: The Smiling Tiger

Qiao Yuan continued walking, holding his phone, ready to conjure the necromancer's substitute at any moment: "I know, Baby mentioned it. That thing has killed a lot of people, but it's very cunning and hasn't been caught yet."

"How could this happen? Oh, I remember now, I heard that this guy especially likes the blood of young people, especially young martial artists like us. I told you before that I let you come out to play, so you should hurry up and go to a crowded place, or find a chance to get on the bus." Hu Tu kept muttering to himself, even more anxious than when he was being watched.

Qiao Yuan remained calm: "It's nothing, I'll hang up now, we'll talk again later after this is resolved."

After saying that, he hung up the phone and continued walking towards the Moonlit Community, and quickly called his baby.

He did not follow Hu Tu's advice and went to the bustling commercial district with high foot traffic.

Now that I have a demon stand-in, I'm not afraid.

The only problem is that, according to the law-abiding citizen contract he signed with Ember, self-defense is permissible, but it cannot harm the innocent.

Therefore, a busy area is not suitable. If he accidentally injures a passerby, it will inevitably affect his admission to Galaxy University, which is something he absolutely cannot accept.

He didn't even want to use a substitute directly; it was better to let Yu Jin handle it.

Besides, he didn't think the vampire would be foolish enough to chase him into the city center.

Shaking him off would be easy; he could simply go to the Jianghai Boxing Gym across the street, but that wouldn't make much sense.

If he's been targeted the first time, he's likely to be targeted a second time. This isn't his first time here, but the fact that he's suddenly being targeted tonight is probably related to his learning of ancient martial arts, which has altered his spirit and energy.

Although Li Haoran and Director Li also know how to do it, they are clearly stronger than him.

This vampire must be intelligent to have been able to evade the Embers' pursuit so many times.

A cold glint flashed in Qiao Yuan's eyes. Not only would he not run, but he would also make the other party die tonight!

At that moment, Yan Baobao's anxious voice came through the phone: "Use the demon substitute to protect yourself first, then wait for me. That guy is very fast, don't be impulsive."

"Okay," Qiao Yuan nodded.

He kept walking and gradually sensed the vampire's presence getting closer and closer behind him.

It's not the right time yet!

If a demon substitute were used now, it would probably scare the vampire away.

But what he wanted was not to avoid this crisis, nor was it to intimidate; he wanted the other side dead!

Those spineless Zero Clan laborers have all been corrupted into vampires. Instead of fighting Legalist Heavy Industries to the death or killing a few executives of giant corporations to vent their anger, what kind of skill is it to kill ordinary people every day? They are even worse than trash.

Time passed slowly, and five minutes later, he gradually arrived at Donghu Building, still a few dozen meters away from Du's Grocery Store.

Although this area is close to the Meilin Department Store commercial district, the atmosphere here is completely different. The surrounding area is full of residential communities and factories, and the streets are much quieter.

After all, Donghu Building is already separated from Meilin Commercial District and is an independent floating building.

He had just heard the vampire follow him along the ventilation ducts beneath the floating passage, almost like a shadow.

That beast has such great patience.

Qiao Yuan raised his left hand, which was wearing the Demon Substitute Ring, and touched it lightly twice: "54% durability left, hopefully this time the damage will be less."

Just then, a foul-smelling, blood-red figure suddenly pounced out of the alley, moving with incredible speed, striking like a venomous snake.

But Qiao Yuan was on guard. He dodged with the third move of the Spirit Crane, Lotus Steps, and at the same time, he raised his hand and suddenly manifested the Necromancer Demon, wielding a black longsword that was emitting green flames and swung it fiercely.

puff!

Caught off guard, the tall, blood-red vampire had his left hand severed.

Just as he was about to press his advantage and see the vampire scream in pain, he noticed that the vampire had dashed into a nearby alley and was running so fast that it gave him no chance at all.

"Damn it!" Qiao Yuan cursed.

The speed is too fast; he can't catch up at all. But if he doesn't chase, wouldn't that be like letting a tiger return to the mountains? They've already made a blood feud; what will he do next?

You can't exactly say he activates his demonic stand-in every time he goes out; that would be too high-profile.

No, we have to kill them!

Qiao Yuan strode into the alley and hurled his green-flaming longsword at the fleeing vampire.

As expected, it missed.

