City of Sin and Mist (The Black Death) Chapter 127: The Pursuit

Wu Hui was puzzled by Ren Yin’s strange condition. After all, the duration of Wang Xiaodie’s slave contract wasn’t particularly valuable to them.

One was easy to obtain, and the other was that they wouldn’t do anything too extreme with that contract.

Exchanging oneself—what kind of arrangement was that? Although he wouldn’t do anything excessive to her. He wouldn’t even make her wash dishes or clean like Wang Xiaodie.

“I thought you liked the thrill of dominance when you mentioned imprisonment yesterday,” Ren Yin remarked, getting dressed.

“…I agreed,” Wu Hui admitted after some thought, realizing Ren Yin was right. “But I want to know what you plan to do.”

Ren Yin replied, “Just some training on her. I was planning to wait until next month, but now the black mist is affecting me, and I’m a bit impatient.”

“Don’t cause any problems,” Wu Hui warned.

He had considered using some tamer techniques to correct many of Wang Xiaodie’s bad habits, but Ren Yin seemed to mean something else.

“I’ll keep things measured,” Ren Yin assured.

Since she said that, Wu Hui had nothing more to say.

He still had official business to attend to.

First, he took the initiative to call Gao Cheng, whom he had contacted yesterday.

Being ambushed by the enemy couldn’t just be bad luck or a careless coincidence; someone must have leaked their whereabouts.

They had only just arrived in Dayun City, so the odds of being targeted were low. But Gao Cheng was likely already noticed by the enemy, or perhaps he deliberately leaked information—though that was less likely. After all, a level-six player wanting to kill Wu Hui and Ren Yin wouldn’t need to be so complicated.

“You two were ambushed yesterday? Why contact me only now?” Gao Cheng frowned. He felt this low-level player was not easy to control.

“I needed time to confirm you had no involvement,” Wu Hui gave a casual excuse.

In truth, before suppressing his criminal urges yesterday, he was reluctant to contact members of the Judgement Court like Gao Cheng. After all, during the influence, a series of plans to raid the local Judgement Court’s warehouse had already popped into his head.

“Alright. We can’t fully trust each other yet. According to our deductions, there are no more than seven players involved in the Black Death game. Counting those you killed, three are dead. Among the remaining four, there might be some level-seven experts.”

“Understood. We’ll be cautious.”

Gao Cheng ended the call and glanced at Liao Yuan beside him. “That level-four player is fairly skilled.”

Liao Yuan’s wounds appeared fully healed. “Many level-five players have been complacent for too long. It’s no surprise one was killed.”

“Having hidden for so long without us finding him, he probably isn’t a complete weakling,” Gao Cheng raised an eyebrow.

Liao Yuan said nothing further, acknowledging Gao Cheng’s point.

“At headquarters, I don’t know if the two deputy chiefs can regain their clarity. The experts have mostly gone to Changqing City. It’s tough for people like us,” Gao Cheng said anxiously, clearly pessimistic about the situation.

Indeed, the situation was grim.

Wu Hui, holding reports of incidents and various external information logs, began investigating alongside Ren Yin.

It was tedious work. Wu Hui had written a program to help filter part of it, but it still took a long time to identify targets.

“There might be one or two targets within the Judgement Court,” Ren Yin observed.

Wu Hui removed his glasses and scanned the data. “That’s very possible. But we have no way to verify. Let’s address other potential targets first.”

Gao Cheng and Liao Yuan had held these records longer. Even if less efficient, they had likely found most leads.

So Wu Hui and Ren Yin’s main takeaway from reviewing the data was an understanding of the severity of the situation.

In recent times, thousands of serious violent crimes had erupted throughout the city: murder, robbery, coercion… and an increasing number of brawls and other common social conflicts.

Most people were influenced by the power of the Demon God, ignoring all that was happening around them.

But some had begun to realize something was wrong.

Guan Shanting had been distracted and restless these past two days. While away from headquarters on missions, it was bearable, but within headquarters, he constantly wanted to beat up those level-six players.

He was confident he could defeat those who had been level six for a year or two. If they hadn’t grown in so long, it meant they had essentially forgotten how to fight.

With his talisman skills activated and all his trump cards ready, taking down a level-six alone wasn’t difficult.

Yet these people arrogantly considered themselves his seniors and constantly bossed him around.

Guan Shanting wanted to strike them.

But he felt this wasn’t normal for him. At worst, he would just look down on them, not harbor such intense thoughts.

Something was off.

But he couldn’t quite put his finger on what.

It seemed this wasn’t the first time he sensed something was wrong.

A pale green light radiated from him, clearing his mind. Suddenly, he looked around and saw only a black mist shrouding him. He didn’t know when it had enveloped him.

“Retreat!” Guan Shanting activated his skill, the light dispersing the black mist. “What is this?”

…

The Orb Spider walked alone through the city.

Spiders were solitary creatures, rarely banding together, and he was no one who needed collective aid.

His codename lacked the imposing aura of a tarantula, even seeming somewhat harmless. Yet the Orb Spider was a skilled hunter, adept at weaving webs.

“Orb” referred to his web, not himself.

Lately, he had been active around the city, placing spheres infused with shadow power into various corners.

The spheres melted into the shadows of buildings, monitoring everything around.

This was the web he wove.

“The city’s surveillance system is now meaningless. But at least I can oversee this quarter of the city,” the Orb Spider closed his eyes and slipped once more into the darkness.

He could not see the black mist with his naked eye, but through the shadow-embedded orbs, he could.

With enough preparation time and sufficient traps, hunting level-six players should be no problem.

The gap between levels, especially when only one or two levels apart, was not absolute.

Upset kills happened frequently.

Besides individual strength, factors like numbers, counters, environment, preparation, and state mattered.

Thus, level four could kill level five, and level five could ambush level six.

They were among the elite at their current level. Facing someone only one level higher, no one chose to retreat; everyone sought a way to resolve the threat.

However, the only problem was this:

The targeted individuals were likely of the same kind as them, not the ordinary mediocre players who usually fell to higher-level opponents.

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