Chapter 181 Do You Mind If I'm a Wanderer
Such a huge battle naturally alarmed the Monitoring Center.
When He Zhuan came to report the news, the director of the hospital suddenly stood up from his chair, his face unable to hide his surprise: "What did you say?! Lu Yan is recruiting troops in Devil City?!"
He stood up and walked quickly to the surveillance camera, only to see that Yunduan Road was surrounded by three layers of soldiers, many of whom were even wearing patrol uniforms. They said something unknown, but they all clenched their fists and shouted. The originally flagging morale was twisted into a rope again, like a dying fire being reignited, with flames leaping up several meters high.
He Zhu walked behind the chief dean and spoke hesitantly: "Dean, Lu Yan is recruiting more and more people now. I saw dozens of resignation reports in the system background today. Those superpowers and patrol soldiers would rather leave Sky City to join his team. Do we need to..."
He instinctively wanted to wipe his neck, but suddenly remembered that few people in Sky City could beat Lu Yan, so he embarrassedly hid his hands behind his back.
The director frowned and stared at the surveillance camera, not knowing what he was thinking. After a moment, he said in a deep voice: "Xing Yuan has a close relationship with him. Don't make trouble at a critical moment. Do you think it's easy to support such a large team? He has no weapons and no experience. It won't be long before he collapses."
He sighed again and said to himself, "It would be great if he could rally the team. At least a few more people could survive."
There was no telling when this world wreaked havoc with monsters would end. Outside, the night was silent, with a scarlet moon hidden in the clouds. It had rained, so everything was damp. As people shivered and hugged their arms, they were suddenly shocked to realize that they hadn't seen the sun for a long time.
Lu Yan originally planned to recruit only 20 team members, but he didn't expect so many people to come in the end. He asked Chen Yan and others to help maintain order and count the number of people. They were to gather on time at 7 o'clock the next morning, and he and Lu Xiaozhao finally went home at midnight.
Xing Yuan bombarded him with a bunch of messages today, asking him to go home early in the evening. Lu Yan was worried that he would be angry, but when he went into the house to change his shoes, he found it was quiet inside.
Lu Xiaozhao whispered: "Brother, he might be asleep."
Lu Yan raised his eyebrows: "Isn't it said that wanderers are most energetic at night?"
Lu Xiaozhao was so sleepy that he couldn't even open his eyes: "Who said that? I'm so sleepy right now that I can fall asleep as soon as I lie down. I'm going back to my room first. I have to get up at seven tomorrow morning."
He yawned loudly after he finished speaking and went straight back to the guest room to rest. Lu Yan was worried about waking up Xing Yuan, so he took a shower in the bathroom outside and then quietly got into bed in the dark.
Xing Yuan was curled up in a corner. He noticed something was happening behind him and looked back. Sure enough, it was Lu Yan. He asked in a somewhat unhappy tone, "Why did you come back just now?"
Lu stretched out his arms and held him in his arms, and habitually began to go along with him: "There are a lot of people who signed up today, and I accidentally got late. Next time, don't wait for me and go to bed early."
The breath of the person in his arms had a slightly fishy smell, like the smell of rusty steel, or the stench of rotting flesh and blood. Lu Yan was not sure whether it was because of the red moon that caused the changes in Xing Yuan's body. He felt a little strange in his heart, but did not ask.
Xing Yuan was unexpectedly good-tempered. He took the initiative to hug Lu Yan in the quilt, and his cold lips slowly moved up along his neck. His teeth were as sharp as a shark, and his scarlet tongue was incredibly long: "It's okay. It's my duty to wait for you. Who asked me to... love~ you~?"
The smile on his lips grew bigger and bigger, forming an incredible arc in the darkness. His eyes turned fierce, and he suddenly bit down hard on Lu Yan's neck. In a flash, a cold and powerful hand quickly grabbed his throat, and blue-purple lightning shot out suddenly, breaking the entire bed into pieces.
“Boom!!”
