Chapter 593: Fine, Then Let’s Go Back and Kill Them!

As if a massive blackout had swept through, the streets for several hundred meters around were swallowed by darkness in an instant. Within that area, something unsettling spread unseen, silently altering everything.

In the dark, dozens of rather powerful psychic fluctuations broke into the range of Lu Yibei’s spiritual perception. Her nerves snapped taut, and she turned, warily sweeping her gaze over her surroundings.

The sources of those psychic fluctuations had yet to appear, but the pressure had already arrived ahead of them, overwhelming and oppressive.

Lu Yibei: “…”

Now this was a big problem!

Damn it. She hadn’t expected that brat Hu Chuan to be such a sore loser. An online dispute, and he just had to escalate it into offline bloodshed!

And where were Shem and Salih? When nothing was happening, it was “Holy Son” this and “my lord” that. The moment something went wrong, they ran faster than anyone, huh?

Lu Yibei cursed inwardly a few times, then took several deep breaths in succession, forcing herself to calm down. She lowered her voice and said to Fang Ji, “Miss Fang, these people are probably here for me. In a bit, if you see a chance, run. If you don’t get the chance, then stay as close to me as you can.”

Worried that Fang Ji might be too terrified, Lu Yibei added, “You don’t need to be afraid. This is just normal mission procedure. Basically… right, it’s what people usually call a scripted death event!”

Fang Ji: “…”

“Miss Fang?” After receiving no response for a long while, Lu Yibei called softly and turned back, only to see Fang Ji trembling all over, frozen stiff like a wooden chicken.

“Th-those… wh-what do we do?” Fang Ji finally snapped back to himself and stammered.

Lu Yibei: “…”

Fair enough. Judging from the results of her spiritual perception, most of the dozens of approaching psychic fluctuations had reached the level of 1 Old Rabbit, and there were even a few mixed in at around 1 to 1.2 New Rabbits.

Although Miss Fang possessed some bizarre abilities, she was, after all, only a C-rank psychic. It was normal for her to be scared stupid.

Forget her—even I’m scared stiff! Lu Yibei thought.

An enemy with strength around 1 New Rabbit already took Lu Yibei some effort to handle. Two, and she could barely fight. Three, and she could still flee with ease…

But several enemies at that level, plus so many enemies at 1 Old Rabbit, while she had already consumed a great deal of psychic power tonight changing her appearance, fighting once, and launching one sneak attack—if she were surrounded, things would become extremely troublesome.

Without the support of leyline aura, and without a large alchemical dirty bomb on hand, her intuition told her that her odds of victory were below fifty percent, while her odds of successfully escaping were only eighty to ninety percent.

Shizhou City truly was a land of outstanding people and abundant spiritual talent, with psychics everywhere and powerful local gangs.

What a perilous situation—one chance of death, nine chances of life!

Lu Yibei silently analyzed the situation for a few seconds. Then, with a thought, she sent a message through the familiar mark to Leather Jacket—Leather Jacket, turn into two ropes, tie up Miss Fang, bring her along. We’re getting ready to run!

Eighty to ninety percent was still higher than less than fifty percent, after all…

Leather Jacket: “…”

Got it! ٩( ‘ω’ )و

The next moment, Leather Jacket gently wriggled twice. With a soft whoosh, two seat-belt-like ropes extended from the clothing on Lu Yibei’s back and shot toward Fang Ji.

The ropes wrapped around his body, lifted him off the ground, spun him one hundred and eighty degrees in midair, and bound him back-to-back against Lu Yibei.

Leather Jacket: “…” Letting a stranger press back-to-back against Lady Witch is already the absolute limit of what I can accept!

o(´^｀)o

Lu Yibei bounced her shoulders slightly, getting a feel for Fang Ji’s weight, then took out the Pure Lotus Sword and gripped it tightly.

Just then, the sound of rushing through the air came from every direction. One figure after another flew in, breaking into her field of vision.

At both ends of the alley, on the rooftops of residential buildings, on lampposts, and even on the crisscrossing power lines… along the blurred, uneven silhouettes of the surrounding buildings, figures stood everywhere.

They were called figures, but perhaps they were not human.

At least, they were not complete humans. From the outlines of their bodies, certain features that had been assimilated by “objects” could be clearly picked out.

A burly man whose left arm had turned into a giant axe. A young man whose head had become a mobile phone. A woman whose upper body was fused with a racing motorcycle of indeterminate model, forming something like a centaur…

They stood there quietly, as if waiting for something, their strange gazes studying Fang Ji and Lu Yibei. It felt as though they were looking at two freaks from some distant place beyond the heavens.

Things were often like this. When the overwhelming majority of people were abnormal, the normal ones became the oddities instead.

Of course, Lu Yibei and Fang Ji were not exactly normal either. They simply were not abnormal in as obvious a way as those figures.

“Uh… wow. Everyone showed up, huh?”

Lu Yibei swept her gaze over the figures one by one as if nothing were wrong, tugging at her stiff facial muscles and laboriously squeezing out something that may or may not have counted as a smile.

As she spoke, she backed up, then backed up again. Then she abruptly cupped her fist in salute and said expressionlessly, “Sorry for disturbing you. Farewell!”

