Black Gate City Sightseeing Tour (Seven Thousand Words)

What do you mean by "I've wanted to come for a long time"?

Xiao Xiao's words made everyone in the room shudder, except for Old Man An.

He could tell that Xiao Xiao's reaction was somewhat different from what he had expected, but he didn't even bother to pay attention. He simply sat there quietly, as if he had blended into his surroundings, like an old sculpture.

At this moment, he seemed to have become the embodiment of the entire City of Rest, steadfast, stubborn, and immense. Therefore, he paid no attention to Xiao Xiao's unique reactions. No matter how unique the reactions were, in his eyes, they were just some insignificant little tricks.

Throughout the entire process, he didn't even adopt the defensive posture of a normal stranger, as if facing a formidable enemy or preparing for confrontation. However, the city museum behind him, driven by some unknown force, suddenly trembled slightly. All the items stored in the glass cases and partitions simultaneously emitted various strange fluctuations of spiritual power, as if it were silently and leisurely selecting something suitable for Xiao Xiao, something that could most easily resolve the special matter of this young chairman...

This feels really strange.

In his mind, any one of the items in the museum behind him could be enough to solve Xiao Xiao.

He just wanted to choose the easiest option.

He got it.

Time flew by, and he didn't have time to choose too carefully. After a moment's thought, a round glass ball in the museum behind him flew up and landed in his hand.

Old Man An slowly caught the glass ball with both hands, then glanced indifferently at Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan beside him.

Inside the glass sphere was a miniature telephone booth scene. Snow was falling heavily inside the sphere, and a man and a woman were leaning against opposite ends of the booth, back to back, each holding a phone. It was unclear whether they were calling each other or calling different people. As Old Man An gently turned the glass sphere, snow suddenly began to fall heavily around Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan. The hotel space around them seemed to be fading, vaguely replacing the scene of a telephone booth in winter.

Inside the glass sphere, the two people who were talking on the phone with their backs to each other were also vaguely changing their appearance, seemingly about to transform into Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan.

[S-Rank Special Item: Miniature World]

[Introduction: Is this world really that big? For many people, they only live in a small place, and even in their entire lives, the only meaningful scenes they can recall are just one or two.]

For him, is a single glass ball truly enough to contain the entire world?

[...]

It's just a simple glass ball, but it's actually the most powerful imprisonment weapon in City of Rest.

Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan were just sitting there peacefully, but it seemed that some kind of spiritual force had bound them and locked them in the small world inside the glass sphere without them having to interact with them.

The scenery around them was fading into the distance; snow was falling heavily, the wind was biting cold, and even among them, a red telephone booth appeared.

It seemed that in the next moment, the two of them would become people inside the glass ball, and be imprisoned inside forever.

It's hard to describe how eerie that scene was. The environment around them seemed unreal, sometimes switching to the room where they were having dinner with Old Man An, and sometimes switching to a phone booth with heavy snowfall. The latter was becoming more and more real.

"What type of power is this?"

Ruan Ruan was quite shocked. As a powerful cultivator, she was used to head-on collisions and physical confrontations, and she could hardly understand how a special item of this level could affect her.

But she did realize the danger, and with a sudden shout, she jumped onto the table and pulled out silver metal wrenches from the sides of her short legs.

At the same time, the clanging of chains sounded around her. In the constantly shifting and disjointed world around her, several chains flew out and quickly bound Old Man An across the round table.

With Ruan Ruan fighting style, the first thing she does when she senses trouble is to bind her opponent with chains and engage in a one-on-one fight.

One of them has to die!

However, this time she failed to bind Old Man An, because Xiao Xiao suddenly reached out and stopped her the moment the chains appeared.

Anyone else would likely have been unable to stop Ruan Ruan when she was carried away, but it was Xiao Xiao intervened, so Ruan Ruan was stunned for Ruan Ruan. The iron chains rattled and flew in the air, like a group of snakes trying to attack their prey, stretching and contracting unpredictably.

