Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!

Long Chapter

—-

Ethan brought Micah and Ryan with him as they headed straight toward Magnolia. Their destination, however, was not Ember City. Instead, they were traveling to Central Magnolia.

Ethan had actually been here once before.

The last time he passed through this place, he had only stopped briefly while traveling toward the Antarctic region. At the time he had simply taken a quick look around before continuing on his way.

Coming back now, however, left him genuinely surprised. Because he remembered very clearly that when he last passed through Central Magnolia, the entire city had been a ghost town.

The streets had been empty. Buildings abandoned. Not a single person anywhere.

But now...

Hovering high above the skyline, Ethan looked down and saw an entirely different scene. The modest city below blazed with light. Night had already fallen, yet the streets were alive with traffic and people, the whole place buzzing with energy.

It was the complete opposite of what he remembered.

"What the..." Ethan stopped midair, staring down.

Micah immediately noticed the shift in his expression. "What’s wrong, boss?"

"The last time I came through here, the place was completely silent," Ethan said slowly. "All the ordinary people had vanished."

Hearing that, Micah and Ryan both leaned forward and looked down curiously.

"No way," Micah said, his voice suddenly rising. "So what’s down there now? Ghosts?"

Ryan frowned slightly as he studied the city. "Yeah... boss, are you sure you remember it right? A city this size has millions of people. They don’t just disappear and then reappear like nothing happened."

He shook his head. "Evacuating a place like this would take forever. And something on that scale would definitely make national news. The government would have to mobilize everything."

Ethan understood that perfectly well, but he was absolutely certain. Central Magnolia had once been a dead city.

Back then he had not landed to investigate closely, but he had swept the area with his senses while passing overhead.

There had been nothing.

Not a single living presence. Not even stray cats or dogs. Yet strangely, there had also been no corpses.

No signs of violence or struggle either.

At the time, Ethan had assumed the city had been evacuated in an orderly fashion. Perhaps the government had stepped in and relocated the entire population.

Or perhaps...

The Divine Sea Temple had gone mad and slaughtered everyone.

Between the two possibilities, Ethan preferred the first explanation. After all, his senses had not detected any traces of death.

"Let’s go down and take a look," he decided.

Rather than heading straight for the obvious energy sphere located near the city center, Ethan wanted to understand what had happened here first.

Once they reached the ground, the three of them blended into the evening crowds and walked along the busy streets like ordinary pedestrians.

"So... where are we going?" Micah asked.

He looked around with wide eyes, staring openly at the cars rolling past on the road. To him, the metal machines looked fascinating.

Everything here was new.

Ethan had brought him to Earth only recently, and from the moment he arrived he had been placed inside the Whitmore family’s hidden territory. After that, one crisis followed another.

Micah, an alien who had never properly explored Earth, had barely seen anything of this world.

Naturally, the modern city amazed him.

Ethan himself was not entirely sure where to go either. He had been away from ordinary society for so long that even this environment felt slightly unfamiliar.

Just then, loud voices drifted out from a nearby alley. The noise was lively and chaotic.

Ethan glanced over and his eyes immediately brightened.

"Come on," he said with a grin. "Let’s grab some barbeque."

The alley was packed with people. It was an entire barbecue street.

Barbecue was practically magical food in Ethan’s eyes.

He loved it.

"Barbecue?" Micah peeked down the alley and frowned. "Isn’t this just meat? Markham grills for us all the time. Honestly, his setup has way better atmosphere than this. This place is just smoke and noise."

He clearly had no interest.

Ethan ignored him completely and walked straight into the alley.

Ryan chuckled and patted Micah on the shoulder. "You don’t get it. Barbecue need this kind of atmosphere."

Grinning, he followed Ethan inside. Micah still did not understand, but he shrugged and trailed after them anyway.

The moment they stepped into the alley, it felt like entering a completely different world.

The place was loud, crowded, and alive. The smell of grilled meat and spices filled the air, drifting between rows of tables.

For a brief moment, Ethan felt strangely nostalgic. How long had it been since he had experienced an atmosphere like this? He walked slowly down the alley, scanning the different stalls, before choosing the busiest barbecue shop and stepping inside.

Most of the tables indoors were empty, but outside every single seat was packed with customers.

Only one table remained free inside.