Xing Yuan screamed in pain. He didn't expect that the seemingly defenseless Lu Yan would suddenly attack. He immediately turned into a huge black mist and was about to escape through the window. Unexpectedly, Lu Yan's palm hit out a power grid and directly took him back. He asked in a cold voice:
"You are not Xing Yuan, where is he?!"
Xing Yuan did not have such a bloody aura, and he would never say such strange words as "I love you". The rusty and fishy smell of this black shadow reminded Lu Yan vaguely of the contaminated area, where countless rotten meat and rusty steel were piled up, and this was the smell floating in the air.
The dark shadow was trapped in the power grid and bumped around. His voice was exactly the same as Xing Yuan's, pretending to be affectionate:
"I am Xing Yuan, don't you recognize me?"
"You clearly knew that I was a wanderer, yet you deliberately used your supernatural powers to treat me like this. Lu Yan, have you given up on me?"
"I'm in so much pain, can you please withdraw your supernatural power?!"
The shadow had the same face and voice as Xing Yuan. He cried out for help in pain in the power grid in an attempt to confuse Lu Yan. This was extremely deceptive. However, Lu Yan's expression was cold and he did not change at all. He just tightened the power grid even more and asked in a deep voice:
"Are you going to tell me or not?!"
The shadow finally stopped shouting and chuckled, with a particularly strong hint of sarcasm: "I said I am Xing Yuan, why don't you believe me?"
Lu Yan was anxious in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. Xing Yuan was a sixth-level expert after all. The black shadow in front of him couldn't even beat him, so it shouldn't be able to hurt Xing Yuan. Thinking of this, he felt relieved and said in a cold and indifferent tone:
"You are not him."
The shadow moved doubtfully: "But I look exactly like him."
Lu Yan: "They look the same, but their hearts are different."
"Heart?"
The shadowy figure seemed to have heard a ridiculous joke and suddenly started laughing so hard that he was out of breath. His entire body was shaking violently. The glowing power grid was undulating slightly in the darkness, like waves.
"Heart? How can a wanderer have a heart? Even if he does, Xing Yuan is nothing more than a rotten, smelly heart..."
"Shut up!"
A brutal voice suddenly rang out from the air, as if a pair of invisible hands had torn open a passage to another world, and someone fell out from the gap. A dark red mist suddenly appeared out of thin air, and it was Xing Yuan. He was seen pinching his hands and changing his movements, directly striking out a dense lightning, his eyes were filled with murderous intent, and it was clear that he wanted to kill the black shadow!
"Boom!"
The long electric grid broke into pieces.
The black shadow seemed to be deliberately showing weakness to confuse Lu Yan just now, and only now did it reveal its true strength. He nimbly dodged Xing Yuan's lightning strike and shot out dozens of ice cones with his backhand. The temperature in the whole room dropped sharply and was instantly covered with a layer of frost. Then he jumped out of the window and escaped under the cover of the moonlight!
"stop!"
Lu Yan smashed the ice cones wrapped in strong wind with his backhand, jumped onto the windowsill and was about to chase after him, but Xing Yuan suddenly grabbed his hand and said, "Forget it, he's just a wanderer, don't alarm the patrol soldiers!"
Lu Yan paused after hearing this, and thought it made sense, so he had to withdraw his steps. He held Xing Yuan's shoulders and checked him up and down, and found that he was not injured. His tone was a little relieved: "What happened? How come there is a wanderer in the house all of a sudden?"
Xing Yuan said nothing, his face looked a little ugly under the moonlight. After a moment, he said in a deep voice: "He should be an illusion wanderer sent by the priest. I don't know how he got into the Sky City. I was careless just now and accidentally got trapped in the illusion by him."
Hearing the name "priest", Lu Yan frowned: "Why did he send the wanderer here? To inquire about the news of Sky City?"
"I don't know, maybe it was directed at..."
Xing Yuan suddenly remembered something and his expression changed: "Oh no, Lu Xiaozhao!"
