96: Two cities captured in succession

A personal guard in the team inspected the surroundings, his expression turning solemn.

"Old Xing, it's the Nine-Nine Void-Severing Dragon-Banning Formation. The opponent used the mountain range itself as the Formation, and they've really spared no expense; the Formation base is unbreakable."

"Cracking it will take at least half an hour. I don't know how Household Head Xu's combat power fluctuates if we break it directly, but relying solely on us, it would take at least an hour."

Xing Manshan's face was grim: "Old Yang, their target isn't us. Break the Formation!"

"Alright!" The personal guard's appearance shifted, turning into Yang Yin.

Having a Formation Grandmaster by their side who could set up a Formation at any time to provide support was the team's true trump card.

Unfortunately, the opponent seemed to have seen through their plan, trapping them directly with a Formation and setting their sights on Yongan City, thwarting their ideas of providing support or retreating at will.

Xu Le's face remained unchanged; in fact, when he learned of that plan, he had guessed that the true battlefield would be Yongan City.

The purpose of this world's existence was the "Hope Cup" competition. The protagonists were all the participants; it was impossible for him to be the only one performing.

Lü Yixiu, who was in the team, was full of bitterness: So, I dug a pit for myself?

...Yongan City.

Qin Siyuan stood at the highest point of the city tower, gazing south.

Suddenly, a wave of unease flashed through his heart, and he hurriedly pinched his fingers to calculate.

"The Jiao Star is dim, and the Demon Star shines bright. This is bad; there are petty people causing trouble in the city."

He hurriedly called over his personal guards. Just as he was about to inspect the thirteen city gates, he heard a thunderous explosion.

The city gate of Yanping Gate was blown to pieces.

A corner was blasted out of the originally perfect and flawless grand Formation, and boundless Devilish Qi poured into the city desperately.

Wuuu... The Devilish Qi poured in so fast that it made a shrill, mournful wail, sounding like countless people howling in grief.

A flash of pain appeared in Qin Siyuan's eyes as he instructed a nearby guard: "Go inform Household Head Zuo and have him bring men immediately to repair the city gate..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard the "pupu" sound of flapping wings. Looking closely, dense swarms of Demon Bats were flying over again.

Qin Siyuan waved his hand, telling his guard to hurry and inform the others.

He himself took out a demon subduing stone engraved with Formations. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately activated the Formation on it and threw it high into the air.

Boom!

The demon subduing stone turned into a sky full of dust and scattered, flying past tall buildings and consciously drifting toward Yanping Gate, where the Devilish Qi was raging.

This was one of the backup plans they had made. In coordination with the Formations on the city walls, it could temporarily neutralize the Devilish Qi in Yongan City.

Qin Siyuan sat steadily on the city tower, preventing anyone in the city from taking the initiative to cause trouble.

With the current level of damage to the Formation, one demon subduing stone could last for half a day, which was enough time to wait for reinforcements.

He took out a satellite phone, and just as he dialed the number, he heard another violent explosion.

Yanqing Gate had exploded.

"City Lord, there are demon spies in the city. Both Yanping Gate and Yanqing Gate have been blown up."

"Good, I understand. Act according to plan. Gain me half an hour, and I'll be able to return to support you."

Hearing Xing Manshan's voice, the anxiety in Qin Siyuan's heart subsided.

Now that two city gates were broken, one demon subduing stone could last for two hours, which was still within acceptable limits.

He sat on the city tower, deploying troops and generals, restraining the urge to take action personally.

The priority was to stabilize military morale and think calmly; otherwise, once they fell into the enemy's rhythm, Yongan City would collapse from within.

Time passed slowly, and under his mobilization, the other eleven city gates were successfully protected.

The first step was a success!

Next was to wait to clear the Devilish Qi in the city and the Demon Bats that had rushed in... In a tall building.

Recently, because of the Devilish Qi besieging the city, water and electricity had been cut off throughout the city. Fortunately, there were many lifestyle Professionals, so there was no temporary shortage of food and drinking water.

It was a rare occasion for a family of four to be together, and they were playing cards to pass the time.

Pupu!

Black Devilish Qi surged into the room. The four of them had long heard of the power of Devilish Qi; their expressions were terrified as they turned to flee.

They were caught after just two steps, feeling as if their whole bodies were being pricked by needles. They were all low-level Professionals, and their resistance to Devilish Qi was only slightly stronger than that of ordinary people.

Just when they thought they were going to die, the Devilish Qi suddenly became gentle, losing its strong corrosiveness.

"Dou Dou, Chen Chen, are you two alright?"

"Mom, I'm fine. It hurt before, but it's better now."

"Mom, I'm fine too."

"That's great, everyone is fine. The City Lord must have taken action; we've survived."

"No way, no way. Does no one care about me?"

Seeing that his wife and children were safe, the man breathed a sigh of relief while also pretending to be jealous.

He suddenly heard some strange sounds. After signaling for everyone to be quiet, he faintly heard the sound of small birds flapping their wings.

"Ah—"

The woman's shrill scream rang out.

"What's wrong?" The man rushed frantically to the woman's side, only to find her body falling limp without saying a word.

Then came the screams of his daughter and son.

The man lost his mind, grabbing a stool and smashing it everywhere, but he heard nothing.

Just as he was about to check on his children, he felt a pain in his neck. The blood in his entire body surged wildly toward his neck, making his blood vessels ache from the pressure.

Then he stopped breathing.

Level 60 monsters were already very powerful for elite soldiers, and for these low-level Professionals, it was a complete instant kill.

After a few occasional shrill screams, the residential area began to fall silent.

The swarm of Demon Bats, having had a full meal, flew toward the next residential area contentedly.

Just as they entered, they encountered more than ten participants who coordinated an attack.

With a calculated ambush, the group quickly trapped several Demon Bats. Unfortunately, the remaining bats were too cunning and had the "Sound Localization" talent, making them hard to kill.

A flash of bright blade-light passed, and a shapely figure revealed itself.

The health bar of the bat she ambushed plummeted, but a sliver remained. It flapped its wings in panic and fled with the main group.

"Yuyao, that strike of yours just now was so cool! You were just a tiny bit away from killing that Demon Bat."

"Heh, still a bit short." Zhu Yuyao was somewhat distracted. Words she used to find reasonable now sounded incredibly grating to her ears.

'It must be that dead perverted straight man!'

'To actually mess with my state of mind, he really deserves to die!'

A sensitive teammate nearby saw that the goddess was distracted, and his heart broke.

He hurriedly started a topic to divert her attention: "Xu Le went out of the city with the City Lord this morning in such a grand manner to find monsters, but who would have thought the monsters would come to our door? Guess if Xu Le will be driven mad with rage when he finds out."

"I don't know about Xu Le, but I feel like Lü Yixiu will be. He clearly has a space ring but doesn't use it, carrying a sword on his back every day to show off, looking down on this person and that."

"Haha, brother, you have stories!"

Listening to her teammates' intentional banter, Zhu Yuyao was still not in the mood. Looking up, she saw a black Raven dive in front of the Demon Bat swarm and spit out six fan-shaped black lights right in their faces.

Swish!

The fleeing Demon Bats couldn't dodge in time. Just as they avoided one line, they were caught by the black light, and their health bars were instantly emptied.

'That dead pervert's contracted beast—he actually didn't take it out with him!'