Chapter 152: The Man Who Climbed Out of the Crater

Hu Xiong grinned and said, "We are not the main force anyway. The heavy lifting will be done by the two experts sent by the General Bureau, and our job is just to provide backup."

He lit a cigarette, looked at the dazzling array of games in the game client, and asked, "There are so many games here, which one should we play?"

Li Changqing took a glance, shook his head, and asked, "What genre do you want to play? I'll look it up for you."

Without any hesitation, Hu Xiong replied, "Something that doesn't cost much, lets me play the boss, and features plenty of beauties."

Shortly after, just as Li Changqing was about to search, an advertisement suddenly popped up on the computer screen.

"Kill with a single strike for 999,999, beauties will throw themselves into your arms. If you're a brother, come conquer cities and territories with me..."

"This looks interesting, let's go with this one."

Having seen it all before, Li Changqing really wanted to remind Hu Xiong that he probably wouldn't become any sort of big shot in this kind of pay-to-win game.

However, Hu Xiong had already clicked on the game and started playing.

With nothing better to do and having zero interest in games, Li Changqing began browsing the news online.

Much like the internet of his previous life, this place was filled with countless forums dedicated to ancient history, astronomy, ghost stories, and bizarre tales.

He boredly opened several webpages.

*Shocking, the Peerless Marquis of ancient times actually...*

He clicked in to take a look, and the news inside read: It is rumored that the Peerless Marquis of antiquity was purely fictitious, entirely fabricated by later generations. A friend of mine is a history professor, absolutely true and reliable!

The entire screen was filled with "I have a friend who said" and "I heard from my friend."

Li Changqing rolled his eyes in speechlessness. There were even bored authors serializing stories and novels on the forum.

The titles were quite casually chosen as well.

*I've caught ghosts, slain demons, and loved a zombie. This is me, a...*

Li Changqing found himself reading along with relish on this forum.

Suddenly, Hu Xiong slammed his fists onto the keyboard fiercely.

"Damn it, Changqing, look at this. Is this bastard provoking me?"

Li Changqing glanced sideways and said, "That's an NPC..."

"How can I hack him to death?"

"This is an NPC, you can't hack him..."

"I don't care what kind of P he is, figure out a way for me. I want to hack him."

Li Changqing was speechless. Hu Xiong, this guy, really was a gaming noob...

Upon closer inspection, Li Changqing noticed a short line of text right below the NPC's dialogue: Top up money to attack the NPC.

Absolute geniuses!

This game company was something else, placing an NPC right here to mock players and draw aggro, requiring real money just to strike him down.

***

"Base coward!"

"Despicable wretch!"

True to form, Hu Xiong ended up topping up his account with money.

You play games for the thrill, how could anyone tolerate being mocked by an NPC?

Outside, the sky was gradually growing dark, but no news had arrived yet.

In the blink of an eye, it was nine o'clock in the evening, and the internet café was about to close.

Li Changqing dragged a rather disgruntled Hu Xiong out of the internet café.

After playing for half a day, they hadn't encountered a single beauty and had spent the entire time hacking at an NPC.

"I'll have to ask Qin Shenggen what game he plays next time," Hu Xiong summarized, drawing from his experience.

"Holy shit, look! A shooting star!"

"Make a wish, quick!"

"Let me see, let me see."

The main street suddenly erupted into a commotion.

Li Changqing and Hu Xiong exchanged glances and looked up at the sky.

A shooting star radiating a purple glow was hurtling toward the direction of Nanlin City.

"Damn, that really is a star." Hu Xiong's expression shifted, and he said in a deep voice, "Call Old Bai!"

Deep within a dimly lit alley in Nanlin City, a two-meter-tall man wearing a long black robe, dark sunglasses, and a mask stared eagerly at the shooting star, rapidly rushing toward the location where it was falling.

At the same time, the monsters and demons scattered throughout Nanlin City grew restless.

The Evil Star had appeared!

Before long, after Bai Chuan got into the car, the expressions of all three men turned grim.

Although the direction where the Evil Star was falling was not the exact center of Nanlin City, it was still within the urban area, heading straight toward the South District where the detective agency was located.

"The South District, the direction of the detective agency." Li Changqing's expression grew increasingly severe as he urged, "Hurry!"

Stepping on the gas, the car sped rapidly toward the detective agency.

The people of Nanlin City, who had initially been thrilled by the discovery of the shooting star and busy making wishes, were now gripped with panic.

While people had seen plenty of shooting stars, none had ever witnessed one plunging directly toward their own city.

The residents of the South District, in particular, were panicking, completely at a loss as to what to do.

At that moment, the television was broadcasting an urgent news report: "It is reported that an unidentified shooting star has appeared. We have established a connection with an expert. Please do not panic, everyone, and listen to the expert's analysis."

Woken up from bed by his wife and still half-asleep, the expert spoke up: "Everyone, do not panic. The vast majority of shooting stars burn up completely in the ozone layer, and what remains are merely tiny pebbles. These stones will not cause much harm to our city."

"Right, Expert. It is reported that the shooting star is flying directly toward the South District of Nanlin City. I wonder if you—"

***

The expert, who happened to reside in the South District, froze. "Where is it flying? The South District? Why didn't you say so earlier? Wife, run, forget the money, let's go..."

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

A wave of frantic noise echoed from the other end of the phone before it was abruptly hung up.

Looking somewhat awkward, the anchor tried to smooth things over: "I suppose the expert rarely encounters a shooting star from such close proximity and became momentarily excited, wishing to witness it with his own eyes..."

The shooting star, trailing a purple tail, finally plummeted to the ground.

Boom...

A deafening roar echoed.

The impact site of the shooting star was a wide street.

Anyone nearby had long since fled.

The ground was caved in to a depth of six meters, and a muscular man standing about two meters tall was stationed right inside the crater.

His forehead bore black horns, and his pupils flashed with purple light; he was clearly not human.

"Roar." Clenching his fists, the man let out an angry roar and slowly climbed out of the crater, a dense, oppressive aura of evil radiating from his body.

With a cold gaze, he quickly departed from the spot, heading straight down the street where the detective agency was located.

Long after the man had left, pedestrians began trickling back out. Having heard the massive explosion, they now spotted the meteor crater and approached out of curiosity.

Yet, they found no trace of the so-called meteorite.

Soon, the street became congested with traffic.

"Are you out of your mind? A single meteorite scared you out of your wits?"

"You're not even wearing clothes! Have you lost your mind?"

On the street, the man walked expressionlessly, striding along on his own as numerous vehicles were forced to a halt by his path.

Some cars, failing to brake in time, crashed straight into him.

The front ends of the cars were completely smashed, yet the man merely staggered back a few steps before continuing his march toward the detective agency.

"Are you sure it's him?"

At that moment, amidst the crowd, a demon named Li Guangxu wore a peculiar look in his eyes as he asked, "Why does he look like an idiot?"

A lesser demon beside him lowered its voice and replied, "Lord Li, I saw him crawl out of the meteor crater with my own eyes. Whatever fell from the sky, it's definitely him!"

"Should we make a move?" the lesser demon asked.

Li Guangxu glared at it. "Don't you understand the principle of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind? Who knows how many other demons are watching from the shadows?"