Lu Yan realized something was wrong when he heard this. There was such a loud fight in the room just now, but Lu Xiaozhao didn't react at all. He and Xing Yuan hurried to the guest room to check, but found that the room was empty and there was no trace of Lu Xiaozhao.
Xing Yuan slammed the wall hard: "Damn it, he must have been kidnapped by the priest!"
Lu Xiaozhao's disappearance was more troublesome than Xing Yuan's, because he was a useless person with zero combat power and no ability to protect himself. Lu Yan forced himself to calm down, puzzled: "Why did the priest arrest him?"
Xing Yuan combined the special characteristics of Lu Xiaozhao, closed his eyes and fell into deep thought. A guess emerged in his mind, and after a moment he suddenly opened his eyes:
"He is the reincarnation of the priest!"
Lu Yan was stunned: "What is a reincarnation?"
Xing Yuan was not sure either, and after a moment's hesitation, he explained, "The priest is not a wanderer, but a half-human, half-soul monster. Although he is sealed and cannot leave the contaminated area, he must find a new body to reincarnate every hundred years. According to the time calculation, his current body should have entered an aging state, so he must find a younger body to sacrifice."
"When the wanderers sense that the priest is about to wake up, they will go to the Devil City in advance to find a suitable human baby to transform into a wanderer, so that when he wakes up, the baby will have just grown up. Lu Xiaozhao is obviously a low-level wanderer, but he can maintain his human form for many years. I guess he is the baby who was transformed at that time. I can't think of a second reason other than this."
Lu Yan was surprised. He had never thought there was such a reason behind this: "Sacrifice? Wouldn't his life be in danger?!"
He was about to go out to look for Lu Xiaozhao, but Xing Yuan grabbed his wrist and stopped him, saying, "Si Jiao's body is only ninety-nine years old, and he will be three months away from a hundred years. He cannot be reincarnated before the deadline. Before that, Lu Xiaozhao will not be in any danger. Don't you still have to organize a team in Devil City to resist the wanderers? Don't be distracted. I'll go check his whereabouts."
Lu Yan refused without thinking: "No, what if your identity is discovered!"
Xing Yuan interrupted him and said, "Your current identity is more prominent than mine. Almost everyone knows you. I am a wanderer and can transform into my original form, which makes it easier to investigate."
He had said this, so Lu Yan couldn't refuse anything. Now that the crisis was imminent, the guards in Devil City had to hurry up and mobilize. Division of labor and cooperation was the best solution.
Lu Yan could only agree. He reached out and held Xing Yuan's face and rubbed it for a moment. His body temperature was very low, his skin was cold, his eyes were narrow and long, and although his pupils were black, they were dark red when looked at closely. Everything about him showed that he was a wanderer. He couldn't help but whispered a warning:
"Then you must hide well, understand?"
Xing Yuan reached out and hugged Lu Yan, burying his face in the man's neck. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Suddenly, he smelled the scent of the illusionist wanderer. His pupils shrank, and he grabbed Lu Yan's collar and asked, "Did he touch you?!"
Xing Yuan's voice was sinister, and contained a kind of rage as if his property had been touched.
Lu Yan was stunned for a moment before he realized what he was asking. He asked with a half-smile, "What do you mean by 'touch'? Does it count as fighting?"
Xing Yuan's heart was filled with vomiting blood, and he was so angry that he almost bit his teeth off: "You fairies are fighting?!"
Ordinary fights do not leave a smell of blood; only intimate skin contact will leave a smell on the body.
Lu Yan almost laughed out of anger when he heard this. He had already boarded Xing Yuan's pirate ship. If he slept with another wanderer, how could he have any lower limit? He grabbed the back of Xing Yuan's head and whispered, "What are you thinking about every day? Am I the kind of person who is so hungry that he doesn't care about food? He pretended to be you and lay on the bed. I didn't react at the time, so..."
