After adjusting the cuffs of his shirt, the black shadow turned his gaze towards the gap letting in sunlight, as if calculating the time.

Suddenly, "it" saw a pair of eyes there.

Deep brown eyes.

The next second, the owner of those eyes passed directly through the wall, through the glass, and entered the secret room in a very strange way.

He was less than 1.8 meters tall, wearing a loose black robe and long black hair. He appeared to be around forty years old, with a distinguished-looking mustache around his mouth, clearly Du Heng, the self-proclaimed antiquities scholar.

"You..." The old man with completely white hair and the huge black shadow behind him spoke at the same time.

Du Heng bent slightly at the waist, coughed, and responded with a smile:

"Although I've forgotten many things, I still vaguely remember that my responsibility is to prevent you guys from coming to the Ashlands, and send back those who have already come..."

Suddenly, within the secret room where only certain areas were illuminated by light, it was as if a blazing sun was rising.

...

Golden Apple District, 14 Round Hill Street, outside Aviya's classic villa.

Seeing the rocket-propelled grenade being pushed away a short distance horizontally, Kanna, who was also preparing to "interfere with matter," quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

In this aspect, her ability was actually similar to Cao's, at the same level, but she was still maintaining the effect of one of her awakened abilities, unable to fully utilize it, fearing that the guidance would be insufficient and she would be harmed by the aftershocks.

The ability she was maintaining was called "Friendly Aura."

Without words, without actions, as long as one entered a certain range, Kanna could make all creatures of reasonable intelligence feel goodwill towards her, become friendly, allowing two people who were originally at each other's throats to sit down, have tea, chat, and talk about everything under the sun.

This ability was so powerful that when Kanna entered the "Virtual World," she naturally became a friend of that "Mind Corridor" level Awakened, making her less vigilant and less defensive, dissolving the "Virtual World."

If Cao hadn't used "Forced Sleep" from a long distance away, and transformed it into a "Real Dream," causing Kanna's "Friendly Aura" to disappear, he would have looked at this lady differently and shown some kindness as soon as he drove near.

After Kanna was awakened from the dream by the deadly danger created by Shang Jianyao, her first reaction was to use "Friendly Aura" to defuse hostility, rather than "interfere with matter" to deal with the rocket-propelled grenade.

This was a tried and true method for her, each time allowing her to turn danger into safety, but Shang Jianyao was mentally unsound, still pulling the trigger despite becoming friendly, scaring Kanna to the point of almost cursing.

Fortunately, at this time, Cao was also affected by her "Friendly Aura" and actively helped her resolve the crisis.

The "Friendly Aura" ability belonged to the "You Gu" domain, the opposite of vigilance. It was very strong, very useful, and could solve many problems, but it was not omnipotent. For example, it had a rather obvious flaw:

It had to be maintained to be effective.

That is, Kanna couldn't immediately switch abilities after someone became "friendly," as that would directly cause the friendliness to fail.

Unlike "Reasoning Clown," "Forced Sleep," and other abilities, which could still function for a period of time even without the Awakened supplementing them, or even had to meet opposing conditions to be dispelled, "Friendly Aura" immediately returned the target to normal once it was stopped.

Therefore, once Kanna used "Friendly Aura," she couldn't exhibit any other abilities unless she was willing to give up the effects in that regard.

In this state, she only had "Interference with Matter" weakened by more than two-thirds, a few items, and the handgun she carried with her to use.

Boom!

The rocket-propelled grenade exploded on the wall not far away, shaking many windows to shatter and the entire building to tremble.

Kanna glanced sideways at the old woman wearing a black knitted hat, seeing her eyeballs twitching, she would wake up soon, and had to continue maintaining the presence of the "Friendly Aura."

She then looked out the window and calmly made a request to Cao, in the guise of a "friend":

"Can you give me some time to talk to Aviya?"

