Chapter 1 A Stir

When this new message was first posted, the people around it didn't seem to react. They thought it was just another routine report on the recent ecology of the demonic plane, like the ones posted before. But soon, a commotion arose from the crowd, and people finally realized what this piece of paper meant!

Hao Ren heard someone behind him muttering, "The Devil King's City? Didn't they say the Devil King's City was torn apart by the space storm?" "The remnants of the Devil King's army should have been scattered... how did a bunch suddenly pop up again?" "Could it be fake?" "I heard that the Devil King's City just fell into a space rift at the time, but no one actually saw it being torn apart..." "This news may not be true; didn't you see it says 'suspected'..."

The commotion in the crowd grew louder and louder, and soon the whispers turned into a noisy argument. More and more people gathered in front of the posting wall, and even the mercenaries who were exchanging information and swapping tasks were attracted. Just then, another soldier walked up from the side, and someone immediately grabbed him: "Friend, is the news posted above true?!"

"I'm just here to post," the soldier shrugged. "Anyway, this is the message that was sent down from above."

As he spoke, the soldier posted a new piece of information on the wall, right next to the previous message about the Devil King's City projection. It was also a brief few sentences: The second plane has definitively sighted remnants of the Devil King's army, suspected to be surviving soldiers from the First Legion. The demon lord of the second plane, Banu Clark, has left his castle and led an unknown number of elite troops to the Shattered Plains, suspected of investigating the phantom of the Devil King's City.

This immediately caused an uproar. Hao Ren felt a buzz in his ears, and all around him were people's exclamations and noises. The people in the hall on the first floor heard the commotion and immediately gathered here. Those who couldn't squeeze in shouted from outside, asking what had happened. Thus, the news of the Devil King's City phantom and the remnants of the Devil King's army spread throughout the entire hall like a gust of wind. Before this noisy situation had even started for long, another soldier came out of the small door next to the posting wall and posted the latest information on the wall, covering the second message: Information correction: Demon Lord Banu Clark has returned urgently, and there are signs of large-scale movements in the demon legions of the second plane, suspected of preparing to go to war with other demons. Demon Lord Seraton suddenly withdrew some of his forces near the Obsidian Plains, suspected of being transferred to the second plane. The existence of the remnants of the Devil King's army has been confirmed.

A tense, oppressive, fearful, but also faintly excited emotion spread throughout the hall. Hao Ren and the others were waiting to see if there would be any new news updates when they saw a middle-aged man dressed as a mercenary suddenly squeeze in from the crowd, holding a piece of paper with a stamp specifically for the gathering hall on it. He posted it on the wall right after the official message: The Steel Strength Mercenary Group confirms that it has received a commission to investigate the second plane, and is recruiting outside help!

This middle-aged mercenary's post immediately started a trend. More mercenaries ran to get paper and post, some announcing that they had relevant information, some recruiting teammates to go to the demon plane, some stating that they had discovered relevant intelligence when they went to the demon plane a few days ago, and some writing that they were just rich and willful and came to spend money to post—the last one was dragged out and beaten as soon as it was posted...

Hao Ren stared blankly at the scene before him. In the blink of an eye, at least a hundred posts had been added below the Devil King's army news, and half the wall was about to be occupied by these related messages. People spontaneously ran to the wall next to it to start a new thread and continue the discussion. The soldier who was responsible for posting the notices before was startled when he came out to check the situation. He had the look of a hapless child who casually posted something online and was suddenly pushed to the top.

In the service station near the posting wall, an elf girl with pointed ears was shouting at the top of her voice: "Everyone, please pay attention to order! Everyone, please pay attention to order! Come get special paper and posting locations! Please pay to post, pay to post! Thank you for your cooperation! Do not arbitrarily occupy the board..."

"Quickly, think of a way to squeeze out..." Hao Ren was almost squeezed out of breath in the crowd, and only one thought was running through his mind. However, his shouting "Excuse me" for a long time didn't work. In the end, Izhaks swung his shoulders and shook off the idlers, carrying Hao Ren out of the crowd in great strides.

As soon as he came out, Hao Ren saw that Vivian and Lanina were already waiting outside the crowd. Nangong Wuyue, like a slippery fish, also wriggled out of the crowd. He straightened his clothes and looked at Vivian: "You guys came out long ago, why didn't you call me..."

