Domestic Zone: You already have a system, why join a chat group?

Chapter 196 What does it mean that Xiaoyu is missing?

"Strange." A month later, outside the Black Forest Valley Correctional Institution in Germany, Zhang Chulan suddenly stopped, his expression strange as he swiped open the chat group screen that only he could see, and turned to look at Gu Nan behind him.

"What's wrong?" Gu Nan frowned slightly and stopped walking.

The two of them came here today with a very clear purpose: to break the seal on the Wind Demon Xiaofeng. However, judging from Zhang Chulan's expression, he clearly had some other ideas.

Zhang Chulan pointed a finger at the top of his head: "You might not believe it, but just now, Boss Ye Fan sent me a red envelope, telling us to go to Spain next to unblock Bazaar."

"Huh?" Gu Nan slowly typed out a question mark, her face full of astonishment.

The Panku Box is in their hands, and it is entirely up to them which demon to unseal and in what order. However, before reaching the sealing gate each time, they would send the time and location to the group chat to minimize the damage caused by the demon's birth.

This is what was done last time when Japan lifted the lockdown on Pokhara.

But this time, Ye Fan actually chose to use connections—

Well, how should I put it, it perfectly matches the character design.

Zhang Chulan stretched out his hand, and a flash of light appeared in his palm. Two ancient-looking crystal bottles appeared out of thin air in his hand. The bottles were crystal clear and filled with half a full transparent liquid. With a gentle shake, they shimmered and emanated a faint, extremely pure and holy aura.

He handed over the bottle that belonged to Gu Nan, and said thoughtfully, "Based on my deduction, this means that Ye Fan and his group are preparing to make a move against Brother Luo and his group."

,””

"So, are we going?"

According to the plan they had discussed in private, the next demon to be released should be the Heavenly Demon Ximu.

"Go, why not?" Gu Nan weighed the holy spring water in his hand and grinned, "I'm paid to do my job."

Moreover, based on her understanding of Russell, if he were really pushed to the limit, he would unleash his cheat codes without hesitation.

She really wanted to see how far Russell could go.

As for now—Gu Nan gave Zhang Chulan a look.

Zhang Chulan understood, and with a flick of his wrists, the Panku Treasure Box appeared in his palms. The ancient runes on the box sensed the location of the Wind Demon's seal, and floated up into the air on their own. The "Xun" trigram rune lit up on the front of the box, and finally turned into a beam of green light, which shot into the depths of the gloomy reformatory in front of him.

The next moment, deep within the reformatory, an incomparably violent blue demonic energy suddenly shot into the sky!

The wind was as strong as a blade, tearing through the ground and shrubs. Even the thick rain clouds overhead were violently churned outwards from the center by this force, forcibly tearing out a giant vortex several kilometers in diameter. The dark clouds rolled, the wind howled, and the entire dark forest trembled.

"I'm out! Holy Lord, you finally didn't disappoint us this time!" An outrageously large purple toad leaped out of the Gates of Hell and landed with a bang on the mountaintop next to the reformatory, causing rocks to tumble down.

He looked around, but couldn't see a trace of the Holy Lord.

But that's not important.

All he knew was that he had returned to his own world!

"Chu Lan agreed." Thousands of miles away, in the holy land of Lumbini, Nepal, the chanting of sutras had ceased, the Buddha's light had faded, and golden fallen leaves covered the ground beneath the tall Bodhi tree.

Ye Fan closed the chat window and turned to look at Xu Qi'an, who was meditating and breathing under the Bodhi tree.

Xu Qi'an sat cross-legged, the dark flame rune between his eyebrows glowing slightly, and a faint, dark demonic flame ring hovering behind his head.

Buddhist energy and demonic power intertwined and collided on the ring surface. With each rotation, a faint ripple would emanate, purifying his energy and refining his consciousness.

Having obtained the Demon Buddha Dao Fruit, he has seized an incredible opportunity and naturally must make the most of the next six months to comprehend the power of the laws contained within it.

His goal was very realistic. He didn't want to achieve extraordinary success overnight, but he at least wanted to push his cultivation level from the current sixth rank to the fourth rank to make his trip worthwhile.

Sensing Ye Fan's gaze, Xu Qi'an slowly opened his eyes. His pupils turned a deep dark gold the moment he opened them, before returning to their usual pitch black: "Everything is ready. You can inform Xiao Fan now."

"7

Ye Fan nodded, showing no intention of adding any further comments.

This isn't just polite talk; among the five righteous individuals, Xu Qi'an is the only one who knows how to use strategy and is willing to do so.

