Why is his holy light red?

Mercury's fingertips twitched slightly, and he was about to tap the screen to ask further questions when a glaring red exclamation mark popped up on the holographic interface—message sending failed.

I tried to call them directly, but found that the number was no longer in service.

He looked up and glanced at the endless stream of cars outside the terminal.

Don't take a car?

Does this mean there is danger in the vehicles, but only in every vehicle, or just a particular vehicle?

Did someone know in advance that he would get off the plane here and prepare a trap?

Is it aimed at him, or at his father?

Mercury began to seriously consider which link in the chain had gone wrong.

There shouldn't be any problems with Robert's side of Iron Titan, so it's very likely that it's that real-name ticket.

From the moment he boarded the plane, his movements were being monitored. If that's the case, it couldn't be one of those small gangs in the Root District; they might buy and sell enhancement products in the neighborhood and occasionally rob people, but they don't have this kind of formidable ability.

"Could it be that the guy with the camera is doing me a favor by selling my coordinates to others on one hand, and then sending out a notification as a charade?"

The screeching sound of tires abruptly interrupted Mercury's deduction. A black sedan suddenly cut into the lane in front of him, the window rolled down, revealing a face full of anxiety.

"Mercury? Is that you?!" The man leaned out urgently. "I'm your father's colleague at the newspaper. Get in the car quickly! Your father has been in a serious car accident and is in the hospital being treated. I'll take you there!"

Mercury recognized the face by the light of the streetlamp.

It was indeed my father's colleague at the newspaper. Just a few months ago, this uncle had sat at his family's old dining table and had tea.

But the reminder "don't take the car" lingered in Mercury's mind, causing him to unconsciously take a half-step back: "Uncle Byron, how did you know I was here?"

Byron slammed his hand on the steering wheel, his voice urgent: "Your watch has an emergency location function! Stop talking nonsense, get in the car and we'll talk, your father is seriously injured!"

Mercury took another step back, his heel touching the curb.

He did have a GPS watch, but during the day he went to bars to make deals, so how could he have been carrying that GPS watch?

Seeing Mercury distance himself like a wary wildcat, Byron also dropped his feigned anxiety.

The sound of metal scraping against metal rang out as he drew a pistol with one hand, the dark muzzle pointed at Mercury's head.

"Get up here right now, brat!" Byron's features were slightly distorted with ferocity. "I'm in a hurry to pick up your mother and sister, don't cause me any trouble."

Mercury, who was preparing to retreat, stopped in his tracks the moment he heard those words.

Immediately afterwards, a layer of dark red light seeped out from under his skin and quickly covered his entire body.

The light was distorted, and the seemingly harmless slum boy from a moment ago had now transformed into a demon enveloped in blood and flames.

Mercury leaned forward slightly, his eyes reflecting a red light, and asked in a low, suppressed growl, "You just said... you were going to find my family?!"

Inside the carriage, Byron's hand holding the gun trembled almost imperceptibly, and his eyes widened in extreme horror.

This kid, how come he's a superpowered person?!

boom--!

Without uttering a single wasted word, a horrified Byron pulled the trigger.

The muzzle flash illuminated the dimly lit carriage, and the brass bullet fired at close range aimed straight at Mercury's forehead.

But Mercury did not dodge. The dark red holy light on his body was so real that the bullet struck the halo as if it had hit a thick layer of armor.

The bullet deformed, ricocheted, and shot towards the glass door beside it, creating several spiderweb-like cracks.

Byron's pupils shrank to pinpoints. His survival instinct drove him to frantically slam on the gas pedal. The engine roared, and the tires screeched against the asphalt, emitting a pungent, acrid smell.

If he had just a second, the car would have sped off, but Mercury didn't give him that chance.

Bathed in the red holy light, the boy took a step, his shoes leaving a spiderweb-like crack on the hard pavement, and then reached out to grab the car window that hadn't been closed yet.

His left hand gripped the car body tightly, like an iron clamp.

The wheels were spinning in the air, and the car was twisting and turning in a strange way, but it couldn't break free no matter what it did.

Amidst the terrified gazes of those inside the car, Mercury raised his right hand, crimson holy light coalescing on his fist. Then, he slammed it forcefully onto the car's hood.

With an ear-piercing metallic tearing sound, half of the black sedan's front end caved in, as if it had been smashed by a pile driver.

