Chapter 524: Wheelchair War God

“Four thirty, huh?” Lu Yibei took out his phone to check the time, frowned, and said, “We’d better get going.”

It was already 2:47 in the afternoon. It would take about forty minutes to get from Mudan Street to Hua City Airport, and with the time needed to check in, any further delay might mean missing the flight.

After sending her off, it would be almost dark–just right to make a trip to Xingfu Community, Lu Yibei thought.

“Mm.” Huá Sāng nodded obediently, following closely behind Lu Yibei as they walked out.

Li Xuan watched as Lu Yibei and Huá Sāng’s figures disappeared in front of the Hua City Folk Culture Administration Bureau, let out a silent sigh, and turned to head deeper into the office building.

He had to go find An Qing.

Although he had temporarily suppressed the damage Night Corrosion Level was doing to his body, his stomach still hurt terribly.

An Qing had some common Alchemical potions that could help relieve his symptoms.

——–

Leaving the gate of the Hua City Folk Culture Administration Bureau, they walked in silence through the old, narrow alleys.

This kind of silence made Lu Yibei very uncomfortable. He couldn’t hold back for long and took the initiative to chat with Huá Sāng. “Hey, you seem pretty energetic today, huh? You actually walked here yourself.”

“You can’t even tell you spent all of yesterday lying in the alley!”

Huá Sāng shot Lu Yibei a sidelong glance, her eyes a bit helpless, and sighed softly. “If you can’t find a topic, you really don’t have to talk.”

People who force conversation are the most annoying. Small talk is just a waste of life.

“And who told you I walked here myself?” Huá Sāng added indifferently, her gaze drifting toward the bike shed at the mouth of the alley.

Didn’t walk here–what, did she fly? Teleport? Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly, noticed Huá Sāng’s gaze, and followed it, pausing in surprise.

In the corner of the bike shed sat a brand-new wheelchair.

“???”

Lu Yibei turned to look at Huá Sāng, his mind full of question marks, and saw her nod.

That determined look in her eyes seemed to say, “Exactly what you’re thinking–that’s my wheelchair.”

That’s right, today it was Li Xuan who pushed her over.

Lu Yibei, “……”

Amazing! As expected of the hero I admire–my respect!

I suddenly feel that all those words I used to praise you in my investigation report aren’t enough to express my admiration.

While Lu Yibei was grumbling to himself, Huá Sāng had already walked into the bike shed, sat in the wheelchair, and then slumped down, limp.

She looked exactly like a patient with high-level paraplegia.

Seeing this, Lu Yibei rubbed his slightly throbbing brow, stepped forward, and then noticed that the wheelchair was actually electric. His eyes lit up.

“Hey, this looks fun. How about… we squeeze in together?”

Huá Sāng, “???”

——–

In the end, Lu Yibei never got to sit in Huá Sāng’s wheelchair. The moment he suggested “squeezing in,” Huá Sāng immediately sprawled out in a starfish shape, taking up all the space.

From Mudan Street to the airport, the subway ride took about forty minutes, with one transfer and a total of eleven stops.

Lu Yibei pushed Huá Sāng, weaving through the city’s subway stations, drawing quite a few stares.

There was even a guy who looked like a self-media worker, who made up a whole “girlfriend paralyzed in a car accident, boyfriend never leaves her side” story in his head, and tried to interview him and take photos.

But after Lu Yibei rambled on about everything from the M78 Nebula to underground people, the guy left disappointed. His logic was so jumbled, his trash talk so utterly pointless and even toxic, that even the self-media guy was embarrassed.

According to him, there was no way to write an article–might as well make something up.

After all, that’s what self-media is best at, isn’t it?

Witnessing Lu Yibei chase off that annoying guy from start to finish, Huá Sāng actually felt that being this talkative was somewhat useful, and couldn’t help but praise him, “Pretty impressive.”

She hadn’t expected him to be so interesting. But if he knew her situation, he’d probably be just like those people in the Great Pure Palace, wouldn’t he? Huá Sāng thought, a fleeting gloom passing through her eyes.

“Of course!” Hearing Huá Sāng’s praise, Lu Yibei cocked his chin proudly. “That guy just now was obviously not from any proper media.”

“Ugh, I hate those unscrupulous self-media people the most. There’s always some who like to profit off others’ misfortune for attention.”

