The King of Black Fog

"Offset the good with the bad, that's one, nine to go," Li Changzhou said as he pulled out four Identity Cards.

The squirrel let out a sigh of relief, raising its tiny front paws to wipe the sweat from its forehead.

"Rest for fifteen minutes, then keep looking," Li Changzhou said after looking at the first card, taking away 10 points and passing the Identity Card to Yang Qinglan.

"Got it!" the squirrel hurriedly replied.

"Should I go with you?" the polar bear woman asked.

"No need, just protect yourself," Li Changzhou said as he took another 30 points from the second card and handed it over to Yang Qinglan.

Li Qianxia massaged her shoulders while she and Yang Qinglan looked over the card, considering whether the skill on it could come in handy.

Whether it's an E-class or an S-class, more skills are always better, but Li Changzhou's Black Card already had six skills filled; he wouldn't replace it unless there was a better one.

The two women's Black Cards still had room for skills, but they couldn't withstand the side effects of the skills granted by the black fog.

The three of them had also considered whether only the White Cards were immune to side effects, but there was no suitable candidate to test this theory.

They feared killing their own people (at least superficially), and if they didn't die, they feared exposure, while there was no suitable opportunity with enemies.

The four lackluster Identity Cards total 70 points, the brown-haired woman and her Dachshund together provided 30 points, these six people provided 100 points.

With Yang Qinglan and Li Qianxia's points added, Li Changzhou now had 400 points.

To an ordinary player, that was a lot; to a player aiming for first place, it was very little.

After fifteen minutes, the squirrel darted out of the house, carefully running off.

"Efficiency is too low," Bi complained, emerging from the bathroom where she had just been brushing her teeth, aspiring to become a beauty with natural white teeth in the future.

"Letting a squirrel search like this, how long will it take to find something?" she continued.

"No problem, we've still got you," Li Changzhou said as he poured himself a cup of snow mountain mineral water, cold and refreshing.

He set down his cup and added, "When the insects bomb Prague tonight, that's when you'll make your move."

"Let me tell you, at most, I can only crush five lollipops at a time. Originally, I was planning to destroy Prague over several days," she lamented.

"So young, yet such poor teeth," Li Changzhou teased her.

"What do you know, you old man of twenty?" Bi retorted with her arms folded arrogantly, "It's precisely because I'm so young, only twelve years old, that my teeth are bad. Do you understand youth?"

"I understand youth, but twelve should be considered childhood."

"You—"

Before the Czar Princess could erupt, Li Qianxia started to sing, "The flowers of childhood shall bloom~ The birds~ shall still return!"

The Czar Princess's gaze shifted to her, "Qian Xia, you—"

"It's 'spring' flowers will bloom," Yang Qinglan corrected Li Qianxia.

"You all—"

"Calm down," Li Changzhou said, passing a cup of snow mountain mineral water to the blonde, blue-eyed little girl.

The twelve-year-old girl snatched the cup and tilted her head back, her delicate, small, white neck moving up and down as she gulped the water.

"I'm so angry!" Bi, devoid of any princess-like demeanor, grabbed Li Changzhou's sleeve to wipe her mouth.

Li Changzhou looked at his abused sleeve and thought: She's truly just a child.

She hadn't considered that Li Changzhou could lengthen and enlarge the Emerald Bee Sword hidden in his sleeve, poking it into her mouth and effortlessly kill her.

"I'm going to take a nap," Li Changzhou said, pulling his sleeve back and speaking to Li Qianxia and Yang Qinglan.

"Okay!" Li Qianxia nodded.

Li Changzhou didn't head for the bedroom, but lay down on the couch and fell asleep.

Recovering physical strength and energy was secondary—though still very important; mainly because using "Photo Transmission" had depleted some of his Intelligence, and sleep would greatly shorten the recovery time.

He was more exhausted than he had realized.

The moment he closed his eyes, before he could reflect on the journey to the 'dancing house,' he was already asleep.

In a half-dream, half-awake state, he suddenly heard cries for help, followed by the sensation of someone nudging his body.

Li Changzhou opened his eyes to see his sister's handsome, fair face, and before he could ask anything, the squirrel's shrieks exploded in his ear.

"Boss! Ants! Lots of ants!"

Li Changzhou turned his head to look outside the window.

The road extending into the city had turned into a black river, and from this black river, many smaller black streams branched out, attacking the wooden house from all sides.

"I ran into them shortly after leaving, boss... this time... can we offset the good with the bad too?" the squirrel said with a pained expression.

Bang!

The sound of a wooden cover being flipped open.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot through the ceiling as an ant as long as an adult's forearm used its powerful mandibles to carve out a chunk of the ceiling!

"Leafcutter ants!" Yang Qinglan stood in that beam of light, looking like the holiest of goddesses.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Instantly, the ceiling turned into a beehive, with sunlight squeezing through each smaller hole, creating fine columns of light inside the cabin.

Li Changzhou didn't glance at the squirrel, but his gaze landed on Yafeiluna.

"You didn't send out a grey fog alert?" His tone was exceedingly calm.

A flicker of panic crossed Yafeiluna's face, then Yang Qinglan explained, "The ants destroyed two layers, and I had her withdraw the rest. I told her not to wake you up immediately."

Li Changzhou wasn't interested in her explanation, and sternly addressed Yafeiluna, "Well done, I haven't spoken, but you listened to her!"

"Big brother," Li Qianxia was speechless, "Have you regained your intelligence, or did you wake up dumber?"

Li Changzhou had no time to chat with his sister. He got up from the couch, strode towards the wooden door, and kicked it open.

With a loud bang, the door flew apart like those five-buck garbage bins in a school supply store—not far before shattering into pieces.