Chapter 26: Moon God Heavenly Cavalry
“Brother Zhang, long time no see~!”
Wu Xian teasingly greeted the other party, full of curiosity about the secret on Zhang Mazi’s body.
“It’s you?!” Zhang Mazi’s mouth twitched, his expression strange, “How did you end up in the shantytown?”
“What do you mean? I live in the shantytown.”
“……”
Zhang Mazi and the others looked at each other, clearly not quite believing it.
Not to mention anything else, just the badass humanoid scroll painting in Wu Xian’s hand didn’t seem like something someone living in the shantytown would have.
Moreover, he had wanted to buy their goods earlier—who’s ever seen a buyer boss living in the shantytown?
“Don’t believe me? If you don’t, you can come sit at my place.” Wu Xian was too lazy to explain much, looked around, and asked with concern, “By the way, how are things on your side?”
Zhang Mazi snorted coldly in response, “With us here, there’s no problem for now.”
“That’s good,” Wu Xian nodded slightly, “I just saw three young officers from the defense team over there. It shouldn’t be long before the entire shantytown stabilizes.”
“Hmph~ Counting on those three young kids?” Zhang Mazi sneered, “Better to rely on yourself than anyone else.”
“Isn’t it a good thing that the authorities are stepping in?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
“Young fellow, you’re still too young,” Zhang Mazi said with a sarcastic tone, his eyes showing some resentment, “If the higher-ups cared even a little, they wouldn’t have sent just those three greenhorns.”
Hearing this, Wu Xian couldn’t help but fall silent.
“Dad, who is this…?” The boy beside him asked curiously.
“Nothing,” Zhang Mazi patted the boy’s head and gestured for everyone to go back inside to take shelter, “Probably some rich kid who came down to experience life. He has nothing to do with us poor folks.”
Wu Xian’s mouth twitched slightly, amused yet exasperated.
……
San Zai Gang, North Dimensional Port.
The Abyssal Dimensional Gate, like a towering colossal entity, had its light restrained and was completely sealed off.
On the vast Dimensional Plaza, countless adventurers who had withdrawn from the instance were, under the army’s call and command, fighting against the monsters invading from the dimensional mirage.
Zhao He was one of them. At this moment, he was following the temporarily formed team, fighting fiercely in the familiar North Street District.
Relying on the Guardian Tiger’s excellent combat ability, he successfully won the appreciation of the leading young officer.
But he just wanted to rush back to the shantytown as soon as possible to confirm the safety of his wife, kids, and brothers.
“Brother, your scroll painting is truly fierce!” The middle-aged young officer beside him was full of admiration, “When the dimensional mirage ends, come straight to our barracks and join me. Brother guarantees you wealth and glory.”
“Thank you for the recognition, officer, but right now I just want to go back to the shantytown to check.” Zhao He was worried.
“Your family is in the shantytown?” The middle-aged officer frowned.
“Yeah, I don’t know how things are there now?”
The officer pondered for a moment and solemnly reminded him, “The shantytown has been sealed off and quarantined. You can only enter, not leave. Think it over carefully.”
“Sealed off and quarantined? Why?”
“Orders from above. I don’t know the specific reason, but you’d better not go back.” The officer kindly advised.
But Zhao He grew even more anxious. After thanking the officer again for the recognition, he unhesitatingly rushed toward the shantytown.
Watching Zhao He’s determined departing figure, the officer shook his head with a light sigh and did not stop him.
……
The New City District side was less affected by the dimensional mirage.
The populace was gradually restoring order under the rescue and appeasement efforts of various groups.
The students of Dengfeng Art Studio were also, under the organization of their teachers and school leaders, participating in this rare training opportunity.
Teams of student squads shuttled through various parts of the urban area, clearing monsters, rescuing civilians, and reaping a full sense of accomplishment and reputation.
Many new students felt the pride and honor of being a scroll painting student in this training.
Of course, there were gaps between new students and new students.
For example, Wang Xiaocong, who was driving an armored combat vehicle and leading the team racing through the city, didn’t often get the chance to race in the urban area.
The usually congested main road of the New City District had now become his personal showground.
