Chapter: Chapter 367
“Wow, I’ve only been on the phone for less than fifteen minutes, Qianqian, aren’t you a bit too fast?” Seeing Leticia walk in from outside the door, Xiao Lu, who was looking down at a tablet, said in surprise, “I thought it would take you at least half an hour to get here.”
“Just assume I was nearby.” Leticia casually yanked a chair from the side and sat down on it gallantly. “Go ahead, what’s the mission? It sounds urgent.”
Leticia’s directness pleased Xiao Lu, who also disliked meaningless pleasantries. “A few hours ago, several strongholds of organizations in the west district were taken down.”
That’s all? Leticia blinked. Did this warrant an S-class hero like her to show up?
Isn’t it just a few rat nests being raided? Isn’t this a trivial matter? Aren’t strongholds meant to be taken down?
Maybe they were just double-crossing each other.
The Hero Association generally doesn’t interfere with such matters, does it? Let them fight amongst themselves, as long as it doesn’t affect ordinary people’s lives.
“Did it cause any innocent casualties?”
“Actually, there were no casualties.” Xiao Lu shrugged. This was precisely what made the matter most bizarre. “Even the people inside those strongholds didn’t die.”
This is getting interesting. A thoughtful expression appeared on Leticia’s face. Without killing the people inside the strongholds, what was this mysterious force trying to achieve?
Showing off their muscles?
“There’s more than one strange thing. The surveillance cameras inside those strongholds didn’t capture any images of the attackers. Before the attack began, the cameras were all shrouded in a dense fog, and nothing was recorded.” Xiao Lu said softly, frowning. “According to the members of the organizations inside those strongholds, the attacker was only one person, but that person’s combat power was very strong, and their superpower was very likely the ability to summon dense fog.”
Dense fog?!
Leticia’s expression immediately turned grim. It wasn’t that she was overly sensitive; it was just that this fog left a deep impression on her.
The God of Fog, the first deity she had defeated, but their divine artifact had been sealed. It should be properly locked away somewhere mysterious by now, right?
It couldn’t be that the place was robbed, could it? No, even if it were stolen, the sealing period for the divine artifact hadn’t expired, so the God of Fog couldn’t have projected their power.
“Qianqian, your complexion has worsened. Do you recognize the attacker?” Xiao Lu wasn’t blind and naturally noticed Leticia’s suddenly worsening complexion. She thought Leticia had recalled something, such as the attacker’s true identity.
“No, I can’t be sure yet. That guy shouldn’t appear right now.” Leticia took out her phone, intending to call Bai Ling outside. “I’ll make a call to ask.”
Leaving Xiao Lu’s office, Leticia dialed Bai Ling’s number and briefly explained what she had just learned.
“…Go and ask if anything is wrong in Fog City?”
After a while, Bai Ling’s reply came. Everything was normal in Fog City, and the God of Fog was still honestly staying in that crystal ball, so this matter was not theทำ of the God of Fog.
That’s good. If it’s not a deity, then there’s nothing to worry about. Leticia felt much better. After hanging up, she returned to Xiao Lu’s office and said to Xiao Lu, “It’s not someone I know. It’s probably a superpower user with the ability to control fog.”
Xiao Lu didn’t ask how Leticia was sure. Everyone had secrets, and one had to leave some private space.
After Leticia sat back down, Xiao Lu pushed a black box on the table in front of her. “The association has newly distributed new equipment. The intention is for you to test its effects during your mission.”
New equipment? Does the Hero Association even have equipment?
Actually, the Hero Association did have equipment, but Leticia was unaware of it simply because the standard equipment’s effects were too low for her.
Bulletproof vests, bulletproof helmets, individual weapons, etc., did they boost Leticia’s combat power? No.
Leticia’s magic shield alone could replace almost all protective gear, and a small fireball could deal as much damage as a rocket-propelled grenade. The equipment used by ordinary heroes was completely useless to her.
The association knew this too, so they had never mentioned it when Leticia went on missions.
As a result, Leticia only now found out that she could collect a set of equipment for each mission, which had to be returned after use, of course.
However, that equipment was only useful to heroes of slightly lower ranks. For heroes above A-class, those things were not as effective as their own superpowers.
And this time, the association had prepared a piece of equipment for Leticia, which was itself a very bizarre thing.
Because this meant that in the association’s view, this equipment could enhance the combat power of an S-class hero, which was quite an astonishing matter.
With curiosity, Leticia opened the black box Xiao Lu had pushed in front of her.
Inside the box lay a black and gold badge, engraved with the Hero Association’s emblem. It looked like an ordinary decorative item.
But Leticia’s expression changed the moment the box was opened, because she realized her strength had instantly dropped by one level.
Yes, it dropped by one level in an instant.
“What is this?” Leticia asked Xiao Lu with a frown.
As she spoke, she closed the lid again, and her strength returned to its original state. This was utterly beyond normal comprehension!
Even magic that weakened enemies had to consider enemy resistance, and Leticia’s own resistance was absolutely top-notch. However, the effect of this badge completely ignored Leticia’s resistance and directly dealt a blow to her combat power.
“I’m not really sure. It says it’s equipment that can suppress a certain type of special enemy and is still in the experimental phase. After the experimental period ends, it will probably be distributed to all heroes.”
Distributed to all heroes? Leticia gave a wry smile. She probably understood what Bai Ling had been transporting recently. Those items were likely of the same origin as this badge.
And the effect of such things was undoubtedly aimed at deities, used to weaken their combat power.
When weakened, Leticia would struggle to deal with even an S-class hero, which proved just how terrifying the effect of this thing was.
