After a sweep of the market, Lu Heng found no more supplies that caught his eye. He then left with his newly purchased long saber.
Returning to his car parked outside the market, Lu Heng frowned as he saw a crowd gathered around it.
"Excuse me, I need to leave," Lu Heng said to the people peering into his car.
With a rustle, most of the surrounding people dispersed, but a few remained by his car. One of them arrogantly said, "New here, aren't you? Parking here requires a fee. I see you've been here for a while, so I won't ask for too much. Just give me five second-tier crystal cores."
Lu Heng raised an eyebrow. "Hah, trouble comes so quickly?"
"Are you part of the base's military? Why aren't you wearing a uniform?"
"Stop with the nonsense. All parking fees here are managed by us, Tianba. Hurry up and pay," a man with dyed yellow hair shouted, occasionally slapping the body of Lu Heng's car.
"Do you have a receipt? I need it for reimbursement," Lu Heng said unhurriedly, holding his long saber in front of him and looking at the yellow-haired man.
"Are you out of your mind? What era is this, it's the apocalypse, understand? You still want a receipt? Are you playing games?" The yellow-haired man spat on the ground.
"You know it's the apocalypse, and you still dare to charge me parking fees?"
"Oh, you've met someone who doesn't know the rules. It seems I need to teach you a lesson." After saying that, the yellow-haired man exchanged glances with a few others around him. They made a move as if to use their abilities on Lu Heng.
Lu Heng glanced at the people surrounding him and quickly assessed them. Besides the yellow-haired man, who was a third-tier ability user, the others were all first or second-tier ability users.
It seemed this "Tianba" wasn't much if they sent such trash to test him.
Lu Heng didn't intend to kill anyone. He still had to abide by some of the base's rules. However, since these people were looking for trouble, it was necessary to teach them a lesson. Otherwise, they would keep testing him, and he didn't want to deal with them one by one. It was best to deter those who wanted to test him with this encounter.
As the others made their move, Lu Heng also manipulated his will to mobilize the ice-elemental abilities within his body. His seventh-tier abilities allowed him to manifest any solid form of ice.
Therefore, he directly controlled his ice abilities to form ice buckets around the attackers, trapping each of them individually.
However, Lu Heng did not seal the tops, leaving them with space to breathe. But the ice buckets created by his seventh-tier abilities were exceptionally cold, instantly causing the yellow-haired man and the others to shiver uncontrollably.
One of them, a second-tier fire-elemental ability user, attempted to use his fire abilities to melt the ice buckets. However, due to the sheer difference in tiers, the ice created by Lu Heng could not be quickly melted by low-tier flames unless they were of equal or higher level.
Lu Heng glanced at the crowd that had again widened their circle. Ignoring them, he got into his car and drove away from the market.
The yellow-haired man and the others cried out in agony within the ice buckets, eventually all passing out from the cold. This scene quickly spread throughout the base.
...
In the market, Leng Tian also heard about what had happened a few minutes later. He smiled at the subordinate who reported to him and then instructed, "Pass down the order, people from Lei Huo are not to provoke that newcomer. Otherwise, if anything happens, don't blame me for throwing you out to vent their anger. Weigh yourselves carefully."
He himself was a fifth-tier dual-elemental ability user, proficient in both lightning and fire. Because his abilities surpassed those of other ability users, he had recruited many subordinates in the vicinity. Thus, their team was, apart from the military, the largest in the base.
Since someone had already tested Lu Heng's strength, he did not send his subordinates to provoke him further. After all, a person with no weaknesses and no ambitions posed no immediate threat to him.
Leng Tian continued to drink tea in the office area on the second floor of the market. However, after just two cups, another subordinate came to report to him.
He was told that the leader of Tianba wanted to see him. Leng Tian nodded, and then a subordinate led the person in.
The visitor was a middle-aged man with a long scar across his left cheek. This person was a fourth-tier fire-elemental ability user. As soon as he entered, he got straight to the point, "Brother Leng, I won't beat around the bush with you. I need your help with something."
Leng Tian smiled and motioned for his subordinate to pour water for the man. "Li Hao, sit down first and have some water. In this apocalypse, besides zombies, there are probably no other troublesome matters."
Li Hao wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down opposite Leng Tian, saying anxiously, "Brother Leng, this matter is indeed a bit tricky. You don't know, some of the people I have under me, without eyes, have caused some trouble. I can't resolve it myself, so I've come to trouble you."
"Take your time. Since it's not about zombies, there's no rush."
"No, I'm afraid if it takes too long, lives will be lost. Although those few were indeed short-sighted, causing a death in the base is still not good."
"Oh? Then tell me what happened?"
"Just now, Huang Mao and the others provoked someone outside. That person used ice abilities to create several ice buckets and trapped them all inside. As you know, I am also a fourth-tier fire-elemental ability user, but I tried just now, and the ice buckets simply wouldn't melt. It's so cold, if Huang Mao and the others stay there any longer, they'll likely die inside."
"Heh, even if I go, I might not have a solution. There's always someone better than you, and there are people beyond people. It's normal." Leng Tian was somewhat surprised. If that Lu Heng was a fifth-tier ability user, it was impossible for his fifth-tier manifested ice to be completely unmelting by a fourth-tier.
So, he didn't dare to speak too definitively now. What if he couldn't melt it either, then his reputation would be tarnished.
"Please take a look. You are the only fifth-tier fire-elemental ability user in our base. If even you can't melt it, then I guess Huang Mao and the others are truly finished."
"I think you should hurry and find the person who created the ice buckets. The one who tied the knot must untie it. You apologize to them, and everything will be resolved."
"This..."
"I advise you to go quickly. I have some matters to attend to. Old Zhao from the base just contacted me about an urgent matter. If you hadn't come over just now, I probably would have already left." Leng Tian did not dare to help melt the ice, but he planned to try it discreetly when passing by the ice buckets later.
However, he had a vague feeling that his fire might not be able to melt the ice buckets created by Lu Heng.
Li Hao gritted his teeth and stood up, his expression somewhat grim. He had already humbled himself to ask Leng Tian for help, only to be completely ignored. He had also heard that the newcomer was also a fifth-tier ability user, just like Leng Tian.