In the darkness, Huai Shi once again felt a terrible chill numbing his forehead—it was the same horrifying premonition that had emerged countless times in his nightmares, a Skill formed from experiencing death over and over again—'Death Perception' was triggered!
Without time to think, he violently threw himself to the ground, rolling frantically as memories of the Raven's words and a mix of bitter and painful recollections surfaced in his mind. Then, a warm surge flowed through his right hand, and a handful of Apocalypse was refined from the negative memories.
Amidst the thunderous noise of the ground breaking behind him, he held his breath and flung it out.
There was a moment of silence.
The next second, he heard the Ferocious Ape's piercing scream.
"Damn it... the light!"
Liu Dongli shouted, "Light! Light! Light light!"
"PFFT!"
Sorry, didn't expect you to be a damn Intel... Despite the crisis, Huai Shi couldn't help but laugh.
Not daring to linger, he pulled out Liu Dongli's cell phone from his bag and tossed it over with the flashlight turned on. "Catch!"
SMACK!
The phone shattered in mid-air. The Ferocious Ape's grim face flashed in the swirling light before vanishing. It seemed to have realized the nature of Liu Dongli's power and was determined not to let any light escape.
Huai Shi didn't stop; he threw his own nearly retired smartphone as well. "Catch this one too!"
SMACK!
The phone was crushed in mid-air once again.
Well, now both of them were without phones.
"Damn, can't you throw slower?" Liu Dongli was infuriated. "The first phone was crushed, and you still threw a second one!"
"You could've moved faster though!"
"Do you want it faster or slower?"
Huai Shi was angry too. Amidst their desperate flight, he constantly pulled out bottles and jars from Liu Dongli's bag. "Hand cream, catch!"
SMACK!
It was crushed.
Then a gunshot rang out. The muzzle flash was fleeting, and it was unclear if the strange monkey was hit. Regardless, Huai Shi felt something brush past his heel, scaring him so badly he nearly collapsed.
"Could you aim better!"
"Shut up!" Liu Dongli yelled impatiently.
"Then do you still want your stuff or not?" Annoyed, Huai Shi grabbed another bottle and threw it. "Eye cream, catch!"
SMACK!
"Sunglasses and keys, catch!"
Amidst the tense and fierce struggle between Liu Dongli and the damned ape, Huai Shi kept throwing things over, and the air filled with the heartbreaking sounds of Liu Dongli's belongings shattering.
By the end, the bag was almost empty, and Huai Shi simply threw everything over at once.
"God's Water, eye cream, face cream, serum, and what's this..." Huai Shi glanced at it. "Oh, a makeup mirror! Catch!"
This jumble of items was so chaotic that even the Ferocious Ape couldn't be bothered with it.
But it hadn't expected Huai Shi and the others to be waiting for this moment—that flamboyant Liu Dongli even had an LED light on his makeup mirror!
In an instant, as he caught it, Liu Dongli revealed a cold smirk in the dim light to the ghostly monkey. "——Behold my peak beauty era!"
The next moment, light burst forth from his hand.
It had never expected this; Huai Shi and the others had been waiting—that flamboyant Liu Dongli even had an LED light on his makeup mirror!
And it was a 360-degree dead-angle-free soft light LED ring lamp, no less!
In the light that flared up instantly, the Ferocious Ape's sharp iron claws were only inches away from Liu Dongli's face when, in that split second, their movement came to an abrupt halt.
For a moment, Liu Dongli was oblivious to everyone else. Even Huai Shi was caught off guard and accidentally caught sight of his face.
Immediately, the Ferocious Ape seemed to freeze in place, unable to move.
It began to shriek frantically.
Liu Dongli, even as he fell, couldn't adjust his posture. He lifted his gun and fired wildly, emptying the last two bullets, but saw no spray of blood.
He fell clumsily, nearly landing face-first, and scrambled to his feet in a panic.
