The King of Black Fog

Maria Yafelona hid in the shadows.

Within the flowerbed, a Marli Muscle commonly found, released its pollen, firmly sticking to a Czech wolf dog.

As the wolf dog ran out of strength, the Marli Muscle extended its hefty leaves, wrapping around the wolf dog's body and dragging it toward itself.

With the wolf dog drawing closer, the blossom of the Marli Muscle opened slowly like the mouth of a python, becoming enormously huge.

Five streams of grey mist burst forth, and in the pitch-black night, they were like cubes of ice in Sprite, possessing a certain degree of invisibility.

After a fierce battle, losing three streams of grey mist and one wounded, Yafelona secured her third Identity Card of the day.

The strength of each stream of grey mist was comparable to an enraged bull, with a speed like that of a galloping horse, and they were not afraid of firearms, possessing twenty such subordinates, only two remained by the end of the day.

Yafelona found it hard to imagine, if her subordinates were still just ordinary Mafia, how long she would survive in this city teeming with crises.

She carefully left the scene, letting the injured grey mist patrol the air while the unharmed one followed her closely; she returned to that warehouse.

As she waited, she couldn't help anticipating that for her first day, having secured three Identity Cards, Changzhou... Black Mist would surely be satisfied with her performance.

Yafelona sought no rewards.

For some reason, she felt that serving one person with all her heart, giving her all without expecting anything in return, was oddly satisfying and pleasant.

She sat on the march bed, waiting quietly, and soon, a white vortex appeared, followed by a surge of vivid colors.

Black Mist, a black-haired beauty, the Czar Princess with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a snow-white owl stood before Yafelona.

"Good evening, Black Mist... sir," she previously addressed her lover as 'darling', but she dared not in front of the black-haired beauty.

She presented the Identity Cards she had collected today: "This is everything I've gathered today."

"How many grey mists did we lose?" Li Changzhou asked as he received them.

"Eighteen, with only one remaining undamaged," Yafelona answered.

"Next time, you can stop when you have five left," Li Changzhou instructed casually, not minding Yafelona's reaction, and examined the Identity Cards in his hand.

[Nickname: Lion King](20)

[Name: Rubens]

[Value: 0]

[Instinct: Breath Holding Hardening]

[Skills: "Crisis Sense" (E-class), "Night Vision" (F-class), "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned"]

"Breath Holding Hardening": By holding one's breath, the entire body hardens, akin to an invisible armor, with breath holding also treating premature ejaculation.

A good ID, indeed lions need skills for that aspect of treatment, how fitting.

"What's so great about three, if I wanted to, I could get three hundred in one day!" Seeing Li Changzhou's impressed expression, the Czar Princess expressed her disdain.

Only then did Yafelona notice that the Czar Princess was sucking on a lollipop, which also meant that she possessed the ability to destroy everyone present at any time.

But she hasn't done so... has Bi completely surrendered?

Yafelona felt a bit anxious, worrying that Black Mist might not like her as a red-haired mature woman and prefer a blonde loli instead.

"Next card," Yang Qinglan reminded Li Changzhou, who was immersed in memories of "The Animal World."

Li Changzhou accepted 20 points and, as if cutting a deck of cards, placed 'Lion King' at the bottom of the pile.

The second Identity Card was also black.

[Nickname: Mercenary Oguma](40)

[Name: Ernest Owens]

[Value: 0]

[Instinct: Western Swordsmanship Master]

[Skills: "Dog Style·Bullet Time" (C-class), "Monkey Style·Agility Enhancement" (D-class), "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned"]

"Western Swordsmanship Master": When wielding a Western sword, Strength +2, Agility +3, Perception +1.

Almost comparable to a white card player's instinct—limited to early stages.

Additionally, there was another downside, upon entering an instance, unless one had a Western sword produced by the game, they had to spend time making one themselves.

Li Changzhou's gaze shifted to "Dog Style·Bullet Time" (Grade C), showing slight interest in "Bullet Time".

"Dog Style·Bullet Time": In a dog's eyes, human actions are in slow motion. A one-second movement for humans is a four-second reaction time for dogs.

"Hmm—, what do you think?" he turned his head to ask Yang Qinglan.

"Most of the gray fog was probably killed by him," Yang Qinglan started with her speculation before answering Li Changzhou's question about the skill, "It can be given to the owl."

Perched on Li Changzhou's shoulder, Li Qianxia shook her head like a bobblehead, her bird beak acting as her usual ponytail, incessantly slapping her brother's face, just as painful as a ponytail would be.

Their abrupt conversation left the Czar Princess and Yafeiluna thinking they were discussing points.

Li Changzhou grasped the owl's head to keep it still, his left thumb sliding the "Mercenary Augma" Identity Card to the bottom of the stack.

The last card was also a Black Card.

[Nickname: I'm the Big Red Flower] (10)

[Name: Malijin]

[Value: 0]

[Instinct: Floral·Feeding]

[Skill: "Orchid Style·Pollen Spray" (Grade F), "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned", "Unlearned"]]

"Floral·Feeding": The flower adjusts to the size of the food, with a maximum diameter of two meters.

Adding the Czar Princess' 10 points, Yafeiluna's 10 points, and his own 10 points, Li Changzhou now had a total of 100 points.

"You've done well," Li Changzhou complimented Yafeiluna, "but you also need to watch out for your own safety, as time goes on, the players who survive..."

Boom!

An extremely powerful shock wave shattered the stone brick walls of the warehouse from the east. Stones flew chaotically, the earth trembled, and the camp beds were sent flying into the air.

Yafeiluna was knocked flying, and grey fog rushed to catch her just before she hit the ground.

Li Qianxia, standing on Li Changzhou's shoulder, flapped her wings to maintain balance.

Around the Czar Princess, a meter-wide invisible shield expanded, isolating all motion and sound.

Amidst the chaos, Li Changzhou's feet were as firm as iron cast into the ground, unmoving.

Yang Qinglan, whom he was holding, looked toward the east, pulling out a hairpin, her coiled black hair falling and cascading down like silk.

The Emerald Bee Sword, green as new leaves, appeared in her hand.

"Lord Black Mist! I didn't betray you! I definitely didn't!" Yafeiluna, who came from a Mafia Mistress background, immediately shouted.

"I can vouch for her, she didn't betray you. We followed her here," another voice claimed.

A group appeared on the other side of the broken wall.

A girl in a duckbill cap blowing a bubble gum, a bear-like man carrying a machine gun, a European housewife, a squirrel nestled in the housewife's bosom, an Asian man reading a pornographic magazine, and seven or eight drones.

"Lord Black Mist." Yafeiluna still anxiously awaited Li Changzhou's judgment.

"It's okay." Li Changzhou appeared very tolerant.

Tolerance is another name for indifference.

Whether these people came with Yafeiluna or were following her, it made no difference to him.

Since the age of nine, he had understood one thing—do not have expectations of others, for without expectations, there can be no despair.

Yafeiluna looked gratefully at Li Changzhou, then turned to the outsiders and yelled, "Who are you people?!"

The duckbill cap girl popped the bubble gum.

The weaponized drones transmitted a voice, "Wang Donghua. Shall we cooperate?"

Li Changzhou looked toward the Czar Princess, "Your Highness, your toys for unleashing anger have arrived."

A cruel smirk appeared on Bi's delicate face, and with a crisp crack, she bit her candy stick in half.