After parting ways with the girls from Penguin Logistics.
Surtr and Lucas Reeve left the upper city together, preparing to head to the location in her memory.
Lungmen had been around for a long time, but it hadn't been officially part of Yan for long. According to one of Surtr's memory fragments, there was a memory in Lungmen, and the Lungmen in the memory was not the old one, but the present-day Lungmen.
This was what puzzled Lucas Reeve.
In other words.
The previous host of Laevatain was dead.
Only after a host dies will Laevatain autonomously seek its next host. Surtr was not old, and it seemed she hadn't had Laevatain for very long, a few years at most, no more. This meant that the previous host of Laevatain might have died a few years after leaving this memory in Lungmen.
The death of a Laevatain host was normal.
Lucas Reeve, on the contrary, wasn't surprised at all. After all, Laevatain was currently just a power without consciousness. To fully activate it required a constant drain of the host's power, and even so, it might still possess the power of a Divine Fragment.
Taking Surtr's previous strength as an example.
Before Lucas Reeve arrived.
When Surtr was using Laevatain at full power, she was at most a little stronger than the current FrostNova and Talulah. Her overall strength was a tiny bit stronger than a single Emperor's Blade. And without summoning the physical form of Laevatain, Surtr's strength was inferior to an Emperor's Blade, probably equivalent to an Elite Operator.
It was only after Lucas Reeve merged with Laevatain.
That Surtr's strength gradually increased, and her fusion with Laevatain deepened, which is why Surtr's own power grew stronger and stronger.
Not every host had the same strength as Surtr.
It's very possible.
Many of Laevatain's previous hosts might not even have had the ability to summon its physical form, so dying suddenly mid-journey was really normal, all too normal.
According to the memory fragment, that place seemed to be in Lungmen's civilian district, in a hidden room. Moreover, that host seemed to have been severely injured before entering the room. As for the final outcome, there was no need to guess. They were certainly dead. After all, if they hadn't died, Laevatain would not have come into Surtr's possession.
And so, Lucas Reeve and Surtr walked together through the civilian district, trying to follow the indistinct memory fragments, step by step.
However.
Just as they crossed an intersection and were waiting for the traffic light, Surtr seemed to be in a daze, apparently thinking about something. She had made a lot of progress now; at least, at Lucas Reeve's instruction, she had learned to wait for traffic lights.
Just then, a speeding bus came charging over.
This bus was very strange. It wasn't following the proper road and seemed to have targeted Surtr, ramming straight towards her.
Because she had been distracted a second before.
Surtr didn't react in time and was sent flying like a cannonball. The bus seemed to stop after hitting her, but no one got out. Instead, its wheels spun, preparing to run her over.
Although...
With a higher degree of fusion with Laevatain, Surtr's current physical body was ridiculously tough, but getting hit by a car going over a hundred miles per hour would definitely hurt. But it would only be pain.
Lucas Reeve's blade was fast.
Hundreds of slashes in a second instantly cut through the bus's surface, like a master butcher carving an ox, dicing every part of the bus into countless separated small pieces.
It was fortunate that the bus braked after hitting Surtr and then turned to run her over, needing to accelerate again.
Otherwise, if the vehicle had suddenly disintegrated at its previous speed, the passengers inside would have likely suffered some casualties.
But with its current inertia, not many were even injured; most just took a painful tumble.
At this moment.
The hijackers had fallen to the ground.
The one driving, in particular, looked as if he had seen a ghost. He had personally sent that red-haired girl flying, and this girl had miraculously stood up without a scratch, and then, like a phantom, had cut the entire bus into countless pieces in one go.
Officer Ch'en quickly moved forward to subdue the remaining hijackers.
And as a member of Yan's Dali Temple, Lin Qingyan considered Lungmen to be Yan's territory, so Lungmen was, to some extent, under the jurisdiction of the Dali Temple.
She also did her best to protect the children on the bus from the inertial impact.
