Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1268: Boss Luo’s Anti-Magic Zone

All around, hundreds of cold, ghostly chains glided in the air… They had no visible end, or perhaps no beginning, as if they came straight from the void.

Whether it was Heishui or Wang Hu, their limbs were all bound by the chains… both suspended in the air like criminals awaiting execution.

Heishui lowered her head. Her shattered golden vertical pupils slowly regained clarity, accompanied by a wave of weakness… She knew this was the price of letting her inner demonic nature surge and using a power she should never touch.

But what surprised her was that even though she finally used that power she had always avoided, nothing changed—perhaps things had become even worse… What exactly had happened?

She believed she wasn’t the only one confused. That ridiculously powerful one-armed brute must also be wondering the same.

Wang Hu indeed felt as if something inside him had been forcefully swallowed back down—something was about to awaken within him, yet the chains crushed it before it could surface.

Even so, his overwhelming battle intent was erased. At this moment he had returned to the familiar big, dumb oaf that Bu Bugao was used to seeing.

The demonic clouds in the sky had dispersed without anyone noticing… Heishui lifted her head, seeing only a quiet night sky sprinkled with faint stars.

She tried moving, and surprisingly, the chains didn’t tighten with her struggle—they loosened.

The chains began flowing again. Both she and Wang Hu were slowly lowered to the ground, released completely.A cold wind blew past, and Heishui shivered… She looked around and saw collapsed buildings. Not far away, a fallen pedestrian overpass had crushed a passing truck.

Within several kilometers, countless terrified cries echoed…

One chain rose in front of Heishui, floating like a spirit snake guided by a flute.

“This… I caused all this…” Heishui murmured, lowering her head. The faint sound of the flowing chains felt like a scolding.

“I…” She opened her mouth. “I… I won’t do it again. I’m sorry.”

After that, the chains retreated like snakes returning to their den. One by one, they vanished until only a single chain remained, shooting back into the sky and disappearing into the night.

Wang Hu stood nearby, staring at his hand, brows tightly furrowed.

…

After a moment, Heishui cautiously glanced at Wang Hu and gritted her teeth. “Let’s end it here… If we start fighting again, those chains will definitely return. It seems like they exist to protect this city.”

Wang Hu didn’t speak—only nodded quietly.

He didn’t know what those chains were, but there was no deception in them—the fear they brought him far surpassed what he felt even when facing Long Xiruo.

At that time he had been forced to give up resistance. But now, he couldn't even summon the desire to resist.

“You should go,” Wang Hu said quietly. “Train properly. You’re strong.”

Then he leapt from the remains of the half-collapsed building.

Heishui opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing. Her brows tightened—then a tiny black shadow hopped beside her.

“Piglet.” Her tense expression softened. She gave a gentle smile, picked Piglet up, and comforted it softly. “It’s okay now.”

Piglet looked around nervously. “Big sister… are we going to leave again?”

Heishui stared at the destruction across kilometers… Surprisingly, though people were injured, nobody had died from the quake.

Perhaps… because of the chains.

“We’re probably not welcome in this city…”

She sighed. But once they left—where could they go?

…

Fire trucks and police cars sped down the streets, rushing to rescue trapped civilians. The source of the tremors—the half-ruined Zhong family building—was eerily silent.

Liu Minghao and Wei Zidào successfully regrouped with Bu Bugao. Before the building collapsed completely, they managed to locate the injured. By burning through a shocking number of new talismans and defensive tools, they barely held up a protective barrier to prevent everyone from being buried alive.

“It… stopped?” Bu Bugao whispered, trembling. “Outside?”

“I’ll go look.” Wei Zidào pried open a plank and climbed carefully upward.

Liu Minghao frowned at the injured gathered inside. “Why are there children here?”

He saw several researchers—some wounded, some lucky—huddled in a corner with a few frightened children.

Bu Bugao tugged Liu Minghao aside. “Senior, I found some documents… please take a look.”

Liu Minghao accepted them. At first he skimmed, but soon his reading slowed—his face growing solemn.

Finally he snorted coldly. “Superpower research… live experiments? Hmph! The Zhong Family dares go this far!”

