The King of Black Fog

On Yanhe Road, beneath the shade of an apricot tree, resplendent as a canopy.

Li Changzhou, with his eyes closed, saw Su Su reappear before him, her figure slender and agile. Every move, every technique, even the expressions and the force behind them were no different than what he had observed in the arena, as if rewatching a video playback.

With Li Changzhou's 7-point genius intelligence, he shouldn't have remembered it so clearly. Perhaps it was the thrill that put him into a "Concentration" state, boosting his intelligence to 8.

Now, in a "Concentration" state again, but not in combat, he consistently managed to enter this mode whenever he tried.

High intelligence indeed does whatever it pleases. "Concentration" is truly impressive—after upgrading "Concentration," F class was still negligible, a mere trifle.

Suddenly, the imagined Su Su changed; she was no longer the weak, slow-paced ordinary person.

With 10 points in speed and 10 points in agility, what he previously scorned as an easy raid became terrifying. Every move looked like it could extinguish everything.

Li Changzhou's expression grew serious as he continuously sparred with his imagined opponent.

Initially, Su Su merely replicated the techniques from earlier that day, and Li Changzhou managed rather smoothly since he knew what was coming. But gradually, she came alive, starting to improvise on the spot.

Li Changzhou suddenly found himself at a disadvantage.

Su Su lightly tapped her toes on the ground, twisted her hips, and her right leg, sharp as a dagger, thrust toward his temple. He could only raise his arm in a stiff defense against this sudden variation.

When Yang Qinglan and Li Qianxia entered the yard carrying dinner, they saw him sometimes throwing punches, sometimes dodging, occasionally seeming to rebound from a kick.

"What's he doing? Has he gone mad?" Li Qianxia asked curiously.

Yang Qinglan glanced over and said, "To achieve success, one does require a bit of madness."

Li Qianxia shrugged her shoulders, indicating her incomprehension, her off-shoulder top nicely accentuating the sexiness of her collarbone.

The two began unloading the dinner box by box onto the stone table, setting out three pairs of disposable chopsticks and bowls.

"Brother, dinner's ready!" Li Qianxia called out.

Li Changzhou threw a punch with a bang, unleashing the Bull Horn Spiral Force, resulting in a hole in Su Su's stomach, resembling a drill pattern, gory and gruesome.

He took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and opened his eyes. Both Su Su and the arena had vanished.

"How's your practice going?" Yang Qinglan offered him a moist towelette.

"Not bad." Li Changzhou wiped his forehead and then his hands, sitting down on a stone bench.

Glancing at the table, his appetite immediately surged.

Spicy boiled fish, sweet and sour ribs, Northeastern pork in batter, braised eggplant with green beans, tomato and egg soup, several skewers (corn kernels, potato slices, lamb), and a bottle of coconut juice.

A month ago, the three of them wouldn't have been able to finish this meal. Now, both Li Changzhou's and Li Qianxia's appetites had grown considerably, with only Yang Qinglan maintaining a bird's stomach, nibbling a little of each dish.

Li Qianxia bit into a rib with her left hand, the sauce-coated meat swiftly sucked off, and then she sucked on the bone.

Dropping the rib, she turned her head slightly and, opening her mouth, scooped up a slice of grilled potato from her right hand into her mouth.

She ate deliciously, making sounds of enjoyment, eyes searching for the next dish while her hand seemed to have eyes of its own, reaching for the coconut juice.

Li Changzhou leisurely ate a piece of fish, spicy, numbing, tender, finely textured, utterly satisfying.

After the meal, Li Changzhou, who hadn't run errands to buy the groceries, was tasked with cleaning up.

As he placed the food boxes into the takeout plastic bag, he pulled out a piece of paper from the bag.

"What's this?"

"Someone was handing them out on the street," Li Qianxia said contentedly, full from the meal, "thought it was an ad, didn't want to take it, but when I glanced at it and saw it was a missing person notice, I accepted it."

