Tonight in Hangzhou was unlike any other.
The lights were still on, the holographic signs were still looping their advertisements, and the maglev cars were still gliding silently through the streets.
But the moonlight had changed!
It wasn't the silvery-white, gentle moonlight of old, but a light with an extremely faint crimson tint.
...
The West Suburbs of Hangzhou, at the sentry post for the C-rank danger zone entrance.
This place was not far from the site of the daytime college entrance exam's practical test. Usually, a reinforced platoon from the Third Legion of the Hangzhou City Defense Army was stationed here.
However, they were short-handed these days. Because of the frequent monster movements in the Woniu Mountain and Qingqiu areas a hundred miles away, the legion had deployed two companies to clear them out, leaving only the regular defensive force behind.
Two sentries leaned against the guardhouse, chatting.
The night air was chilly. One sentry had his hands tucked into his sleeves, his weapon slanting against his shoulder.
“I heard the fighting on the front lines is pretty fierce. The Iron-spined Rhino herds in Woniu Mountain are rioting, and the Red-eyed Foxes from Qingqiu have come out too. I’ve been a soldier for five years and I’ve never seen such a dense monster tide.”
“Tell me about it. Our manpower here is cut in half. I just hope nothing happens tonight.”
“What could happen? Hangzhou has been here for hundreds of years, and the seals on the Magic Cave are as steady as—”
Before the sentry could finish his sentence, a thread-thin red light shot silently from the darkness, piercing through his throat.
The sentry’s eyes remained open, his lips still curved in the mid-laugh of his joke, but his body had already gone limp.
He didn't even have time to make a sound.
The other sentry’s pupils constricted. Just as his hand touched his gun’s grip, a second red light arrived.
With a dull sound of breaking air, the red light tore through flesh, and he fell as well.
The two men lay in a pool of blood, the interval between their deaths not exceeding two seconds.
And they weren't the only ones.
Across the entire West Suburbs entrance, every sentry was killed at the exact same time.
Some were on patrol, some were watching monitors in the duty room, and some were smoking by the foot of the wall.
Every single person fell without making a sound. The red light was terrifyingly precise, every strike piercing the throat.
Immediately after, over a dozen figures wearing deep red cloaks stepped out of the darkness.
Their footsteps were silent, the hems of their cloaks fluttering slightly in the night wind. Their hoods were pulled low, obscuring most of their faces.
The leader raised a hand to pull back his hood, revealing the face of an ordinary-looking middle-aged man in his forties.
He had a very common appearance that wouldn't attract any attention in a crowd.
Except for the depths of his left pupil, where a dark red inverted eye pattern was slowly rotating.
Tier 4, Level 5—a Vice Cardinal of the Blood Eye Cult.
He looked at the corpses littering the ground with an indifferent expression.
“How many years has it been?”
He spoke in a low, raspy, dry voice. “Starting from those smaller prefecture-level cities, to Magic City, to Kyoto, to Shencity. Everyone has been hunting us, everyone has been surrounding and suppressing us. They thought the Blood Eye Cult was nothing more than a scattered mess.”
He looked up, the crimson moonlight falling on his pale, almost bloodless face.
“After tonight, the world will remember this name once more.”
Behind him, a cultist also dressed in red robes looked down at the timer on his wrist.
“Lord Cardinal, it is less than half an hour until midnight. The monster army of thirty thousand outside the city is already on standby at their respective assembly points. The Scaled Python groups from Black Marsh, the Red-eyed Fox clans from Qingqiu, and the Iron-spined Rhino herds from Woniu Mountain are all in position. We only await your signal...”
“No rush.”
The Vice Cardinal waved his hand. He turned around, his gaze passing over the city walls of Hangzhou, over the lights of the city’s ten thousand homes, and landing on the very center of the city.
The Ability User Association building. The core of Hangzhou’s sealing formation. The hub that had suppressed the Abyss Magic Cave for centuries.
“Our mission is to open the door. Once the door is open, the things inside will naturally flip this city upside down for us.”
