Everyone immediately stopped crying. Lily patted her butt and stood up, Abaddon lowered his palm, Oliver lifted [Virtual Realm] for the arriving crowd, Dream Witch gave Fata a look, and Fata picked up a pitch-black pill.
“Come eat one to restore your strength. This time it’s guaranteed to taste good—Oliver personally recommended it. You know olive doesn’t lie.”
So it was Oliver’s recommendation? How could that be fake? The shit smell must be his imagination.
Lucas reached out to take it.
Oliver looked desperate, quietly raising his hand to shake it.
It was just shit-flavored sugar.
Lucas innocently popped the new power pill into his mouth.
Ugh…
Lucas covered his mouth, turning toward Adrian’s chest as his stomach convulsed. If there had been anything in his stomach, he would have vomited all over Adrian.
Pure shit—deceived again!
Adrian’s palm supported his buttocks as he threatened nonchalantly: “If you dare vomit on me, you won’t be sitting very comfortably.”
Lucas’s mental radar blared as he quickly dodged around in Adrian’s palm, but constrained by gravity, he couldn’t escape the palm’s control.
He increasingly felt his butt was in danger, so he tearfully swallowed the power pill and desperately gripped his throat.
Speechless—why was the dark bastard also extremely germophobic? What was wrong with an injured person vomiting a little?
Dream Witch looked up and down at the murderous Adrian, protectively saying: “Oh, didn’t expect Director to have this side. Since you’re germophobic, why not return Mad Clown to us?”
Adrian’s face was gloomy, his gaze cold and sharp. Without thinking, he refused: “No, he wants me by his side.”
“???” Dream Witch looked at Lucas.
What happened to eventually killing Adrian?
Lucas’s ears turned red.
Damn, someone had twisted his words—he’d never admitted to liking being by Adrian’s side!
The Ghost Eye Guild members, having already witnessed Adrian’s fourth-tier ability’s power, tactfully retreated far away.
Fulunla cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting from afar: “Hey, Miss Lan, just let our director have him—better stay far away.”
Wu Peng: “Right—let Mad Clown bear this rampage mode alone—”
Fata: “?”
Sure enough, even allied guilds had their preferences. Why should their Mad Clown bear it?
Lance stepped forward to interrupt: “Alright, it’s not time to pop champagne yet. There are two things now: first, go to the third floor to rescue Utopian Awakened; second, go to the bottom floor to capture the old madman and seize the rare lead ore keys.”
“Mad Clown’s rare lead ore must be removed quickly, or it’s torture for Adrian maintaining his fourth-tier state. Plus Benbu has his pheromones, so reinforcements will arrive soon. If we delay further, Fata’s stamina will also be exhausted.”
Power pills weren’t infinite—they were synthesized by Fata using his ability with underground city materials. Once Fata’s pheromones were depleted and the whole team lost supplements, they’d be swallowed by human wave tactics.
So Mad Clown’s ability was especially important.
Lucas suddenly realized that Adrian holding him so close would be uncomfortable.
Right, he was wearing rare lead ore on his hands and feet—how could Adrian, as an S-level Awakened, not be affected?
But Adrian hadn’t said anything this whole time.
Everyone was afraid of the current dark bastard, but the dark bastard seemed to treat him the same as before.
Lucas suddenly felt particularly proud inside, wanting to laugh heartily despite his bruised abdomen.
He stopped teasing Adrian, moving his hands farther from Adrian’s chest and no longer secretly tugging Adrian’s feathers with his toes.
Mudeli: “Good, then we’ll split into two groups.”
Lance said: “Popov, Mudeli, Wu Peng, Fulunla, Kuhn, Lily, Abaddon, Oliver go to the third floor. Fata, Mad Clown, Atiya, Ling Qi, Zhan Pingchuan, my sister and I—”
Before Lance could finish, Lucas reflexively and expertly covered Adrian’s ears, then frantically winked at Lance.
What “my sister”? Wasn’t that exposing everything? How could the young master make such a basic mistake!
Adrian’s gray-blue eyes stared at Lucas, his gaze not particularly gentle.
Lucas’s movement wasn’t gentle at all—he’d directly slapped his two dirty little hands forcefully on Adrian’s face.
Adrian wasn’t the formerly boundlessly indulgent light side. His five fingers tightened, gripping that soft, elastic flesh: “Do you want me to discipline you right now, Lucas?”
“…I don’t want that. Don’t hit me.” Lucas endured the humiliation, tightening his glutes while sheepishly withdrawing his dirty hands.
But Adrian’s cheek already bore several gray fingerprints.
Lance paused, immediately understanding Mad Clown’s meaning: “It’s fine, they all know already.”
Lucas had missed the joint meeting of the two guilds, so he didn’t know about the dramatic events that day.
Lucas was shocked: “So Lan Qi won’t have to do farm work anymore, and the guild leader won’t have to drive tractors and break his leg?”
Dream Witch: “…Heh.”
“…No need anymore.” Lance was professional, so his expression wouldn’t crack easily.
Lucas: “And brother-in-law accepted it well? Even though you’re the Black Lantern Society boss and a super rich second generation?”
Fulunla said quietly: “Our young master is also incredibly wealthy, okay? He and young madam are a perfect match.”
