The First Order

Initially, Qin Sheng and the other Riders thought it was just a minor incident that happened today. This was nothing more than a few unidentified forces getting rid of their rivals and taking out their intelligence network.

Everyone was currently at the stage of mutual observation as each party took note of how many people the other forces had brought to Luoyang City and vice versa. In any case, no one wanted to make the first move and continued hiding in the shadows.

Therefore, Qin Sheng and the others were also at the stage of trying to figure out the situation. Everyone felt that it was still not the right time to make a move.

Superhumans appearing at this moment was something very unexpected. Moreover, one of them even died as soon as he appeared.

Sometimes, it was very difficult for supernatural beings to kill another supernatural being even if they encountered one another.

For example, back at the Wang Consortium’s stronghold, the Pyro Company’s members had wanted to kill that elderly sugar painter. However, with his amber-colored dragon keeping a close guard at his side, the Pyro Company could not find any opportunity to finish him off.

Meanwhile, when the Anjing House’s Vanilla tried to kill the members of the Pyro Company, they were able to escape due to their strong physical fitness.

Everyone had their shortcomings. So when some superhumans bumped into each other, they would usually just exchange a few blows before retreating.

But it was different today. A supernatural being had absolutely crushed another supernatural being in just a short encounter. This incident had undoubtedly announced to all of the supernatural beings in Luoyang City that someone really strong was here.

Earlier, Ren Xiaosu was also caught off guard by the sneak attack on him. Under such circumstances, he had no choice but to activate his armor.

Of course, a lot of people knew of the existence of the armor, but they might not know that Ren Xiaosu was the one controlling it.

Other than Fortress 178, Wang Fugui’s group, and Yang Xiaojin, it seemed that the only other living people who had seen him in the armor were the residents of Stronghold 146. However, Stronghold 146’s residents did not know his identity. Furthermore, the Fortress 178 troops had been ordered to keep it a secret. Therefore, the outside world only knew that someone in armor had destroyed a stronghold, but they did not know who exactly that person was.

This time, many of the residents in Luoyang City witnessed it as well. When the Riders and the Luoyang City troops arrived at the scene, someone came up to them and said animatedly, “Are you guys pursuing two people? I saw them escaping in a hurry earlier on. But when they happened to pass by a hooded young man, that young man tripped one of them while snacking on some sweet potatoes.”

Qin Sheng and Old Li looked at each other. Snacking on sweet potatoes? What the fuck?! Meanwhile, Zhang Qingxi, who was nearby, said nothing.

The pedestrian continued, “Just as the young man was about to stop the other person from escaping, someone suddenly attacked him from behind from the alley. I don’t know how he managed to conjure up a fireball and envelope the young man inside the flames, but that young man was suddenly clad in steel armor that appeared out of thin air, and he was unscathed by the fire.”

Next up was the story of how the steel beast killed the acrobatic superhuman. Even if the pedestrian did not really understand supernatural beings, he could tell that the young man in the steel armor was much stronger than the other supernatural being.

He had brutally crushed his opponent. The pedestrian felt adrenaline pumping just from watching it happen, and he even wished he could become the protagonist of this battle.

“Steel armor?” Zhang Qingxi mumbled, “Could it be that person from the Northwest?”

Actually, even Ren Xiaosu himself did not know he had become as famous as Li Shentan after the battle at Stronghold 146. In the eyes of many, he was a superhuman on par with Li Shentan.

After all, not many supernatural beings could take on a stronghold on their own.

No matter whether they knew the specifics, a symbolic object like “steel armor” was flagged by most of the major forces. Everyone knew Fortress 178 had such a fearsome supernatural being in their ranks.

But after Zhang Qingxi said that, Li Yingyun threw him a significant look. The three Riders then walked away. Puzzled, Zhang Qingxi asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Brother Qingxi, there really is someone from Fortress 178 in Luoyang City at the moment,” Qin Sheng explained. “And he’s the only one from there who’s here.”

“You mean Ren Xiaosu?” Zhang Qingxi was stunned. “Didn’t you two say that he doesn’t look like he can fight that well?”

“Ahem, that was just a misunderstanding.” Old Li said, “Didn’t we bring it up again in the post-op meeting? That kid went into Stronghold 61 by himself, so he might also be the one who took care of the creeper vine.”

“Based on what you said, if he is really the person in the steel armor, he might be the one who finished off that creeper vine.” Zhang Qingxi muttered, “Why didn’t you two say so earlier?”

Zhang Qingxi had made his stand clear at the meeting that if the descendant of the Riders’ founder was a weakling, he would be willing to provide the other party a life of luxury, but he would definitely not swear loyalty to him.

But now it seemed that if the person they were looking for was really Ren Xiaosu, Zhang Qingxi might not even be a match for him.

After all, Zhang Qingxi knew he was not capable of taking on a stronghold by himself.

“Are you sure he’s here to help?” Zhang Qingxi asked.

“I think so.” Qin Sheng explained, “During the conflict between the two forces earlier, he even called me to ask if we needed his help. I told him it was fine. He should have been in the vicinity at that time and acted after encountering the two who tried to escape.”

“That’s a good thing.” Zhang Qingxi said with a sigh, “Since Wu Dingyuan and Wen Meng are still not back, something must have happened along the way. It looks like the Qinghe University students will have to cancel their future travel plans. It’s really no longer safe to go to other people’s territories.”

Every year, the Riders would send their members to travel out of the stronghold with the more outstanding Qinghe University students to see the world. Back then, the Rider Ren Xiaosu met at the black market was Wu Dingyuan.

The scope of their travels was very broad and was mainly to allow the students to gain more real world knowledge by not always remaining in the stronghold.

However, the enemies took advantage of this moment to come to Luoyang City. At this moment, there were only seven Riders in the stronghold, so their overall strength had slightly weakened.

This was also the reason why Qin Sheng and the others had to kill their enemies so decisively. At this moment, they needed to intimidate the troublemakers and stall for time.

The arrival of Ren Xiaosu and the power he displayed had undoubtedly reassured them a little.

“He still helped us in the end. We definitely have to thank him for that, but we can’t keep relying on outsiders.” Old Li said with a smile, “Besides, we Riders are pretty strong ourselves too!”

When Zhang Qingxi looked at the huge stronghold city, the nightlife was still brilliant and bustling. He wondered if the prosperity would remain after this chaotic battle ended.

News of the armored being’s appearance in Luoyang City had already begun to spread through the grapevine.

However, the people from the other forces did not know the truth of the armored being like the Riders did. They were only speculating whether Fortress 178 was also interested in the satellites the Qinghe Group had in their possession.

That was also a possibility. After all, Fortress 178 did not have the ability to launch their own satellites either.

However, how many people from Fortress 178 had come to Luoyang City?

Suddenly, it seemed like the situation had become even more chaotic. Everyone was surprised because they had not previously thought Fortress 178 would get embroiled in this matter.

Even the commanders of Fortress 178 had the same thoughts.