Chapter 210: An Unexpected Incident
Sitting on the back of the little Deathwing, letting it carry him for a distance, Zhou Ning couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Leoncavallo's four-act opera… Zhou Ning silently recited the words in his mind.
He glanced at his current miniaturized state — the remaining time was 14 minutes and 32 seconds, ticking down constantly. No matter how many times he clicked, he couldn't cancel it. It seemed he'd have to stay small until the timer ended.
He hadn't expected that this shabby little book could even exploit mechanical malfunctions — truly unbelievable.
Back when he saw this book in the serialized drama, he had already treated it with due caution, but it seemed he had still underestimated it.
Its abilities exceeded his imagination, and it seemed to have a will of its own. Living unknown artifacts like this were the most troublesome — once it fixed its sights on you, it was like being targeted by Death itself in Final Destination; danger could strike at any time.
Since crossing into this world, this was the first time Zhou Ning had felt such a headache — he wished he could tear it into pieces.
At that moment, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky, accompanied by strong headwinds. After all, Deathwing was still in its juvenile stage, and its flapping wings were starting to struggle against the wind.
From his Observation Haki, Zhou Ning could sense a powerful aura belonging to Robbins drawing closer. Clearly, the man had not given up his pursuit — perhaps he had even locked onto Zhou Ning's location through some unknown means.
Wait…
Zhou Ning's face suddenly changed. The raindrops stung sharply on his skin, making a sizzling sound. They were clearly highly corrosive. Even his hat and clothes were being eaten away, leaving small holes.
"Damn it!"
Zhou Ning couldn't help cursing. He never imagined that one day, he'd be fighting a battle of wits with the weather.
And of all times, it had to be acid rain now — and not just any acid rain, but strong acid, almost like sulfuric acid.
While this kind of rain might not be fatal to a supernatural being, in his shrunken state, it was like taking a bath in sulfuric acid — it hurt like hell!
With a thought, a layer of black Phoenix Battle Suit once again covered his body.
This place was between the Trade Zone and the Seton River District — a wide, open area with no cover. Under the combined assault of acid rain and powerful headwinds, not only was little Deathwing struggling, but even the glider and short-flight functions of his cape would be useless.
Faced with such extreme conditions, Zhou Ning quickly came up with an idea.
He'd try using the Lucky Clover to counter it!
With no other choice in this critical moment, he acted immediately.
Without hesitation, he took the Lucky Clover from his inventory and used it.
A green light rose from the clover's surface and merged into his body.
A cumulonimbus cloud formed in midair, followed by a loud clap of thunder. The acid rain suddenly turned into a thunderstorm. Then, a strong gust of wind came out of nowhere, and the wind direction flipped from headwind to tailwind, pushing him rapidly forward.
At the same time, his body returned to normal size. Just as he stored little Deathwing away, a sudden sense of weightlessness struck — his body plummeted straight down.
Boom!
The ground shook slightly. Zhou Ning had used his incredible agility to cushion the fall, but still landed heavily, his head spinning, vision speckled with golden stars.
His health bar had dropped by more than half.
"When fortune comes, even heaven helps; when it leaves, heroes are left helpless…" Zhou Ning muttered, recalling the heart-pounding moment just now.
He retracted the Phoenix Battle Suit, pushed himself up off the ground, and adjusted the hat that was nearly blown away by the wind. Looking around, he realized he was at an intersection in the Old City District. It was late at night, so there was no one around. On one side of the road was a construction site, currently inactive.
He glanced at a street sign — heading back the way he came would take him to the Trade Zone, and from there, it would be about a 25-minute walk to his home.
"So this is the Lucky Clover's power? It actually blew me all the way to the Old City District."
Just as he was considering heading straight home, he heard the urgent sound of horse hooves. A carriage approached from a distance.
But then, an even stronger gust of wind than before blew through. Zhou Ning looked up and saw a bundle of steel rebar on the construction site swaying violently. With a loud snap, it fell.
Bang!
A horse let out a tragic, high-pitched neigh. The speeding carriage was struck by the rebar, rolling violently across the road. The entire carriage shattered, debris scattering everywhere. Its cargo spilled out — and some of it landed right at Zhou Ning's feet, as if deliberately delivered to him.
Zhou Ning stood dumbfounded. Especially when he saw the corpse lying not far away…
Although the face was mangled beyond recognition, Zhou Ning still recognized him — wasn't this the unlucky noble who had spent lavishly at the secret gathering, buying two unknown artifacts?
His Aura Sight had already foretold this man's death.
And thinking back, the "Joshua Lambert" written in Robbins' book should indeed refer to him. Even the manner of death matched the description exactly:
Joshua Lambert had a careless habit of leaving important things behind at secret gatherings. On his way back to retrieve them, a gust of wind would blow steel rebar from a construction site, striking him and killing both him and his coachman.
Zhou Ning was supposed to have nothing to do with this incident, but the Lucky Clover had brought him here, giving him the chance to acquire two unknown artifacts — and thus tying him to this death.
Based on his speculation, and recalling how Brynd Morton's encounter with the mermaid ended in the simulator, items obtained like this tended to be lost in a twisted way. Now, by appearing here, Zhou Ning might well become a suspect in Joshua Lambert's murder.
Was all this arranged by fate?
Zhou Ning felt his scalp tingle. At that moment, he suddenly realized just how much hidden mystery and madness lurked beneath the surface of this game world he thought he knew so well.
He took a deep breath, crouched down quickly, and picked up the two items at his feet.
From the corpse, he also found a stack of coins, a ring of keys, and an identity plaque. Without stopping to examine them, he stuffed everything into his inventory.
Next, he had to clean the scene… do everything he could to avoid being dragged into this "accident."
With his purple talent Criminal Genius, Zhou Ning swiftly erased all traces of his presence.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully, things would go smoothly from here on…
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