Sheathing the sword...
Lucas Reeve put away the greatsword and turned to watch the show from the side.
There were hijackers?
The moment Surtr was sent flying.
Lucas Reeve's Spiritual Power, through Surtr's body, had enveloped the entire vehicle. She vaguely noticed several thugs with standard-issue weapons, and an Officer Ch'en confronting them.
Because that one moment had been too urgent, Lucas Reeve couldn't think of any other way to stop the bus.
So, she subconsciously sliced it into many pieces.
With her nimble skills, Officer Ch'en subdued all the thugs almost instantly, showing no mercy at all. She kicked them viciously in the chest, and some were left with significant internal injuries. On one hand, it was because these foreign powers had tried to use Lungmen citizens to threaten her. On the other hand.
Officer Ch'en was angry at Swire. If she hadn't taken the wrong bag, she could have instantly used the sharp blade in her own bag to sever the tendons in the hostage-taker's wrist, and none of the subsequent events would have happened.
At the same time.
Officer Ch'en was very surprised.
She wasn't too surprised by the physical constitution; after all, she had a colleague with an even more absurd constitution. What surprised her was the red-haired girl's swordsmanship.
Fast!!
Too fast!!
The moment she appeared.
With her exceptional dynamic vision, Officer Ch'en saw everything clearly. She saw the red-haired girl swing her greatsword hundreds of times in a single instant!!
What did that even mean.
A hundred strikes in an instant!!
As a swordswoman herself, and an outstanding graduate of the Victoria Royal Guard Academy, Ch'en could have secured an officer's position in Victoria with her swordsmanship. What's more, in the years since her graduation, her skills had continuously improved, never slackening...
A true expert.
Such a level of swordsmanship.
Officer Ch'en was certain.
Even those few publicly acknowledged grandmasters of swordsmanship might not be able to achieve it.
Terrifying....
After Ch'en had subdued all the thugs.
The L.G.D. vehicles finally arrived. One by one, the officers got out and stared, mouths agape and speechless, at the perfectly neat pieces of the bus on the ground.
At Ch'en's command.
The officers arrested the four thugs one by one and took them to the interrogation room. The ambulance also arrived promptly to check all the passengers for injuries. Fortunately, it seemed no one was seriously hurt. The worst injury was just a bump on the head from hitting the ground when the vehicle fell apart.
+10000
Seeing that everything was fine, Lucas Reeve prepared to leave with Surtr. However, a large amount of Prayer Power flowed into Lucas Reeve's soul at that moment. Lucas Reeve was a bit surprised, but not overly so. After all, they had saved the lives of an entire bus of passengers. Plus, they hadn't acted like a superhero, slashing and dashing away, but had stood around watching the drama for a while. Only after confirming there was no danger did they prepare to leave.
Many of the passengers didn't know exactly what had happened.
But they certainly knew that she had saved them.
*Phew...*
Not bad...
Scooped up ten thousand just like that.
Just as Lucas Reeve was about to leave.
The Senior Superintendent of the Lungmen Guard Department, Officer Ch'en, called out to stop them.
"Please wait!"
"Hello, I am Ch'en from the Lungmen Guard Department. First of all, I am very glad that you stepped in to save so many people. However, I need to take up a little of your time. Please come with us to the L.G.D. to give a statement."
"A statement?"
So troublesome...
Thinking this, Lucas Reeve immediately made a run for it.
"I'm sorry, no need for a banner, I have something else to do, it's very urgent..."
With that, she ran off in full view of everyone.
Had it been anyone else, Officer Ch'en might have sent officers to chase them, but this time she uncharacteristically chose to let it go. After all, with that kind of swordsmanship, she was clearly a top-tier expert. She remembered what Lungmen's supreme administrator, Mr. Wei, had told her when she first joined.
Lungmen's waters run deep...
Sometimes, there's no need to stick to the rules.
In the beginning.