Ruan Ruan looked at Xiao Xiao in disbelief, somewhat confused. "I'm working so hard, big brother, why are you stopping me now?"

"Don't get so excited, and don't jump on the table all the time..."

Xiao Xiao gave Ruan Ruan a helpless word of advice, but he knew very well that he had to stop her.

He knew Ruan Ruan's fighting style, and he was also quite aware of Ruan Ruan's strength level. It has to be said that, as a powerful being, this chain was indeed very suitable for Ruan Ruan.

The key question is, if she manages to restrain Old Man An, can she win in a one-on-one fight?

She's most likely the one who'll die...

"Why?"

Overcome with Ruan Ruan, Ruan Ruan asked loudly, "Look how well Little Four is doing, I think I can do it too..."

Can they be the same?

Xiao Xiao hadn't expected that Little Four's performance would actually provoke Ruan Ruan as well. Helplessly, he asked, "What were you doing while Little Four was secretly accumulating points?"

Ruan Ruan seemed less confident upon hearing this. "Find my master, and... go online?"

"Isn't this it?"

Xiao Xiao also felt that her answer was a bit unserious, but he could only force a smile and say, "It's better to do what you're good at."

"For example, instead of fighting this old man, we should record what we've experienced and post it on the forum later, so that all the strangers in this land can see it..."

"It was City of Rest that broke the rules and provoked us first..."

"..."

Ruan Ruan was startled, suddenly realizing that this was indeed a problem.

Both she and Xiao Xiao came to return the Grand Knight Heart's information card, following the etiquette and rules of the outsider community.

Logically speaking, even if City of Rest didn't treat them with courtesy, they should at least be polite. But this Old Man An actually took the initiative to cause trouble and was going to harm them.

If this gets out, it will be a huge blow to the reputation of City of Rest.

Earlier, there was a vague saying among the foreigners that City of Rest was the leader of all the cities, but if such news were to spread, City of Rest would probably not be worthy of such praise.

"That's really poisonous..."

Xiao Xiao's cold laugh and ease hadn't caused any change in Old Man An's expression, but after a few words of conversation between Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan, the old man suddenly looked up at him.

He slowly shook his head. "Even now, all you're thinking about is how to destroy the foundation of my City of Rest?"

His dark, withered hand slowly turned the glass ball upside down, causing the snowflakes inside to flutter and dance.

The wind was howling and snow was falling around Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan. The scene in the phone booth suddenly changed twice as fast as the real scene.

Inside the glass sphere, his and Ruan Ruan's images were about to take shape.

"I'm sorry, Old Man An."

Xiao Xiao stopped Ruan Ruan, straightened his back slightly, looked at him seriously, and said with a soft laugh, "I was a little bit guilty before, but now, I'm not..."

"After all, when you people in City of Rest become shameless, it's really not very likable..."

"..."

A hint of sharpness could be discerned in his words. The little knight serving at the round table suddenly looked up at Xiao Xiao with a cold gaze.

Xiao Xiao remained seated, motionless, but in the next moment, a huge black shadow suddenly appeared behind him. From within this extremely dense black shadow, the roar of a chainsaw suddenly rang out. The next moment, the Butcher's figure emerged from the black shadow, and the huge chainsaw passed over Xiao Xiao's head. The dark red serrations crisscrossed and cut rapidly, carrying a terrifying power, and slashed fiercely toward the face of Old Man An across the round table.

Hellbringer.

As soon as the Butcher was summoned by Xiao Xiao, his chainsaw, capable of cutting through anything, was already swung towards Old Man An's face.

Xiao Xiao has already used this method to kill many people.

He was invincible, and at one point he even believed that there was nothing Butcher's chainsaw couldn't cut.

But this time, he seemed not to have expected that as the Butcher's chainsaw began to cut towards Old Man An, a series of teeth-grinding, fine cracking sounds suddenly appeared in the air. The violent and ferocious chainsaw approached Old Man An. An little by little, but the closer it got, the slower it moved. Finally, it suddenly stopped in mid-air. The saw teeth were still spinning wildly, but countless sparks appeared from the friction with the air, futilely wasting the power of the chainsaw's crazy rotation.

