Chapter 55 – Su Ming Getting Carried Along

A silent atmosphere gently permeated Warehouse Street, as if rejecting visitors.

It was quiet and deserted, with no signs of life within a one-kilometer radius—not a single person, not even a bird.

In the Base City’s plans, due to its location, Warehouse Street didn’t require any Defense Line to be constructed. Instead, it was intentionally left empty so it could be used as a battlefield immediately when needed.

Thus, the area remained idle for now, with no one coming or going—truly desolate.

Yet, precisely because of this, it had caught the attention of those with ulterior motives.

At least, in the eyes of shady and suspicious individuals, there was no better hiding place than this.

When Su Ming and Xu Qianqian quietly infiltrated the depths of Warehouse Street, they found their target.

“They’re really here…”

Su Ming narrowed his eyes and exchanged a glance with Xu Qianqian beside him.

Ahead of them, in the shadows of a dimly lit area, several people stood as if on guard duty.

Their attire was similar to Su Ming and Xu Qianqian’s at the moment—all wearing masks, draped in black clothes, and holding weapons. Apart from occasionally exchanging a few words, their eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, maintaining vigilance.

“Finally caught them again.”

Xu Qianqian stared intently at the scene, her expression cold.

“What now?”

Su Ming lowered his voice to a whisper, seeking Xu Qianqian’s opinion.

Xu Qianqian answered without hesitation.

“Find a way inside.”

Clearly, this Young Miss of the Xu Family had no intention of backing down here.

She pulled two potions from her pocket, handed one to Su Ming, and decisively drank the other herself.

Su Ming was surprised to find that, in an instant, Xu Qianqian’s presence plummeted dramatically, and even her figure seemed to blur. If he blinked, it might take several seconds to confirm her existence and spot her again.

“What kind of potion is this?”

Su Ming’s eyes lit up as he looked at the potion in his hand.

Xu Qianqian didn’t explain, simply saying, “We need to find a way past their security line.”

“Isn’t that simple?” Su Ming didn’t press further. After drinking the potion, he said, “Throughout history, whenever it comes to this, people have only used one trick to attract others’ attention.”

With that, Su Ming picked up a stone from the ground, weighed it in his hand… and handed it to Xu Qianqian.

“Use all your strength and throw it as far as possible.”

Su Ming entrusted this challenging task to Xu Qianqian, the Hunter.

Xu Qianqian rolled her eyes at Su Ming as if exasperated, then took the stone. With a flick of her slender hand, the stone whistled through the air with a faint rustle, hurtling into the distance.

“Bang!”

Not long after, the stone struck a distant shipping container with a loud crash, producing a resounding noise.

“————!?”

The suspicious figures on guard immediately turned around, looking toward the source of the sound.

“Now!”

At that moment, Xu Qianqian grabbed Su Ming and, with a sudden movement, transformed into a gust of wind, darting forward.

“What the…”Su Ming felt the world spinning around him. He almost instinctively cried out but immediately covered his mouth, swallowing the curse words that were about to escape.

He had originally planned to gradually lure away the guards, never expecting the Young Miss beside him to be so audacious. With just a slight diversion of their attention, she immediately sprang into action.

Poor Su Ming, a young man weighing over a hundred pounds, was treated like a mere package in Xu Qianqian’s hands. She effortlessly lifted him and, transforming into a gust of wind, swept past the guards at an astonishing speed.

This speed was worlds apart from the time Su Ming had sparred with her in the suburbs of the Demon Hunter Academy.

By the time Su Ming regained his senses, he found himself already hidden in the shadows behind the guards.

Xu Qianqian acted as if nothing had happened, pressing Su Ming down while hiding in the shadows and keeping watch outside.

Perhaps the potion she had just consumed was taking effect. Despite her movements, the guards remained completely unaware.

“What was that noise just now?”

“Who’s going to check it out?”

“I’ll go.”

The guards conversed casually, completely oblivious, as one of them left the group to investigate the source of the disturbance.

Xu Qianqian turned to Su Ming and gestured for him to move forward.

Su Ming blinked, forcing himself to stop looking at Xu Qianqian as if she were a Heavenly God.

There was no helping it—this girl was not only bold but had also displayed astonishing speed and agility.

Even with the assistance of that unknown potion, it was simply unbelievable that Xu Qianqian could glide past several Professional-level Hunters without being detected.

(Perhaps this girl’s strength has already surpassed that of those One-Star Hunters?)

Su Ming made such a bold speculation.

It wasn’t an exaggeration.

After all, anyone who graduated from the Demon Hunter Academy and passed the Base City’s Professional-level assessment could be considered a One-Star Hunter or One-Star Sorcerer.

The difficulty of the Professional-level assessment wasn’t particularly high. As long as one graduated smoothly and had no major issues with their conduct, they could generally pass.

In fact, even if there were minor issues with conduct, the Base City would turn a blind eye as long as the results were outstanding.