The young and spirited Officer Ch'en didn't believe it. In her eyes, as long as you were in Lungmen, you had to follow Lungmen's rules! However... after meeting this red-haired girl, she finally understood what her boss had meant.
And Lucas Reeve had another reason for leaving.
He saw that blonde girl in the crowd...
The one he and Surtr had met when they were sleeping under a bridge...
How did he run into her again?
Lucas Reeve was a bit annoyed.
How could he run into her everywhere he went? To be honest, Lucas Reeve really didn't want to be around people who had powerful 'elders' above them. After all, this blonde girl might be reasonable, but the elders above her might not be.
So, Lucas Reeve didn't want to have too much to do with such people.
Seeing that the L.G.D. didn't seem intent on arresting her.
Lucas Reeve breathed a sigh of relief. After running far away, he and Surtr followed the memory fragments to a landmark Victorian-style clock tower on the edge of the civilian district.
This clock tower had been around for a long time.
It was built almost as soon as Lungmen was established. But due to the changing times, the clock tower had gradually fallen into disuse, becoming an unmanaged building in a remote part of the civilian district.
When Lucas Reeve arrived, there was no one around.
Surtr closed her eyes.
She focused on recalling the related memories in her mind, then opened her purple eyes and, following the bumpy fragments of memory, walked into the clock tower.
This quaint clock tower wasn't very tall.
At most, it was only five stories high. Compared to the twenty-story office buildings in the center of the civilian district, this clock tower was far too short.
Its exterior was made purely of stacked bricks, aged by the wind and rain over time. The outside was covered in moss and climbing vines, with no one to tend to it.
The moment they pushed open the door, a musty smell hit them.
However, there were still signs of human presence inside, such as discarded instant noodle packets and used 'little packets' of various colors.
"What's this?"
Surtr had never seen these colorful 'little packets' that were a bit thicker than a finger. She asked Lucas Reeve in confusion.
Lucas Reeve was very direct.
"To prevent having children."
"Having children?"
Surtr was stunned, a big question mark appearing above her head.
"Why can this prevent having children?"
"Uh.... you'll understand in the future."
"In the future?"
Surtr didn't know what riddle Lucas Reeve was speaking.
Since there was no one around, Lucas Reeve transformed into his little flame-person form and sat on Surtr's shoulder. After all this time, Lucas Reeve was the first person she didn't dislike, and even enjoyed being in contact with. Perhaps it was because of Laevatain that... Surtr, to some extent, relied on Lucas Reeve in her heart.
Surtr followed her memory up the stairs, accompanied by creaking sounds.
The two of them, one person and one soul, successfully reached the top of the clock tower.
The space at the top was very small, a place for maintenance workers to work in the past. There didn't seem to be anything else special about it.
Suddenly.
Surtr looked towards a wall and gently pressed on it with her hand, just as she remembered.
With a light click.
The wall actually caved inwards, turning into a hidden door.
When Surtr stepped inside.
A whole new world opened up.
It was a very small, but complete room. She lit a flame for illumination. In the room, the bed and table were covered in dust. Judging by the time gap in her memory, it had been at least several years. Following her memory, Surtr pulled open a secret compartment in the table. With a crisp click.
A hidden drawer popped out.
Inside this hidden drawer was a small notebook, and on the notebook was a note.
Lucas Reeve and Surtr were curious.
Surtr quickly picked up the note, and Lucas Reeve leaned close to her face to look.
There was a line of words on the note.
After reading it, Lucas Reeve couldn't help but frown deeply.
Written in messy handwriting was:
[I believe you would come... Laevatain's next host]
*Phew...*
For a moment.
The entire small room was exceptionally quiet.
This note was left specifically for... Surtr.
At this moment, Lucas Reeve finally understood why this memory fragment was so clear.
Because.
The other memory fragments were just still images.
But this memory fragment was a video.
It was so clear that it even showed how to use the secret compartment step by step....