"Captain..."
The voice of Silver Fox coming from behind made Dragon Soul withdraw his gaze from the patch of "black domain" in the sky.
He turned to look, his eyes lingering for a moment on the empty space below Silver Fox's right shoulder. "Why have you come back? Where's Chen Na?"
"I told her to hide. What's the situation now? That patch of pitch-black darkness is..."
Silver Fox looked up at the sky. The massive, constantly shifting black entity gave her a chilling feeling.
"It's something created by 'Shadow'. I don't know what it is either," Dragon Soul guessed. "Right now, it has Lucifer trapped inside. The situation is unclear."
Silver Fox was astonished. "'Shadow' has appeared?"
"Yes. Although I don't know how he found this place, his arrival was crucial."
"Captain, you..."
It was only when Silver Fox walked over to Dragon Soul's side that she saw the terrifying long wound across his chest and abdomen.
"I'm okay. You Hao... was killed by Lucifer."
Silver Fox looked towards Jiang Lanying not far away, her eyes filled with undisguised killing intent.
"Don't act rashly," Dragon Soul cautioned. "Our mission is to bring the target back."
"...But Captain, right now, it's Shadow who's restraining her, isn't it? Will he agree?"
Dragon Soul didn't answer, because he didn't know.
...
Inside the Shadow Domain, Lucifer hung suspended in the darkness, panting heavily and covered in sweat.
He had been continuously charging for who knows how long, changing directions several times during the process, yet he had been unable to reach the end or touch the solid shadow layers.
This made it hard for him to believe, and the confidence he originally felt inside began to waver.
This seemingly endless darkness made him feel that everything he was doing was futile.
And the most critical issue was that his Mind Power was running low.
Through his extensive development of the "Fallen Angel Wings" over such a long time, he had greatly reduced its consumption of Mind Power. However, due to its inherent nature, its consumption was still much higher than most items.
This was also the reason he almost never used items; he didn't believe any item's effect could compare to his own wings.
But the Mind Power he had left now could at most sustain his levitation for less than a minute. What's more, every extra second he spent in this darkness caused his Mind Power to drop a little further, which was what annoyed him the most.
If he were in perfect condition, he wouldn't be so passive.
Lucifer had first fought Dragon Soul earlier and was already injured, with his left wing broken. Even after killing that faker and absorbing Mind Power for replenishment and recovery, his condition was still far from his peak.
And just at this moment, Shadow appeared.
Lucifer knew in his heart that he felt "Shadow" must have been hiding nearby long ago, deliberately waiting until he had been worn down by Dragon Soul before revealing himself, to conserve his strength and wait for an exhausted enemy.
His guess was absolutely correct.
Guan Tong had indeed arrived at the battlefield long ago. He didn't immediately act because he wanted to confirm the condition and abilities of both Dragon Soul and Lucifer.
He had fought Lucifer once on Holy Grail Island and had some understanding of him. But he had never seen Dragon Soul use his ability before; today was the first time he learned that his ability was to manipulate body muscles.
The reason he intervened to save Dragon Soul wasn't because the latter was from the official team. It was because during the previous earthquake rule, Dragon Soul had left a good impression on him as a responsible person.
Conversely, if it were someone like Gu Fei, that scum, even if he were from the official team, Guan Tong wouldn't have saved him. He would only have waited for him to die after consuming more of Lucifer's Mind Power.
Even though Guan Tong was confident in dealing with Lucifer, having someone else wear the latter down a bit more was still good. When dealing with enemies, he didn't pursue any notion of fair combat; victory was the only thing that mattered.
"I can't be trapped to death here..."
Lucifer, trapped in the darkness, knew that if he couldn't break the situation, only death awaited him.
And he couldn't die here. He was on the verge of breaking through to the next level of strength and absolutely refused to accept dying halfway.
Lucifer took a deep breath, and his pair of wings suddenly closed, wrapping around his entire upper body.
What was he trying to do?
Guan Tong watched Lucifer's action of wrapping himself with his wings, feeling puzzled.
But the next moment, he realized this guy was trying to escape!
Bzzz—!
A strong light refracted through the gaps between the feathers, clearly indicating the activation of some teleportation-type item.
