Three Terraces

This made Chen Guan incredibly surprised. He was certain he had never seen this girl before, yet she even knew his weapon was a scythe.

The young girl drew very quickly, finishing it almost in one breath. She put down her charcoal pencil, carefully took down the drawing paper, and handed it to Chen Guan. Her clear eyes carried a smile. "Here, it's done. No charge, it's a gift for you."

Chen Guan took the drawing. It felt slightly cool to the touch. Both the paper and the charcoal seemed to be made of ordinary materials, but the charm within the drawing seemed to leap off the page. He examined it carefully, becoming more and more shocked the longer he looked.

"Miss... have we met before?" Chen Guan asked probingly.

The girl shook her head, the ends of her hair swaying gently. "Nope, today is our first time meeting."

Chen Guan was suspicious and surprised inwardly, but he didn't show it on his face, merely thanking her sincerely. "It's drawn very well. Thank you."

"You're welcome." The girl packed up her drawing tools with nimble movements. "I'm closing my stall now. See you around if fate allows."

She put the old drawing board on her back, waved at Chen Guan, and turned to merge into the bustling crowd, disappearing after a few corners.

Chen Guan put away the drawing and quickly left the crowd. Once there was no one around, he asked in a low voice, "What's going on, Baal?"

"Want to know? Then beg me."

Baal's teasing voice rang out. This notorious demon gentleman seemed to really enjoy playing tricks on people.

"Oh, then I beg you."

Hearing his completely unfazed tone, Baal felt as if he had punched cotton. How did this guy have the exact same temper as Guan Jinyue?

Is this a trend among human geniuses nowadays? Baal fell into deep thought. What He wanted to see was an expression of three parts forbearance, three parts stubbornness, three parts hatred, and one part helplessness.

Whether that makes a perfect pie chart or not is unknown, but my figure is certainly graceful.

Feeling bored, Baal simply stopped keeping him in suspense. "That little girl just now has unusual strength. She's at least stronger than your physical combat teacher."

Although Chen Guan wasn't clear about Li Yan's exact strength, the teachers at Huaqing were never below the seventh tier.

In other words, someone who was at least at the seventh tier was selling drawings on the street?

"Moreover, her identity is also unusual. I sensed a familiar aura. It seems she's in the same group as your prospective boss. How about guessing her codename? If you guess right, I'll tell you a bit more information."

Baal casually dropped another bombshell. His prospective boss was only White Tiger. Did that mean the little girl selling drawings just now was actually a member of the Guiyuan Group?

Who was she?

If she wasn't faking her gender...

Chen Guan recalled the information revealed by the audience. The Guiyuan Group only had two females. One was Santai, who possessed the esper ability Universal Tapestry, and the other was currently unknown.

Coupled with the drawing... Chen Guan was seventy to eighty percent sure. "She is Santai."

"Bingo! You got it right." Baal laughed heartily. Chen Guan knew more than He thought, which made Him very happy.

Therefore, He honestly gave out the reward.

"In five seconds, that person in black on your left will explode."

"No, wait, three seconds, two seconds..."

As soon as Baal's voice fell, alarm bells blared in Chen Guan's heart.

He acted almost on instinct, letting his body react before his mind could. The Gale Boots on his feet flashed with light, and his entire body lunged violently to the right like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Boom!

Almost at the exact moment Chen Guan lunged out, about three meters to his left, the figure in the black hoodie who had been walking normally suddenly burst open like an over-inflated balloon.

The explosion erupted with a deafening roar. The shockwave spread outwards, carrying rubble and debris, cracking the surrounding walls and instantly shattering glass windows. A pungent, foul stench permeated the air.

Although Chen Guan's reaction was lightning-fast, he was still caught by the aftermath of the explosion. Using the momentum, he rolled twice on the ground to dissipate the force. Rising to a half-kneel, the Nether Reaper was already gripped tightly in his hands, his sharp gaze sweeping toward the center of the explosion.

All that was left there was a scorched pit about two meters in diameter, along with a messy scattering of mangled flesh and thick, blackish-red liquid that emitted a nauseating smell.

The surrounding street descended into chaos, with terrified screams rising one after another.

"Self-detonation?" Chen Guan's face looked grim. This was definitely a deliberate attack. Who was the target? Was it a random, indiscriminate attack, or was it aimed at him...

"Not a bad reaction, kid."

Baal's voice carried a hint of amusement, as if the explosion just now was nothing more than an entertaining firework. "But don't relax just yet. That was merely the appetizer. Tsk tsk, take a look behind you."

Chen Guan's heart skipped a beat, and he whipped his head around.

From the shadows on both sides of the street, and from behind the ruins of the shops that had been rattled by the explosion, over a dozen figures slowly walked out.

Just like the one who had self-detonated, they wore ordinary clothes, but their eyes were hollow. More or less wrapped in a blackish-red aura, they moved like walking corpses, closing in on Chen Guan and the terrified survivors who hadn't yet had time to flee.

Chen Guan stood up and blocked the path in front of the civilians. This was absolutely no coincidence; it was clearly a premeditated ambush. The target was very likely him, because the people behind him were just ordinary civilians.

And the people before him were obviously Fallens who had been influenced by demons.

Why? Was it because of the Mark of Baal on his body?

But that shouldn't be easily detected. Otherwise, how could Guan Jinyue have waited until he blew his cover to be exposed?

There was no time to think it over; the enemies were already closing in.

The individual strength of these Fallens was generally in the mid-to-high stages of the first tier, with a few having reached the second tier. Moreover, there were many of them. What was even more troublesome was that they completely disregarded their own safety, attacking with sheer madness, and could even self-detonate at any moment.

"Good luck, great hero."

Chen Guan had no time to bicker with this wicked demon god. He had to deal with these Fallens as quickly as possible. The longer he dragged this out here, the more dangerous it would become, and the more innocent people would be caught in the crossfire.

Although he didn't consider himself the hero Baal called him, he wasn't some psychopath either. He wouldn't just stand by and watch a large number of people die right in front of him when he had the power to change it.

He had to clear the area first!

Chen Guan's eyes turned fierce, and he immediately initiated the Myriad Manifestations.

His mental energy surged out like a tidal wave, enveloping the surrounding dozens of meters in a bizarre and surreal domain of illusions where truth and falsehood were indistinguishable.

The ground seemed to flow, and the shadows of the buildings stretched and twisted. The position of their target became erratic in the eyes of the Fallens, and multiple phantom images of Chen Guan even appeared.

Seizing this opportunity, Chen Guan dashed forward like a ghost. The Nether Reaper transformed into deadly arcs of black light, reaping the lives of the enemies trapped in the illusion at maximum speed.

With every swing of the scythe, flesh was precisely torn apart. Invisible souls surged out from those bodies and merged into the scythe. The soul-absorbing crystal transmitted waves of a satiated, pleasant sensation, and the feedback energy rapidly replenished Chen Guan's depleted mental energy.

The fact that the scythe could use the souls of living people as nourishment was something Chen Guan could not afford to worry about for the time being.

Right now, he was already having a hard time fighting off the attacks from all sides.