The remaining few, including Ye Fan and Xiao Yan, always followed a standard procedure of only three steps when dealing with problems: identify the problem, find the target, and charge in.

Ye Fan: "@Zhang Xiaofan, Xiaofan, Chu Lan has agreed, we can start taking action now."

Ye Fan: "@Lu Mingfei, Mingfei, Xiaofeng, you handle it. Just give it a token gesture. Winning or losing doesn't matter."

Zhang Xiaofan: "OK".

""

Lu Mingfei: "Understood."

Above the Black Forest, the clouds had not yet recovered from the vortex created by the howling wind when they were forcibly torn apart by another, even more unreasonable force.

A giant gate to Nibelungen suddenly opened from the sky, its frame made of twisted spatial rifts, its edges swirling with grayish-white mist that did not belong to this world.

Still wearing Odin's armor, Lu Mingfei, riding the eight-legged winged horse Sleipnir, leaped down from the gate!

The eight-legged celestial horse trod through the void with all eight hooves, and the moment it landed atop the clouds, it stirred up a hundred-foot-high raging torrent, with wind and thunder surging, displaying its divine might.

Just then, countless eerie wails of ghosts and monsters echoed across the sky. A pair of bat wings, shrouded in thick black mist, emerged from the clouds, their wingtips slicing through the air with a sharp whistling sound. Then, the entire black mist slowly unfolded, revealing Han Li's face, which was shrouded in demonic energy.

He held a small white bone banner, its surface fluttering in the wind. Countless distorted faces were imprisoned within each of the banner's patterns. He looked down at Lu Mingfei on the sea with a chilling gaze.

Below, the Wind Demon Howling Wind, after confirming that both the dragon and the demon had come for him, immediately took a stance. Its purple toad mouth suddenly bulged, and the wind demon energy frantically gathered at its throat. Several dark green storms, powerful enough to tear apart refined gold, began to converge around it, emitting a chilling howling shriek.

Thus, one dragon and two demons have formed a unique power structure!

That night.

[Chat Group Channel]

Lu Mingfei/Han Li: "The plan to lure the enemy has succeeded. The enemy is completely unprepared. The plan will now move to the second phase."

Russell/Klein/Ye Fan/Xu Qi'an/Zhang Xiaofan/Xiao Yan: "Received!"

After the Xiaofeng incident, the world seemed to have been put on slowdown, and suddenly became calm.

The great commotion, comparable to that of gods and demons, has temporarily disappeared. No more gods have descended from the sky on eight-legged celestial horses, nor have any demons emerged from the ground to turn the entire shrine upside down.

Fighter jets are no longer patrolling with live ammunition, and evacuation drills in coastal cities have gradually come to a halt.

Globally, only the Global Mage Union and the Dark Wizard Alliance remain, engaging in various open and covert battles, with each side experiencing victories and defeats.

Japan has become the main battleground for the two sides, with the Dragon Group led by Uncle and Jackie Chan and the Dark Assassin Group led by Dao Long engaging in a battle of wits and courage over the remaining nine Ghost Masks.

Meanwhile, the biographies commissioned by Zhang Xiaofan to governments around the world have been completed one after another and have been broadcast on major screens and mainstream media platforms around the world.

Hollywood made "Emperor Yan: The Wrath of Heaven," China Film Group made "The Legend of Chunyang Daozi," and the BBC, not to be outdone, released a three-part documentary.

The documentary "Dragon Lord: God from the East" was criticized by Lu Mingfei himself in a group chat for having "narration that sounds too much like Animal World," but no matter what, it has made a name for itself.

Cultural promotion systems in various countries are operating at full capacity, with novels, comics, games, and short videos all being promoted across the board, and the matrix of deity IPs is already taking shape.

Everything seemed to be progressing steadily in the direction everyone was hoping for.

Then----

"What do you mean Xiaoyu is missing?"

Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

Jackie Chan held his phone to his ear with one hand and clung tightly to the ghost mask he had just ripped off Lazo's face with the other, dodging the demonic missiles thrown by Gan Wencui and his two companions.

On the other end of the phone, Xiaoyu's mother also looked worried and said in a concerned tone, "She was fine last night, but when we called her to get up for breakfast this morning, she was nowhere to be found. The security camera footage can't find her either. Her father and I are guessing that she might have secretly run off to see you."

boom!

A magical bullet grazed the dragon's head skin and blasted a car to pieces, sending flames soaring into the sky.

"Is it possible that she went out with her friends, like Sasha, Lili or something?" Jackie Chan said as he retreated deeper into the alley.

boom!

