"Leave?"
Huai Shi looked at Liu DongLi in astonishment.
Even in the midst of the performance, Liu DongLi still smiled charmingly, making coquettish eyes at the old ladies below the stage; even checking his phone was done with such captivating charm.
Then, that smile froze on his face.
Against the backdrop of the festive and rustic Yangge dance, his complexion turned deathly white. Without caring that his own act was still ongoing, he turned and pulled Huai Shi to leave.
They started with a slow jog, which soon turned into a desperate sprint.
"Nonsense, of course we're leaving. What else would we do, stay for the New Year?"
Liu DongLi's face was ashen. He muttered under his breath about "that damn woman, having no conscience at all," as he pushed through the people blocking his way. He didn't care about the disturbance he caused behind him and went straight to the back door to try to push it open.
The door moved slightly, then came to an abrupt halt.
Locked from the outside.
"Damn it, let's take the main entrance..."
Liu DongLi, furious and frantic, took out a gun from his pocket and aimed it at the two people who had caught up to him. "Get out of the way! Move! Move!"
BANG!
BANG!
The bullets hit the wall and lodged into the masonry, sending powder flying.
But once those people realized that what Liu DongLi held was no toy, they screamed and turned to run.
"Was that really necessary?" Huai Shi was taken aback.
At that moment, his phone vibrated again—another text from Ai Qing: "Closed 4."
"Do you know what this means?" Liu DongLi's face was pallid as he pointed at the text on his phone screen. "'Closed'—it means lockdown! This is the Astronomical Society's most common method for dangerous items. The '4' is a countdown, meaning only four minutes remain. In four minutes, the entire area will be physically isolated. By then, we'll be trapped in a cage with whatever they're trying to contain!"
This was the last chance Ai Qing had given them.
Plan canceled. No time to evacuate. Run as far as you can...
"Is she really that ruthless!"
Huai Shi's face turned pale with fright. He suddenly felt a bit dizzy, and his vision went dark in waves. He stumbled after Liu DongLi, passing through corridors, and collided with laborers moving items because they were in such a hurry.
"Sorry, sorry."
Huai Shi scrambled to his feet, wanting to help pick up the items but having absolutely no time. He repeatedly apologized and then turned to continue running after Liu DongLi.
The sullen man didn't speak, only glancing at Huai Shi once, mechanically picking up the items on the ground.
Yet, in the moment he raised his head, Huai Shi saw... there seemed to be a golden-red shadow slowly gliding behind those ordinary-looking eyes...
Like a goldfish in a water tank? Huai Shi thought absurdly.
「Five minutes prior.」
"Let's cancel the rest of the acts."
Inside the dressing room, King Ocean paced restlessly, awaiting the start of his sermon, but for some reason, he felt a sense of foreboding.
He had arranged all his escape routes perfectly. He just needed to complete this job and he'd leave immediately. Yet he still couldn't suppress the panic in his heart.
Something isn't right...
He chewed nervously on his fingertips, reopening healing wounds, as his sense of unease grew stronger.
"Start the sermon now!"
Unable to wait any longer, he stomped his foot, grabbed the box on the table, and ordered his Disciple, "Forget those boring acts, just make this one a clean sweep, no need for a warm-up!"
After the Disciple rushed off, he struggled to suppress his panic, putting on the benevolent smile that had become muscle memory.
But suddenly, he felt a vibration in his pocket.
It was his phone. An incomprehensible text message from an unknown number, yet its content turned his face white.
"Tu Tai has been arrested, the people from the Astronomical Society are here, run, King Ocean, you have one minute."
In an instant, a chilling terror nearly made him scream out loud.
Although he had no idea who the person sending the text was or how they knew the private number that only a few close associates knew, it wasn't the time to worry about such details now.
This was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Go. I must leave immediately. I can't stay in Xinhai any longer!
Driven by an intense fear that almost made him scream, he grabbed the box and burst out of the dressing room, speeding towards the exit as he kicked open doors and grabbed keys, heading towards the back door.
As he turned a corner, he heard a voice ahead of him.
"Why are you leaving, young brother? Didn't we agree to stay?" The first old lady Liu DongLi had chatted up grabbed his arm enthusiastically, retaining him. "Wait until the sermon is over, and sister will make you some noodle soup."
"No, big sister, I have an emergency, a real emergency."
Liu DongLi struggled to break free, looking up ahead.
He saw King Ocean.
And King Ocean saw him.
As if gazing at each other across an Abyss, their expressions froze. In the next instant, determination and savagery flashed in their eyes.
Then, gunshots rang out.
They came from behind Liu DongLi.
In the hands of the young man, the muzzle of the gun was emitting black smoke.
It was Huai Shi.
In that instant, he snatched the handgun from behind Liu DongLi and, with brazen aim, fired.
But he didn't aim at King Ocean; instead, he aimed at...the old woman beside Liu DongLi.
"She's trying to kill someone!"
Under the intense stimulation brought by Death Perception, Huai Shi was absolutely certain that he sensed murderous intent emanating from this seemingly genial and enthusiastic old lady.
A murderous intent capable of shredding him and Liu DongLi into thousands of pieces.
Shooting in haste, Huai Shi almost failed to hold on. The bullet intended for the old lady's body went astray, only hitting her hand that was grabbing Liu DongLi. It bored a large hole in her wrist and nearly harmed Liu DongLi as well.
Silence descended.
Blood splattered.