As an observer, Xiao Xiao's pupils constricted slightly, and he immediately noticed the problem.

It's not air.

Instead, countless translucent, fine threads suddenly appeared on the chainsaw, forming a dense and complex net between him and Old Man An.

As the chainsaw cuts into these threads, its momentum is continuously worn away until it stops completely.

Even more astonishingly, he couldn't tell what the threads were made of, nor could he tell where the other end of the threads was connected.

It was as if these threads themselves were part of the city, and the city was preventing itself from harming Old Man An.

Across the round table, Old Man An looked up at the saw teeth, his eyes vacant and his face expressionless.

Xiao Xiao seemed to change slightly. Suddenly, he pulled out Silver Revolver from his lower back and fired several shots at Old Man An across the round table.

Bullets, imbued with powerful kinetic energy, whistled out of the gun barrel, each one covered in blood streaks, looking as if they were some kind of strange, congealed flesh and blood.

However, as these bullets hurtled toward Old Man An, they gradually slowed down until they finally froze in mid-air.

As their kinetic energy dissipated, the three bullets fell to the ground with a clatter, landing in a dish of steamed grouper, where they slowly melted into dark red blood.

"Bloodsaw, silver spear?"

Across the round table, a slightly mocking smile seemed to appear on Old Man An's face.

He glanced at Xiao Qi indifferently and said, "I've heard some things about you, including your fondness for using chainsaws to dismember your opponents, and that you have a silver spear with a bad temper that you might switch out and fire at any time..."

"Is it precisely because of the cruelty and uncertainty in your personality that so many people are afraid of you?"

"..."

He chuckled softly and slowly shook his head, saying, "But, Brother Xiao, you're still too young..."

"This world may give you an advantage for a while, but you can't have an advantage forever."

"I don't know if you deliberately created such a formidable reputation for yourself, but in the face of truly powerful spiritual strength, these things are utterly useless..."

"..."

Facing the gloomy-faced Old Man An, Xiao Xiao slowly raised the silver spear in his hand, as if he were surrendering.

He murmured in amazement, "That's really too powerful..."

"Special weapons brought from other cities can't be used here?"

"..."

"It can be used."

Old Man An chuckled and said, "However, I've stayed in City of Rest for far too long, long enough to know every street and every change in it. Therefore, I possess almost all of City of Rest's unique elements. City of Rest also takes care of this old man like God protects his believer. You outsiders, no matter what powerful things you possess, will be stopped by this city when you try to harm me, whether directly or indirectly..."

"That's why I don't want to fight anyone."

"There won't even be a real confrontation between me and you."

"Because in my eyes, all of you are no different from ordinary people..."

"..."

As he spoke, he flipped the glass ball in his hand again, and the snowflakes inside fluttered down. It seemed that Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan were about to be completely captured by him inside the glass ball.

Even Ruan Ruan's eyes were unfocused with tension.

The City of Rest truly demonstrated all that great power could possess. In terms of Enhancement Element, they had an entire museum; in terms of influence, they were the initiators of the Rest Alliance, with over 70% of cities having either chosen to ally with them or expressed an intention to do so; even in terms of real-world power, they controlled the entire administrative structure of the City of Rest, and even the forces of the Black Forest couldn't infiltrate their orders into the City of Rest ...

Such an opponent is on a completely different level from anyone else; no matter which opponent you face, it's akin to a dimensional reduction attack.

How to counter it?

Unexpectedly, Xiao Xiao remained calm at this moment, only showing slight curiosity. "Can you really control everything in City of Rest?"

Old Man An didn't even bother to answer, he just looked at him indifferently.

Xiao Xiao, "What about the Aberrant Creature?"

Whether he found it amusing or out of respect for the last guild leader of Black Gate City, Old Man An smiled faintly and said, "Our City of Rest is different from other cities."

"Here, every instance of distortion is under our control..."

"..."

The duty of strangers is to eliminate abnormal things.

