The King of Black Fog

"Brother, amazing, so amazing!" Li Qianxia half-heartedly praised as she dragged her injured leg and eagerly picked up the Identity Card like it was money.

She picked up a Western Player's Identity Card: "Hmm—swords are quite fun, but unfortunately, my backpack is too full."

Picking up Iron Gall's Identity Card: "Tsk, what's fun about Iron Gall, I can't understand."

Picking up Old Wan's Identity Card: "Oh~, 'One Body, Many Followers,' the more followers, the bigger and more formidable the body becomes, alas, it's a shame, I've only got my brother as a follower, Brother, you can use this or give it to Yafeiluna."

The Cheongsam woman's Identity Card: "'Flower Girl,' can blow all sorts of pollen from the palms, hmm—useful, yet seems useless."

Liu Nan's Identity Card: "'Wooden Man Technique,' animates and strengthens trees, the higher the charm, the more one can control, the higher the intelligence, the easier it is to control—let's save this for Lanlan~"

At this time, Li Changzhou had already picked up Tornado and the Gunman's Identity Cards and came over.

Li Qianxia immediately took the Identity Card.

Tornado's Identity Card: "'Tornado Transformation,' turns into a tornado, the higher the constitution, the larger the scale of the tornado; the stronger the 'Ability,' the greater the power of the tornado, keep!"

Li Changzhou squatted down, tearing open the fabric on her thigh.

With 'Horned Robe' acting as a barrier and her body fortified by 'Physical Enhancement,' the power of 'Desert Eagle' was reduced, and the explosive bullet embedded inside like a regular handgun bullet.

"Ah!" Li Qianxia cried out in pain, her body involuntarily bending, her pretty face crumpled, "It hurts!"

Li Changzhou removed the bullet, then used the blood flowing from Iron Gall's hand to form a Blood Pearl, applying it to the bullet wound.

The Blood Pearl melted upon contact with blood.

"Itchy, itchy, itchy!" Inside the wound, flesh and skin grew and healed like creeping vines, Li Qianxia enduring the itchiness, "The gunman's skill is useless too, strange, why can't I fight back against these people?"

Li Changzhou stood up and asked her, "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"My heart." Li Qianxia pouted, pitifully, "I was scared."

Li Changzhou patted her head, both comforting and conveying a 'stop pretending' sentiment.

He turned his gaze to Li Bichang, who was now headless.

"Brother, what do we do? We have already failed half of the first and second tasks of the Black Card," Li Qianxia stood by his side, looking at him as she asked.

"The first task is halfway complete," Li Changzhou corrected her mistake.

[Black Card Mission: 1: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang to withdraw troops; 2: Keep Li Xinghua and Li Bichang alive; 3: Li Changzhou loses succession rights]

Old Wan killed Li Bichang, achieving half of the second task of the Black Card and failing half of the first task (Li Xinghua and Li Bichang deploying troops).

The reason for this was that inciting them to deploy troops was very troublesome, to avoid prolonged uncertainties, he opted for a "safety measure"—first ensuring the simple second task was completed.

Moreover, as long as he disguised it as Song Clan's doing, he could easily persuade Commander Li to deploy troops, thus partially achieving the first task (deploy troops).

With Li Bichang gone, Li Changzhou was naturally appointed as the successor by Commander Li.

Killing Commander Li midway would complete the second task (both die), and with the succession rights, Li Changzhou, whether he liked it or not, had to inherit the Li Clan Warlords, thus completing the third task (Li Changzhou inherits the Li Clan Warlords).

Unfortunately, while the plan was good, just like how they used the White Card players' direct occupation of the natives' identities to pretend to rally behind Li Bichang, offering him "counsel"—plans never keep up with changes; they did not expect to actually die here.

Li Changzhou also didn't expect Li Bichang to die so easily.

According to the basic information provided by the game, Commander Li and Li Bichang would be assassinated by the end of July.

Now it's only the beginning of May!

If the mission ends this quickly, they will lose two months of cultivating time—a single mission always being one day in the real world.

The only way to delay time now is to keep Commander Li alive until the end of July, absolutely ensuring no White Card (or even Black Card) players in a rush to return assassinate him.

This shouldn't be too worrisome, as Commander Li lives in the military camp, having risen from nothing to his current status through a small bandit's identity, surviving countless assassination attempts, he would not be without defenses.

The problem is... now that Li Bichang is dead, Li Changzhou has become the only son, almost 100% sure to inherit the Li Clan Warlords, and history could very well continue on its original course.

"Let's go." Li Changzhou put away the King Cobra, turned around, and left the yard.

"Just like that?" Li Qianxia followed, "Not dealing with the body, faking a disappearance to buy time?"

"The body I had hung at the city gate is lying in the living room, as long as Commander Li isn't foolish, he'll suspect it was my doing, suspicions alone can buy us time, and I won't be confirmed as a successor right away."

"Didn't expect someone as rough as you to be so cunning."

Li Changzhou struck her on the back of her head, Li Qianxia unhesitatingly kicked him back.

Before Li Changzhou could retaliate, she cried out, "Aiyoh," as if about to cry, "Brother, my foot hurts, carry me."

Li Changzhou sighed deeply.