Before Lu Yan finished speaking, he saw Xing Yuan's face turn extremely ugly, and he stopped talking: "But before I could hold him in my arms, I realized something was wrong and recognized him."
A man's mouth is full of lies. Xing Yuan knew Lu Yan was lying at a glance, and asked with gritted teeth, "Are you sure?"
Lu Yan said calmly, "Sure, otherwise why would I fight him?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a sharp pain on his lips. He could smell blood. Lu Yan looked up in surprise and saw Xing Yuan kissing the blood off the corner of his mouth. His lips were a strange color, and his emotions were hard to discern in the dim light, but he inexplicably revealed a hint of uneasiness:
"Lu Yan, do you really not mind that I'm a wanderer?"
Lu Yan was stunned when he heard this, then he smiled. For the first time, he felt that the other party was quite stupid: "If you mind, I won't be with you. Don't ask such stupid questions in the future."
He reached out and held Xing Yuan in his arms, stroking him from head to back like a small animal, and gave him a warm and delicate kiss on the cheek: "I like you no matter what you look like."
Xing Yuan was not born to be a wanderer. He had been living in a polluted area since he became conscious, and later settled in Sky City. Naturally, he knew how much humans hated wanderers, and he was very afraid that the person he trusted the most would stab him in the back.
Since Lu Yan said no, then it wouldn't happen, and he believed it.
"Wait until I come back."
Xing Yuan kissed Lu Yan gently before leaving. His figure turned into a scarlet black mist and disappeared silently into the air to track the wanderer who had just left.
Although Sky City has patrol teams, it is difficult for ordinary people to detect the swift figure of a high-level wanderer. Xing Yuan followed the remaining breath in the air and finally stopped beside a ruin in the Devil City. The black and red mist flew to the ground and instantly condensed into a human shape in the air, which could not conceal the murderous aura.
Xing Yuan was completely naked at this moment, his pupils had turned into a cold and cruel scarlet color. His right hand fell to his side, a flash of lightning gathered in his palm, and his low and indifferent voice echoed in the ruined building, mixed with the sound of the wind:
"Come out!"
A ball of black mist appeared at the corner behind the ruins. It twisted and turned like a strange black snake, and finally transformed into a man who looked exactly like Xing Yuan, laughing strangely:
"Number One, long time no see."
He looked exactly like Xing Yuan, but his temperament was completely different. If Xing Yuan was the fierce and unruly wind and snow on the snowy mountains, then he was a poisonous poppy growing in the swamp, and was even more charming.
Xing Yuan whispered, dazed for a moment: "Number Two, who asked you to come over?!"
The person on the other side was somewhat dissatisfied and rushed behind him like a gust of wind: "I don't like the name of No. 2, Xing Yuan, you already have a human name, I want one too."
Xing Yuan frowned: "What's your human name then?"
Number Two: “I’m still trying to figure it out. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
Xing Yuan: “…”
Xing Yuan clenched his fists and exhaled slowly: "Hand over that human to me."
Innocent Number Two held up his hands and said, "I can't give it to you. He is in my illusion. As long as I don't open the entrance, none of you will be able to find him."
Xing Yuan's eyes dimmed, and lightning flashed in his palm: "Do you really want me to beat you into ashes?!"
Number Two laughed so hard upon hearing this: "Interesting, really interesting. You are obviously a wanderer, but now you are going to kill your companions for a human. Xing Yuan, their brainwashing skills are even more powerful than the priest's manipulation skills!"
Inexplicably, Xing Yuan did not like this word and frowned, "I was not brainwashed by them."
"That human is his younger brother."
That's all.
Number Two knew who Xing Yuan was referring to, and said with interest, "He is indeed amazing. He recognized me at first sight. Obviously, we look exactly like you."
Xing Yuan: "Stop interrupting me. Either you hand the person over today, or I will tear your illusion apart. It's your choice!"
Number Two snorted coldly and flew away suddenly: "If you want to tear my illusion apart, you have to see if you have the ability to do so! Bringing him back is the priest's order. I will die if I go back empty-handed. Xing Yuan, you have really been blinded by the lies of mankind. I don't believe you dare to kill me!"
