Chapter 219: There is still hope

While the streets of Central City descended into chaos, Luo Tianyu had already returned to his study.

He sat quietly and made a phone call. After about ten seconds of ringing, someone picked up.

The woman’s voice on the other end was mature, yet still had a hint of playfulness.

“Hello, Father. It’s been a while since you called me.”

“How are you feeling now?”

“Not bad lately.”

“Can you come to Central City to support us?”

“Huh? Me?”

The girl on the other end thought hard.

Luo Tianyu’s tone didn’t fluctuate much, but she seemed hesitant.

“If I really try, I can still spread my petals over there.”

“But for a long time afterward, I’ll probably have to stay in bed.”

“Then that’s good.”

Luo Tianyu spoke slowly.

“The situation is urgent now. Use your maximum strength.”

“I’ll specify the attack location. Don’t show mercy, don’t let a single one—”

Before he could finish.

Luo Tianyu heard the creaking sound of the door opening.

He remembered that before entering the room, he had explicitly ordered no one to disturb him.

But it wasn’t a servant who walked in.

It was a travel-worn man.

He was stained with blood, his stubble messy from lack of grooming.

Thump!

A sharp knife was viciously stabbed into the desk, the blade deeply embedded in the surface.

“Who are you…”

“It doesn’t matter who I am.”

Mr. Yan Chen sat down across the desk.

“I’m here to warn you.”

“About what?”

“Don’t do anything.”

Mr. Yan Chen enunciated each word.

“What if I refuse?”

“You can try at the cost of your life.”

Luo Tianyu’s expression immediately turned grim.

Mr. Yan Chen’s gaze was like a sharp longsword, pressing firmly against his throat.

Three minutes later.

Luo Tianyu picked up his phone again.

“Ying’er, you can continue to rest. Someone else can handle things here.”

“Ah, I’ve already taken my medicine… Fine, Father, you’re always like this.”

The call ended.

Mr. Yan Chen laughed once, then stood up and left.

The study door closed again.

Luo Tianyu remained motionless, his expression still gloomy.

He stared at his phone screen.

It showed the contact name “Luo Qiaoying.”

His thumb hovered over the dial button for a long time.

But in the end, he didn’t press it.

Outside the study.

Mr. Yan Chen, who had been waiting against the wall, finally let out a sigh of relief.

He rubbed his shoulders and muttered quietly:

“I should still make it in time if I rush over now.”

“I didn’t expect that Black Star Cult hideout to waste so much of my time.”

Meanwhile.

On the street battlefield.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle’s expression darkened.

“I don’t care where you came from.”

“Whoever dares to mess with me today won’t get away.”

As he spoke.

The shadow under his feet spread forward again.

Clearly, he intended to deal with the Black Cat, who was temporarily controlling Jiang Sui’s body, as quickly as possible.

The Black Cat stood still, seemingly thinking about something.

‘Let me think… What Secret Art does Jiang Sui usually use…’

‘Got it!’

Just as the shadow was about to reach her feet.

The Black Cat’s body turned into black mist at the critical moment and shot straight forward.

Seeing this, the Hundred Ghost Apostle threw a punch at the black mist.

But it didn’t feel like he hit anything.

Instead, it gave the Black Cat an opportunity.

She reformed her body on the side.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle only heard the sound of a scythe cutting through the air and hurriedly ducked to dodge.

At the same time.

The Black Cat almost lost her balance herself.

‘Why is this thing so hard to use?!’

Usually, when she saw Jiang Sui swinging it with one hand, she thought this scythe was light.

But after actually using it, the Black Cat realized she was completely wrong.

Even using both hands, she could barely control the direction of the scythe.

Every swing caused her body to lose balance.

Fortunately, the Hundred Ghost Apostle was also wary of this scythe.

Otherwise, he would have counterattacked during her mistakes.

However, the Black Cat’s inexperience was quickly noticed.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle was stunned for a moment, then revealed a mocking smile.

“I thought you were some formidable character.”

“But you’re even worse than Jiang Sui.”

“Your scythe-swinging posture is inferior to hers.”

The Hundred Ghost Apostle stopped simply dodging.

He directly grabbed the scythe’s handle and prepared to counterattack.

Slap!

However.

The scene he expected did not appear.

Because the Black Cat had a sudden inspiration and directly slapped him across the face.

And indeed.

That slap was more effective than the scythe.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle was obviously stunned by the slap.

Then, anger surged onto his face.

“You…”

“How dare you slap me?!”

Slap! Slap!

“Go ahead and try—”

Slap!

The Black Cat didn’t give him a chance to finish.

“I’ll slap you as much as I want!”

“All that fancy stuff? Just take my slap!”

The Black Cat kept talking while hitting.

But before she could have her fill.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle grabbed her wrist with his other hand.

With half his face swollen, his suppressed anger looked particularly ridiculous.

“Have you had enough fun?!”

“Have you never been in a fight—”

Before he could finish.

The Black Cat suddenly lifted her leg and drove her knee straight into his groin.

Ugh——!!!

The Hundred Ghost Apostle showed the most pained expression yet.

Veins bulged on his forehead.

“Of course I have.”

The Black Cat calmly spoke while pulling back her hand and the scythe:

“But today’s close combat is the most painful I’ve ever been through.”

After saying that.

She clenched her left fist and punched the Hundred Ghost Apostle hard in the chest.

