Get Out

"You lead the team and wipe them out. If you run into anything troublesome, call me. I'll support you remotely!" Bai Jing looked at Frank. "Can you handle it?"

They were just ordinary gangsters, with no superpowered opponents. There was no need for him to go along; he only needed to step in at a critical moment.

Frank nodded. "I can!"

White people loved nodding and gesturing when they spoke. Maybe their vocabulary was too limited to describe what they wanted to say, so they needed hand gestures to help.

"Then meeting adjourned!"

After leaving the building, Bai Jing came to the riverbank and leaped straight into the water.

"So this is what the bottom of the river looks like!" Bai Jing sank directly to the riverbed, took in its appearance and memorized it, then surfaced, took a shower, changed clothes, and returned to his bedroom.

He raised a hand, calmed his mind, imagined the scene from earlier, then swiped his hand!

A portal nearly two meters in diameter abruptly opened above his head!

The instant it opened, surging water burst out from within!

"Devour!" Bai Jing's eyes flashed, and his gravity activated on its own. Before the roaring torrent above him could even approach his body, it had already been completely swallowed by Black Hole Devour.

"This is slower than being at the bottom of the river, but not by much. The important thing is that I'm free now. I can read, give orders, even sleep! Sleep by myself, or sleep with Yui Aragaki..."

Sigh, too bad Satomi Ishihara was already married.

"This portal is pretty durable too. As long as I maintain it with my mind, it can remain open indefinitely!" The portal did not consume his own energy, but dimensional energy borrowed through the Sling Ring. That energy was inexhaustible.

"Only after learning magic did I understand that the black hole is the core of my abilities. Other people need meditation to strengthen their minds, but the essence of my soul is a black hole. The stronger the black hole, the stronger I become. So as long as I keep devouring things, my mental strength will naturally increase!" Bai Jing flipped through the material on projection magic, pondering its key points.

Thought could travel at the speed of light, even beyond it. That was why the Sorcerer Supreme could remain indoors while her mind still roamed the multiverse, making her name known throughout it.

And the foundation of all that was projection magic.

Projection magic consisted of three steps. The first was separating the mind from the body, something every mage could do.

The second step was drawing energy in a spiritual state to maintain the strength of both soul and body. The former prevented wind, sunlight, and natural disasters from damaging the soul; the latter prevented the body from suffering when Astral Projection lasted too long. At a sufficiently high realm, someone like Ancient One could use Astral Projection without any force being able to interfere.

The third step was natural projection. One could project one's soul through substances such as clouds, light, or air, taking visible form. One could also suppress another person's soul and seize their body.

The former was generally used to play god, and the latter was generally used to play god too.

Besides, if one did not want a humanoid form, one could take other shapes, such as the sun or moon.

This magic was, after all, the foundation of learning magic. It had been passed down for nearly three thousand years since magic first emerged, and all kinds of mages had modified it. The book therefore contained countless variations.

"Mr. Bai!" Denny entered with a phone. "Mr. Frank has encountered, uh..."

Denny stared blankly at the torrential rain pouring down beneath the golden ring above Bai Jing's head. What... what was that?

"Encountered what?" Bai Jing looked up.

"Uh, he encountered powerful resistance!" Denny swallowed. She knew Bai Jing was mysterious and powerful, but every time she saw him, it was a completely new experience.

"I understand!" Bai Jing waved a hand, got up, went to the window, opened it, and closed his eyes.

As the range of his black hole gravity grew stronger, his eyesight improved as well. He was now equivalent to a reflecting telescope over two meters in diameter. He could not only see unobstructed targets; even if a target hid behind a house, he could use the refraction of light through the sky and clouds to see vague images.

Of course, those images were too blurry to be of any practical use.

So Bai Jing listened instead.

Even with houses blocking the way, the gunfire over there was extremely distinct in the quiet night. After the sound waves refracted through layer after layer of buildings, they still reached Bai Jing's ears clearly.

His brain almost instantly sketched out the battlefield.

Two hundred and forty Order Society soldiers wore neat uniforms and carried all kinds of firearms, yet they hid behind house after house. Ahead of them, nearly eight hundred vicious gangsters armed with submachine guns, rifles, and Remington shotguns guarded the intersection.

"So many people. Did several gangs join forces? But if that's the case, winning this battle will expand our territory tremendously!" Bai Jing pulled a playing card from his pocket, quickly calculated its trajectory, then placed it into the Gravity Field to accelerate it!

Denny, standing nearby, only saw Rainbow Light flash past Bai Jing's side, streaking across the night sky in a brilliant orange beam!

"Done. It's settled!" Bai Jing said.

"Oh, huh?" Denny froze, then hurriedly put the phone to her ear. A boom sounded from the other end, followed by waves of shouting and gunfire. Then she could hear nothing at all.

"Then... I'll head out first?" Denny raised her head blankly. She wanted to say something, but when the words reached her lips, she realized they were all profanity.

Forget it. Better not say anything.

"Mhm!" Bai Jing nodded, closed the window, returned to the bed, and continued studying magic while sensing the changes in his mental strength.

