Pillar of Yita

City Hall was burning fiercely.

Big Sister frowned at the building that had collapsed almost completely, the firelight reflecting on her face, making her look extremely unpleasant.

She turned her head to see that nearly every subordinate nearby was wounded, the Gunslinger Commander had been hit by a flying rock and had been unconscious ever since. Twenty had a long cut and was also as pale as paper due to excessive blood loss.

This time, they had truly suffered a great loss.

What enraged her even more were those subtly encircling them, dressed in black robes adorned with the heraldry of a broken-horned dragon—it was the cultists, the Dragon Worshipers.

”These ungrateful bastards, how dare they surround us!?”

Big Sister said through clenched teeth to Twenty.

Twenty shook his head with a wry smile, talking of gratitude to cultists, how absurd? He sighed and said, ”Let’s wait until the Chairman arrives. You can’t have expectations of these cultists; our interactions with them have always been nothing more than mutual exploitation.”

”If it weren’t for us, these bastards wouldn’t even be able to enter the Phantom Realm! Why did they choose such useless people who only know how to strike at their own?”

Big Sister complained bitterly.

Twenty didn’t respond; he just quietly observed the Dragon Worshipers in the distance, his expression calm as if he was contemplating something.

After a while, everyone saw a line of people walking out of the Forest.

Upon seeing the person at the head of the group, Big Sister couldn’t help but relax her expression, cursed the Dragon Worshipers under her breath, and then headed over there unconsciously.

...

Child of the Raven Bann looked at the approaching Chosen with a touch of disdain in his silver right eye and a trace of scorn.

He coldly said, ”You’re late—”

He was a one-eyed dragon; his left eye was blind, appearing as nothing more than a white expanse, but in reality, it was a prosthetic glass eye.

The one he was looking down with disdain was the current Chairman of the Dragonfire Guild.

The latter was a young man, perhaps a bit too young.

After hearing Bann’s remarks, he looked down at his pocket watch and then, holding it up to the other, shook his head, ”You’re mistaken, still fifteen minutes left.”

Bann looked at the young man, his mouth twisting into a somewhat vicious smile, ”You may not understand, but usually no one dares to arrive later than me. Anyone later than me is considered late.”

”Well, now someone dares,” retorted the Chairman of the Dragonfire Guild as he raised his head to meet his gaze, ”Child of the Raven Bann, I’ve heard you lost that eye in a duel. You still have years of good living ahead of you; you wouldn’t want to end up a blind man, would you?”

Bann’s gaze turned icy as he drew a handgun and aimed it at the young man’s forehead, pulling back the hammer with a click, and angrily said, ”Are you provoking me?”

The young man appeared unbothered as he deflected the gun barrel aside with his hand, ”If you’ve got the guts, then shoot. If not, get the hell out of here and don’t embarrass yourself, looking like a blustering and barkless stray that invites ridicule.”

Bann’s face turned red with anger, his veins bulging as he repeatedly thought of pulling the trigger, but then something held him back, and he breathed heavily as he put away the handgun. ”I’m sparing you. Dog’s life.”

The young man watched him with a taunting gaze and snickered.

That snicker almost drove Bann mad, but before he could lose it, a man in a robe came up from behind him and patted his shoulder, ”Alright, Bann.”

That light pat made Bann shiver and calm down; he stood pale and motionless, silent as a cicada in winter.

When the young man saw this man, he grew somewhat more serious and asked, ”Are you ’Messenger’?”

The man nodded and looked back at him, ”Mr. Xu, has the ’Key’ been found?”

The young man shook his head, ”Hudi has been in the Phantom Realm longer than anyone, our people simply can’t catch up to him. I just didn’t expect he hadn’t told the truth to anyone.”

The man gave him a faint glance.

He then unexpectedly inquired, ”That ’thing,’ it still works, doesn’t it?”

”What thing?” Big Sister, who had just approached, was taken aback, looking at her boyfriend with curiosity.

The young man hesitated for a moment, his expression imperceptibly changing. It took him a while before he nodded slowly, ”Just like you said, it indeed works—”

”Good to know,” the man replied. ”Now you should be clear whether we were speaking truth or lies. This mission is extremely important to the organization, and the ’Key’ is even more crucial within the plan, we cannot afford to lose it.”

”Mr. Messenger,” the young man was silent for a moment then replied, ”I think I probably know what to do. Although we’ve temporarily lost Hudi’s trail, I have a guess as to where he’ll ultimately go.”

The man watched him silently.

After some contemplation, the young man approached and spoke softly to the man.

The other, upon hearing it, remained noncommittal, simply saying, ”I’ll trust you once more, but this time comes without a price. Hudi was your Chosen, you get my meaning, right?”

The young man nodded, turned to look at his girlfriend, and told her, ”You and Twenty stay here.”

Big Sister was taken aback, unable to believe what she was hearing, ”You... you’re leaving me here as a hostage?”

”You’re a Chosen,” the young man said coldly, ”What does it matter if you’re a hostage? Are you really going to die?”

Big Sister was fuming, biting her lip and turning her head away, ”Fine, have it your way.”