The moment her words fell, she stamped both feet hard against the ground. With a muffled crack of shattering pavement, her body skimmed along the outer wall of the residential building and shot upward!

The instant Lu Yibei moved, those eerie figures seemed to catch the scent of “prey” trying to flee. From every direction, they flew after her in pursuit.

The cold glow of phone screens, the harsh glare of headlights, scarlet infrared beams, the firelight bursting from gunfire…

Countless light sources attached to “objects” lit up, mingling with the glow of all kinds of gathering spells, illuminating the streets that had fallen into darkness. Reflected off icy blades, the mottled light and shadow became chaotic and dazzling.

Less than a second later, the roar of engines, the whistle of blades slicing through air, the muffled rumble of earth and stone cracking, and mechanically distorted shrieks erupted all at once. A storm of violent noise shattered the silence and stabbed at the eardrums.

Amid the chaotic light and shadow and the overwhelming din, Lu Yibei clenched her silver teeth, pressed her lips tight, and raced along the building’s outer wall, as though she had fallen into a corner of the world where “objects” had broken into riot.

A vast flood of predictive thoughts flashed through her mind, packed densely together like the bullet comments on a video with tens of millions of views. Her brain throbbed, nearly crashing on the spot.

[An alchemical bullet strikes your shoulder from three o’clock.]

[An unknown lightning-attribute spell strikes your side from eight o’clock.]

[She launches a charge at you from directly behind.]

[Unknown psychic entity…]

The lightning-attribute spell and the unknown psychic entity were of uncertain strength. She could not take them head-on…

The alchemical bullet was too fast. She could not dodge it…

The one catching up from behind did not have especially strong psychic fluctuations. It seemed she could fight that…

Lu Yibei briefly analyzed the imminent events captured by her predictive thoughts and made her judgment.

The next instant, a roar erupted.

A dense hail of alchemical bullets hid within the brilliant, chaotic light and traced an arc through the air. Indigo-violet lightning came roaring in like a stampeding herd of beasts. Ahead of her, a sound wave mixed with intense psychic fluctuations spread outward.

The attacks from three directions were like the interlocking fangs of a savage beast, sealing off every path forward with perfect precision.

Immediately after, Lu Yibei felt a gale from behind her and heard the roar of an engine.

Now!

Her gaze sharpened. Her body abruptly froze for an instant, then her knees bent slightly and released their force, sending her leaping violently backward. At the same time, she casually threw three alchemical dirty bombs forward.

Her delicate body arched slightly backward, drawing a curve through the air. Pulled by gravity, her chestnut hair spread downward and swayed.

Then…

The moment the alchemical dirty bombs made contact with the first wave of alchemical bullets, detonation!

“Boom—!”

A storm of crimson flames engulfed the dense swarm of alchemical bullets, triggering an even more violent explosion that spread in all directions, colliding with the incoming lightning-attribute spell formations and sound waves.

Thus, dazzling bursts of fire erupted like fireworks. The rising clouds were twisted into bizarre shapes by the sound waves, thick shockwaves rolled outward, and the exterior walls of buildings shattered abruptly, spiderweb-like cracks spreading rapidly.

Under the assault of blinding light and deafening noise, for just a split second, time itself seemed frozen. Riding the surging shockwave, Lu Yibei plummeted downward like a withered leaf caught by the wind.

Already completely disoriented from the violent shaking, Fang Ji’s head wobbled left and right in the wind. Both hands clamped tightly over his mouth, he struggled desperately to suppress the urge to vomit, his small face turning an alarming shade of purple.

And then…

As she landed back against the wall, the accelerated passage of time resumed.

She landed directly behind the enemy whose body was fused with the racing motorcycle. Surging forward with a fierce lunge, she swung her Broken Sword.

“Bang, bang—!”

With explosive booms, both tires of the racing motorcycle burst simultaneously. Instantly losing balance, it tipped sideways, skidding straight toward the violently blazing fire of the preceding explosion.

“Boom!”

As the explosion resounded, Lu Yibei gave a cold snort. “Hmph, blowing out tires? I’m an expert at that!”

The words had barely fallen when a surge of psychic energy fluctuation tore in from behind with terrifying speed—so fast it was staggering.

Lu Yibei’s heart tightened. She was just about to turn and react instinctively when she heard Fang Ji on her back go, “Blaaargh!” and vomit explosively.

Though Fang Ji knew vomiting on someone’s back was extremely rude, Lu Yibei’s series of maneuvers had been more intense than the Kingda Ka roller coaster. He simply couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Thus, the enemy ambushing from behind was met head-on by a projectile of vomit and sent plummeting back to the ground.

Lu Yibei, “…” Well, damn. I hereby crown him the Ultimate Splatter Warrior!

Cursing inwardly, seeing the firelight ahead slightly dissipate while more pursuers closed in from behind, Lu Yibei didn’t pause for a single moment. She continued charging forward, the blade in her hand cleaving through the yet-unsettled flames and thick smoke. Her figure shot out like a bolt of lightning from within. Seizing the split second before those silhouettes could reform their encirclement, she dashed upward at full speed!

