Trouble

"Don't panic! Felix is alone!" "Kill him directly!" The Vandell gangsters' voices were filled with shock, rage, and fear. Hesitating no longer, they launched an all-out assault, bullets banging out in rapid succession. Felix could clearly hear the bullets striking her human shield and knew the gangsters would no longer care about the hostage. With a forceful shove, she thrust her dark-haired shield toward the gangsters. Then, driving multiple sorcery spirits, she hurriedly unleashed a new miracle she hadn't yet practiced—Unending Venom! A gust of pitch-black, vile wind swept through, as though harboring countless flies and insects. The Vandell gangsters were instantly corroded by the virulent venom, howling miserably as they rolled on the floor and scrambled in terror. Felix was just about to pursue and finish them off when gunshots suddenly erupted from behind. She had no choice but to immediately duck into the seats beside her, scoop up a handgun dropped on the floor, and return fire, shouting, "Do you want to die, too?" The gangsters by the rear carriage door also saw the gruesome carnage in the compartment. Knowing this operation was a total failure, they laid down suppressing fire at Felix while falling back, quickly vanishing into the other carriages. Phew. Felix let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the corpses and the black blood flowing across the floor, she felt her stomach start to ache again, and even felt a wave of nausea. Worst of all, a bizarre sweet aroma hung in the air—the grotesque stench produced when "venom" reacted further with flesh and blood. If Felix had other poison sorcery spirits, she could have used this stench to establish a "venomous environment." But even without doing anything, merely smelling this sweet fragrance would make a person irritable and impair their intellect. "Hm?" She suddenly noticed that the dark-haired man she had used as a shield was completely unaffected by the venom, having seemingly dodged the vile wind just in time. Right now, he was sprawled atop the corpse of a Vandell gangster, looking entirely intact. Feeling a twinge of guilt, Felix crouched down, clasped his hand, and whispered, "I am terribly sorry for dragging you into this fatal incident, though you bear some responsibility yourself for riding a train without a bulletproof vest. Regardless, I owe you a favor. When I pray in the future, I will introduce you to our great God. As for whether you can join our cult, that will depend on your interview in Hell." With that, Felix turned to look outside and realized the train was no longer far from Jialesi. Having no desire to linger in a train car filled with the stench of venom, she pushed open the window, unfurled her void wings, and prepared to fly out and escape. Right at that moment, a hand pressed down on her shoulder from behind. "Let's change the reward. I'm quite well-acquainted with the Four Pillar Gods—no introduction needed." Felix's heart jolted violently. She whipped around and exhaled, instantly sending a blast of pitch-black, vile wind sweeping behind her! Miracle: Unending Venom! Yet the vile wind parted in the air along a circular curve. The dark-haired man stood calmly behind her, an invisible circular barrier seemingly wrapped around him, flawlessly fending off the flow of toxic black radiance. A Sanctuary Sorcerer! Felix felt as though she had plunged into an icy abyss. Just then, a languid voice drifted from the side: "Your best options right now are either to pretend you died of poisoning, or to actually die of poisoning." A handsome blond man leaned back against the seat, resting his cheek on his right hand with the amused expression of someone watching a show. "If it were me, I'd try the latter. After all, your realm in the poison faction is quite high." The other one, a dark-skinned man with curly hair, had approached the corpses of the Vandell gangsters at some point. Examining the bodies, he remarked, "Mm, these corpses are severely damaged. Not many usable parts... Tsk, tsk, tsk. The bodily fluids have soaked right into the carpet. I'll have to formulate a solution to even have a chance of cleaning this up." "Could you spare a little of your cleanliness obsession over corpse scenes for your daily life? Like, maybe wash your hair a bit more often?" the handsome blond man grumbled, before looking at the dark-haired man. "Yaxiu, are you sure you want to pick this person?" "I'm sure," Yaxiu replied. "Someone who just killed people, carries a moral blemish, and is a local university student to boot—there's no better tour guide than Felix." "I don't know what you're after, but the trouble on me is far more serious than you imagine," Felix said, trying her hardest to stay calm. "If all you want is money, I can give you all my savings. If you have other demands, feel free to name them. I am the second-in-line heir of the Voslodar clan. Whatever I can satisfy, I will satisfy." "Um, Mr. Yaxiu, I am very sorry for using you as a shield earlier and attacking you. I am willing to pay any price to make up for my mistake. But if you continue to stay close to me, it will only bring you severe trouble—a crushing pressure that not even a Sanctuary Sorcerer can resist." "You wouldn't want to get mixed up in big trouble either, would you?" Appealing to emotion, reasoning with logic, enticing with profit, and warning with veiled threats—Felix couldn't help but quietly praise herself for this pitch. The world of sorcerers wasn't just about fighting and killing; it was also about human relations and worldly affairs. Even facing a Sanctuary Sorcerer, she could still use her sharp tongue to force them back. Yaxiu thought for a moment. "You have a point. I really shouldn't invite trouble upon myself." Just when Felix thought Yaxiu was about to compromise, she saw him bend down and switch on the LCD screen on the back of the seat. As it happened, the LCD screen's default channel was the news. "...The intruders remain at large, their range of activity covering the areas surrounding Jialesi. Citizens are urged to immediately notify the Police Department upon discovering any traces. These three heinous intruders are all Sanctuary Sorcerers, majoring in the swordsmanship faction, mind faction, and flame faction respectively. The bounty is 10,000 gold coins per intruder. Because the targets are extraordinarily dangerous, there is no need to capture them alive—shoot to kill..." "Any citizen harboring the intruders will, in serious cases, face imprisonment of three to ten years; aggravated circumstances will be deemed treason, punishable by death or life imprisonment... Attention: if any citizen engages in actions such as providing cover for the intruders, law enforcement forces may, depending on the circumstances, choose to eliminate them on sight..." Three wanted posters appeared on the screen. Although the photographs were somewhat blurry, one could still tell that the three intruders were a masked dark-haired man, a handsome blond man, and a dark-skinned man with curly hair. Yaxiu looked at Felix. Felix stared at the LCD screen, her heart turning to cold ash. "When it comes to whose trouble is bigger, I think we win," Yaxiu said with a shrug. "Or could your trouble possibly be worse than being hunted across all of Stars?" Felix looked up, wanting to make one last effort. "Aren't you afraid I'll report you? At most, I just killed some people." "Oh, I'm not worried about that at all." Yaxiu patted Felix on both shoulders. "I understand you people very well—as well as I know myself... Let me confirm once more: you're a second-year student at Sword Flower University named Felix Voslodar, right?" Felix nodded. These were public details; there was no need to deny them... Wait! Hadn't these three just invaded Stars yesterday? The Vandell Gang had only mentioned her name just now, so how did they know her school? "That settles it, then. I'm very confident you won't report us," Yaxiu said. "After all, I've never seen a Four Pillar Cultist willing to cooperate with the police." Felix's pupils contracted sharply, and she subconsciously covered the glove on her left hand. It suddenly struck her: she hadn't mentioned the Four Pillar Gods at all earlier, yet Yaxiu directly knew she worshipped them! "What on earth do you want?" Her voice trembled slightly. "I heard," Yaxiu said, "that your place is pretty big, Felix."