“Boom!!”
A ball of flame exploded with a thunderous roar.
The assassin was blasted over ten meters away, crashing into the rooftop clothes rack and a pile of signage, sending them toppling down.
“Squeak squeak squeak~~~”
Off to the side, the little red eye fox chuckled, one paw covering its mouth as if mocking, “Another idiot fell for it.”
The Salamander Assassin's entire face had been charred black by the blast. He climbed to his feet in fury, opening his mouth to spew thick, toxic fog. The poisonous mist surged across the rooftop like a tidal wave, engulfing the entire platform.
“Chitong, go watch from a distance,” Li Ran said.
“Squeak.” Chitong responded, then leapt up to a higher perch, peering down. The area below had become a zone of noxious mist, the entire row of back-alley storefront rooftops now shrouded in the poison.
The fog corroded everything it touched on the rooftop, rapidly transforming it into a swamp of toxic vapor.
Splash splash~~
Li Ran heard something swimming within the toxic swamp.
At this moment, he was wading through the poisoned swamp, the toxic swamp reaching up to his calves. Movement became more difficult. His vision was shrouded in a green haze—he could see nothing clearly.
“What kind of technique is this?” Li Ran looked down at the poison beneath his feet, lifting one leg—his shin was coated in green venom.
Splash splash~~~
Again came the sound of something moving through the swamp.
“Hiding in the toxic swamp… You think that’ll stop me?” Li Ran gave a faint smile. The perception ring on his hand emitted an invisible ripple, triggering his divine sense once more to scan the poisoned zone.
“Huh? Even divine sense can’t detect anything?”
That surprised him a little. He stared into the greenish, toxic swamp and suddenly understood why his divine sense had flickered before—this assassin could use the poisonous fog to constantly mask his presence.
A weakness of divine sense.
But Li Ran wasn’t bothered by its failure—he had his X-ray glasses. He adjusted the focus slightly, his gaze sweeping sharply across the swamp.
A cold, shadowy figure was dashing toward him from within the toxic swamp, its speed as swift and deadly as a venomous serpent striking its prey.
“Shadowfang Bite!”
Wreathed in black shadow, Li Ran’s arms swiftly became cloaked in magic shadows, transforming into two wolf-headed shadow beasts.
He swung his arms forward with a sweep—instantly, a surge of poisonous waves exploded within the swamp, sending both the venomous tide and the charging Salamander flying backward.
The shadow beasts stirred the toxic waves into frenzy, each shadow like a demonic wolf savagely biting at the Salamander, forcing him into a steady retreat, driving him to the swamp’s edge.
A fierce glint flashed in the Salamander’s eyes. “You actually managed to push me this far…”
As he spoke, tendrils of blood aura began seeping from his demonized body. In an instant, his entire body turned blood red—even his eyes became crimson.
Blood mist boiled like vapor from his skin. Amid the toxic fog, the Salamander now crouched like a bloodthirsty beast lurking in the swamp.
“Boiling Bloodline!”
A sharp blood-red gleam flashed from his eyes. With a “whoosh,” he transformed into a crimson blur, charging toward Li Ran through the venomous fog with furious momentum.
The poisonous mist morphed into a massive green salamander, and the blood-colored beast became its vicious, bloodstained fangs, lunging to devour and rip Li Ran to pieces.
This was the Salamander Assassin’s trump card—how many times had he pulled off a comeback kill using this very move? It was his ace in the hole, the technique that made him the number one assassin. It allowed his blood to boil in a short burst, temporarily boosting his Eerie Power by 300. Once activated, his Eerie Power jumped to 1700—Li Ran’s was still under 1500.
At that thought, the Salamander burst out laughing.
“Die! Go to hell!”
A sharp glint flashed in Li Ran’s eyes. “Oh? A technique to boost Eerie Power, huh? No wonder you're so cocky—you’ve got some backing.”
“But… you’re not the only one with a spell like that.”
Li Ran gave a cold snort and pulled out a special card: [Attribute Swap].
He swapped 720 Agility points entirely into Eerie Power.
Now, his Eerie Power surged to 2200!
This card’s effect: the player may convert any specified attribute into the desired attribute points. Duration: ten minutes.
Even without using this card, Li Ran wouldn't have feared the Salamander—the rest of his attributes weren’t useless. But defeating the assassin would’ve been more troublesome.
Better to just end it clean and fast.
“Shadow Stomp!”
This time, Li Ran activated the passive of Shadowfang Bite. In the blackness of night, within the field of shadows, the demonic aura around him surged to the sky, becoming rolling clouds of malevolent energy.
RUMBLE!
The assassin stared in horror at the gathering demonic clouds above. Then he looked at Li Ran again—only to realize that Li Ran’s Eerie Power had now skyrocketed to a level beyond detection.
“How is this possible?!” The Salamander's eyes widened in disbelief.
If there were a Eerie Power detector, it would probably show Li Ran’s value as ???
How could someone boost their Eerie Power by over 500 in mere seconds?
Too bad. It was already too late. The Salamander’s expression turned from arrogant… to stunned… to terrified.
Amid the swirling clouds of shadow, a titanic demonic foot descended with unstoppable force!
BOOM!!
The poison-mist beast the Salamander had transformed into stood no chance—it was trampled beneath the shadow giant’s foot. Hidden within the fog, the assassin’s body was crushed into a pulp.
The stomp’s shockwave demolished a nearby building, the entire structure collapsing in a cloud of dust and smoke.
The top-ranked assassin—Salamander—was dead beyond dead.
---
“Alright, that’s enough for tonight. If another assassin shows up, I don’t have the energy to kill them. Time to head home, get cleaned up, and sleep.”
“Let’s hope Zhao Yingzhi returns safe and sound tomorrow.”
Li Ran dispelled the swirling shadows, not even sparing a glance at the crumbled wreck of the building.
“Let’s go, Chitong.”
He called the little red eye fox over from its vantage point. With a leap from the rooftop, they melted into the bustling night crowd.
“Squeak.”
“You want something to eat?”
As Li Ran passed a fruit vendor, he noticed the stall was being operated by a large upright squirrel in an apron, busy roasting chestnuts.
Of all the vendors he’d seen, this squirrel proprietor was the most pleasant to look at. The busy squirrel looked like a female, with refined, gentle features—almost like a breath of fresh air in this eerie world.
“Since you helped take one down today too, I’ll buy you a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts,” Li Ran said, flicking Chitong on the forehead.
“Squeak squeak.”
“Calling me stingy? Then I’m not buying.”
“Squeak!” Chitong panicked instantly.
“Alright, alright. I’ll buy you two bags. And pack up two more for the wife.”
“Squeak~”
This time, Li Ran walked home through the back alley with no need to hide—still at night.
“The weirdness of the night world isn’t so bad. Doesn’t seem that dangerous either.”
He strolled leisurely through the community park.
The back alley and the residential zone were only separated by one gate. Once he stepped back into his neighborhood, everything fell eerily quiet.
That silence had a kind of chilling cold to it. Compared to the bustling energy earlier—it felt like paradise on one side, and the underworld on the other.
“Squeak!” Chitong suddenly perked up, ears twitching in alert.
Li Ran raised his head and stared into the empty space ahead—his pupils trembled ever so slightly!
(End of Chapter)