Douluo: This time we will rewrite our destiny

When Meng Hongchen, Yin Shuang and Yin Yun arrived at the gate of Luoyue City, they saw the city guards checking people in and out at the gate. Unlike other cities in the Sun Moon Empire that were in a festive atmosphere, although there were still a few colorful silk lanterns left over from the Autumn Fire Festival hanging above the gate, the city had cooled down earlier and became solemn.

Because Yin Shuang had made a name for herself in the great war with the Holy Spirit Church, the legend of the Ice and Snow Girl who fought against Long Xiaoyao in the Frozen Imperial City had become legendary among the people of Sun and Moon. This time, she wore a cloak and changed her appearance, standing at the end of the three people.

Meng Hongchen stood at the front, standing in the line of people entering the city. Yin Yun and Yin Shuang stood on both sides of her, looking like two gloomy guards. Most people knew the eldest daughter of the Hongchen family. When she arrived at the line, she heard many whispers around her, and then the civilians in front of her had to give her a privileged passage.

"No, no," Meng Hongchen waved his hands quickly, "Don't try that. We came here to investigate the situation in the city. It's not just about the severity of the earthquake. After all, disaster relief also requires specific plans based on the situation. If you guys open a green channel everywhere, won't I be unable to see the real situation?"

These commoners may not have understood what Meng Hongchen meant, but they understood that the eldest lady said they did not need to move away, so they quietly returned to their original positions. After the soldiers searched one by one, when it was Meng Hongchen's turn, she took out Huo Yuhao's handwritten letter from her pocket:

"We are the advance team sent by the Imperial Master to take inventory of the damage. You can confirm this."

When the soldier saw Meng Hongchen's face, which was well-known to everyone in the empire, he no longer cared to check, but he still dutifully checked Huo Yuhao's letter. He pulled out another letter of notification that Huo Yuhao had sent in advance from his chest, compared the handwriting, and immediately waved his hand towards the city:

"Miss Meng, please. The city lord will come out to greet you immediately."

The City Lord's Mansion was not near the main gate, but Li Lan came out of a simple house on the corner, still holding his mahogany cane. When he saw Meng Hongchen and the others, he immediately bowed and saluted: "Hello, Miss Meng."

"These two are my companions," Meng Hongchen gestured to him to stand up, "Yin Shuang and Yin Yun, I believe you know the latter."

"I know him." Li Lan said immediately, "Friend Yin Yun is a disaster relief hero in Luoyue City. Our frontline soldiers who protect the city all take him as a role model."

Yin Yun pulled his hood up shyly. In the past, although his martial soul had become what it is now, he was still proud of his unflinching attitude; however, after learning that his sister was in the Holy Spirit Church and had personally caused the disaster, he no longer had any pride in his heart, and felt that everything he did was just to atone for the sins of his blood relatives.

"I thought I had to go to the City Lord's Mansion to visit you in person," Meng Hongchen said, "but I didn't expect to see you as soon as I entered the city."

Li Lan shook his head. "I'm sorry, I regret not hosting you well, but I'm really busy... This area of ​​houses is a temporary garrison newly built in the disaster area. I'm staying here temporarily so that I can command the soldiers directly. The records of this disaster are basically all here. Everyone, please follow me."

Meng Hongchen nodded, and the three followed Li Lan into the simple temporary command post. In this empty room of about 60 square meters, a map of Luoyue City was hung on the wall opposite the door. The disaster area and situation were marked with magnets. There was an area covered by red magnets. Meng Hongchen guessed that it was the epicenter.

In front of the map was a simple desk with two bundles of files, a dip pen, and a projection soul guide on it. The left wall was lined with military soul guides, and the right wall was lined with bookshelves filled with all kinds of information about the city.

Under the window next to the map, there was a worn leather sofa. Li Lan politely raised his hand to the three people, indicating that they could sit there and rest, and then he pulled out the wooden chair in front of the desk. Meng Hongchen walked to the sofa and looked out the window. From this angle, he could see the bright yellow seal of the blockade area in the distance, which was a bit dazzling in the sun.

"Three kilometers ahead is the border of the blockade zone," Li Lan spoke at a speed that did not match his appearance, but he looked much older than he actually was. "After passing the garrison area, the ruins ahead have hardly been restored, so you can directly see the border seal from here."

