He's Playing Us

Whirlpool had just run back from a distance after dodging Zhou Meng's giant hammer. Watching Moon Ghost being pushed and pulled around by Zhou Meng, who had turned into moonlight, played with like a mouse by a cat, he could no longer hold back.

If you're going to fight, then fight properly! Who are you looking down on?!

He slammed both hands against the ground. A huge purple vortex rose from the earth, sweeping up all the rubble around it and surging toward Zhou Meng with overwhelming force.

"Whoa! That's one huge vortex! Interesting!" Zhou Meng grabbed Moon Ghost, who couldn't lay a finger on him, and flung him in the opposite direction.

Then Zhou Meng reached toward Whirlpool again.

The enormous purple vortex Whirlpool had just created suddenly vanished, and even Whirlpool's own eyes gradually glazed over.

"Huh? What was I just about to do?"

Then he looked up and saw Zhou Meng in front of him.

"Where's my vortex?! Damn it! Again!"

Furious, Whirlpool once again formed a huge vortex in front of him and sent it flying toward Zhou Meng.

But before the vortex had traveled more than a few meters, it dissolved into the air again.

"Huh? What was I about to do again? Why did I say 'again'? Captain, what are you doing here?"

Whirlpool scratched his head and looked in confusion at Zhou Meng in front of him and his captain, Wang Mian, who had been standing in the same spot all along.

Why am I here? What are the captain and the others doing? Why are they fighting this guy?

Wang Mian didn't answer Whirlpool's questions. Instead, he looked solemnly at the man before him, who wore Lin Qiye's face but called himself Zhou Meng.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you attacking me like your teammates? Don't you dare? Or are you afraid?" Zhou Meng turned back and teased Wang Mian, who stood facing him.

"I'm only in the Sea Realm. Naturally, my realm is inferior to yours. If you were strongly hostile toward us, I would of course fight you to the death. But as things stand, although you've taken over Lin Qiye's body, you have no intention of wiping us out. So there's no need for me to fight you."

"Of course, I did consider challenging you as I am in the Sea Realm. But after watching my four teammates fight you, I decided against it after all. It would be shameless of me to take advantage of the fact that you won't get serious with us and act like a sore loser." Wang Mian's tone wasn't heavy. Instead, he sounded a little more relaxed.

He was certain that Zhou Meng was just toying with them and had no intention of getting serious.

"Tch, no fun. I was waiting for you to charge at me like those four just did, but as their captain, you ignored what happened to your own teammates. How disappointing." Zhou Meng shook his head and spread his hands.

"That kind of provocation might work on the recruits, but it won't work on me. Besides, after observing your ability, I'd already concluded that I couldn't possibly beat you. I wouldn't even have a chance of lasting a single move against you."

"Oh? Is that so? Then tell me, what's my ability?" Zhou Meng's interest was piqued.

"From my limited observations, your ability should have something to do with stealing," Wang Mian surmised in a low voice.

"Rose's hammer, Tianping's and Moon Ghost's abilities, and even Whirlpool's intention to attack you were all stolen by you somehow. That's why what just happened to them happened."

"Even though I'm a God's Agent and you might not be able to steal my Divine Ruins, you only need to steal something else of mine, or my intention to attack you, and I wouldn't even be qualified to make a move against you." Wang Mian shook his head.

Zhou Meng's eyes lit up at once.

As expected of the captain of the Masked Squad. His abilities were first-rate, and so was his reasoning.

It was just as Wang Mian had said. He had used his stealing ability four times to deal with the four members of the Masked Squad. As far as he was concerned, he could steal the abilities of these Nightwatchers, whose realms were below the divine realm, no matter what those abilities were.

Even though Wang Mian's ability was the Divine Ruins of Kronos, the god of time, in his eyes, it was nothing more than a purple entry, [Time Control], whose realm wasn't high enough.

"You, Wang Mian, really do please me! You can analyze things calmly when facing an opponent stronger than yourself, without being arrogant or servile. If I get the chance, I could suppress my realm to the same level as yours and give you the chance to fight me." Zhou Meng nodded, expressing his approval of Wang Mian.

He did think Wang Mian was rather interesting.

"But it looks like there's no chance of that today. It's about time. I'm leaving."

"But before I go, there's one last thing to do. Wang Mian, did you really think that after your teammates all got beaten up, you could escape with just those few words?" The smile on Zhou Meng's face grew even brighter.

Wang Mian's pupils dilated at once.

This is bad! I thought I could get through this by talking to him normally! But he never intended to let me off from the start! This guy's playing me!

He was just about to activate his time Divine Ruins when he felt as though time around him had slowed down, and his own movements had slowed by who knew how many times.

Then he watched helplessly as Zhou Meng appeared at his side in an instant, drew Yiyuan from his waist, gave him a light tap on the stomach with the back of the blade, and slid Yiyuan back into its sheath. Zhou Meng then waved at him with a smile.

I'm done for!

In the next second, the flow of time abruptly returned to normal. Wang Mian felt a powerful force push against his stomach, sending him flying backward like a bullet. He didn't stop until he had crashed through three tents.

With that, every member of the Masked Squad had temporarily lost the ability to fight.

And it was exactly nine o'clock in the evening.

"Did you see that clearly? Did that guy do anything just now? How did the hammer end up in his hand?"

"Were my eyes playing tricks on me? It looked like he just waved his hand."

"This is the Masked Squad, with Sea Realm and River Realm members! Can Lin Qiye switch his strength and realm when he switches personalities too?"

The instructors in the basement were practically pressed against the screen.

"Open the hidden door to the basement. I'm going up." Yuan Gang didn't join the instructors, instead directly

"Chief! It's too dangerous up there. You can't go yourself!" The instructors in the basement tried to stop Yuan Gang.

"If I don't go myself, am I supposed to send you lot up there, when some of you don't even have Forbidden Ruins? Out of my way!" A powerful aura suddenly erupted from Yuan Gang, intimidating the instructors.

"You saw it on the screen just now. The Masked Squad is no match for him! If he's hostile toward any one of us, none of us will get away!"

As the commander-in-chief of the camp and the deputy captain of Shangjing City's Nightwatcher squad, Yuan Gang was naturally no fool. If Zhou Meng hadn't previously killed the Ghost-Faced King and saved Zhao Kongcheng, Yuan Gang wouldn't have dared let the Masked Squad do their best to attack Lin Qiye and force Zhou Meng out, no matter how much courage he had.

Since he had given that order, he naturally had some confidence. Still, he had to admit that he had taken a gamble.

Now that the Masked Squad had completed its mission, he felt he had to speak with Zhou Meng himself and find out what was really going on with the greatest hidden danger in the camp.

After watching the Masked Squad's brief exchange with Zhou Meng, Yuan Gang had come up with a guess—a truly outrageous guess.

He needed to speak with Zhou Meng to verify that guess himself.