The Family Wrecker Agency

The Family Harmony Agency! Information about this agency flashed through Yaxiu's mind—Rank 2 on the Azula Mission Board, Rank 9 on the National Mission Board! One of the "two agencies" among the top ten underworld syndicates of Azula: "one temple, two agencies, three clans, and four corporations"! Despite how surprisingly warm and friendly the agency's name sounded, this was actually the norm. After all, agencies belonged to the service industry; they couldn't afford to put on haughty, aloof airs. Especially over the past fifty years, every industry had undergone rapid changes. Where there used to be fewer than ten agencies per region, now dozens fought over food from the same pot. As a seller's market turned into a buyer's market, cutthroat competition had naturally set in. By contrast, a name like the "Funeral Agency" was a textbook negative example. One look at it made people assume the person in charge was almost certainly a riddler who couldn't speak plain human words, and might even harbor eccentric personal ideas while executing a job—which, in truth, wasn't wrong at all. In this day and age, however, such customer service no longer cut it. It was fortunate that the Funeral Agency was a venerable establishment with over two hundred years of history, allowing it to survive to this day under that name and attitude. Even so, by the time this century-old foundation fell into Annan's hands, the agency had dwindled to the level of a tenth-place gatekeeper in its district. Evidently, small-workshop agencies of the old era were hopelessly out of step with the times. In comparison, the Family Harmony Agency was an assembly-line enterprise of the modern age: a catchy name, saturated advertising, attentive service, touching prices, and a comprehensive training regimen for hired sorcerers. Thus, in just a few decades, it had grown into a formidable force in the Azula region that could not be overlooked. Furthermore, from accompanying Annan on missions, Yaxiu and the others had learned that an agency's true strength lay not in its sorcerers themselves, but in... ...what postures they had unlocked with the Book of Gospel. "Why the silence?" Maynard said. "If you refuse to state your stance, then I can only assume..." "...that you're declining Family Harmony's good intentions." *Hum!* Amid the sound of ruptures echoing from all directions, everyone realized with stark clarity that dozens of drones were breaching the floor from every side! "The Family Wrecker Agency's signature trick," Annan explained at breakneck speed. "Modern smart homes almost all call upon the Book of Gospel for data parsing. They can use the Book of Gospel as a medium to hack into every drone, spider servant, air car, and any device you see equipped with an automated operating system. We have to take them down, or we'll never be able to summon an air car to leave." They lived several hundred meters up in the air within the inverted layer. While it offered a fantastic panoramic view during normal times, their means of transit were severely limited: either fly straight down in an air car, or take the elevator up to the 'ground level' of the second-tier city before catching a vehicle. Yet regardless of which option they chose, it required taking automated transit. If they didn't deal with these two enemies who could hijack any smart device, boarding a vehicle would be tantamount to climbing into a coffin and delivering themselves straight to the front door! "Split into two teams: the vanguard breaks through by force to eliminate those two, while the rearguard provides covering fire." Pajama-clad Annan gripped her beloved Second Miss submachine gun tightly. "I'll cover the rear, but I need one more person." No one thought Annan was slacking off, for the rearguard's burden was even heavier than the vanguard's. With dozens of drones now swarming in from elsewhere on the floor, the rearguard had to face these gun- and cannon-toting drones with fewer hands, ensuring these corrupted delivery couriers wouldn't disrupt the vanguard's objective! "I'll do it," Harvey said, patting the coffin beside him. "One counts as two." When it came to headcounts, a necromancer was uniquely reassuring. "Move." There was no time for discussion or hesitation. The throttling hum of drone rotors, sounding as though it meant to mince human flesh, was already dangerously close, and the drones on the other side of the ice curtain had finished reloading. In just a few breaths, thousands of bullets would tear everything in this space to shreds! Banjie charged out first, twin guns already gripped tightly in his hands as an ethereal chill ceaselessly billowed from their muzzles. In the Gospel Country, gun sorcery was far more widespread than in the Blood Moon Country. Even a sorcerer like Banjie, who specialized in ice arts, practiced gun sorcery to aid his spellcasting—gratitude was due to the glorious bullet for giving fireballs and frost a chance to break the sound barrier! Miracle: Bursting Ice Thorn Bullet! The moment his muzzles flashed, several small holes opened in the ice curtain, just in time for the deadly miracle bullets to pass through and streak toward the enemy! The sight caused Yaxiu's and Igola's pupils to contract. As sorcerers, they naturally recognized the sheer caliber of this maneuver. Not only did he simultaneously maintain a defensive miracle and cast an offensive one, but he could also open fleeting apertures in the defensive miracle at just the right instant to let the offensive miracle take effect... To put it bluntly, on this micro-control alone, Banjie ranked among the very peak combatants of Two Wings! Sorcerer combat fundamentally boiled down to two tactical objectives: preserving oneself and harming the enemy. Given the cultivation and resources of a Two-Winged Sorcerer, however, balancing both was extraordinarily difficult. One either substituted offense for defense—like the Sword Princess or the Witch—or substituted defense for offense, like Yaxiu. Yaxiu was a