The staff were far too busy to properly greet anyone. A waiter rushed past carrying a tray full of food, then noticed Ethan and the others standing at the entrance.

"Only one table left," he shouted while passing by. "Outside’s full. If you’re staying, you’ll have to sit here."

Then he hurried out again.

It was a summer night, after all. Most customers preferred sitting outside at the simple plastic tables along the alley.

"This works," Ethan said.

He did not mind. Busy barbecue spots were always like this. When the staff were too swamped to greet customers, it usually meant the food was good.

The three of them sat down.

A moment later the waiter rushed back, dropped a menu and a small notepad onto the table, then pointed at the paper before running off again.

The meaning was obvious. ’Write your order yourself.’

Ethan grabbed the pen and began scribbling quickly. He ordered a little of everything, not even bothering to check whether the three of them could actually finish it all.

When he finished, he pushed the notepad toward Micah and Ryan.

Both of them shook their heads. Nothing to add.

Ethan waved the waiter over. The man grabbed the notepad and disappeared again.

Meanwhile, Ethan quietly extended his senses. Places like this were perfect for gathering information.

He did not need to ask questions, all he had to do was listen.

People talked freely in places like barbecue streets. Conversations bounced from table to table, most of them filled with bragging or nonsense.

At first, nothing useful reached his ears, but Ethan was not in a hurry.

He waited.

More than half an hour passed while the three of them chatted idly. Eventually the food finally arrived.

"Alright," Ethan said as he grabbed a piece. "Dig in."

Truthfully, he had never expected to learn anything important here. It was just a convenient side activity. So far he had heard nothing of value.

Just as Ethan lifted his first lamb piece toward his mouth, a man staggered through the entrance.

At first Ethan barely noticed him. Probably just another customer coming in from outside.

The man glanced toward the table next to Ethan’s, his gaze lingered. He was sizing someone up.

Ethan followed his line of sight and saw a short-haired girl sitting at the next table. Her hair was cut just below her ears, and she wore a simple white T-shirt that gave her a clean, sharp look.

She was quite pretty.

By ordinary standards, she would definitely be considered attractive. It was only natural that men might glance at her.

The girl looked up briefly, noticed the man staring, then calmly returned to her conversation with her friends.

The man swayed as he walked deeper into the restaurant, muttering something under his breath. Drunk people always slurred their words.

But no one paid attention. The alley was loud enough that nobody heard him.

Except Ethan.

Ethan’s expression changed slightly. He glanced toward the man’s back.

"What’s wrong, boss?" Ryan asked quietly.

Ethan frowned for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing."

He bit into his food but the word nothing was sent directly into Micah and Ryan’s minds through telepathy.

Both of them immediately froze.

They understood at once that this was definitely not nothing. Otherwise Ethan would not have bothered using telepathy.

The two of them continued eating casually while secretly keeping an eye on the drunken man.

The man eventually reached the counter to pay his bill. He was probably finished eating. What he had muttered earlier, however, had been clearly heard by Ethan’s senses.

"That chick’s hot... gonna grab her outside..."

Ethan’s lips curled slightly. The man was obviously trash.

His arms were covered in bizarre tattoos, the typical look of a small-time street thug. Outside, he had a group of friends sitting at another table, five or six men along with two women.

When Ryan had asked what was wrong earlier, Ethan had said nothing because he had sensed something else about the girl.

Something unusual and she hid it well. But not well enough to escape Ethan’s perception.

A faint smile appeared in his mind. The best hunters often disguised themselves as prey.

After paying, the drunken man staggered toward the exit. As he passed Ethan’s table he glanced at him briefly.

Ethan pretended not to notice.

The man’s attention returned to the girl, who was sitting with her back to him. Then he suddenly reached out.

Ethan immediately understood his intention, yet he did not move. He wanted to see just how bold the man would be.

The answer came instantly. The man was even bolder than expected. His hand landed directly on the girl’s back, and he hooked a finger beneath what felt like an elastic strap.

Snap.

He released it. The strap snapped back sharply against her spine.

"AHH!"

The girl screamed and twisted away, pressing herself against the wall.

"What do you want?" she shouted.

"What do I want? You..."

The drunk leaned closer, his hands wandering shamelessly.

"No... not here," he said with a grin. "Too many people. Let’s go outside."

The entire room froze for a moment at the sudden scene. Before anyone else could react, the girl abruptly stood up.

