novel520 Chapter 420: Influence!
Chapter 420: Influence!
At this moment, Clear Mine City was enveloped by an overwhelming oppressive pressure...
Whether it was the Lower District or the Upper District, all residents instinctively sought out the source of this suffocating force.
Then, they saw it—a figure silently suspended in midair...
A tall silhouette with black wings sprouting from its back, standing in the void, exuding an aura that was both holy and dangerously lethal.
Like a judgment being delivered.
Those in Clear Mine City who knew Loren and were familiar with his deeds all felt their pupils contract in that instant, their faces unconsciously twisting into expressions of terror.
This scene... they felt like they'd seen it somewhere before...
Except for the owner of a run-down grocery store in a remote slum in the Lower District—maybe no one else had a smile on their face.
...
Floating high in the sky, Loren opened his eyes.With an utterly calm expression, he activated his Legendary Ability—[Puppet of Fate].
Countless threads—golden and black, invisible to ordinary eyes—descended from the void, blanketing the entire Clear Mine City.
Everyone still inside the city suddenly felt their breath inexplicably catch in their throats...
They had no idea what was happening.
Nor did they know how to respond...
Up in the sky, Loren raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
"Snap!"
The next moment.
Countless golden and black threads silently crept around the necks of most people down below.
The two types of threads twisted and intertwined, forming a mottled noose looped around their throats.
Then, Raven's voice rang out again.
"Master, are you really going to do this?"
"Maybe... there are other choices..."
Loren, standing in the sky, looked down at those terrified, stunned people below and calmly shook his head.
"Raven."
"They made their choice many years ago..."
As his words fell, accompanied by Raven's sigh, a massive cheer erupted in Clear Mine City below!
A bizarre carnival began!
Most of the Upper District's residents, the surrendered Energy Department personnel, all members of the Resistance, and a small portion of the Lower District's people...
All of them, with terror in their eyes, walked out into the streets, uncontrollably breaking into dance!!
The dance they performed was utterly ridiculous.
Their hands were raised high above their heads, palms pressed together!
Their eyes were filled with nothing but panic and fear!
Their faces, twisted by an unknown force, were forced into ugly grins that showed not a hint of joy!
Their waists were unnaturally stiff!
Their legs were awkwardly kicking outward in complete disharmony!
Like a little girl just learning to dance, clumsily showing off her moves...
The entire Clear Mine City was consumed by this bizarre, twisted dance!!
Even the war mechas brought by the Resistance raised their mechanical arms high, roaring their engines as they danced wildly to their fullest...
The few "innocents" in the city who still retained their freedom, after witnessing this absurd, carnival-like dance of madness, all fled into the nearest buildings, physically locking themselves away...
They were terrified that they, too, might lose control and rush into the streets to dance!!
"The innocent fear; the guilty despair."
That was the unique atmosphere of Clear Mine City right now...
Inside a temporary office on the third floor of the Interstellar Hunter Association in the Upper District.
A silver-haired old man stood by the window, gazing up at the towering figure in the sky with a look of bewilderment, murmuring to himself:
"Loren... what exactly are you trying to do?"
...
On the rooftop of the Interstellar Hunter Association building, a graceful figure gazed out over everything happening in the city, her expression decidedly odd.
"You tell me not to get involved, but you're the one making the first move..."
After criticizing Loren's actions under her breath, she silently lit a communication spell within her sea of consciousness and issued a command:
"My followers, each of you find an opportunity to rob the Resistance!"
"Whether you become major figures depends entirely on this wave!"
"We're betting on this old, broken ship called the Federation!!"
...
Lower District.
In the most remote slum, there was a rundown, quiet grocery store.
An unkempt old man with a big beard sat on the roof of his shop, staring off into the distant revelry. As he furiously chugged from a bottle of alcohol, he roared with laughter:
"Yeah! That's it! Little Loren! Damn well done!!"
"Kill them all! Everyone has to pay!!"
"Hahaha!!!"
The old man's laughter was thick and wild!
It traveled far...
After laughing for a while, the bearded old man's laughter abruptly cut off.
The bottle in his hand quietly slipped away...
The half-full bottle tumbled from the grocery store's roof, crashing onto the moss-covered steps at the entrance.
The cheap glass bottle shattered.
The liquor inside splashed across the steps, trickling down layer by layer...
At that moment.
Loren, high above in the sky, suddenly froze.
He turned his head to look toward the grocery store, his expression unreadable.
Already at the limit, huh...
After a moment of silence.
Loren reached up and lightly tipped the top hat on his head, then gave a slight bow.
He symbolically doffed his hat toward the grocery store, whispering a blessing:
"Good night, Boss William."
May misfortune and resentment no longer joyfully haunt you, and may you find eternal peace from now on...
...
Lower District.
Gray Zone, "Sin Street."
A young boy with a long scar across his face sat at the entrance of a shop, looking up at the sky with an expression full of both admiration and resentment...
A small revolver hung at his waist, its surface covered in strange graffiti.
Not far down the street, a few guys were still uncontrollably performing that ridiculous dance.
"Mr. Loren, I haven't grown up yet..."
"You should've saved some of those guys for me."
As Little John grumbled, the dancing crowd on the nearby street suddenly stopped...
Seeing this, Little John jumped up in excitement.
He pulled out the small revolver from his waist and, hopping cheerfully, made his way toward those figures frozen stiff in the middle of the street...
...
Lower District.
Inside a poor neighborhood near "Sin Street."
A clearly modified pickup truck, equipped with heavy weapons, was parked in front of a rundown house.
In the driver's seat sat a burly man in a leather jacket, with a gray-green revolver holstered at his waist.
He had rolled down the bulletproof glass on the driver's side, stuck his head out, and was staring up at the sky with curiosity.
"Mr. Loren, you really did become a major figure in the Federation, huh..."
"In this world, under your influence, what's it going to turn into?"
Not far from this heavily armored pickup, a few similarly terrified individuals stood frozen in the middle of the street, awkwardly and clumsily dancing.
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