They both look exactly the same. If you say there is no origin, no one would believe it. In order to refine the most powerful vengeful spirit, the priest did everything he could to find a rotten heart full of hatred, and refined Xing Yuan from the endless darkness. However, for some reason, a nightmare condensed from memories appeared, and thus the illusion wanderer No. 2 was born.
They are symbiotic, mutually reinforcing and counteracting each other. If one of them dies, the other will inevitably be affected.
"Then I'll kill you!"
Xing Yuan would never be threatened. He had a ruthless spirit of fighting to the death in his bones. Upon hearing this, he turned his wrist and summoned a large amount of lightning to hit No. 2. The latter was obviously no match for Xing Yuan in a head-on fight. He dodged swiftly and attacked with ice blades. However, after dozens of rounds, he was finally trapped in mid-air by Xing Yuan's lightning.
Number Two rushed around, his eyes red with anger: "Xing Yuan, you actually want to kill me!"
Xing Yuan glared at him coldly: "I'll say it one last time, hand him over!"
Number Two paused and said, "You can hand it over, but you have to be prepared. He may die."
Xing Yuan's expression changed slightly: "What do you mean?!"
Number Two said, "He is a reincarnated body. There is a trace of the priest's violent consciousness hidden in his body, and it is almost impossible to suppress it. If I don't return to the contaminated area to let the priest take it out, it will explode and die soon. Otherwise, the priest would not be in a hurry to let me take this body back."
He asked maliciously, "So, do you want this human being? If you want it, I'll give it to you. It's just a corpse anyway."
Xing Yuan had been away from the contaminated area for too long and didn't know there was such a reason behind it. Hearing this, he raised his eyes slightly, his gaze as sharp as a needle: "Is there no other way?"
Number Two smiled maliciously: "No, only a priest can retrieve that thread of consciousness. If you don't want him to die, you'd better let me go now. Maybe I can be kind enough to save his life."
“…”
After a long silence, Xing Yuan raised his hand and removed the power grid.
He and No. 2 were symbiotic organisms, so Xing Yuan could naturally sense whether the other was lying, and his sixth sense told him that what No. 2 said was true.
Lu Yan paced back and forth in the living room of his home from evening until five in the morning, and finally waited for Xing Yuan to come back. His figure was like a black mist, flying in from the window under the cover of clouds, and then magically turned into a human form.
Seeing this, Lu Yan immediately stepped forward and asked, "How are you? Are you not hurt?"
Xing Yuan frowned and shook his head, briefly telling Lu Yan about his encounter with No. 2, and finally said, "We have no choice but to let him take Lu Xiaozhao away now, otherwise we won't be able to resolve that thread of consciousness. The priest will not hold the reincarnation ceremony for another three months. No. 2 promised me that he would temporarily protect Lu Xiaozhao in the contaminated area, so nothing should happen."
Lu Yan thought that it was no wonder that Lu Xiaozhao was not very smart. It turned out that he had some knowledge of a priest. He asked hesitantly, "Do you think that number two is reliable?"
Xing Yuan raised his eyebrows: "Probably. Anyway, the reincarnated body must be killed alive. Even without his protection, the priest will not kill Lu Xiaozhao. We just need to rescue him before the reincarnation ceremony."
Speaking of this, we have to mention the team that Lu Yan had just formed. When the number of guards exceeded 20 yesterday, the system finally popped up a message prompt:
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the first branch mission. Currently, the number of recruited team members has exceeded 20. The reward is 100 merit points! ]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for triggering the second branch mission of the City of Hope: Please tap the potential of your team members to the greatest extent possible so that they can gain superpowers. If necessary, you can redeem effective props from the system store. Each time you tap a superpower, you will be rewarded with 100 points, which can be accumulated and there is no upper limit.]
