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Arden shot Mors a glare, and Mors instantly felt as if he were being stared down by some terrifying existence. He subconsciously tightened his grip on the gun in his hand, even clamping his tail between his legs.
"Forget it, Yiji, Belle, let's go!"
As he spoke, Arden pulled Yiji and Belle along, turning around as if preparing to leave.
"Wait!"
Arden's action greatly exceeded Lucius's expectations. He called out to the three of them, "Where are you going?"
"If this place won't keep me, there's always another place that will. Naturally, we're going to find Pompey."
"What do you want with the boss?"
Lucius felt as if he had been played, and at the same time felt inexplicably nervous.
"Of course, to help him win the Tour de Inferno and stabilize his position as Overlord... That way I can also earn a living and support my family!"
As he said this, Arden rubbed Yiji's and Belle's heads. "You know, raising a wife and kids is very expensive."
"Fine, I'll take you to Boss Pompey."
Lucius suddenly relented, his expression uncertain. Clearly, Arden had ill intentions and was extremely troublesome—neither keeping him nor letting him go felt right.
If he forcibly kept them, Lucius felt his group probably couldn't win. So, he might as well send this walking disaster over to Pompey. Moreover, this wasn't a bad thing for Lucius.
No matter what Arden's true purpose was—whether it was really to earn a living or something else—as long as Pompey's attention was drawn away, Lucius's own plans could proceed more smoothly.
If Arden managed to take Pompey down, that would be even better. This "killing with a borrowed knife" idea tempted him greatly.
...
Outside the camp, Arden said goodbye to Big Orangutan, then followed Lucius's off-road vehicle to a relatively large town.
This was Pompey's usual place of residence. Aside from a few trusted confidants, no one knew about it.
A circle of simple houses surrounded an open space. In this small plaza, aside from Arden's group of three, everyone else belonged to The Vanquishers. When they saw the youthful and beautiful girls Yiji and Belle, whistles immediately rose and fell in waves.
"..."
Arden frowned, then wrapped an arm around Yiji and Belle respectively, declaring his ownership.
Yiji enjoyed being in Arden's embrace, while Belle didn't react too strongly either. Compared to being taken advantage of a little, she hated those people's harassment even more.
When the surrounding bikers saw Arden's "life winner" posture, the original whistles instantly turned into boos.
"Who are you people?"
Pompey's voice was deep. Unlike Grandmaster Yixuan's casual demeanor, it carried the authority of someone in power.
With a sturdy build, deep-set eyes, and a well-groomed beard, he was completely different from those sloppy middle-aged men. However, for some reason, his complexion looked rather poor.
"Boss, you're back!"
When Lucius saw Pompey, he put on a flattering expression, just like Bellum earlier. "These three are here to join The Vanquishers."
"This doesn't seem like your usual style, Lucius. Aren't you the one who cares most about seniority and merit-based distribution?"
Pompey was somewhat dissatisfied.
The Vanquishers welcomed all capable people, but everything still had to follow the rules and go through layers of selection.
Directly coming to the camp to meet Overlord Pompey was extremely rare. Usually, only influential figures from the Outer Ring could do that. Arden and the other two were dressed like city folk, clearly having arrived in the Outer Ring only a few days ago.
"Boss, it's like this..."
Lucius described the glorious deeds of Arden's trio.
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Pompey immediately became interested and began carefully examining the three of them.
Hmm, they indeed looked aloof and self-admiring, neither servile nor arrogant, and fairly upright—unlike those treacherous-looking types.
"Interesting. Then... start as brother-level members."
With an appreciative expression on his face, Pompey nodded.
The Vanquishers were in dire need of fresh blood, and Pompey felt that the three of them were quite good—especially Arden. His righteous aura was completely different from the rough and free style of the Outer Ring.
"Boss, you've worked hard on your trip. Please have a good rest."
As he spoke, Lucius stepped forward and poured Pompey a cup of Fuel Drink.
Lucius had been doing this kind of tea-pouring and water-serving work for more than ten years. Even after rising to a top position, he still did it. That was why he had earned Pompey's trust.
However, just as Pompey took the cup and was about to drink the Fuel Drink in one gulp—
!"
The cup suddenly shattered for no apparent reason, and the Fuel Drink spilled all over the ground.
!!!
Everyone present was stunned.
"Next time use a better cup. It can't even handle this much force."
Pompey didn't pay much attention to it, assuming it was due to his grip being too strong and the poor quality of the cup.
"I'll pour you another cup right away," Lucius said hurriedly.
"No need! Breaking things as soon as I get back—what bad luck!"
Pompey waved his hand, stood up, and walked toward the house where he lived.
Lucius's expression instantly darkened. He couldn't understand how a perfectly good cup suddenly shattered, as if someone were deliberately opposing him.
Afterward, he also prepared to leave, but before going, he shot Arden a glare.
"..."
Arden felt extremely wronged by that glare. He could swear on Yixuan Shifu's beautiful legs that the cup breaking had absolutely nothing to do with him.
However, the cup shattering was indeed suspicious. He had seen clearly just now—it wasn't broken by Pompey's grip, but by a fleeting streak of black light.
"My husband, I think something's off."
It wasn't just Arden. Yiji also sensed something wrong.
"Yeah, someone deliberately shattered the cup."
"Someone did it?"
Belle looked shocked. "Was it to stop Pompey from drinking that Fuel Drink?"
"Probably..."
Arden nodded. "We should be careful too. Didn't expect there to be a hidden master even in the Outer Ring."
To silently shatter a cup without even Pompey noticing—even on Yunkui Summit, only Arden, Yixuan, and Ju Fufu could probably pull that off.
"Tonight, we'd better not split up."
"Mm."
Yiji had no objections. She and Arden were already one entity—how could they separate?
"T-Together!?"
On Belle's side, she seemed to imagine something unhealthy, and her face instantly turned bright red.
"What are you thinking? Just one room is enough. We don't need to sleep together."
Arden patted Belle's head and laughed helplessly.
"S-So that's how it is!"
Belle let out a heavy sigh of relief.
The three of them left the small plaza to look for a place to stay for the night.
However, just after they left, in a shadowy corner of the plaza, a black silhouette flashed past, as if it had never existed at all.
...
Nicely put, they were probationary members. Less nicely put, they were errand runners. But Arden and the others had no awareness of doing grunt work at all. They spent a large sum of money to rent the best house here, then started eating, drinking, and having fun, completely in tourist mode.
Until night finally arrived.
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