NOVPUBOn an autumn night chilled by a cold wind, a blood-like full moon hung high above the industrial district of Brilda.
Rust-speckled containers and serpentine dark alleys were enveloped in a bizarre and bewitching red glow.
Crows slowly descended from the moon, and through the dense fog, the full extent of this vast Mafia stronghold became gradually visible—haphazardly placed dilapidated factory buildings, mountains of Magic-guided Machinery, intricate narrow passages, and the occasional rust-colored containers fading in and out of sight.
This was the port area in the southeast of Brilda.
It was also one of the few gray zones in the city.
"Sigh."
Footsteps, panting.
Suddenly, the figure of a young girl dashed around a corner, slicing through the dead silence of the night.
Her jet-black hair flew in the wind, her purple eyes sparkled with terror yet determination, and she clutched a pitch-black cat tightly to her chest as if holding onto her only hope and solace.
"Meow, Lanlan! We’re surrounded by containers and dark alleys, and a group of guys in black are chasing us, save us, meow!"
Cat Boss whispered quietly, pressing his mouth against a purple-glowing Communication Magic Card, desperately calling for help.
Today was supposed to be a calm afternoon; the two of them were happily chatting while walking on their way back to Saint Kray Monastery.
Suddenly, Elsa felt something was amiss, perhaps hostility.
And then, indeed, someone threw a transparent Magic Power capsule at them.
The next thing they knew, they had arrived in this unfamiliar area, surrounded and hunted by the Mafia.
As soon as it sensed Spatial Magic Power, it dove into Elsa’s shadow, thankful that its Space Magic had a higher priority, allowing it to accompany her here, otherwise Elsa would have truly been in danger.
Correspondingly, it was in danger too.
But having spent the afternoon with Elsa, it had become quite familiar with her and found her to be a pure-hearted girl, and Lanci had tasked it to protect Elsa, so it couldn’t just abandon her.
"Brother seems to be unable to hear us clearly."
Elsa sensed that most of the sounds coming through the Communication Magic Card were static, and feared her brother was probably hearing something similar.
As an unknown region of Brilda, Elsa had never entered this area before, and could only judge the internal map based on her instincts.
If this was indeed the Bulida Mafia’s stronghold, then the closer they got to the core area, the stronger the effect of the Magic-Shielding devices would be, and the weaker it would be on the periphery.
Only after she had confirmed the direction and made some progress towards the periphery, did the Little Black Cat manage to successfully establish communication with her brother through the Communication Magic.
She had never imagined that this little black cat had Sixth-order capabilities and could take out a Sixth-order Tool Magic Card with an Ultra Long-Distance Communication Program. Seeing it produce the Communication Magic Card, Elsa felt like she was seeing a Divine Beast.
The girl’s footsteps were disordered and rapid, staggering at a breakneck speed. The crisp tapping of her shoes against the hard ground was all but masked by her efforts to cover up the sound with her footsteps.
Elsa’s figure flashed between the gaps of the containers, her fear-paled face now close, now far as she agilely manoeuvred through numerous obstacles.
"Meow meow!"
Cat Boss’s eyes, glowing eerie yellow in the night, sparkled like twin stars.
In this district, dozens of figures clad in pitch-black poured out, moving like specters through the factory ruins and container labyrinth.
Their gaze was cold, like a pack of wolves smelling blood.
Leading them was a stocky man with a buzz cut, his face, scarred with knife wounds, appeared even more ferocious under the moonlight.
"You can’t even handle a Second-order little girl! If the other executives find out we’ve been sloppy, we’ll all be punished!"
He issued the kill order with anger in his voice, his hoarse voice echoing through the empty factory area, chilling like a malevolent ghost.
She might soon deduce the surrounding terrain if she kept running.
Her current direction was becoming more accurate, increasingly escaping towards the outer areas.
Fortunately, there was still a long way to go.
The black-haired girl nimbly climbed up the rust-colored containers, leaping and dodging through the shaky steel frames as if untouched by gravity, almost as if an invisible force aided her, supporting and floating her through the air.
Skilled at utilizing the environment’s advantages, hiding in dark corners or weaving through complex pipes, she always managed to skillfully dodge the black-clad assassins at critical moments.
Although the Mafia were familiar with this area, they could never quite grasp the girl’s movements and her defiance of gravity, relying only on their numerical advantage to slowly tighten their encirclement, gradually consuming her survival space.
In this thrilling life-or-death race, the night under the Blood Moon was filled with the sounds of the wind, falling leaves, and the cawing of crows.
After a long while,
Elsa finally managed to temporarily shake off her pursuers and ducked into a narrow, secluded dark alley corner.
She leaned against the mottled brick wall, her frail body trembling uncontrollably like a startled bird.
Sweaty beads rolled down her pale forehead, quietly sliding down her delicate face and dripping to the ground.
"Little Black Bread, I owe it to you."
Elsa’s lips, slightly parted in panic and fatigue, trembled lightly. Her broken breaths were amplified, intertwined with the drum-like beating of her heart.
Without the Spirit Beast and its Psychic Power helping her, she wouldn’t have even gotten a moment to hide.
