Desolate Dragon was a unique location in the manhua world. Despite its remoteness, it always attracted the gaze of ability users for one reason or another.
The Warden of Desolate Dragon was said to be a powerful, high-rank ability user. As such, the city did not fall under the control of the Empire. However, the Warden’s never around to govern the city either, leaving Desolate Dragon in a very chaotic state.
Actually, this made the city a haven of sorts for low-rank ability users.
There were all kings of forces present within the city. There were organizations united by faith alone, smaller groups that bounded together in order to survive, as well as…
..Existences like ‘Tarnished Bronze’, who made their fortune through trafficking ability users.
That was where ‘Tang’ was.
[100 popularity has been deducted. Remaining balance: 582.]
[Item [Presence Concealment] has been successfully purchased. Countdown: 10:00]
[Item [Presence Concealment] countdown: 09:59]
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”
Blaring alarms accompanied by harsh crimson lights tinged the dark night with terror.
“Secure the main gate! Don’t let the intruders escape!” The tall, broad-shouldered man in a black robe raised his hand, its golden fish-like embroidery on his robes rippling in response.
A squad of guards in the same black robes sans the embroidering stood before him. They ran off in a somewhat disorderly fashion to occupy the possible escape routes.
Cluttered footsteps sounded in the night as the guards raced around inside the walls with their red-yellow lights.
As the lights shifted away, a dark shadow darted past a guard’s blindspot.
The square compound spanned an area of about 10,000 square metres. Although it seemed like a four-story building from the outside, there were only three floors inside. The bronze exterior seemed to meld into the dark night. A column lined each corner of the first floor. The center was white. OVer rall, the building resembled a giant square ding (vessel).
This was where ‘Tang’ was being held captive, the headquarters of the ability organization Tarnished Bronze. The leader of the organization was elsewhere at the moment, and the protagonist who had caused the commotion had yet to escape.
The boss really did sell out the protagonist. He gave the address despite knowing about the protagonist’s plan.
Li Li circled the perimeter. She kept to the shadows, but she made no efforts to conceal her face.
She strode forth, a cold look in her eyes.
[100 popularity has been deducted. Remaining balance: 482.]
[Item [Red Dot Map] purchased successfully. Countdown: 10:00]
A simple 2D map appeared in front of her. The blue dot that represented her was right in the middle.
The blue dot was awash in a sea of red ones.
“‘Cicada Squad, reporting in’! Intruder spotted on second floor, west end!”
The announcement could be heard hundreds of metres away. Footsteps filed through the wide doorway. Li Li paused and pressed her back to the wall, slipping inside once the footsteps faded away.
The building was dark inside. The red dots ran towards the stairs with their flashlights. Li Li held her breath and hid herself completely.
The item [Presence Concealment] was a bit cheaper because it wasn’t an ability item. Its sole function was to conceal the user’s presence until it expired. However, concealment did not equal invisibility. Her cover would still be blown if she was spotted.
However, as long as she stayed out of sight, she could saunter into their headquarters without anyone being the wiser.
She waited for a moment before heading in the opposite direction.
The intruder who had been discovered wasn’t her, but the protagonist who had broken in earlier tonight.
The protagonist had infiltrated the powered organization Tarnished Bronze in the first part of the last update. He destroyed the power generator of their headquarters and located ‘Tang’ in the resulting chaos.
‘Tang’, who both the boss and this organization regarded as a mere piece of merchandise, was actually just a seven or eight-year-old girl.
The protagonist wanted to rescue her, but he somehow triggered the alarm the organization had set around the girl as he tried to leave.
The backup generator immediately came online. The organization started searching for the intruder, trapping the protagonist within the building.
The players in this game were the D-rank protagonist, the unknown rank Tang, the B-rank leader of Tarnished Bronze, and his C-rank minions.
The disadvantage seemed overwhelming no matter how you looked at it..
However, should someone appear at this moment to lend a hand, they would easily gain the goodwill of the protagonist and audience alike.
Li Li knew she didn’t have enough popularity to cruise just yet. She had to ensure she could still appear in the next update, or else people would quickly forget about her.
She had to take everything she learned from the last chapter and assist the protagonist in his rescue mission. She couldn’t relax just yet.
