Chapter 144: Who is the Lord of Old Sin City?

"Understood."

Lu Miao said evenly, stepping out the door.

The Order Management Bureau's only car was parked in the basement. It was rarely used without a special assignment.

However, the current situation clearly qualified as one.

As she walked out the main gate, An Ze, who had been waiting there, hurried over.

"Boss, what did the Bureau Chief say?"

"Get the car ready."

Lu Miao's tone was calm.

"But..."

An Ze panicked. Being stationed right in Rotten Vegetable Village, he naturally understood the current situation. If the Bureau Chief wanted the car ready now, it was definitely to arrest his friends.

"Boss, we can't do that..."

He lowered his voice. Yan Jing had just come to see him yesterday and even gave him a gift, instructing him to open it tonight.

"I said, get the car ready."

Lu Miao's gaze was as calm as an iceberg towering over the northern seas.

"Oh."

An Ze nodded dejectedly and gave a salute.

He knew Lu Miao was different from him. Strictly speaking, she had no real connection to his group of friends.

Moreover...

Lu Miao never violated Order.

"Bring the car up."

Lu Miao tossed the keys to An Ze.

"I'll wait for you up here."

An Ze caught the keys, looking a bit bewildered.

In his memory, during the rare times they took the car, Lu Miao would always go down with him so they could get in together.

This seemed to be the first time she had told him to bring the car up alone.

If that was the case...

He gripped the keys, feeling his heart pounding.

This was an incredibly difficult choice. One wrong move, and he would fall into an irredeemable abyss.

But...

Just like that, he gripped the keys and walked alone toward the basement at the back door.

Lu Miao calmly watched An Ze's retreating back, then pulled an envelope from her pocket.

The Cameraman had given this to her yesterday.

He had told her she could open it tonight.

Inside was a gift for her.

She felt she had no real connection with him; at most, she had eaten a few meals he'd cooked.

But that didn't mean anything.

She ate at the Order Management Bureau's cafeteria every day, and she had never developed any sort of history with the cafeteria ladies either.

So, she originally hadn't intended to accept the gift.

But the man had given her something else as well.

It was a note.

A note that had originally belonged to her.

An Order Note.

She didn't know what his relationship with that person was, but that note had indeed ended up in his hands.

He had asked her to do him a favor.

"If anything happens to me tomorrow, I ask that Officer Lu help my friends."

An Order Note could only be used for tasks that didn't violate the Order Management Bureau's regulations, and this request didn't seem to break any rules.

So, she agreed.

However, she hadn't expected the "anything" he mentioned to be this.

Just moments ago, she had used an item from the Bureau to observe the battle at the Rotten Vegetable Village market.

Naturally, she had also seen... that spear.

An Ze had told her that the person at the Sun-Swallowing Tower had also used a Black and White Long Spear.

After that, she had made another trip to the residential area.

But... she didn't stay long before returning.

Several minutes passed.

An Ze still hadn't returned.

Lu Miao wasn't in a hurry to look for him. Instead, she stood where she was, waiting quietly with a calm gaze.

It wasn't until another five or six minutes had gone by that the Fat Man hurried over to her side.

"Lu Miao, why haven't you gone to get the car yet?"

The Fat Man wiped the sweat from his forehead, asking anxiously.

He remembered that this subordinate of his had always been decisive and never dragged her feet.

"An Ze went to get the car,"

Lu Miao replied evenly. "He hasn't returned yet."

"How long ago did he go?"

The Fat Man frowned, sensing something was wrong.

"About eight and a half to nine minutes ago."

"How could it take that long?!"

The Fat Man's eyes widened. He glared at his calm-faced subordinate, anger flaring in his eyes.

"Why didn't you keep an eye on him?!"

"There's no regulation requiring that. I will go take a look now,"

Lu Miao said evenly.

"I'll go with you."

Seeing that Lu Miao's expression hadn't changed at all in the face of his anger, the Fat Man's face darkened.

The two arrived at the basement entrance near the back door.

The basement doors were wide open. Inside, it was completely empty.

Two sets of tire tracks led straight toward the entrance of Rotten Vegetable Village.

"Lu Miao!!!"

The Fat Man finally lost his temper.

"Is this the subordinate you always told me would never screw up?!"

"Where the hell is An Ze?!"

Lu Miao's expression remained perfectly calm.

"I'm not sure yet."

"Fine! Good, very good!!!"

The Fat Man was furious.

"I can see it now—you did this on purpose!"

"Do you really think that by holding me up, that guy can win?!"

