I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

“Me? I’ll let fate decide—fate will give me the most suitable item.” Duke waved at her, his other hand still next to the cabinet. Hearing Amber’s question, he immediately reached out, grabbed an item at random, and took it out of the cabinet without even looking at it. “This is it.”

"Huh?"

Amber paused for a moment, then pursed her lips, looking at Duke with some emotion—he had even ignored her choices in order to help her pick out suitable props, but in reality, Duke wasn't as selfless as she thought.

First, Duke, who possesses the system, is not lacking in powerful items. He still has one lottery draw opportunity left unused, and who knows, he might just get a golden legendary item or even a purple epic item in one go? Compared to himself, he would rather get items to strengthen Amber's power. After all, she is his girlfriend, and if he doesn't cherish her, who will?

Secondly, Amber felt that Duke had made a random choice, but he had come prepared.

The divine body's inherent luck, combined with the remnants of the omnipotent wish-granting machine in the Soul Requiem (which had regrowed a little after a long period of recuperation), these two forces converged to favor Duke's fate. Even if he randomly chose an item, the result wouldn't be too bad. Even if it wasn't powerful enough, it would at least be an item he could use.

However, Duke's gains seem to be even greater than he expected.

[Item Name: Star Chart]

[Item Description: A brilliant star map recording the sun, moon, and stars; the prophetic words guiding people to look up at the sky; the driving force behind the creators of the floating city; the sacred path upon which this great city was initially formed.]

[Item Effect: The divine authority initially formed by the floating city: "Stars".]

Chapter 347 The Child of Destiny

Looking at the item descriptions on the system interface and then at the scroll-like item in his hand, Duke's pupils contracted slightly—it felt like he had won a grand prize from a blind box.

Yesterday's collection of items belonging to Fei was certainly not like the illogical items rewarded by the system. It was possible to obtain any item without any prior knowledge. These items were collected little by little over a thousand years. For example, the system's item description stated that this star map was the driving force behind the creator of the floating city, which was obviously true. After all, even if Fei wasn't the creator of the floating city, they were closely related to her, so it was perfectly understandable that she possessed this star map.

"But... 'the divine authority that the floating city initially condensed'? How could a city condense divine authority? Could it be that the floating city itself is a personified existence, regarded as a whole, a single being? If that's the case, shouldn't the first god born in the floating city be the mute, but the floating city itself? Could it be that Ida stole the fruit of the gods?"

Duke muttered to himself.

However, there is still too little information available, and he is unable to deduce the truth from the limited information available. In fact, he has no interest in the love and hatred of the floating city over the past thousand years. He only cares about the present and the future, and only cares about where he can find the little prince and whether he can save the floating city after finding the little prince.

To put it bluntly, Duke didn't even want to care about Ida, who was mute.

Although Ida resided within the Mute Dagger, transforming it into a temporary body, a portion of the Mute's humanity and divinity still slumbered within Duke's body. He could vaguely sense Ida's location—Duke was certain that the little girl Ida was currently in this Night City. She had not only sent them to this parallel world, but she herself had also come here, and was now hiding somewhere plotting something.

However, Duke was not interested in what Ida was planning.

“Alright, let’s go back and rest first, Amber.” Duke casually put the star map into his inventory, helped Ms. Fei lock the shop door from the inside, and then waved to Amber. “Time here is clearly not linearly symmetrical with that of the floating city. There’s no need to rush to complete the mission. Resting first is also a strategy.”

"Uh-huh."

The latter yawned cutely before nodding in agreement. Although it was already daytime in Night City, they hadn't slept for more than a day and had gone through a tense battle, which kept them on edge. By now, they were already feeling exhausted.

Amber reached out and embraced Duke, teleporting him away from yesterday.

After Duke and Amber had been gone for a while, the door to the virtual reality pod finally reopened, and Ms. Fei climbed out, a barely suppressed smile on her lips. It was unclear what she had gained from this device. However, her good mood vanished upon seeing the mess left behind yesterday.

