Chapter 108: Warrior Lin Qi?
“Absolutely certain!”
“This news has already spread through most of the suburbs. Many gangs are now talking about this Obsidian Martial Arts Hall rising up in the abandoned area.”
“They think this human Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is just a madman. They provoked the White Feather Gang on Crimson Moon Mountain before, and now they launched a night raid on the Great Ape Gang. They have no idea what fear is.”
Hearing Xia Ling’s voice turn serious, the middle-aged guard broke out in a cold sweat down his back and hurried to explain.
“I did underestimate their gang a bit before.” Xia Ling was shocked, yet also suddenly enlightened. “If they dare to offend a large wilderness gang like the Great Ape Gang to the death, no wonder they could get a Gold-Devouring Unicorn Rat.”
“What is the situation with casualties over at the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall?”
“Six advanced apprentices died.”
“Are you playing with me?”
Listening to the middle-aged guard’s report, Xia Ling’s gaze instantly turned icy, making cold sweat stream down his forehead.
“Miss, this is true!” The middle-aged guard hurriedly explained. “The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall sent only nineteen people for the night raid, one limit apprentice and eighteen advanced apprentices. Originally they were all going to die at the hands of the Great Ape Gang, but the hall master of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, Lin Qi, suddenly made a move and rescued the remaining thirteen people. All the members of the Great Ape Gang can testify to this.”
“Are you telling me a joke? Trying to make me laugh?” Xia Ling stared at the middle-aged guard, her voice growing colder and colder.
Nineteen people raiding the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang, killing more than six hundred, was already outrageous, and did she not know what Lin Qi’s situation was?
He was just an apprentice.
Lin Qi alone, inside the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters, rescuing the remaining thirteen people? Even fairy tales would not dare tell such a story.
The situation of the Great Ape Gang might be a secret to wilderness gangs, but for gangs in the suburbs, it was no secret. There were at least ten quasi-martial artists permanently stationed at the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters, with more than one hundred advanced-level apprentices, and more than four hundred experts at apprentice level and above.
In front of such an army of apprentices, let alone Lin Qi as a single apprentice saving thirteen people, even twenty quasi-martial artists could not pull that off.
“Miss, every word I said is true. According to the members of the Great Ape Gang, Lin Qi is suspected to be a martial artist. That is why the five injured elders of the Great Ape Gang hurriedly retreated.” Seeing Xia Ling already impatiently lashing her tail, the middle-aged guard was nearly in tears.
Xia Ling was indeed very beautiful, a top beauty even among the Half-Scale Race, with outstanding talent. She became a quasi-martial artist before twenty and was now the future star of her family, holding authority in the Phosphor Fire Gang comparable to the vice gang leader, a true daughter of heaven.
But such a daughter of heaven was a little demon.
Although every year more than ten people in the Phosphor Fire Trading Market died for unknown reasons, anyone with eyes knew they had offended the gang’s senior officials and thus died mysteriously.
Since Xia Ling took over the Phosphor Fire Trading Market, that death count had doubled, with guards dying the most.
As for the reasons for these deaths, sometimes it was because Xia Ling was happy, sometimes because she was angry. This turned the Phosphor Fire Trading Market, once a cushy job, into a place everyone in the Phosphor Fire Gang wanted to avoid.
“Suspected to be a martial artist? That Lin Qi?” After hearing the guard’s explanation, Xia Ling’s beautiful eyes were full of disbelief. “How could he possibly be a martial artist?”
Xia Ling’s memory of Lin Qi was quite deep. The first time she saw him, she could tell he was not even an apprentice. The second time, through testing, confirmed her guess.
By the third meeting, Xia Ling could be sure Lin Qi was only an apprentice.
And now, in such a short time, Lin Qi had become a martial artist?
Even those called genius martial artists among the Half-Scale Race, raised from childhood on all kinds of potions, probably could not match even one-tenth of Lin Qi’s speed of progress. Lin Qi had no background, no resources, so how could he possibly improve so fast?
“Miss, I have a short video recorded by a member of the Great Ape Gang.” Seeing Xia Ling so doubtful, the middle-aged guard immediately took out the video information he had bought at great cost, not daring to think about taking any credit.
After Xia Ling’s smart watch received the video, she opened it without hesitation.
The recorded video was very, very short, less than five seconds in total, but in one of those seconds, Xia Ling truly believed what the guard had said.
Lin Qi’s appearance in the footage was very clear. In less than one second, he used a martial artist-level martial skill three times in a row.
This kind of continuous outburst of qi and blood was something a quasi-martial artist simply could not achieve. Only martial artists, whose internal organs had been strengthened by energy ore, could possess such reaction speed and control over qi and blood.
Xia Ling had seen this method of using martial skills consecutively many times in real combat drills conducted by martial artist instructors at Light Chasing University. It was definitely not something quasi-martial artists or apprentices beneath martial artists could fake.
“A martial artist! He really is a martial artist!” Xia Ling’s beautiful eyes locked on Lin Qi on the screen, the corners of her mouth curling up uncontrollably. “If I can get him to become my recommender, then I can participate in this Five Cities Competition. I may not win the championship, but as long as I can enter the main event, I can then choose a secret technique to learn from the Martial Artist Association. Heaven really does not cut off every path.”
Jointly organized once a year by the Martial Artist Association of the five surrounding cities, the Five Cities Competition was very famous among the five cities. As long as you were under twenty and recommended by a martial artist, you could participate.
