The esper who emerged from the sewer looked at the current scene and immediately despaired. With people watching from above, escape was impossible. However, he was unwilling to die just like that, so he decided to struggle one last time before his death.
"Die! I'll take you down with me!" The esper from the Heavenly Dragon Bureau finally erupted, his body hair standing on end. He charged towards Cao Fuli, but Cao Fuli calmly began to use his esper ability.
Cao Fuli's ability was to control plastic, making him a material esper. Any substance that existed on Earth could become an esper's ability. While plastic was artificial, it was a product of petroleum processing, derived from oil, and could be used in combat. Shen Feng had encountered plastic-controlling sea beasts at sea before.
Cao Fuli's ability to control plastic proved one thing: with esper abilities, nothing was impossible.
Cao Fuli's enemy, this esper, used the ability to control his own hair. He then controlled his hair to grow out like an arm and began to grab at Cao Fuli.
Cao Fuli, in turn, controlled nearby plastic to form a knife, instantly slicing through any hair that appeared.
However, since this esper's ability was to control the hair on his body, it wasn't limited to just the hair on his head. Hair from other parts of his body was also under his control. Suddenly, long hair grew from the esper's pant leg and advanced along the ground. Taking Cao Fuli by surprise, it wrapped around his legs.
"What the hell is this hair?" Cao Fuli never expected his enemy's ability to be used in such a way and was caught off guard.
With a strong tug, the enemy pulled Cao Fuli to the ground. He then said smugly, "Who would have thought my leg hair could attack!"
Cao Fuli casually sliced through the hair wrapped around his legs and continued to evade the opponent's attacks, letting out a sigh of relief. "I thought it was hair from somewhere else!"
After familiarizing himself with the enemy's combat style, Cao Fuli assessed his opponent's strength. This fellow's ability was merely body enhancement, and his innate combat ability was not as strong as his own. Cao Fuli seized the opportunity, controlling the surrounding plastic to suddenly condense into a spear and pierce the opponent's chest.
"Pfft..." The plastic spear went through the esper's chest. The esper struggled for a moment before collapsing to the ground, eventually dying from excessive blood loss.
Above the clouds, Shen Feng dropped a rope and said, "The battle is over, let's go find the next esper. If I don't kill all these espers, I won't be able to quell my hatred!"
Cao Fuli quickly climbed up the rope. Once he reached the clouds, he asked, "City Lord, we've killed so many people from the Heavenly Dragon Bureau. Will their headquarters turn against us because of this?"
Cao Fuli was very worried that Yuzhou would offend the headquarters, which might bring about Yuzhou's destruction.
However, Shen Feng said dismissively, "If we killed them, we killed them! Not only did we kill them, but we'll also chop off their heads to make esper potions and hang their bodies on the city walls to dry in the sun. I'd like to see if the headquarters will give me a reasonable explanation!"
Shen Feng didn't care what others thought. Regardless of the Heavenly Dragon Bureau's reasons, they shouldn't have done such despicable and shameless things. Zhao Kuangyin, who seized the empire from an orphan and his widowed mother, was scorned by the world for over a thousand years. Now, what the Heavenly Dragon Bureau had done was even more egregious and shameless than Old Zhao's actions. It was only right to kill such people!
Upon hearing this, Cao Fuli became worried. "City Lord, please calm down. We rely on external supplies for many things, such as oil, coal, and our current satellite communication. These all depend on the headquarters' help. If we offend the headquarters, all of this will be in jeopardy."
"Shut up! Do you think I don't know that?" Shen Feng said calmly. "If they wanted Yuzhou, they could have taken it openly. At worst, I would have let my two wives take our family to live in Rongcheng. But how did they act? They kidnapped my son, forcibly married my wife, and when things turned against them, they indiscriminately killed innocent people and created chaos just to escape. Such people must be killed to appease public anger and set things right!"
Shen Feng no longer cared about the consequences. As Mr. Lu Xun said, "If one has to consider every aspect, then nothing can be accomplished!"
Therefore, Shen Feng decided to act first and deal with the potential troubles later.
Cao Fuli opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then he remembered that he was only the president of the Mercenary Guild, not the City Lord's strategist. Even if he offered advice or admonishments, it wasn't his place. If everyone else remained silent and he spoke so much, it would make him seem disloyal.
Thus, Cao Fuli immediately fell silent, thinking, "If there are headaches later, it will be the City Lord's headache, not mine!"
People from the City Lord's mansion had come to the streets to maintain order, but the crowd remained chaotic. Because of the constant tremors from the earthquake, buildings continued to collapse one after another, causing panic among the people of Yuzhou, who were all fleeing to find a safe place to shelter.
Xu Xing and her mother, Wu Yelian, were staff members at an orphanage. Although Xu Xing only had a junior high school education, she became the director in charge of the orphans. The reason was simple: she knew Shen Feng and was his savior. The City Lord's mansion knew this and appointed her as the orphanage director, while her mother handled the day-to-day affairs.
