Chapter 535: Pegasus Moment

At this moment, a bold idea suddenly flashed through Qian Wu’s mind.

Since he couldn’t take the other person with him, why not turn his own body into the “Black Tortoise”?

Even if doing so would bring countless consequences—like never being able to vanish with the “End,” or becoming a “Divine Beast” instead of a “Participant.”

But now that Qi Xia’s grand plan had begun, no matter how you looked at it, such a role was needed.

With that thought, Qian Wu immediately reached out with his right hand and grasped the Black Tortoise’s palm.

“Give me your body…”

Yet, to Qian Wu’s surprise, despite holding the Black Tortoise’s hand, his body didn’t change in the slightest. It was as if his “Twin Flowers” ability had completely failed at this moment.

“What…?”

“What trick are you playing now?” the Black Tortoise asked coldly. “If you still can’t kill me… I’ll be very disappointed…”

Qian Wu finally realized that everything he did was futile. Facing this deity-like woman, he was nothing more than an ant trying to stop a chariot. He had actually believed he could trade his life for hers.

From any angle, it was obvious—how could his life ever be equal to the Black Tortoise’s?

“I really can’t do it…” Qian Wu let out a bitter laugh, his expression utterly bleak.

Hearing this, the Black Tortoise visibly frowned in displeasure. With a sharp tug, she pulled her hand back.

At the same moment, all the wounds on Qian Wu’s body shifted from pitch-black to crimson. His neck, in particular, erupted like a breached dam, gushing blood in an instant.

He could have touched Chou Ershi to heal his injuries, but he didn’t reach out. He knew the Black Tortoise wouldn’t let things end here—this outcome was already sealed.

Seeing both Qian Wu and Luo Shiyi collapse lifelessly, Chou Ershi’s expression became eerily calm.

There was no point in struggling anymore. He knew he stood no chance against the three figures before him.

So he simply spread his arms slowly, welcoming his own death.

The Black Tortoise showed no mercy either. She plucked Chou Ershi’s heart from thin air and crushed it in her hand.

Killing these three was no challenge for her, yet deep sorrow flickered in her eyes.

“Mission accomplished,” she sighed softly before vanishing abruptly.

Standing nearby, Tianma and Tianhu watched as the Black Tortoise disappeared, finally letting out a breath of relief. Moments later, however, anger slowly twisted Tianma’s face.

She turned her head toward the prison, her expression icy.

“You damned fools… How dare you think you can bully an old woman like me?” She took a few steps forward before slowly pulling out a pocket watch from her robes. “My hour is coming… All of you, just die…”

Inside the prison, the group watched nervously through the door cracks. Most of them were experiencing the “Tianma Hour” for the first time and had no idea what to expect. They held their breaths, waiting in tense silence.

“Three… two… one…” Tianma smiled faintly and snapped the pocket watch shut with a sharp *click*.

The “Tianma Hour” had arrived.

The sun in the sky seemed to contract violently the moment Tianma finished her countdown.

Several seconds passed after she closed the watch, yet the anticipated disaster didn’t unfold. The prison was eerily quiet, save for the faint rustling of wind and the sound of everyone breathing.

The silence was terrifying.

After a moment, Qi Xia noticed a strange noise overhead. A rustling sound filled the air, like a light drizzle or the flapping wings of countless birds.

Looking up, the group saw what appeared to be a dark cloud emerging from behind the ochre sun—something never seen before in this sky.

“That cloud… behind the sun?”

Qi Xia felt like he’d glimpsed a barely perceptible flaw, but there was no time to dwell on it now.

The dark mass grew larger, as though attempting to swallow the sun whole. Then, like a living creature, it writhed in the sky before plummeting toward the ground.

Only then did the group see its true form.

It wasn’t a “cloud” at all—it was a swirling, thrashing mass of black threads.

“Bloody hell…” Qiao Jiajin felt the place’s horror pushing his limits yet again. He tugged at Qi Xia’s sleeve urgently. “Liar, shouldn’t we run for it?”

“Run…” Qi Xia squinted at the sky. “But in which direction?”

No sooner had he spoken than the descending threads, like ink dispersing in water, suddenly exploded outward. Countless black threads shot in every conceivable direction.

“Get out first!!”

The group rushed through the prison gates, only to see the threads already inches from the ground.

“Listen up!” Chen Junnan shouted. “Don’t let those threads touch you! They’re sharper than blades—one graze, and you’re done for! Luckily, they’re not too fast. If you keep running, you might just outpace them!”

The “Cat” team members nodded in acknowledgment, and Chen Junnan exchanged glances with Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin.

From this point on, everyone was on their own. No one could help anyone else.

“Old Qi,” Chen Junnan said, locking eyes with Qi Xia. “Let me say it again—both of us can die, but you can’t.”

Qi Xia hesitated, then nodded.

Though he had snapped out of the nightmare from the night before, he still felt oddly disoriented.

“Liar, you don’t look so good…” Qiao Jiajin frowned. “Still not feeling well?”

“I’m fine,” Qi Xia shook his head. He was about to say more when he noticed Officer Li, who had been standing behind the group, was now missing. “Where’s Officer Li?”

“Over there…!”

Zhou Mo pointed into the distance, where Officer Li was sprinting toward a crimson object on the ground.

“Hey! Big Li!” Chen Junnan yelled. “Where the hell are you going?!”

“You go ahead! I need to grab something!” Officer Li shouted back.

“Grab something?!”

They all knew this was a life-or-death situation. Even if Officer Li was heading into danger, there was no way to protect him now.

“Forget it, just run,” Qi Xia said. “Everyone, scatter across the field. If you don’t, you won’t be able to tell which thread is yours. Mistake one, and you’re dead.”

“Got it!”

The group dispersed across the plaza just as the black threads descended to within a few meters of their heads.

“May you all survive… As for these things…” Chen Junnan picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it skyward. The moment it touched a thread, it was sliced clean in half. “I hope they never touch you.”