The King of Black Fog

"Right ahead." Li Changzhou said.

Sensa's expression grew serious, making one wonder if the person who was joking around and acting foolish before was really her.

Ahead was a public park with a pool.

The Black Hand extended a finger, pressing on the park, dragging it away as if moving an app icon.

The two of them ran along the moved sidewalk.

The agile sniper glanced back, finally showing a hint of panic.

"Be careful," Li Changzhou said, sensing the enemy's panic, "after running for so long, regardless of whether it's a player or an anime character, the other side should be here to meet them."

"You mean there's an ambush?" Sensa asked in a certain tone.

Sensa's daily life, under the rule of Li Changzhou, meant that even if Japan didn't dare to openly publicize the dangers of players, in animations, some terrorist organizations would somewhat have the shadow of players.

Born into such a slice-of-life series, she had some experience dealing with "players" and wouldn't be too naive.

Although they didn't use live ammunition, Li Changzhou still felt very confident in the two of them; even if they encountered an ambush, they would still be able to...

He suddenly looked forward, his sight crossing over the sniper, looking at the end of the sidewalk.

"My name is Huihui, the foremost mage of the Red Demon Clan, wielder of Blast Magic!"

"Blacker than the blackest darkness."

"Unite with my own crimson."

"The time for awakening has come."

The girl held the magic wand high, continuing her chant: "Descend into a faultless realm, forming an invisible distortion."

"Dance! Dance! Dance!"

"Yearn for the power of my magic's collapse!"

"Incomparable power of collapse!"

"Everything turns to ash, rushing out from the abyss!"

Where the girl's magic wand pointed in the sky, the magic power nebula spiraled upwards, all the strength brewing into an orange light orb the color of the sun.

The nebula swirl slowly rotated, a nameless terrifying pressure striking directly.

The wind seemed scared, beginning to flee from the girl's magic.

After rounds of trembling, with a loud bang, the wind grew so vast that it nearly liquefied into a sea of wind, sticky enough to wrap around the two's clothing!

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Things aren't looking good!" Sensa leaned her body forward, barely managing not to be blown away by the wind.

The girl lifted her head, her small face peeking out from the large brim of the magic hat, her eyes emitting a strong red glow.

"This is the strongest offensive measure of humanity!"

"This is the ultimate attack magic!"

The Black Hand placed buildings side by side on the sidewalk, blocking the two in front.

"Appear!"

"Explosion!"

Stars lit up in the spiral nebula, and the star-like cloud mass at the end of the nebula began to descend, initially slowly, then...

A magnificent flow of flame light struck the first building, as if it never existed, with the flames directly hitting the second building.

It wasn't until they reacted that a thundering sound, a thousand times louder than the previous screeching and horn sounds, rumbled in their ears.

It felt as if the entire Tokyo was shaking, a giant pillar of fire piercing through all the buildings.

In the ferocious blaze, the seemingly slow but in fact rapidly vaporizing scene of sturdy materials could be seen.

From afar, it looked like a heavenly god had thrown a fiery spear from the sky, this spear piercing through several skyscrapers, standing upright and embedded in the ground.

The air pressure was altered, a gale roaring through, sweeping everything in a certain range clean.

This was just the aftermath.

The real transformation began, the fiery spear turning into a massive fireball.

The flames rose high, forming a towering mushroom cloud, like a beautiful fire lotus blossoming within Tokyo.

No one knew what happened within the fiery light, the flamboyant flames rolling and billowing; the intense light was too daunting to look directly at.

When everything vanished, several buildings penetrated in a stair-like manner still stood briefly, like corpses unaware of their demise.

Rumble!

The buildings began to collapse, the building materials forming a wave, rushing into the true drop point of the Blast Magic, a massive pit.

The building materials rushed in, only to shallowly cover a layer, sinking into a bog-like immobility!

"See, you see, this is my..."

Thud!

"...Blast Magic..."

"This is too dangerous! I finally understand why you said I was useless, I apologize for being secretly discontent and angry about it before!"

The Black Hand pushed a crosswalk forward with a finger, with Li Changzhou and Sensa standing on it, quickly approaching the fallen mage—the girl who called herself Huihui, as if docking a ship at a pier.

Ignoring Sensa, who finally acknowledged her position and strength, Li Changzhou looked around but didn't spot the sniper.

"The sniper should be hiding nearby, waiting for us to approach Huihui."