textbook case of having plenty of defense but insufficient offense. He could deploy the Sword Body Barrier to protect himself, but because it restricted his movement, he could only rely on sorcery spirits like Heart Sword and Substitute to launch ranged attacks. Yet even though Heart Sword was indeed a swordplay sorcery spirit adept at ranged strikes, its destructive power wasn't even a tenth of the Sword Princess's melee combat. When attacking, one stood exposed to danger; when defending, one's damage was little more than tickling the enemy. This dilemma was even more pronounced among gun sorcerers: hiding behind cover was safe, but they couldn't shoot; once they leaned out to fire, the enemy could shoot back. Banjie's ice curtain was without question an exceptional defensive miracle, yet an ice curtain also obstructed his own attacks. For Banjie to be able to fire bullets through it while preserving its integrity... Though it looked simple and direct, this was an invincible tactical system! Until Banjie ran out of sorcery power, the enemy could only endure Banjie's one-sided bombardment without being able to touch anyone behind the curtain! *Crack! Crack! Crack!* The bursting ice thorns shattered with crisp cracks like glass bottles smashing. The drone swarm in front suffered devastating hits in an instant, falling downward in wails of electric sparks! At some point, Igola had gripped a whistle between his teeth. He suddenly leaned close to Yaxiu's ear and blew with all his might! *Fweeeet——!* The whistle instantly drowned out all gunfire. The miracle twisted the sound into foul, vile vermin that pierced the enemies' eardrums and burrowed straight into their brain marrow! Miracle: Mind Shriek! Even though they were not the intended targets, Banjie, Annan, Lisi, Harvey, and the rest were all affected to varying degrees. Only Yaxiu, sitting right beside him, felt merely as if Igola were grinding his teeth next to his ear. Rich combat experience allowed Yaxiu to immediately grasp this miracle's flaw: the closer one was, the weaker the Mind Shriek became. Conversely, enemies trying to keep their distance suffered a sonic concussive shock like the blow of a sledgehammer. An ordinary area-of-effect miracle distributed sorcery power evenly, ensuring enemies took damage no matter where they were; an excellent area-of-effect miracle concentrated sorcery power where enemies were most likely to be, maximizing lethal efficiency. The Sword Princess's Blood Blossom Water Moon operated on the same principle: before casting, she would often slash forward with her sword, not to attack, but to force the enemy to step back, because Blood Blossom Water Moon's maximum lethal zone was just outside the reach of a sword strike. At this moment, caught right in the optimal attack distance, the two hostile operatives felt as if the shrill whistle were a sharp blade skewering their brains! "Guh!" Maynard grunted, his brain turning to mush as he doubled over like a cooked shrimp and fell to his knees, nose bleeding uncontrollably. Liman swayed as well, but she managed to keep her footing, promptly summoning over a dozen drones in front of her just in time to block another volley of Bursting Ice Thorn Bullets! Yet it hardly mattered. Outside, countless more drones stood on standby. Many were still carrying parcels and food deliveries, but their orders would soon be automatically canceled due to unexpected circumstances—leaving plenty of late-night workers hungry tonight. Still, these drones had not had time to be equipped with automated firearms and could only be used as a shield wall. On the ground road directly beneath the inverted building, hundreds of drones were lining up to be fitted with automatic firearms from freight containers before taking flight to rush toward the battlefield above. Delivery drones summoned on short notice naturally didn't carry firearms, but backdoors were left in their mounting points, allowing them to turn into airborne firepower at a moment's notice. Thus, the Family Harmony Agency needed only to drive an arms truck through the city to conjure a drone army out of thin air whenever they pleased. Furthermore, on the outer walls of the inverted building, hundreds of mechanical spiders were currently crawling toward the fight. The elevators in the building had ceased operation, and every automated door in Annan's residence was locked tight, cutting off every route of retreat. Maynard and Liman had never planned to risk their lives fighting the Funeral Agency. All they needed to do was use the drones and mechanical spiders to stall their targets, trapping them inside this negative 51st floor of the building until their superior, the "Red Cicada Duchess," arrived. Even if the Funeral Agency displayed formidable combat strength, the two remained supremely confident in this mission—in the "extended family" that was this city, their Family Harmony Agency was the housekeeper who controlled everything! *Fweeeet——!* The whistle shrilled once more, and another volley of Bursting Ice Thorn Bullets came screaming in tandem. This time, however, Maynard and Liman were prepared. Clapping hands over their ears to endure the sonic onslaught, they sent swarms of drones forward to intercept and detonate the miracle bullets! *If this is all they're capable of, they'll be drowned in drones long before the Duchess even gets here...* Just as this thought crossed Maynard's mind, he caught sight of a sword shadow flying out from behind the ice curtain. But it did not stab toward them; instead, it lodged itself firmly into the ceiling. *Hm?* They looked up at the longsword quivering in the ceiling. In the next second, the longsword glowed with a faint yellow radiance, and then— A man in a dark red trench coat suddenly grew out from the sword's hilt. Pulling free the blade in the same motion, he kicked hard off the ceiling and plummeted like a falling meteor, charging alone straight at the two! Miracle: Rushing Toward! "Good evening. I'm here to develop your sorcerer manuals!"