Lucas: “Young master?” Ghost Eye Guild members called brother-in-law “young master”—what kind of magical development was this?
Lance pinched his brow: “I’ll explain later. Zhan Pingchuan is a spy Ghost Eye Guild sent to High Tower, and also Zhan Qinghe’s son.”
Lucas immediately turned, glaring fiercely: “You brat!”
High Tower could spy on others, but others absolutely couldn’t spy on them! This was a stain on Black Lantern Society’s career!
“Uncle Lucas, I thought you’d already discovered I knew my uncle.” Zhan Pingchuan spread his hands helplessly.
Only then did Lucas belatedly realize that Zhan Pingchuan was only eight years younger than him—why did he keep calling him uncle?
So it was based on Adrian’s relationship. He’d thought Adrian just couldn’t handle Zhan Pingchuan’s ultimate familiarity!
Lance: “Time is of the essence, everyone hurry!”
After the brief harmony, the joint rescue team entered combat mode again, quickly splitting into two groups and heading to their destinations.
As for the seventh-floor Utopians who’d been released, they followed Oliver to the third floor to identify their compatriots—their help was still needed.
But not many were willing to leave the seventh floor with them—only about twenty people, and that was after persuasion from the only old man willing to talk to Atiya.
The rest had lost the will to live and didn’t want to face families that had long since scattered.
Their lives were nearing their end—they just wanted to wait quietly for death here.
With time pressing, Lance had to respect their wishes.
Not everyone in this world could emerge from major trauma—lives that weren’t brave enough also deserved respect.
Dream Witch carried the shrunken Atiya in front to lead the way, while dark Adrian carried Mad Clown at the rear.
Adrian actually didn’t want to follow Lance’s arrangements or engage in group action with anyone, but Lucas needed the keys, so he had to endure.
He took a deep breath, looking at the oblivious Lucas in his arms who was looking around.
Cute little brother, he thought.
Fortunately, the guards were still in [Virtual Realm]. Even if they spotted them, they could only struggle through crowds of tourists, watching helplessly as they disappeared.
“I see Black Lantern Society!”
“All floors attention, this is the seventh floor—Black Lantern Society is running downstairs!”
“This is the eighth floor, Black Lantern Society went to the ninth floor!”
“Ninth floor received!”
“Contact the warden quickly—the ninth floor is understaffed and can’t hold them!”
“All floors attention! Second floor discovered what appears to be the warden’s corpse, second floor discovered what appears to be the warden’s corpse!”
“Where’s Director Si? Report to Director Si quickly—the warden is dead, we need his command!”
“No good, Director Si is playing with plush toys in the souvenir shop and won’t respond to calls. Our AGW is finished!”
“What the hell kind of theme park is this that can bewitch Director Si?”
“Why hasn’t Lord Benbu returned? The old madman has failed too!”
…
Guards came up in twos and threes to block Black Lantern Society, but everyone used their abilities to quickly eliminate the obstacles. They didn’t even have time to collect pheromone vials before continuing toward the storage room.
“This way!” Atiya had an innate ability to remember routes—even having walked a path only once, she could find her way back without error.
Following Atiya’s guidance, everyone made several turns to arrive at a dim corridor.
Atiya jumped out of Dream Witch’s hands, quickly grew larger, then knocked and tapped on the wall.
“The storage room is around here somewhere. I saw them go in with my own eyes.”
“I’ll help too!” Lucas said, about to jump down.
But Adrian didn’t let go: “No, you’re barefoot.”
“At worst I won’t step on your wings anymore.” Lucas pulled back his toes.
Adrian glanced at him, throwing out an unrefusable word: “Step.”
Lucas: “…”
Why did the dark bastard have such demands!
Zhan Pingchuan steadied his breathing, wiping away thin sweat: “When did you go in last time? Let me try.”
He still couldn’t accurately control the return time and might need multiple attempts.
Moreover, he’d discovered that time travel couldn’t change history’s course—he could only observe as a bystander, obtaining information this place provided at specific moments.
“About… about half an hour!”
Getting the answer, Zhan Pingchuan immediately activated his ability. He quickly traced back over ten times in a short period, finally capturing the figures of guards and Atiya. He carefully memorized the features around the stone door before traveling back.
As soon as he returned to the correct timeline, he felt dizzy like low blood sugar and nearly collapsed.
Lance quickly caught him: “Careful!”
Zhan Pingchuan leaned on his wife’s shoulder, resting his head on top of his, breathing in the faint magnolia fragrance. After a while, his vision recovered.
“I know!” He pointed to a location.
Adrian flapped his wings, sweeping forcefully. The stone wall cracked with a crash, huge stones rolling out to reveal a spacious area inside.
Everyone rushed in and saw the safe Atiya had described.
Atiya immediately input the password from memory. With a “click,” the lock popped open.
Atiya perked up, pulling the door open with effort. Dense rows of keys came into view.
“Quick!” They hurriedly checked Mad Clown’s handcuff number, then searched the safe.
Finally, Zhan Pingchuan found a key with the same number in the second row corner.
Adrian pushed through the crowd, reaching up to pull down the key. Despite the rare lead ore’s backlash against him, he tremblingly inserted the key into the lock.
Click.
The key turned, but Mad Clown’s shackles didn’t budge.
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152