[Painter]

The Painter spoke with confidence, but his heart had already sunk.

It was a trap.

He knew very well that it would be hard to leave here alive this time.

He was not afraid of Fengling. As a member of a fanatical church, he feared no one in a one-on-one fight.

What gave him a bad feeling was that Fengling had called out his codename.

How could a school teacher possibly know him?

There was only one possibility: from the very beginning, all the capturing personnel had his information.

Just like secret societies, the church also had peripheral members.

Especially a church that could not see the light of day like the Church of the Mist, which had recruited many ordinary people in various cities.

The peripheral personnel of the Church of the Mist could receive mass messages from the Sixiang City Hall and the Sun and Moon Church. Yet these two factions, despite clearly knowing all the Church of the Mist members who had entered the city, deliberately acted as if their intelligence was lacking and needed to be pieced together.

This led The Painter to believe that he was absolutely safe and unknown to anyone.

Good calculation, and quite ruthless, using students as bait. How are you any better than our Church of the Mist? The Painter sneered.

Save your breath. Are you going to surrender quietly, or do you want to be beaten into a cripple first?

Oh? Such a big tone. Then let me experience the teaching standards of Sixiang City.

The Painter said the most ruthless words while doing the most cowardly thing.

He activated his ability and vanished into thin air.

The Painter, fully known as The Body Painter.

There was also this profession among ordinary people. Stark naked, they used paint to draw on themselves, aiming to both display the beauty of their bodies and cover their private parts. It was both painting and performance art.

When linked to the Mystical, it became an optical invisibility ability similar to a chameleon.

The Painter had not really disappeared; he had merely deceived the audience's eyes.

Hmph, fight? Impossible. I am leaving, take your time looking.

In the partnership between The Painter and The Chef, The Chef was the muscle, while The Painter was the support personnel responsible for gathering intel and stealing materials.

Just as he swaggered past Fengling, preparing to leave.

A triangular military bayonet pierced his lung lobe.

Blood immediately gushed from his mouth.

On Fengling's tilted head, the eight eyes on her forehead and cheeks were all looking at him.

Remember me well. I am Hundred Eyes Fengling. An invisibility that two eyes cannot see has no effect in my eyes.

The Painter spat blood, still smiling: Do you think I am the only one in this operation? How many students can you protect?

My class has me, and other classes naturally have others. The power of the entire Sixiang City is watching you, and you are worried we do not have enough manpower?

Haha, hahaha, impressive. Then I can rest assured. The bloody foam spat out by The Painter began to contain fragments of internal organs.

Bluffing. Fengling pulled out the triangular bayonet and stabbed twice more in quick succession.

Even the students knew not to relax during a battle; how could a mentor like Fengling forget?

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The church bells and the city's alarms sounded simultaneously.

The Painter smiled and looked at Fengling: Thank you for your cooperation.

Fengling's face turned ashen.

Mengmeng asked weakly: Sister Fengling, what is wrong?

"What a cunning move by the Mist Church. We've been tricked. All the manpower in the city was dispatched to protect the students, leaving the city's defenses completely empty."

"Then should we rush back?"

"It's too late. Today is the Day of No Tomorrow. The city gates are locked tight. Without the light of the sun or moon, we'll have zero visibility on the way back, and the road is teeming with mist and anomalies."

The Painter could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.

Just the moment he hit the ground, his eyes, which should have been incredibly weak, suddenly snapped open.

"Shedding the golden cicada's shell."

The Painter vanished once again.

This time, he truly disappeared—the kind of disappearance that even Fengling couldn't track down.

"Damn it!"

It wasn't that Fengling was careless. It was just that there were thousands of mysterious abilities in this world. As long as one tried to capture a target alive, there was always the risk of them pulling a desperate escape move that no one could stop.

In a small grove of trees.

Loop twitched her nose. "I smell blood."

She took a few steps forward and reached straight into a pile of tall grass.

With one hand, she hauled out a man covered in blood.

This was a man none of them recognized. He wasn't actually wearing any clothes; the fake garments on his body were entirely painted on with pigments.

Chen Miemie, Qinghua, and Bobo stepped forward to take a look.

Chen Miemie poked the man's face with a branch, waking him up.

"Are you students from the academy? I'm the instructor for Class 5. I came to protect the students in secret, but I didn't expect to run into such an exceptionally powerful anomaly. I almost died there."