The Martial Artist Association even provided quite generous rewards every year, making many young people in the five cities want to join and use it to leap like a carp over the dragon gate.
On the surface, this grand competition seemed to promote the progress of the younger generation in the five cities, but in truth it was welfare prepared for the children of martial artists.
For those without a martial artist’s recommendation, no matter how high their talent, they had no qualification to participate.
Although she belonged to the Half-Scale Race, there was no martial artist in her family, so she had never obtained a place in the competition. As for trying to befriend those martial artists, they would never give such a precious recommendation quota to a suburban gang like the Phosphor Fire Gang. Giving it to the children of the great families in the city proper was a much better choice.
But Lin Qi was different. Having just been promoted to martial artist, probably not a single person from the great families in the city proper knew him yet. She had every chance to obtain this recommendation quota.
Especially now that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had offended the Great Ape Gang.
For wilderness gangs, the Great Ape Gang was a giant, but for large gangs in the suburbs, it was only a slightly bigger ant that could be crushed at any time.
“Miss, the Great Ape Gang probably will not let the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall go. After they resolve some issues at their headquarters, at most in a day or two they will move against the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. The overall strength of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is far inferior to the Great Ape Gang. Although this is a good opportunity, if we intervene directly, the Gorilla Gang may also make a move. This help might not be easy to give.” The middle-aged guard cautiously reminded her.
“Ridiculous! Since when is our Phosphor Fire Gang afraid of that group of gorillas?” Xia Ling showed open disdain, then ordered, “Go gather some people immediately. Early tomorrow morning we head to Crimson Moon Mountain. I want to see who dares touch the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall!”
“Yes!” After hearing this, the middle-aged guard bowed at once and left the secret room.
Meanwhile, on Crimson Moon Mountain more than a hundred kilometers away from the City of Light Chasing, Lin Qi had finally finished sorting and distributing the loot from the night raid on the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters.
“The members of the Great Ape Gang are really wealthy. Every weapon they use is at least A6 grade, and there are so many B2 grade arrows. Truly worthy of an old-established large gang.” Looking at the pile of weapons, armor, and arrows on the table, Lin Qi could not help but sigh.
For this surprise attack mission, in addition to awarding each player a base of ten thousand points and five hundred contribution, the players could also take half the value of the loot.
But even with the players taking half the value of the loot, it still filled an entire table.
Maybe it was because the players took a lot of arrow hits, but they obtained many B2 grade arrows, a full twenty-five of them. Most of those were contributed by Yi Ye Fu Yun, who directly exchanged them for that B2 grade halberd.
As for the others, they gave up the A5 and A6 grade armor they had picked up, happily chose two or three A6 grade weapons, then all killed themselves to resurrect. The speed of that was something else.
The result of this night raid was very good. It should greatly delay the time of the Great Ape Gang’s offensive, giving current players more time to improve and for more advanced and intermediate apprentices to emerge.
After all, most players on Crimson Moon Mountain had been stuck at the threshold for quite some time. With just a bit more improvement in the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, they could directly break through to the next level.
Lin Qi then touched the dented helmet on the battle armor box, the corners of his mouth rising.
“I wonder if Luo Qi can repair this battle armor’s helmet.”
Apart from the helmet, the entire A6 grade battle armor was an integrated unit made of nano alloy. It was easy to put on and take off. When removed, the armor folded into a small suitcase. To wear it, you just opened the suitcase and stepped on it, though the helmet needed to be worn separately, making it far less convenient than B grade battle armor.
Even so, Lin Qi was very satisfied with the A6 grade battle armor before him.
Once he put it on, it could provide an extra 100 kilograms of strength, letting his strength reach nearly 1200 kilograms. In addition, there was neural assistance; ordinary martial artists’ neural reactions were probably not as fast as his.
Combined with full body protection, as long as he was not facing B grade weapons or internal force, he would be able to run rampant on the battlefield.
“Is this that guy’s smart watch?”
Lin Qi opened the battle armor box, ready to try on the A6 grade battle armor, when he found a delicate smart watch inside.
Although the material was not B grade alloy, it was more advanced than an ordinary smart watch. It was built with A6 grade alloy, definitely not something a normal apprentice could possess.
Lin Qi immediately turned on the smart watch and began to carefully examine it.
A senior official of the Great Ape Gang wearing A6 grade battle armor would definitely know many of the Great Ape Gang’s secrets. With a big battle imminent, any extra information on the Great Ape Gang would be very helpful for dealing with them later.
Lin Qi had not even been reading for ten minutes before he froze.
“How is this possible! There is actually a small energy vein hidden in the depths of Crimson Moon Mountain?!”
Looking at the detailed introduction and survey results of Crimson Moon Mountain on the smart watch, Lin Qi was, for a moment, at a loss for words to describe his feelings.
Energy veins had always been the lifeline of the high martial arts world.
A single miniature energy vein was enough to make wilderness gangs fight each other fiercely, because selling its energy ore casually could earn billions of bit.
And above a miniature energy vein, a small energy vein was something that could drive all the major suburban gangs into madness.
The reason was simple. Every small energy vein could be used to build a town, or rather, all existing wilderness towns were established atop a small energy vein.
In other words, as long as you could seize a small energy vein, you could carve out territory beyond the city and claim a king seal.
