Welcome to Ability Store

Chapter 254 - 253: May Your Soul Find Peace

I never really understood these things before.

The other angels in the alliance hardly pay attention to the organization’s behind-the-scenes affairs; their conversations never stray from hunting demons and upgrading abilities.

No matter how many people awaken as angels, they are still a minority compared to ordinary people.

This has resulted in many administrative tasks within the Angel Alliance that must be handled by ordinary people.

If demons want to infiltrate the organization, the behind-the-scenes company is obviously an ideal breakthrough point.

Of course, Elorie from a hundred years ago would never have imagined that demons would dare to encroach upon the Angel Alliance one day. Back then, the organization was filled with talented people, and the stench of demons could be detected from afar. The demons could only hide everywhere like sewer rats, completely in a disadvantageous position under the angels’ dominance. Group ambushes on the Holy Temple Treasure Vault were already among their few large-scale endeavors.

But after truly witnessing the future, her thoughts have greatly changed.

Elorie downloaded all these materials onto her own storage card.

When she returns, these companies that have dealt with the Angel Alliance should all be thoroughly examined.

"Buzz..."

Her phone suddenly vibrated twice.

"Huh?" Elorie was somewhat surprised. Because she feared issues with identity verification, she hadn’t activated the communication service, so her phone had been quite silent these days.

Could it be the store manager visiting this world again?

She took out her phone for a quick glance and found that it was a WeChat message, from none other than Honglian.

"Elorie, can you receive my message?"

"Where exactly are you?"

"We’re still looking for you. If safe, please respond quickly."

As for Elorie, the impression of the Red Lotus Team leader remained quite positive; she was diligent, responsible, and had a strong sense of independence. Although they hadn’t spent much time together, the feeling she gave off was very reliable. Seeing the message, Elorie realized that since the apocalypse had been rewritten, it was no surprise that previously ineffective software had now returned to normal.

After all, her phone was still connected to the public network to access information.

After pondering for a moment, she decided to simply report that she was safe, "I’m fine."

"Really? Where are you!? We have been looking for you for a long time!" The other side seemed suddenly excited.

"I’m sorry, I can’t say." Elorie typed, "I won’t return to the Dimensional Limit Mechanism anymore, thank you for your care before. Goodbye."

"What do you mean?"

"Why aren’t you coming back?" The other side continued to inquire.

Elorie shook her head, removed her from friends, and then exited the Red Lotus Team group chat.

Joining the Dimensional Limit Mechanism was an unexpected yet quite significant interlude in her search for demons. Were it not for this decision, she later wouldn’t have encountered Chen Xuan, Liu Shuyue, and Lin Qing. Although Elorie found the group members to be quite harmonious, she trusted the store manager more. Since Chen Xuan had said the mechanism was an enemy of the Ability Store, she had to sever ties with those people.

As the time reached ten-thirty at night, Elorie also finished her work for the day, packed her luggage, and left the library.

At this moment, there was still an hour and a half before closing time.

It wasn’t that she was tired, but leaving last every time would attract attention. She had to play the role of an ordinary Paris citizen, and someone who studies diligently until midnight in the library every day is clearly not quite common.

Elorie’s place to stay was in a small hotel just two streets away.

The security condition was alright; the key part was that they were willing to accept cash and didn’t check the identity of lodgers.

Today it was exceptionally quiet outside; barely anyone was visible.

Even the gang members who usually loved to cause a ruckus seemed to have relocated elsewhere, so much so that the usual ear-piercing noises were gone, making Elorie somewhat unaccustomed. However, Paris City was obviously still the city that never sleeps. The business district north of the Seine River was still lit with neon lights, and various advertisements projected by lasers floated one after another in the sky, symbolizing the city’s prosperity.

Elorie couldn’t help but let out a mocking laugh.

She constantly worried that such a future was merely a fleeting illusion, fearing that one day she would wake up and find herself back in that underground fortress called New Paris.

At least for tonight, her hometown was still intact.

Just then, a sedan suddenly crossed the street and stopped two or three meters away from her.

