# 259
Chapter 259: Deception
The [Phoenix] Squad put away their Coats of Arms and watched the black hound tear into Garm.
Calling it a fight was generous—it was outright slaughter. Both were canines, yet Garm stood no chance. In a single exchange the wolf-hound’s body already bore two gaping bite wounds.
“What on earth is that beast?” Kong Shang couldn’t help asking. “Garm and Kraken are half a step from godhood, and it’s crushing them? Is there any dog in mythology this terrifying?”
Xia Simeng’s brows knit tight. After a long silence she said slowly, “Actually… there is, only—”
“There really is?” Kong Shang blinked. “Which one?”
“From Great Xia mythology… the Howling Heaven Hound.”
The words left every member of [Phoenix] rooted in place.
“The… Howling Heaven Hound?!” Disbelief flooded Kong Shang’s eyes. Then, as if struck by a thought, he glanced at the black hound still savaging Garm and said uncertainly, “Come to think of it, it did speak Mandarin just now…”
“But haven’t all the Great Xia gods vanished?” Third Brother couldn’t help asking.
Xia Simeng turned, gaze sweeping the city, toward the direction the hound had come, and murmured, “If they’re only missing, surely there’ll be a day they return…?”
……
Lin Qiye drifted slowly down from the sky, staring at the distant hound, confusion thickening in his eyes.
He had the faint inkling of something… but crushed the thought the instant it rose.
Impossible.
While he stood lost in thought, a figure approached from afar.
“Captain?” Lin Qiye froze at the sight.
Chen Muye, cloak a dark crimson, hurried to his side, anxiety written across his face. Frowning, he looked straight into Lin Qiye’s eyes. “Why are you still here?”
“Captain, what are you doing here?” Lin Qiye asked, puzzled. “What happened?”
“Si Xiaonan has defected—come with me, we have to chase her!” Chen Muye said grimly.
“What?” Lin Qiye stared. “That’s impossible.”
“No time to explain—move!” Chen Muye seized Lin Qiye’s wrist and sprinted away at break-neck speed.
Suddenly an earthen magic circle flared beneath his feet!
In an instant the ground came alive, a dozen rock giants’ hands bursting forth to smash down on Chen Muye. Layer upon layer slammed shut, sealing him inside.
A stone sphere more than ten meters across hovered above the ground.
At the same moment Lin Qiye, without hesitation, opened a spatial gate behind him and toppled backward into it!
BOOM—!!
The stone sphere exploded. A cold, terrifying aura swept out; the gate shattered mid-transfer, and Lin Qiye’s flickering form snapped back into place.
His face darkened.
From the rubble a tall, thin Westerner strolled out, eyes narrowed. “Interesting… how did you see through it?”
Looking him in the eye, Lin Qiye answered calmly, “My captain would never use the word ‘defect’ for one of his teammates.”
“And if she really had defected?”
“Then he’d only say, ‘Xiao Nan left… she’ll come back.’”
Loki’s brows lifted slightly. “Didn’t realize she meant so much to you.”
“It’s not about importance… that’s just how Squad 136 is.”
As he spoke, the hands behind his back kept trying to open another spatial rift; white light flickered.
“Pathetic trust.” Loki sneered. “And stop struggling. If a brat who hasn’t even reached Klein escapes me, I don’t deserve the title God of Mischief.”
God of Mischief…
Lin Qiye’s heart sank—so it really was Loki?
The moment the false Chen Muye appeared he’d sensed danger. He’d tried prophecy to identify the man, but saw nothing. From that instant he knew this foe was far beyond him; so while unleashing his earth spell he’d also triggered a spatial gate, ready to flee.
“You want to drag me outside Cangnan?” A second’s thought laid Loki’s plan bare.
The other was a god; if he merely wanted Lin Qiye dead there was no need for such theatrics. Claiming Si Xiaonan had defected was a lure to pull him away—outside Cangnan City.
Coupled with Master Chen’s earlier warning, it wasn’t hard to guess: leaving Cangnan would trigger something dire.
“Oh?” Loki’s brows rose, surprised the boy had seen through everything. “So you already know?”
Lin Qiye didn’t deny it.
He wasn’t foolish enough to ask “Know what?”—admission was the only way to fish for more.
“Heh… in that case, why refuse to leave?” Loki narrowed his eyes. “This city only shackles you. Don’t you want out of this cage—want to see the wider world?”
Outwardly calm, Lin Qiye’s mind raced.
Shackles? Cage? Wider world?
What was he talking about?
He sensed the matter was far thornier than imagined. Since birth he had never once left Cangnan. Even Night Watch’s recruit training had been relocated here—probably to keep him within the city limits.
What were they planning?
What were they hiding?
“This is my home; I have no wish to leave,” Lin Qiye said flatly.
Loki looked at him—and laughed, delighted.
“But… you already have left.”
Lin Qiye started, glanced around, and saw the surroundings melt away, replaced by a vast wilderness!
Somehow, without noticing, he had stepped beyond Cangnan’s borders!
“Remember, I’m the God of Mischief… deceiving space, deceiving you—child’s play.” Loki’s grin widened as he gazed past Lin Qiye at the distant city and roared with laughter.
“Look—look at that city! How beautiful it is now… isn’t it?”
Lin Qiye spun around—and froze.
Specks of golden light drifted from the skyline; the towering skyscrapers were fading…
The city was vanishing.