Lucifer's purpose in wrapping himself with his wings wasn't to build up some ultimate move, but to conceal his covert use of an item.
Before the light fully erupted, everything around froze.
Only a giant shadow spike controlled by Guan Tong continued moving forward.
Would it be in time?
The next moment, the frozen spacetime returned to normal. As the shadow spike pierced through the lower part of Lucifer's body not covered by his wings, the teleportation light also engulfed him.
"Ugh... I'll come for you again... Shadow!"
Lucifer's pained voice vanished along with the light within the Shadow Domain.
Guan Tong glanced at the [Hourglass of Time] in his hand. The remaining uses were 3. Just now, he had used this item given to him by Yelanka to freeze the surrounding time for one second.
But the fact that Lucifer could still speak before disappearing meant his attack hadn't been fast enough to finish him off; at most, it had inflicted serious injury.
After Lucifer teleported away, Guan Tong didn't immediately dispel the Shadow Domain, but instead reflected.
The Shadow Domain couldn't prevent trapped individuals from using teleportation items to escape. This would be a significant vulnerability when dealing with powerful opponents.
Because anyone who was powerful would inevitably be able to obtain large amounts of Ascension Coins. With large amounts of Ascension Coins, they would definitely purchase teleportation-type items from the market to keep on their person, to use for saving their lives at critical moments.
Looking at it this way, could "preventing enemies from teleporting away" be the direction for optimizing the Shadow Domain later?
The Shadow Domain dissipated.
Both Dragon Soul and Silver Fox watched as that patch of black area in the sky disappeared, and "Shadow" was placed on the ground, supported by a large black hand.
Their hearts immediately relaxed.
Even though they had confidence in Shadow, they couldn't relax until they saw the result with their own eyes.
Now Shadow was still here, but Lucifer was nowhere to be seen, undoubtedly indicating the outcome of the battle.
Some were happy, others were worried. While the two relaxed, Jiang Lanying's face turned ashen.
She didn't care whether Lucifer had escaped or died; there was no difference to her. Both meant her plan to defect and cross the border had failed.
"Shadow, we owe you a lot this time."
Dragon Soul stepped forward and said.
"Hand the target over to us. We'll take her back for interrogation by our superiors."
Guan Tong glanced at Jiang Lanying, who was restrained by his shadows not far away. This "Big Sister" who had caused so much harm had long lost her previous spirited demeanor; the whole person seemed to have aged many years in an instant.
"Sorry," Guan Tong turned to look at Dragon Soul. "I don't plan to hand her over to you."
"!!"
Both Dragon Soul and Silver Fox were stunned.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Lanying's hope was ignited. She abruptly looked up and said, "Shadow, if you're willing to take me across the border and provide me with security, I can make amends for my past actions."
"My Storage Box contains a large amount of Ascension Coins and items that can help you advance further and become stronger. As long as you agree, all of these are yours!"
If she could obtain Shadow's protection, in Jiang Lanying's view, it would be an even better deal than her commission with Lucifer.
The reason she had sought out Lucifer before was simply because there was no better alternative.
She had previously tried to secretly contact the Suroma Empire and the Kingdom of Xisiya, hoping to gain their protection. However, both countries refused her, citing the reason that "as member states of the Human Consortium, we cannot provide shelter to fugitives from other member states."
This meant she couldn't escape to the territory of any Human Consortium member state. That left only the Tulip Federation's lawless region, teeming with warlords, as an option.
Thus, she had managed to contact Lucifer, offering a massive amount of Ascension Coins as payment to hire him to escort her across the border.
Now, if Shadow agreed to protect her, she could definitely escape smoothly!
"Shadow, you won't agree with her, right?" Silver Fox said loudly. "Have you forgotten all the things she has done?"
She absolutely didn't believe Shadow would agree, but even if there was only the slightest possibility, she worried Shadow might be tempted by the benefits and make the wrong decision.
If Shadow really chose to protect Jiang Lanying, then with just her and Dragon Soul, or even if subsequent reinforcements arrived, they absolutely couldn't stop him.
"What she has done, of course I haven't forgotten," Guan Tong said.
