed an increasing number of individuals sharing similar sentiments.

Finally, they gathered in front of a house.

"We've finally arrived..."

Loren thought to himself, but before he could prepare to give this group a good beating, a special energy fluctuation came from inside the room.

"Oh haha."

Realizing something was wrong, Loren quickly began to retreat.

"You really think I didn't know you'd been following me, you elven madman?!"

A furious voice came from inside the house.

In an instant, everyone and everything was stained gray. Some ordinary cultists who came were caught off guard and died on the spot without knowing what was happening. The world seemed to have entered another dimension.

Not far from Loren, a magic crystal battle suit, about the height of a person, which had been shrouded in vines and shadows, was also revealed.

Loren was also stained gray and made visible from his surroundings, but because he reacted in advance, found a good place to hide, and activated his psychological invisibility, the other party most likely did not notice him.

"How interesting, are they using their companions as bait to fish?"

As a psionicist capable of eavesdropping, Loren was quite certain that he hadn't heard these people say anything about setting a trap.

So these guys were sacrificed as pawns and bait, just to lure the other side in.

"Fortunately, I am cautious and have prepared an additional layer of protection on top of ordinary stealth."

Loren secretly rejoiced.

"I'm sorry, but I already found out from your captain that you have a temporary shadow item that can temporarily pull your opponent into the shadow realm for battle."

A woman's mocking voice came from beneath the visor of the magic crystal armor.

"So it's not that I'm forced to be locked up with you, but that you guys are forced to fight to the death with me!"

During the conversation, two gleaming Drow scimitars appeared in the hands of the woman in her armor.

Inside that room, a Tier 3 warrior's magic crystal armor, several times larger than the woman's armor, also crashed through the door and appeared opposite her.

Behind her followed a group of low-level professionals wearing protective gear and carrying magic crystal weapons.

"Die, you damned immortal beings!"

Inside the armor, the half-elf Sally did her best to control this Tier 3 armor, which was not very compatible with her and whose functions were inferior to the military-grade armor she used in the past, as she charged towards the enemy.

This is the Shadow Realm. As an assassin skilled in shadow attacks, her abilities to use the Shadow Realm to attack the real world, such as shadow movement and shadow attacks, are completely ineffective. Furthermore, civilian magic crystal armor for assassins is weaker in both offense and defense than regular warrior-type magic crystal armor. Given this disparity, she is guaranteed to win!

Even though Sally is a Tier 3 Ranger, which doesn't match the Tier 3 Warrior armor, it's still better than the opponent's armor, which has most of its abilities disabled!

"Foolish fellow, this is elven equipment. As an elf, if I don't have any magical abilities, do you think I've lived these past hundred years in vain!"

"Activate, absorb negative energy!"

As the Tier 3 Warrior Armor charged toward her, Celia Yeying's mind flashed back to her beloved father, who transformed into a Shadow Dragon and charged toward her in the simulation.

My child, I'm doing this for your own good. You know your grandma and the others don't like you very much, right?
My father's smile is still vivid in my mind, but the spurring and clawing of his love are even more deeply ingrained...

"If I don't chop all of you bad toys into pieces today, I'll be letting down all the beatings and suffering I've endured over the years!"

Gray shadow energy began to emanate from the surfaces of the two unsheathed drowsy scimitars.

The woman in armor flashed forward and charged towards the warrior in armor opposite her.

Attack against attack, who's afraid of who!
As for Loren, he took advantage of the moment when the armors of both sides were clashing and the professional members of the cult were also coming forward with magic crystal weapons to help, and swaggered towards the other side's temporary base.

Since the other side has even moved their Tier 3 Magic Crystal Armor here, there's no reason why they haven't moved anything else!
Although many things were probably damaged due to the dimensional flip, the truly valuable items would certainly be well protected by the other party!
Thinking this, Loren slipped through the broken door Sally had made and entered the house.

Because it was a temporary base, Loren didn't find much protective gear inside, which made his infiltration exceptionally smooth. Inside this temporary base, Loren saw many Transcendents wearing protective equipment and still working.

They seemed very confident that their team would win.

In the work records of this group of people, Loren saw himself more than once, part of which was a smear campaign against him, and another part was an attempt to win him over.

Their last attempt to win them over was probably Sally's defection to them. Fortunately, the little red dragon is vengeful enough that he doesn't believe in the concept of forgiving others when he can.

"They've prepared quite a lot of things, even including samples of the Frostfire Lord's flesh and blood..."

"They actually suspect that I've grasped that being's authority, becoming the Dragon of Anti-Entropy, absorbing cold to create high temperatures, which is why I've grown to my current size..."

"You really think highly of me."

Loren muttered to himself, and after wandering around inside for a while, he found a good spot and began to silently chant incantations.

"Echo, dual-source version, launch!"

An invisible wave of mental energy swept across both sides, collided, and created even more intense ripples that spread outwards.

One by one, the cultists wearing protective suits suddenly received alarms from their devices, but by the time they tried to issue a warning, it was too late.

When mages have the initiative, battles are always so simple and efficient.

After confirming that all of these guys were brain-dead from the new version of Echo's fluctuations, Loren began a rapid looting and finishing-off inside the house.

The third wave of the echo was too intense due to the dual sound sources, which would inevitably attract the attention of the two combatants on the other side.

In order to resist his own skills, Loren had almost exhausted his own psionic energy, and he could no longer activate his psychological invisibility ability.

As for why the regular version of Echo wasn't used for the attack, well, the ones left behind here aren't exactly powerful...

My new skill that I just learned!
If we were to run into that former half-elf inspector, with all the old and new grudges combined, it would be truly heartless for the other party not to shift their hatred.

As for the drow elf and her magic crystal armor, Loren didn't think that the drow, who took betrayal and conspiracy as their honor, would launch a fierce attack instead of retreating their defenses and watching the tigers fight from the sidelines when faced with a situation where someone was interfering.

He and she were not allies; in a sense, the one who died here might become the scapegoat for the other.

(End of this chapter)