"They're facing five Third Tier experts right now!!!"

He laughed in pure anger. "I want to see if that guy can actually survive to the end!"

Faced with the Fat Man's fury, Lu Miao's gaze remained calm.

Her mind wasn't on this.

She was not very happy today.

Because during her trip to the residential area, what she had seen was not what she wanted to see.

...

...

Meanwhile, out on the highway.

The Old Man was driving the motorcycle. Behind him sat Yan Jing, and behind Yan Jing was Tiger, his mascot suit warping in the wind.

The group was currently weaving through an Unstable Domain. The motorcycle's headlights were the only light source in this area, illuminating a viable path forward.

"How much longer?"

The Old Man asked, hearing the faint sound of honking from behind them.

"About ten more minutes,"

Yan Jing replied slowly.

"We might just be able to stall that long. That bus is running slower and slower."

The Old Man felt optimistic about the situation, but Yan Jing held the opposite view. The pursuers weren't only coming from behind.

"Let's hope we can make it to the Amusement Park."

"If not, we'll stick to the plan."

However, just as they finished speaking...

From the dark fog ahead, two bright headlights rushed straight toward them.

"We're leaving the Unstable Domain. Stick to the plan."

Without needing Yan Jing to give the word, the Old Man wrenched the handlebars, executing a sharp turn and speeding toward the right side of the Unstable Domain.

Instantly, their line of sight became clear and bright. This stretch of road sat between two Unstable Domains and had not yet been swallowed up.

Seeing this, the small car charging at them also swerved hard to the right, sliding sideways to block their path.

A moment later, two dim headlights pierced the fog behind them as the battered bus lumbered into view. Before the Old Man could attempt to reverse the motorcycle's direction, the bus veered sideways like the car, completely sealing off their escape route.

"I'm not getting out,"

The driver of the small car waved from his seat, greeting the several Third Tier experts stepping off the bus.

To prevent the trio from seizing the chance to escape past his side while he disembarked, he decided to stay in his vehicle.

Chewing gum, he stuck his hand out the window and snapped his fingers. Instantly, an aura uniquely belonging to death spread out.

The Second Tier Ability of the 'Death' Pathway: Confronting Death.

The closer he was to his targets, the more profoundly they would sense the approach of their own deaths. Under such conditions, it was easy to make highly irrational decisions.

Meanwhile, four Third Tier experts slowly stepped off the bus. Aside from Giant Mouth, the Ward Chief, and the First Elder, there was an additional figure: an old driver wearing cloth gloves.

The group looked at Yan Jing on the motorcycle, their expressions varying.

Some were calm, some furious, some radiating killing intent...

But regardless, they shared a single goal: eliminate Yan Jing.

"That's a lot of people,"

Yan Jing smiled.

He was constantly calculating the time in his head. It had been about eight or nine minutes since they started fleeing, but fully completing the ownership ritual required ten minutes.

But clearly, the Third Tier experts had no intention of delaying any further.

"Let's wrap this up early so we can go home and eat."

The man sitting in the car said. He chewed his gum out of boredom, showing absolutely no signs of tension.

In contrast, Giant Mouth and the others looked far more grave.

They had all experienced Yan Jing's methods firsthand and knew the man before them was no pushover.

Therefore, they had to end this quickly.

Dark blade glares flashed.

Monstrous giant claws materialized.

Giant Mouth's hands were also poised to strike.

The next second would bring the final clash.

Yan Jing unleashed his strongest state as well.

He swallowed the fruit condensed from the Fear Power Giant Mouth had left at the village entrance earlier. His Black and White Long Spear materialized, his armguards appeared, and the phantom silhouette of the Fear Bird manifested.

"Old Man, I might have to trouble you to show some of your real skills for this strike,"

Yan Jing said softly.

The Old Man nodded and took off his sunglasses, revealing his eyes.

Compared to a few days ago, the blood-red color in his eyes had faded significantly, but it remained a dark crimson. Seeing this made Yan Jing's heart sink.

This Old Man had truly sacrificed too much.

Following that, the Old Man did a side flip, grabbed Tiger by the collar, and with a swing of his right arm, instantly swapped positions with him.

The three of them faced three Third Tier experts.

No, it should be four.

Because the old driver had already struck first.

The surrounding light inexplicably dimmed. Their originally open field of vision became restricted, and visibility dropped significantly.

It was as if...

...they had returned to that bus.

The old driver waved his hand again, and Fear Spirits leaped down from the bus one after another.