Before Lu Yan could breathe a sigh of relief that he would not be reborn as an animal in his next life, he was soon stumped by the second task assigned by the system. What does it mean to tap into the potential of the team members? What does it mean to enable them to gain superpowers?
Aren't superpowers something that are innate? Can they be discovered artificially?
Lu Yan found the potential stun gun he had taken a fancy to last time in the system mall, and discovered that the originally gray page that could not be purchased had now turned into a brightly unlocked state. It was just a bit expensive, requiring 3,000 points to redeem one.
According to the explanation on the detail page below, once this small button is pressed, it will generate a special energy current, thereby stimulating the human body and activating superpowers. It is so small that it cannot be discovered even if it is hidden in the sleeve.
You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. Lu Yan gritted his teeth and exchanged one. If this thing can really help ordinary people gain superpowers, he would have to buy it for at least 30,000 points, not just 3,000.
"It's getting late. I should also go to the Devil City to gather. Since Xiao Zhao is not in danger for the time being, I will go and gather the team as soon as possible so that I can rescue him as soon as possible."
Xing Yuan frowned: "You haven't slept for several nights."
Lu Yan went to the bathroom to wash his face. When he came out, he leaned over and kissed him. The ends of his dark hair were covered with moisture, and his eyes were smiling. "Wait for me at home. I will definitely be back tonight."
When Lu Yan arrived at the gathering place on Yunduan Road, it was exactly seven o'clock. He saw that a large group of people had already gathered there, led by Chen Yan and his group, as well as researchers such as Feng Xiangming.
"When you retire from the patrol, you are allowed to take a box of equipment with you. This is what more than 40 of us brothers have saved. The guns and bullets are all here. Although there are not many, they can help you train and save your life. You can give them to the ordinary people."
Chen Yan pointed to the fifty or so equipment boxes piled up on the side of the road and said, "There are ten more boxes, which were sent by my brothers in the team. They have families to take with them, so it's not convenient for them to leave as cleanly as we did, but it's also a token of their appreciation."
Feng Xiangming and his family were wealthy, so they were very generous. "Brother Lu, my parents heard that I joined the security team, so they opened their private warehouse and donated a batch of equipment, such as cars and helicopters. I'll have someone drive them over later. Anyway, those things are useless if they are parked in Sky City, so let's just do a good deed."
Meng Xichuan also said, "Since we are going to form a security team, we can't have no office space at all. I think the building in the back is good. I will buy it later and use it as our temporary office base. The teacher heard about your story and sent a truckload of upgraded corrosive agents, which is very effective against vagrants."
Tang Xiao and his friends didn't have anything to show for it, so they could only stammer, "We have the strength, so we can help move the things."
This is not about forming a team, it's more like illegal fundraising.
Lu Yan stood on a high place, scanning those familiar or unfamiliar faces, thinking that Chen Yan and his team had spent all their family wealth, and as for Feng Xiangming and his team, these people didn't even know if their team could succeed, yet they were spending money so recklessly. If he didn't show some performance, he would be betraying their trust.
Lu Yan simply stepped on a container, held a megaphone and stood on a high place, looking like a big pancake, just like those abominable leaders in the company:
"From today on, I declare that the Devil City Guard is officially established! Everyone present here is a member of the guard. I am not talented enough, so I will temporarily serve as the captain. After breakfast, I will lead everyone in supernatural power training. You must follow orders in all actions. Do you understand?!"
Feng Xiangming raised his hand in confusion: "Brother Lu, what is supernatural training?"
Lu Yanzhen: "Call the captain."
Feng Xiangming readily accepted the advice: "Captain, may I ask what is supernatural training?"
Lu Yan stood on a high place holding the loudspeaker, cleared his throat and said, "Well, literally, it means training to help you stimulate your superpowers."
“Wow!”
As soon as Lu Yan said this, the whole place was in a state of shock. Everyone was shocked and bewildered. They even suspected that there was something wrong with their ears. Did they trigger supernatural powers? ! How is this possible? ! !
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