“Senior… what should we do?” Bu Bugao asked nervously. This didn’t look like a situation where he could earn credit—instead it felt dangerous.

“You can’t handle this. I can’t either.” Liu Minghao shook his head irritably. “Last time Zhong Luochen came into contact with the extraordinary, I reported it. And the higher-ups did nothing. If they still look the other way after this… I’ll quit!”

“And these people?”

“Take them all back to the operations office first.” Liu Minghao said. “We can’t let these researchers and gifted children scatter into society. We’ll detain them temporarily.”

After a while, Wei Zidào returned. The fighting had stopped. He didn’t find the big demon—only ran into Wang Hu, who was back in idiot-mode and completely clueless.

If this were earlier, Wei Zidào might have interrogated him. But after witnessing Wang Hu’s explosive power, he didn’t dare risk provoking him again.

Strangely, despite being terrifying, Wang Hu let Bu Bugao scold and hit him casually… an odd sight indeed.

“Let’s get everyone out,” Liu Minghao sighed. “And count how many Duanpian we have left… I don’t know how many saw the demon cloud. They probably won’t be enough. Zidào, after delivering these people, go back to the branch immediately and request reinforcements… or I really will quit!”

…

“Save my child… please save my child…”

“Someone! Someone fainted here!”

“Help! Move this beam—my boyfriend’s trapped! Please, help!”

“Ambulance! Ambulance!!”

Chaos… cries of sorrow spread through the night. On the half-ruined Zhong Family building, Luo Qiu, still in his pajamas, quietly watched it all.

Behind him, Miss Maid held a set of clothes on her arm… but the master had not changed.

“Master…”

Luo Qiu slowly opened his eyes. “I’m thinking… how to better fulfill my contract with it in the future.”

“Master, what do you intend to do?” You Ye stepped forward.

Luo Qiu said, “Do you have any ideas?”

“You have already decided, Master,” You Ye whispered. “Just follow your own will.”

Luo Qiu mused, “Only appearing when disaster happens feels… negligent. It doesn’t break the contract, but preventing trouble before it starts may be better. Let this place become… a vacuum.”

“Master intends to prohibit all extraordinary powers from acting within this city?”

Luo Qiu shook his head. “Keep it at the bare minimum… After all, there are still so many demons living here. If they can’t use even a little bit of power, then by tomorrow morning plenty of them will probably revert to their true forms. Human-caused disasters, demon-caused disasters—so long as things don’t escalate to what happened tonight, they won’t really harm the city… And there are people whose job it is to handle such matters.”

“It will exceed the expenditure…” Miss Maid softly reminded.

Luo Qiu smiled. With the breeze brushing by, he said gently, “I promised, didn’t I.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand toward the sky and spread his fingers, then slowly pressed downward… The moment his palm aligned with the horizon, the entire city—extending outward to the suburbs, covering the same range once spanned by the underground spiritual vein—instantly fell into a kind of vacuum.

“All right.” Boss Luo clapped his hands. “Since I can’t sleep anyway… let’s go help too. We’ll just pitch in like ordinary people.”

“Understood.” Miss Maid gave a slight smile, then lifted the clothing in her hands. “Master, aren’t you planning to change clothes first?”

“…Sorry.”

That smile… carried a hint of sternness.

…

…

Inside her room, Li Zi opened the window and looked into the distance… When the demon cloud appeared, she had already been asleep, but was naturally jolted awake.

She had no idea what kind of nerves those two big demons had to suddenly start fighting right here in the city… Did they forget that a True Dragon also lived here?

In the end, Li Zi never sensed any True Dragon aura. Instead, those two terrifying demonic energies abruptly vanished without a trace. Everything felt strangely anticlimactic.

She didn’t actively try to interact with the transcendent forces of the Divine Land, but she still needed to know what was going on… If nothing else, she needed to be ready to run!

With this thought, Li Zi raised her small hand and softly called, “Snow Sprite, go help me see what’s happening over there.”

A bit of frost gathered in her palm, rotating, forming a small sphere—yet just as the Snow Sprite was about to take shape, it suddenly dissolved.