Duke and Amber did not rummage through the collections in the four large cabinets, but some of these collections were capable of moving on their own. After Duke and Amber left, these restless collections began to wreak havoc, making a complete mess of the previous day.

Thankfully, Duke locked the door before leaving, otherwise these little rascals might have rushed out yesterday and wreaked havoc in Night City.

Fei sighed and went over to start tidying up the collection. She worked quickly, and within minutes she had disciplined the items that were running amok and had been left unattended. Then she organized the collection and put them back in their original places. While tidying up, Fei also figured out which three items Duke and Amber had taken.

"They actually chose to take those three items?"

Fei raised an eyebrow. Before entering the virtual game pod, she really hadn't expected that the two of them had such unique taste... or rather, such good luck?

“The random world gate, the star map, and that magic mirror… Why was he able to choose these three items by chance? I don’t think it was Duke’s doing on purpose; it’s more likely fate! Carol was right after all; Duke really is the chosen one of this era in the floating city.”

Ms. Fei slowly exhaled, walked into the room behind the shop from yesterday, changed into a smart outfit that showed off her figure, and then reopened the door that had been locked from yesterday, and resumed business (reading and slacking off).

But something even more astonishing happened to Ms. Fei. In less than 24 hours, her small shop, whose annual customer traffic probably didn't even reach three digits, welcomed a second group of customers. This group of customers was also a pair. One of them was a tall woman whom Ms. Fei didn't recognize, but the other was a young girl whom she knew very well.

Ms. Fei suddenly stood up, closed the ancient book and tossed it aside. A chilling murderous aura emanated from her. She stared at the guest and forced out his name syllable by syllable through her teeth:

“Ida?”

"It's me, Fei. It's been a long time."

Date greeted Lady Scarlet with a smile, but before she could finish speaking, a fierce battle was about to break out.

Without hesitation, the Witch of Miracles launched an attack on Ida and Alice, but the Mute seemed to have anticipated it, not only dodging the attack but also launching a counterattack that had been brewing for some time.

These two mortal enemies, locked in a life-or-death struggle, maintain the same relationship in the parallel world of the floating city.

……

When Duke and Amber returned to yesterday after their rest, they both looked astonished.

Just a few hours ago, there was an inconspicuous little shop here, but now it has been razed to the ground!

"What happened here?" Amber stared in astonishment at the site of yesterday's battle. She could tell that a fierce battle had taken place here, and the strength of both sides was beyond her imagination. However, the scale of the destruction was limited to the area where it occurred yesterday, without causing any damage or impact on the surrounding streets. This control over the power of the battle amazed Amber and Duke. "Who is Ms. Scarlet fighting?"

One of the combatants is naturally Lady Scarlet; the Witch of Miracles certainly possesses this level of control. But who is the other side? And who can contend with a top-tier legend and wage such a battle?

"do not know."

Duke shook his head.

There aren't many people in the floating city who can fight Lady Scarlet to such an extent; there are probably only a handful, such as Ida and Carol. But this is, after all, a parallel world of the floating city, and Duke can't be sure if there are any beings here who can contend with Lady Scarlet, let alone know their identities.

But Duke knew... their troubles were coming.

Who are you people?!

Hearing a loud shout behind him, Duke grabbed Amber's hand and said in a soft but urgent voice:

"Amber, let's go!"

Chapter 348 Sheriff Ziyuan

Regardless of who Lady Scarlet fought, it was at least a brawl between legends. Although Scarlet and her enemies managed to control the aftermath of the battle, limiting its impact to the shops of yesterday and preventing damage to the surrounding streets, the fight still attracted the attention of Night City.

Duke and Amber, on the other hand, were unaware of this and rashly entered the site from yesterday. He had just seen that the area had been cordoned off with barricades—the two of them had jumped here instantly using Amber's teleportation, and before arriving, they had no idea that they would trespass into the cordoned-off area set up by the Night City authorities.

