Chapter 234: The Whole City Trembles
“What did you… say?”
“Four-armed Blade Demon Fred?”
The three-eyed bald man and the Half-Scale woman almost simultaneously turned to look at the ape clansman, their voices trembling, unable to believe what their ape companion had said.
Four-armed Blade Demon Fred!
This name might not be widely known in the City of Light Chasing, but among the Bone Forging Realm experts of a city, there were probably few who did not know it. In fact, anyone who could be admitted into a domain city would become a yearly topic among the city’s Bone Forging Realm experts.
Not to mention that a year ago, Four-armed Blade Demon Fred had already been recognized by Wanxing City’s city lord and several vice city lords as a Half-step Top Tier Bone Forging Realm expert. In just two or three years, he was expected to become a true Top Bone Forging Realm Expert.
And now they were being told that the sub-demon man lying on the ground was Four-armed Blade Demon Fred. Who could believe that?
Yet when the two of them saw the sub-demon man’s face, they were completely stunned.
“How is this possible!”
“He is Four-armed Blade Demon Fred!”
Although the three-eyed bald man and the Half-Scale woman did not want to believe it, Fred’s face was far too memorable, especially the eyes: heterochromatic pupils, one red and one blue, something unseen even among the sub-demon race.
Back then, because of this, there had been rumors that Fred was a hybrid, which was why his talent was outstanding enough to enter a domain city.
“What do we do now?” The ape clansman’s expression turned heavy as he asked the two, “Four-armed Blade Demon Fred died here; this will not be easy to handle.”
Under normal circumstances, anyone daring to assassinate a martial artist inside the city would die for nothing. With sufficient evidence, once they identified the assassin, they could simply leave.
But Fred was someone who had made it into a domain city. If there was no suitable explanation to present to the outside world, this matter would definitely turn the world upside down.
“Hall Master Lin, who exactly killed Fred?” The Half-Scale woman could not help but look to Lin Qi and ask, “Can we meet that person? We need to understand the details.”
The ape clansman and the three-eyed man also looked at Lin Qi, curious to know which remarkable figure could even take down Fred.
Someone capable of killing Fred would not be an ordinary person in either status or standing. If they could come forward and explain clearly, then the three of them would be able to handle external inquiries more easily, and would be less likely to be suspected by Wanxing City and the domain city of having orchestrated a deliberate assassination targeting Fred.
“It was me.” Lin Qi replied calmly, “I was training in the training room. This sub-demon man rushed in with a blade to kill me. As for what followed, Dona has the recorded footage.”
“You killed him?” The three-eyed bald man stared at Lin Qi, his voice rising several pitches, his eyes full of disbelief.
Rumors outside already claimed that Mihos had lost to Lin Qi, which was hard enough to believe.
Lin Qi had only just entered the Bone Forging Realm. Even with rapid growth in such a short time, merely lasting a few moves against Mihos, who was at the Bone Forging Realm Intermediate Level, would already have been impressive, let alone defeating Mihos.
And since Mihos was his subordinate, he had personally asked Mihos whether it had been Lin Qi. Mihos had refused to answer, only admitting that he had indeed fled.
Now he was being told that Lin Qi had killed Fred. This was an insult to his intelligence.
“Hall Master Lin, I understand you do not wish to expose that person’s identity.” The Half-Scale woman clearly did not believe him either. She spoke sternly, “But this assassin’s identity is anything but ordinary. We must have a sufficient explanation for the outside world. Otherwise, this matter will not only be troublesome for your Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, but will also bring trouble upon the entire City of Light Chasing.”
“Hall Master Lin, if you cannot have that person come out, we will have to search the entire martial arts hall.” The ape clansman also spoke solemnly.
Fred’s death was no trivial matter. If they claimed publicly that Fred had been killed by Lin Qi, who at most appeared to be at the Bone Forging Realm Intermediate Level, Wanxing City might directly start a war against the City of Light Chasing.
“You three, I can testify to this.” Dona looked at the three disbelieving leaders of the garrison regiments and stepped forward. “Fred was indeed killed by Hall Master Lin. I have the recorded battle footage. You will understand once you watch it.”
As she spoke, Dona tapped the smart watch on her wrist, and it immediately projected a holographic image of the earlier battle.
In the hologram, a sub-demon man in dark blue battle armor was being smashed relentlessly by Lin Qi wielding a club. The sub-demon man was completely unable to block. When he tried to flee, Lin Qi used some unknown martial skill to forcibly pin him to the ground so he could not move, then finally struck his back with a palm so powerful it blew open the training room’s ceiling and blasted a huge crater into the floor.
The scene continued until Lin Qi stripped the sub-demon man of his battle armor and items, revealing his true face.
