Warriors of Bo City

Mo Fan pushed Xinxia's wheelchair out of the plaza. His gaze landed immediately on the Black-Beast Demons scattered nearby — several of them were writhing across the ground in agony.

Three appeared to have been mauled by other creatures, their bodies torn into pieces. The handful that had survived and fled to other areas were no better off. Among their own kind, an injured demon was actually more tempting prey than a human — they wouldn't have gotten far before being devoured clean.

Demons preyed upon one another as a matter of nature. Their bodies harbored energy much like Magic Stones, and many would fight to the death over the corpse of a higher-ranked specimen, competing viciously for every scrap.

"We need to get to the Jiamei Overpass," Mo Fan told Xinxia. "From there, getting back to the Quarantine Safe Zone will be much safer."

"Mm." Xinxia nodded, though a trace of worry crossed her face.

Mo Fan smiled. "Don't worry. We won't run into any demons."

Xinxia looked at him, puzzled.

*Demons are everywhere out here — why would he say something like that? That's a pretty hollow reassurance.*

Mo Fan pushed Xinxia straight down the main road.

He moved in an irregular rhythm — pausing, stopping short, then suddenly accelerating, then ducking them into shadowed alcoves and concealed corners. Every one of these seemingly erratic maneuvers landed perfectly, slipping them past every demon prowling nearby. Xinxia felt as though someone was feeding Mo Fan a live satellite map.

They pressed on. The road ahead stayed clear. Occasionally a demon would dart past, but it always seemed to think better of the encounter and veered away, as though wary of something it couldn't quite name.

Xinxia watched all of this in silence. After several blocks had passed without incident, she finally couldn't hold back. "Mo Fan-gege, why do they seem… afraid of you?"

It was true — even the scattered, roaming demons that spotted them went out of their way to avoid them. That made no sense; demons attacked humans on sight without hesitation. And Xinxia could read it plainly in their eyes: a faint, unmistakable flicker of fear.

"Because they're smarter than they look," Mo Fan said with a grin. "They can feel that the aura coming off me is stronger than theirs."

"Stronger aura?" Xinxia tilted her head and thought for a moment — then, seconds later, something clicked. Her face broke into a radiant smile. "Mo Fan-gege, you're… you're already an Intermediate-Level Mage?!"

"That's right! Ha! Any of these little demons that comes at us solo is basically walking into their own grave. They'd need to show up in a mob before I'd even break a sweat!"

The gap between Basic and Intermediate was staggering. When he'd first entered the shopping mall, he had crept along like a mouse — every step calculated, every breath held, terrified of drawing even a single demon's notice.

Now, Mo Fan strolled openly past them, and they didn't dare raise a claw. If one did pick a fight, he'd end it in a single exchange.

That said, he had no intention of picking fights either.

The truth was, his command of Intermediate-Level magic was still far from mastered. Every spell he had cast had only been possible because of the four Star Chart Books gifted to him by Teacher Tang Yue. He'd already burned through two of them; two remained. In other words, he had at most two more Intermediate-Level casts available — and even those came at a significant Magical Energy cost, so there was every reason to avoid unnecessary confrontation.

"I see. Then your perception must have gotten much stronger too?" Xinxia asked, eyes bright.

"It has. I can sense demon movement across a street or two, even without seeing anything."

At the Intermediate level, Mages acquired a faculty known as Mental Intent sensing — a heightened awareness that could detect unusual activity nearby and rapidly read shifts in surrounding Magical Energy. If anyone attempted a surprise attack from within an Intermediate-Level Mage's Mental Intent range, the Mage would react before the strike ever landed.

It was worlds beyond anything a Basic-Level Mage could manage.

The joy on Xinxia's face was utterly transparent — cheeks flushed, eyes alight, so genuinely sweet that a person couldn't help instinctively wanting to lean in and —

She had just opened her mouth to speak when she saw Mo Fan's brow furrow. His whole bearing shifted, turning abruptly serious.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Damn it. Don't tell me there's actually a whole mob coming for us." He muttered a curse. "We're hiding — now."

He wheeled Xinxia over to a stairwell in a nearby building and shoved through the door. Before she could say a word, he scooped her up in his arms and sprinted for the upper floors.

Under any other circumstances, he would have taken the opportunity to breathe in the faint, distinctive warmth of her and let a hand drift just a little. But right now, he couldn't afford a single stray thought. His Mental Intent had picked up something massive: a colossal horde of demons, and they were close.

They were running. Moving fast. By the time Mo Fan was inside the stairwell, he could already hear the thunderous rumbling from the street just beyond the walls.

He carried Xinxia to the fifth floor without stopping. Through the stairwell window, he looked out — and stared.

The nearby streets were overrun. An uncountable mass of demons — One-Eyed Demon Wolves, Giant-Eyed Ape-Rats, their grotesque forms pouring through every road and alley like a rising tide, flooding the city blocks as though chasing something down.

Ye Xinxia, still held in Mo Fan's arms, didn't dare breathe.

She could feel it too — the wave of demon aura rolling over everything. If they were found now, even an Intermediate-Level Mage would be swallowed up by a horde this size.

"It's the instructors!" Mo Fan finally made out the figures sprinting through the chaos below.

Down one long stretch of street, Instructor Luo Yunbo was flying along the Wind Trail, weaving through the mayhem at full speed — one hand locked around Pan Lijun, pulling her alongside him.

On another street, a Military Mage was running for his life, with Demon-Hunting Squad leader Xu Dahuang keeping pace beside him.

From where Mo Fan stood, he had a clear line of sight to Mingwen Girls' School. What he saw made his stomach drop. The school had partially collapsed — where the cafeteria and the sports field had once stood, there was now only a vast, gaping crater in the earth.

"They did it!" A surge of elation hit Mo Fan like a wave.

The demon entrance in Mingwen District had been enormous. Destroying it meant cutting off the demon army's advance. Bo City might actually survive this.

But where was Commander Cheng?

Mo Fan scanned the fleeing figures and realized the rest of the squad was gone. Only these four remained — and Luo Yunbo and Pan Lijun were already being flanked, demon packs closing in from all sides. They wouldn't last long.

Were the others all dead?

A grim weight settled over Mo Fan's face. *Of course. I should have known this was always a one-way mission.* Even Commander Cheng — an Intermediate-Level Mage — had fallen out there.

"Xinxia — we're going to the roof."

He lifted her and ran for the top of the building.

They were warriors of Bo City. Whatever it took, Mo Fan couldn't stand by and watch them die.