"The City Lord sure is rich. I thought he was a good official."

Wang Linchi found many expensive items in the City Lord's bedroom, such as gold and silver jewelry, antiques, and paintings.

Of course, the most important item was the mission item.

[Black Iron·Qingfrost Ancient Sword]

[Type: Mission Item]

[Stored in the inventory, it forcefully reduces the Health of Demonized-type enemies by 1 point when attacking.]

I knew I must have skipped some process... Wang Linchi thought, looking at this mission item. It seemed quite poor at first glance, reducing Health by only one point. But the word "forcefully" catapulted it to an extremely high level.

Even if an enemy had a Shield or their Defense was so high it couldn't be broken, their Health would still be forcefully reduced by 1 point. This should be used against the Wish Demon during its first and third stages. With this item, Wang Linchi wouldn't be pursued in the first stage.

Wang Linchi guessed that he should have first helped the City Lord's Wife deal with the Demon Infant. Then, she would have given this as a token of gratitude. However, Wang Linchi didn't care at all about the lives of the City Lord's family, which resulted in him not getting this item and eventually finding it in the City Lord's bedroom.

It feels not very useful though. In Wang Linchi's view, it looked very impressive, but its practical use was very limited.

Of the Abyssal Demons he had encountered, apart from the Wish Demon, most had Health in the tens of thousands. An additional 1 point of forced damage had no effect; it could only be described as chicken ribs.

Luckily, this item didn't take up any inventory space. Mission items had their own dedicated inventory slots, the kind that could hold an unlimited number of items.

It seems that there are only these three mission items in this instance.

With the Qingfrost Ancient Sword mission item, the difficulty of dealing with the Wish Demon would immediately drop significantly. The Wish Demon wouldn't even have time to replicate during its third stage and would be instantly killed.

As long as Players weren't killed instantly, with the human face as a consumable for Word Becomes Law, a single basic attack could send the Wish Demon on its way.

The premise was that they had to beat the first two stages. Although the first stage only had 10 Health, it recovered quickly, so one needed a sufficiently high attack speed.

After strolling around and finding nothing worth taking, he immediately prepared to leave to continue collecting Abyss Crystals and find unlucky survivors as future reserves.

After he surfaced, he heard some rustling sounds. They were rather distant, making it hard for Wang Linchi to hear clearly.

What on earth are those Wicked People up to? Why are they creating a commotion instead of quietly waiting for their deaths at such a time? Wang Linchi was a bit puzzled.

Then he sent the Saint Master to see what was happening.

If something is amiss, there must be a Demon involved.

He definitely wouldn't go himself; he was afraid of dying.

The Saint Master returned quickly, carrying an old man who was soaked to the bone.

He looked dejected, as if he had given up struggling.

"Sir, what happened to you?" Wang Linchi asked first.

The old man finally reacted, his expression showing surprise as he looked at Wang Linchi. "A human! It's a human!"

He seemed to have been holding it in for too long, with no one to talk to. At first glance, he looked almost mad.

"Calm down. Come on, take a deep breath," Wang Linchi consoled him.

"It's alright, it's alright. I merely thought that your, Mage, Guardian Deity was one of those Evil Demons," the man replied, then asked, "This demon-quelling rain in the city, was it your doing, Mage?"

"Alas, it was a desperate measure. If the city weren't infested with Evil Demons, why would it have come to this?" Wang Linchi said, putting on a look of helpless, world-weary compassion.

"This matter is also the fault of those wealthy and unscrupulous individuals. If they hadn't gone to the Accumulating Blessings Temple to entreat the Evil Demon, why would things have turned out this way?" the old man said, also offering a word of comfort.

"Eh? Sir, you actually know about this?" Wang Linchi was genuinely surprised this time. Apart from the group of survivors he had tricked after they were trapped, no one else knew about this.

"I just happen to know. Back then..." The old man told a rather cliché story. Listening to it, Wang Linchi was quite shocked. So, this old man once discovered the Wish Demon's existence and even managed to deal with it? In other words, the Wish Demon wasn't at its peak strength. The human face formed by its wish power had actually been severely damaged. At its peak, it would have blotted out the sky.

I never imagined I could vanquish this Wish Demon, and with your help, Sir, no less! After hearing the story, Wang Linchi felt the old man had the makings of a protagonist. To be able to scheme against the Wish Demon as a mere mortal, greatly reducing its strength, and then retreat unscathed—he's definitely not an ordinary person.