With shattered glass and a twisted frame, the car was totaled with just one punch.

A distorted roar came from inside the carriage.

Byron kicked open the deformed car door with all his might and crawled out of the wreckage.

His body was changing at a visible speed—his originally pale yellow skin began to turn black, and his body became much stronger. When he stood up again, he had transformed from an old white man into a black man with a full head of filthy braids.

A superhuman with shapeshifting abilities!

Mercury initially thought his father's colleagues had all been bribed, but it turned out they were imposters.

This fake Byron seemed to know he couldn't escape; his bones burst forth with a popping sound like firecrackers, his once normal skin was instantly covered by a thick, grayish-brown keratin layer, and his arms swelled into thick, beast-like claws.

It looks just like a lizard's claws.

Byron roared and brandished his claws, attempting a desperate struggle.

But Mercury didn't even glance at the claws slicing through the air; he simply swung his fist and punched the monster in the chest.

The claws landed on Mercury's face, emitting a piercing shriek like scraping glass, but they failed to shake the red holy light.

Mercury's fist struck him hard in the chest, and a crisp sound of bones breaking was heard. The man was sent flying several meters and crashed into a roadside utility pole.

But before he could even scream, Mercury caught up and slammed his knee into his abdomen like a battering ram.

Mercury's red holy light doesn't have many fancy abilities; defense and strength enhancement are the two effects he has honed the most over the years.

Therefore, he doesn't have any fancy moves, only pure, brutal physical crushing.

Mercury pinned Byron firmly to the cracked asphalt, his fists becoming tireless hydraulic presses, pounding down one punch after another.

That thick layer of keratinous armor was as thin as paper in the face of the enraged holy light.

Mercury's fists didn't hesitate at all, smashing the shapeshifter's face into a bloody mess with each punch.

With a dull thud, several dents appeared in his chest, like dough, and in a violent spasm, he vomited several pieces of internal organs stained with black blood.

Mercury relentlessly pounded the shapeshifter until he was completely unable to resist and collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.

Mercury grabbed the other man's already tattered collar and half-lifted the severely injured, near-death shapeshifter into the air.

"Stop playing dead. I've heard that shapeshifters have pretty good healing abilities." Mercury's voice wasn't loud, but the suppressed rage in his eyes almost ignited the air between them. "Who gave you permission to arrest me? Who gave you permission to arrest my sister and my mother?!"

Mercury wouldn't care much if someone threatened him, but he wouldn't show any mercy to anyone who dared to threaten his family.

Holy light contracted at his fingertips, emitting a dangerous hum.

Mercury leaned closer to the horribly disfigured face: "Tell me everything, or you'll die a slow death today."

The deformed man's swollen face was filled with a stern despair.

He thought it would be a simple kidnapping that he could easily handle, but who could have imagined that he would run into such a terrifying superhuman.

This underage child in front of me showed absolutely no restraint when he started fighting. If it weren't for his healing ability being stronger than that of ordinary superhumans, he would already be a mangled corpse.

Meeting Mercury's emotionless eyes, the shapeshifter trembled uncontrollably. His bloodied lips moved with difficulty, as if trying to utter the name of the mastermind behind it all.

However, at this very moment...

With a sharp whooshing sound, a figure in a dazzling uniform descended from the sky and landed heavily in front of Mercury.

"Stop! Release the hostage immediately!" the newcomer shouted righteously.

Mercury didn't even turn his head; instead, his fingers tightened around the collar as he stared intently into the dying man's eyes and continued to threaten, "Ignore him, tell me who ordered you to do this!"

But the moment Byron looked over Mercury's shoulder and saw who it was, his previously mentally broken eyes flashed with a will to survive.

With his dazzling uniform, flamboyant entrance, and the ever-fluctuating purple light emanating from him, he is the superhero "Aura Maker".

The Spirit Messenger is a resident guardian of the City of Pomegranates, specializing in dealing with crimes involving superpowers.

The deformed man's fear was instantly replaced by a sense of arrogance.

He defiantly met Mercury's gaze, a strange sneer escaping his mutilated mouth: "Kill me... Go ahead and kill me now if you dare! Do it, brat! If you dare... you'll become a murderer too!"

However, Mercury simply said expressionlessly, "Idiot, don't you even know how old I am?"

Before the shapeshifter could react, a burst of red holy light erupted, shattering all the remaining bones in the shapeshifter.