Cao's eyes lacked focus, relying on his perception of human consciousness to turn back to Aviya's classic villa.

Although he was very friendly to Kanna, he hadn't forgotten his mission and responsibilities:

"No, if you make contact with Aviya and ask about some things, I'll have to kill you too.

"Since we're friends, don't make things difficult for me."

Shang Jianyao, who was holding the "Grim Reaper" man-portable rocket launcher, nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

In fact, he hadn't heard anything. His hearing had been deprived.

He just felt that since the other person was speaking, he should politely offer his support.

Kanna also couldn't hear what Cao said, but guessed from his attitude and reaction that he had rejected her request.

She instinctively felt that the enemy was already locking onto Aviya, trying to kill her, and hurriedly brought up another topic:

"Do you know what that dangerous item is on Aviya?

"Where does its danger originate from?"

While inquiring, Kanna, who had already walked to the window, gestured to Shang Jianyao, telling him to take advantage of her delaying the enemy, immediately sneak into the villa, find Aviya, wake her up, and be prepared for first aid.

Of course, one gesture certainly couldn't express that much meaning, and the two sides didn't have years of accumulated understanding. Kanna could only point at the villa with her finger, hoping that Shang Jianyao would grasp her intention.

She felt that this experienced expatriate should know what to do next.

But she also felt that this guy who was still awake now was not quite right in the head, and might misunderstand.

Just in case, she decided to launch a "lure the tiger out of the mountain" plan at the same time.

Kanna pulled out a handgun hidden inside her clothes and threw it at the old woman wearing the black knitted hat.

Bang!

The handgun hit the "Mind Corridor" level Awakened, causing her body to shake.

At the same time, Cao shook his head:

"I'm not very clear about what it is, I only know one thing: absolutely don't give Aviya a chance to use that item.

"Okay, stop talking. How about we go have afternoon tea together after I've dealt with Aviya and those few people who got the passcodes from Markus?

"Uh, it's still morning now, so let's have lunch together."

"Uh-huh." Kanna nodded frequently, completely unaware of what the other person was saying.

And Shang Jianyao, with blood staining one arm, tiptoed towards Aviya's classic villa.

He was taking advantage of the fact that the enemy couldn't see the surrounding situation and couldn't sense him.

Just then, the "Angel of Life" necklace held in Cao's right hand lit up with a clear light.

Then, he smiled:

"Solved, the main objective is completed.

"Hmm, my eyesight is recovering soon too."

Although Kanna couldn't hear his words, she guessed from his use of the item that he must have launched an attack on Aviya.

The lady's face sank, and she pointed at Cao to Shang Jianyao.

She wanted the other person to cooperate with her to resolve this enemy as soon as possible, and then rescue Aviya.

Shang Jianyao understood her meaning, turned his body, and raised the "Grim Reaper" man-portable rocket launcher.

At this time, Kanna also aimed her left hand at Cao.

There was a ring inlaid with crushed diamonds there.

It was called "Slow," and it could slow down the target's instinctive reaction to gaze and attack, and slow down the corresponding premonition.

Coupled with Cao's current state of being unable to see, it would be enough to make him only become aware after the rocket-propelled grenade had been fired near him, and hurriedly try to "interfere with matter."

That would be too late.

And a "Mind Corridor" level Awakened still had a body strength within the human range, not comparable to a mechanical monk. The exploding rocket-propelled grenade would be a fatal attack on him.

14 Round Hill Street, inside the classic villa, in the bathroom-living room.

Aviya, wearing a white bathrobe and with wet golden hair, woke up from the single sofa due to the shaking caused by the previous rocket-propelled grenade explosion.

Next to her, a maid also wearing a bathrobe was lying on the ground, convulsing all over, breathing like a sigh.

Aviya's eyes narrowed, and she pulled out her left hand inserted into the bathrobe pocket.

Her left hand was holding a mobile phone.

An old silver-white mobile phone with cracks already visible on the screen glass.