After all, humanity faced an urgent need for manpower against the invasion from the Spirit Demon Abyss and desperately required Professionals to join the ranks. Naturally, they wouldn’t set the assessment difficulty too high and turn away large numbers of potential recruits.

Under these circumstances, nearly every graduate of the Demon Hunter Academy each year could pass the assessment and become a One-Star Professional.

Among these graduates, some were top students and elites, but the majority were average students, with some even ranking at the bottom of their class.

Their abilities were far inferior not only to top and elite students but even to exceptionally gifted super Geniuses in lower grades.

Otherwise, Lei Hao and Ye Bai wouldn’t have mentioned that in the Sorcerer Department, even some senior students couldn’t use Spirit Arts above sequence 20, falling short of Su Ming, a mere second-year student.As for a genius like Xu Qianqian, who ranks at the top of her class at the Demon Hunter Academy and holds a position within the top three in strength across the entire Academy, it’s only natural that her abilities far surpass those of a One-Star Hunter.

Otherwise, why would One-Star, Two-Star, and Three-Star Professionals still be considered Lower-Rank Professionals?

It’s because the strength requirements for Professionals at these star levels are generally not very high.

Especially for One-Star—as long as one is a Hunter or Sorcerer and doesn’t encounter any issues, they can usually achieve it without much difficulty.

Thanks to this, among the seven star levels of Professionals, One-Star Professionals are the most numerous, making up a full ninety percent of the entire Professional circle.

It’s only at the Two-Star level that the requirements for strength increase significantly.

And Three-Star, as the final threshold before becoming an Upper-Rank Professional, imposes relatively strict demands on Professionals at this level. Those who attain this star level are considerably stronger than Two-Star Professionals.

Considering these reasons, Su Ming could confidently say that Xu Qianqian’s strength far exceeded that of those One-Star Professionals.

(Compared to their last encounter, it’s like they’re on two completely different levels.)

Su Ming sighed inwardly and nodded toward Xu Qianqian.

The two of them resumed their actions, stealthily infiltrating the area under the cover of shadows.

Initially, Su Ming deliberately suppressed the sound of his footsteps, but he soon realized that even stomping forcefully on the ground produced no noise, which intrigued him for a moment.

This prompted Su Ming to say to Xu Qianqian, “Give me a few bottles of this stuff when we get back.”

It was absolutely essential for sneaking around, committing crimes, or causing chaos.

Unfortunately, Xu Qianqian paid no attention to the somewhat addicted Su Ming. She kept holding his hand, minimizing their presence as much as possible, and slowly made their way into the interior of Warehouse Street.

Along the way, they encountered several suspicious individuals standing guard or patrolling—armed, masked, and clad in black clothing.

However, these people all seemed to be One-Star Professionals and failed to detect Su Ming and Xu Qianqian’s presence.

The two of them alternately hid in the shadows, waited for the right moment, turned corners, or sped along (thanks to Comrade Xu Qianqian’s swift assistance), gradually penetrating deeper into the area.

But once they reached this point, Su Ming and Xu Qianqian began to feel the difficulty of progressing.

The reason was simple.

Here, there were no One-Star Hunters standing guard or patrolling.

The suspicious individuals Su Ming and Xu Qianqian encountered from this point onward, whether in terms of Qi or Aura, were far beyond what they had faced before.

“Two-Star…”

Xu Qianqian murmured softly, her entire body tensing.

“They’re indeed Two-Star,” Su Ming had to admit. The suspicious individuals they were now encountering were all Two-Star Professionals.

The two of them began to roughly calculate the combat strength of this Suspicious Group.

“So far, we’ve encountered twenty-six people,” Xu Qianqian analyzed calmly. “Among them, about seven are Two-Star Professionals, and the rest are all One-Star Professionals.”

Hearing this, Su Ming also spoke up.”Their combat strength is definitely more than this,” Su Ming stated. “The leader’s power must be above the rest, possibly truly at the Three-Star level. Also, when we encountered them last time in the suburbs, they had two Sorcerers capable of casting [Lifting Restraint Flow]. Those two might also have Two-Star strength, even extremely close to Three-Star.”

And these three individuals, Su Ming and Xu Qianqian hadn’t encountered yet.

In other words, conservatively estimating, the other side had twenty-nine people, nearly thirty, among whom there was suspected to be one Three-Star Hunter, two Two-Star Sorcerers, seven Two-Star Hunters, and nineteen One-Star Hunters.

“Tsk tsk, quite impressive combat strength.”

Su Ming clicked his tongue in amazement.

“We can only go this far,” Xu Qianqian said with a furrowed brow. “Ahead, it’s mostly Two-Star Professionals. I can’t proceed using the previous method anymore.”

That would definitely get us discovered.

“Then we…”

Just as Su Ming was about to say something, an unusual sound suddenly reached his ears.

(End of Chapter)