"My mind doesn't need meditation, and I'm not afraid of light, lightning, or nature at all. If they come interfere with me, I can just devour them. So all I need to learn is how to use energy to maintain my body, and then I can project myself?" After studying for a while longer, he suddenly found the spell seemed much simpler.

What was hardest for others was actually easiest for him. What should have been simplest for others—preserving the body—was instead a little difficult for Bai Jing.

Of course, only a little.

So ten minutes later, Bai Jing suddenly felt that he had completed all the preparations for projection magic!

"Wait, wait. My mind needs to get a little stronger first!" The range of his Gravity Field was now a sphere with a two-meter radius, but it still gave him too little reaction time.

"Mr. Bai!" Denny entered again. It was one-thirty in the morning.

Bai Jing got up and listened. Frank had already pushed to Fortieth Street, and the sounds were becoming difficult to make out.

But as long as he could hear them, he could still provide support.

He threw out a card, then continued studying and devouring.

"Mr. Bai!" Denny came in again.

It was now three in the morning.

Bai Jing listened. Thirty-seventh Street.

Had they already reached the end?

Bai Jing took out a playing card to provide support, but after listening for a moment, he sensed something was wrong.

He closed the portal and flew directly out the window. Before long, he had arrived above Thirty-seventh Street.

He saw that Thirty-seventh Street, once broad and empty, was packed with vehicles. Frank's group was completely surrounded by them.

But Frank's group was spirited and confident, while the people surrounding them all looked pale. Their guns were pressed to Frank's head, yet none of them dared fire.

"How did things end up like this?" Bai Jing drifted down and asked.

"They're directly connected to each other!" Frank said with a grin.

After those two rounds of remote support, he knew it. Their Order Society was invincible!

So Frank was not worried at all!

"An asian!" A white man stepped out from the convoy. "I was wondering who was backing him. Turns out it's just an asian!"

"I told you the Order Society wasn't government personnel. They're so well-trained..." someone beside him said.

Bai Jing looked at the Order Society members inside the encirclement, who were nearly scared stiff. This counted as well-trained?

When these white people saw Bai Jing appear, they understood that this was not a government operation.

After all, how could an asian possibly become a high-ranking official in the government?

So they had not dared fire earlier, but now?

"Kill them!" The white man waved coldly.

"Hmph!" Bai Jing grinned crookedly. "Water Release: Who Built the Dam?"

After a series of complicated hand seals that nobody could understand, Bai Jing clapped his hands together. Four portals, each two meters in diameter, appeared above them!

What followed was a surging torrent!

There were over a thousand gangsters, each armed with guns, even machine guns and Rocket Propelled Grenades. But in the face of that raging water, what did any of it matter?

From four directions, four roaring water dragons directly smashed apart their formation. The various Godfathers, bosses, Double Flower Red Poles, and hall masters wailed for their fathers and mothers in the water. Some even started calling for Mommy!

"WTF?" Frank stared at the scene in shock, then looked at Bai Jing. He had never expected his boss to be a mage?

Because the portals were not aimed at them, there was water beneath their feet too, but the current was weak enough for them to stand steadily.

"What are you standing around for? Go arrest them!" Bai Jing said irritably as he closed the portals.

"Ah, right, right!" Frank nodded repeatedly and directed his people to capture them, while wondering how they could counter that move if they ever became enemies.

It seemed impossible to counter!

Bai Jing turned to leave as well, but suddenly heard something else.

He raised his head and looked into the distance.

"What is it?" Frank asked beside him.

"Someone's coming!" As soon as Bai Jing spoke, a searchlight shone in from far away, followed by the sound of a helicopter.

"A Black Hawk 60A helicopter. It's the Army National Guard!" Frank, a former Marine familiar with American equipment, looked grim.

He had only brought a group of miscellaneous troops. They could handle gangsters, but how were they supposed to fight the National Guard?

Besides, he did not want to fight the National Guard!

Bai Jing said nothing. He was still listening to what the people in the helicopter were saying.

"Reporting, reporting. Squad Four has arrived at the scene. Confirming a gang shootout below. The factions involved are unknown..."

Had someone called the police?

Bai Jing thought for a moment and pulled out a playing card.

"Don't!" Frank hurriedly stopped Bai Jing. "If you shoot it down, we'll be at war with the U.S. military to the death!"

"I'm not trying to fight them to the death!" If he really wanted to do that, he would not need to do anything else. He could just hide underground and keep devouring!

But that would be too easy. It was boring.

Bai Jing preferred things with a little more room for maneuver.

With a slight release of his fingers, the card fell into the Gravity Field and began accelerating rapidly!

Then he waved a hand, and a portal opened before him!

On the other side of the portal were two soldiers in the helicopter, curiously turning their heads to look!

"Buzz!" Rainbow Light shot into the portal, grazing past the pilot's neck before smashing a crack nearly fifteen centimeters long into the window. Because it moved too fast and the card was too sharp, the glass had no damage besides that crack.

The pilot had no time to react at all. By the time he realized he was unharmed, his eyes had rolled back, and his pants were instantly soaked!

"Get out!" A furious shout came from the portal. Without a second thought, the pilot turned the helicopter around and left.

What? Someone had called the police? They could wait. He would go take a look tomorrow when he had time!