Xiao Ping looked at the princess standing a few meters away. He saw that she was very beautiful, but he didn't care about that. Instead, he was thinking about how to escape this predicament. Insulting a member of the royal family meant death—this wasn't strange, even in another world.
But he was shocked, and his green eyes widened when he heard these words come from the princess's mouth.
"I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble!" These words echoed in Xiao Ping's mind like a fly trapped in a box, unable to escape.
"No, no! Maybe I'm hallucinating and imagined those words." Xiao Ping thought to himself, unbelieving, and considered himself delusional. He couldn't believe that a princess would say such a thing to a commoner like him.
"Should I bow to her now? Maybe she'll spare my miserable life." He added in his mind: "No, no, maybe I should try to escape from here. But where would I go? I only know one street, and I found it by chance in this giant city!" Thoughts raced through Xiao Ping's mind rapidly.
Seeing this, the princess said: "Sir, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" The princess looked intently at the man in front of her with her crystal-like sky-blue eyes. He was acting like a madman.
"No, it's nothing, Your Highness," Xiao Ping said while slowly backing away to escape. He added slowly: "Also, Your Highness has no need to remember a vagrant like me, so you can continue your stroll." Xiao Ping didn't want to get involved with a princess. Perhaps there were some official power-wielders protecting her, and he might be arrested if he continued talking to this princess.
The princess tried to say something, but she heard the sound of many people shouting, their tones anxious.
"Your Highness!" The shout rang out loudly on Monarco Street, making Xiao Ping turn his head to see who was shouting and calling for the princess.
As he turned around, he saw a large number of people running and calling for the princess. Some of them wore shiny golden armor with swords in scabbards attached to their waists. There were also people carrying golden trumpets, wearing red suits with wide white trousers and long black boots reaching up to their knees.
And let's not forget the large number of people, both from the middle and lower classes, running to meet the beautiful princess.
Seeing the large crowd rushing toward him, a wide, devilish smile spread across Xiao Ping's face.
Xiao Ping looked forward again and saw that the princess was annoyed by the crowd. Here, Xiao Ping realized that she had been running away, but why had she stopped for him? No one knew the exact reason.
"Whoosh."
A gentle breeze blew on Monarco Street, causing the trees in the middle of the street to shed some of their leaves, making them fly in the air. Some of them fell into the puddles on the street.
The princess's long black hair with blue strands at the front moved, making her even more beautiful. But displeasure and annoyance filled her beautiful face.
Xiao Ping saw that beauty before him displeased, but he didn't care. He looked deeply at the princess as if declaring that he didn't care about her beauty or her social status—anything that didn't concern him, he would never interfere with, no matter what.
He had learned from the previous incident with the flower, and he also learned that this world was built on a happy facade, but behind it was nothing but a corrupt world. However, this didn't mean that every inhabitant of this world was corrupt.
He continued smiling, but this time, it was a warm smile on his face.
The princess looked at that smile and felt somewhat relieved. She wanted to say something without being interrupted again, but she saw that the person had run toward the large crowd.
"Sir, wait!" The princess raised her hand, pointing at the back of the man who was quickly moving away from her.
Xiao Ping sprinted forward at high speed. This was the first time he had run this fast. Perhaps he had run to escape the flower's attacks before, but not like this time.
He ran like a madman competing in the Olympics and aiming for first place, but he didn't want that—he wanted to escape the presence of the official power-wielders. He had seen the power of the two men in black suits; one of them could reverse time. This made him realize that these organizations weren't as easy as he had thought when he discussed them with the entity.
As he approached the crowd, Xiao Ping felt a very great power approaching. The silver thread was strong and sturdy, and it wasn't just one—there were several people.
"Official power-wielders! This is very bad." Xiao Ping muttered to himself as he ran quickly toward the crowd.
Then he saw several people passing by him at very high speeds. The pressure emanating from their bodies made him stop running for a moment. He felt that his power was suppressed, and he didn't even have the strength to move his toes, let alone run.
But soon, the feeling of suppression disappeared, and he continued running. He looked back and saw that several people were standing on the lampposts beside the street, but one person was standing on the royal carriage. Their forms were transparent, making it difficult to determine their gender or age. The only thing visible was that badge bearing the image of a black crown adorned with purple jewels. When that person saw Xiao Ping running, they directed their sharp gaze toward him.
A dense aura of oppressive pressure was released, but Xiao Ping had already reached one of the guards wearing golden guard attire. Xiao Ping looked at him before saying: "Sever." Something shot out quickly and cut the threads moving in his feet, causing him to fall.
But before he fell, Xiao Ping stepped forward, placed his worn-out shoe on the guard's golden helmet, and jumped high over the crowd, who stumbled due to the guard's fall, causing many people to fall on top of each other.