However, she could still choose a safer way to participate.
Li Li’s pounding heart threatened to jump out of he throat. She put a hand to her chest. The fear of being discovered at any moment and the danger of death wound her up as tight as a violin string.
She was looking for the main control room.
Foolishly looking for the protagonist would only trap both of them. She would never do such a thing.
There was a main control room on the first floor of the Tarnished Bronze headquarters. She was going to disrupt the chain of command and cause a total breakdown of communication.
The head of Tarnished Bronze was a Rank B ability user. Lily wouldn’t dare break into the compound directly with him around, but he was elsewhere tonight.
She would be in and out as quickly as possible. Then, when the protagonist ran outside, she could say her spiel of ‘staying behind to hold their pursuers off’ to pull the wool over his eyes.
This was the optimal course of action for minimizing risks to herself.
Li Li stared at the Red Dot Map. There were three red dots headed her way.
She quickly crossed to the other side of the passage and hid behind the support column. A squad appeared from the left side of the crossroads just a second later. The beams of their flashlights swung across the walls and the column, casting long shadows everywhere.
Li Li held her breath as the footsteps drew closer.
She waited for the group to pass by and leave to her right.
A warm orange light illuminated the dust motes floating through the air before a hand suddenly covered the source.
Someone came to the side of the flashlight wielder. They turned and headed in Li Li’s direction!
Crap, she was going to be discovered! Li Li stopped breathing altogether.
The light cut through the darkness, forcibly exposing the shadow of the figure behind the column.
[Item [Presence Concealment] has temporarily expired]
Dark clothes, supple short hair, and–
[Item [Shock Spell (3 min)] purchased successfully]
–That unflinching smile.
Current coursed through the air. All three enemies were immobilized before they could even scream.
“Dun dun dun.”
There were three muffled thuds as their bodies hit the floor.
“‘Cicada Squad’! What happened?!”
The walkie-talkie was still tenaciously operating. The dispatcher seemed to hear the commotion on the other end.
A hand retrieved the device from the floor.
“Oh, just swatting some mosquitoes, that’s all.” A deep male voice came out of Li Li’s throat as she stepped over her fallen foes. Her black trenchcoat naturally fell into place before spinning into the air once more.
Li Li had made the split second decision to switch out her ability item. Her 100 or so remaining popularity wasn’t enough to do this again. She had to use her only opportunity the best she could.
Stuffing the walkie-talkie into a pocket, Li Li discreetly let out a long breath.
Sure enough, direct confrontations got the blood racing.
Seconds turned into minutes. The remaining duration of her three minute item was rapidly decreasing. She had to speed things up.
Li Li gave up on stealth as she rushed to the main control room.
The young man in the black trenchcoat strode down the hall, the corners of his coat bellowing out behind him in the wind.
“Hey, who’re you?”
“Zzzt!”
After a flash of current, boots crossed over a stunned robed man without missing a beat.
[Item [Shock Spell (3 min)] countdown: 00:05]
Finally, Li Li arrived before a metal door. She looked away from the Red Dot Map and extended a hand.
[Countdown: 00:03]
She pushed open the door to the main control room. Before anyone inside could react, the space lit up for an instant with electricity.
[Countdown: 00:01]
Muffled thuds rang out around the room with no particular rhythm. The red dots on the map were all neutralized.
[Item [Shock Spell (3min)] Countdown: 00:00]
Li Li finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She rubbed her face as she stepped forward. Her muscles were stiff from maintaining a fake smile this whole time.
“Damn. I almost didn’t make it.” She murmured.
Li Li set both hands down on the security console and surveyed it in its entirety.
Tarnished Bronze’s backup generator could only allow the main control room to send out orders and nothing else. Li Li had already disabled the person formerly in charge before he could react.
Things would be a lot more complicated if Tarnished Bronze’s leader was around.
The leader was a Rank B ability user, one rank higher than even the boss. If he was around, Li Li would never have succeeded so easily.
However, the protagonist specifically came tonight due to the leader’s absence.
At this moment, a direct communication suddenly showed up on the main console.