If they were in the Amusement Park, Yan Jing could have summoned a few Fear Spirits as well, though they would have been total weaklings.

Essentially useless.

But the ones the old driver summoned were clearly not soft targets.

An intense battle was on the verge of breaking out.

On their side: a heavily injured Old Man below the Second Tier, a First Tier weakling, and a cheat who had forcefully boosted his combat power to the Third Tier using external items.

On the enemy's side: four bona fide Third Tier experts.

The outcome of such a battle seemed obvious at a glance.

So...

The next second, everyone moved simultaneously.

Except, the four Third Tier experts charged straight at the trio. A sea of blade glares connected, a giant hand slammed down mercilessly, and Giant Mouth lunged forward with a massive leap. In the claustrophobic space, Fear Spirits flickered as they closed in.

The trio, however, had Tiger slam the throttle, driving straight toward the small car behind them.

Their target was the man sitting in the car.

Memory Severance, Fear Memories, Freeze Frame Moment.

Yan Jing raised his hand and unleashed three consecutive hard crowd-control abilities.

Because there had been no setup, the effects of Memory Severance and Fear Memories weren't very strong, but... it was still a triple hard-control combo.

Seizing this opportunity, Weird Energy flowed through the Old Man's eyes. His arms instantly bulged, and amidst his bleeding eyes, his arms seemed to transform into two massive hammers, smashing heavily toward the man in the car.

The man's head, which had been resting against the window, took the blow solidly.

"Bang!!!"

His entire face caved in from the impact. Had he not used his Second Tier Ability, False Death, at the last possible moment, he would have been severely injured by that strike.

Even so, his head was drenched in blood and mangled beyond recognition.

Then the Old Man reached out again, grabbing for the man's collar.

"They're trying to steal the car!!!"

Giant Mouth roared. Closing the distance in a few massive strides, he leaped directly onto the car.

With a loud crash, the small car's hood was flattened!

"My car!!!"

The man cried out miserably, his speech slurred.

He reached out, grabbing at the Old Man's arm.

With just a light touch, the Old Man's arm visibly thinned, and a faint scent of decay filled the air.

The Old Man gave a muffled grunt and quickly pulled his hand back.

At that moment, Yan Jing thrust his spear, colliding with Giant Mouth's outstretched hands once more.

"Clang!!!"

The strike ended in a dead heat.

But right on its heels came churning waves of force and the giant hand.

This time, Yan Jing raised his armguards and braced for the impact.

"Pfft!!!"

Yan Jing's body shuddered violently. Ultimately, under the combined assault of the three Third Tier experts, a mist of blood burst from his body.

Then, they clashed again.

The motorcycle almost fell apart entirely.

"That's enough!!!"

Seeing the four Third Tier experts closing in once again, Yan Jing immediately gritted his teeth and shouted.

"Understood!"

Tiger roared and nodded. Then, under the astonished gazes of the crowd, their motorcycle sped straight toward the wall the front of the bus was pressed against!!!

Just as the motorcycle was about to crash into the wall, a road shimmering with dark light appeared out of thin air right on the wall's surface at the very last moment. The motorcycle drove straight onto it.

Giant Mouth gave chase but ultimately forced himself to stop.

He had come inches from stepping onto that road, where he likely would have been lost forever.

"Is that the road leading home?!"

Giant Mouth roared in frustration.

If it was, it meant Yan Jing had already completed the ownership ritual.

"No, it's not,"

The old driver shook his head.

"That motorcycle is far from simple. It can travel to another place."

"But... as long as he leaves the Domain of Old Sin City, the ownership ritual for Old Sin City will naturally end."

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Even though watching Yan Jing escape their five-person encirclement left the group feeling immensely frustrated and furious, as long as the Lord of Old Sin City hadn't been born, everything was fine.

"He and experimental subject Number Zero were both carefully cultivated by that old fool Meng Dansheng. He secretly slipped large amounts of heavy-pollution potions into their meals since they were children... It's hard to find such good seed stock nowadays."

Giant Mouth was incredibly unwilling to let it go.

In comparison, the others were relatively fine with it.

None of them were particularly eager to venture to the outside world.

To them, who became the Lord of Old Sin City wasn't important; what mattered was that there was no Lord of Old Sin City.

Especially the boss of the Death Club. At this moment, he was far more concerned about his car.

"My car!!!"

He bellowed at Giant Mouth. Even with his bruised and swollen face, his heartache was clear.

"The engine is leaking oil!!! You're giving me yours as compensation!!!"