The car window rolled down, and the metallic reflection entered Elorie’s peripheral vision.

Then gunfire erupted.

The dense barrage of bullets from the muzzle swept toward Elorie, who instinctively dove to the side and rolled, yet still couldn’t outrun the bullets. Those bullets seemed able to predict her position, changing direction midair and chasing after her.

Instantly, Elorie was hit with several shots; the places hit felt like being hammered, the pain hadn’t even set in, yet numbness was already spreading throughout her body.

Almost instinctively, she raised her hand, a fierce wind emanating from her fingertips, swirling the car into shreds.

But more shouts came from behind.

"Over here!"

"Don’t let her run away!"

Elorie glanced back; many people had emerged from hidden places on the street, vaguely forming a blockade. They weren’t the common local thugs or gang members but were uniformly dressed in tactical vests, with goggles on their heads, holding all long-barreled automatic weapons.

Is this... an attack targeting her?

There was no time for Elorie to think.

She staggered and rushed into an alley, the sound of bullets grazing by her ears. Perhaps she’d been shot a few more times, her legs hardly cooperating, but entering the alley could prevent getting covered by more bullets. She inserted the storage card into the crack of a stone slab on the ground, then spread her wings, using the last bit of energy to lift off.

It didn’t matter how far or where she flew; if she could take flight, she could use building blind spots to escape the encirclement.

Elorie had just risen seven or eight meters off the ground when a figure flashed above.

A man darted towards her like a ghost, with black wings unfurling behind him, extending a large hand to grab her cheek, with a force that couldn’t be broken free. Using the momentum of a swoop, he brought her falling together, slamming her heavily to the ground!

Elorie heard only a buzzing sound as her whole head became muddled, her consciousness stagnant.

Her body endured piercing pain from head to toe, as if her limbs had disconnected from her brain. Not to mention resisting, the fall made it immensely difficult to even stand again.

Blood continuously trickled from wounds, and Elorie felt her body growing increasingly cold.

Footsteps advancing on the stone-paved road grew closer and closer.

The pursuers had already entered the alley.

She turned, lying back to face the adversaries. Even at the last moment, she didn’t want to show any weakness.

Seeing she couldn’t move, those people cautiously approached; one stepped forward, unholstered a pistol, aiming at her forehead.

The gunshot noise coincided with the last image in Elorie’s mind—a vision of the store manager.

...

After everyone withdrew, the man who intercepted the angel in midair jumped down from the rooftop, landing beside Elorie.

He checked the scene over, then pried out the storage card from a crack in the stone slab.

"... Quite the clever idea, but I had my eyes on you long before." Having pocketed the card, the man dialed a phone, "Hey, the intel was right."

"Damn, is it really an angel?" the voice on the other end cursed and swore, "You are sure it’s taken care of, right?"

"Of course, the ones I hired were company enforcers; they’re much more professional than ordinary thugs, at least they know how to finish the job."

"Alright, make sure the follow-up is sorted. I’m about to run for office soon, can’t afford slip-ups with things like this," the other side advised.

"Don’t worry, it’s just a normal armed robbery in Paris; not so uncommon." The man dismissed it nonchalantly. "The police should be here soon; I’ll tell them how to tidy up the scene."

"It’s all up to you."

The call was immediately ended.

"From the past... Elorie?" The man muttered, "There’s no moment to relax. Although you are the puppet of the Mother of Flesh, I still hope your soul will find peace."

Shrill sirens blared in the sky above the street.

Such street shootings would certainly have a lot of witnesses and police reports, so post-incident handling had to follow procedure. Yet, the man was already adept at this; he took out a wad of cash from his pocket, scattering it in the blood pool, then spun a button on his shirt, instantly changing his attire to a blue-and-yellow sheriff’s uniform.

"Andor Inspector!"

"Officer, what are you doing here?"

As soon as he walked out of the alley, officers jumping out of the hovercraft immediately recognized him, raising their hands in salute.

"Just passing by." The man waved them off, "Focus on work; handle the case first."