Chapter Sixty-Six: The Invisible Man

Fu Ying did not directly relay the information obtained by Refraction to Qi Chen and Warm Guy. Instead, she gave them an address, instructing them to go there and meet Refraction themselves. She had already informed Refraction of the next steps in advance.

The engine roared as Warm Guy sped away from the department parking lot in his red off-road vehicle, heading straight for the rendezvous point.

“I think someone is following us,” Qi Chen said, glancing at the rearview mirror. A black sedan had exited the parking lot behind them and had been trailing them ever since.

“Hmph, probably someone from the Monitoring Department... or perhaps the eyes of those people,” Warm Guy replied with a cold snort, pressing the accelerator harder. The modified off-road vehicle surged forward, weaving through the streets like a fish in water, his expert driving skills evident.

“I’d like to see if they can keep up,” he said.

After a wild ride that could only be described as a high-speed chase, Qi Chen felt nauseous, his stomach unsettled. But they managed to shake off the black sedan and arrived at the edge of City Three.

“Is it here?” Qi Chen asked, pointing to a marketplace by the roadside, the spot Fu Ying had told them to meet Refraction.

“That’s right,” Warm Guy replied, pulling the handbrake and coming to a complete stop. He pushed open the car door and got out first.

“Wait!” Qi Chen had barely stepped out when he noticed Warm Guy’s expression grow serious. Warm Guy knelt down and peered underneath the vehicle.

Qi Chen followed suit. Under the chassis, certain spots were noticeably less dusty, starkly contrasting with the surrounding areas covered in grime. Upon closer inspection, the clean patches revealed faint impressions of human hands.

“Someone’s been following us?” Qi Chen clenched his fists, realizing only an anomalous walker could pull off such a feat.

“Let’s go! Find Refraction immediately!” Warm Guy’s urgency was unmistakable. They couldn’t determine how long the unknown person had been clinging to the underside of their car, nor how much they had observed. Such silent shadowing could only be accomplished by someone with extraordinary concealment abilities.

“How did you notice?” Qi Chen asked in a low voice as they hurried towards the market.

“When I sped up over a speed bump, I felt an unusual tremor in the vehicle. But my car’s chassis is high—it shouldn’t have made contact,” Warm Guy explained.

The explanation was simple; there was no need to elaborate further. Their priority was to locate Refraction and rendezvous with her as quickly as possible.

Stepping into the market, they were greeted by a chaotic scene of shops selling all sorts of goods. Qi Chen observed that the merchandise here was rarely found in the mainstream stores of City Three.

“It’s just a small black market in a gray area,” Warm Guy whispered. “In times like these, you can’t expect black markets to be completely banned. Not only do ordinary people have needs, but even some big shots in the city come here for things—like works of art or antiques from before the Age of Mist. I don’t understand why they bother with such pleasures. But black markets are strictly forbidden from selling items explicitly banned by City Three, such as weapons or anything related to anomalies.”

Qi Chen understood; the existence of black markets was hardly surprising, especially in a world like this. There would always be demand. Yet City Three maintained a degree of control, allowing only officially recognized markets to operate.

“Refraction should be inside,” Warm Guy said, leading the way. He was familiar with the black market, and it seemed one particular shop was the usual meeting spot for the Anomaly Handling Department.

Qi Chen followed cautiously, constantly sensing for any anomalous presence nearby. The thought of someone clinging beneath their car had left him uneasy. But if the stalker was an anomalous walker with concealment abilities, detecting them would be no easy task. Even with Qi Chen’s heightened senses, he felt nothing out of the ordinary.

By now, they had reached the rendezvous.

“You two are really slow,” Refraction complained from inside a small ten-square-meter room. Dressed adorably, she sat on a table, swinging her legs as Qi Chen and Warm Guy entered.

“There was a situation,” Warm Guy reported, describing what he had found beneath the vehicle.

Refraction immediately jumped off the table. Qi Chen realized she was barely one meter sixty—her petite figure and cute face made it hard to imagine she was a veteran member of the Anomaly Handling Department.

“Rookie, got a problem?” Refraction caught Qi Chen’s curious look and rolled her eyes at him.

Bang!

Suddenly, Warm Guy summoned Enthusiasm and sent it crashing toward the shop entrance. The loud sound startled Qi Chen and Refraction alike.

“That guy really has been following us,” Warm Guy said darkly, staring at the ground before the door. Where there should have been smooth flooring, a single deep footprint now appeared, facing into the shop.

“As soon as we entered, I softened the ground outside the door as a warning. I didn’t expect that invisible fellow to stride right in,” Warm Guy explained.

Qi Chen realized Warm Guy had been wary of the hidden stalker all along. The evidence was undeniable—someone had indeed been tailing them.

But where was the stalker now?

Bang!

A gunshot suddenly rang out at the entrance, making Qi Chen’s hair stand on end. Instinctively, he connected with Overlord.

A towering gray-white figure flashed before him, its arm darting forward so fast its movement was invisible. It caught a yellow-orange bullet between its fingers.

The black market erupted at the sudden gunfire. No one lingered to watch; everyone either ducked for cover or fled toward the exit.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More gunshots followed, but there was no sign of anyone at the doorway. Overlord raised both hands, intercepting each bullet that flew.

Clatter!

Something was thrown onto the floor. All three inside looked down to see an oval object gradually materializing from invisibility.

“A grenade!” Warm Guy shouted. Enthusiasm flew to it at once, hammered it with a punch, and grabbed a nearby box to cover it.

Boom!

A muffled explosion erupted. The box in Enthusiasm’s hand expanded grotesquely, but its modified toughness absorbed all the impact. Enthusiasm had also transmuted the grenade’s casing into something soft, rendering the shrapnel harmless.

Yet the enemy still did not appear.

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