Xu Xing and the orphanage staff gathered all the children in the playground. The city was abuzz with rumors of an earthquake, so staying indoors was definitely unsafe. The most sensible decision was to stay in the playground and assess the situation.
However, at this moment, the steel gate was suddenly rushed open, and a group of city residents stormed in, disrupting the three thousand children and causing them to scatter.
Seeing this, Xu Xing shouted, "Don't run, stay in the playground! Don't go into the building!"
In the event of an earthquake, hiding indoors was not a sensible choice, so Xu Xing hoped the children would stay outside. However, panic was contagious. The children were swept up by the panicked adults and ran everywhere, completely ignoring her calls.
Wu Yelian looked at the situation and immediately had a guess. She grabbed her daughter's arm and said, "Seeing how chaotically these people are rushing in, there must be danger approaching. Perhaps espers have arrived. Let's hide quickly!"
With that, Wu Yelian prepared to take her daughter and hide.
Xu Xing quickly broke free from her mother's grasp and said, "I am the director. If there is danger, I must be the first to step forward. You take the children to hide. I'll go see where the danger is!"
Then, Xu Xing picked up her samurai sword and prepared to go to the entrance. This terrified Wu Yelian. She quickly grabbed her daughter's arm and persuaded her, "You are only sixteen, not even seventeen yet. If you die now, I will truly be all alone. Even if you are the director, in this dire situation, you won't be punished even if you don't fight. Think about yourself!"
"No, I must go and see. You hurry and hide!" Xu Xing did not listen to her mother's advice. She felt her blood boiling. She had always dreamed of fighting and becoming a heroic figure in martial arts novels. She never had the chance before, but now that the opportunity had arrived, she absolutely could not miss it.
Xu Xing rushed directly towards the main entrance. Seeing her daughter's stubbornness, Wu Yelian's worry intensified. She lowered her head and thought, and could only follow her daughter. If there was danger, they would face it together.
Xu Xing was an evolved human and was very fast, directly reaching the main entrance. As soon as she arrived, she witnessed a horrific scene. Outside the orphanage, two people were fighting. One person stomped on the ground, causing an earthquake, and a crack appeared in the ground. The other person continuously fired sand. When the sand hit a small tree by the roadside, it was instantly cut down. Even when shot at a wall, it left deep marks on the bricks.
The battle between these two stunned Xu Xing. She had never seen such an intense fight. With every move, these two could cause immense destruction. Such a scene could not even be seen in martial arts novels.
"So strong, so powerful!" Xu Xing murmured.
Xu Xing never imagined that someone could possess such immense power with every gesture. The surrounding buildings were also collapsing. No wonder countless people had rushed into the orphanage. Who wouldn't be terrified by such a scene?
Wu Yelian also caught up and said to her daughter, "Hurry, you short-lived, reckless girl! This is not something we can handle!"
As she spoke, Wu Yelian grabbed her daughter's arm and tried to pull her back. Clearly, she had also seen the battle and was shocked by the fierce fighting between the two sides. But after the shock, she wanted to escape.
However, after seeing this scene, Xu Xing's shock turned into even greater excitement. Seeing these scenes, her desire to become stronger surged. It was as if a voice in her mind was telling her, "Go and fight, the battlefield is your destination!"
"One day, I will also become this powerful!" Xu Xing murmured.
At this moment, the battle on the field suddenly changed. If one were to talk about the terrifying nature of the fighting, Meng Weichang was undoubtedly the most shocking, as every attack he made caused earthquakes. Cracks appeared one after another in the ground. In such a situation, everyone worried about falling into the fissures and being buried alive, or being buried by the collapsing buildings.
However, for Wang Aoye on the opposite side, this was not a concern at all, because he had discovered the enemy's weakness!
"I see, your ability can only be effective when you touch objects, right? So, as long as you don't touch me, your ability is useless. And my sand blades, you can't seem to dodge them!" Wang Aoye said with a smile.
The gap in combat experience became apparent. Although Meng Weichang's ability was very powerful, as long as he wasn't directly hit, it was fine. As for the cracks in the ground, as long as he could dodge them, he wouldn't suffer any damage.
Wang Aoye had been fighting for a long time. Now that he encountered an esper like Meng Weichang, who had just appeared, the advantage of experience became evident. Wang Aoye did not confront Meng Weichang head-on but kept a safe distance, continuously firing sand to inflict damage.
"You despicable scoundrel, if you have the guts, stand still and let me hit you!" Meng Weichang shouted in exasperation.
Meng Weichang knew that as long as he could hit the opponent even once, he could instantly shatter all of the opponent's bones and cause their arteries and veins to explode. However, the problem was that he couldn't touch Wang Aoye at all!
In this situation, Meng Weichang could only question him loudly in frustration, hoping to use provocation to lure the opponent into a trap.