Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Under the gray sky, Lu Xiaoyu was walking alone amidst strange rocks. In contrast to ordinary individual Practitioners’ ever present fear, Lu Xiaoyu was totally at ease in Anthony’s secret company as he was ready to attack anytime.
A slit cracked open in the rock beside her, as if something was about to be born. However, before it made its debut, a blanket of gray soils rolled up like a mat and sealed the crack up…
Maybe it was a completely unprecedented experience even for gargoyles. In the past, they either killed or were killed, but never had they been trapped in the stone…
In an attempt to escape from the jail, the gargoyles inside collided with the interior of the rocks like crazy but to no avail. Soil and rocks reinforced by Anthony’s elemental force were unbreakable with their strength.
Now, their freedom of action belonged to Lu Xiaoyu…
“There are so many! And they have no money, watches or weapons! How annoying! Where is Lu Shu!” Lu Xiaoyu complained.
It was much less interesting than the salt lake remains that Lu Xiaoyu had visited last time.
Previously, she looted a bunch of minions, including Naughty Pig and Big Cat. How awesome was that! But this time, the gargoyles were completely not in her control, not to mention their ugly appearance.
Lu Xiaoyu could sense that these monsters were utterly empty inside their outer shells, without a trace of a controllable soul.
At this moment, a group of three, consisting of a white, a black and an Asian, walked towards her. What a rare coincidence. Nonetheless, their guard against one another was apparent from the large distance between them.
All of them froze for a second upon seeing Lu Xiaoyu, who had not been that visible at the beach. She had been busy eating snacks and teasing Lu Shu at the time.
None of them expected a little girl here. In spite of being at the peak of her puberty and her relatively tall build, Lu Xiaoyu’s youthful face revealed her true age.
Truth be told, it was definitely not common to see such a young Practitioner. Actually, against the backdrop of the remains, she looked more like a creepy doll in a desolate, old mansion situated in the mountains.
Horror stories!
Lu Shu had prepared a backpack for Lu Xiaoyu and himself as a cover for their invisible storage equipment. But Lu Xiaoyu had packed it back into her ring to save herself the trouble of carrying it.
It might have helped with the misunderstanding had she carried a modern bag.
Subconsciously, they had deemed Lu Xiaoyu as another magical creature rather than a Practitioner like themselves…
Lu Xiaoyu shot them a brief glimpse and clearly showed she had no intention of interacting with them. At that moment, a gargoyle imprisoned in a stone nearby started struggling violently. In addition to the trembling motion of the rock, though, nothing else happened.
But Lu Xiaoyu was perfectly quiet and calm.
In their opinion, such composure was not supposed to appear on a little girl’s face. If she was a human Practitioner, should she not be flustered right now? She must certainly be a product of the remains!
No matter what reason it was, the three of them had instinctively associated the girl’s frosty expression with the current environment. In fact, their misunderstanding was understandable in the light of the multitude of factors here.
Considering their commendable capabilities, Lu Xiaoyu’s passiveness actually elicited the men’s greed, “Do you think this monster carries magical weapons? Anyway, there shouldn’t be any powerful creatures in the periphery, should there?”
“Let’s kill her together!” the black man agreed.
Just when Lu Xiaoyu was about to leave, she raised her eyebrows at their phrasing, “Monster?!”
Who are you addressing?! Have you ever seen such a cute, pretty monster before?!
In the next instant, Anthony rose up from the surface with his typical foolish smile. His black foggy form and the creepy expression seemed to be an even better fit in the remains!
Then, the three were dead.
Under Lu Xiaoyu’s control, Anthony searched the three bodies, which had been punctured into honeycombs by deep sea white sand. An angry Lu Xiaoyu was indeed a monster…
But Anthony found nothing. Disappointed, Lu Xiaoyu sighed, “Why are they so poor! I wanted to rob someone and find a reunion gift for Lu Shu. I hope he has prepared me gifts as well…”
Honestly speaking, Lu Xiaoyu liked the place. There was nothing she needed to be concerned about, be it gargoyles or Practitioners who tried to take her life.
As soon as she moved on, in another direction, a stone cracked open again. Almost simultaneously, Anthony sealed it back up…
“How annoying!”
…
Meanwhile, Lu Shu followed his team. A temporary stay in a group of international individual Practitioners with their own hidden agendas was a safe strategy, which offered him another layer of security when the conditions remained unclear.
As a matter of fact, their plans were all about the same. It was always a fight or flight situation and in times of real crises, Lu Shu was certain that no one could run faster than himself…
The strength-type Class D Evan Walsh loved to hog the limelight, as though he had been overshadowed by other geniuses in the Phoenix Society and could only shine in a group of unaffiliated Practitioners.
Why did so many teenagers awaken to their powers? Simply for more attention, right?
Although Walsh was only a junior, he had emerged a champion in the Canadian canoeing league and enjoyed excellent results at school. Thus, he had an air of pride around him, and most members of the Phoenix Society were people like him.
They had run into a number of gargoyles on their way forward. But Walsh had come up with a smart idea. Since gargoyles were only activated in close proximity, a slow advance would release them one by one, drastically reducing the pressure on themselves.
During the combat, Walsh had always been the main attacker, as if his strength was boundless. Meanwhile, the Mexican girl seemed determined to cozy up to him, and would offer Walsh care and support after every battle.
Lu Shu was more than happy to save some energy as the gargoyles had nothing worthy to pillage. All this while, he focused his attention on the surroundings, mainly on the flow of energy, but it was in vain. There was no way to ascertain the direction of the core region.
Thus, they had no way but to take it slowly. At worse, they might cross paths with the Class B pros, since no one’s sense of direction worked here anyway.
After Evan Walsh chopped a gargoyle into pieces, he intentionally showed off his sword. In spite of the frequent battles, there was not a single scratch on the blade, “This was provided by our Phoenix Society. What do you think of it?”
In an attempt to please him so that he could continue dealing with the gargoyles while Lu Shu could continue to slack off on the side, Lu Shu immediately commended, “Six six six*.”
*Six six six, “666”, a popular phrase in China used to show one’s approval, compliment or admiration.
“???”
Although Lu Shu’s admiration was clear in his tone, why was he not making any sense? For God’s sake, was he really unable to speak English?!
“From Evan Walsh’s distress, +299…”
Lu Shu felt wronged too. It was not his fault that the American guy had little knowledge in Chinese buzzwords!