Right after, he heard the Ferocious Ape's sharp shriek as its iron claws suddenly shot up, tearing at its own eyes. With a muffled thud, thick blood spurted from the holes in its mask.
This time, it could no longer see Liu Dongli's face.
Its arm swung violently, tearing a gash on Huai Shi's arm. Had Liu Dongli's Ability not retracted quickly, Huai Shi's neck might have been snapped.
Huai Shi turned white from fear.
"Damn it, brother, does your Ability even work?!"
Liu Dongli also became mournfully indignant. "I can't help it if I'm losing hair!"
So your peak beauty era relies on your hair?!
The two of them rolled and crawled to the side, not daring to breathe heavily, striving to remain silent and make no sound whatsoever.
In the silence, the Ferocious Ape, its eyes bleeding, wandered relentlessly, furiously tearing apart anything that made a sound.
Until Huai Shi heard a sigh of resignation.
As wild winds swept through, the dark clouds shattered. Cleansing moonlight illuminated the dead streets.
In the middle of the street, Ai Qing, dressed in black and seated in a wheelchair, watched them. She shook her head disapprovingly and slowly wheeled herself forward.
In the quiet, only the faint sound of the wheelchair could be heard.
The crazed Ferocious Ape shrieked, abruptly turned its head, its hollow eyes fixed on the direction of the sound, and lunged!
Ai Qing shook her head with some impatience, sighed, and took out a gun from the side of the wheelchair—one whose model Huai Shi couldn't even identify—and expertly disengaged the safety.
Aimed ahead, she pulled the trigger.
In that instant, Huai Shi saw a stream of fiery light erupt from the barrel. Amidst a sharp, piercing sound, the Ferocious Ape froze in midair. It twitched spastically, like a broken plastic bag caught in the wind, before falling to the ground, spasming and screaming in pain.
After emptying the magazine, Ai Qing indifferently tossed it aside. Only the crisp sound of casings hitting the ground followed.
Is it over now?
Just as Huai Shi stared dumbfounded, the tattered monkey on the ground suddenly rose again and dashed to the side.
It wanted to escape!
Ai Qing didn't even seem to care.
Then, faint red spots began to emerge from the body of the Ferocious Ape.
BANG!
An instant later, a loud explosion erupted in the distance, followed by a continuous barrage of booms.
The Ferocious Ape looked as if it had been struck by lightning. One of its legs suddenly burst into a cloud of blood mist. Then, a large hole appeared in its chest, torn open from the back, its organs spilling out like mud.
Several large holes appeared on the ground, like indentations hammered out in an instant.
Under the aim of unseen assailants from afar, the monster instantly turned into a rag doll. Incredibly, it was still alive.
It struggled desperately, using its hands and its one remaining left leg to pull itself up. It then started crawling outward frantically, moving at an unbelievable speed.
In the end, it almost seemed to float as it flew close to the ground!
In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the darkness amidst the relentless gunfire.
It was only now that Liu Dongli finally let out a sigh of relief, plopping down on the ground. He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took several deep drags before he could catch his breath.
If Ai Qing hadn't arrived when she did, he would have almost died.
"But when did you call for backup? They arrived so fast…"
"Guess?" Ai Qing didn't answer directly, just gave him her usual 'you're an idiot' look, causing Liu Dongli to sigh in resignation.
Fine, it seemed there was no need to call.
For all he knew, teams had probably been targeting him in 24-hour shifts for the past couple of days... This woman was utterly ruthless.
"I thought you could handle it yourselves, but it turns out you're completely useless once the lights go out." Without mincing words, she mocked him before asking, "Found anything?"
"I'm not sure about its Soul Ability, but I think I've seen its Stigma on the Professor's genealogy chart..." Liu Dongli scratched his head, considering. "Probably a Nue, right?"
He thought for a moment longer and became more certain. "A Third Stage·Ether Level Stigma—the Nue."
The Nue, a monster of legend.