Thump!

The punch landed solidly.

But the feel was off.

A ghost that had crawled out of the shadow once again took the hit for the Hundred Ghost Apostle.

After a brief stalemate.

The Black Cat withdrew her fist and then started screaming while clutching her hand.

“Ow ow ow! It hurts so much!”

“And I even broke the skin?!”

She had still overestimated Jiang Sui’s body.

That punch almost numbed her entire left hand.

She got too carried away and forgot this wasn’t her own body.

If the sleeping Jiang Sui woke up and found her body beaten up, she would definitely settle the score.

More and more ghosts emerged from the shadow.

The Black Cat had to retreat to avoid being completely surrounded.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle seemed to realize that she was at a disadvantage in close combat.

So he simply changed his strategy and overwhelmed her with numbers.

The ghosts surged forward like a tide.

But the Black Cat didn’t look flustered.

“Come to think of it, these creations of yours seem to be made from corpses, right?”

“…”

The Hundred Ghost Apostle didn’t answer.

He just stared at her coldly.

The Black Cat brushed aside her messy long hair and revealed a heroic smile.

“If it were someone else without a large-scale Secret Art, they’d probably have a headache.”

“Like Jiang Sui.”

“Just thinking about her having to chop them one by one with that scythe makes me feel sorry for her.”

The Black Cat changed her tone.

“But unfortunately.”

“I’m also good at controlling corpses.”

As she spoke.

Her golden eyes suddenly lit up with a bestial gleam.

At that moment.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle even felt a false impression of locking eyes with a wild beast.

Though his body was fine.

The next second.

He sensed something wrong.

The ghosts that had been approaching the Black Cat suddenly stopped.

Then they all turned around and started moving toward the Hundred Ghost Apostle.

“What did you do?!”

The Black Cat pressed her fist to her forehead, grinning brightly.

“Just a little trick.”

Outwardly calm as an old dog.

But inside, she was panicking.

After all, that was a huge group of ghosts.

Fortunately, she could control them this way.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t know how to handle them.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle withdrew his shadow and instead summoned a large number of pale arms, starting to forcibly sweep away the out-of-control ghosts.

The Black Cat took the opportunity to think about her next move.

There were too many things to worry about.

She couldn’t fully cut loose.

This fight couldn’t drag on for long.

But just then.

The Black Cat suddenly froze.

First, she felt her head spin.

Then, the scene in her vision began to warp and darken.

When she opened her eyes again.

She found herself in a strange space.

The street beneath her feet was still in Central City.

But the sky was pitch black, with no sun, no white clouds.

It was as if the whole world had lost its color.

Silence reigned all around.

No ghosts.

No Hundred Ghost Apostle.

Only herself.

‘What’s going on?’

The Black Cat quickly turned to look at a shop window.

Reflected in the glass was a familiar, enchanting face.

She looked down.

She saw that her gray-white robe was gone.

Instead, she was wearing a black dress.

Beneath the hem, a pair of white jade-like bare feet extended.

The Black Cat subconsciously touched her face.

Her heart began to race.

And at that moment.

A figure appeared ahead.

Though it made no sound.

It carried an overwhelming presence, firmly drawing her gaze.

It was a figure wrapped in a black cloak.

The face under the hood was unclear.

He seemed to float in the air.

What extended from beneath his robe were not feet.

But a writhing mass of tentacles.

The Black Cat couldn’t move at all.

She could only watch as he approached step by step.

Then.

The black-cloaked figure raised an arm.

And swung a withered palm.

Slap!

He viciously slapped the Black Cat across the face.

“Ah!!!”

The Black Cat screamed and rolled on the ground.

The next second.

The world shattered.

She returned to the familiar street.

Everything that had just happened felt like a nightmare.

The Black Cat regained control of her body.

While Jiang Sui lay not far away.

‘How troublesome, why did something go wrong at a time like this?’

The Black Cat wanted to run over.

But the burning pain on her face and her limp body couldn’t support any movement.

The Hundred Ghost Apostle across from her was also stunned.

Though he didn’t know what had happened.

He could at least be sure of one thing—

The situation was in his favor now!

“What a mess.”

“In the end, isn’t the winner still me? Hahahaha!”

The Black Cat listened to the grating laughter.

Just standing up took all her strength.

She never expected that after borrowing Jiang Sui’s body,

It would be herself who got heavily damaged.

She had really messed up this time.

‘It’s over. It’s all over.’

‘There’s no hope at all.’

“It’s not hopeless.”

A man’s voice suddenly rang out.

The Black Cat turned around.

What came into view was Mr. Yan Chen, who had just arrived, panting.

“Made it in time? Looks like I’m just in time.”

“And who are you?”

The Hundred Ghost Apostle took a deep breath.

He wondered why there were still people coming.

Mr. Yan Chen straightened his clothes and spoke seriously:

“I am a traveler.”

Then.

He walked over to Jiang Sui and gently stroked the girl’s forehead.

His eyes were exceptionally complicated.

“Even though you’ve worked very hard.”

“But from now on, you’ll have to rely on yourself.”

With that.

He pulled a deep purple reagent from his pocket.

Directly jabbed it into Jiang Sui’s arm, and injected all the liquid.

Almost the moment the reagent was emptied.

Jiang Sui’s eyes snapped open.

Her originally beautiful violet-crystal-like eyes.

Were now a frightening blood red.