Another fireball shot out, this time passing right under Jackie Chan's crotch and shattering an entire glass wall of the convenience store at the alley entrance.

"We've already asked them, and they're not with them." Xiaoyu's mother's tone became even more serious, as if she intended to continue to deduce the truth from Jackie Chan's perspective.

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it. Um, I have something to take care of here. I'll call you back as soon as I get any news." Jackie Chan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, quickly said this into the phone, and then hung up.

If this continues, he doesn't know if Xiaoyu will be alright, but he's definitely going to have to type GG.

At this moment, Gan Wencui and his two companions surrounded him, trapping him in the alley, and the familiar demonic energy fluctuations began to gather once again.

"So unlucky, so unlucky, so unlucky—"

"What do you mean Xiaoyu is missing?"

At the same time, the same question exploded in the chat group.

The discoverers were Zhao Jiu and Asule, who had been staying at Xiaoyu's apartment downstairs as friends and tenants for some time.

Although they did not directly participate in the war, their task was equally challenging, as they bore the heavy responsibility of keeping an eye on Xiaoyu.

And now, unsurprisingly, they have failed the mission.

Asule: "She was fine last night, but she disappeared this morning. She won't reply to my messages."

Russell: "@Zhang Chulan, Chulan, did Xiaoyu go to look for you?"

Zhang Chulan: No, I can't sense Xiaoyu's presence here.

In Spain, Zhang Chulan pushed his divine sense to its limit, scanning from the coastline of Barcelona all the way to the Strait of Gibraltar, and from Madrid all the way to the heart of Andalusia, but no matter how he and Gu Nan searched, they couldn't find even a trace of Xiaoyu's presence.

Russell: "I don't have any either."

Not only Russell, but also Ye Fan, Xiao Yan, Zhang Xiaofan, Xu Qi'an, Lu Mingfei and other group members, after sensing the area, all claimed that they had not detected Xiao Yu's aura.

This is outrageous. With the blessing of the Dao Fruit now, the divine sense of any one of the group members present is enough to cover most of the earth. If the divine senses of these dozen or so people are superimposed, theoretically speaking, no life form in this world can hide its existence in their sensory network, unless that thing itself does not belong to this world.

Even with such a thorough scan, they still couldn't detect even the slightest trace of Xiaoyu's presence.

They are nowhere to be seen, neither alive nor dead, as if they were wiped off the face of the earth.

"Could it be that Xiaoyu and Lu Mingfei time-traveled like they did back then?" Xiao Yan couldn't help but wonder.

After all, this situation is almost identical to what happened to Lu Mingfei back then.

Han Li: "Something has most likely happened. Let's each search our respective areas. If all else fails, Klein, you can take control of all life on Earth."

As he spoke, Han Li hovered over the sea not far from Japan. The white bone banner rustled in his palm, and countless streams of yin energy seeped out from every line of the banner, stirring up dense waves on the sea surface.

If you were to ask who the most worried person in the group is when Xiaoyu goes missing, it would naturally be Han Li, who has the best relationship with Xiaoyu and has already regarded that little girl as his own sister since the world of Jade Dynasty.

If something really happens to Xiaoyu, he really wouldn't mind plundering the entire earth.

Klein: "Okay."

Just as everyone was starting to prepare contingency plans, Zhong Li calmly reassured everyone.

Zhongli: "There's no need to rush. Xiaoyu will have her own destiny."

Russell: "Does Your Majesty know where Xiaoyu went?"

Zhongli: "I have a general idea, but due to certain contractual obligations, I cannot disclose the specifics to you."

Russell: "?"

Xiao Yan: "?"

Ye Fan: "?"

Immediately, the chat group was filled with question marks.

This answer was as elegant as ever, and as infuriating as ever.

Russell: "Your Majesty, this is Earth, not Teyvat. There's no need to hide here—the Riddler is going to be expelled from Gotham City!!!"

Zhong Li: "I'm sorry."

Russell: "————"

Okay, fine, if you don't want to say, then don't. As long as we know Xiaoyu is alright, everyone in the group can relax.

Zhang Chulan: "Um, if there's nothing else, I'm about to get started. @All members."

Zhang Chulan: "Coordinates: Scotland, Demon: Bazaar, all units prepare."

"————" Under the Bodhi tree, Xu Qi'an's expression brightened; it was finally about to begin.

This time, let these reckless brutes who only know how to fight learn what it means to strategize and win battles from afar!

"Walk!"

He immediately raised his arm and shouted, and he and Ye Fan transformed into streaks of light and rushed towards the location of Spain.