You Have Been Locked On

Boom!

The terrifying explosion arrived belatedly. The sound wave transformed into a tangible wall, pushing a scorching current of air that swept across the entire pier.

Long Ao instinctively raised his hands to block his face, but Chen Guan grabbed him, steadying his posture.

The shipping container beneath his feet let out an overwhelmed groan. Its metal edges were curled up by the shockwave, torn apart, and hurled high into the sky.

He looked up, his mouth hanging open unconsciously.

The night sky was completely illuminated by a miniature mushroom cloud radiating an ominous red glow.

The life force of a Tier 7 powerhouse was compressed to its absolute limit in an instant and then released. The result was a low-yield natural disaster.

River water poured backward, the pier crumbled, and steel melted in the raging flames.

And the man who caused all of this was standing right beside him, calmly watching that flower of destruction.

Chen Guan's profile flickered in the firelight. There was no horror, no ecstasy, only a chilling indifference.

Long Ao's heart pounded wildly. He wanted to say something but couldn't utter a single syllable.

[Holy shit! Holy shit! It blew up! It actually blew up!]

[Brother Coffin makes his move and directly uses a Tier 7 powerhouse as a firework. This is the most hardcore scene I've seen all year.]

[So cool! Art is Patrick Star! No, wait, art is Greedy Wolf! I'm willing to call this firework the strongest!]

[Look at Brother Coffin's expression. Calm, too calm. This is the demeanor of a true big shot, treating a Tier 7 as if they were nothing.]

[Upstairs, stop talking nonsense. He must be heartbroken. Another life has passed away because of him. Even if it's an enemy, he can only bear this pain silently by himself.]

[Isn't the filter of the guy upstairs a bit too thick?]

Chen Guan ignored the waterfall of comments refreshing in his vision; his attention was entirely focused on another set of data.

That was his Popularity Points, which were changing every single second.

The numbers jumped wildly at an unprecedented speed. In just over ten seconds, it broke through the 60,000 mark and was still growing.

The audience was very satisfied.

Sharp police sirens echoed from deep within the city, drawing closer and becoming increasingly dense.

"Let's go," Chen Guan spoke, his voice slightly muffled by the lingering echoes of the explosion.

"What was that just now..."

Long Ao still felt a sense of unreality. Just how many tricks was Chen Guan hiding?

He wanted to time-travel back to their academy days and kick his past self to death for ever worrying about Chen Guan.

Who the hell was he worrying about?!

Chen Guan didn't explain. With a wave of his hand, the black box returned to his grasp, surprisingly completely unscathed.

Then, he grabbed Long Ao's arm, turned, and leaped off the shipping container, cleanly hiding themselves without leaving a trace.

A hundred meters away from the corner where they vanished.

White Tiger pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, the lenses reflecting the distant firelight.

He looked with great interest at the slowly dissipating mushroom cloud, then glanced in the direction Chen Guan and Long Ao had left.

"A fine piece of work, but the mess won't be easy to clean up," he muttered to himself, a playful smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Several armored vehicles bearing the Great Wall insignia had already arrived at the blockade line. Heavily armed official personnel were evacuating bystanders.

A man who looked like a Patrol Captain noticed White Tiger strolling leisurely toward the blockade. He immediately stepped forward and barked, "Restricted area! Step back!"

White Tiger didn't stop. He casually pulled an ID badge from the inner pocket of his suit and flashed it in front of the man.

The Patrolman's expression changed instantly. He straightened his body, gave a standard salute, and stepped aside to open up a path.

White Tiger retracted his ID badge and sauntered into the devastated core of the explosion, his back as relaxed as if he were strolling through his own backyard.

He had many identities; he could be anyone.

...

Jiang City, Queen's Casino.

Inside the most luxurious suite on the top floor, the air was so oppressive it felt almost solid.

In front of the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, a withered figure sat on a throne-like sofa. He was the Cult Master of the Embrace of Flesh and Blood, Blood Butcher.

In the air before him, a holographic projection was playing the scene at the pier.

The final image transmitted back by the drone was that rising mushroom cloud, after which the signal cut off and the screen turned to static.

Crack.

The wine glass in Blood Butcher's hand, carved from a single block of crystal, silently turned to powder and slipped through his withered fingers.

