Bells and Hummingbirds

An elegant voice echoed through the air. The Dark Count revealed a charming smile and quietly watched Tang Ziran and Lang Yue, whose faces had gone deathly pale.

Behind his parents, Tang Wulin frantically called out to Brother Huo in his heart.

The enemy before them was an unfathomably powerful evil Soul Master. Tang Wulin had no ability to resist and could only place all his hopes on Brother Huo.

"Little Wulin, don't panic." Huo Yuhao's steady voice was like a tranquil melody, soothing the unease in Tang Wulin's heart.

"East Sea City is full of hidden talents these days. It isn't as simple as you think. A mere bat evil Soul Master can't stir up much trouble. With them here, I'm only responsible for being the last line of defense. I won't act unless I have to, so I don't expose my existence."

"If anything goes wrong, don't worry. I'll act when the time comes."

Full of hidden talents? East Sea City? Was that really reasonable?

Though relieved, Tang Wulin found countless doubts arising in his heart.

East Sea City was indeed a major Federation city with an extremely developed economy, but its Soul Master strength was weak. The strongest official expert was only a Soul Sage, while its only two Titled Douluos were the branch heads of the Holy Spirit Cult and Spirit Pagoda in East Sea City.

If one insisted on calling it full of hidden talents...

Tang Wulin thought of his two classmates: Meng Xinghe and Gu Yuena.

Meng Xinghe was a local orphan from East Sea City with no family background. Yet Gu Yuena's identity was extraordinarily mysterious. She knew of the Dragon God legend, and the purity of her Silver Dragon bloodline was actually comparable to his own, despite him possessing the Golden Dragon King Divine Core.

The hidden talents Brother Huo mentioned must have referred to the bodyguards—or perhaps protectors—assigned to Gu Yuena by the family behind her.

But what did Gu Yuena's protector have to do with him? Shouldn't the person Gu Yuena's protector guarded be Gu Yuena herself?

Could it be that, because of the Golden Dragon King Divine Core transaction, she was afraid something would happen to me, so she secretly sent someone to protect me? And now that they discovered I was in danger, the person secretly protecting me had already gone to notify that mysterious protector?

The more Tang Wulin thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. The heart that had been tense moments ago completely calmed down.

He had figured it out. With Brother Huo as their last line of defense, nothing could happen to them. Now, he only hoped Gu Yuena's protector would be capable enough to save them without exposing Brother Huo.

Jingle, jingle—

Jingle, jingle—

A string of crisp bell chimes rang out. For an instant, a dazed look appeared in the Dark Count's blood-red pupils. A blur as swift as the wind swept Tang Wulin and the other three away like a breeze, bringing them into a safe area.

The spatial barrier shattered. The station, which had been packed with people moments earlier, was now strangely empty, as though everything that had just happened had been an illusion.

"Nana Li! Long Yuheng! How dare you ruin my plans!"

The Dark Count's enraged roar echoed through the air, and Tang Wulin's group finally saw the figures before them clearly.

A girl who looked eighteen or nineteen held a bell in her hand. Beside her stood a middle-aged man around thirty, whose appearance struck Tang Wulin and Xie Xie as somewhat familiar.

"You jest, Count," Nana Li said with a silvery laugh. "You have your mission, and I have mine. We are each doing our own duty. How can you say I ruined your plans?"

"Still, I couldn't have saved them from you alone. But I happened to meet Long Yuheng on the way, so you can only blame your bad luck."

Long Yuheng nodded in wholehearted agreement.

The Dark Count's luck truly was poor. Long Yuheng had only come to East Sea City to visit his daughter, yet he had run into Nana Li, the deputy director of the Federal Investigation Bureau, who was in the middle of a mission.

Once Long Yuheng heard that the mission involved the Evil Spirit Cult and even implicated the Dark Count, one of the Dark Four Heavenly Kings, he naturally joined without hesitation as the head of the Spirit Pagoda's Supervision Department.

After all, everyone bore responsibility for eliminating the Evil Spirit Cult.

When he and Nana Li discovered that the Dark Count had chosen a public place with an enormous flow of people like a train station, they could only lie in wait and wait for an opportunity, lest innocent people be harmed.

The opportunity came quickly. Taking advantage of the spatial barrier the Dark Count had created to isolate the area from the outside world, Nana Li, a control-type battle Soul Master, cast an illusion, while Long Yuheng, an agility attack-type battle Soul Master, evacuated the crowd. In an extremely short time, they cleared the station completely.

Under normal circumstances, the Dark Count would naturally have noticed something wrong with his strength. But when someone who was prepared plotted against someone who was not, the situation was different.

"Hmph. I'll admit defeat this time. We'll meet again!"

After delivering his threat, the Dark Count ran. His movements were clean and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

He was an intelligent villain. When it was time to run, he ran. He would never foolishly remain behind and fight to the death.

Nana Li and Long Yuheng were experts in the same realm as him, both Rank 98 Titled Douluos, and their strength was on par with his.

Nana Li in particular possessed the Illusion Bell Martial Soul. Like his Dark Gold Nine-Headed Bat Martial Soul, it used sound waves as a means of control.

Their abilities were similar and mutually restraining. What mattered was raw strength.

In a one-on-one fight, the Dark Count was confident he would not lose to Nana Li. But with Windshadow Douluo Long Yuheng, an agility attack-type battle Soul Master, standing beside her, he was no match.

Knowing he could not win yet stubbornly fighting to the death was, in the Dark Count's eyes, absolutely foolish. Someone as perfect as him would never make such a stupid mistake.

"Nana Li, protect the adults and children. I'll pursue him!"

Before Long Yuheng had even finished speaking, he transformed into a blur and vanished from where he stood.

Evil Soul Masters had strange methods, especially evil Soul Masters of the Dark Four Heavenly Kings' caliber. Their bizarre abilities were impossible to guard against, so one of him and Nana Li had to remain behind to ensure the safety of the adults and children.

Nana Li was a control-type battle Soul Master, while he was an agility attack-type battle Soul Master. When it came to pursuit, he was naturally stronger due to his greater speed. Only he could keep up with the Dark Count's ghostly movement technique.

"Sir, Madam, and you two little ones, hello. I am Nana Li, deputy director of the Federal Investigation Bureau. You may search the official website. My name and photograph are on it."

Nana Li displayed her identification and said in a warm, easygoing manner:

"From here on, I will be responsible for your safety. Please rest assured and follow me."

Out of caution, Tang Ziran took out his phone and searched online. The results showed that the Federal Investigation Bureau indeed had a deputy director named Nana Li, and the photograph on the official website was identical to the girl before them.

"Sorry to trouble you, Director."

Only after Tang Wulin's group walked out of the train station did they discover that the outside had already been sealed off by the East Sea City Mecha Brigade. At the front stood a balding middle-aged man, with a familiar-looking man beside him—the captain of the East Sea Security Team, Guanglong.