Lord of Mysterious Wizard

Chapter 119: Chapter 119 The Cancer of Messer City

“Sir, I am willing to lay down my life for you.”

McGraw knelt half-way inside the carriage, his head bowed low, his tone utterly resolute, as if this had always been his deepest desire.

If anyone could look closely, they would find McGraw’s body was trembling slightly, not because he was lying, but because he was yet to calm down from the excitement.

He was a clever beggar, and had heard some abnormal tales from the mouths of some old vagabonds. Being from the Federation, he had naturally heard of the “Twelve Saints” as well, but he always thought stories were just stories.

That is, until just moments ago, when he drank that potion that looked like clear water.

It was hard for him to describe how he felt in that moment; all he knew was that had the sir not held him down at the critical moment, he might have lost control and swayed out of the carriage, soaring through the air like a gentle breeze.

Of course, that was an illusion; the Swift Secret Medicine would not allow him to sail through the void.

But what could be confirmed was that his crippled leg could no longer affect his speed—if he moved, what he could unleash was akin to the velocity of a monster.

“Rise, you are working for me, not my slave.”

Tang Qi looked at McGraw, who had fully embraced his role, and said indifferently.

He did not continue to instill commands of “loyalty to me,” but emphasized working for him, to prevent the possibility of going to extremes.

Moreover, Tang Qi indeed only needed a loyal subordinate, not a death soldier.

He saw McGraw’s excitement, which was quite understandable.

A youth crippled for a long time might not outwardly care about his mobility or feel inferior, but he certainly couldn’t be completely indifferent.

That bottle of “Swift Secret Medicine” had made up for that deficiency.

Now McGraw was only superficially crippled, his speed not quite ghostly, but at least competitive with animals like cheetahs.

Of course, that was merely speed, without any extraordinary battle power, at least not for now.

“You will need some time to adapt to your new abilities, and during this period you’ll need to hide. Your subordinates should also disappear temporarily. There’s no need for further expansion, rather a complete consolidation, until my next task arrives. Understand?”

“Yes!”

McGraw readily agreed to Tang Qi’s instructions without hesitation.

Before McGraw got out of the carriage, Tang Qi seemed to think of something else, his gaze flickering slightly, then he added: “After adapting to your abilities, it would be best to learn some knowledge and some combat skills; you should have the ability to protect yourself now.”

“Yes, sir.”

…

After bidding farewell to McGraw, Tang Qi instructed the coachman to return to Thorns Campus.

He had no hunting plans tonight, and didn’t intend to go anywhere else. His family had been wiped out by him, except for the old coot Samra, and Samra had a “gift” waiting for him, with the last oversight just being covered.

This meant Tang Qi had finally entered a period of rest.

At least for the moment, there were no pressing matters to attend to.

“Finally, I can have a peaceful night; maybe tonight I can indulge once, skip cultivation and Meditation Method, prepare a magical meal for myself, and then get a sound sleep?”

Tang Qi listened to the clip-clop sounds outside, silently chuckling to himself.

Chances are, he was just saying that, and the first thing he’d do upon returning to his small building was probably still meditation and cultivation.

However, before that, it wouldn’t hurt for Tang Qi to enjoy the various street views of Messer City.

At this time, it was completely night, and the sound of the carriage moving echoed.

The carriage Tang Qi rented was an expensive one, big and spacious, very suitable for sightseeing the city. The middle-class and working-class who came out to play would also ride this type of carriage, albeit usually by carpooling.

Although Messer City is not well-known throughout the Federation and occasionally appears in the news, most of those are related to terms like ‘cancerous city,’ ‘serial killings,’ and ‘extremely high crime rates.’

However, within Secret Phoenix State and the nearby cities and counties, Messer City had a fairly good reputation.

At least many tourists knew that the Central District of Messer City was a shopping paradise, a city that never sleeps, the perfect spot for night-sightseeing.

Tang Qi also joined in the bustling activity, like many tourists, watching through the carriage window as neon lights flickered and all sorts of eye-opening shops, at the even busier nighttime, allowed one to see people of all ethnicities and tourists from all places in this cross-linked area.

Even tourists from outside the Federation.

Until the carriage unwittingly, with a “clip-clop” sound, stepped into a transitional line between neon lights and darkness.

“Dear guest, we have entered the Blank District, but don’t worry; it’s just this short distance, and we will quickly pass through without any accidents.”

The coachman was a white Big Man with a full beard, exuding the air of an old cowboy, but he looked tense at the moment, frequently glancing at a hidden pocket in front of him, which held a loaded gun ready to fire at the pull of the trigger.

Separated by a sturdy wooden board, Tang Qi could still feel the coachman’s nervous emotions, and couldn’t help but exclaim inwardly: “If Messer City indeed harbors a cancer, it can only be the Blank District.”

“According to the implicit rules of Abnormality births, if I open the Curse Mark in the Blank District, is it possible that…”

“Let’s leave it be; with my current strength, although I need not worry about changing from Hunter to prey, reaping as comfortably as the previous two times is likely to be difficult.”

His thoughts had just drifted to dangerous territories when Tang Qi quickly suppressed them.

Using the Curse Mark as bait, setting up traps, and ambushing various Abnormalities or demons in order to harvest Resentful Souls as fuel had become a routine for Tang Qi to increase his power.

And from the practical results, it had been very effective.

The first time in Newton District was somewhat clumsy, nearly capsizing.

However, the subsequent two times, in Georgeway Village and Golden Valley, were both very successful traps, and the gain greatly satisfied Tang Qi.

But these were far from making Tang Qi complacent. Through several Huntings, Tang Qi also realized:

The more humans gather, the more Abnormalities there are, and the stronger they become.

Whereas in the Wilderness, although some Abnormalities could be attracted, their numbers were incomparable to those in human settlements.

And after a Hunting expedition, that area would enter a vacuum period for some time.

But in human cities, it’s likely that such a scenario would not occur.

If Tang Qi were to open the Curse Mark in the Blank District with the same one-minute limit, he wonders if he would be overwhelmed by the tide of incoming Abnormalities.

“Georgeway is now a trap; Golden Valley is my temporary storage room; next Hunting, maybe I could try…”

“Hmm?”

While Tang Qi was pondering his next Hunting location, his gaze casually swept over the unique streetscape in the dimly lit Blank District.

In that moment, through a very long alley, across at least several streets, several figures like true ghosts flitted through Tang Qi’s vision, startling him as he noticed, when those figures darted by.

Flecks of ghost light momentarily trailed by in the depths of Tang Qi’s eyes.

PS: Thanks to the book friend 20170905122108252 for the 100-point reward, and to Mechanical and Contract Master Feister for the 500-point reward, plus one more chapter.