Li Zi blinked, stunned. She hadn’t forgotten the incantation… She’d eaten plenty tonight… so why wasn’t it working?

She tried again.

Failed.

Failed.

Failed.

“What’s happening…” Li Zi trembled in fright. She finally realized the truth—her demonic energy was clearly still inside her body, yet she simply couldn’t use it!

“Sleep! It must be an illusion! Everything will be fine once I sleep!”

Without another word, Li Zi dove back under her blanket, pulling it up over her head… No matter what, this home still gave her a sense of safety.

Otherwise she really would have run away in terror…

…

Windchaser dashed toward a wall, leaping at the last moment to run straight up along it. But after only a few steps, he toppled straight back to the ground.

It wasn’t just him—Lang Yong and Lang Wu were doing the same thing. And each time, they crashed right back down.

“What’s happening… my power?”

“Wolf Sovereign, ours too…”

Mo Xiaofei walked over, frowning. “Don’t bother. I can’t fly either. And this is the most I can do.”

He waved his hand—on the ground, a pebble trembled, then floated shakily upward. With a shout, Mo Xiaofei propelled it—

It arced perhaps two meters before falling back to the ground.

“What in the world…” Windchaser looked toward Zi Xing, who in his impression always knew a lot. But ever since returning from Mount Tai, she hadn’t smiled once. Always cold, always at his side. And constantly asking him the same question: When do you plan to head for the plateau?

Zi Xing shook her head. She had tested many times herself, all in vain. “The spiritual energy of heaven and earth seems to have frozen… Demonic energy inside the body is normal, but it’s like the connection to the surroundings is cut off. Our bodies seem sealed away from the space around us, so the demonic energy can’t be transmitted outward. The same applies to Lord Mo’s psychic abilities.”

“So this is…” Mo Xiaofei thought for a moment. “Like the anti-magic zones in video games?”

“Anti-magic?” Zi Xing paused, then nodded. “Roughly the same idea.”

“Earlier…” Mo Xiaofei looked toward the night sky—the direction where he had sensed those two terrifying forces.

He had intended to head there, but once he arrived he found widespread destruction and was forced to stop and help the injured. And bit by bit, his abilities simply vanished.

Windchaser found him soon after, along with the Windchaser Youth Brigade. Yet everyone experienced the same problem—their abilities were gone.

“Could this be related to the two terrifying demonic energies earlier…” Zi Xing muttered. “If only Lord Long were here… she would know.”

Mo Xiaofei suddenly said, “Maybe… this is actually a good thing.”

“Big bro?” Windchaser blinked.

Mo Xiaofei said earnestly, “If no one can use powers, then everyone is equal. And that means disasters like earlier won’t happen again. For the people living here—and for the city itself—this is a good thing.”

He patted Windchaser’s head and smiled. “All right, enough talking. Don’t worry about the abilities for now… maybe it’s only temporary. Let’s focus on saving people! Windchaser Youth Brigade, move out!”

“Here!!”

“Save lives!”

As Mo Xiaofei rushed off with Windchaser and the other little demons, completely carefree, Zi Xing frowned.

Wolf Sovereign… such closeness to humans may not be a good thing.

“Miss, what about us?” Lang Yong asked quietly.

Zi Xing sighed. “Help the Wolf Sovereign… It’s improper for servants to stand idle while their master works.”

But aren’t you standing idle…?

…

After the group lifted a fallen streetlight and rescued the trapped pedestrian, Mo Xiaofei wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Even without abilities, his strength—bolstered by True Dragon blood—was far greater than an ordinary person’s.

“All right, the ambulance should arrive soon. Let’s help somewhere else.” He looked at Windchaser. “What’s wrong?”

Windchaser kept his head lowered, troubled. Finally he looked up and frowned. “Big bro… without your abilities, are you really okay?”

“What would I not be okay about?” Mo Xiaofei asked.

“But… without your abilities, you won’t be able to do many things. You can’t fly anymore either. Don’t you care?”

“Well… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care.” Mo Xiaofei exhaled, then smiled. “But me… I wasn’t born able to fly in the first place.”

(End of Chapter)