The opponent's strength should have reached the first-tier sublimation [Awakening], similar to the baby.

Ascending to godhood through twelve stages, each stage is divided into four phases: [Solitary Journey], [Domineering], [Awakening], and [Breaking Limits].

Qiao Yuan frowned slightly, then burst into laughter: "I thought you had some strength, but it turns out you're just a spineless piece of trash. You might as well commit suicide."

Although he lost his sword, his words enraged the vampire lurking in the shadows.

"How dare you! You just wait!"

The vampire cursed loudly, clearly enraged, but to his slight surprise, he still suppressed his impulse.

Qiao Yuan felt helpless and had a headache. This wasn't right. In movies and TV shows, villains always died because they talked too much and were overly confident. Why would they run away in a panic?

Now, facing a vampire who is quick to kill and never hesitates to retreat, there's really no way to catch him. No wonder he hasn't been captured by Ember.

If the other party had been even slightly more arrogant, he would probably have been killed by Yu Jin long ago.

He watched helplessly as the vampire slipped away. What a hassle.

As soon as Qiao Yuan turned around, his ears twitched. Accompanied by a violent roar and screams, the vampire, which had completely disappeared from his sight, was violently thrown back and flew past him, crashing heavily outside the alley, spraying scarlet blood all over the ground.

"Dare to touch my brother? I'll kill you!"

The familiar, cool, girlish voice quickly filled Qiao Yuan's ears.

He turned his head and saw the pink-haired girl who was flying in mid-air in a black mecha combat suit, with a silver longsword tied at her waist and charged electromagnetic gauntlets on her hands. At this moment, she was biting her lip, her pretty face was as cold as frost, and her murderous aura was soaring to the sky.

It's Yan Baobao!

Further away at the end of the alley, on the other side of the Donghu Building, the Ember Floating Vehicle arrived late from afar.

It was clearly the baby who arrived first.

Qiao Yuan smiled knowingly: "Baby, you're amazing."

Although Baby usually uses guns or fists, his true skill lies in swordsmanship, his exceptional King's Swordsmanship.

The so-called "King Sequence" refers to being as domineering and absolute as a king in any event, with an extremely high ceiling, but it is very difficult and has extremely demanding requirements.

Even though Yan Baobao is only an intern at Ember now, she still takes the initiative every time, similar to the Tyrant sequence, but with even greater momentum and ambition, like a young lion with its sharp edge fully revealed.

At this moment, a smile appeared on Yan Baobao's icy jade-like face: "Don't be afraid, I'll protect you."

With that, she charged toward the vampire outside, giving it no chance to escape. Under the electromagnetic charging gauntlets, she beat it to a pulp in just three punches.

That's the ability of a first-tier king [Quick Battle] (the faster the speed, the greater the power).

Qiao Yuan put away the demon substitute and walked out of the alley. He finally felt at ease. The phrase "I'll protect you" had almost become Yan Baobao's catchphrase.

The ethereal vehicle behind them circled around to the front, and Zhou, with his black hair parted in the middle, jumped off the vehicle to examine the scene. He then frowned at the vampire's left hand that he had severed and said, "Oh dear, is this a passerby's hand? Oh, it's a vampire's hand."

Qiao Yuan said with a half-smile, "You're disappointed, no one was hurt this time."

Zhou Ye laughed heartily at Yan Baobao with a calm expression: "Look, your little brother is still angry about last time? What a childish temper. I'm a member of the Embers, and I have to be responsible for the people. Don't take it to heart. I was just saying it casually. We're all friends."

He stood up again and patted Qiao Yuan on the shoulder: "You are even more outstanding than I imagined. You are indeed a perfect match for the baby."

Qiao Yuan frowned slightly as he listened. The other person's praise was genuine, but it still made him feel uncomfortable.

Well, it's good that the vampire is dead, so I won't have to live in fear and anxiety in the future, and I won't even feel at ease going out.

Little did he know that Zhou Ye was already plotting a new scheme, determined to step on him to rise to power and thus achieve great merit before heading to the main city.

"This is really troublesome. It seems that when the plan is put into action, I need to first send Yan Baobao away and leave the kid isolated and helpless. Then I'll hire some homeless people and orphans from welfare homes. Anyway, in the end, there will be no evidence against him, and all the blame can be pinned on him... Oh, I'm so clever."

"In short, we must take the main city!"