Duke didn't know what kind of system this floating city in the parallel world maintained, or what kind of organization the Night City government was composed of (it certainly wasn't the Witch Alliance), but no matter what kind of system it maintained, as long as the floating city was a city that could fly in the sky, it must have a lot of top-level combat power!

Their floating city ostensibly boasts four legendary witches, but in reality, the number of legendary and near-legendary figures exceeds twenty. Their top-tier combat power rivals that of some nations on the continent, so this Night City shouldn't be far behind. In Duke's view, while the specific composition of this city's top-tier combat power might differ significantly from the floating city, their general numbers, strength, and level of mastery should be roughly similar.

The people sent by Night City officials to investigate the battle are most likely those they cannot contend with. If it were a clash between top-tier legends in a floating city, the official investigators would at least be near-legendary figures like the Thunder Witch Rose; and since it's Night City, they certainly wouldn't be some weakling.

Heroic? Near-Legendary? Or...Legendary?!

Who are you people?!

When a sweet shout rang out behind them, Duke tensed up instantly. They were completely undocumented in Night City and absolutely could not be caught, much less let anyone know they were outsiders from a parallel world. He grabbed Amber's hand and said in a soft but urgent voice, "Amber, let's go!"

After saying that, he subconsciously glanced back, and in that split second, Duke felt as if he had heard voices questioning them. Then, before Amber disappeared from the spot with him, Duke saw clearly who the Night City officials had sent to investigate the situation.

This fleeting glimpse made Duke pause slightly, and he subconsciously uttered her name:

"Purple Iris?"

……

Sheriff Zi Yuan's day begins with the noisy chatter of her subordinates. When there are no cases, she prefers to sleep in her own office at the police station, so she has placed a soft bed instead of a comfortable sofa there. However, when there are urgent cases to handle, the strong-willed sheriff generally doesn't sleep.

Zi Yuan yawned, sat up in bed, and casually tidied her messy clothes and hair, turning them from a mess to... still a mess. However, her subordinates and she herself were used to her unkempt appearance—no matter how unkempt or disheveled she was, it wouldn't affect the charm of the sheriff's daughter.

She yawned, pushed open the door to her office, and looked at her subordinates who were chattering amongst themselves. These energetic young people made Zi Yuan squint her eyes with a touch of nostalgia. However, her undisguised, imposing red vertical pupils and the slightly grumpy look in her expression silenced her subordinates, who had been discussing something, and they bowed to her one after another.

"Good morning, Miss Ziyuan."

However, Zi Yuan noticed that things were a little different today. Several young men did not look away timidly, and even stared at her intently.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, until her adorable little adjutant came over, blushing, and buttoned up her top, which was barely concealing her ample bosom, while muttering a complaint: "Sister Ziyuan, be mindful of your image... I've told you so many times, you should wear a bra."

"What's the point of wearing those tight, restrictive things?" Zi Yuan rolled her eyes, then took the coffee from the adjutant, took a sip, and asked loudly, "So, you brats, what were you discussing just now?"

"Sister Ziyuan, 'Shadow' appeared again last night." The adjutant answered for everyone, "However, when our people arrived, Shadow had already disappeared, but later we found the 'strange person's' trail and caught up with her for the first time."

The "Shadow" and the "Strange Man" mentioned by the adjutant are both targets they have been tracking recently. The "Shadow" is a powerful shadow creature that sometimes takes on a human form and sometimes a cat form, but its abilities are similar regardless of the form, and it attacks passersby from time to time. The "Strange Man" is an unknown outsider with great strength. He first appeared a few days ago and has been attacking members of various families ever since, but has not yet killed them.

According to the police's initial speculation, the origins of the "shadow" and the "strange man" are related to the recent spatial fluctuations, and they are suspected to be "outsiders" who have traveled from other worlds.

"Oh?" Zi Yuan narrowed her eyes and turned to look at the others. "Who fought the 'weirdo' last night?"

One of the young officers raised his hand: "Miss Ziyuan, it's me."

"How about it?"