However, Old Man An's words seem to illustrate a point: City of Rest has complete control over the generation and changes of aberrations, which means that they have truly surpassed other cities.

If they are gods, then in their divine kingdom there are no demons or monsters that could cause trouble for gods.

Xiao Xiao ignored his reply and continued to ask curiously, "What if... these Aberrant Creature are from elsewhere?"

This question did indeed surprise Old Man An: "From outside?"

Xiao Xiao smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes."

"Ruan Ruan and I came on a high-speed train that had no other passengers, you know?"

"You know we were watched by countless strange things on our way here, right? It's even possible that you arranged for many of these strange things to be there?"

"..."

Old Man An looked at him coldly, without nodding, but that was enough to signify his acquiescence.

But he still didn't understand what Xiao Xiao's question at this moment meant...

He could Mingming sense everything in City of Rest, but he didn't notice anything unusual.

Seeing Old Man An's suppressed expression, Xiao Xiao couldn't help but laugh happily, "You're all too focused on me and Ruan Ruan, haven't you noticed..."

"... Who came along on the high train that followed us?"

"..."

"..."

Because of their special status, all passengers on Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan's high-speed train were forced to change their train schedules, which resulted in the second high-speed train to City of Rest becoming extremely crowded.

City of Rest naturally wouldn't concern itself with the interactions between ordinary people; all they needed to do was ensure that Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan arrived.

Therefore, they were unaware that on another crowded high-speed train, which was only half an hour later than Xiao Xiao's train, there was a special tour group.

"Iceberg Bar is amazing!"

"We're just VIP clients of his, how come we can get group travel arranged?"

"You're overthinking it. Wherever that mysterious owner of the Iceberg Bar goes, he'll only bring bloodshed..."

"So this trip of ours is definitely not a group outing to thank our customers..."

"... This should be a carnival!"

"..."

Led by a girl wearing pink Rabbit Ears headbands, this special group of guests, dressed in little red hats and carrying small yellow flags, strolled through the streets and alleys of City of Rest, experiencing the local customs and culture. Their arrival went unnoticed by anyone or any special force, because they were just ordinary people who had bought tickets to travel to City of Rest by high-speed train. They were not Aberrant Creature, nor were they causing any out-of-control pollution; all they possessed was a deep appreciation for this world...

But this normal feeling of pleasure only lasted for about a day before it became boring.

Thus, everything started with a trivial little thing.

On the second evening, while the members of the tour group were queuing to buy the incredibly popular stinky tofu from City of Rest, someone cut in line. A bald man in the tour group then kindly reminded the other person, "Brother, you cut in line."

The resident of City of Rest who cut in line, wearing a gold chain as thick as a thumb, pointed his finger at the bald man's face as he spoke, "Cut your mother! Which eye of yours saw me cut in line?"

The bald man said with a forced smile, "I saw it with both eyes."

The man with the gold chain flew into a rage. "Then I'll gouge out both of your eyes, you believe me?"

The bald man seemed startled, his face showing a cautious expression, and then he asked in a low voice, "What did you use to gouge out my eyes?"

The man with the gold chain was clearly taken aback, not understanding what this thing in front of him was.

The bald man, however, became interested and enthusiastically explained, "There are two rules for gouging out someone's eyes: they must be intact and clean. So, to gouge out someone's eyes, you need a special set of tools. Of course, some people choose to use a spoon, which is barely acceptable, but you have to consider that the prey might struggle, causing you to damage the integrity of the gouged eyeball... I personally have a bit of a cleanliness obsession, so I don't like my prey struggling. I usually knock them unconscious first and tie them up in a quiet, secluded place..."

"Before we begin, let's play some nice music..."

"..."

"What the hell?"

The man with the gold chain got chills from what he said and couldn't help but slap him across the face.

The bald man was knocked to the ground by the slap, but he was incredibly excited. He covered his face and looked shy, saying, "Ouch..."

"I'm so happy..."

"..."