“This…”
The three of them were dumbfounded after watching the hologram.
Judging from his strength, the sub-demon man in dark blue battle armor was clearly an Extreme Advanced Level Bone Forging Realm martial artist. There were not many of such individuals even among the sub-demon race in Wanxing City, and that was without counting the fact that he fought with four blades.
The final revealed face made it one hundred percent certain that this was unquestionably Fred. There had been no substitution.
And precisely because of that, the three found it even harder to accept.
A dignified Half-step Top Tier Bone Forging Realm expert had actually been beaten up by Lin Qi like a child. If not for the protection of his Tier 2 Battle Armor, he would have died who knew how many times over.
Especially Lin Qi’s final move; its power was simply astonishing. The pressure formed purely from condensed air was enough to suppress an Extreme Advanced Level Bone Forging Realm martial artist. That kind of martial skill was unquestionably at the level of an Extraordinary Martial Skill.
Someone who could easily overwhelm a Half-step Top Tier Bone Forging Realm expert head-on and who also commanded a Supernatural Level martial skill was comparable to a vice city lord in the city.
“Now this should prove I was telling the truth.” Lin Qi looked at the stunned three.
If Dona had not recorded the entire battle, it would have been troublesome for him to prove anything.
“Hall Master Lin, my name is Yinuo. I am currently the leader of the seventeenth regiment of the garrison.” The Half-Scale woman came back to her senses, looked at Lin Qi, and introduced herself with a smile. “It is now clear that Fred attempted to assassinate you, Hall Master, and that he was killed in your counterattack. If Wanxing City seeks revenge against the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in the future, you can contact me directly. Here is my information. I guarantee that anyone Wanxing City sends will not return.”
As Yinuo spoke with a smile, the three-eyed bald man and the ape clansman also nodded repeatedly with kindly expressions, though the looks they cast at Yinuo held clear disdain.
Ordinarily, Yinuo would not smile even when facing the grand regiment leader. Now she was all smiles toward Lin Qi, obviously trying to cling to a powerful backer.
But Yinuo, far from caring about their contempt, seemed quite pleased with herself, as if saying, if you have the ability, you should try to cling to him too.
The two men could only give bitter smiles in their hearts. When they had arrived, their attitude toward Lin Qi had certainly not been very good; now it was hard to cling to him even if they wanted to.
A future vice city lord, and even the youngest among them, would, in time, hold authority in the City of Light Chasing second only to the city lord.
Lin Qi was also quite surprised by the sudden change in Yinuo and the others, not understanding why the three regiment leaders had suddenly become so enthusiastic. They did not even need further explanation or investigation from him, but instead left directly carrying Fred’s corpse, their attitude nothing but respectful.
Under normal circumstances, no matter how strong he was, he would not have the authority to influence the garrison, much less three Extreme Advanced Level Bone Forging Realm experts.
“Are you puzzled by their attitude?” Dona asked with a smile as she watched Yinuo and the other two leave.
“I am. Forget about the Half-Scale race and the Three-eyed Tribe; even the ape clan has not gotten along well with our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. They are still eyeing Chiyue Town. Yet that ape regiment leader also changed his attitude.” Lin Qi nodded, not quite sure what was going on.
While strength could certainly increase one’s appeal, this was too much. That was an Extreme Advanced Level Bone Forging Realm great ape.
“It is normal for them to act this way. Your strength is enough to hold the position of vice city lord.” Dona explained, “You probably have not stepped into the human race’s core circle yet, so you do not know how great the influence and authority of a city’s vice city lord is. Especially for wilderness hunting of intermediate or higher lords, the expeditions are often led by a vice city lord. How much these regiment leaders can gain and whether they are injured depends on the leading vice city lord.”
“Vice city lords lead the hunts against intermediate or higher lords?” Lin Qi was hearing for the first time that vice city lords had such duties.
If hunts were indeed led by vice city lords, then these garrison regiment leaders would have to watch the leader’s mood. Otherwise, they would miss out on benefits and be left with trouble.
“But Hall Master Lin, just who have you offended? Someone was able to invite a big figure like Fred to assassinate you.” Dona looked at Lin Qi curiously.
A legendary figure like Fred, who had a real chance of reaching the level of a city lord in the future, would demand an extraordinary price to make a move.
“I have not provoked any major power or big figure.” Lin Qi shook his head. In truth, he also found it strange. Recently he had not provoked any major powers.
At most, the players had accidentally wiped out the White Feather Gang’s stronghold and killed a large number of captains from the Half-Scale Race, the Three-eyed Tribe, and the Crystal Race, plus three monsters.