"Thinking back now, it was incredibly perilous. That I managed it was largely due to Luck," the old man said, not boasting, but rather looking as if he still had lingering fears.

"Hahaha, for someone with strength to speak of Luck, that's called humility," Wang Linchi complimented, then added, "I've previously gathered some disaster victims who weren't infected by the Wicked People. I'll send you, Sir, to stay with them. Once this Evil Demon is completely eradicated and the floodwaters recede, you'll have a place to go."

"Indeed, you are a true Mage. Your integrity is truly exemplary," the old man, not being foolish, returned the compliment, then said, "However, this matter is not urgent. I've also heard about the Wicked People."

"These Wicked People can transform us humans into their kin. They are impossible to kill off completely, truly a scourge for millennia."

"However, I've heard that these Wicked People have a source. If this source is eliminated, the Wicked People will lose this ability to assimilate others."

"Currently, this Source of Evil man is hidden within our Ji City. Mage, I implore you to eradicate it, root and stem, first!"

The old man had delivered the information Wang Linchi needed—namely, the main storyline boss of the Wicked People.

"Please tell me more. After I've taken you to a safe place, Sir, I will go and eliminate this Source of Evil man," Wang Linchi replied without hesitation.

"It's right beneath the City Master's Mansion. I had sensed a clue and came here to investigate. I was on the verge of death. If not for the demon-quelling rain falling, allowing me to escape with my life, I wouldn't have been able to pass this information to you, Mage," the old man explained. He had come here to investigate, but unexpectedly, the heavy rain started, and he couldn't leave.

Wait, this water also has demon-quelling power. Hiding beneath the City Master's Mansion, isn't that just seeking death? Wang Linchi retorted silently.

You need to give a plausible reason. With this water, even the Wish Demon would die here. The boss of the Wicked People's main storyline is strong, yes, but surely not *that* outrageously powerful... right?

"It is said that this Source of Evil man was originally suppressed in an intangible realm by a powerful Demon Suppressing Sorcerer, far removed from the human world. In recent years, cracks have appeared in this intangible realm, which was formed by the Demon Suppressing Technique. This has caused demonic power to leak out, giving birth to the Wicked People. These Wicked People only need to occupy Ji City to break open this intangible realm and release the Source of Evil man," the old man explained.

So, the boss is sealed in some special dimension, and now the seal on that dimension is unstable.

I see. Wang Linchi nodded in understanding. So that's the setup. No wonder I couldn't find the boss. It turns out it has the same kind of treatment as a True Magician. The only difference is that True Magicians at least have some records, while this Source of Evil man has none at all.

"I also found out that this Source of Evil man has a peculiar characteristic: it can absorb other Wicked People into its body to recover rapidly. You must be extra careful," the old man added a warning.

"With your reminder, Sir, I will naturally be on guard against it," Wang Linchi smiled and continued, "How about this: I'll take you to a safe haven first, Sir. On the way, please tell me more about this Source of Evil man and the Wicked People themselves. I'm quite curious about them too."

Although Wang Linchi said this, he was inwardly on high alert.

This old man is too legendary, and he knows too much. It feels like he deliberately ran into me.

He didn't deny that he had good Luck, but could his Luck really be *this* good?

If he had found these accounts in some ancient texts or from fragmented clues, he wouldn't have doubted them. But hearing them from an ordinary person? That was a bit far-fetched.

At the very least, if it had been a Demon Suppressing Sorcerer or someone with Extraordinary Power, Wang Linchi might have believed it. But hearing it from a decrepit old man on the verge of death raised many suspicions.

More importantly, the old man claimed to have come to the City Master's Mansion to investigate. Setting aside the fact that when Wang Linchi left the City Master's Mansion, it was littered with corpses—what ordinary person would dare approach? And later, when Abyssal Demons were rampant, how could he have traversed so many dangers to reach it?

Not to mention the Wicked People who were also taking shelter from the rain there.

All these inconsistencies made Wang Linchi suspect that there was something wrong with this old man.

True or false, I'll find out after I harvest them all. Wang Linchi decided to convert all the survivors into Abyss Crystals. He hadn't planned on doing it so quickly. However, after encountering someone who sang a different tune, coupled with the old man's arrival, it served as a minor catalyst, solidifying Wang Linchi's decision.

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