Thunderstorm

"BOOM!!"

A thunderclap rang out, clear as day inside the dining room, and echoed through it.

The baron's residence stood only three stories tall at its highest point, with a layout resembling a courtyard house. Just outside the dining room was a garden planted with purple morning glories.

"Hahaha... cough, cough, cough."

Lin Ke had meant to laugh with wild abandon, like a villain.

But halfway through, he realized his vocal cords had yet to mature. His laughter sounded strange, making it rather awkward.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat twice, then shook his head. "Puxin, do you know what fears lightning most on a rainy day?"

Puxin... why did that sound so strange? Like a revered monk's Dharma name.

"My name is Sandir Azan, Young Master Lin Ke." Puxin corrected Lin Ke's mistake. Unsure why Lin Ke was suddenly acting this way, he frowned. "On a rainy day? Surely those without shelter fear lightning most."

He cast a pointed glance at the helpless Furon and Lin Ke, who stood straight and tall.

Lin Ke shook his head and said softly, "What fears lightning most should be those ugly maggots living beneath trees in the darkness!"

Lin Ke looked at Puxin with laughter in his eyes, making Puxin frown again.

"Kill him! Father, kill Lin Ke!"

"Boohoo, my poor son! Guards! Guards, hurry up and kill him!"

"Hmph."

Though Puxin had no idea why Lin Ke was so confident, his patience had run out.

The haggard woman beside him kept sobbing, while his good-for-nothing son screamed himself hoarse.

Along with the rolling thunder overhead and the low air pressure, it all left him inexplicably irritable.

"Make your choice, Lin Ke, my nephew."

Puxin no longer even bothered to call him "young master." Having discarded his patience, he discarded his manners as well.

Clearly, his temper was growing increasingly violent, like a beast sensing an approaching thunderstorm without recognizing the danger.

Lin Ke looked outside the door and saw the dense storm clouds.

At that moment, everyone in the city felt a steadily intensifying pressure settle over their hearts, leaving them struggling to breathe.

Whether ordinary beggars or lofty Professionals, they all felt an unbearable heaviness in their hearts, as though a natural predator were circling overhead.

Of course, those lofty Professionals were only level one, two, three, or four, but even that made them local powerhouses in Parrot City.

"Hurry up and choose!"

Inside the baron's residence, Puxin unbuttoned his jacket in discomfort. The low air pressure seemed to weigh on him more and more, until he could not help snapping.

But before Lin Ke could answer, rolling thunder sounded in the sky outside, accompanied by a voice like a thunderbolt:

"Hand over my disciple-Lin Ke Azan!! Otherwise... I will destroy this city!!!"

That was... Ove's voice!

Lin Ke finally breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately beckoned to the Servant of Truth, sending the power of his [Scholar] surging toward it.

The Servant of Truth flashed with intense purple light and rushed toward the door, instantly knocking the guards flying.

Puxin and the others were still frozen, trying to process the thunderous words they had just heard. They could only watch as Lin Ke took Furon by the hand and followed the Servant of Truth out the door.

Meanwhile, the entire city was in an uproar.

"It's a Professional! A high-level Professional!"

"He's definitely above level fifteen!"

"Level fifteen?! Oh! That's terrifying! The highest-level person I've ever known was only level three!"

"Lin Ke? Who's Lin Ke?"

"Lin Ke... Young Master Lin Ke! It must be Young Master Lin Ke! Lin Ke Azan!"

"Who captured Young Master Lin Ke?! Andrew's Leg, are they trying to get us all killed?"

"They even dared capture Lord Garros's eldest son?"

Countless people clamored. Some trembled in fear, while others frantically tried to flee the city.

Just then, the Servant of Truth rose into the sky, radiating dazzling purple light. Like a slowly ascending star, it stood out vividly against the darkness.

"BOOM!!!!"

An enormous, terrifying bolt of lightning instantly struck in that direction, bathing all of Parrot City in brilliant light.

"Who was it?! Who wants to harm my disciple?!"

The furious voice rang out as Ove, his entire body transformed into lightning, crashed into the baron's garden like a falling meteor.

Endless arcs of electricity spread like a spiderweb, reducing the garden's delicate flowers to charcoal and drifting ash in an instant.

Dense currents crawled over his body. His long white beard and white hair danced wildly without any wind, while his eyes blazed with piercing purple light that shone onto the walls like flashlight beams.