If those three races wanted revenge, there was no need to hire Fred. It would be simpler and more effective for their clan leaders to take action themselves.
“Check Fred’s smart watch. There might be some clues. There are not many factions capable of arranging something like this.” Dona suggested. “If you do not know which faction you have provoked, they may act again. Now that they likely know your true strength, they may not even leave you a chance to counterattack next time.”
Lin Qi felt this made sense and directly took out Fred’s smart watch to check.
“It really is the Red Moon Merchant Guild.” Dona, looking at the messages the Red Moon Merchant Guild had sent to Fred on the smart watch, could not help but gasp. “The assassination fee is actually two thousand energy crystals. What kind of faction is this, to spend so much so freely?”
Two thousand energy crystals was enough to make even her half-beast race’s clan leader extremely tempted.
“Two thousand energy crystals?” Lin Qi stared at the message, also shocked by the bounty’s price.
Two thousand energy crystals could not be dug out even by exhausting two or three small energy veins. He truly could not understand which super rich player would be willing to spend so many energy crystals just to kill him.
“And this is only the energy crystals paid to the assassin. The Red Moon Merchant Guild’s actual quoted price is likely much higher. For a faction to spend so many energy crystals, it cannot be ordinary. At the very least, our half-beast race could not afford it. With that many energy crystals, we would rather take action ourselves.” Dona sighed as she read the information. “But the Red Moon Merchant Guild is known for honoring its word. Now that this assassination has failed, I expect they will soon hire an even stronger assassin.”
“An even stronger assassin?” Lin Qi frowned. “Would someone at the city lord’s level make a move?”
If a city lord-level powerhouse came, he would have to prepare to flee and lie low until players advanced to the Bone Forging Realm, and only come out again then.
“That is unlikely.” Dona shook her head, full of respect. “There are not many at the city lord’s level in our entire Wushan Region. They are all guardians of cities and do not act lightly. Besides, the Red Moon Merchant Guild is not a local power of our Wushan Region. They are only here for business. If a city lord-level powerhouse came, they would immediately be monitored by the domain city, let alone be allowed to kill martial artists within a city.”
“That is a relief.” Lin Qi let out a breath.
As long as he did not encounter a city lord-level powerhouse, he was confident he could handle things. In fact, once there were enough players promoted to advanced martial artists, they alone could overwhelm such enemies without him needing to act.
“However, it seems Fred was here on a domain city task.” Dona studied the information on the smart watch, her expression turning serious. “And according to this, the task is not ordinary. I do not know what it is, but they sent an entire team from the domain city, led by a special grade genius of the domain city.”
“The task you mentioned would not happen to be related to this information, would it?” Lin Qi flipped to the many encrypted messages he had noticed earlier on the smart watch. “Many of these encrypted messages were sent in the last few days. They might contain the task details.”
“Very likely. I can decrypt them. Want me to do it?” Dona’s interest was piqued. She flashed her own top-grade smart watch, forged from C-grade alloy.
A genius admitted into a domain city would store information in their smart watch that was worth a fortune. It might even contain data about the domain city itself, which could be helpful for getting admitted there.
“Sure, go ahead.” Lin Qi nodded. He was also curious about what the domain city had sent people here to do, and he was full of curiosity about the so-called domain city.
“Decrypting this information will take about a day. I will bring it to you once I am done.” Dona took Fred’s smart watch and ran back to her lounge with great interest, not wanting to stay in the training room a moment longer.
After Dona left, Lin Qi collected the loot, rallied the excited martial arts hall members, and began repairing the hall.
While the members and players of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall were discussing what had happened inside the hall, the senior officials of the major factions and all the races in the City of Light Chasing were getting out of bed in the middle of the night to hold meetings.
The reason for the meetings was very simple.
The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s hall master, Lin Qi, had not only killed Fred, the genius who had made it into the domain city, but it was also confirmed that Lin Qi now possessed vice city lord-level strength. Before long, the City of Light Chasing would have a fifth vice city lord.
“What did you say? Hall Master Lin is not only a Top Bone Forging Realm Expert, but has also mastered an Extraordinary Martial Skill!” Wu Zhuoqun was stunned as Lin Yan, who had rushed in, reported the newly obtained information. “Lin Yan, you are not lying to me, are you?”
“This was told to me by Leader Yinuo. It cannot be wrong. They even brought back the corpse of the famous Four-armed Blade Demon Fred.” Lin Yan said excitedly.
“A Top Bone Forging Realm Expert who has mastered an Extraordinary Martial Skill… does this mean our human race can have another vice city lord?” Wu Zhuoqun clenched his fists in excitement. “Quick! Notify Elder Xiang and the others! Our human race is finally going to have another vice city lord after all these years!”