It is said to have a face like a monkey, a body like a tanuki, the limbs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake; wingless, yet it can fly.
"Looks like it just entered the Ether Level. It can't fly high, or I'd have been done for today." Liu Dongli wiped the cold sweat from his face and gasped. "Damn, I just entered the 'Gold' level, and I fought an 'Ether' level—a whole rank above me—for so long and still managed to survive. That was way too close. Where the hell did an Ether Level Sublimator come from all of a sudden? I thought the Professor was the only one at the Ether Level in Xinhai."
"Now that even Ether Level Sublimators have appeared, those guys have really screwed up big time this time…" Ai Qing gloated, glancing into the distance and tapping on the armrest of her wheelchair. "At least things aren't too bad. Your efforts have some value, and when necessary, there are plenty of people to throw under the bus."
"..."
Liu Dongli fell silent, looking at her beautiful profile, feeling a chill in his heart.
Being stuck with such a nasty prosecutor, one could only say life was hopeless.
After a short ponder, Ai Qing looked up and asked, "Anything else?"
"Hmm? Nothing else." Liu Dongli, stunned for a moment, shook his head frantically.
"Then continue with the operation. If I get any clues, I'll notify you immediately."
She gave Liu Dongli one last look, her gaze sweeping over Huai Shi, but she didn't say anything more and turned her wheelchair to leave.
After a long silence, Huai Shi finally reacted.
"Does she not like me very much?"
Liu Dongli rolled his eyes. "I have never seen her like anyone, okay? But you probably offended her badly last time, so just pray for good luck."
He patted the young man's shoulder forcefully, but his heart couldn't help but sink.
That was the one thing he had just concealed: at the moment the streetlights went out, he had sensed a faint Source Fluctuation behind him.
This kid... he might have the potential to sublimate.
In the secret room, 'Master' saw the bloody, mangled Ferocious Ape and froze on the spot.
"What happened!"
"It's a setup... a setup by the Astronomical Society!" the Ferocious Ape shrieked angrily. "That Little Brag has a Sublimator for a bodyguard! And snipers!"
Master stood frozen in shock.
"What are you still standing there for!" The Ferocious Ape, enduring the pain, tore off its mask to reveal an old, contorted, and malicious face. "I can't hold on much longer! Give me the Source Substance, now!"
Master subconsciously covered the box. "But, but... there's not much Source Substance left."
"Don't you still have so many old ghosts you can draw from?!" The Ferocious Ape struggled up from the bed, propping itself on one leg and advancing step by step. "Give it all to me! This whole mess is because I was cleaning up after you!"
Master subconsciously took out the box, but it was snatched away instantly.
It eagerly opened the box, gazing at the clear, mist-like liquid within, then plunged its face into the box and began to suck greedily.
Soon, sharp, grating sounds emerged—the noise of bones and flesh proliferating, like steel grinding on steel—as new organs and limbs grew from the mutilated shell.
Once all the limbs had regenerated, Master impatiently snatched back the box. Seeing the significantly depleted Source Substance at the bottom, his face turned pale with distress.
"Got any 'dust'? Give me some too." The Ferocious Ape wiped its face, fished a packet of powder from its pocket, and inhaled it. After a shiver, its complexion improved considerably. It stumbled back a few steps and sat on the bed.
"You're the Person in charge, anointed by the Lord. What's your plan now?"
Master was silent, subconsciously gnawing at his finger as if contemplating something.
After a while, a fierce expression flashed across his face.
"Now that we've caught the Astronomical Society's attention, we can't stay in Xinhai much longer." He looked at his finger, chewed raw and bloody, then said hoarsely, "After we complete the final mass tomorrow night, we'll change locations. We leave overnight... There are six months until the New Year. If we work hard and gather enough Source Substance, the Lords won't blame us..."
"What about the mission?" the Ferocious Ape asked. "What about the task in that quarantine zone?"
Master shuddered but said nothing.