The shadowy stranger appearing on the rooftop leapt down.

The rooftop was a full six floors above the ground, and an ordinary person falling so abruptly onto the concrete surface would at least suffer a fracture. However, this shadowy stranger was by no means an ordinary person; she landed without making any cushioning movement, immediately shifting into a rapid sprint, like an arrow shot from a bow, toward the dozen or so monsters surrounding me.

Yes, "she"—the shadowy stranger was a young woman in her twenties.

She had a dignified appearance, a long black ponytail, healthy wheat-colored skin, and a body as lean and athletic as a cheetah, reminiscent of a vibrant gym enthusiast with a toned physique. She wore a black Impermanence uniform, wielding a sharp, blood-stained Evil Sword. As she moved at high speed, the reflection on the blade elongated swiftly, transforming into a straight sharp light that instantly struck the face of the foremost monster.

The first monster's head was half cut off horizontally, in a split second—a time within which even the human brain's maximum reflex nerves couldn't respond—the remaining dozen monsters reacted intensely.

It was as if explosives were planted under their feet; these monsters went from stationary to peak speed in the blink of an eye, involving the use of mana. Within the same weight range, no animal could sprint as fast as they did. The mana enfolding their bodies transformed them into beast-shaped siege weapons, able to crash through buildings, let alone the bodies of flesh and blood.

But the woman's combat power comprehensively surpassed the monsters. Whether reflex nerves or movement speed, she held an absolute advantage. Like a nimble and skilled bullfighter, she easily found weaving space to dodge amidst the charging and biting formation of the monsters, and as she brushed past them, the dazzling sword light flashed again, taking the lives of two monsters on the spot.

If it were a pack of carnivorous wild animals, they might realize they'd hit iron by now, yet these monsters showed no hint of fear, even seemed deeply provoked, and forgot about me, the "soft target," in their midst, roaring in fearless defiance, crazily launching counterattacks at the woman.

Judging by the mana fluctuations and actual combat performance, this woman had the strength of Residence Level. Although it's sometimes embarrassing to compare with Agent Kong, her speed and strength were slightly inferior to Agent Kong's level, while her technique far surpassed his.

The combined strength of these monsters certainly exceeded that of the woman, but actual combat can't be calculated like that. Without using hot weapons, a human with ten times the physical qualities of an ordinary person can even become a hundred-man or thousand-man enemy, a super military general in legendary stories, akin to a god descending to earth in ancient times. The distribution of strength among ten people versus concentrated in one person is vastly different; that's the importance of density.

This woman's combat awareness was outstanding, effectively exploiting her ability advantage and armed advantage. Through positioning, she avoided getting surrounded by clusters of monsters, while utilizing the length advantage of a straight sword to deliver lethal strikes at a safe distance.

After a few rounds, the number of monsters decreased to single digits. Her combat seemed like a monotonous task she had performed countless times, her face remaining serious, yet with no unease, slaughtering unperturbed. Concise, efficient, direct to the critical point.

When the number of monsters dwindled to only three, as if thinking "it's about time to wrap this up," she suddenly dashed forward, her long sword igniting with an orange flame, the flaming sword light severing the heads of the last two monsters.

One head rolled to my feet.

The battle ended.

The woman turned her gaze toward me, blood dripping from the surface of the Evil Sword. She did not put away her weapon, her gaze still maintained a guarded posture. I walked toward her.

"—Don't move."

Her eerie voice came from behind me—she had closed in on my back with high-speed movement, the still-dripping Evil Sword poised beside my neck.

What an uninspiring threat; I had such a thought while asking, "Who are you?"

"That's my line." The woman said, full of alertness, "Which power do you belong to and why are you here?"

"Which power, you mean?" I counter-questioned.

"Don't answer a question with a question."

She spoke in a threatening tone while seemingly observing me cautiously, "Strange, I don't perceive any mana fluctuations... Could you really be just an ordinary survivor? But how could a survivor casually stand in the middle of the street, especially a child, at this time..."

It's normal that she cannot perceive my mana fluctuations.