"What should we do?" Sensa asked.

Li Changzhou glanced at her: "You've fallen for it once, and you're still asking me what to do?"

"When an ordinary person is shot dead by a handgun, do they come back to life knowing how to deal with being shot again? No matter how many times, I can't dodge a sniper rifle's ambush!"

"Useless guy."

"Hey, hey, now's not the time for insults. Sister Qianshu isn't arguing with you. Do you have any plan?"

"..."

"You don't have a plan, do you?"

"I do, it's just not that clever."

"Useless guy!"

Li Changzhou: "..."

The black hands frequently swap buildings nearby to ensure the hidden sniper is moved away.

Li Changzhou's reason for saying it's "not that clever" is because moving the sniper also means the opponent won't take action, so they won't know the opponent's position.

"What about her?" Qianshu pointed at Huihui, who was lying, no, sprawled on the ground.

"The sniper shouldn't be an Earth player; otherwise, they wouldn't waste her Ability like this." Li Changzhou said, "This mage named 'Huihui' can only use one type of Magic."

"Was that what we saw earlier? I thought it was a nuke!"

"You underestimate technology. Burst Magic can only be used once a day."

"Once a day, and she's already used it? Isn't that more useless than you?" Qianshu remarked instinctively.

Although it seemed 'instinctive,' it was definitely a result of calm thinking, meaning she did it on purpose.

Li Changzhou didn't take the 'bait' and continued:

"Only the top thousand can clear this level, and players don't know exactly how many have cleared it yet. Keeping her around assures us of mission completion and serves as one of the escape options if we are overwhelmed in the upcoming battles."

"Hmm." Qianshu nodded.

Then she turned and looked around: "They haven't made a move yet, so it seems they're really gone."

The hovering black hands behind the zebra crossing continued to push, sending the two of them in front of Huihui.

"Choosing to hide and using methods like this, aren't you ashamed to be alive?!" Huihui, the only part of her body able to move, spoke using her mouth.

Qianshu squatted down and placed Huihui's Magic Pointed Hat on her own head, saying, "Reciting such a spell, shouldn't you be the one who's ashamed?"

"My head! My head is gone! Give me back my head!"

"... It's just a hat."

"Hmph! You, ignorant person, how could you understand the secrets of a Blast Mage!"

Qianshu squeezed the hat: "It really is just a hat..."

"Ah! Don't squeeze! It hurts! Ah!" Huihui cried out a second later.

Qianshu looked at Li Changzhou.

"All anime characters are like this, and so are you." Li Changzhou said calmly, "Let's bring her along."

"... I'm carrying her?" Qianshu pointed at herself, wearing a JK uniform and a Magic Pointed Hat.

"Would you trust a man who goes into women's restrooms to take care of a girl?"

"... I'm suspicious that's just an excuse." Despite saying that, Qianshu still hoisted Huihui onto her back.

Despite the cheerful banter, deep inside, she still harbored skepticism towards Li Changzhou.

Although skeptical, one reason she carried Huihui was that Li Changzhou only had one arm at the moment.

If it weren't for his laid-back demeanor and the series of miraculous events they'd been through, she'd probably be touched to the point of falling for him by now.

The black hands at his fingertips rotated, the zebra crossing turned around...

Thud!

Dust erupted ahead.

"Cough! Cough!" A diminutive figure emerged from the thick smoke, "Sorry, could you hand that girl over to me? I promise not to harm you."

As the smoke cleared, seeing the person before them, Li Changzhou remained expressionless, but his pupils shrank imperceptibly.

Bald, white beard, elderly, wearing sunglasses, flamboyant clothes; if it weren't for the turtle shell on his back, one might think this guy had just returned from a beach vacation.

Turtle Hermit.

"Do you know him?" Qianshu leaned towards Li Changzhou, asking softly.

"Yes."

"And you say you're not an otaku!"

Is this the point here?

Besides, knowing Turtle Hermit has nothing to do with being an otaku.

"Can you beat him?" Qianshu asked.

"No," Li Changzhou looked at her, "Should we give Huihui to him?"

"Hmm—"

"Even though you're useless, I don't want to deceive my teammates—giving a girl who can only move her mouth to him is not a wise move."

"Then let's fight!!" Qianshu said, serious.

At the same time, she secretly nudged him with the round toe of her small shoe.

Signaling him: Run!