Era of Magic and Martial Arts

Lou Duan talked to himself, a barely concealed excitement in his tone.

He usually never tips when consuming, but today, he had to make an exception for this website.

"This website is astonishingly powerful. No, with my ordinary membership badge, it seems a bit lacking in respect. I must upgrade my badge..."

Lou Duan’s mind raced, realizing that the value of this website was far higher than he had previously thought. With the insane performance this website displayed, it was not an exaggeration to hold it in high regard afterward.

"If I can upgrade my badge, this website could very possibly become my ace in reversing the situation and pulling off a comeback in the future."

Lou Duan’s fingers flew across the keyboard, a burning ambition flashing in his eyes.

The mechanical prompt sound kept coming from the website:

"Ding— [You donated a construction fund to the website 100,000...]"

"Ding— [You donated a construction fund to the website 100,000...]"

"Ding— [You donated a construction fund to the website 100,000...]"

The cold prompt sound from the computer mixed with the terrifying growls and bites of monsters coming from the TV screen.

The overlap of these two sounds strangely formed a peculiar harmony, like some wild symphony looping in Lou Duan’s ears!

.....

For Red Dragonfly, killing was as simple as drinking milk tea.

But this time, she almost chewed the straw in her mouth to mush but still couldn’t get rid of Zhou Hu.

Several times when she tried to act discreetly, unexpected events interrupted her.

The first time, a monster suddenly appeared.

That monster, wearing a comical outfit, exaggeratedly posed for the camera. Its absurd actions carried an inexplicable sense of eerie beauty, stunning her momentarily and missing the best opportunity;

The second time, Feng Yuhuai, the parasitic host of Evil Sacrifice, descended from the sky with seven monsters, slicing through the air with a swoosh, crashing heavily onto the ground, causing the earth to tremble.

And the landing spot, unfortunately, was precisely where the Wild Beast crouched on the curb.

Red Dragonfly, concerned about her teammates, had to give up the opportunity once again, continuing to follow Zhou Hu, waiting for the next chance.

The bad news was that her attempts to act twice were interrupted by accidents; Zhou Hu’s luck seemed ridiculously good, making one suspect whether he had secretly prayed to some Evil Sacrifice for protection.

The good news was that the difficulty of acting next time had suddenly decreased — there was no need to bother disguising it as an accident, as a ready-made monster could perfectly serve as the "scapegoat."

Zhou Hu: "...I’m lucky?"

Monster: "...Even bullying monsters? Bad person!"

Red Dragonfly’s tongue slightly trembled in her mouth, softly warning, "Wild Beast, be careful!"

Meanwhile, the Master of Ceremonies blended into the crowd, also tensely lowering his voice, "Don’t get exposed!"

After a while, the communicator conveyed a muffled response from Wild Beast:

"Don’t worry, I didn’t take any action."

Red Dragonfly and the Master of Ceremonies both breathed a sigh of relief, their tightly wound nerves slightly relaxed.

They were all from [Destiny], a special tactical team entirely modified by gifts.

The gift modification was somewhat complicated to explain.

Simply put, the [Destiny] aura clinging to them was incredibly strong, as if they had just been fished out of a pickle jar, their entire bodies soaked in an indescribable flavor.

This aura might not necessarily be detected by the keen noses in Upper City, nor precisely identified by other evil organizations.

But the Evil Sacrifice’s parasitic entity—no, to be precise, the Evil Sacrifice behind the parasitic entity, would certainly detect it.

Especially when the Evil Sacrifice happens to spy through the eyes of the parasitic entity, that aura would pierce into its perception like a sharp alarm.

The reasoning is actually quite simple, like livestock’s instinctive sensitivity and fear towards butchers, stemming from countless bloody lessons of their kind.

The Evil Sacrifice was truly terrified by [Destiny]. Although not to the point of changing color at the mention, it would certainly avoid it like venomous snakes and scorpions, fearing even the slightest contact.

"It’s just that the little ones I brought along were startled."

Wild Beast’s deep voice echoed in the dim underground sewer as he shook his body, causing rubble and dust to shower down.

His gaze coldly cast towards the dark, chilling underground sewer, where muddy water gutters lay beneath his feet, drenched rats one after another popping out, their black prickly heads squeaking incessantly.

"Go on, follow up, see if those meats suit your taste."

A strange sound emanated from Wild Beast’s throat, instantly prompting the dense rat swarm, as if unshackled, to surge rapidly down the sewer in a fevered black current.

Overhead, an unknown drone obliviously descended from an opening, its rotors stirring the moist, oppressive air, while its fist-sized electronic eyes, cold and connected to countless observing eyes behind the screens...

Before the televisions, countless eyes fixated on the screen, holding their breath as the drone’s camera lurched forward.

The drone’s wings shredded through the lingering red fog, uncovering an ominous veil, finally revealing the scene below:

At the center of the frame loomed a massive, unsettling pit, dark material piling at its base, slowly shuffling towards the central black hole entrance.

A fractured manhole cover leaned askew on the edge of the hole, rusty "Municipal Projects" lettering stained deep red, as if haphazardly altered.

Slumped frailly over the cover’s edge was an indistinct shape, a ruinous outline dangling at the entrance, with some murky liquid incessantly seeping into the darkness below.

"The manhole cover’s been blown open... those things went into the sewer?!"

In front of the TV, countless viewers held their breath, a common thought surfacing in their minds.

The drone, deftly adjusting its wings, softly descended over the dented corpse, guiding the audience on to pursue the seven monsters’ whereabouts.

Light Prism TV Station’s ratings surged once again.

Zhou Hu gazed at the scene where the blood fog was dissipating, his eyes falling on the broken manhole cover within the bloody pit, unable to suppress mocking laughter internally:

"A manhole cover? Sewers? Feng Mu’s sister and the pursuing monsters went into the sewer together? Ha, misdirection, just misdirection after all..."

On the podium, Feng Ju’s face had lost all color, as pale as paper, with his heart pounding relentlessly, seemingly ready to spring from his chest.

Terror-laden thoughts resounded in his mind repeatedly:

"Could Yuhuai have already turned into that pile of meat slurry in the blood pit? No, impossible, absolutely impossible! Yuhuai must have fallen into the manhole, she must have..."

Yet, that thought offered no solace, instead dragging his heart further into the depths of despair:

"If Yuhuai is alone in the sewer, without other targets, wouldn’t those monsters just relentlessly hunt her?"