“They grab some ambiguous photo or short video, add a melodramatic but plausible story, and dare to post it online!”

Some members of the haunting chat group might have been born this way, Lu Yibei thought.

Listening to Lu Yibei’s endless chatter, Huá Sāng suddenly realized that his trash talk, besides driving away annoying people, seemed to have another effect–it was pretty hypnotic.

“The train is about to arrive at Hua City Airport Station. Passengers heading to Hua City Airport, please prepare to disembark and exit in order from the right side doors. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform when getting off.”

Just as Huá Sāng was getting drowsy, the subway car’s announcement sounded.

When the train arrived, Lu Yibei gently patted Huá Sāng’s shoulder, then pushed her toward the doors.

Hua City’s accessibility facilities were fairly complete. After getting off, it didn’t take much effort for the two of them to leave the subway station.

At 3:15 in the afternoon, Lu Yibei and Huá Sāng arrived at Hua City Airport.

The terminal’s exterior had a natural, streamlined shape, with a vast span of steel structures dotted with glass curtain walls, resembling a long, slender shell. Unfortunately, the gaps in the steelwork faintly revealed yellow papers covered in talisman symbols, which ruined the modern aesthetic of the terminal.

Even the peddlers who used to wander in front of the airport, collecting, selling magazines and lighters, had mostly switched to selling talismans.

Wearing Taoist robes, prayer beads on their wrists, a crucifix on their chest, they would pull out a Cthulhu Bodhisattva figurine whenever they saw someone and ask, “Friend, would you like a talisman?”

Lu Yibei didn’t know if any of those talismans were real, but he suspected that if something really happened, the deities those talismans pointed to might just hold a “martial arts tournament” first to decide the ownership of the power of belief.

All in all, it was utterly absurd.

Inside the terminal hall, passengers bustled about like flowing water, surging and receding like waves, filling every corner. Ever since the nights started getting longer, such scenes had become common at the airport, giving people the illusion of a Golden Week holiday.

Most people cherished their lives, worried that flying after dark might lead to something terrifying, so they tried to travel during the day. The flights between three and four in the afternoon were almost the last daytime flights, so there were quite a lot of people traveling at this time.

Entering the terminal hall, Lu Yibei stopped Huá Sāng by the priority seating and asked, “Are you getting your boarding pass yourself, or…”

As he spoke, seeing Huá Sāng’s lazy demeanor, Lu Yibei understood and rubbed his forehead. “Alright, I get it. I’ll get your boarding pass for you. But I can’t go into the departure lounge, so make sure you keep track of the time and don’t miss your flight.”

“Mm, got it,” Huá Sāng nodded.

After settling Huá Sāng, Lu Yibei took her ID card and walked to the nearby boarding pass counter, joining the end of the line.

This girl really was a handful.

Back on Mudan Street, he should have gone back to the old mansion to find a suitcase, stuffed her in, and shipped her straight to the Great Pure Palace.

Anyway, once she lay down, she probably wouldn’t move around much. With a simple spell formation, he could probably get her past security.

Lu Yibei grumbled to himself as he slowly moved forward with the line. Just then, a woman’s shrill scream reached his ears.

He looked toward the sound. A hundred meters away at the entrance to a corridor, a crowd surged, a group of people running frantically, shouting loudly as if they’d gone mad.

What’s going on? A celebrity? Are fans these days really this crazy? At this rate, your beloved idol is going to turn into a haunting!

Lu Yibei frowned and muttered, about to look away, when suddenly a woman ran past him, screaming.

“Murder! Murder!”

The next moment, a gunshot rang out, echoing through the terminal.

“Bang–bang–bang–!”

From beyond his line of sight came three gunshots. The once noisy hall instantly fell silent. Everyone, just like in the movies, covered their heads, hunched over, eyes wide with terror and confusion as they looked around.

The gunshots caught him off guard, and Lu Yibei’s body trembled slightly, his mind blanking for two seconds. Before he could recover, the gunshots rang out again.

“Bang–bang–bang–!”

Another three shots, this time much closer. Lu Yibei even saw, in the surging crowd, a hand holding a handgun raised above the head.

The gunshots sounded again, as if signaling death.

Everyone in the terminal hall snapped out of their confusion, screaming as they surged deeper into the terminal or out the main doors, shoving and pulling at each other like a herd of panicked beasts.