"However, that location is only our first line of defense to ensure the absolute safety of residents. After entering the blockade area, we need to go about five kilometers ahead before we can see some signs of being affected by the crack. Our soldiers investigated and found that these signs were basically harmless: some purple-red, spider-web-like marks. We collected some with soul guides. They can be collected, but they will quickly become inactive after being collected. When we took them to the precision instruments funded by Mingde Hall, these things had turned into withered gray embers that turned into dust at the touch of a finger."

"This sounds very strange," Meng Hongchen, as the future second-in-command of Mingde Hall, is very sensitive to the contents of soul guides. "These traces did not become inactive when they remained on the ground, but became inactive after being collected. It's as if they can confirm their own situation independently. It's like - they are alive."

"Monster?" Yin Yun said, his voice revealing his uneasiness. He was very concerned about the condition of his martial spirit. Meng Hongchen noticed this and smiled at him in a soothing way.

"We do suspect there are some strange creatures." Li Lan took over the conversation, "However, before we damaged the detectors at the epicenter, we did not see any traces of abnormal creatures. Although the army is on high alert, our biggest enemy is still the aftershocks."

"Can we enter the blockade area to observe?" Meng Hongchen thought, "Please rest assured, we have Miss Yin Shuang to escort us. Besides, I am also a Seven-ring Soul Saint, and Yin Yun is a Soul Emperor. We can fight against most dangers."

"I'll tell you based on my cultivation," Li Lan said, "You can enter the blockade area, and I will accompany you; however, after seeing those purple-red spider web traces, we must become cautious and be ready to retreat at any time."

"With your level of cultivation, did you encounter any danger after entering?" Yin Shuang spoke for the first time, her voice coming coldly from under the hood.

"No." Li Lan shook his head. "At present, I haven't encountered any danger. But here's the problem: I haven't encountered anything, but the further I go, the more I feel a strong sense of disobedience and a terrifying intuition of death. Guys, no kidding, that most primitive intuition makes me tremble in the empty ruins."

"Although my cultivation is not as high as those of the masters in the Imperial City, I am still an Eight-ring Soul Douluo. It is hard to imagine what has come to this inconspicuous little town, causing me, who has lived for forty-six years and fought the worst battles on the border, to feel my life threatened for the first time."

"No matter what it is, one thing is certain: it carries pure malice." Yin Shuang made a brief judgment and then fell into silence again.

Meng Hongchen understood what Yin Shuang meant. Huo Yuhao had mentioned to them that he had met Ye Xishui once in the Holy Spirit Church. At that time, although Ye Xishui had a terrifying aura, facing the evil soul masters of the Holy Spirit Church, Huo Yuhao could feel that her strong sense of oppression was just naturally emitted and was not aggressive.

However, in the battle of Mingdu, even though Emperor Tian descended and possessed him, Huo Yuhao still felt tremendous pressure when he made eye contact with Ye Xishui. That was a power that could only be emitted when one had malicious intent.

"No matter what it is, we have to go explore it first." Meng Hongchen clapped his hands and concluded, "We will rest for a while and then set off immediately! City Lord Li, what do you think?"

"No problem," Li Lan said, "Miss Meng, I will notify the army to assemble. We will go in with signal guns later, and if there is an accident, we can notify the army in time."

"If we can't solve the problem, I'm afraid it will be useless even if the soldiers come?" Meng Hongchen tilted his head.

"It's useful. If the lives of several people are in danger, the soldiers will attract your attention - whatever it is - and buy you space to escape. After all, only if you survive can you have hope of winning next time."

Meng Hongchen looked at him in shock, and Yin Shuang's expression was also shaken by Li Lan's words. However, Yin Yun on the side looked normal.

"This..." Meng Hongchen shook her ponytail in disbelief, "City Lord, don't you regard the lives of the soldiers as your own?"

Hearing this, Yin Yun gently touched Meng Hongchen's arm.

"Senior Meng, we are all doing this voluntarily," he said.

"what?"

"We are willing to do this to solve this disaster," Yin Yun's eyes, which usually avoided attention, calmed down.

With unprecedented awe, Meng Hongchen equipped her signal gun and greeted the troops that gathered at the whistle one by one when she set out. Everyone in the army also recognized Meng Hongchen, and they saluted her in unison, making every effort to protect her.

"We will definitely find a way to solve it," Meng Hongchen looked at the glaring bright yellow cordon in front of him and the soldiers behind him, and secretly clenched his fists, "no matter what we are about to face."

