The Central District was indeed very large; even after walking for a full day, they hadn't managed to leave its outer areas. It wasn't until the sun set that they decided to temporarily stop and find a place to stay.
However, they hadn't expected hotels to be so hard to find… Fortunately, they were lucky enough that the previous guests had just checked out of two rooms, giving them a place to stay.
Fang Wuwei took one room for himself, and the Ikenouchi father and daughter took the other, which was a perfect arrangement.
Lying on the hotel bed, Fang Wuwei clasped his hands behind his head, then reached out to sense the Magic Lamp, and the lamp automatically extinguished. He didn't even need to move his hand, and the room plunged into darkness.
This thing is good; I'll buy some to take back later…
In the pitch black, Fang Wuwei slowly felt his eyelids grow heavy and gradually fell asleep.
Night fell, and the City lights began to glow. The hustle and bustle of the City gradually faded, replaced by a sense of tranquility and peace. On the wide streets, vehicles were scarce, with only the occasional footsteps of night travelers echoing in the silence.
The night sky of the Inner World was exceptionally clear, with stars twinkling as if within reach. Occasionally, a meteor streaked across the sky, leaving a long tail as it disappeared into the distant horizon. Such a night made one feel the vastness and infinitude of the universe.
In the quiet of the night in the City, gone were the daytime's busyness and noise, replaced by only tranquility and peace. In this serene night, people could relax their minds, ponder their inner world, and also feel the beauty and mystery of this City.
However, beneath the surface, the night was far from peaceful.
In the silent darkness, some people were still active…
A figure shrouded in a black robe, completely concealing herself, moved through the night, dashing, sprinting, and leaping through the streets.
Behind her, several people wearing Magic Robes of the same style and pattern followed closely, seemingly engaged in a tense and thrilling chase.
She ran, they chased, she couldn't escape, until she was forced into a dead end.
"Child, stop running. Come back with us obediently, and you can keep your life."
The person in the black robe was forced into a dead end by those people, surrounded by a net, completely encircled. The leading man appeared to be forty or fifty years old, approaching step by step, and a glowing Magic Array appeared in his hand.
These people were the Central District's law enforcement team. On the surface, they were official troops affiliated with the national government, but in reality, they had already become the private guard of the Magic Aristocrats, serving as enforcers for the Magic Families to maintain their advantageous rule.
"What if I say no?"
The black-robed person wore a hood, completely concealing herself, making it impossible to see her face or figure. However, her voice indicated that this person was female.
"…Then you will die here."
Facing the black-robed girl's spirit of rather dying than yielding, the enforcers did not hesitate. Their Magic Arrays flashed, and they rapidly chanted incantations. Soon, several Magic Missiles appeared in the air and flew towards the black-robed girl.
Their surrounding companions also began chanting Magic, but with clear division of labor: the support teammates in the rear applied a full set of blessings to their front-line teammates and then began chanting interference Magic. With blessings fully applied, the front-line teammates directly chanted spells, then solidified and gripped their hands, and a Fire Blade spontaneously appeared, with which they charged towards the black-robed girl, tracing a fiery trajectory in the air.
The interference Magic disrupted the magical energy in the air, making it difficult for the black-robed girl to perceive and cast Magic. Facing the approaching melee mage, she absolutely could not meet him head-on and could only retreat. However, her retreat path was blocked, and to break through, there were countless Magic Missiles bombarding her.
This seemed to be a dead end.
But the black-robed girl clearly wasn't going to sit idly by.
Interference Magic, after all, was not a Magic Barrier that defeated demons; it could only interfere with magical elements in the air for a certain period and required continuous chanting to maintain. Once stopped, she might be able to use Magic.
Facing the charging melee mage, the black-robed girl fearlessly charged forward, half-crouching to evade the slashing longsword by a hair's breadth, narrowly dodging the attack. She then slipped into the melee mage's embrace and punched him in the chest.
However, this punch seemed to have no effect. The black-robed girl's full-force punch only made him stagger slightly, and then another sword slash came, this time with even greater force.
Seeing that this punch had no effect, the black-robed girl then delivered a powerful kick, like a Nine Heavens Thunder, to the melee mage, using the momentum to propel herself away from the battle, barely dodging the sword strike.
Due to that kick, the black-robed girl lost her balance and landed awkwardly, rolling twice on the ground. However, before she could even stand up, she looked up to see Magic Missiles already upon her.
There was nowhere to hide; rolling wouldn't take her out of the Magic Missile's kill zone, standing up was too slow, and Magic couldn't be used…
Then there was only this option.
Two objects appeared in the black-robed girl's hands. She fixed her gaze on the rear support who was chanting interference Magic, then slammed the objects in her hands onto the ground, causing a loud explosion.
Instantly, an incredibly dense smoke burst forth, immediately filling the area a few meters in front of her.
Seeing this, the melee mage immediately stopped his charge, stomped his foot, and performed a large leap backward, not daring to enter the smoke.
This was merely a delaying tactic. The Magic Missiles continued to bombard relentlessly. Previously, they had to be careful not to harm the charging melee mage, but now there was no need. Dense Magic Missiles were directly blasted into the smoke, hitting the target fiercely.
The smoke was already thick, and with dense Magic Missiles shooting into it, even more dust was stirred up.
But there was no movement at all in the smoke, which worried the three of them slightly.
However, very quickly, there was movement in the smoke, though it was just a slight disturbance.
Bang.
A loud bang resonated from within the smoke, and then something shot out through the mist, heading straight for the rear support's forehead.
In astonishment, the support mage quickly stopped chanting, pinched his fingers, and a quick defensive Magic appeared, blocking the strike.
The few of them looked closely and realized that it was actually a bullet.
Oh my god.
With eyes full of disbelief, they looked towards the dust. The thick smoke had already dissipated, revealing the black-robed girl, severely wounded and lying on the ground, her clothes tattered.
Reality had no "no damage in smoke" rule; those Magic Missiles had almost killed her. However, she still had one breath left, and using the last bit of vision before the smoke began, she locked onto the support who was casting interference Magic and fired a wild shot.
Luckily, she guessed correctly.
The magical energy in the air returned to normal. A green light flashed in the black-robed girl's hand as she patted herself, and her injuries began to rapidly heal.
At the same time, she raised her other hand and fired at the charging melee mage.
Firearms couldn't threaten them, but they could temporarily stop their advance. Facing bullets, even a melee mage had to slightly slow down and use his Fire Blade to block the bullets from hitting him.
This much time was enough.
The melee mage's Fire Blade had already reached her face, less than three centimeters away, but it was struck on the hand by a beam of light descending from the sky.
This strike went awry, or rather, completely missed.
The sudden change made the melee mage's expression shift, and then a burly man descended from the sky, stomping heavily on the melee mage, kicking him eight miles away.
Then more black-robed figures stood around, completely encircling them.
The expressions of the few others behind also changed. Just as they were about to run, they turned around to find that people had already filled the space behind them.
The black-robed girl's reinforcements had arrived. The enforcers looked and saw the girl, whose hood had been knocked off, giving them a mocking smile.
Handing her gun to someone nearby, the girl stopped her healing, raised both hands, palms facing each other, slightly curved, and laughed loudly at the enforcers.
"If you're weak! Practice more! If you can't win, don't chase!"
Facing the black-robed figures who had completely surrounded them and had already begun to charge their Magic, the enforcers' faces were as ugly as if they had eaten dirt.
And such scenes were playing out in various parts of the Central District…
The Central District was far from as peaceful as it seemed.