The King of Black Fog

"But Li Changzhou doesn't fall for that trick," said the man in the Iron Gall robe, "So what if they kill him? There's no one left to testify. Even if the Commander suspects something, would he really give up on his only son?"

"It's not a good idea," said a man in a suit. "The Commander is ruthless and stubborn. If he gets annoyed, who knows what he'd do."

"Right now, Li Changzhou is working on the worker's quarters, giving every worker a job. We might as well trip him up a bit."

Li Bichang, the big boss, sat at the head of the table, his physique imposing, like a small mountain.

"How do we trip him up?" he asked, obviously leaning towards this plan.

"Get the Beggar Gang to line up at the soup kitchens. Everyone goes, every day, stirring up trouble now and then; then they can go work on the quarters, working slowly, dragging their feet, but still collecting their wages. He might be able to handle a couple of troublemakers, but what's he going to do with over three thousand from the Beggar Gang? How much soup can he give out?"

"What if he uses force? The Commander did give him the Patrol after all," asked a man in tattered yet neat clothes, the leader of the Beggar Gang.

"So what?" chimed in another woman in Western attire.

She laughed, "The head of the Patrol is one of us. Even if he has to obey Li Changzhou's orders to deploy, it will just mean a few decent meals in jail for the brothers of the Beggar Gang."

"Makes sense!" Everyone laughed.

"Don't worry, there'll be chicken legs at every meal!" The head of the Patrol was present.

Li Bichang looked towards the leader of the Beggar Gang.

The Beggar Gang leader cupped his fist, "Just wait for the show, boss."

Li Bichang nodded and said, "But these are just minor nuisances. We have to make the little bastard spend all his money."

"Boss, you need not worry." Another man in a suit chuckled, "We have the support of martial arts school masters, financial tycoons, gangs, and the Patrol. Without our cooperation, what can that kid achieve?"

Li Bichang looked around the group, with these people here, no one could take a step in Song City without their say-so.

He couldn't help but laugh heartily, and everyone followed suit.

When the laughter subsided, someone suddenly said: "Boss, I have another method."

"There are too many ideas already!" a woman in a cheongsam said with a covered smile.

The room burst into laughter again.

"We can't have too many ideas, speak up!" Li Bichang declared boldly, feeling like he could accomplish anything at that moment.

"Boss, you've been a soldier since you were young, invincible in war, unstoppable in battle. Isn't the reason the Commander is considering that softie Li Changzhou because there's no war to fight right now?

"I hear that the Song Clan and Zhao Clan might go to war soon. If you could persuade the Commander to ally with one of them and start a battle again, you wouldn't have to watch Li Changzhou acting big in the city while you can do nothing."

"Great idea! And boss," the speaker lowered his voice, "as long as there's a fight, once the military power is in your hands, by then, even if the Commander isn't happy, you could also..."

The words were left hanging, but the implication was clear.

In the room, tycoons, gang leaders, the head of the Patrol, martial arts masters – everyone but Li Bichang himself was a Player!

Player's mission: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang go to war against the Song; Li Xinghua and Li Bichang die, Li Changzhou inherits the military power of the Li Clan.

Li Bichang looked down, contemplating their suggestions, completely unaware that everyone present watched him with the look of wolves cunningly leading a sheep away from its pen.

Undercurrents surged.

Li Qianxia prepared to leave, her wings spread wide.

"Who?!" The man in the Iron Gall robe suddenly shouted, throwing out his Iron Gall Bomb like a projectile.

Bang!

Glass shattered, and Qian Xia spread her wings, narrowly evading the two Iron Galls that could have blasted an eagle into bloody mud.

"You think you can leave!" shouted someone from within the house. Behind her, willow branches whipped towards her, latching onto Snowy Owl's talons.

"Capture her alive!" ordered Li Bichang.

The woman in the cheongsam held out her hands and blew into her palm, sending a cloud of pink pollen over.

"Get lost!" Qian Xia roared.

"Thunder Roar"

"Bang!" Glass instantly exploded, the pollen scattered.

Everyone's ears were ringing, deafening some of the less combat-capable Players, even knocking them back into their seats.

Qian Xia broke free from the willow, activated "Super Speed," and tried to escape.

Someone inside the house slapped their hands onto the ground, and a ring of light spread from the palms, quickly expanding into a barrier, enclosing the yard.

Snowy Owl soared into the sky, turning into a human form as she neared the barrier.

The Blood-colored Steel Spear landed in her hand, lightning raced up her spine, potential swirling, "Level Two Thrust."

"Hum—————"

The light shield flickered madly but stubbornly held together, as the man with both hands pressed against the ground spat out a mouthful of blood.

