Yunli glanced sideways at Mo Xi, who was following close behind. Her golden eyes held a deep sense of scrutiny; clearly, she was still harboring resentment.
Seeming to guess what the other was thinking, Mo Xi wore an apologetic look and explained, "Although I am not sure what happened, I realize that I seem to have misunderstood you."
Hearing this, Yunli showed no reaction, as if she hadn't heard at all. She simply turned her head away indifferently and increased her speed.
Watching the petite figure moving away, Mo Xi's expression was complex. However, in an instant, she gritted her teeth, rode her sword to catch up quickly, and followed closely behind Yunli.
Although Mo Xi hadn't heard the entire conversation between the two earlier, she at least understood that Yunli truly seemed to have an urgent matter at hand.
As for herself... since she might have misunderstood Yunli, for the sake of her sister's best friend, and to verify the doubts in her heart, Mo Xi decided to follow and see!
It took Yunli only about ten minutes to cover this distance and finally reach her destination.
If she hadn't encountered Mo Xi blocking her path halfway, perhaps five minutes would have been enough, and she might have even been able to arrive in time to stop this disaster.
But now...
Yunli gazed blankly at the ruins before her, her golden pupils devoid of their usual vitality.
The rain grew heavier, cold droplets brushing past her hair tips and sliding slowly down her pale cheeks.
The once-familiar Ability Bureau was now nearly half-reduced to ruins.
Amidst the broken walls and debris, steel bars were exposed, and shattered glass lay scattered everywhere, as if silently recounting the brutal battle that had just taken place.
The falling rain washed over the wreckage, yet the cold air remained permeated with a thick, nauseating scent of blood.
The ruins were stained with blood, and the mangled remains of some staff members were clearly visible—a gruesome sight.
Just as Yunli stood stunned by the scene before her, a rumbling sound echoed.
The next second, a figure slowly stepped out from the ruins.
Almost instantly, Yunli noticed the person.
A hideous, twisted face, scarlet, bloodthirsty eyes, and blood-colored veins writhing all over his body—everything about him signaled danger.
The thick, suffocating smell of blood surrounding him perfectly matched the carnage in the ruins. Without a doubt, this person was the culprit who had slaughtered the Ability Bureau.
"You bastard!"
Yunli's gaze suddenly hardened, her golden pupils churning with immense fury, and her petite body leaped up violently.
In mid-air, without a word, she pulled out Old Mettle, exerted force with her arm, and hurled it fiercely toward the figure on the ruins!
Old Mettle tore through the rain curtain, whistling with the wind, heavy and powerful, aiming straight for his face.
Blood Butcher, who had just been puzzled, suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis rise in his heart.
But before he could react, he was heavily smashed away by Old Mettle. Accompanied by the loud crash of collapsing bricks and stones, he was buried within the ruins, and for a moment, there was no movement.
Yunli stepped forward, just about to follow up with a few more strikes, when she was drawn by a familiar, weak voice.
She looked toward the sound and saw a small, thin figure emerging from the pile of rubble. The person was half-buried in bricks and stones, her face pale as paper, looking weakly in her direction with dry, cracked lips moving slightly.
"Miss Yunli..."
Hearing the voice, Yunli instantly recognized that this must be the girl who had contacted her earlier.
She took a few steps forward, her slender arms erupting with astonishing strength, easily moving aside the tons of rubble pressing down beside the woman.
Yunli secretly rejoiced—fortunately, the rubble hadn't completely crushed her; otherwise, with her physical condition, she wouldn't have survived until her arrival.
The woman was slightly stunned as well, but immediately she tried to speak, her voice tinged with urgency: "Run! That person is at least a First-Level Esper; his strength cannot be underestimated!"
"Want to leave now? It's too late!"
In an instant, Yunli lunged forward and tackled the woman to the ground.
Almost at the same moment, a "beam" condensed from thick blood suddenly shot out from the ruins, whistling past their hair with a foul wind, and slammed heavily into a broken wall nearby, exploding into a spray of rubble and blood mist.
Yunli looked up.
Blood Butcher, who had just been knocked away, had actually arrived right in front of them. His muscles were bulging all over, his arms like iron, and he swung a heavy fist toward her with a whistling wind!
Yunli's eyes hardened. While one hand protected the trembling woman beside her, just as she was about to take the punch with her other hand, the surrounding air suddenly turned bitingly cold.
Immediately after, a thick ice wall suddenly rose from the ground, steadily blocking the path between them.
Blood Butcher's expression froze.
His heavy, powerful punch struck the ice wall without warning, emitting a dull, thunderous sound.
Crack!
Fine cracks appeared on the ice surface, spreading like a spiderweb, but it did not shatter, still standing firmly in front of him.
Seeing this, both of them were stunned.
Yunli, however, immediately guessed who was responsible, so she scooped up the woman, whose body was limp, and leaped out of the ruins.
Afterward, she saw Mo Xi standing not far away, faint ice mist still lingering on her fingertips—it was indeed her.
"Cough, cough... Who... who is this?" The woman looked at the stranger and asked, puzzled.
But Yunli had no time to explain Mo Xi's background now; she asked with an urgent tone.
"Never mind her for now. Where are Captain Chen and the others? Where are they?"
"Cough, cough... I don't know... To cover everyone's evacuation... the Bureau Chief and the others... they took the initiative to draw this person's attention. As the assistant to Bureau Chief Yanxi... I wanted to contact and notify you... but I didn't expect to be trapped under the ruins..."
The woman weakly revealed everything she knew.
In short, there was a high probability that the captain and the others had met with misfortune, and the chances of survival were extremely slim.
Thinking of this, Yunli's expression could not help but darken.
Beside her, Mo Xi's expression wasn't much better.
This was the first time she had seen such a bloody and tragic scene.
Just the pungent smell of blood permeating the air made her feel physically ill, her stomach churning, almost causing her to vomit.
Looking at the wreckage scattered everywhere, and then at Yunli's gloomy face hidden in the shadows, Mo Xi felt unsettled as well.
She didn't know what to say...
Just as Mo Xi was stunned, Yunli suddenly reached out, accurately gripped her arm, and pulled her behind herself.
"What are you doing?" Mo Xi struggled instinctively and asked.
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Yunli grip Old Mettle with one hand, holding the heavy iron tool horizontally in front of them.
Clang!
A blood-colored beam glowing with eerie red light suddenly shot out from the ruins, moving so fast it left only an afterimage, and hit the Old Mettle Yunli was holding horizontally with precision.
Mo Xi's pupils shrank, and she thought in shock: 'So fast!'
However, Yunli's slender hand did not tremble at all, gripping Old Mettle steadily without moving an inch.
The aggressive blood-colored beam crashed against Old Mettle but failed to break through this defense.
After just a few seconds, the blood-colored beam, having lost its power, turned into a puddle of ordinary blood, splashed onto the ground with a "splat," and was quickly washed away by the rain without a trace.
Immediately, a cold and arrogant voice suddenly came from deep within the ruins.
"Hey, which one of you is named Mu Yao? Hurry up and step out!"
Blood Butcher's figure slowly walked out from behind the ruins, his scarlet gaze burning as he swept over the two, as if examining prey waiting to be slaughtered, the corners of his mouth curling into a cruel arc.
Yunli and Mo Xi also locked their gazes on him, without the slightest retreat.