The four of them crossed the cordon. Meng Hongchen could hear the army behind them re-formed after they entered, spreading out around the cordon of the blockade area to ensure that a team could provide timely support in each direction.

"Miss Meng, do you know?" Li Lan said with emotion when he put down the cordon again, "My greatest wish is to save this city that was crushed by the disaster but not destroyed during my term of office. If this wish cannot be achieved, I hope that before I die, I can ensure that its influence will not leave Luoyue City and will not bring trouble to other cities."

Meng Hongchen listened to these words and for the first time had a real feeling about this empire. In the past, apart from studying and living, she rarely left Mingdu, and she only heard that everyone in this country had heard of her name. She was the eldest daughter of the Hongchen family, a rare genius in the empire, and a poisonous pearl of Mingde Hall. When she led the team to the Soul Master Competition, she would also say that she was fighting for the honor of the Sun and Moon Empire. However, at this moment, she had the most real touch of this land for the first time.

"City Lord Li, do you know what people like us who are familiar with Yu Hao, the new national teacher, say about him?"

"Please enlighten me, young lady."

Meng Hongchen winked at him encouragingly:

"Anyone who stands next to him will have good luck. City Lord Li, believe in yourself, your wish will surely come true."

They followed the landmarks set by the army and approached the epicenter step by step. As Li Lan said, within five kilometers after entering the blockade area, the scene was still the disaster caused by an ordinary earthquake. The area was blocked off, on the one hand, in the hope of reducing the secondary damage caused by aftershocks, and on the other hand, to prevent residents from getting too close to that dangerous place.

None of them flew in the air, but moved forward cautiously step by step in the ruins. Li Lan and Yin Shuang walked in the front, Meng Hongchen was a little behind, Yin Yun stood beside her, the terrifying purple-black book had appeared behind him, six seemingly normal spirit rings with a circle of dark purple flashing edges were floating around him. His fifth spirit ring was on standby, ready to rescue at any time.

"I see." Suddenly, Yin Shuang stopped first.

Others, including Li Lan, also stopped immediately. Huo Yuhao communicated with the city lord in the letter and simply told him: Yin Shuang is not an ordinary eight-ring soul douluo. She is at least capable of competing with a titled soul douluo. She is the most powerful among you. You must trust her. Of course, Huo Yuhao was being conservative here. If he had said directly that she could compete with an ultimate soul douluo, it would have easily reminded people of the woman in the Frozen Imperial City during the battle.

Yin Shuang raised her cold white arm and pointed to the empty space in the distance:

"over there."

Meng Hongchen's light armor came out in response. She took out the Mingde Hall frontier detection soul guide she brought with her, wanting to see if the collection failure was caused by the soul guide. She carefully approached the location pointed by Yin Shuang, and the other three surrounded her.

She saw those traces. Li Lan's description of the spider web was not completely accurate. In her eyes, it was at least a sticky product of spider webs that had not been cleaned for three years. These purple-red spider webs were stretched between two broken stones. Meng Hongchen slowly squatted down and moved the detector in his hand closer to it.

The detector's display screen only flashed a number for a moment before reporting an error. Meng Hongchen picked it up and tested it at a random spot in the ruins. The error message disappeared immediately, and the screen showed that the material composition was lime and concrete.

"I can't even analyze it at all." She muttered to herself, "This shouldn't be the case... Is there no recorded material at all in this thing?"

However, at this moment, Yin Yun's face suddenly turned pale. In his hand, the strange book of words was closed with a "snap", and his eyes trembled as he looked at a location in the distance. Li Lan immediately saw that the direction he was looking at was the exact location of the epicenter.

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly with concern.

"It's exactly the same as... that time." Yin Yun murmured as if he was lost in memory, "The day I came here... That's right. There is something there, but we can't see it. No, maybe I can see it."

After saying that, he walked in that direction by himself, as if he had lost his soul. Li Lan immediately stepped forward and hugged the boy's waist, but found that he was so strong for some reason. It was obviously the suppression between the two realms of Soul Douluo and Soul Emperor, but Li Lan actually sweated.

Yin Shuang stopped watching coldly. She took two steps forward, stared at the book in Yin Yun's hand, and then looked into his eyes.

"Let him go," she said to Li Lan, "let him lead the way. I want to see...what exactly could have caused such an effect."