Physical mage, challenge me to a solo duel!

It's 11 p.m. in the Nordic Union, at a soup restaurant in France.

The bouillabaisse is a century-old French restaurant known for its affordable dining. It's known for its good value, with a meal costing around 15 euros per person, featuring both meat and vegetables, and delicious flavors, making it popular among ordinary people.

At this moment, there were hardly any people left in the soup restaurant. Only a white man, who looked to be in his fifties and was wearing a suit vest with meticulously groomed gray hair, was doing the final calculations and recording today's revenue.

He is the restaurant manager of this broth restaurant, named Sergio Bragg. He has been working at the restaurant for sixteen years, working his way up from a waiter to become the restaurant manager six years ago.

Sergio is a hard worker, humorous, and kind-hearted, earning him consistent praise from the soup restaurant owner and customers.

"jingle······"

The glass door of the soup restaurant was pushed open, and a young man wearing a long black trench coat and a top hat emerged from the night and entered the hall, which still had a sliver of light.

He had a high nose bridge, eyes with a hint of blue, deep features, and a melancholy expression. He held a drawing board in his arms, looking like a frustrated painter. He was definitely the art teacher most loved by the ladies of the house.

However, his skin was rather pale, much paler than that of the average white man, and his body was rather thin, making it seem as if he couldn't possibly fill out the large, long trench coat he was wearing.

"Excuse me, sir, we're closed for today. We'll reopen at 7 a.m. tomorrow. You'd better come early, as there will be a queue." After Sergio finished calculating the last transaction and confirmed everything was correct, he tidied up the counter and then turned around to the painter with a smile.

A touch of sorrow appeared on the painter's melancholy face. He tightened his grip on the easel in his arms and sighed, "Then please help me find someone, Bian Cheng."

In an instant, the only light bulb in the soup restaurant went out, and the air in the entire restaurant seemed to freeze.

In the darkness, Sergio smoothed his neatly combed, graying hair back, and the smile on his lips quickly changed from gentle to wild. His eyes were fixed on the painter in front of him, revealing a hint of amusement and cruelty.

"So you were... sent by King Qin Guang?"

Within the entire Underworld organization, the only person who knew his identity as Sergio Bragg was the founder of Underworld, King Qin Guang, the First King of Hell.

The painter remained noncommittal, simply placing his easel on the dining table. Seemingly feeling the cold, he tightened the collar of his trench coat, said nothing more, and then turned to leave.

"Hey, kid." Sergio, or rather King Biancheng's voice, came from behind the painter, and the painter's body froze as if petrified.

Immediately afterwards, the painter maintained his walking posture, his feet lifted off the ground and he slowly floated up, then slowly turned his body in the air and faced King Biancheng again.

"I sense that you lack respect for your elders, even if you are a man of King Qin Guang." King Biancheng stared at the painter's unfamiliar face, feeling quite curious.

King Biancheng was a veteran of the underworld. Especially after most of the Kings of Hell died fourteen years ago, among the current Kings of Hell, apart from the founder King Qin Guang, no one had more seniority than him.

Biancheng King's main responsibility now is actually intelligence gathering and mission operation for the underworld.

Most of the tasks in the underworld are issued by King Biancheng. The members who receive the tasks naturally also deal with King Biancheng. It can be said that if King Biancheng can be captured and his mouth can be pried open, the underworld organization will certainly exist in name only, even if it is not completely wiped out.

However, King Biancheng was certain that he had never seen this young man in the records of the underworld.

Not only has this person never been seen in the underworld, but there is also no information about him internationally.

At his early twenties, with the strength of a high-level mage, he should have some reputation by now.

Could it be a fake face?

Or was it that King Qin Guang had been keeping a close watch on him all along, and had secretly developed his own power base?

King Biancheng was itching to tear off the mask of the young man before him and see if it was his real face or a fake one.

The painter remained unmoved, suspended in mid-air by King Biancheng, and simply reiterated, "You only need to complete the task, Biancheng."

"A mission? Two months ago, I was tasked with spying on the movements of the Candlelight Army of China and gathering intelligence on the changes in the passage between the two realms of China. Now, I have a new mission to find someone. Aren't the actions of the Underworld a bit too frequent lately?"

King Biancheng waved for the easel the painter had just placed on the dining table. He opened it and frowned, "Who is this...? No, are you sure this is a person?"

Even though there were no lights in the meat soup restaurant, King Biancheng could clearly see the two exquisite portrait paintings on the canvas.

The humanoid creatures in the painting are, on the one hand, a rock giant carved from some kind of black stone, covered in scales, and on the other hand, a half-lizardman with crimson scales and golden vertical pupils.

At the end of both paintings, there is an unfamiliar phone number.

"Finding out who this person is is your task. Ascertain his identity as quickly as possible and then notify me immediately," the painter continued.

"Here are some clues: he is Chinese, from the Chinese military, or someone connected to the Chinese military. He is young, a mid-level mage, and could potentially advance to a high-level mage soon. He has extremely high talent and strength, but it's uncertain whether he is a hidden figure in China. However, his transformation magic should be unique, so investigating from that perspective will be much easier."

"So, these two paintings depict the same person?" King Biancheng waved his easel. "Another mission from China. The world is so vast, why does King Qin Guang favor China so much?"

Bian Cheng casually tossed the canvas into the virtual world and continued, looking at the painter, "Moreover, King Qin Guang hasn't shown his face for the past few years. Even my previous channels of contact with him have gradually become invalid. To be honest, I'm starting to doubt your identity."

The painter's trench coat kept getting wrinkled from being squeezed, and a groaning sound, as if coming from his bones, could be heard.

"Do you think that if anyone other than King Qin Guang knew your true identity, they would still let you continue playing house here?" The painter remained unmoved, and then an invisible force surged out, directly shattering King Biancheng's restraints and landing lightly.

King Biancheng narrowed his eyes slightly to conceal his shock.

Extraordinary mage?

No, the magic power within him clearly belongs to the category of high-level mages, but he is able to use methods unique to extraordinary mages.

This surprised King Biancheng even more than the fact that the person before him was an extraordinary mage.

The painter slowly smoothed out the wrinkles in his trench coat, lowered his top hat, and left with a final sentence.

"For this operation, you are allowed to use people at the level of Yama, but remember, you can only investigate his identity, not kill him. Once you have found out, report to me immediately. You are not allowed to touch a single hair on his head."

jingle······

The doorbell rang crisply, and the painter's figure disappeared into the thick night.