The members of “Extreme Path” had initially thought that Xuanwu would team up with Baihu on the spot. To their surprise, Xuanwu dashed away, chasing after several members of the “Cat” team at breakneck speed.
“Brother Eleven!!”
Wu Shisan, nicknamed “Hover,” a man who looked to be in his fifties, sprinted frantically while shouting “Brother” at the young Luo Shiyi—an oddly surreal scene.
“Speak!!”
“Is this fucking right, Brother Eleven?! A pitch-black Xuanwu is chasing us?!”
“Cut the damn chatter!” Luo Shiyi yelled back. “Running into her before meant certain death, but now it’s even worse! Just run!”
“Will our tactics even work?!” Wu Shisan cried. “What about Xuanwu’s back and eyes?! Goddammit… Where are her weak spots?!”
Luo Shiyi’s expression was grim. Just moments ago, he had been laughing at how the first phase of “Extreme Path’s” mission had already resulted in casualties. Now, they were being chased by a disheaved cosmic entity.
The situation had escalated to absurdity in an instant.
Mid-sprint, Luo Shiyi glanced back at Xuanwu, only to see her executing consecutive “Leaps,” rapidly closing the distance between them.
Each “Leap” propelled her dozens of meters forward in an instant, her long hair snapping straight from the sheer velocity.
The sight sent chills down Luo Shiyi’s spine.
“Brother Eleven!” Wu Shisan shouted again. “Goddammit… We seem to have lost Sister Nine and the others!”
“We need to report Xuanwu’s location—move now!” Luo Shiyi ordered. “Twelve, stick to the plan! No one dies!”
Upon hearing this, “Shift” Ma Shier nodded, then abruptly halted and turned to face Xuanwu, yelling, “Hey, Xuanwu! You wanna die?!”
Xuanwu stopped in the distance and replied, “I do.”
“We want to kill you! Give us a chance!” Ma Shier pressed.
“Kill me…” Xuanwu paused. “Good… So good… Come kill me…”
Without hesitation, Ma Shier pulled a slender rod from his pocket, yanked the ring at one end, and used “Shift” to hurl it at Xuanwu. She made no effort to dodge, allowing the object to embed itself in her shoulder.
Seconds later, thick crimson smoke erupted from the rod—clearly a marker flare.
The scarlet fumes billowed skyward in mere moments.
Xuanwu merely glanced at her shoulder, unmoved.
“Brother Eleven! She’s marked!” Ma Shier turned and sprinted after Luo Shiyi.
“Sister Six!” Luo Shiyi called out urgently. “Have everyone confirm their positions! The plan might actually be fucking working!”
“Tch!” Saturday’s “Voice Transmission” crackled to life. “Is it really ‘working’? That Xuanwu doesn’t seem right to me!”
“At this point, it has to be!” Luo Shiyi snapped. “Even ‘Extreme Path’ is in deep shit! A few hiccups are normal, right?!”
“Tch!” Saturday had no rebuttal. “I’ll send nearby standby units to rendezvous with you! Remember—anger Xuanwu first, or you’ll die fast.”
“She’s already pissed! Hurry up!” Luo Shiyi roared before resuming his desperate sprint.
The group knew that if they had encountered the old Xuanwu, they wouldn’t be this panicked. A few taunts would’ve sufficed to lure her into their trap. But this Xuanwu could devour an entire tree into her body.
What the hell was she now?
“‘Extreme Path’… We’re all on our own,” Luo Shiyi muttered under his breath.
…
Qin Dingdong stood panting at the doorway of a classroom in “Paradise Entrance,” struggling to steady her breathing.
She had no clue what this lousy organization was up to. Early in the morning, a large group had left, followed by another wave shortly after. Now, “Paradise Entrance” was nearly deserted, devoid of living souls.
After a moment’s hesitation, she pushed the door open impatiently.
Inside, Wei Yang lounged in a chair, gazing at the sky with keen interest.
Hearing the disturbance, he turned to Qin Dingdong and grinned. “Well, well, if it isn’t my beloved disciple…?”
“You…” Qin Dingdong’s expression darkened. “After all the trouble I went through circling ‘The Farm’… Turns out you weren’t even there. You were in ‘Paradise Entrance’… What’s your game?”
“Oh?” Wei Yang raised an eyebrow casually, studying her eyes. “When the ‘Heavenly Serpent Moment’ arrived, I wanted to ask your senior brother a question. Sadly, he’s grown too proud to acknowledge me now. All he told me was that ‘Paradise Entrance’ had enough resources for me to build a new ‘Farm,’ so here I am.”
“Qi Xia…?” Qin Dingdong hesitated. “You really think this place is better than ‘The Farm’?”
“Who knows if your senior brother was lying to his own master? Those eyes of his are inscrutable.”
“He never saw you as a ‘master’ to begin with. You were the one who fancied yourself a mentor, drawn to his talent. But he was always stronger than you.”
“What a perfect candidate for a con artist,” Wei Yang lamented. “A shame—such a promising seedling wasted on the straight and narrow.”
“You…” Qin Dingdong shook her head, at a loss for words.
Wei Yang smirked, locking eyes with her again. “What’s the matter…? You seem more anxious than I am.”
“Of course I am!” Qin Dingdong snapped. “Didn’t you hear that deafening noise from the sky earlier?”
“I can hear the voices in your heart—why wouldn’t I hear that one?” Wei Yang slowly tilted his head back, his parched lips curling into a smile. “An old friend… ‘The Beetle.'”
“And you’re just sitting here?” Qin Dingdong demanded. “Old Wei, you told me before—someone tasked you with finding a way to control the ‘Natives’ and lead them into battle at the critical moment. Isn’t this that moment?”
“Unfortunately,” Wei Yang sighed, “after listening to the ‘Natives’’ hearts for so long… I’ve become one of them.”
“So… you’re not going?” Qin Dingdong pressed.
“I’m still considering,” Wei Yang said gravely. “All these years, I’ve heard too many ‘songs’ from their hearts. I’ve grown… addicted.”
“Addicted?”
“Their hearts sing of ‘obsessions,'” Wei Yang chuckled bitterly. “I planted all those ‘obsessions’ into the earth, watered them with blood. Yet their ‘obsessions’ never fade. Countless echoes of ‘obsessions’ became a song… And now, I’m supposed to weaponize those ‘obsessions’ again… I may be a con artist, but I’m not a monster.”
Wei Yang turned to Qin Dingdong again, his murky eyes flickering. “Life is bitter enough as it is, don’t you think?”
Qin Dingdong blinked, then exhaled deeply. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped, realizing Wei Yang would hear her thoughts anyway. Shaking her head, she turned and left the room.
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