The man with the gold chain angrily rushed up and kicked him, while the man happily rolled on the ground. More and more people gathered around, some pushing, some cursing, some trying to persuade him. Then, someone stepped on another person's foot, and that person stabbed the first person in the kidney. Some people quickly called the police, some took the opportunity to set a fire, some followed a handsome young man with drooling eyes, and some even stole a handful of women's underwear from the mall... It was as if fireworks had suddenly filled the entire city...

When the low-ranking outsiders from City of Rest, responsible for clearing out the Aberrant Creature, arrived, City of Rest had already changed beyond recognition.

They saw Rat-Man scurrying about along the building's walls.

I saw the painful vines engulf the entire street, occasionally emerging from the sewers, sweeping up large groups of people, and then disappearing into some building complex.

If we say that City of Rest was originally a complete city, practically without any loopholes, with a perfect defense system taken to the extreme.

So, with the appearance of this strange group of people, it was like termites starting to wreak havoc from within, instantly turning the city into a mess.

And amidst this chaotic noise, thump, thump!

The faint, heavy thumping of a heart could be heard by more and more people.

"What exactly did you do?"

Old Man An had been focused on Xiao Xiao to avoid any accidents, but it was only when Xiao Xiao reminded him that he realized something terrible.

His face suddenly turned unusually cold, and he demanded an answer in a stern voice.

"Just some things that are very new to ordinary strangers..."

Xiao Xiao smiled and shook his head at him, saying, "It's hard for me to explain to you, after all, you're just too old-fashioned."

Old Man An's breathing suddenly became heavier. He abruptly stood up, raising the glass ball in his hand to the front of him. At this moment, the figures of Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan were almost outlined inside the glass ball. Only one last step was needed to imprison them both inside the glass ball. This was also the reason for Old Man An's restraint. He did not know what had attacked City of Rest, but with a formidable enemy at hand, he still had to imprison Xiao Xiao and Ruan Ruan first.

However, the entire process of imprisoning Xiao Xiao actually went very smoothly.

But ironically, this final step has yet to be completed; the last stroke waiting to be drawn inside the glass sphere simply cannot be finished.

Xiao Xiao simply sat there quietly, but the S-class weapon in his hand was unable to pull the guy into the glass ball.

Old Man An was somewhat bewildered, his eyes flickering as if he wanted to grit his teeth and demand an explanation, but he was also thinking of urging the glass ball to complete the final step as soon as possible.

"It's useless."

Xiao Xiao seemed to sense Old Man An's urgency and shook his head with a smile, saying, "This S-class weapon is indeed very powerful, but I think it is not capable of locking me inside."

At this moment, Old Man An finally realized that the inability to complete the final stroke was not accidental, but rather because Xiao Xiao had refused.

His voice now carried a hint of panic stemming from a loss of control over the situation. He hissed, "Why?"

"Because this glass sphere is a weapon from the City of Rest collection..."

"..."

Xiao Xiao laughed and said, "Since it belongs to City of Rest, how could it possibly have the ability to City of Rest inside?"

Upon hearing such a strange statement, Old Man An's expression changed instantly. "You..."

"Old Man An, you are indeed very strong."

Xiao Xiao suddenly interrupted him, his expression still very calm, with a faint smile on his face, "But your strength has its limits."

"This limitation is something you imposed on yourself."

"..."

As he spoke, his heart pounded heavily, the thumping becoming increasingly clear, as if it were resonating throughout the entire Black City of Rest.

Xiao Xiao remained seated there, yet it was as if he had transformed into the city itself.

"No matter how strong a servant is, how could he possibly be stronger than his master?"

Looking at Old Man An's tense eyes, Xiao Xiao slowly said what he had been thinking about for a long time, "However, you did say something right just now."

"There will definitely be no real confrontation between the two of us."

"Because you, who don't even have the courage to step into the forbidden realm, are simply not qualified..."

"..."

"..."

Thump, thump...

The sound of a heartbeat is permeating the entire City of Rest.

The true function of the Unquenched Heart: parasitism.

I made it! Although it wasn't eight thousand, it was seven thousand...