He didn’t expect that Central City had quietly developed such a powerful weapon. It was no wonder that Silver and the God Seat would both act to hijack that convoy at that time. If such a thing wasn’t eliminated quickly, could they just watch it be produced smoothly?
Even Leticia now had the urge to destroy all these things after seeing them.
Imagine, in the future, what the God Seat or those deities who wanted to cause trouble would face would be enemies wearing such badges. As soon as they met, their combat power would be cut by half, and it was unknown if this effect would stack.
If it could stack, and several heroes worked together, a deity might be weakened to the point where they couldn’t even defeat an adult male.
“This thing’s effect is really a bit too good.” Leticia put the box into her pocket. It seemed her plan really needed to be accelerated.
With just the badge having such an effect, Central City’s methods were definitely not limited to badges. For example, a project that Bai Ling had been following closely, which was said to have a coverage area as large as Central City itself. With such a wide coverage area, the effect would definitely be much higher than this small badge.
She decided that after completing today’s task, she would work overtime to collect dream energy. After collecting it, she would find Silver for help to unseal it, and then make a run for it!
After receiving the badge, Leticia was assigned the area for this mission, which was a废弃工地 (abandoned construction site) in the west district. It was very large, with all sorts of waste materials, making it the perfect arena.
“Our people have cornered the target here, but the terrain is too complex, and the association also wants to test new equipment, so they’ve sent S-class heroes like you to handle it.” Xiao Lu scrolled across the tablet, telling Leticia everything she knew. “The opponent’s combat power isn’t high, at most A-class, so you don’t need to worry.”
“A-class? Then this badge won’t be of much use to me, will it?” Hearing the opponent’s combat power, Leticia felt confident. She wasn’t afraid of a mere A-class, even if she was weakened.
“But how are you so sure this badge will be useful against that enemy?”
“Who knows if it’s useful? Anyway, it doesn’t affect our people, so let’s just bring it. It’s fine if it’s not useful, and it’s best if it is.” Xiao Lu shrugged, indicating that this matter was actually quite understandable. The association just wanted to see what kind of targets this badge was effective against, and that mysterious person just happened to run into it.
Hearing this reason, Leticia was speechless. She didn’t know if it affected other heroes, but it had a significant impact on her. It was like injuring herself a thousand times before a fight, and she didn’t even know if it could hurt the enemy.
This badge simply didn’t match her compatibility at all!
But what could she do? The mission had to be done, and the money had to be earned. She was still in debt and had to repay it.
This mission, which only required dealing with an A-class opponent, offered a slightly higher reward than typical S-class missions. For Leticia at this time, it was a sum of quick money she couldn’t easily give up.
Money could make the devil push a mill, and it could also make the Demon King wear a debuff into battle.
Upon arriving by the Hero Association’s aircraft outside the abandoned factory where the unknown enemy was surrounded, Leticia immediately saw several high-tech vehicles that were out of place with the factory. Those vehicles had something resembling steel plates mounted on them, pointed directly inside the factory.
“Those are also new equipment. The association is treating this mission as a test for new weapons.” Xiao Lu said loudly to Leticia, pressing her long green hair. “Are you jumping down yourself, or should the plane take you down?”
“I’ll jump down myself, it’ll be cooler.” Leticia stated that this height was not a problem for her at all. With a light leap, she jumped off the plane.
After spinning a few times in the air, she landed steadily on the ground. As soon as she landed, the Hero Association employees on outer perimeter duty surrounded her.
Of course, they weren’t there to cause trouble for Leticia. After all, Leticia had jumped from the association’s plane, so it was obvious she was one of them. Moreover, quite a few S-class heroes had made their appearances this way not long ago, and everyone was used to the way these big shots appeared.
They all liked to be cool; none of them liked to land the plane normally.
A few seconds later, Xiao Lu also jumped down from the plane. Her strength was not bad either, so she could naturally make such a cool entrance.
At this point, the expressions of the Hero Association employees changed. They had seen heroes jump down directly, but it was rare to see a hero’s assistant jump down directly.
After all, Xiao Lu, dressed in civilian attire, was clearly not a combat-oriented character. A girl like her jumping down directly created a strong sense of contrast and was more eye-catching than Leticia jumping down.
“Have quite a few S-class heroes already gone in? What’s the progress so far?” Xiao Lu asked a few colleagues sitting in a mobile command center. “Haven’t they caught the opponent yet?”
A man with glasses sitting in the mobile command center shook his head. “The interior is completely shrouded in dense fog, and the opponent’s concealment methods are very good. Our heroes haven’t caught the opponent yet, although there have been a few exchanges, but they couldn’t keep them.”
“It seems the opponent isn’t a lamb waiting to be captured. Qianqian, be careful with everything.” Xiao Lu patted Leticia’s shoulder and whispered, “If you get hurt, Sister Bai will probably tear me apart.”
“Don’t worry about my combat power. I can easily deal with an A-class.” Leticia smiled confidently. “I’m off, waiting for my good news.”
With a smile, Leticia quickly entered the surrounded abandoned factory. The moment she entered, her expression changed from relaxed to heavy.
This damned place weakened her too much. Those vehicles with metal plates undoubtedly could suppress the combat power of deities, and their suppression effect was much stronger than the small badge in her hand!
The good news was that higher-level weakening effects seemed to override lower-level ones. It wouldn’t matter if she stuck the badge on herself now, but that was nothing to be happy about!
“Humans have already mastered weapons that can contend with deities to a certain extent.” Those metal-plated cars were very large and naturally couldn’t be deployed everywhere at any time. To compensate for this shortcoming, badges were equipped for heroes. Leticia felt she had roughly understood the Hero Association’s intentions.