Xiao Ping continued stepping on people and moving forward. He didn't even care about respecting them and kept advancing. But before reaching the back of the crowd, he twisted his body backward and stood on one of the shoulders of a person in the crowd. Xiao Ping looked at the person on top of the princess's carriage. He was calm—Xiao Ping could tell because he saw that the silver threads around his face weren't disturbed but were very calm.
That person's gaze deepened as he watched Xiao Ping's circus-like antics, but he did nothing and continued watching.
Seeing that this power-wielder—who undoubtedly was many times stronger than Xiao Ping—remained calm under his gaze, Xiao Ping turned his attention to the princess, who had entered the carriage and was preparing to leave.
"Maybe she didn't sense their arrival! But that's impossible because she's from the royal family and should be a power-wielder. Even if she isn't, she should be aware that there are supernatural power-wielders around her. Also, she might have a protective item." Xiao Ping drowned in the overlapping thoughts in his mind.
"You damned vagrant, get off my shoulder now! It's worth a bronze lira," the man shouted at Xiao Ping, who was perched on his shoulder.
But Xiao Ping didn't care. He continued looking at the person on the carriage, who in turn was looking at Xiao Ping. At that moment, their gazes carried sparks.
Xiao Ping realized that this person didn't want to arrest him, and even if he did, Xiao Ping had nothing to stop him.
"It seems he wants to protect that princess. Hmm, interesting. So, why not provoke him?" Xiao Ping let out a laugh before saying: "I don't know if this will work because it wasn't mentioned in the first-level abilities of the Mystery Observer. The entity had told him this beforehand."
"But why not try? What do I have to lose? I want to test it on someone stronger than me." Xiao Ping smiled as he bent his middle finger under his thumb and tried to make the silver threads gather there.
He closed his eyes and ignored the shouting of the person below him. He tried to imagine those threads forming into a small ball in his palm.
He continued like this but made no progress. Suddenly, he saw a thread begin to attract toward his palm, followed by another, and so on.
Until a ball larger than expected formed in his palm.
Xiao Ping realized he was in a fantasy world ever since seeing the entities' abilities and talking to them, as well as the flower's abilities that carried the will of a dead power-wielder. Even though he knew that each power level had its own specific abilities, he didn't restrict himself to the laws of the power system. So, this idea occurred to him after fighting that flower.
He felt power pulsating in his hand and looked toward the person who was watching him. There was a hint of surprise in his cold eyes.
Xiao Ping raised his hand and aimed it at the transparent man. He grabbed the hand holding the silver threads—now formed into a fist-sized ball—with his other hand, holding it above the elbow.
Although ordinary people couldn't see anything supernatural, they felt the environment around them change. So, they all turned around and saw that person, who had stepped on them, raising his hand and holding it tightly with his other hand, while the person below him cursed him.
"Even though I don't know why I'm doing this! But I wanted to test my limits—how far can I go at level one?" Xiao Ping felt euphoria and adrenaline rushing through his veins.
"But what should I call this technique? I might end up using it frequently in the future, so I plan to give it a name. It shouldn't be difficult and should be easy to remember, and it should carry meaning." Xiao Ping's thoughts receded as he saw more silver threads gathering around his palm, enlarging the ball. He felt he would soon reach his limits.
"It doesn't matter now. I'll call it Nucleus of Annihilation. Yes, that's a suitable name for it."
"What is he doing? Is he crazy?" people in the crowd spoke as they watched Xiao Ping's mad actions.
"Go!"
Xiao Ping shouted as he flicked his middle finger against the ball, causing it to move at high speed, leaving behind a fierce wind. The recoil force sent Xiao Ping flying into the air, but he performed several flips and landed on the ground. Then he ran quickly.
Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, the wind lifted the short skirts of some ladies, but they held them tightly, disappointing the men.
Suddenly, the entire crowd fell asleep, one after another, on the pavement. Even the guards were no exception. .....
"Interesting," that person spoke as the ball of silver threads spun on his finger before he caught it in his hand.
"Hmm, this boy is truly interesting," another person replied, standing on a lamppost without slipping or falling.
"Hehe, yes, he's very amusing," another person approached and laughed strangely while looking at the fleeing figure of Xiao Ping.
"We will meet again, boy," saying this, all the illusory forms disappeared, and the carriage began to move and leave Monarco Street, except for the civilians and guards who were getting up, placing one hand on their heads while wondering and saying: "What's going on! Why am I here?"
After a few minutes, the people regained their senses, and the guards ran after the royal carriage with the trumpet bearers. The crowd then dispersed and returned to what they were doing.
... ~End of chapter, to be continued....