Silver Wolf, standing nearby, heard every word the two exchanged.
"Friend."
"Received, Partner."
As Silver Wolf spoke softly...
A voice audible only to herself sounded in her ear.
And she immediately understood Silver Wolf's intention.
Silver Wolf nodded and quickly extricated herself from the enthusiastic fans...
"Huh? Silver Wolf, weren't you surrounded by fans?"
"Oh, I shook them off. Also, can you please not make me come to an anime convention next time?"
Liu Xiyue watched Silver Wolf, who stood with one hand on her hip and a frown on her lips, unconsciously picking at the ends of her hair with her fingertips.
She couldn't help but mutter to herself: So this internet-addicted girl Silver Wolf doesn't actually like lively scenes...
What she didn't know was that Silver Wolf, as a Stellaron Hunter, navigated the edges of data torrents and the dark web. How could she easily step into such a noisy "gathering"?
Let alone being collectively stared at by countless eyes.
Silver Wolf shrugged, turned around, found a corner to sit in, and somehow produced a game console from behind her back, as if the surrounding commotion had nothing to do with her.
Seeing this, Meng Xingyao's eye twitched involuntarily.
She hesitantly poked the other girl.
"This... this internet-addicted girl's daily life, could it be that she's immersed in games 24/7?"
"Ahem, pretty much..."
Liu Xiyue replied awkwardly.
Secretly grumbling to herself: I can't exactly say that aside from eating and sleeping, this girl spends almost all her time in games. Even her body smells of pixels...
As for Silver Wolf, she paid no attention to their discussion at all.
Just then, the reply from "Partner" came through her ear.
"Several people suspected to be from the Church have been spotted at the anime convention."
"Is that so."
Silver Wolf's fingers paused on the game console's buttons, the metal casing gleaming coldly under the lights.
She slowly closed the device, her previously lazy gaze unconsciously turning serious.
While she genuinely didn't enjoy attending anime conventions, that didn't mean these people could disrupt her vacation without reason.
Just as she was considering whether to directly use Aether Editing to send these troublesome guys to the desert or employ some other method...
Another call from "Friend" came through.
"Additionally, data information previously discovered in Muyun City was unexpectedly found at the anime convention. Please be extra careful, Partner."
Silver Wolf (ᗜ ˰ ᗜ): "Couldn't you have said it all at once?"
Right after complaining, just as she was about to ask for specific details...
A sudden explosion instantly captured the attention of everyone present.
This naturally included Liu Xiyue and her group, as well as the few members from the Ability Bureau who had come this time.
"Dammit, didn't I tell you not to act rashly, not to alert the enemy!"
Hearing the team leader's reprimand, the other team members immediately replied one after another.
"It wasn't me, Captain! I didn't move at all!"
"I'm on the other side of the venue! What exactly happened over there?"
"Me too..."
After everyone's successive reports, they suddenly realized that the explosion didn't seem to be caused by them.
"Damn it! What are those Church scum trying to do!" he roared, eyes filled with fury.
Realizing this commotion was likely caused by their targets, everyone immediately shed their "disguises" and hurried toward the scene of the incident.
They split up, some evacuating the crowd while others stayed alert to their surroundings...
"Something's happened! Meng Meng, quickly take Cipher and hide! I'll go check the situation!"
Liu Xiyue's voice was urgent. Without waiting for a response, she rushed toward the source of the sound.
Meng Xingyao's heart tightened. She wanted to follow but hesitated, worried about Silver Wolf's safety.
After all, according to her best friend's description, the other girl was just an ordinary Hacker.
In the end, she gritted her teeth and decided to take her and evacuate first. But when she turned to look, she found Silver Wolf's figure had already vanished without a trace...
In fact, Silver Wolf was silently approaching the source of the sound.
Her petite figure flickered in and out of view amidst the surging crowd, like a grain of sand swallowed by the tide.
"'Friend,' report the on-site situation immediately." Silver Wolf's voice carried a sense of composure.
Simultaneously, she deftly removed the colored goggles from her forehead and snapped them precisely over her eyes. The lenses instantly refracted a cold blue light.
"Partner, it seems a mystic realm entrance has just opened here. And the earlier commotion was caused by it."
While listening to the explanation, Silver Wolf lightly tapped on a virtual screen with her fingertip. A torrent of data instantly unfolded in her vision, information streaking past like meteors.
During a previous commission, out of boredom, she had intercepted a lot of data related to mystic realms, even privately researching it for a few minutes.
But that pile of dry code and theories, lacking real-world case studies and not being her area of expertise, was eventually forgotten.
At this very moment, Silver Wolf quickly confirmed the analysis results.
"The relevant parameters are different from the mystic realm that Acheron got lost in. Not just the indices... even the energy released within is fundamentally different."
As if to confirm the accuracy of Silver Wolf's words...
In a corner of the venue, as if tainted by something...
A faint dark red mist gradually began to seep out.
Many people who loved watching chaos, clearly unaware of the severity of the situation...
Quite a few even thought this was some special arrangement for the anime convention.
Only a minority sensed something was wrong and left quickly and silently.
"How was this made?"
"Is it dyed mist?"
"Bro, you're a freaking genius. Why don't you just say it's the apocalypse arriving?"
"Hey, you guys, get away from this area!"
As the mist gradually approached, many people directly inhaled the dark red vapor.
Liu Xiyue, who had just arrived belatedly, hurriedly called out a warning, but she was a step too late.
However, fortunately, those few people didn't seem to show any abnormalities.
With Liu Xiyue's loud shouts, many surrounding gazes converged on this Little Girl.
Ignoring the strange looks from the crowd, Liu Xiyue's eyes swept over the still slowly flowing dark red mist, her willow-leaf eyebrows suddenly furrowing tightly.
At this moment, her intuition was blaring alarms wildly; a sense of danger coiled around her heart like a venomous snake.
She thought to herself: Although I don't know what this stuff is, it's definitely nothing good.
And so, she immediately shouted anxiously.
"All of you, leave this place immediately! It's very dangerous here!"
However, this well-intentioned advice drew mocking laughter from many.
They unanimously thought this little red-eyed loli was really cute.
Seeing that the crowd wouldn't listen to her advice...
The hot-tempered Liu Xiyue couldn't be bothered to waste words trying to persuade them slowly.
Her fair hand extended, and clusters of blazing flames appeared out of thin air, hovering steadily in her palm.
Liu Xiyue (◣д◢): "I can't be bothered to waste words on you lot. If you don't want to die, get the hell out of here!"
Sure enough, when the crowd witnessed this scene that defied the laws of physics, many instantly fell silent, terrified.
But there's always that one contrarian who won't give up, suspecting she's hiding props or something.
To this, Liu Xiyue didn't humor him.
"Whoosh!!!"
A fireball, like a meteor striking the earth, accurately smashed into the ground right in front of that person's feet, exploding into a patch of scorched black.
The person involved collapsed to the ground, staring in horror at the cracked, charred mark beneath his feet, a dry cry forced from his throat.
"What...what the hell!"
Seeing this, Liu Xiyue snorted coldly. Fireballs gathered in her hand once more as she swept a cold gaze over the crowd, her voice like an ice blade being drawn.
"Anyone else have an opinion? Step forward yourself—I'll happily take care of it on the spot."
————————
(Regarding the portrayal of the Ability Bureau, it might be too sparse.
Let me describe it uniformly.
The current Ability Bureau's situation is probably akin to early police force.
Arrangements in many cities aren't very rigorous, and the number of personnel isn't high.
Because the base number of Ability Users is small, and they must also conceal it from the masses, the internal structure isn't fully developed at present.
It's even a bit of a mixed bag.
And the current timeline is equivalent to the Golden Age of Prodigies(Where most abilities, even bad ones, are still considered 'good' in one form or another) in fantasy novels.
The number of Ability Users is only just starting to gradually increase now.
Therefore, for students and such, as long as their abilities are decent, the authorities will similarly try to recruit them early.
It's the same principle as recruiting 'geniuses' in other novels.)