"How would I know that you're so naive, seeing people posting and not running away quickly," Vivian curled her lips, then looked around, "Hey, where's the big dog?"

Only then did Hao Ren realize that Lily hadn't followed him out, and he slapped his forehead: "Crap! Still stuck inside! If she gets stepped on a couple more times, she's going to freak out!"

After speaking, he turned his head back to the crowd to find the husky's figure, but after squeezing around for a long time, he couldn't find her. Finally, after finally squeezing out of the crowd from the other side, he saw Lily. This idiot wasn't even in the crowd: she was curled up under a large vase in the corner, sleeping, not knowing how long she had been asleep...

Vivian was stunned when she saw this scene: "This biological clock is almost blocked up, isn't it?"

"I suspect she's still operating on Earth's day and night cycle," Hao Ren tried hard to pull Lily up, shaking her for a long time before waking her up. Then he waved his hand in front of Lily, "What time is it?"

Lily greeted Hao Ren hazily, then rubbed her stomach: "Meal time..."

Hao Ren sighed: "This biological clock is indeed blocked up."

"Don't be silly, it's meal time for her twenty-four hours a day. She's hungry whenever she has nothing to do," Vivian slapped the back of Lily's head hard. "She doesn't pick a place to sleep, she's like this at home, and she always blames people for stepping on her tail."

"Big guy, what do you think of today's top hot post?" Nangong Wuyue patted Lily's face with cold water to help her wake up, then turned her head to look at Izhaks.

"Whether it's true or not, I have to go to the second plane to see the situation," Izhaks' eyes sparkled, and his face shone with some inexplicable brilliance. "Someone mentioned something during the discussion just now, saying that when the Devil King's City was swallowed by the space rift, no one actually saw it being torn apart... Does this mean that the city was just swept into a new plane, and the people inside are still alive?!"

Hao Ren opened his mouth and looked at Izhaks for a long time, knowing that the other party's heart was probably rekindling some kind of hope. He really wanted to advise Izhaks not to draw any conclusions too early, but in the end, he squeezed out a nod: "Okay, we'll go with you."

Lanina's tail swished back and forth rapidly in the air, as if this was a habit she had when thinking about problems: "The remnants of the Devil King's army... The First Legion was indeed the main force stationed in the city at the beginning. If the royal city is really still there, then it would make sense that the surviving soldiers are from the First Legion. But the information says that the royal city appearing above the Shattered Plains is a phantom... This is a bit strange. Could it be that the royal city mutated after falling into the space rift?"

"We can only go over and see the situation," Izhaks nodded. "We're going to the second plane... but I'm afraid the Shattered Plains have already been preempted by other demons. The current ruler of the second plane is Banu Clark, but according to the information I just saw, Banu Clark is already in decline, and Seraton is very likely to get involved. If we rashly go over, we will encounter the demon alliance of Seraton and Banu Clark."

"Let's take advantage of the Holy Church's allied forces," Hao Ren made a decision after a little thought. "The free mercenaries are a mixed bag, and the allied forces rarely suspect the various races of the human world. We can directly mix in."

Izhaks nodded: "Yes, and we'll only mix into the periphery, so we'll probably be sent directly to the front line to 'test the waters', which is exactly what we want."

"I'll go find out the registration process and see how to get a fake identity," Vivian volunteered. She has been in the human world for tens of thousands of years without being exposed. Sometimes, she can immediately catch up with the times after sleeping for two or three hundred years. This girl is simply a master at disguising her identity.

A vampire who dares to work in a church in the Vatican, what other place is she unable to sneak into...

Lanina also patted her chest: "I'll go help. I'm familiar with the various races of the human world."

Nangong Wuyue patted Hao Ren's shoulder: "You go with them too."

Hao Ren was inexplicable: "What am I going to do? I don't know any spy techniques..."

"Aren't you pretending to be a sorcerer?" Wuyue rolled her eyes. "You are Lanina's disguise equipment."

Hao Ren curled his lips, thinking how he had become someone else's equipment again, always different from normal people—when walking the dog, he was walked by the dog, when walking the succubus, he was walked by the succubus...