"Greedy Wolf... is dead."

His voice was filled with fury, and fine cracks appeared on the surfaces of the expensive decorations in the room.

In the shadows of the suite, two figures knelt silently on the ground.

One was burly and heavily muscled, looking like a small mountain even while kneeling; this was one of Blood Butcher's Protectors, Pojun.

The other was as thin and long as a bamboo pole, shrouded entirely in black robes with a faint, almost non-existent aura; this was the other Protector, Qisha.

Both were Tier 7 powerhouses, the sharpest blades in Blood Butcher's hands.

"Cult Master, Greedy Wolf was too reckless," Pojun spoke in a muffled, booming voice. The two never got along normally, so naturally, he had nothing nice to say now.

"He wasn't reckless; he was greedy." Neither joy nor anger could be heard in Blood Butcher's voice. "The power of that box exceeded my estimates. Just who is behind that kid? And why hasn't Lin Jiu been caught yet?"

He had already reined in his loss of composure. Standing up, he paced over to the window, looking down at the bustling nightscape of Jiang City.

"The ritual can wait no longer. I don't have much time left."

"I don't care what methods you use. Bring that coffin-carrying kid back to me. I want him alive. As for that Lin Jiu, just kill him."

His gaze pierced through the endless night, locking onto a specific direction.

"That box must be retrieved!"

"Yes."

Pojun and Qisha's voices overlapped, and then both of their figures vanished.

The terrifying pressure in the room slowly dissipated. Blood Butcher looked out the window, flames of madness burning in his eyes.

He had plotted for a long time and absolutely would not allow his efforts to fall short at the final hurdle.

...

At the other end of the city, deep within the abandoned subway tracks.

Water droplets seeped from the ceiling, echoing with a drip-drop sound in the empty tunnel.

Long Ao leaned against the cold wall. He looked at Chen Guan not far away, who was leaning against a load-bearing pillar with his eyes closed, as if dozing off.

"What exactly... what was that move?" Long Ao finally had the time to ask clearly. "You detonated a Tier 7?"

Chen Guan neither opened his eyes nor answered.

His consciousness was immersed in his system panel.

[Name: Chen Guan]

[Identity: First-year student at Huaqing Academy]

[Abilities: Life Type - Fortitude, Mental Type - Illusionist, Mythological Type - Reverberation]

[Special Skills: Military Close Combat (Blue), Heavy Weapon Mastery (Green), Scythe Specialization (Blue), Breath Concealment (Blue), Stargazing Meditation (Blue)]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 20.7]

[Stamina: 12.5]

[Agility: 15]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Spirit: 35]

[Popularity Points: 88450]

Nearly ninety thousand Popularity Points, along with the Breath Concealment skill that had automatically leveled up at some unknown point.

This was the largest fortune he had ever seen since his transmigration. A seventh-tier firework had yielded unimaginably rich returns. Some deaths are as light as a feather, while others carry the weight of a mountain.

Clearly, Greedy Wolf's death was worth a lot.

He did not hesitate in the slightest. Deep... Sys, add my points.

[Spirit: 40]

The price of the stat points seemed to have stopped inflating; even now, it was still ten thousand popularity points for a single stat point.

Chen Guan deeply missed the days when he could add a point with just one thousand popularity points. He chose not to spend his remaining thirty thousand points.

He could clearly hear the sound of every single water drop falling in the tunnel, see the trajectories of the floating dust in the air, and smell the rust from the pipes a hundred meters away.

The entire world was constructed in his mind into an incredibly detailed three-dimensional map.

It was just a pity that this map was in black and white.

This was the sense of absolute control brought about by a high Spirit attribute; there was a distinct gap of power between every tier.

He opened his eyes.

Buzz.

A faint vibration sounded in the silent tunnel.

Chen Guan took a phone out of his pocket.

The screen was lit up, indicating a new message.

It was from an unknown number.

He opened the message.

The content was very simple, consisting of only a picture and a single line of text.

The picture quality was grainy, taken from a tricky high-angle perspective.

In the image, two figures were slipping into an inconspicuous, abandoned subway entrance, one after the other.

That was exactly what he and Long Ao looked like just a few minutes ago.

Below the picture was a line of cold text.

[You have been locked onto.]