Finally, one second later, she scaled to the very pinnacle of the residential building.

Standing atop the building’s summit, Lu Yibei gazed toward the main street of Sleepless Street—and instantly froze in place.

She saw an expanse of utter darkness.

A darkness that stretched all the way to the edge of perception. The brilliant lights of Sleepless Street seemed utterly lost within it.

The path ahead had vanished without a trace. Lu Yibei’s heart, pounding fiercely moments before, instantly plunged to ice-cold desolation.

The hell is going on?

A street that huge, just gone—poof—like that?

Lu Yibei suspected she might have been pulled into a catastrophe-class existence’s Divine Land. It was also the first time she truly realized—this was probably how Divine Lands were meant to be used.

Immediately after, the temporarily quiescent premonitory thoughts once again flashed through her mind.

What filled her with intense unease was that the subjects these premonitory thoughts pointed to—not a single one was human or a haunting. They were all cold, lifeless objects.

The hell is going on this time?!

Did Hu Chuan activate [Field Spell Card: Pink Fluffy Bunny Domain]?

“It’s moving, it’s moving!” Fang Ji suddenly shrieked in panic, as if spotting something truly horrifying. “Miss Rescuer, look out!”

Lu Yibei looked toward the direction Fang Ji was frantically pointing. She saw the rooftop water tanks, solar panels, external AC units, and various haphazardly piled debris… all seeming to come to vicious life! Accompanied by an unbearably grinding cacophony that set teeth on edge, they reared up suddenly—writhing and coiling toward her like giant dragons shaking their massive bodies.

The floor tiles beneath her feet detonated in rapid succession, as if triggered by a chain of explosives.

Before Lu Yibei could even react, she was violently slammed by these “items” shrouded in formidable psychic energy fluctuation.

A thunderous crash erupted.

She was sent rocketing backward toward the ground. Her body smashed through the surface, puncturing into the building’s structure and crashing into someone’s apartment.

Before she could even scramble to her feet, a clattering, clinking clamor rose from every direction in the pitch-black room.

In the next moment, countless objects shot toward her like projectiles. From pots, pans, bowls, ladles, fruit knives, and remote controls—up to televisions, air conditioners, and refrigerators. The howling shrieks filled the air incessantly, her premonitory thoughts overwhelmed beyond capacity.

This was, in the most literal sense, “every blade of grass and tree a soldier.”

For a moment, it felt as though the entire world—everything except the air itself—was violently rejecting her existence.

Immediately after her back was struck for the first time by a statue, she was swept into the relentless “storm.” Her petite form ricocheted around the room like a three-dimensional pinball, careening in all directions.

Then, her body was sent flying by a suddenly rearing marble coffee table. She smashed through the apartment’s wall and plummeted into a bedroom. And in that instant, the question that had been gnawing at her heart ever since she saw the residential building swallowed by blackness… was finally answered.

When she’d witnessed the building consumed by darkness, she had been deeply puzzled: why hadn’t the residents reacted at all? Why were they utterly indifferent even to the violent explosion of the alchemical dirty bombs?

And now, staring through the darkness at the family of three lying on the bed—their lower bodies fused as one with the bedframe—Lu Yibei suddenly understood exactly what had happened.

The husband’s eyes were wide open, his face distorted and contorted in sheer terror. His hands were frozen in a stance of desperate struggle, claws reaching toward empty air, as if trying to seize a nonexistent lifesaving straw. The wife was curled up tightly, shielding the child fiercely within her arms as if her embrace could ward off the inevitable.

But struggle and protection alike had been utterly meaningless. Husband, wife, child—wooden grain patterns had surfaced across the skin of all three. There was not a single trace of life left.

It was almost as if, deliberately, the “items” allowed Lu Yibei this moment to clearly see this scene, temporarily ceasing their attacks upon her.

“A-are they all dead?” Fang Ji asked weakly.

He knew the question was somewhat redundant, but his mind still couldn’t fully accept the sight before his eyes.

“Mhm,” Lu Yibei answered quietly. “Dead.”

The entire building’s occupants… were likely all dead already.

Swallowed by their beds in their sleep. Drowned by their water cups when getting a dark drink. Strangled suddenly while passing a curtain. Or collapsed in the bathroom, on the sofa, before the computer—faces frozen with disbelief.

Who would ever imagine that household items could kill?

But perhaps they had wanted to do this for a long time. To kill those masters who had never once regarded them as anything of consequence.

They were simply lacking a catalyst. And today, that catalyst had finally arrived.

“…” Fang Ji opened his mouth but hesitated to speak.

During the silence, murderous intent gradually solidified within Lu Yibei. She gripped the Pure Lotus Sword silently, her knuckles tightening…

“Miss Fang, do you mind if we fight our way back in and slaughter them?”

“Uh… I don’t mind at all! Anyway, we can’t seem to escape right now… and after all that deadly danger just now, I didn’t even get scratched. Should be fine, right?”

“…” Lu Yibei had several sarcastic remarks she wanted to spit out, but in the end, she merely said evenly, “Good. Then we’re going back in—to kill people!”