The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao looked at Hector making hand signs with eyes wide open, he did not realize that the situation would turn out to be like this. He gulped a mouthful of saliva and asked, "What you are talking about is going to raise the difficulty of this trial. Are you sure with your observations big brother Hector?"

Hector was surprised by the way Yang Dao addressed him but he nodded. Bai Hu asked, "What is it?"

Yang Dao sighed and cast a gaze at everyone, and said, "According to what big brother Hector found out. After Seth killed the young city lord, the level of intelligence in the city has grown. This means, that as we move towards solving the array by gathering the cores, we will be forced to deal with highly intelligent enemies or more difficult situations."

The people all sucked in a cold breath and Natalie asked, "Young Master Yang what is the solution. We cannot sit down here, can we?"

Yang Dao nodded and said, "Correct, we cannot sit down here, but we can do one thing."

Seth jumped up, "What is that?"

Yang Dao replied, "Simple, break it forcefully."

The four were surprised, they did not expect him to say such a thing. Yang Dao said, "Let me explain, the trial is related to the wits of a person. Now, the wits could be ours, could be the wits of the people inside this world. It could be a defense mechanism that triggers when the nodes are removed from their midst. So, either way, this is a trial of wits. What overrules wits? Pure strength. Now you all know why I said what I said."

The people pondered over his words and Hector waved a few hand signs, and asked, "What now, Dao?"

Yang Dao shrugged and said, "You all decide, I am not the only one taking this test. Also, I had said what can be done, the rest shall be your decision. I am fine to follow it all anyways."

His words made the other realize that he was not the only one taking the trail and that he was the youngest of them all. This was really not something that he could decide for themselves. They should be the ones looking out for him instead of him looking out for them. Yang Dao has been the one solving troubles for them from the earliest and he was the one who made them represent the true meaning of the pentagon.

They all had similar thoughts and it was not too difficult for them to understand what was going on in the mind of the rest of them. Natalie Brookes took the step forward and said, "Young Master Yang is correct. We all need to uphold this burden together, if we are to get through otherwise, pushing everything on him will make us break down."

The other three males nodded and Yang Dao stood there silently as if he did not hear a single thing the people said just now. He acted as if this all was not related to him. That said, Bai Hu said, "Start hunting the important people, make it all fast, and make it all look like an accident. The longer we stay here, the higher the danger."

Seth said, "I think Yang Dao should stay back and work up a way to counter the array formation." his suggestion was valid.

Yang Dao nodded and said, "Well, good, I will stay here and try to figure out the runes. Also, if you cannot find strong and important figures in this world. Look for anything that is a significant monument, a spiritual spot. Sometimes the nodes manifest themselves inside the people they spot in the illusion world, like the one with the young city lord. But if they are left untouched, then they might transform the place into an area with high spirituality."

Hector and the rest nodded and they moved. Natalie was going to scurry her way through the monuments mentioned by the boy. She did not want to mingle with blood and dirt. Let the men do the heavy labor. Yang Dao watched them all vanish and sat down on the ground to figure out the runes used in the process of carving this node.

Why did he waste time on this when he could destroy the rune? The answer was simple, he needed to make sure that this was the prime node or the core of the array. The array will only shut down when the core is broken, otherwise, breaking the wrong node will trigger self-destruction or the so-called Spacerift.

As Yang Dao sat down to analyze the node, Natalie used her face value to get the three boys' information regarding the important people of this world. She selected a food stall where an old lady was making some skewers. Natalie complimented the cooking and forced the guys to take over the job and pamper the lady.

She did not directly ask the old lady about her main motive, but slowly won her trust. She could sense that the aunty was very defensive towards her in the beginning. After half an hour of chatting about the random womanly stuff, Natalie asked, "Auntie, my mother used to say, that a girl should always look for the important and powerful people in the world to interact with. Do you agree with her?"

The old lady nodded and said, "I do, she must be a wise woman."

"But will it not make me look like someone who enjoyed vanity?" said Natalie.

The old aunt shook her head and said, "You should interact with powerful and important people, however, you should not let them take advantage of you. Always keep these people at the length of an arm. Powerful men are like horses and powerful women are the ones sitting on those horses. Men would like you to ride them, but if you climbed from his back to his head, then he will snort and shake you off.

A woman who rides this high horse, if she has a brain inside her thick skull, will try to stomp on everyone who tries to approach her horse, and believe me these women are no less than those stray bitches on the street, they all fight armed with claws and teeth. Your mother only gave you half the knowledge my dear."

The old lady forgot about her stall and patted Natalie's head with much affection. Bai Hu and the guys working at the stall were shocked and took mental notes about the things mentioned by the old lady.

Natalie sighed and said, "Auntie, can you tell me who are the important people here, how do I get to meet them. I do not want this ordinary life."

The old lady gazed at her and then said, "Well, child, you do have the face, might as well tell you. The first person is the young city lord. You only need to see him when he is done with his practice, but that is just interaction, I have heard the rumors of the Young City Lord turning to men.

The second person is the father of the first name, The city lord, he is completely opposite to his son of his. He is a charmer. He would be making his bed with all the women he can find to be a virgin. Every night he will have a new bride.

The third most important person in this place is the owner of the Wilting Moon cafe. This lady is very mysterious. It is said that she likes young children. Not in a perverted manner, but to relieve her stress. I do not know how much of this is true though. You will have to work hard from now on."

Natalie smiled and gave the lady a few thankful words, suddenly, she stood up and said, "Aiya, I forgot to meet my friends. I gave him my commitment. I will come back later grandma."

The old aunty nodded and found that the girl in front of her has vanished and the boys handling the stall vanished too. The old lady shook her head, "Youth is such a wonderful tree."

...

Natalie and the other three gathered at the place away from the illusionary people. Natalie said, "I will go to the third person with Yang Dao. You all take care of the old city lord. Okay?"

The people nodded and they dispersed again. Natalie made her way to where Yang Dao was analyzing the node. He turned around when he heard footsteps approaching her and went back to work. He recognized it to be Natalie Brooke. The lady said, "Dao, we have a situation>"

Her voice was low as she was someone who had just gotten away from the crime. Yang Dao asked, "What happened?"

When Natalie finished explaining the thing to him, the guy stood up and gazed at the sky. Then he said, "Lord of heavens, why is this trial so harsh."