The night hotel.
A black shadow darted into the room and directly came before Ye Cangtian in the living room.
It was Xiao Hei, who had gone out to scout the situation.
Xiao Hei had basically figured out the situation at the Specimen Hall.
Outside the Specimen Hall, four small teams patrolled and guarded in shifts around the clock, with two more teams acting as hidden sentries.
Besides these, Xiao Hei also sensed a group of powerful auras within the Specimen Hall. The weakest was at the Earth level, and the strongest was at the Quasi-Heaven level.
Among them, there were as many as three Quasi-Heaven level auras.
"Good heavens, does the Pope think too highly of us!"
Upon hearing the news relayed by Ye Cangtian, Lan Yue's eyes widened.
With such tight security, it was impossible for them to sneak in and retrieve the head.
And if they caused any commotion, the Pope's sleeping quarters were right next door. If the Pope were to be alerted, it would be troublesome.
Gui Wu glanced at Ye Cangtian and said, "Boss, this is clearly a trap to catch us. Why don't we just give up and find another way after this storm passes!"
Gui Wu's meaning was simple: they were currently acting as envoys from Huaxia, and the other party knew their purpose well, so they would be heavily guarded.
Therefore, it would be better to give up for now. When they returned to Huaxia, the other party would likely relax their guard, and then there might be a glimmer of hope to sneak in.
"It's useless. No matter what, we have to face the Pope!"
Ye Cangtian glanced at the two women and said slowly.
In his opinion, even if they followed Gui Wu's suggestion and found a way later, the best-case scenario would be that the Golden Knights would withdraw.
At that time, they would still have to face the Pope.
After all, the Pope was a Heaven-level expert with extremely acute senses. It was basically unrealistic to sneak into the Specimen Hall while evading the Pope's perception.
This...
Hearing this, Gui Wu's mouth twitched.
Then, as if she had thought of something, she glared at Ye Cangtian and said angrily, "You damn boss, you already decided to have a showdown with the Pope, didn't you!"
"I did have some wishful thinking before coming, but after arriving here, I knew that such thoughts were unrealistic."
Ye Cangtian smiled helplessly. He had only recently learned that the Specimen Hall was close to the Pope's sleeping quarters.
"Boss, you're leading us to our doom, do you understand?"
Gui Wu glanced at Ye Cangtian, feeling a bit flustered. After all, the Pope was a Heaven-level expert. Even if the three of them joined forces, they might not be able to defeat him.
Not to mention that there were three Quasi-Heaven level experts in the Specimen Hall.
With such a lineup, they had no chance at all.
Ye Cangtian glanced at Gui Wu and said with a smile, "Have some confidence in yourself. You know, even the tightest defenses have loopholes!"
"I think you are the biggest loophole!"
"Let alone anything else, if we alert the Pope, who among us can escape?"
Gui Wu was furious upon hearing this. If they couldn't even deal with the Pope, what was the point of talking about the mission!
"Why are you always thinking about running?"
Ye Cangtian gave Gui Wu a look and said, "Leave the Pope to me. You guys can handle the rest."
"You're crazy!"
Gui Wu's eyes widened. She had indeed heard about Ye Cangtian's fight with Kong Ling.
But in her opinion, Ye Cangtian was able to defeat Kong Ling because Xing Yuan arrived in time.
Now, for Ye Cangtian to confront the Pope like this was suicidal.
"He's not crazy. He has the strength."
Before Ye Cangtian could speak, Lan Yue, who was by his side, directly opened her mouth.
She didn't want to reveal Ye Cangtian's trump cards before, so she hadn't said anything. But now that Gui Wu kept questioning Ye Cangtian's strength, she couldn't stand it any longer.
"This..."
Gui Wu was stunned upon hearing this, her eyes filled with confusion.
Seeing this, Ye Cangtian smiled slightly and said, "Don't overthink it. In a one-on-one situation, I am confident I can hold off the Pope, and even have a chance to kill him."
"It seems you damn guy have gained many more trump cards, keeping them from even me. You're ruthless!"
After hearing Ye Cangtian's words, Gui Wu's eyes rolled, and she seemed to have figured something out, muttering to herself.
Saying that, Gui Wu didn't ask any further questions and left the room in a huff.
Since Ye Cangtian hadn't explicitly said anything yet, it was clearly not the time. She was too lazy to continue pressing him.
Watching Gui Wu leave the hall, Ye Cangtian glanced at the Netherworld Hunting Tiger and said, "Xiao Hei, there's a group of Golden Knights around, led by a Quasi-Heaven level expert. Help me find them."
As soon as the words fell, Xiao Hei nodded in a human-like manner, then without further ado, darted out of the room.
"Senior sister, you've walked around all day and must be tired. Rest early, we'll continue tomorrow..."
Ye Cangtian said to Lan Yue, and then returned to his room.
...
Time passed quickly, and five days went by in the blink of an eye.
During this period, Ye Cangtian took Gui Wu and Lan Yue to visit various places in Bright City every day, practically exploring every corner of the city.
He was not in a hurry to negotiate with the Hall of Light, as the outcome of the negotiation was already predetermined. Neither side would back down, and it was destined to end in failure.
If the negotiations failed, they would have no reason to stay in Bright City and would have to return to Huaxia.
If that were the case, the time to infiltrate the Specimen Hall would be very tight, so Ye Cangtian chose to delay as much as possible.
It was dusk now, and Ye Cangtian was walking on the pedestrian street of Bright City with the two women.
"Snap!"
Suddenly, a crisp sound was heard, immediately attracting the attention of Ye Cangtian and the other two.
Turning their heads, they saw a burly man, grabbing a boy by the collar with one hand and slapping him hard with the other.
The boy looked extremely pathetic, dressed in tattered clothes, and his cheeks quickly began to swell.
"You little brat, you dare to steal my money! I think you're tired of living!"
Facing the man's roar and violent methods, the boy cried out and begged for mercy repeatedly, but the man showed no signs of stopping.
"Damn it, this is too much!"
"He's just a child. Even if he stole money, a lesson is enough. He's still going on and on!"
Gui Wu's face turned grim. She hadn't intended to intervene, as it sounded like the boy was in the wrong, and thus deserved some punishment.
But the man was relentless, which was truly unbearable for her and instantly aroused her strong dissatisfaction.
After all, this was just a child. Even if he made a mistake, there was no need to be so harsh.
"Come back."
However, just as Gui Wu stood up, preparing to rescue the boy, Ye Cangtian's voice came from behind.
"You damn guy, aren't you going to do anything?"
"If they keep beating him like this, the child will die!"
Gui Wu turned her head and shouted angrily.
In her impression, Ye Cangtian wasn't such a cold-hearted person! Why had he changed since arriving in Bright City?
Did the children of Bright City not count as children?
Looking at Gui Wu's angry beautiful face, Ye Cangtian pointed to the side and said, "This is a pedestrian street, and there are so many people around. None of them have stepped forward to intervene. Don't you understand?"
With that sentence, Gui Wu immediately quieted down.
She scanned her surroundings and, as expected, many people were watching the scene, but not a single one stepped forward to intervene.
This was clearly not normal!
The next moment, as if she had thought of something, she quickly looked at Ye Cangtian and said, "Are you saying these people were arranged by the Hall of Light specifically to lure you into taking action?"
Ye Cangtian smiled slightly, "Heh heh, it seems you're not too foolish!"
"This... this is too malicious!"
Gui Wu was slightly stunned, and then her eyes showed a look of indignation.
To use an ordinary boy as bait, the Hall of Light was truly unscrupulous in achieving its goals!
Glancing at the boy again, Gui Wu clearly felt unable to bear it and said anxiously, "Boss, think of a way quickly. We can't just watch him get beaten to death, can we?"
"Gui Wu, stop messing around!"
"You should know how much trouble it will cause us if we intervene!"
Lan Yue, who was by her side, glared fiercely at Gui Wu.
Although she also couldn't bear to see the little boy being bullied, there was no other way. Once they intervened, the Hall of Light would quickly find them.
The subsequent events would be difficult to control.
"I..."
With that, Gui Wu gritted her teeth and finally sat down obediently.
Now, she could only comfort herself by repeatedly mentioning the Hall of Light's setup.
After all, the boy was also part of the plan, and he was a citizen of Bright City. She could barely believe that the Hall of Light would not kill him!
"Forget it."
Finally, Ye Cangtian sighed and slowly stood up.