"Hehe." Lightfooted, Li Qianxia hopped onto his back.

The siblings walked toward Qian Shu Alley on New South Road.

Li Qianxia wrapped her arms around her brother's neck, laughed with delight and satisfaction, and swung her legs back and forth.

"Brother."

"What is it?"

"Who would've thought that on a night in 1928, it would be you carrying me home again."

Once, as children, she and her brother, along with the village kids, went to play far away.

When they returned at dusk, with only the last trace of sunset on the horizon, Li Changzhou carried a frightened Li Qianxia all the way home from afar.

Every time Li Qianxia remembered this incident, she felt both happy and guilty.

The siblings were twins, and if she couldn't walk or was scared, would her brother, born on the same day, manage to walk (let alone carry her)? Was he not afraid?

If she could go back to that moment now, she would definitely just let her brother hold her hand, and they would walk back together instead of her crying and stubbornly insisting on being carried.

"Don't talk about 1928, even if it were back to the Jurassic, I'd still carry you home… What are you thinking about?" Li Changzhou sensed his sister's mood shift.

"I'm thinking... I won't tell you!" Li Qianxia playfully responded.

She tightened her hold on her brother's hand and rested her chin on his shoulder, comfortable like a pet resting its chin on the arm of a sofa.

The streets were serene, the lights bright as snow.

Li Changzhou, worried about encountering people, intentionally chose side paths—he had long memorized the map of Song City from this era.

Through streets and alleys, they were just one small alley shy of reaching the slum where Li Qianxia lived.

The alley, less than 1 meter wide, lacked visibility of the sky and had no electric lights.

The houses on either side of the alley were small, their eaves within arm's reach, looking ominously black in the night, like rows of people standing and watching them pass.

Li Qianxia slightly tightened her embrace around Li Changzhou—there was someone behind them.

The alley seemed endlessly long, impossible to get out of.

Li Qianxia held her breath and saw something crouching in front, only to realize as it approached that it was a collapsed wall piled up there.

Her heart relaxed slightly, but the sensation of being followed persisted.

As they passed the pile of rubble, Li Changzhou suddenly bent his waist and twisted his hips, lightning struck into his spine, potential surged, and immense force flowed like mercury into his right leg.

He turned and kicked a square brick.

The force, rather than shattering the brick, shot it out like a cannon.

"Whoosh!"

Bang!

A wall's eave was grazed by the brick, cleanly breaking off a piece as if bitten into like a cracker.

The brick continued flying into the deep night, its destination unknown.

Did it miss?

A chill went down Li Changzhou's spine, realizing that their pursuer was at least more responsive than the six white card players from before.

Li Qianxia was about to jump down...

"Don't attack! Don't attack! It's me!" a voice called out in a hushed shout, as a little creature riding a butterfly emerged from the shadows.

"Turnip!" Li Qianxia's eyes instantly sparkled.

Fair and tender, about the size of Li Changzhou's palm, with straw-colored hair, wearing a skirt that Li Qianxia had once tailored from her own clothes on the 'High Mountain Plains.'

The skirt was tattered, making her look like a primitive human.

"Qian Xia!" Turnip cheered as well, flying over to high-five Li Qianxia—one not coming down from her brother's arms and the other still riding the butterfly.

Li Changzhou and the butterfly locked eyes, feeling as though the other was another player, not some summoned beast.

"What are you doing here?" Li Qianxia hurriedly asked.

"This is also my mission!" As Turnip spoke, her lips were all covered in clear drool.

Li Changzhou curiously asked, "Your animal player missions, are they also to keep Li Xinghua and Li Bichang alive?"

"Who are Li Xinghua and Li Bichang?" Turnip looked puzzled, "Our mission is to protect the port's 'Basket Starfish' and ensure its survival."

"'Basket Starfish'?"

"It's... it's..." Turnip's tender face scrunched up, struggling to find the right words, "Sort of like fishing nets, vines, just a messy bunch."

Fishing nets?

Li Changzhou recalled the experiences of a dockworker he met during the day.

"Protect it? So it was supposed to die?" Li Qianxia asked.

"Yeah, it would have died!" Turnip nodded, "The intelligence said it was killed by the Fire God Martial Arts Hall owner and the fleet's cannons. It seems like it's one of the last few great demons."

"Great demon? Are there levels to demons?" Li Changzhou asked.

"Levels? No." Turnip shook her head, "The more formidable ones are great demons; the less formidable are lesser demons."

"Are you a great demon or a lesser demon?" Li Qianxia asked curiously.

"Lesser demon, lesser demon, look how small I am; I'm definitely a lesser demon."

"How many of your 'Constitution,' 'Agility,' 'Physical Strength,' 'Perception' skills have reached 10 points?" Li Qianxia asked again.

Turnip counted on her fingers, "One, two, three—three have reached 10 points."

"How... did you manage that?" Li Qianxia was a bit surprised.

"There's a lot of food in the forest; everyone is fighting over it. I secretly picked up some and ate them," Turnip said with an expression that read 'Why is that so surprising?'

Just like a child in 2022 asked by a 1928's kid, "How can you eat this (poop)?" would reveal a similar expression.

"..." In any case, the siblings were shocked.