The engine roared, and the armored combat vehicle sped wildly.
“Weren’t there supposed to be elite insectoid monsters here? Where~ where~?” Wang Xiaocong shouted, asking his teammates.
“Right turn at the intersection ahead!” The female classmate beside him reported promptly.
“Got it~!”
Wang Xiaocong smiled slightly, controlled the vehicle to speed wildly, and swung the divine dragon tail.
However, the moment the vehicle turned right, everyone in the car was dumbfounded.
Only to see on the street ahead in the urban area, a giant centipede six or seven meters long was rampaging crazily—a proper Tier 2 elite insectoid monster.
It had already been claimed first by two other teams.
“Holy crap, what the hell is that? Mechanical War God?” Wang Xiaocong yelled in shock.
“Seems like classmate Tang Tiaotiao’s scroll painting!” The female classmate beside him had a strange expression.
“Tang Tiaotiao?” Wang Xiaocong was puzzled: “Isn’t her scroll painting a cute little white rabbit?”
“Seems like she found inspiration on a sketching trip a few days ago and just made it,” the female classmate said uncertainly: “Feels kinda powerful?”
“You call that thing ‘kinda powerful’?”
Wang Xiaocong’s mouth twitched wildly.
Only to see on the chaotic battlefield ahead, a humanoid mecha was darting and weaving. It had a silver-white paint job interwoven with moon-crescent-like pristine patterns. The machine body was over three meters tall, slender and sleek, like a tall mecha goddess.
From the wrists of its arms extended a pair of moon-crescent war blades, slashing out sharp moonlit blades that left shocking wounds on the giant centipede.
With the coordination of several teammates, the giant centipede was completely suppressed.
In contrast, the team led by Pang Dahai was toyed with by the mecha goddess and the giant centipede to the point of doubting life, unable to get close at all.
“Pang Dahai, if you don’t want your crappy scroll painting to shatter, get the hell out of the way—!”
Tang Tiaotiao controlled 【Moon God Heavenly Rider】 and flung a moonlit blade, knocking back Pang Dahai’s slow-moving humanoid machine cannon turret.
Afterward, she didn’t forget to gesture a “you’re too weak” sign at Pang Dahai.
“Impossible! How could that damn woman draw such a powerful mechanical scroll painting?”
“Fake, it must be fake! Why… why her?”
Pang Dahai’s face twisted, unable to accept it.
Crucially, he’d never heard of the Tang Family having such a powerful mechanical scroll painting inheritance?
In contrast, Tang Tiaotiao’s teammates were completely in awe, “Awesome, Sister Tiao! Your Moon God Heavenly Rider is too fierce!”
“Feels like it has potential to impact the Famous Scroll Hall in the mechanical system!”
“Absolutely, the mechanical system doesn’t have many high-end combat powers to begin with, and Famous Scroll Hall hasn’t been updated in how many years.”
“Our Sister Tiao is definitely a mechanical scroll painting genius!”
Tang Tiaotiao was quite pleased with everyone’s flattery. After decisively dealing with the giant centipede, 【Moon God Heavenly Rider】 landed steadily beside her, elegant and flashy, “Hehe, 200 credits easily in hand. Not bad for me.”
“Let’s go, head toward the Old City District. I hear there are more dimensional monsters over there!”
……
On the shantytown side.
Wu Xian had already returned home, and the old masters were panicked upon learning the shantytown was sealed off.
Fortunately, with the Chicken King and Guardian Tiger holding down the fort, dimensional monsters couldn’t infiltrate, and a few stray monsters wandering around the rundown courtyard didn’t dare approach.
At this time, Wu Xian was in the house sorting and studying the monster materials he had gathered along the way.
Among them, the abyssal monster materials made his hands itch, stirring with excitement.
“Insects and abyssal monsters—it’s got a real Qingming Festival vibe.”
Wu Xian joked as he sketched drafts on scrap paper, determining the specific style and concept for the next scroll painting.
Since it’s “Qingming Festival,” he naturally had to make something fitting the holiday atmosphere.
On the drawing paper, two figures—one black, one white; one tall, one short; one fat, one thin—were in utter disharmony.
