At this moment, in a penthouse room of a hotel in the center of Hangzhou.
Lin Yuan was lying on a soft mattress, one hand on his stomach and the other sprawled beside his pillow, sleeping deeply.
He rolled over in his sleep, burying his face in the pillow while mumbling something in a daze.
“Bai Li... so fair... hehe...”
...
Outside the window, the neon lights of Hangzhou were still brilliant.
No one noticed that in the West Suburbs of the city, squad after squad of dark figures were quietly approaching the city walls.
Tonight’s moon was a bit redder than it had been a moment ago...
2:11 AM.
The moon above Hangzhou had turned completely crimson, and Lin Yuan was currently in the middle of a dream.
In the dream, he was eating hotpot in the cafeteria of Magic City Academy. Everything was great, and the hotpot was bubbling away with steam.
But for some reason, the bubbling sound of the hotpot grew louder and louder until finally, the entire table began to shake.
“Who the hell is doing renovations in the middle of the night?” Lin Yuan muttered in his half-asleep state, rolling over and pulling the blanket over his head.
The vibration didn’t stop; instead, it grew more violent.
The entire building was shaking, the window glass let out a buzzing resonance, and the water glass on the nightstand vibrated to the edge before falling and shattering into several pieces on the floor.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang.
It wasn’t a vibration; it was an explosion.
Something massive had fallen from a high altitude and smashed through the wall of the room next door.
The shockwave, carrying concrete chunks and wall fragments, burst through the partition wall between the two rooms. Half a room's worth of debris rained down on Lin Yuan.
Fragments of gypsum board, wood chips, and brick shards buried him completely from head to toe.
Lin Yuan woke up.
First, he blinked to shake the dust off his eyelids, then he stared expressionlessly at the new crack in the ceiling for a full five seconds before slowly sitting up.
Plaster and mortar cascaded off him, leaving his hair, shoulders, and blanket covered in white dust.
Ever the resilient man, he sat up from the ruins, his face covered in grime, but his eyes already carried a hint of murderous intent.
Immediately after, Lin Yuan slowly walked toward the room next door while grumbling under his breath.
“Do you people not let anyone sleep at night? Can you two keep it down? Are you picking on me just because I don't have a girlfriend... or?”
He trailed off on the last word.
It wasn’t intentional; his mouth simply stopped moving when he reached the hole in the wall and saw the scene in the next room.
Across the jagged opening, the thick dust was slowly settling.
In the space where the moonlight and shadows met, a figure stood.
It was a wolf-headed humanoid, just over two meters tall, covered in short, dark silver fur.
There was a penetrating wound on its chest, slashed diagonally from the collarbone to the ribs, with the edges of the wound charred black.
But it didn't care, its emerald-green pupils locked onto the dusty human before it.
Tier 2, Level 1—a Shadow Abyss Wolf!
The misunderstanding about a “couple making too much noise” vanished from Lin Yuan’s mind in an instant, replaced by an exploding thought.
This is a creature from the Abyss Magic Cave. How could it appear in a hotel penthouse?
Unfortunately, the Shadow Abyss Wolf didn't give Lin Yuan any time to think.
Almost the moment Lin Yuan recognized it, it kicked off the ground with its hind legs, its massive body lunging straight at him.
Its speed was at least thirty percent faster than a Shadow Leopard of the same tier, and faster than any Tier 2 monster he had killed in the dense forest so far.
Lin Yuan leaned back.
His knees bent as his upper body became almost parallel to the ground, the wolf’s claws sweeping past the tip of his nose.
Before his back could fully touch the ground, he kicked his right foot against the floor, using the force to flip sideways. In the middle of the roll, Purple Lightning was already in his hand.
【Sands of Time】 activated.
The air within a four-meter radius suddenly became viscous.
The Shadow Abyss Wolf, having missed its strike, was about to turn and pursue him. The moment its body entered the range of 【Sands of Time】, its movements visibly faltered.
The tip of Purple Lightning had already reached its knee joint.
With the power of Tier 1, Level 9 combined with a Proficient level Thunder Walk Through Nine Heavens, this strike was more than the Shadow Abyss Wolf could handle!
Although a wolf’s joint structure was different from a human’s, Lin Yuan had killed countless monsters in the wilderness. He knew exactly where to stab anything that walked on legs.
The spear tip pierced into the gap between the joint bones, and lightning exploded.
A crisp crack echoed.
The Shadow Abyss Wolf let out a raspy howl of pain as its left leg gave out. Its massive body lost balance, and it fell to one knee.
But it didn't stop. With one leg crippled, it used the other leg and both claws to continue its attack.
Its right claw swept horizontally, leaving four afterimages in the air.
Lin Yuan habitually leaned back to dodge the sweep, then pressed his left index and middle fingers together.
Running Thunder Finger, activate.
A pale purple lightning needle shot from his fingertip. Silent and precise, it pierced the left eye of the wolf-headed humanoid.
The lightning needle entered through the eye socket and exited through the back of the skull, sending blood splattering everywhere.
The Shadow Abyss Wolf’s movements froze, and its massive body crashed to the floor.
【Killed Tier 2, Level 1 monster Shadow Abyss Wolf, Ability Points +130】
Lin Yuan stared at the system notification for half a second, then looked down at the wolf corpse still twitching slightly on the floor.
Tier 2, Level 1—the same tier as the Rock-armored Great Lizard he had killed before, but it provided significantly more Ability Points.
And this was a Shadow Abyss Wolf, a species unique to the Abyss Magic Cave.
An Abyss Wolf shouldn't be able to appear on the surface. Hangzhou’s sealing formation had been suppressing the Magic Cave’s exit for centuries. Even if one occasionally slipped through the cracks, it would only be a Tier 1 cub.
An adult Tier 2, Level 1 appearing in the city center could only mean one thing.
Something was wrong with the sealing formation!
Immediately, Lin Yuan turned and dug his phone out from the ruins near his bed.
The moment the screen lit up, a dense wave of notifications flooded in.
Su Qingyue, five messages.
Shen Man, twelve messages.
Bai Li, eight messages.
Jiang Ran, three messages.
Song Zhiyi, two messages.
The timestamps started from midnight and continued until just now.
He first tapped on Su Qingyue’s messages.
The first one, at 12:01 AM: “Lin Yuan, something has happened in Hangzhou. The Magic Cave seal has been broken, and monsters are appearing in multiple locations across the city. I’m on my way.”
The second one, at 12:10 AM: “I’ve already boarded the superconducting train to Hangzhou. The Su family has sent a team of guards with me. Where are you? Are you safe?”
...
The fifth one, at 1:30 AM: “I know you’re sleeping. Your phone is always on silent when you sleep. You must reply to me when you wake up. You promised me we’d meet in Magic City.”
Lin Yuan held his phone and stared at it for a few seconds.
He suddenly remembered Su Qingyue standing on the platform of the Donghai City superconducting train station in her moon-white long dress, saying, “See you in Magic City.”
He sent her a reply: “Alive. Awake. At a hotel downtown, just killed a Tier 2 Shadow Abyss Wolf. Be careful, don't rush in with the rescue teams. Wait until dawn.”
Rate on N.U.