"'The weirdo' is a Holy Light-type professional, very strong. I was knocked unconscious as soon as we started fighting." He scratched his cheek and said somewhat embarrassedly, "To be honest, I don't know anything else. I can only confirm that the 'weirdo' is a slender humanoid creature."

Zi Yuan rolled her eyes: "Don't you know the difference between men and women?"

"Um, I think it's a woman, but I can't be sure." He scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled. "Besides her face being covered, I didn't see any movement in her chest. It's hard to say!"

"Damn it! What use are you!"

Zi Yuan's eyes widened, and she chuckled, scolding her useless subordinate. Of course, she wasn't really blaming him; she knew perfectly well what level of strength her boys possessed. She also knew what kind of opponent could knock him unconscious with a single blow. Facing such an enemy, it would be good enough if he didn't get injured. Zi Yuan didn't expect him to suddenly unleash his full power and successfully challenge someone of a higher level.

After learning the situation from her adjutant and subordinates, Zi Yuan, carrying her coffee, walked to the whiteboard. It displayed the police department's recent targets, with "Shadow" and "Strange Man" occupying the largest and most prominent positions. Zi Yuan stared at these two words for a long time before muttering to herself:

"'Outsiders'? Could there be a third group...?"

Just then, Zi Yuan sensed something, her expression changed instantly, and she turned around abruptly to look in a certain direction.

Chapter 349 Ex-girlfriends are all here, but not completely.

"Who are the people fighting here?"

Zi Yuan's hands trembled slightly as she held the documents in her hands. She stared intently at the ruins of the small house that had been razed to the ground, as if she could witness the entire battle firsthand.

Although the battle was so fierce that it leveled the hut and crushed its remains into dust, leaving no trace of its original appearance, once outside the hut's perimeter, everything was calm and peaceful, as if nothing had happened. No matter how great the force, it did not extend beyond the hut's boundaries.

To her subordinates, even her clever little adjutant, this scene was merely bizarre, but to the near-legendary Zi Yuan, it was utterly terrifying.

Who exactly are these two combatants who can achieve such control?! Could it be that those members of the four major families have nothing better to do than deliberately come to this desolate and remote alleyway, which even seems like a remote corner of a city, to have a fight?

When she led her team to the scene, the battle was already over. When she realized the significance of the battle and the fact that she had missed it, Zi Yuan felt a pang of regret—if she had been able to witness the battle, perhaps it could have helped her break through the threshold of "legend"?

"Sister Ziyuan, people from the four major families have come to inquire about the situation. They are currently outside the blockade line. Should we let them in?"

"Never mind, whatever." Zi Yuan sighed, reluctantly turning her gaze away. She rolled her eyes at the junior adjutant who had rushed over to call her, and said with a belly full of resentment, "What are they doing here? Don't let them in. I'll go out and explain to them."

Having said that, she walked out of the alley alongside her adjutant who had rushed over, but at that moment, she sensed a faint spatial fluctuation. As a near-legendary dragon vein sorcerer, Zi Yuan's sensitivity to spatial fluctuations was similar to that of a true dragon. She suddenly turned around and looked in the direction of the hut that had been razed to the ground.

There, she saw a man and a woman standing in front of the hut, looking at the hut that had been razed to the ground with some astonishment. The woman was wearing a strange outfit similar to a maid's uniform, with long, pointed ears, clearly belonging to the mysterious long-eared creatures of the Elf Kingdom. The man, however, was even more conspicuous than the beautiful elven woman beside him. When Zi Yuan first saw his face, she even felt her heart skip a beat. A certain emotion suddenly brewed, making her face slightly flushed and hot, her mouth dry, and even making her mind sluggish and unable to think clearly.

But these negative states only lasted for a moment before Zi Yuan suddenly snapped back to reality. She shook her head and looked at the adjutant beside her—because Zi Yuan had turned her head, the adjutant had also seen the man and woman over there and had also fallen into a brief daze.

Zi Yuan frowned, reached out and gently knocked her adjutant unconscious, then stomped her foot heavily and charged towards the man and woman, shouting at the same time: