Chapter 820: Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole

Happy Town

After being swept by the flames of war brought by outsiders, Happy Town shed its former fake warmth, and an invisible layer of dark clouds pressed heavily over the entire district.

The authorities were still going all out to maintain appearances and surface order. The damaged buildings had been repaired into neat lines, the greenery along the streets replaced with brand new plants, as if everything was just like before, yet that supposed atmosphere of happiness lingering in the air had completely vanished.

Under the sunlight, the ordinary residents coming and going still wore standardized smiles on their faces.

In the shadows, the depths of their eyes finally revealed the fear and timidity that had always been buried inside.

Maybe they had never been happy to begin with, but they could at least muddle through like this, at least it looked acceptable. But not long ago, Spiritualists and Transcenders attacked Happy Town, crudely and directly inflicting a level of terror that was hard to describe.

But…

More terrifying than the direct damage was all the collateral, indirect damage that came with it.

Their arrival did nothing to change the rules. It even caused many people who showed fear and anxiety because of this to end up “optimized” out. Clearly terrified, yet forced to pretend they were happy—this kind of twisted feeling was enough to make people stop being human.

The bizarre part was, the people up top clearly knew this would happen, yet they still did it.

As if…

They thought this made things more entertaining.

The residents of Happy Town could be called residents on the surface, but in reality… they were livestock.

The armed patrol forces in the town had multiplied several times compared to before. Level 2 Stewards in standard uniforms stood watch every few steps, with posts every three and five paces, and it seemed quite a few had been transferred in from elsewhere. The patrol routes, which had once been a little loose, suddenly became airtight.

Each of them had a Boundary-Breaking Spear at their waist glinting coldly, and silver canned Ability Suppression Spray in their pockets, armed to the teeth.

That still didn’t mean it would necessarily be useful.

On the outskirts of the town, the airspace defenses were tight. Countless silver-gray drones circled and weaved, the whirring of their rotors cutting through the air in an unending drone.

Countless drones, like the eyes of the town’s official forces, folded huge swaths of the surrounding area into their surveillance range, both to prevent another outsider assault and as a tool for searching outward.

….

On the outskirts of Happy Town, the forest was dense, branches and leaves interwoven, shadows thick.

The four-person squad Ye Mingqiu was in was hiding under a thin silver, semi-transparent curtain, moving slowly forward under the cover of the dense canopy.

This was a special curtain Silver had created using projection abilities. It not only achieved Optical Invisibility by bending light, but also blocked internal heat. Even if drones swept back and forth overhead, they would be unable to detect the group below.

And it wasn’t just the four of them. In this seemingly tranquil forest, many other infiltrating outsiders were also lying in wait, each using their own concealment methods.

Some slipped forward silently through the forest’s shadows;

Some burrowed underground to evade detection;

Some simply hacked the drones and fed the other side already modified footage;

In the eyes of a bunch of high-level Spiritualists/Transcenders, using drones for large-scale surveillance as a detection method… was frankly a bit primitive.

“Stop.”

Walking at the head of the formation, Silver suddenly halted, raised her hand, and turned around. Her slender figure pivoted, silver hair reflecting a cold sheen in the dim forest light.

She pointed ahead and said in a light yet steady voice, “This spot is about right. The security intensity up there is higher. If we keep moving forward, the chances of being discovered will increase sharply.”

“How about I airdrop them something?”

Jia Meishu suggested with a grin.

His Ability was space manipulation, but his spatial manipulation wasn’t limited to teleporting himself or teleporting people. He could also directly send objects over—he just needed relatively precise coordinates, which made the operation more difficult.

If it were an Ordinary Space System Ability user, this kind of operation would basically be impossible, but Jia Meishu clearly wasn’t your average Spatial Spiritualist.

His mastery of the Space System ran deep.

“As long as we can draw them out, that’s enough. Happy Town has just suffered an attack, so they’re definitely implementing additional arrangements inside the town right now to prevent a second assault. We need to find a way to lure them out and fight them outside.” Ye Mingqiu said, staring at the distant town.

Although Happy Town’s Defense methods and the Powers of its strong fighters were primitive, that didn’t mean they had no troublesome aspects.

For example, the Boundary-Breaking Spear and Ability Suppression Spray were a real headache, and they might also have the means to set up Active Ability Suppression Domains. All of this had to be factored in, and charging straight in was still way too risky.

“How about this: your weapon’s Attack Power is very high. If I mark your weapon, I can airdrop it over and then recall it, and in that way we can inflict massive continuous damage.” Jia Meishu proposed.

“….”

Ye Mingqiu shot him a glare and said nothing.

Joking—putting a mark on Blood Spear? He’d have to be insane to agree to Jia Meishu’s plan.

“Let’s set a time in the group. Find a moment to move together, so we don’t run into coordination issues.”

Silver changed the subject.

“Mm.” Carl nodded in response.

….

— Temporary Combat Group —

Silver: In position.

Silver: I need one hour of prep. How long do you all need?

Black Hoss: Not in position yet.

Black Hoss: Estimated 40 minutes.

Silver: Attack form?

Black Hoss: Summoning.

Silver: OK.

Gao Lingzun: 15 minutes of prep, but what I’m setting up makes quite a racket and might draw their attention. When you guys make your move, give me a signal. I’ll hold back a big one for then.