Lucien stepped out of the sky bus's land stop and followed the group of people entering the golden barrier.
Ordinary citizens lined up on the left while awakeners lined on the right side.
A floating ufo-like machine scanned an ordinary citizen and immediately captured all the registered data.
"Romen. Citizen of Dale City. You may enter the city and leave after ten days."
"Lola. Citizens of Rain City— "
Ordinary citizens passed through the scans and white mist sprayed all over their body before they smoothly entered the golden barrier.
The awakeners got the same treatment but the number of detection tools...
Isn't that too many?
Lucien gulped at the sight of countless floating UFOs shuttling back and forth.
Are there awakeners like him trying to sneak in too?
Should he just remove the skill and enter naturally—
"Ziyo from Iron City, an unregistered awakener. Please register first if you want to enter the city."
Gahhh!!
Not here too!
Lucien was almost tempted to immediately register, but he braked in.
No, no, his ability is too special. What if the bureaus noticed and did something...
So, in the end...just sneak in?
[Skill duration effect: 20 minutes]
Okay, enough time.
Lucien steeled his heart and swiftly— followed behind an ordinary person.
The UFOs here aren't as many as the line over there.
It's not like he's afraid, okay?
Lucien suppressed his landlord's aura to the minimum, trying to make his presence as faint as possible...
But the UFO's detector over the ordinary person's side was more sensitive that Lucien thought.
Not to mention an ordinary awakener, someone with Lucien's landlord aura that made people feel like he's way stronger...
How could the UFO not detect it?
"Warning! Warning! An invisible entity is detected! Energy wavelength... irregular! Irregular!"
A blaring alarm suddenly sounded all over the checkpoints and a group of soldiers immediately poured out of the post stations, each of them holding a shimmering gun— definitely not your ordinary gun, maybe a magic gun!
Lucien's face turned pale with fright.
Ahhh! He has been discovered!
The UFOs immediately scanned around like a hunting dog, leading the group of soldiers wielding magic guns to search for the invisible intruder— that poor landlord.
Lucien's soul flew out of his body but the landlord, already toughened by last night's battle, immediately brewed an evil plan.
"Sorry, Mumu, you— "
Lucien uncovered the camouflage skill on Mumu and immediately tossed him out.
"Mu??"
The rough movement startled the little cub awake but the first thing he saw was the sky...and then a group of scary humans with buzzing energies in their hands.
0_0
Mumu's tiny eyes widened like two big eggs and he immediately knew what was going on.
"MUUU!!!!"
—Bad uncle!! Throwing Mumu as bait!!
Seeing a slime cub appearing out of thin air, the soldiers were immediately distracted and Lucien hurriedly sneaked into the barrier, facing no resistance upon entering.
[Sorry, Mumu! I forgot that unregistered pets can't enter the barrier anyway!]
Leaving is easy but entering is difficult.
The soldiers saw a slime cub and subconsciously lowered their guards.
"Hah. Another smuggling case. These stinky merchants really like to smuggle out living monsters, huh."
"Muuu....TAT"
"Is this slime farm-breed or wild?"
"Muuu...QAQ"
"If they try to smuggle it in, it must be wild."
"Quick. Carry it into the city and lock it. Don't attract other monsters' attention!"
"Muuuu!ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ"
The soldiers ignored Mumu's changing face and captured him with a special box, but before they could do that...
Mumu flipped over, showing his belly, his body still and unmoving.
Mumu's ultimate trick— playing dead!
!
"Damn. The slime suddenly died."
"Slime cubs are all fragile, anyway."
"What do we do now?"
"Put it into the box and sell it, of course."
The soldiers caught the "dead" Mumu and transported him right into the barrier, intending to send it to the market.
But Lucien, who had been waiting for them in his invisible state—
Immediately snatched over the box and used the same skill to cover Mumu back into his range!
"Ah! The box disappeared!!"
"Damn it! Those smugglers!!"
"Don't shoot, don't shoot. There are ordinary people around."
"Tsk. The slime is dead, anyway. It's not worth much and won't be dangerous. Just forget it."
"Focus on catching the smuggler! They're more dangerous!"
"Tsk. I swear I found this smuggler— I'll sell them as slaves."
...?? Grindhall City sell and buy slaves?
True to the soldiers' determination to get a new slave to sell, they brought a long-snout hound with tentacles flying wildly above its head.
"Woof!"
The long-snouted hound immediately sniffed Mumu's scent in the box and rushed towards Lucien's place.
Lucien thought of slowing exploring the city but now—
Ahhh! Bad dogs!
Lucien ran wildly while whispering to the slime in the box.
"Mumu? Ha, ha, My baby? Are you okay? Huff! Huff! I'm sorry, I have to do that! If not, they won't open the barrier for you!"
"Mu! Mu!"
—Bad uncle! Bad uncle!
The slime cub swore that if Lucien needed his healing ability one day— he would delay it by a few minutes! Hmph!
After Lucien coaxed the fragile ancestor, he finally looked up.
Shaa...
A bustling street, a mix of modern and medieval spread wide in front of his eyes.
"Buy a magic rabbit! Farm-breed, docile and cute! Cheap, cheap, just one silver!"
"Monster meat! Monster meat!"
This street was not even a hunter market but all sorts of magical goods were displayed casually.
A bird with a cat head flew past Lucien leisurely, handsome men and women in various strange clothes chattered happily.
Instead of land cars, medieval carriages pulled by horse-sized bulls and strange animals passed by, a sight that could never appear in the relatively backward Civil City.
3D holographic ads cluttered in the morning sky and some sky carriages flew through it once in a while.
In the distance, an even more glamorous building painted in gold loomed over the bustling streets.
Lucien couldn't see just how big the city was but one question immediately popped up in his mind.
So...how to find the black market?