NOVEL ONLINE FREE 32: Water Dragon King
The roads in the city were manageable, but the cemetery in the suburbs was a muddy mess due to the downpour.
Fortunately, the rain eased up during the latter half of the journey.
Zhang Shengkang breathed an inexplicable sigh of relief: “It’s alright. Though the weather isn’t great, at least it stopped raining when it needed to.”
Despite his words, looking outside, he saw the sky remained gloomy, with no guarantee it wouldn’t suddenly rain again.
Slowing down to make a turn, he chatted with the two young women in the back seat: “It’s good the sky cleared up. With rain, we can’t even light fires. We’d have to hold umbrellas to burn offerings.”
Bai Ling also smiled: “Uncle Zhang, don’t underestimate fire. Sometimes, fire doesn’t need people to provide conditions for it. If left unchecked, it will slowly burn everything to ashes.”
“Is… is that so.” Zhang Shengkang laughed dryly, unsure how to respond.
He wanted to say her thoughts were sometimes too extreme, but then realized he was likely the cause of her experiences, so he ultimately didn’t voice his thoughts.
The car wheels rolled over the last stretch of bumpy mud road, finally reaching the cemetery.
Thanks to their wealth when alive, the Bai family had purchased a separate area in the cemetery. Two tombstones stood properly in the center, with a small unmarked stone beside them.
Bai Ling stood before the three tombstones, suddenly smiling.
“Uncle Zhang, do you know? After the incident six months ago, my parents’ urns were sent back to Tianhai City before I was, a living person.”
She walked to the unmarked tombstone, gently stroking it with her finger: “At that time, you even thought I was dead. Unable to find my body, you simply erected a cenotaph. If I had come back a day or two later, my name might have been carved on it.”
Hearing her words, Zhang Shengkang felt inexplicably guilty. He wiped his sweat and said, “It’s all good now that you’re back. Let’s quickly burn the offerings while it’s not raining… I’ll go get the things.”
He took out the joss paper from the trunk, along with various paper crafts, and placed them in front of the three tombstones.
Bai Ling had brought her own lighter. After a few crisp flint sounds, flames began to rise.
“The quality is quite good, able to ignite in such damp conditions,” Zhang Shengkang commented casually. Seeing no reaction from Bai Ling, he quietly stepped back a few paces. “I’ll go get the umbrella canopy, in case it rains again.”
The car was parked outside the cemetery. He hid behind it, checking his watch. It was just a few minutes before Mr. Gray’s appointed time.
He had said he would bring people from another direction, from the top of the cemetery hill, and told Zhang Shengkang to hide well outside the cemetery, not interfering with the matter.
As smoke from the burning joss paper rose, Zhang Shengkang lit a cigarette for himself.
Since learning about his niece’s spiritual awakening, he had been living on edge these past days, fearing she might forcefully take back the property or harm Shanshan.
Fortunately, he had been cautious, specifically locking his daughter at home today, not letting her come along, allowing her to safely avoid this incident.
Just as Zhang Shengkang was thinking this, he turned his head and suddenly found Zhang Shanshan sitting in the passenger seat.
“Shanshan! How are you here!”
In the passenger seat, Zhang Shanshan looked absent-minded. She stared at him for a long time before speaking: “I don’t know either. I seem to have fallen asleep, and then… I was here.”
“Of course she’s here. After all, the more people, the merrier.”
Bai Ling’s voice suddenly sounded, startling Zhang Shengkang out of his wits.
“You, how are you here,” he looked at the white-haired girl in the back seat, “Then in the cemetery…”
Bai Ling didn’t speak, but Zhang Shengkang realized.
The one in the cemetery was that beautiful, busty girl?
But, how could Bai Ling leave her there alone…
Ding dong~ The alarm on his phone rang, and suddenly the cemetery erupted in flames with a loud boom.
“How’s that,” a man in a raincoat stood up on the small hill, “This should be enough to give her a hard time.”
“Fire Fox, don’t be careless,” a woman’s voice came through the earpiece, “The target is also an ability user, surely with self-protection measures.”
This was their first time taking on a job to assassinate a high-level ability user. Before setting out, they had discussed being more professional, like giving each other codenames. Not using codenames wouldn’t be professional.
The absolute main force, a Level 3 early-stage Elemental Foundation Stone fire system ability user, Fire Fox. Support, a Level 2 late-stage Mind Foundation Stone mental detection system, Wind Chime. Vice Carry, a Level 2 late-stage Elemental Foundation Stone mist system, Hazy.
“That’s hard to say. We don’t have much experience, but is the opponent really battle-hardened?” Fire Fox expressed disdain, “Maybe they didn’t react in time and were burned to death directly.”
It was just unfortunate that the weather wasn’t cooperating today. Due to the recent downpour, the air was too humid, and his ability couldn’t fully manifest, only burning a small area. If the weather had been dry, he could have spread the sea of fire throughout the entire cemetery.
“Don’t be careless,” Wind Chime, the only woman in the team, said, “Hazy, help us conceal our whereabouts first.”
Hazy could create mist to hide their presence. Or he could throw smoke grenades into the center of the battlefield, but that would make him an inside agent.
To be honest, Fire Fox was very dissatisfied with his two teammates’ abilities, feeling they were useless, especially—
“What about you, Wind Chime? Can’t you detect where the person is, whether they’re alive?”
The original plan had seemed good: having mental detection as support, they could launch long-range fire attacks to wear down the opponent before going in for the kill. But in the actual battlefield, Wind Chime’s ability proved completely ineffective.
“I can’t help it,” Wind Chime’s voice was full of helplessness, “The opponent definitely came prepared, specifically bringing something to interfere with abilities.”
What was happening?
The mental detection ability forms a map in the mind, with spiritual energy strength appearing as small light spots on the map, showing the opponent’s position.
The size of the light spots varies with spiritual energy strength. A Level 3 user should appear as a fairly large light circle on her map.
But now, on Wind Chime’s detection map, there was a blurry, almost pixelated light patch covering the entire map, obscuring everything.
What did this mean? It meant they were definitely being countered, interfered with.
Hazy, hiding in the shadows, was about to activate his ability when suddenly a muffled thunder sounded from the sky, and torrential rain poured down again.
The rain curtain obscured everything, also extinguishing the fire in the cemetery, where a curvaceous, shapely young woman stood.
Yuan Xiaoning, still holding some joss paper, winked towards the direction of the small hill.
She had easily defended against the fire sea, half a level below her own level, by controlling water elements to create a water shield. With the added bonus of the field weather, it was impossible for the fire to penetrate.
“Hey, has the fight started?”
No one replied to her. Wind Chime frowned and spoke into her earpiece: “What’s going on, Hazy? Are you not doing your job?”
“I, I am,” Hazy swallowed, “But it seems to have no effect.”
“…Why?”
“Forget it, look at her quickly.” Fire Fox prompted in the voice chat.
The busty beauty standing gracefully in the downpour was elegantly stepping towards the small hill. Not a single raindrop fell on her, not even wetting the joss paper in her hand. The raindrops obediently fell around the young woman, like well-behaved children.