At the same time, Lu Yibei came to his senses, dashed forward a few steps, vaulted over the boarding pass counter, and pressed down the head of the ground staff girl who was about to peek out, hiding them both.

What the hell? You can run into terrorists just by coming to the airport to pick someone up? What are the odds of that? Damn, am I really cursed or something?

Lu Yibei grumbled as he straightened up a bit, glancing in the direction of the gunshots.

About thirty meters away, two masked sturdy men charged into the crowd, their thick arms swinging wildly. With a few screams, several bystanders were sent flying, tracing arcs through the air before crashing heavily onto the marble floor.

The whole thing looked like they’d been hit by a speeding truck–at least three and a half spins in midair before landing.

Seeing this, Lu Yibei froze for a moment, quietly spreading out his psychic sense. Detecting a psychic energy fluctuation of about 0.5 to 0.7 old rabbit from the two sturdy men, his expression grew serious.

Just as I thought–throwing people weighing dozens or even over a hundred kilos into the air with just brute strength, there’s no way ordinary people could do that.

They’re psychics!

Damn it, are psychics causing trouble this blatantly nowadays?

As Lu Yibei thought this, he was about to leap up and pull out the Death Owl Emblem from his jacket pocket to reveal his identity, when gunshots rang out again and he immediately ducked back under the counter.

“Bang—-!”

With the gunshot, dazzling flames spat from the black muzzle. The scorching bullet glimmered faintly silver, trailing a shallow arc through the air before striking the steel frame above the terminal, producing a sharp “ding!” sound.

The next moment, crimson flames exploded, instantly melting through the steel frame. Molten metal rained down, and screams echoed everywhere.

Damn it, I don’t know why you’re causing trouble at the airport, but with this kind of behavior, you really don’t give a damn about The Midnight Watchers Society, do you?

If you weren’t holding guns, I’d definitely be showing off today! Lu Yibei thought fiercely.

He quickly pulled out his phone to message the special task force, hunched over, and used the check-in counter for cover as he silently maneuvered behind the two sturdy men.

Just as the bullets fired by the two sturdy men were about to explode, Lu Yibei’s psychic sense detected the psychic energy fluctuation bursting from the bullets.

Judging by the intensity of the fluctuation, that was at least as strong as a 15x red flame flash.

Clearly, those were Alchemy bullets!

Realizing the sturdy men were using Alchemy firearms and bullets, he immediately gave up on the idea of taking bullets head-on and subduing the criminals by force, opting instead for a flanking approach.

Sure, showing off in public would feel great, but if he acted recklessly and got shot down, that wouldn’t be cool–it’d just be stupid.

The power of Alchemy bullets varies greatly depending on the materials used. According to the special task force veterans, the finest Alchemy bullets can even deal significant damage to a Class A Haunting.

In a non-haunting transformation state, Lu Yibei felt charging out was too risky.

Even if he transformed, weren’t there still bullets that could hurt a Class A Haunting?

Those high-grade Alchemy bullets are expensive, but what if they have them?

If there’s a chance to ambush, why go head-on?

Besides, if he couldn’t take them down in one move and they went berserk, it’d be hard not to involve innocent people, and the special task force’s cleanup would become a nightmare.

Thinking this, as he got closer to the sturdy men’s rear, Lu Yibei suppressed his psychic energy fluctuation and quickly began silently reciting an incantation. With a soft “poof,” a crimson fireball sprang up at his fingertip.

Just then, a sudden shout rang in his ears.

“Stop! What are you doing!?”

“Damn it, didn’t you hear me? If you take one more step, I’ll shoot!”

Crap, did they spot me? Lu Yibei’s body tensed slightly. After two seconds of silence, he gritted his teeth and slowly stood up from behind the counter.

The moment he stood up, gunshots rang out.

“Bang—-bang—-bang—-!”

With the gunfire came a harsh clanging, like bullets hitting steel plates.

Lu Yibei froze, following the sound, and saw an astonishing scene.

Huá Sāng, her expression icy, was speeding toward the two sturdy men in her wheelchair. Gunshots rang out, bullets striking her body and sparking off in bursts.

She didn’t even flinch, not a hint of pain or discomfort–she didn’t even furrow her brow.

At that moment, she looked like a war god…

Well, a wheelchair war god.