My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 94 Who kidnapped whom?

"Oh? There was an unexpected bonus?"

Lucius's previous grim and displeased expression vanished almost instantly, and he looked at the palm-sized gilded compass in his hand with a playful expression.

The compass was engraved with holy light runes on its outer ring, and a drop of dark red demon blood was sealed in the central crystal. At this moment, the crystal was trembling violently, and a slender golden light pointed to the alley not far away.

"Although it's not working hours now, since we've happened to run into it, we can't just sit idly by, can we?"

He muttered something to himself, then leaped onto a nearby rooftop and whispered a prayer of summons.

The soft yet striking specks of holy light scattered and drifted away along the streets and alleys, signaling to the papal colleagues who were secretly patrolling the area to immediately come and surround the region.

call out--

Inside the alley, Rod half-embraced and half-supported Aphrodite, who was trembling with pain and feeling utterly weak, and then turned and fled quickly into the deep, narrow alley behind them.

Thanks to the swift and agile nature of the Wind Ranger, he quickly created some distance and avoided the line of sight in front of the blacksmith's shop.

But getting rid of it is only temporary.

"They ran pretty fast; logically speaking, that shouldn't be the case—"

Lucius stood on the rooftop, gripping the tracking compass to lock onto the location, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"It seems that the bastard child is with his accomplices."

He sneered and followed the golden light directly along the roof ridge, not intending to go down and wander around the alleyways with them.

The Papal knights, summoned by the Holy Light, dispersed in multiple directions, gradually tightening their encirclement along the streets and alleys.

Fortunately, Rhodes was familiar with the roads in the Misty City area, constantly turning left and right, specifically choosing narrow and low-lying roads.

He darted through narrow, dead-end alleys, deliberately avoiding open street corners. In the thick, foggy night, combined with the effect of the [Ring of Nature], he remained elusive, impossible to spot.

That's why, even Lucius, who has been tracking them from above, has yet to see his face clearly.

"How mysterious! When did such a skilled escape artist appear in Misty City?" Lucius thought unhappily.

The commotion in Misty City grew louder and louder, with all sorts of unknown individuals pouring in.

Although Rhodes managed to evade his opponent several times without serious injury, the detours and evasions significantly slowed down his progress.

In addition, the other side took a straight shortcut, so the distance between them did not increase, but instead kept decreasing, making it impossible for Rhodes to completely shake them off.

Heavy footsteps swept across the ground, seeping in from all directions around them, sometimes near, sometimes far, like a giant net that was constantly tightening, making one's heart beat faster.

Fortunately, thanks to Rhodes' keen reconnaissance and perception as a Wind Ranger, he was always able to detect the presence of knights hiding around corners and on walls in advance, narrowly avoiding each other and never colliding head-on with the pursuers, thus avoiding being exposed on the spot.

call out-

Rod nimbly and silently climbed onto the wall, then somersaulted to another street before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

"That was close—we almost ran into them."

"Cough cough—" Aphrodite coughed, feeling uncomfortable from the jolting. The holy light mark on her arm was still burning, and cold sweat soaked through her inner lining.

She leaned weakly on Rhodes' shoulder, her voice trembling: "This thing has a time limit—as long as we keep enough distance, or after a while, this damn mark will lose its effect—"

"The problem is we can't hold out that long!" Hearing her words, even though she knew Aphrodite couldn't hear her, Alina in her consciousness space couldn't help but shout.

Her keen senses were already strained by the overwhelming hostility from all sides, and her voice trembled uncontrollably: "We can't shake them off at all; they're everywhere!"

"There is a holy light coming from the east, north, and the back wall of the house. They are slowly shrinking and surrounding us—no matter how we try to hide in the alleys, we will eventually be completely trapped here."

Rhodes listened intently to the increasingly clear sounds of armor clashing, his mind racing as he considered how to escape.

If they keep running away, they will eventually be cornered in a dead end. Once they are trapped together, they will have no chance to escape, and their identities will also be implicated.

Rod currently has no intention of becoming a wanted criminal.

Da da da—

Rhodes carried Aphrodite and quickly turned into a narrow alley filled with discarded wooden barrels. The stone slabs underfoot were wet and moldy, and as he ran, all he could hear were the sounds of armor clashing from all directions.