...
At the same time.
Beneath Hangzhou, at the entrance to the Abyss Magic Cave.
This place should have been one of the most heavily guarded locations in Hangzhou.
The entrance to the Abyss Magic Cave was located directly beneath the Ability User Association building, with the most elite troops of the City Defense Army and a guard team from the Ability User Association stationed there year-round.
The area around the entrance was covered in sealing runes.
Patterns on the ground, carvings on the walls, and light arrays on the ceiling—layer upon layer, they formed a massive barrier that locked the Magic Cave’s exit tight.
This sealing formation had been operating for centuries.
It restricted the exit of the Abyss Magic Cave to Tier 2, meaning only Shadow Abyss Wolves at or below Tier 2 could squeeze through the gaps in the sealing formation to reach the surface. Anything above Tier 2 was suppressed underground.
For hundreds of years, the Shadow Abyss Wolf tribe had tried to storm the seal countless times, but not once had they succeeded.
But now, the place was a mess, and the glow of several sealing runes had been extinguished.
Broken rune stones were scattered across the ground, the carvings on the walls had been violently erased by some force, and the light array on the ceiling looked as if it had been torn apart from the middle, with only a few residual beams of light flickering feebly.
There were bodies everywhere.
City Defense Army uniforms and Ability User Association badges were scattered across the floor, and some people hadn't even had time to draw their weapons.
A figure in a deep red cloak stood in the center of the ruins of the sealing formation.
He was older than the Vice Cardinal in the West Suburbs, with graying hair at his temples.
Tier 5, Level 3—a Cardinal of the Blood Eye Cult.
A massive, blood-red magic circle was drawn on the ground before him.
The patterns of the magic circle were incredibly complex, every line writhing slightly.
In the center of the circle, directly facing the entrance of the Magic Cave, stood a dark red bone staff. The crystal at the top of the staff was releasing wave after wave of red light.
He looked up into the depths of the Magic Cave.
In the darkness, a pair of emerald-green pupils slowly lit up, then a second pair, a third, a tenth, a hundredth.
Countless emerald-green points of light ignited in the dark.
A low wolf howl echoed from deep underground as a Shadow Abyss Wolf stepped out of the darkness.
It was a wolf-headed humanoid in form, standing over three meters tall. Its fur was dark silver, and its pupils were emerald-green.
A Tier 5 Shadow Abyss Wolf.
The moment it stepped out of the tunnel, its powerful pressure sent the Blood Eye Cult Cardinal’s red robes fluttering backward.
But he didn't retreat. Instead, he spread his arms wide.
“The seal is broken. From this moment on, there are no longer any restrictions for anyone below Tier 5 at the exit of the Abyss Magic Cave.”
The Tier 5 Shadow Abyss Wolf lowered its head, its emerald-green pupils staring at him for a long while.
“The King told me to tell you that the Shadow Abyss Wolf tribe has noted the Blood Eye Cult’s sincerity. After tonight, Hangzhou belongs to us. We do not want the things you seek.”
“Very well.”
The Cardinal nodded. He turned to look at the other red-robed cultists at the edge of the magic circle.
“Pass down the order—at midnight, at the moment the Crimson Moon of the full moon night reaches its brightest.”
“Simultaneously launch the thirty thousand monsters outside the city to besiege Hangzhou from the west, south, and north to pin down the main force of the City Defense Army. The Shadow Abyss Wolves of the Abyss Magic Cave will strike directly from beneath the city. A pincer attack from within and without.”
He held up two fingers.
“Two hours. Before dawn, this layer of Hangzhou’s sealing formation will be completely destroyed. At that time, all nine levels of the Abyss Magic Cave will be connected—the Tier 9 Shadow Abyss Wolf King will personally trample Hangzhou into the dust.”
The Tier 5 Shadow Abyss Wolf threw its head back and let out a long, haunting howl.
Deep in the darkness of the Magic Cave, countless howls rose in response.
The entire Abyss Magic Cave had awakened!
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