In the past, others couldn't perceive my mana fluctuations because my existence was too immense, creating an 'elephant without shape' effect. Currently, here, my strength isn't even at the Residence Level, so naturally, such a phenomenon won't occur. I've simply concealed my mana fluctuations well, which is why she hasn't discovered them.

The reason for doing this isn't for concealment; it's purely to efficiently utilize every bit of mana I can muster under the condition of insufficient power. The so-called "mana fluctuations" are essentially my dispersed power, just like heat from a flame spreading into the environment. Although it's impossible to completely prevent the dispersal of my power, the current me cannot be detected by the woman in front of me.

If my observation wasn't wrong, this woman should be a Xuanming believer.

The three fire javelins she used upon her appearance, and the move where she added a fire effect to the Evil Sword, all have mana fluctuations similar to Xuanming. This isn't her own power but is drawn from the external power of the God. This reminds me of the "Zhuang Cheng's Blade" used by Taoists in the past at Taoyuan Village, but it's clear she didn't use any magic artifacts or runes, purely invoking power through her spiritual faith.

Undoubtedly, she is one of the Xuanming believers intending to crusade against Taoyuan Village in this city.

Regarding the various changes and secrets happening in this city, I think she would know quite a bit of information. However, she's currently in a state of alertness towards me, so she probably won't speak nicely with me. Although I can forcibly make her submit using power, I'm not sure if rashly acting against a Xuanming believer would alert Xuanming, who is also in this city.

Followers devoted enough to perform Faith Miracles might have their prayers reach the God. I don't want Xuanming to discover that I've secretly infiltrated this place, at least not until I can exert my full power here.

What should I do? I need to think of a crafty and indirect method to gather the information I want.

This kind of mental challenge piqued my interest a bit. I pushed myself to think hard once again. Honestly, it's quite embarrassing; ever since meeting Little Bowl, I've relied on her for most things that require thinking. Now, not long after leaving Little Bowl, I find myself feeling somewhat uneasy.

"Speak quickly, what's going on with you?" the woman urged, "If you don't speak..."

"I'm just an ordinary person," I said at first.

The woman doubted, "Ordinary person, you think I would believe that? A child who's not yet grown walking recklessly in such a dangerous environment, wearing clean clothes..."

I remember reading in martial arts novels that there are four types of people you shouldn't provoke when traveling the martial world: old people, women, children, and monks. Weaklings who can move around calmly in dangerous environments are either fools or have deep waters. Seeing me, the woman might have felt like seeing a little girl playing with a ball in an abandoned house in the wilderness, surely raising her suspicion.

Moreover, I have to admit, my responses indeed lacked some acting of fear.

"I was staying in a basement not long ago..."

I started crafting a story for myself - combining the information previously obtained, I concocted a background that I am a teenage survivor of a monster disaster that happened over twenty days ago. My parents took me while escaping, then hid in a small warehouse in a secluded city location. There were some supplies there. But not long ago, the supplies ran out, and my parents went out to explore and never returned, so I could only come out of the warehouse.

To strengthen my persuasiveness, I also used the hypnotic nature of the Power of Word Spirit.

Originally, with my current strength below the Residence Level, I couldn't wield the full Power of Word Spirit like Impermanence could. However, Gua Tianshi explained to me last time that the natural privilege of Impermanence doesn't fundamentally depend on the size of one's power, but rather its density. In other words, even with my current amount of mana, if I manage enough density, I can theoretically exert natural privileges like Fatian Xiangdi and the Power of Word Spirit.

Now, I'm not truly transformed into a Bad Level demon hunter. Under unchanged perception and control, even if the power available here is temporarily limited, I am still Impermanence.

However, the size of power still has a significant impact. For Fatian Xiangdi, I can't figure out a way to unfold it here for the time being, but the Power of Word Spirit is feasible, though it can only work in a small range. If in my normal state, I could use the Power of Word Spirit to forcibly alter the natural climate and social culture in a region with one sentence, now influencing the mental activities of the person in front of me is my limit.

In the end, I asked the woman the question I cared about the most.

"... Speaking of which, there was once an explosion in the city like a nuclear weapon strike. The city was destroyed, and I died in it..." I said, "But when I came to, I found everything had returned to normal... what was that all about?"