If it weren't for the rule [The Liar's Self-Punishment], Guan Tong might have pretended to agree, taken Jiang Lanying's Ascension Coins, and then acted.
But with this rule in place, "pretending to agree" would be a violation.
Dragon Soul, however, had already understood Guan Tong's meaning.
"Shadow, are you planning to take the law into your own hands? That's not a rational action and will bring you trouble. Moreover, without interrogation, some hidden enemies connected to her might not be exposed."
"Maybe. Goodbye."
Guan Tong had no intention of engaging in a discussion. He neither acknowledged nor denied Dragon Soul's words.
After speaking, his body rapidly moved away, taking along Jiang Lanying, who was bound by several shadow lines.
"Wait!"
"Shadow, you..."
The two had no way to stop Guan Tong from taking the person away. They could only watch helplessly as the two quickly disappeared from sight.
"Captain, what do we do?"
"...We can only report truthfully. Cough!"
Dragon Soul coughed up a mouthful of blood and took out a healing-type item to swallow.
His injuries from the fight with Lucifer were serious; he couldn't fight again for a short time.
At that moment, the sound of helicopter rotors could be heard in the distance. Reinforcements had arrived.
...
In a remote wilderness somewhere.
Jiang Lanying tried to struggle and move her arms, but it was completely impossible.
Every single one of her fingers was bound by shadow lines; she couldn't even move them.
She knew this was Shadow's deliberate doing. This way, even if she could mentally retrieve items from her Storage Box, she simply couldn't use them.
Guan Tong wouldn't fall for the same trick twice in a row. Lucifer had already used a teleportation-type item to escape; he absolutely wouldn't give Jiang Lanying this opportunity again.
Seeing her struggles were futile, Jiang Lanying spoke bluntly, "Shadow, if you're worried about being officially wanted and didn't dare to agree to me in front of Dragon Soul, then now, I can tell you my conditions remain unchanged."
"...I'm curious. You already possess so much, why are you still unsatisfied?"
Guan Tong's inexplicable words made Jiang Lanying's expression stiffen. "What?"
"Compared to others, you already control resources unimaginable to ordinary people," Guan Tong said. "Even without doing things like kidnapping, you could still safely pass through each rule under the protection of many people, couldn't you?"
"..."
Jiang Lanying remained silent for a moment, then snorted coldly. "Shadow, from what you say, I can tell you must come from the bottom rungs of society. Only someone who has never touched power would say such naive words."
"Naive, huh."
"Extremely naive. An ignorant and fearless person, merely lucky enough to turn things around in this special era, dares to question me? What do you think you are?"
Hearing this, Guan Tong didn't get angry but calmly replied, "You think I'm just lucky, but aren't you the same? If you weren't lucky enough to be born into a good family, have a good background, could you have everything you have now?"
Jiang Lanying glared angrily. "What did you say?!"
"You're already this old and still haven't figured this out. It seems I'm not the only naive one," Guan Tong shook his head. "I have nothing more to say to you."
Jiang Lanying knew she was at a dead end, but still couldn't resist threatening, "Shadow, you think just because I'm wanted, you can move against me without consequences? Do you believe that if you dare to do that, many people won't let you off, including those you think will stand on your side."
"Is that so."
Jiang Lanying sneered, "In this world, only people can kill people. But if a dog raised by people dares to bite someone to death, then even the dog's owner will slaughter the dog. Do you know why? Because a dog stained with human blood makes everyone feel threatened, including the dog's owner."
Hearing Jiang Lanying's words, what Guan Tong felt inside was more sorrow than anger.
He even felt that the Fire Thief was more humane than this "person" before him. Because the Fire Thief's Doomsday Rules treated all humans equally, while this "person" before him viewed most people as dogs.
"What, scared? Realize you're just a dog that bit the wrong person? If you regret it now, it's still not too late. I can show you a clear path."
Seeing Guan Tong's silence, Jiang Lanying thought he felt threatened and was hesitating, so she wanted to strike while the iron was hot to make him change his mind.
However, Guan Tong's voice answering her was very calm, without any trace of fear or regret.
Moreover, the absolute determination contained within it made Jiang Lanying feel a genuine fear from the depths of her heart.
"People like you, I'll bite to death as many as there are."
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