Yang Qinglan, drinking her Snow Mountain mineral water, said casually:

"The Value Game is Pandora's box, and players are the evil within. Chaos will soon be as pervasive as the air, and missing persons will continue to increase."

She paused for a second or two, then continued, "The day we die in the game, we'll just be another number among the missing, with no one to care or notice."

Li Qianxia remained silent, unsure whether she was savoring the taste of the food or pondering her words.

"But with the right abilities and methods, the Value Game is also an opportunity, isn't it?" Li Changzhou looked up from the missing person notice, smiling.

Yang Qinglan put down her cup, "What, did you discover something?"

"I've seen this missing person notice before."

"Seen him before, so what?" Li Qianxia asked, perplexed.

"The photo is different." Li Changzhou's gaze fell back onto the missing person notice.

The missing man was about 27 or 28, beard stubbly, hair looking unwashed for two or three days, wearing a white T-shirt with a flipped collar.

"That's not so strange. Maybe his family was afraid one photo wasn't enough, so they used several more to make it easier to recognize him?"

"It's not just different photos." Li Changzhou set down the missing person notice. "Although I don't know what this guy is up to, or whether it's a white card or a black card, let's go find him and have some fun."

"Not going." Li Qianxia was unwilling, having just eaten her fill, all she wanted was to lie down and rest.

"Distribute your own photo around like a missing person... Don't you want to know his purpose?" Li Changzhou asked.

"Don't want to." Li Qianxia replied crisply.

"Not going to notify Zheng Qing?" Yang Qinglan asked.

Li Qianxia let out a wail.

If her brother wanted to go on his own, she could act spoiled; if Yang Qinglan wanted to go on her own, she could act spoiled and have her brother stand with her;

But if both of them wanted to go, then she had no choice but to want to go as well.

Not democratic at all.

"Let's not notify her for now. What if it's a white card, what if...it's a bad person." Li Changzhou's hand pressed down on the missing person notice, his large hand as imposing as the Five Finger Mountain on the photo.

Li Qianxia shuddered, shaking her head, unable to bear Li Changzhou's manner.

Yang Qinglan said to her, "Keep an eye on your brother. Without you, he is a typical white card player."

"No more, no more, from now on, this spot is yours." Li Qianxia curled up on the lounge chair like a retired old lady, ready to sleep.

"Get up, let's go find this person." Li Changzhou said.

"Now?!"

"How much time do you have to waste?" he rolled up the missing person notice.

To prevent a possible mix-up, before looking for the person, Li Changzhou took them back to the mall, heading straight for the women's lingerie store.

On the way there, they saw many electric poles plastered with the same missing person notice.

"What are we doing here?" Li Qianxia asked.

Li Changzhou picked up a promotional brochure from the rest area near the store's entrance, flipped through it noisily, and found the page for "Shock Wave." The missing person notice he slipped inside was still there.

A missing person notice like this, posted on utility poles, won't be torn down directly by city cleaners like a heavy reward ad;

Handing it out to someone like a flyer, most people cannot refuse, and among those who do refuse, some may not realize it's a missing person notice;

And like this, slipped into a promotional brochure, ordinary people wouldn't just take it, they would carefully put it back.

"I'm getting more and more curious about what this guy really wants to do." Li Changzhou was a bit excited.

"That's huge!"

"Mmm, indeed, it's the Shock Wave."

"I even heard a 'moo—' like the cry of a cow!"

He looked up, two female college students, holding the brochure, looked as orderly as sunflowers staring at the sun.

"What's the matter?" Li Changzhou said, looking puzzled.

Li Qianxia grabbed the upper end of the promotional brochure, aligning the content towards him, her posture somewhat like a policewoman flashing a warrant, ready to make an arrest.

Li Changzhou "Wow!" and slightly leaned back.

"I'm indeed shocked; I can hear the 'moo—' of a cow's call."

So tall, so enormous, so white, scares the hell out of people, could a bra really have such power?!

"Let's not talk about this, look."

Li Changzhou spread out two missing person notices on the table.