The incredibly weak Painter couldn't even keep his eyes open and could only barely make out Chen Miemie. He immediately fabricated an identity.

Chen Miemie replied, "I'm in Class 5."

Qinghua and Bobo found this a bit strange, as they knew Chen Miemie was actually in Class 3.

The Painter: ......

It was a bit tough to handle, being exposed on the spot. It was rather awkward.

"I'm from the fifth-year Class 5. I was temporarily transferred here."

Chen Miemie said, "I know everyone in the school. The teacher for the fifth-year Class 5 is a woman."

The Painter fell silent for two seconds. "You're just a student. How did you recognize me?"

Chen Miemie shook her head. "I don't know you, but I know who caused your wounds. Anyone in the graduating class recognizes that triangular military dagger."

The terror of Fengling's infirmary was fifty percent due to the eyes all over her body, twenty-five percent because she loved using students for experiments, and the final twenty-five percent was because of that triangular military dagger.

Whenever someone lay on the bed in the infirmary, if the procedure involved bloodletting, that triangular dagger would inevitably make an appearance.

That thing was incredibly efficient at drawing blood. As for whether the bleeding could actually be stopped afterward, that was entirely up to the individual's luck.

"Let me go, and I'll give you everything I have."

Chen Miemie nodded. "How much time do you have?"

"I have 3,000 years."

"3,000 years!" Chen Miemie almost jumped up. "How do you have so much?"

"I personally only have 200 years. The other 2,800 years are the Church's operational funds."

"So, you're from the Mist Church?"

"Yes." The Painter was very straightforward, answering whatever was asked.

The reason the Mist Church could never grow large was that its members were not only insane but also had absolutely no loyalty to speak of.

"Are you the Chef's partner?"

"Yes."

"Besides the two of you, how many other people from the Mist Church came to Sixiang City?"

"There are eight others. Originally, ten of us came in total."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Destroy the Four Symbols Seal of Sixiang City."

"What is that?"

This question was so basic that [The Painter] was a bit confused. What kind of standards did the graduating class have, not even knowing something like this?

Slash!

Because he answered too slowly, he immediately took a knife from Qinghua.

[The Painter] couldn't move and couldn't see Qinghua behind him.

He didn't know who was behind him, but his body told him that the knife stabbing him was a familiar one—it was the kitchen knife of his old partner, [The Chef].

Even [The Chef], who was usually incredibly arrogant, had fallen into the hands of this group. If he wasn't honest, he'd be courting death.

"Every one of the 100 cities has a core. Some are items, some are array eyes, some are guardian beasts. Sixiang City's core is the Four Symbols Seal."

"What happens if it's destroyed?"

"The city will temporarily lose the blessing of the sun and moon, becoming just like the wilderness."

"Temporarily?"

"Yes, once repaired, it can be restored."

"Is it difficult to repair?"

"If no one interferes, it's not considered difficult for a city."

"Then why did you go to such great lengths just to cause temporary destruction?"

[The Painter] paused slightly, but he didn't dare pause for long, afraid of getting stabbed again. "In peaceful times, the damage wouldn't be significant, but this is the brand-new Eighth Era."

Bringing up the new era again?

Chen Miemie became interested. "How so?"

"Maintaining the safety of the city's core is the most basic duty of the city administrators.

If they can't even protect the core, it shows that their ability, strength, and control over the city are limited.

When new races rise, they need to occupy their own cities, and naturally, they will pick the soft targets.

If you were them, what kind of city would you choose?"

Chen Miemie remained expressionless. "A city that can't even protect its own core."

"Exactly. Even in peaceful times, whenever a city's core has problems, it basically represents a reshuffling of power.

Now is an age of great conflict, and Sixiang City will be targeted first. Whether the new race can conquer Sixiang City or not, the casualties from the war between the two races will be an unimaginably huge number."

Having learned everything he needed to know, Chen Miemie had no more questions.

"Qinghua, keep an eye on him. After today, he will be worth a precious 3,000 years."

If it weren't for the fact that the watch's payment function was restricted during the Sunless Day, Chen Miemie wouldn't have wanted to wait a single second.

Just as Chen Miemie was about to get up and leave,

Loop's charming voice rang out, "He lied to you."