7 PM
Xin Lei, Ding Yang, and Ren Yin arrived at the old city in the southern part of Jibei City. After winding through alleys, they finally found Mo Chuan's home.
In the dim stairwell.
"So... this is that Mo Chuan's home?" Ding Yang looked around and said, "I thought he would be from a wealthy family... I didn't expect him to be a humble genius..."
"Should we open the next brocade pouch?" Ren Yin tugged on Xin Lei's sleeve and asked.
Xin Lei scanned the surroundings, confirming he had reached the location described in the previous brocade pouch. He took out a brocade pouch labeled "San" from his embrace.
"Wait!" Ding Yang seemed to sense something and quickly spoke.
The three immediately climbed up another floor, listening carefully in the darkness for footsteps coming from the stairs below.
After a moment, the voice-activated light in the stairwell turned on.
A woman in a black robe stood before Mo Chuan's door, seemingly scrutinizing something. Then, she took out a red brush from her embrace, dipped it in something, and began drawing on the security door.
Xin Lei and the other two observed from the shadows, feeling increasingly uneasy as time passed.
This woman was a curse-type ability user, as Ren Yin recognized the magic circle she was drawing on Mo Chuan's door – a common "falling curse" technique from Jiaozhou witchcraft.
When drawn directly on a door like this, anyone who entered would be cursed, at the mercy of the caster.
"Senior, should we act?" Ding Yang signaled with his eyes.
Xin Lei narrowed his eyes and pointed in several directions, arranging their positions: "You intercept from downstairs, I'll go directly, and Ren Yin will intercept here."
Seeing them nod, Xin Lei's spiritual energy surged, and silver arcs of electricity lit up the surroundings.
The woman in black heard the crackling of electricity and quickly turned around, immediately spotting Xin Lei charging up his right arm.
With a strange cry, the woman transformed into a swarm of black bats and scattered downwards.
But Ding Yang, waiting below, had already anticipated this. Seeing the bats fly towards him, his body ignited with a large ball of golden flame, instantly turning him into a fireball and blocking the bats' path.
Many bats, unable to evade, were burned into charcoal. The remaining ones were instantly killed by Xin Lei's strike, also reduced to charred corpses.
Black smoke and a foul odor instantly filled the entire stairwell.
Seeing this, Ren Yin waved her jade-like hand, and a surge of spiritual energy blew the black smoke out of the stairwell.
The three saw that the traces of the battle had been cleaned up. They descended the stairs (the spiritual energy fluctuations during the battle were significant; if Mo Chuan had been home, he would have reacted by now, so no one was home), and in a quiet corner, Xin Lei began to give instructions: "Ren Yin, go and erase that evil formation; Ding Yang, now send a message to headquarters saying Mo Chuan has been targeted by some organizations."
Afterward, Xin Lei opened the brocade pouch.
"What does it say?" Ding Yang asked, looking up from his typing.
"Go to Jianzhou... Shengjing."
However, neither of them noticed a bat descending from a tree, flapping its wings and slowly flying into the distance.
...
Meanwhile, in the carriage.
"Brother, aren't you going to help?" Mo Fei whispered to Mo Chuan, listening to the gradually approaching sounds of fighting outside.
Mo Chuan found it both amusing and exasperating. The entire carriage, except for the driver and the five police officers who were high-level ability users, consisted of low-level ability users or ordinary people. Currently, the highest cultivation level was Mo Chuan at Fourth Order and Mo Fei at Third Order.
"Didn't you hear? That Molong is Sixth Order. What help can I offer if I go out?" The disappearance of a spiritual energy fluctuation just now indicated that at least one police officer was seriously injured.
Mo Chuan certainly didn't intend to stand by, but he was considering the consequences of releasing Shuten Doji.
Should he act himself? That's absurd. How could he fight something that flies? He might not even be able to hook it.
Furthermore, based on his high school knowledge of monstrous beasts, the Molong's primary damage type was likely magical, which was a direct counter to Mo Chuan.
But if he didn't let Shuten Doji act now, he was afraid they wouldn't even reach Shengjing...
As Mo Chuan pondered how to bring Shuten Doji into play, he unconsciously glanced at the notebook on the table in front of him.
"Right... I should put this away first..."
Mo Chuan reached out, intending to pick up the notebook.
Just then, a deafening roar sounded from outside the carriage. Subsequently, the side wall of Mo Chuan's carriage was pierced by iron-black claws, and a large piece of sheet metal was torn away.
Warm air and bright moonlight instantly entered the carriage. Under the moonlight, Mo Chuan clearly saw the rampaging Molong and...
His notebook, now reduced to fragments, flying amidst the trees.
"..."
"Brother! Are you okay?!" Mo Fei, seeing Mo Chuan's numb expression, thought he was injured.
"I'm fine..." Mo Chuan took a deep breath, gently moved Mo Fei out of his embrace, and then extended his upper body out of the carriage, saying, "But it's hard to say about that one."
...
The captain threw several flashbangs at the Molong, temporarily blinding its vision. He then rushed out of the jungle and pulled a police officer lying in a pool of blood back.
"Xiao Zhang, did you see anyone on the Molong's claws?"
"Report! No!"
"That's good..." Seeing the Molong fly away, the captain breathed a sigh of relief and looked at his teammates who were providing emergency bandaging for the injured. He muttered to himself, "I feel like something is off about this monstrous beast..."
"Ao ooo—"
Hearing the familiar cry, everyone tensed up again and looked towards the sky.
Under the moonlight, the enormous figure flapped its wings again, turned, and returned to the train.
"Damn it! It's targeting this train! Xiao Li! Xiao Zhang! Summon your abilities to fight!"
The captain gritted his teeth and summoned an RPG, loaded it, and aimed it at the Molong.
"Xiao Zhang! Distract it!"
Xiao Zhang pulled out his last flare and fired it directly at the Molong's face.
The red light traced a long trajectory in the air, illuminating the Molong in the night sky.
"Ao ooo—"
The Molong flapped its wings, and the bird flew high into the sky, evading the oncoming flare. The captain seized the opportunity and fired the RPG in his hand.
Whoosh—
"What the hell!" The captain swore directly, because unlike ordinary monstrous beasts that maintained their trajectory when dodging something, this Molong changed its route at any time, causing the rocket to fly under it.
"This thing definitely has an owner! Immediately inform headquarters and request reinforcements!"
Suddenly, a sickly green chain extended from the carriage below, entering its blind spot at a peculiar angle and hooking the Molong's claw.
Then, the Molong's body was pulled downwards by something, dragging it down.
Boom—
The Molong was hit by the RPG, and the explosion illuminated the night sky.