"Hmm————" The golden holy seal on Aphrodite's arm had dimmed considerably, and the burning pain had lessened a lot.

But this brief respite did not bring much sense of security.

A faint golden light still lingered around her hand, and the tracking effect was only greatly weakened, far from completely dissipating.

To make matters worse, after the bumpy escape, Aphrodite could no longer bear the excruciating pain. Her eyelids were heavy, and she was in a semi-conscious state. She slumped into Rhodes' arms, unable to even stand up straight.

At the same time, Lucius on the distant rooftop paused noticeably, the gilded compass in his palm gradually dimming, the thin golden light pointing directly into the alley becoming almost imperceptible, making it difficult to discern its exact location.

"Tch—she actually survived." Lucius raised an eyebrow, then gestured to his subordinates, signaling them to surround the enemy's vague location.

The failure of the Holy Light Mark only meant the loss of precise location; the entire neighborhood had already been surrounded by layers of Papal Knights, with people deployed in every street, alley, intersection, and rooftop. Even without a compass for guidance, they could still conduct a thorough search.

Alina, still filled with anxiety in her consciousness space, sensed several figures imbued with holy light slowly shrinking the encirclement. She couldn't help but exclaim urgently, "No, no, no—they're surrounding us!"

"Don't rush." ​​Rhodes glanced at the entrance to the sewers at his feet. "If we go down this way, we should be able to shake them off."

"But...but they still managed to catch up to us," Alina's voice trembled with anxiety. Her senses constantly detected the shrinking holy light around them, and she murmured unconsciously, "If only we could lure them away—"

Rod raised his foot to leap into the dark, damp sewer entrance, but his movement suddenly stopped in mid-air.

Alina's unintentional mutterings echoed in his mind. He quickly weighed the current situation and, after a moment, asked in his mind, "If I stay and go out to distract Lucius and the others, holding them off until the tracking marks on Aphrodite's arm completely disappear, are you confident that you can completely evade the search by following the side paths deep in the waterway while carrying the semi-conscious Aphrodite?"

"No, we can't do this!"

Alina retorted almost without thinking, her tone filled with panic and resistance: "Why should you stay behind alone and risk your life?"

"What if they arrest you, or even formally detain you?"

"Lucius is a friend of mine," Rhodes explained calmly and patiently, "You forgot, he previously posted a missing person notice, offering a large sum of money to find me."

"But if you appear in front of them at this time, you might be—" Alina was still full of worry.

"So, I have no choice but to ask you for help," Rhodes said. "After all, the Wind Ranger can only fight alone, while there are two of us."

Alina sensed his determination and knew that once Rhodes made up his mind, no amount of arguing would help. Filled with resentment and unease, she could only sullenly compromise: "I will do everything in my power to protect this hateful demon, but you must be very careful not to have a direct confrontation with them."

"Don't worry, we can sense each other's safety and distance," Rhodes reminded him. "I'll be fine."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pale blue light that held the Gale Ranger form suddenly scattered and dissipated.

The fusion form was completely dismantled. The nimble and agile Wind Ranger was no more, and only Rhodes, with an ordinary figure and wearing a gray and worn corpse collector's robe, stood in place.

The slender elf Elina appeared out of thin air and reluctantly took the swaying, semi-conscious Aphrodite from Rhodes's hands.

"Um----"

Half-conscious Aphrodite vaguely opened her crimson eyes and saw two figures split in two. A deep sense of astonishment welled up in her bewildered eyes. Just moments ago, she had only been accompanied by a speeding ranger, but now there was a half-elf girl, and standing beside her was a familiar corpse collector.

But the weakness throughout her body and the lingering burning pain in her arm prevented her from asking any questions. She could only close her eyes and try to regulate her breathing.

Rhodes quickly removed his money pouch and the Ring of Nature from his finger, lowering his voice to give a rapid instruction: "Follow the waterway westward into the city, avoiding all exits leading to the surface. Wait until the mark on her hand has completely faded before finding a place to stay."

"OK."

Alina bit her lower lip, supported the limp Aphrodite, said no more, bent down and crawled into the cold, damp sewer. The two figures disappeared into the depths of the dark passage in an instant.