Having failed to land a hit and lost all momentum, Li Qianxia plummeted towards the ground.

The Horned Robe unraveled as she crashed down, stirring up the mud in the courtyard, her Blood-colored Armor and the majestic war skirt making her resemble a Valkyrie.

"Danger level... B," said a suit-clad Player, rattled by the "Thunder Roar," as he stood up and cast her a couple of glances.

Hearing this, the man in the Iron Gall tunic leapt out of the building, his Iron Gall soaring and melting into dual blades.

"Hiss—"

The body of the gun and the blades rubbed together, sparking a string of Mars.

Inside the building, someone pulled out a handgun and fired a rapid barrage, the muzzle flashing like Heavy Rain exploding all at once.

The bullets clanged against the Blood-colored Armor with the ringing sound of iron being struck.

Li Qianxia was forced backward by the force of both the bullets and the Iron Gall blades.

The man in the Iron Gall tunic let out a long howl, advanced a step, and his dual blades struck with the ferocity of fangs, fiercely biting down.

The Barrier man still had his hands pressed to the ground; willow trees sprouted swiftly, their branches snaking toward her, while inside the house, the gunman swiveled the gun barrel and once again pressed the trigger.

Without the time to envision the "Thunder Map," Li Qianxia unfolded "Super Speed" and chose to dodge.

The courtyard was not too large or too small, yet when she set her mind to dodging, her adversaries found themselves temporarily unable to lay a hand on her.

"Brother Zhang, do you need help?" the leader of the Beggar Gang asked with a smile, addressing the man in the Iron Gall tunic.

"Strike!" Li Bichang ordered directly.

The Beggar Gang leader laughed twice, ripped off his upper garment, and with a laugh, leaped into the courtyard. By the time his legs touched down, his body had grown as tall as a small building.

He took a deep breath, his chest puffing up like a balloon.

'This is bad!' Li Qianxia's head throbbed abruptly, a piercing pain pricking at her.

While dodging the Iron Gall blades, willow branches, and bullets, she gathered her 'Ability' to unleash "Thunder Roar," when a pink mist suddenly enveloped her, and, in the next moment, an earth-shattering roar sounded.

Her head buzzed, her vision swirled.

The Beggar Gang leader had expelled all the air from his chest and strode up to her, seizing her with one massive hand like catching a cat and slammed her down with all his might.

"Boom!"

It sounded as if a cannon had fired into the ground.

Li Qianxia felt as if her whole body might burst apart, but the Blood-colored Armor held her together while her innards shook violently.

With slightly bent knees, the Beggar Gang leader leaped up the next moment and plummeted towards the crater below.

Li Qianxia licked the Blood Pearl she had placed in her mouth earlier, which swiftly dissolved, bringing her a moment of clarity. Enduring the agony, she rolled to dodge, leaping into a corner.

"Still not dead," the Beggar Gang leader grinned, his mouth splitting like a Demon's, and he sneered.

The Beggar Gang leader, the man in the Iron Gall tunic, and the willows, gradually closed in on Li Qianxia like hunting lions.

Inside the house, a group of people stood by the broken windows, watching the show and occasionally taking action to restrict Li Qianxia, playing with her like a cat with a mouse.

"Ganging up on me, what kind of men are you?" Li Qianxia waited for the Blood Pearl to heal her injuries; her Blood Pearls were the best, and in just a short while, the pain had significantly subsided.

"Once we catch you, you'll see whether we qualify as men," a man in a suit inside the house said with a smile.

"You're all going to die," Li Qianxia suddenly stood up straight, no longer bent with pain.

She held a gun in her right hand, her left arm straightened to her side, her slender fingers encased in the Blood-colored Armor spreading wide.

"I'm going to tell my brother that someone harassed me."

An eye, directly in line with her palm, abruptly opened.

Inside the building, the suit-clad man who had belittled Li Qianxia's threat at level B burst out in almost explosive rage at the moment the eye opened:

"Kill her! Quickly!"

The Beggar Gang leader inhaled again, his chest ballooning;

The man in the Iron Gall tunic and the willows charged at Li Qianxia;

Inside, someone fired a gun, another spewed clouds of Qi, another leaped down, with a flash of cold steel and a sword drawn mid-air.

Boom!

A Gale furiously swept everything away, blowing every person off their feet; the Beggar Gang leader choked, clutched his chest, and nearly coughed up blood.

What Gale was this?

The crowd turned to look and saw a fist slowly retracting from that "eye," and from the now enlarging "eye," a blurry figure was staring at them with cold eyes.