“This is ‘Silkworm Squad’.” A middle-aged man stated, “The merchandise are getting agitated. Requesting backup from ‘Tiger Squad’.”
Li Li knew almost instantly what ‘merchandise’ actually referred to.
As mentioned long ago in the manhua, the ability organization Tarnished Bronze sold ability users as ‘merchandise’. Tang was considered a premium item who had a buyer lined up far in advance.
The superpowered side of ‘Beyond Black and White’ was truly a dog-eat-dog world. Organizations like Tarnished Bronze weren’t exactly rare.
In this world, abilities were held in the highest regard and existing laws bound only ordinary people. There have been attempts in the past to restrain ability users, but any who dared died at the hands of even stronger opposition.
Everything could be attributed to the special characteristics of abilities.
There were two ways to acquire abilities: natural awakenings or bloodline inheritances. Natural awakenings tended to occur in life or death situations or with other forms of major stimuli.
There were three ways of enhancing abilities: the two previously mentioned, and the third: draining abilities of the same type.
Some ability users felt there was no need to risk their lives for a natural awakening when they could just drain someone else’s ability. This was also the reason life was so hard for low-rank ability users.
Li Li understood. The manhua needed a pressing sense of conflict, after all.
The item [Red Dot Map] flashed in warning. A red dot was heading straight for the main control room. Li Li steadied her nerves and turned to leave.
There were still three minutes left on the countdown. Li Li avoided red dots like she did on the way here. The protagonist attracted the brunt of the attention, so Li Li journey was tense but not difficult.
She was able to successfully leave the building shortly after and take shelter beneath the eaves.
Static crackled.
“Silkworm has lost control! Silkworm has lost control!”
Li Li hadn’t thrown away the walkie-talkie she picked up earlier. She listened in for a while longer.
The protagonist scoped the place out enough to come on the one night the Tarnished Bronze’s leader was out. The leaderless organization was in chaos like a headless chicken.
Li Li glanced at the Red Dot Map. The red dot heading to the control room had arrived. Just as she prepared to make her exit, a voice came over the walkie-talkie.
“–Good evening to all the trash out there. Can you hear me?”
Unlike any of the other voices, this one was calm and unabashedly arrogant.
“I’ve always wondered why my organization is full of trash.”
The person spoke at a leisurely pace, like they were in no hurry at all: “It only took two ability users to reduce Tarnished Bronze to this state?”
His tone and implication clearly indicated his identity.
The Tarnished Bronze’s leader, the Rank B thorn in their side, was back.
He shouldn’t have come back so early according to the protagonist’s plan!
What now? Should she leave or wait for the protagonist to show up and fight?
She glanced at her item’s countdown. There was around a minute left. Meanwhile, the green dot representing the protagonist drew closer to the main gates.
Li Li took a deep breath: If she left now, she couldn’t guarantee the protagonist would be able to escape. If he couldn’t escape, who knew when the next opportunity to benefit from his spotlight will appear?
She must appear in the next update!
Suddenly, the Red Dot Map began to shift as the green dot accelerated. The protagonist broke through the cordon and charged out of the main gates.
Li Li turned around in the shadows.
The brunet teen she saw on the cover of the novel, who was now rushing out protecting a six-year-old girl, happened to do the same.
[Item [Presence Concealment] countdown: 00:00]
Blue eyes met pitch black orbs.
The 2D person from the manhua transformed into a real, 3D figure. Short, brown hair, beautiful blue eyes reminiscent of the sky, a face that still had a bit of baby fat, and that determined expression.
He seemed to rush out of the confines of B&W’s pages to appear before her eyes.
The name of the teen instantly came to Li Li’s mind. There was no mistake. This was the manhua’s protagonist, Yi Ming.
The teen in the denim blazer instantly stiffened. He seemed to make up his mind about something.
Li Li didn’t know what the protagonist was thinking about, but he grasped her wrist after glancing down at her neck.
“Come with me!” He hastily said, “I’ll get you out of here!”
The little girl in his arms looked up blankly, revealing an identical black choker around her neck.
Li Li recalled her choice in accessories and immediately understood.
Yi Ming had mistaken her for one of the escaped merchandise.
She came here to rescue him, but the tables seemed to have turned?