Watching Alina help Aphrodite disappear completely into the deep darkness of the sewers, Rhode's tense mind suddenly relaxed. His back slammed heavily against the cold, mottled stone wall, and he slowly slid down to the ground.

"Ugh—why am I so dizzy?"

Maintaining the Fusion Gale Ranger form for a long time meant he hadn't had a proper rest along the way, which had already depleted most of his strength.

In the instant of disintegration, an overwhelming sense of weakness and exhaustion swept through my limbs and bones, my head felt heavy, and my whole body was so sore that I could barely lift myself up.

This is going to be terrible.

He lowered his head slightly, his heavy breathing rising and falling, his fingertips bracing against the ground to barely keep his balance, and fine beads of cold sweat sliding down his chin.

If only we hadn't disintegrated, we wouldn't have been able to distract them now.

Moreover, if someone saw him in this disheveled state—

That would be so embarrassing.

Thinking of this, Rhodes couldn't help but look troubled. He prayed that Elina and the others could escape, while also praying that he wouldn't be discovered by Lucius.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Just as Rhodes had predicted, a light landing sound came from the alley entrance, and Lucius followed the faint traces of the trail to the alley.

"Why aren't you running anymore?" He couldn't help but tease, gazing at the blurry humanoid figure in the distance.

He had been on guard, but when he saw who was sitting against the wall, he stopped abruptly, and the playful look on his face vanished instantly, leaving only disbelief and astonishment.

"you?!"

The old, faded gray clothes of the corpse collector, and the familiar silhouette, startled him so much that he almost took a few steps back.

"You're Rod?!"

"————" Rhodes silently lowered his head, closed his eyes, and quickly thought about what to do next.

What should one say in a situation like this?

Should we go say hello?

This meeting format is so strange; it's completely different from what he expected.

Before Rhodes could think of what to say, Lucius, seeing his helpless, restless, and weak appearance, quickly knelt down and briefly checked his condition.

"Is it just physical exhaustion and mental depletion?"

Having confirmed that Rhodes wasn't some kind of disguise and that there were no strange marks left on him by that bastard, Lucius's tense heart relaxed slightly. He then questioned, "How did you end up here?"

"I----"

Rod lowered his head, his eyelids trembled in panic, and his brain raced frantically, desperately searching for a suitable explanation.

He had intended to make up an excuse, saying that he had only come to this alley to deal with the body, but now, due to the disintegration, he was completely exhausted and slumped on the ground, covered in cold sweat and panting heavily. This appearance had absolutely nothing to do with his normal work of collecting customers.

After thinking for a long time, my mind was completely blank, and I couldn't even piece together a reasonable explanation.

"I understand now."

Seeing Rhodes frozen in place, his eyes darting around, looking confused and nervous, unable to utter a complete sentence, Lucius sighed.

What did you understand?

Just as Rhodes was wondering and grumbling to himself, he heard Lucius say confidently to himself, "That bastard—he really did use some kind of evil magic to control you, huh."

"?"

Rod looked at him blankly.

Seeing that Rhodes didn't understand, Lucius explained, "A few days ago there was some strange activity at the cemetery. When I went to check, I found that you weren't home, Rhodes, and I couldn't contact you. I had a feeling that something was wrong, so I asked someone else to look for you."

"Now it seems that she broke in while you were eating and took the opportunity to kidnap you, which caused you to disappear for two days."

Rhodes blinked, pondering Lucius's words.

Who kidnapped whom?

I was kidnapped by Aphrodite?

"I just happened to run into her today. Knowing she was bound by the tracking mark and would have a hard time escaping, I used your familiarity with the terrain to lead her on a frantic escape—"

Lucius's tone turned colder, a perfect chain of logic already closed in his mind: "That bastard is ruthless. After realizing you were useless, she simply took advantage of the chaos to leave you here exhausted and clueless, which conveniently hindered our search. She then used the complicated situation in the sewers to escape. She's quite the schemer."

Is that how it is?

Seeing Rhodes' silent and solemn expression, Lucius comforted him, "Even if you are a bit smarter than others, you are still just an ordinary person in the end, and you can't possibly fight against that bastard."

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