Her friends rose as well. And Without saying a word, the group walked straight out of the shop.

The drunk blinked in confusion. At the same time Ryan started to stand, clearly intending to intervene.

Ethan grabbed his wrist.

"Don’t move," his voice echoed directly inside Ryan’s mind. "This isn’t what it looks like. We might have just found something interesting."

Before he even finished the thought, the supposedly frightened girl had already stepped outside. The drunk hesitated for a moment, then his face slowly twisted into a lecherous grin.

Outside he whistled at his friends and gestured toward the girls walking ahead. Then he made an obscene thrusting motion with his hips.

"Hey... look at that."

His friends at the table burst into laughter.

"Damn, what’s going on? The girls here are that easy?"

Micah watched the whole thing with wide eyes, completely baffled.

Ethan quietly extended his senses as the group of burly men eagerly followed the girls down the street.

The two women who had been sitting with them tried to pull their boyfriends back, but the men shook them off and swaggered away anyway.

Through Ethan’s perception, their movements became crystal clear. The four girls slipped into a dark alley.

The men exchanged grins and followed them in.

"Damn it... move," Ethan muttered.

He shot to his feet, threw some cash onto the table, and vanished. Ryan and Micah immediately chased after him.

Ethan moved incredibly fast, yet the moment he reached the entrance of the alley his face darkened.

A blood-soaked man suddenly stumbled out and nearly crashed into him.

"Help... save me..."

The man screamed desperately, his voice drew the attention of the two women who had been left behind earlier. Ethan had sensed something wrong and rushed over in an instant, but even that had been too slow.

The alley was filled with the heavy smell of blood.

Inside, four bodies lay scattered across the ground, and among them was the drunken man from the barbecue shop.

All of them had been dismembered; their limbs severed. Only the man stumbling toward Ethan had managed to escape, though one of his arms was completely gone.

Right then, a flash of silver shot straight toward his neck. A faint milky-white light flickered around Ethan.

The blade struck an invisible barrier.

Shing.

The weapon halted in midair. IIt was a short dagger about a foot long. A moment later the person holding it stepped out of the darkness.

The girl in white.

She held the blade in a reverse grip, moving with terrifying speed as her body followed the strike.

Then she suddenly stopped when her eyes locked onto Ethan.

"You?"

She recognized him immediately. The man who had been sitting at the next barbecue table.

Ethan opened his mouth to speak. Behind him, however, a furious shriek exploded.

"You shameless bitch! Stealing my man!"

One of the women who had been left behind earlier came charging toward them. She had seen her boyfriend follow the girl and, burning with jealousy, rushed over the moment she spotted the white-clad girl.

Ethan sighed.

Those men had been garbage, but this woman was unbelievably reckless. Without even looking at her properly, he backhanded her.

Smack.

The blow spun her around in place.

"You hit me?!" she shouted in disbelief.

She had absolutely no idea that slap had just saved her life.

"Shut up," Ethan said coldly. "Take him and go. He might still live." He shoved her toward the crawling man on the ground.

The woman finally noticed the blood everywhere.

"AHHH!! CALL THE POLICE!"

Her horrified scream pierced the night.

Ethan winced. The woman did not even look back at the injured man, she simply turned and ran.

Ethan cursed silently. "Birds of a feather flee when trouble comes."

The man lying on the ground was probably her husband. Ethan moved to knock her unconscious before she could attract more attention.

But someone else was faster. A figure flashed past him.

Thud.

The woman’s scream abruptly stopped.

Micah stood there calmly, still chewing on a chicken wing in his left hand while several skewers were clutched in his right.

He had shoved them straight into the woman’s open mouth with a perfect aim. The wooden sticks jammed deep into her throat.

Silence fell instantly as blood dripped slowly from the skewers. Micah pulled them out casually and tossed the bloodied sticks aside.

"This woman," he said calmly, "has a horrible voice."

Her mouth was a mess, with her teeth scattered across the ground. She tried to scream again, but only choked noises came out.

Ethan nearly knocked her unconscious himself, but Micah had already solved the problem.

Turning back to the girl in white, Ethan studied her carefully. At the exact same moment, the girl looked at him and spoke.

"You... Divine Sea Temple?"

"Divine Sea Temple?"

The two of them asked the exact same question at the same time.