Liu DongLi, acting on instinct, dodged and retreated, only to see the once aging hand that had grabbed him slowly turning the color of steel, with sharp, iron-gray claws extending from the tips of the fingers.
During the slow process of the flesh knitting back together, a deformed bullet was squeezed out of the wound.
"You figured it out, huh?"
The old woman slowly raised her head. Her elderly face gradually distorted, her pupils turned a familiar blood-red, and her face slowly morphed into the semblance of a Beast, revealing a hungry smile to them.
"Damn it, a Nue!"
Liu DongLi screamed in horror.
Closed 3.5.
With three minutes and thirty seconds left until Lao Tang closed, the situation began to slide towards the worst possible outcome. Not just for the Dongxia Football Team, but also for Huai Shi and his companions, time was running out.
Encountering each other so abruptly under such circumstances, it was naturally impossible for them to sit down for tea and a chat.
The quickest to react was Liu DongLi.
Or rather, this flamboyant fellow was, at heart, prepared 24/7 to show off his so-called once-in-a-lifetime beauty to others.
"What are you looking at!"
After his roar, the Nue that glanced over froze on the spot. Liu DongLi then grabbed the handgun that had nearly numbed Huai Shi's hand and began shooting like crazy at the old woman.
The recent affectionate May-December romance charade they'd just been playing naturally disappeared without a trace amidst the gunfire.
In a blink, an entire magazine was emptied. But without high-caliber, lethal weapons, the handgun fire was almost negligible against a Sublimator who had entered the Third Stage, whose organs had already begun to etherify.
The Nue in the form of an old woman had already closed her eyes.
The tide of attack and defense reversed.
Meanwhile, Huai Shi wasn't just standing there stunned. He mustered his courage, rolled up his sleeves, and charged straight at King Ocean, suddenly launching a kick. "Leave the box behind!"
King Ocean, who was about to turn tail and run, was hit hard in the lower back by Huai Shi's flying kick, sending him sprawling face-first onto the ground. Yet, he still held the box tightly in his embrace, refusing to let go.
Immediately after, Huai Shi pounced on him, delivering a set of military boxing blows to his old face.
Because he wasn't sure if King Ocean possessed any strange Abilities, he didn't hold back at all, striking with such force that his own fingers throbbed with pain.
Poor King Ocean was valued by the Lord only for his talent in proselytizing. Even his swindling relied on his glib tongue; he'd never been in such an ugly scrap.
He was just an ordinary person!
Right now, the Savior Association's top enforcer, the old crone Nue, was entangled with Liu DongLi, and the Disciples who had been reassigned as bodyguards hadn't arrived yet. Unexpectedly, today provided an opportunity for Huai Shi's military boxing skills to be unleashed.
Huai Shi, with a series of grunts and shouts, went through half a set of military boxing. He felt an unmatched sense of comfort throughout his body, as if every pore was exhilarated. Seeing that the old man had no power to fight back, Huai Shi relaxed considerably, and then his hatred grew even more intense.
"So it was you, you bastard, who sent people after me, right?! You tried to silence witnesses! You committed crimes! You dealt drugs! You let society down!"
"Where did this little bastard come from? Go to Hell!"
King Ocean was completely enraged, flailing his arms wildly. Huai Shi felt a pain in his arm, and then a bloody mark blossomed from beneath his torn clothes.
He had been cut by a knife!
Seizing the moment while Huai Shi was distracted, King Ocean, having pulled a dagger from his shoe, grasped the opportunity. Cupping the box in his arms, he fiercely opened the lid and thrust it at Huai Shi. A cloud of powder, like mist, flew out and enveloped Huai Shi's face.
The effect of that damned substance was terrifyingly swift. As soon as he inhaled it, Huai Shi felt weak all over, and hallucinations clouded his mind. It felt like he was floating in the clouds, ecstatic. But he immediately knew he had fallen for the old man's trick.
"Damn it, you take some too!"
He grabbed King Ocean by the collar, materialized a handful of Apocalypse, and, without thinking, stuffed it into King Ocean's face, rubbing it in harshly.
King Ocean's old face instantly turned beet red, tears and snot streaming down as he howled in misery.
Huai Shi, seizing the opportunity, stuffed a bit into his own mouth as well. The ecstatic joy in his heart was quickly subdued by a sudden wave of Sorrow. The inflated sense of bliss he had just been experiencing deflated rapidly under the terrifying effect of this mental refuse.
The two of them, teetering between elation and Sorrow, laughed manically with faces full of tears and snot, entangled together like inmates in a mental hospital during an internal dispute, inseparable and indistinguishable.
It was a case of meeting one's match, an equal battling an equal.
But their amateurish brawl was so brief, lasting only twenty-five seconds from start to finish.
Then, the dazed visions were shattered by a loud noise.
Coming from behind them.
In just those few seconds, Liu DongLi's face had been stained red with blood, his custom suit reduced to rags, a deep gash across his chest almost gutting him open.
The handgun was now in the Nue's hands, tossed carelessly aside.
To him, these twenty-five seconds were nothing short of Hell.
Even with her eyes closed, the Nue could effortlessly overpower him.
But as he fell backward, he finally found his chance… from a hidden holster under his suit's armpit, he pulled out his long-planned trump card, aiming it at the old crone who was lunging at him through the air.
It was a specially shortened gun.
This was something he had prepared specifically for the Nue.
Opportunities are fleeting.
There were only two bullets, and only a moment to act.
After that instant, the astonishingly agile Nue would activate her Ability, glide through the air, divert his aim, and then rip off his arm.
But for now, the victor was decided.