"You didn't say that when you handed me the license," Roland muttered inwardly. "Why does it feel like you're only introducing new faction members? It seems like eliminating Fallen Evils should be mainly done by the old faction, right?"

"The old faction does have more people, but..." Garcia pointed to a few guys who looked like ordinary passersby. "They have almost no detailed information. Their whereabouts are a mystery. Apart from their respective contacts, other association members know very little about them. Even if I wanted to introduce them, I wouldn't know where to start."

Roland couldn't help but rub his forehead. If she hadn't pointed it out, he would have thought those middle-aged uncles were the drivers or assistants of celebrity martial artists. Leaving aside strength, the gap in appearance and clothing was too big. Not participating in the Martial Arts Tournament doesn't mean giving up on your image! The thought of being grouped with those radiant high achievers as part of the old faction, acting as spokespersons for a bunch of uncles, suddenly made him want to quit the group.

Is it still possible to sign up for the Martial Arts Tournament qualifiers now?

At this moment, a black bus drove into the parking lot.

"That's a vehicle sent by Prism City," Garcia said. "Let's go."

"Okay." Roland patted his right shoulder—this was a code to signal the witches to follow. As long as Faldi's insects stayed close to him, the witches wouldn't lose track of the target.

They boarded the bus and headed straight for the back row.

"This is definitely the best place for me," he said, spreading his legs and leaning back in his chair. "Sitting here is like sitting on a throne, not only can I look down on the masses, but I can also see everything that happens in the car."

"Just say you're a homebody," Garcia said dismissively.

"..." How are you supposed to have a good conversation with someone like you! "I don't think I asked you to come with me."

"This is the first time a junior is carrying out a mission, so naturally, a senior has to keep an eye on things."

Just as the two were staring daggers at each other, a commotion suddenly erupted in the bus.

"Fei Yuhan xiaojie, I have an empty seat here."

"Yuhan, come sit with me!"

As the girl known as a genius entered the bus, everyone extended invitations.

"It seems that even among celebrity martial artists, there are differences in treatment..." Roland sighed.

"That's right." They agreed on this point.

But surprisingly, she didn't accept anyone's invitation and instead walked towards the back of the bus.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

Fei Yuhan asked, pointing to the seat next to Roland in a calm voice.

Garcia looked at her in surprise, then at Roland, as if trying to figure out the relationship between the two.

Roland himself was completely clueless, not understanding what she was thinking. Feeling the gazes of the others in the car, he coughed uncomfortably twice. "No."

"Thanks." Fei Yuhan nodded and sat down as a matter of course. "Nice to meet you, or rather... meet you again. Hello, my name is Fei Yuhan. Please give me your guidance on this mission."

"Uh, don't mention guidance, my name is Roland, and this is... Garcia xiaojie."

After introductions, the atmosphere fell silent.

Probably knowing that martial artists have particularly sharp hearing, Garcia didn't say anything else and instead started playing with her phone. The genius girl sat up straight, exuding an aura that kept strangers away, which wasn't what you'd expect from someone her age. Only Roland, stuck between the two of them, felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He had originally sat in the back row to avoid attracting attention, but now, it was so bad that everyone in the car probably noticed him.

This awkward feeling of being the center of attention was only alleviated when the bus started moving.

Just as he was about to discuss switching seats with Garcia, Fei Yuhan suddenly turned her head and whispered, "...Your Majesty?"

"Plop."

Garcia's phone fell to the ground.

Roland was also stunned. He stared at her for a long time before finally speaking, "You—"

"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm C02, the liaison officer in charge of intelligence and back-up support for this operation. You can call me 02." However, before he could ask, a man in a suit with a microphone interrupted him. "Over the next period of time, I will introduce the target and plan of this joint elimination mission in detail. If you have any questions, please be sure to ask me."

This forced Roland to suppress his question and focus his attention on the liaison officer.

"According to intelligence, the Fallen Evils have recently become more active and have begun to show a tendency to act collectively. In past records, this means that erosion is approaching. The association has received reliable information that some Fallen Evils are planning to hold a gathering in an abandoned factory outside the South Suburb. The specific purpose is unknown, but it's undoubtedly not a good thing."

"Maybe they just want to make friends?"

Luo Hua's words caused a burst of light laughter.

"If only that were the case." The man in the suit didn't show any impatience. "Unfortunately, the Fallen Evils are still our greatest enemy, so it's safer to just kill them all. There's an underground highway that leads directly to that abandoned factory, but after the factory closed, the highway was also blocked. The association secretly opened this road two days ago, allowing us to directly penetrate the enemy's heart. In order not to alert the enemy, the operation is scheduled for 9:00 PM, and relevant equipment will be distributed when you get off the bus."

"In addition, the government army will cooperate with our operation from the ground to prevent the Fallen Evils from escaping, but only those who have awakened the Power of Nature can harm these monsters. Therefore, we must also divide into two teams, one responsible for annihilating the Fallen Evils, and one responsible for rounding up any stragglers. The team list has been placed under your chairs. If there are no problems, we will proceed according to this plan..."

...

Very interesting. Fei Yuhan flipped through the list expressionlessly, her mind not on the paper at all, but repeatedly replaying Roland's expression when he heard "Your Majesty."

If an ordinary person were exposed on the spot, the first thing they would feel should be embarrassment and annoyance, right? Although few people would show the latter emotion in front of her, unless they were prepared, she was confident that she wouldn't miss any subtle changes in expression and the subsequent cover-up.

However, on the other party's face, she saw an extremely complex expression.

There was surprise, vigilance, doubt, and even a hint of joy... For a moment, she noticed that he opened his mouth, as if he wanted to blurt something out, but quickly suppressed it. Judging from the shape of his mouth, it should be the "Ai" sound.

Such a reaction was difficult to explain with common sense—Roland obviously didn't know her before, and whether it was denying or agreeing, it shouldn't start with that word.

Moreover, there was no sign of embarrassment in these emotions at all, which meant that he was already used to this title?

Fei Yuhan couldn't help but think of the fragments of conversation she had captured at the last banquet—at the time, she only regarded those conversations as child's play, but now she was no longer sure.

A king from two worlds?

If her initial interest was only because she "wanted to compete with him," now she was more interested in Roland himself.

Deciding to participate in the joint operation was indeed the right choice, she thought. Her master had said that the history of the Martial Arts Association was far longer than she imagined, and that the secrets it held were as numerous as the stars in the sky, with some even relating to the origin of the world, but only a very few people knew about them.

Could there also be reasons related to this for breaking the rule and issuing a hunting license to a newcomer?

Considering the vigilance he had shown, Fei Yuhan forcibly suppressed the thought of continuing to ask—she didn't want to antagonize Roland before getting a clear answer.

As long as she started this, she would always have the opportunity to get in touch with him in the future, so it was better to take it slowly.

...

Two and a half hours later, the bus stopped at the end of the underground highway.

The martial artists divided into two teams according to the plan, entered the factory area through the reserved emergency exits, and went to their respective locations according to the map instructions.

Roland and Fei Yuhan were undoubtedly members of the frontal assault team, while Garcia was assigned to the cleanup team. After leaving a sentence of "Be careful, don't die," her figure quickly disappeared into the night with the others.

"The rest of you, follow me." You Long Gongzi, whose strength was rumored to be close to "Guardian," was selected as the captain of the main attack team, just as Garcia had guessed. After encouraging everyone with his eyes, he led the way into a ventilation duct.

The entire operation was even more meticulous than he had anticipated—before getting off the bus, everyone received a pair of head-mounted four-eyed night vision goggles, a wrist watch that displayed map locations, a vest with a friend-or-foe identification device, and an earpiece for internal team communication. This made Roland extremely envious—if the First Army had the same equipment, the unfavorable situation of night combat could be completely reversed.

He silently counted and found that there were fifteen people in the assault team. Apart from the three people Garcia had introduced, the rest of the team members were considered old-school martial artists. This showed that the face still recognized the abilities of practitioners, but if the outcome of this battle favored the new faction, it would be hard to say in the future.

Of course, Roland didn't intend to get involved in the conflict between the new and old factions. In fact, he was also very curious about whether these celebrities who had emerged from the Martial Arts Tournament could still easily achieve victory when facing the Fallen Evils, with whom there was no possibility of reconciliation.

With the help of night vision goggles, the dark night not only didn't bring any obstacles, but became their best camouflage. The group arrived at the meeting place silently, like ghosts.