He looked like a thunder god descended to earth!

"You! Were you trying to harm my disciple?!"

As Ove landed, he saw Lin Ke, who had just broken through the guards' encirclement, and Puxin farther inside. He roared in utter fury.

"BANG!!"

He slammed his staff against the ground. All the lightning abruptly contracted, flowing toward the staff's tip like sand through an hourglass.

Then a dazzling ball of light appeared at its tip.

More than a dozen terrifying streams of plasma burst from the lightning orb, slicing across the ground and leaving scorched black trails.

"I'll kill you." Ove's voice sounded like that of an enraged god. "Thunder... storm!!!"

Endless lightning elements poured into the plasma orb at the staff's tip. The orb slowly rose into the sky, even briefly creating a vacuum of lightning elements around it.

Ove's skill-Thunderstorm!

The streams of plasma within the orb grew larger and larger, resembling waterfalls. Under the intense heat they generated, the baron's brick and stone buildings either exploded or melted.

"Look! What's that?!"

"Help! The high-level Professional is going to destroy the city!"

"Almighty Goddess of Wealth, please save me..."

"Doesn't he fear the Sleepless Emperor's agreement with the Professionals?!"

All of Parrot City descended into chaos. Countless Professionals fled, while ordinary people fell into utter despair, though some prayed.

This is bad!

Seeing this, Lin Ke immediately shouted for him to stop. "Teacher! Stop! Nix lied to you! I'm fine!"

Good heavens! Was Teacher Ove going to wipe me out along with them?

Hearing Lin Ke's words, Ove turned his gaze toward him, instantly regaining a little of his reason. "Little Lin Ke... what exactly is going on?"

"Teacher, please get rid of that lightning orb first!"

Lin Ke watched the ever-growing orb, afraid it would harm innocent people or even destroy Parrot City outright.

After all, Lin Ke already regarded Parrot City as his own private property.

"THUD!!" At his words, Ove slammed his staff against the ground.

"POP!!"

The terrifying plasma orb slowly rising into the sky became like a balloon, bursting softly into falling motes of light.

The large-scale skill stopped just like that, without even harming Ove, demonstrating his exceptional control.

Lin Ke held out a hand to feel them. Those motes were lightning elements that had not yet fully returned to their atomic state, and they tingled against his skin.

"Little Lin Ke, what exactly happened?"

Ove seemed to have lost his social anxiety at that moment.

Ignoring the servants sprawled all over the ground and foaming at the mouth, he looked at Lin Ke with concern. Once he confirmed that Lin Ke truly was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm fine, Teacher. Nix didn't lie to you. It was just that things were too dangerous a moment ago, so I had to shout whatever came to mind."

Lin Ke was full of remorse.

"As long as you're all right. Before coming here, I caught a few level-one Professionals heading to Azan Castle and interrogated them. They said your father had been trapped in a hopeless situation."

With a grave expression, Ove patted Lin Ke's head, glanced at the haggard Furon beside him, and sighed. His earlier rage had faded.

"It's all right, Teacher." The concern of the socially anxious old man warmed Lin Ke's heart.

"As for this baron and his family, let me kill them all for you."

Ove looked toward Puxin and his family, who had collapsed on the dining room floor, stupefied with terror. His brows drew up coldly.

"No, no! Spare me! Spare me!"

Puxin scrambled across the floor toward him.

Ove's Thunderstorm had already terrified him out of his wits.

That had been the might of heaven!

"It was all him! He did everything! It had nothing to do with us!" Puxin's wife pointed at her husband and shrieked. "Galia is my son with the captain of the guards! We're innocent! It was all him! Sandir did it all!"

She was scared out of her mind.

Without a moment's thought, Sandir turned and roared, "You bitch! It's all because of you and your bastard! Your family's endless demands and greed were what made me take this risk! You scum!"

He, too, was terrified out of his wits and wanted only to survive.

"I saw Father fighting with the head maid in bed!" Puxin's son panicked as well, blood still staining the corner of his mouth.

Puxin, his son, and his wife descended into a vicious shouting match, their expressions ugly and their voices harsh.

Under the terrifying pressure of a level-nineteen Professional, they were nothing but maggots desperate to live.

P.S. Please send a big wave of recommendation votes and monthly votes! It's the end of the month, so there's no point holding on to your monthly votes. You might as well hurry up and give them to me~

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