Chapter 275: Gains (I)

Chapter 275: Gains (I)

The city gates were closed. The Gold Armor yet hovered in the air within the city; golden radiance could be glimpsed in the darkness even through the massive city gates and walls.

Violent panting continued throughout the horrified crowd. They could neither leave nor stay. Should they keep running? That soldier didn’t seem to be in pursuit. Would he charge out of the city even though the gates were closed?

There was a small seal of a turtle shell floating over his hand...

A sliver of greed rose in everyone when they thought of that item, but it was swiftly drowned by terror.

Too strong! Ding Chen had been annihilated with one punch; he’d had no room for retaliation at all.

“How much longer until the ruins open?” Violet Moon asked despite her wan face and shortness of breath. She’d forgotten what time it was or didn’t even have the ability to consider how much time had elapsed.

“A long time!” Li Hao called out while being dragged away by Director Zhou. “You guys were in there for only two hours. There’s another twenty-two until the ruin doors open again.”

That was a very long time! They couldn’t leave even if they wanted to. It was why the crowd didn’t keep running—there was no place to run to. They wouldn’t even be able to fly anymore if they left the outer city and came back in. Thus, they wouldn’t brashly depart the premises. They still had designs on the inner city.

“This is all that idiot Ding Chen’s fault!” Violet Moon set her jaw with annoyance. “That Gold Armor was inert and wouldn’t have made a move if we didn’t disturb the seal in his hand...”

The Solars had swiftly run for the pagoda after entering the city, but hadn’t been able to make it up the structure after prolonged attempts. They couldn’t even fly up!

They had to search around the base when they were out of ideas and found the Gold Armor in one of the ancient houses. Wary and on guard at first, no one dared approach it. The might of the Silver Armor was still fresh in their minds. But after extended tries, someone was bold enough to try attacking the soldier.

There was no response!

That was when other thoughts entered their mind and Ding Chen made use of the opportunity to attempt to sneak the seal away when everyone milled around in confusion.

The results spoke for themselves. Everyone’s wits flew out of their minds when the Gold Armor moved! Violet Moon was assigning all blame to Ding Chen—no one would object since he was dead. In actuality, everyone wanted that item. Ding Chen was just unlucky enough to be the first to touch it and die a ghastly death for it.

Hao Lianchuan didn’t say anything, he looked at the city gates. Hu Dingfang also frowned.

“There’s still people inside.”

Indeed, there were still others behind the gates. There had been thirty people left on the expedition team before. Li Hao’s trio killed Zhang Ting and the Yama Sunflare, and another two Solars had died. That left twenty-six inside the city.

There were five Solars standing outside, eleven Sunflares that’d made it out, and Li Hao’s three. That made for nineteen total, leaving seven inside the city—including the four Night Watcher Darkmoons. Not a single one of them had emerged. Plainly, they’d all chosen to go deep into the city and traveled slower. Since they couldn’t fly, they hadn’t been able to retreat in time.

The others looked around and saw that the Night Watchers were abruptly five less. Cold smirks appeared on faces when they saw that all of their Darkmoons were missing. How dare Darkmoons remain! They were just courting death to do so!

Many considerations ran through Li Hao’s mind. If he was here alone, he would kill everyone present. He had the strength and means to. The Night Watchers, however, needed to put down roots in Silver Moon.

The young man exhaled gently when his thoughts traveled here. He was a little too bloodthirsty these days! That killing fiend must be impacting him—he wasn’t so murderous before. He’d only taken a quick look in the illusion, but the other affected him even now.

“They wouldn’t obey when I told them to commit suicide, so I had to raise my blade instead” reverberated in his mind. Was this the sentiment from anyone decent?

No! Only serial killers say that! Li Hao condemned inwardly. I’m no one like that, I barely even killed chickens as I grew up! I’m a genteel, refined person!

That man was indeed terrifying. Just a scene in someone else’s memories eons ago still proved sufficient to impact him even now!

Hu Dingfang suddenly looked at one of Celestial’s Sunflares as Li Hao’s thoughts ran wild. “What... are you holding?” he asked with a strange look in his eyes.

The cloaked figures tensed with nervousness. One of them clutched a very big bag. It’d been shoved into his cloak before, but could no longer remain hidden at this stage.

“I... seem to sense something as well...” Hao Lianchuan said slowly. Violet Moon and the Revolution King turned around as well, all of them with bizarre looks on their faces.

Li Hao could already see the contents of the bag. The Celestial members seemed to have discovered some mysterious power stones, much like the ones that the Yama member had found. The organization’s Sunflares floundered in dread and apprehension. The late Sunflare threw the bag out. “We picked these up... Please take them if the venerated ones have use for them!”

He chose to give up his bounty in this moment because his two Solars were dead. Ding Chen’s death made sense, Kong Qi’s had come about from pure nerves. He took to the air even though he hadn’t gone through the second passageway. Did he think he was Violet Moon and had the protection of the Armor of the Thunder God?

The bag spilled its contents on the ground. The Solars’ eyes widened when rocks tumbled out. It really was mysterious power stones!

Hao Lianchuan wasn’t in a hurry to pick them up. “There are... mysterious power stones inside the city?” he asked with a peculiar tone.

“Yes!” answered the Celestial member. “Some ancient houses have their front doors open. When we went inside, we discovered that some houses had stones in them. There’s not that many—some hold only one, some have three to five.

“Other than us and the venerated ones who went to the pagoda, the others should’ve collected a few as well. This is why we stayed in the city—to look for more.”

Violet Moon glanced at her remaining members—they nodded back at her. Plainly, they’d also found some. They weren’t afraid of anything since their Solar was still alive.

Mysterious power stones!

These items were the key to faction strength! The Night Watchers possessed some as well—they typically appeared only in ancient ruins and in very few quantities, unless it was a special ruin. But just Celestial alone had collected almost sixty from the inner city! It was an astronomical sum!

“These are Celestial’s findings,” Hao Lianchuan chuckled. “We’d be bullying you if we took them. You should put them away...” He glanced at Violet Moon and the Revolution King. “I am sure that you two are in agreement as well, correct?”

Violet Moon snorted and the Revolution King agreed faintly, “Ding Chen and Kong Qi died in accidents. The three great organizations are of the same breath and branches...”