Giant Mouth laughed, looking a bit guilty.

"We can discuss what compensation you want later."

While the group was talking, the expression of the Solitude Lane Ward Chief suddenly changed drastically.

"Something's wrong!!"

"My power is still being reduced!!!"

"The ownership ritual for Old Sin City hasn't stopped!!!!!"

"It wasn't him!!"

"Or rather, someone else is simultaneously performing the ownership ritual for Old Sin City!"

"Yes, Rotten Vegetable Village!! There must be someone else in Rotten Vegetable Village performing the ritual. The chime of the bell earlier rang out from above Rotten Vegetable Village!!"

As his words fell, everyone froze simultaneously.

After recovering from their shock, an enraged Giant Mouth surged forward and grabbed the Solitude Lane Ward Chief by the collar.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!!!!"

He hadn't felt it himself, because he...

Didn't dare to.

If this was true.

If there truly was someone else carrying out the ownership ritual...

He couldn't even bear to imagine the consequences.

However, the old driver beside them bolted straight for the bus.

"The ritual is indeed continuing!!"

"Hurry, get on the bus!!!"

"We might still make it in time!!!!"

But just as he spoke, the sound of something growing rapidly echoed out.

Clumps of black and white Thorns sprouted right under the front tires of the bus.

Cluster by cluster, mass by mass, they swiftly grew into a dense thicket of Thorns, entangling the entire front half of the bus.

Even though they hadn't immediately punctured the tires—which were far from ordinary objects—one of the tires still began to leak air slightly.

"No, my bus!!!"

The old driver's eyes nearly split open in rage. This bus had already been dismantled by the people of Solitude Lane once before; it could no longer withstand any further damage.

In contrast to his wailing, the others standing outside the bus felt a chill run down their spines.

How long had it taken them to drive here?

If they drove back to Rotten Vegetable Village now, how long would that take?

Moreover, with an oil leak in the engine and a flat tire, wouldn't it take even longer?!!

"Where is Liang Cheng?!!"

Suddenly, Giant Mouth snapped back to reality, a flash of joy appearing in his eyes.

"He didn't come with us, did he?! Is he still in Rotten Vegetable Village?!"

He instantly took a deep breath, drawing the billowing Weird Energy around them into his body. Blood began to seep out of his skin—this was the second time today he had burned his own life essence.

It was easy to imagine that after this, he would enter an unimaginably weakened state, perhaps even suffering severe, irreversible damage.

But at this moment, he could no longer care about the cost.

"Liang Cheng!!! There's someone else in Rotten Vegetable Village performing the ownership ritual for Old Sin City!!! It must be one of that kid's companions!!!"

His roar once again resounded through the skies above Old Sin City.

After yelling, Giant Mouth's body trembled, and he visibly withered away.

Following that shout, everyone around him plunged into silence and terror.

The highway was terrifyingly quiet.

They were the kings of this city.

But... right now, they couldn't control a single thing.

They could only wait in silence for good news, or their death sentence.

...

...

The voice soon reached Rotten Vegetable Village.

Hearing it, the Fat Man was momentarily stunned before a smile crept onto his lips.

That guy didn't have many people with him. Right now, there should still be enough time.

But as he started walking forward, a tall, slender figure blocked his path.

The Fat Man's expression changed drastically.

"Lu Miao, what are you doing?!"

Lu Miao's face was calm as her right arm transformed into the Dark Blade.

"Lu Miao requests the Bureau Chief's instruction."

"Are you insane?!"

The Fat Man bellowed.

"Do you actually think you can stop me?!"

"We can try,"

Lu Miao said evenly.

In truth, she really didn't like that girl.

Because she had seen the Cameraman kiss that girl's forehead.

And that man bore a striking resemblance to someone she used to know.

But...

She had promised to do this, so she had to see it through.

"Fine, very good!!!"

The Fat Man laughed out of pure fury. "Then let me show you just how far away you are from the position of Bureau Chief!!"

As he spoke, Weird Energy spread out from beneath his feet. Pitch-black silhouettes emerged one after another from the shadows cast by the Weird Energy.

Third Tier, Sequence.

But soon, the Fat Man's smile froze on his face.

Because across from him, Weird Energy was similarly spreading from beneath Lu Miao's feet, with silhouettes materializing one after another.

Moreover, those silhouettes all appeared to be the shadow of a single person.

Wearing a faint smile, dressed in a simple short-sleeved shirt and jeans.

The figures that appeared within a Sequence were often those the user considered most reliable.