Chapter 537

Chapter 537 Dawn of Death

“Oh?” Chu Tianqiu lifted a brow in feigned surprise. “Someone excavated Qi Xia’s brain? Could it have been a rat?”

“A rat?” Doctor Zhao’s expression tightened. “Are there any other living creatures here besides us?”

“Then tell me, who do you think excavated Qi Xia’s brain?” Chu Tianqiu slowly closed the distance between them. “Who was it… who sliced open Qi Xia’s skull, carved out a piece, fried it in a pan until it was done, and finally swallowed it down?”

The words sent an icy chill through Doctor Zhao’s entire body.

“And you must have also noticed,” Chu Tianqiu continued, advancing step by step, forcing Doctor Zhao to retreat again and again. “What he’s missing isn’t merely a piece of brain. Anywhere that could be ingested, I’ve tried. I even gouged out his eyes.”

“What exactly are you doing?” Doctor Zhao demanded, frowning deeply. “Your cellar is filled with food. Surely you haven’t fallen so low as to cannibalize."

“Indeed.” Chu Tianqiu nodded, a profound smile spreading across his face. “Some people devour others simply to survive here, to keep on being human…but others cannibalize in order to cease being human altogether.”

“To cease being human…” Doctor Zhao stared into Chu Tianqiu’s eyes and slowly drew in a breath. In that moment, he could not help but feel that joining {Passage to Heaven} had been a reckless decision.

“Doctor Zhao,” Chu Tianqiu said softly, “I told you already. If you help me accomplish this, I will make you my deputy leader.”

He reached out and patted Doctor Zhao’s shoulder. “Now you and Zhang Shan are my left and right hand. This is an honor, a privilege. Treasure it well.”

Doctor Zhao’s face showed no emotion at all upon hearing those words. He only nodded, then turned and walked out the door.

“Oh, right…” Chu Tianqiu called after him. “Doctor Zhao, don’t go back to your room later. Bring Zhang Shan with you. The three of us will hold a meeting on the field.”

“What?”

…

When the black lines began drawing near Terrestrial Snake’s game venue, Li Xiangling was the first to notice.

From the sky outside came an exceedingly unusual sound. It was as though a vast flock of birds were cutting across the heavens, yet it also resembled a fine, pattering drizzle falling without end.

“Jie jies…” Li Xiangling called out to the women who were clearing the ruins, urging them to pause and still their hands. She listened again, more carefully this time. “Doesn’t it sound like it’s…raining?”

Lin Qin, who had been resting nearby, heard the word {raining} and immediately furrowed her brow. Her expression changed at once.

At any other moment, the sky above {End Point} was deathly silent. Yet the instant anything fell from the heavens, it was invariably lethally fatal.

“Hour of Wǔ…?” Lin Qin calculated the time, and her heart sank. “This is bad! We need to get outside immediately!!”

“What?” Zhang Chenze froze.

It sounded as though it was raining outside. Would any sane person choose to sprint straight into the streets?

“Though I’m not entirely certain what will happen…” Lin Qin said urgently, “any upheaval that begins at {Hour of Wǔ} is something you flee for your life from! If you stay indoors, you will die!”

Zhang Chenze lowered her gaze to Lin Qin’s broken right leg. It had only just been splinted with wooden boards by Li Xiangling. If they truly needed to run for their lives, what was she supposed to do?

“Don’t worry about me.” Lin Qin seemed to read their thoughts and shook her head. “No matter what kind of calamity is descending, I won’t be able to escape.”

“Then we—”

“Stop hesitating!! Run!!” Lin Qin cried. “If you can live one more day, then live it. Don’t forget the plan you’ve set. And if, by some stroke of fortune, you ever see Qi Xia, you must tell him about Wen Qiaoyun!”

Yun Yao, Tian Tian, Li Xiangling, and Zhang Chenze exchanged a heavy glance, then nodded.

Yun Yao was aware Lin Qin bore memories even longer than her own. For her to look so frightened could only mean that something truly catastrophic was about to unfold.

Moreover, at this moment, they were wholly aligned, standing on the same side. Lin Qin had no reason to deceive them. All she could do was grab a few belongings before leading Tian Tian as they sprinted toward the entrance.

They had not even made it far when a faint, delicate sound reached their ears.

Across the building, every window was suddenly pierced through with countless tiny holes. Strange black lines drifted in through them, floating forward until they hovered directly before the group.

Luckily, the black lines weren’t swift, twisting in midair like airborne tufts of fluff.

“Don’t touch them…” Lin Qin warned. “While you still can, get out. Run for your lives.”

The others obeyed at once, skirting around the eerie black threads as they reached the doorway. Then they turned back, looking toward Lin Qin.

She sat in the deepest part of the building, as though she had already been completely surrounded.

“Everyone, {Hour of Wǔ} should be {Celestial Horse}’s Hour.” Lin Qin said calmly, her voice remained steady. “This will be a two-hour flight from death. I suspect that beyond speed… you will also need extraordinary endurance.”

“Understood…” Yun Yao nodded, her expression dim with grief. “Take care of yourself. We’ll meet again.”

Lin Qin leaned back, easing herself into the most comfortable position she could find, as though preparing to greet death with composure.

“Until next time,” Lin Qin whispered.

Yun Yao nodded. Before leaving, she added softly, “Lin Qin, you've truly changed my opinion of {Judgment’s Domain}.”

“No matter how your {opinion shifts}, it makes little difference,” Lin Qin replied. “{Judgment’s Domain} has always been as it is.”

At that moment, Yun Yao saw a single black thread drifting slowly before Lin Qin’s face, its tip lightly aligning with the center of her brow.

Lin Qin did not so much as flinch. She allowed it to pierce into her forehead, as easily as a toothpick sinking into tofu. The life in her eyes vanished at once.

Yun Yao’s pupils contracted. Before she could even react, the black line lashed downward in a brutal sweep.

Starting from the brow, it split Lin Qin’s body into two perfectly even halves. Blood poured out like a breached flood, spilling across the ground in a spreading pool.

Her corpse looked like a rotting banana peel tossed carelessly aside. Save for the skull still barely connected, the body had been cleaved into two separate heaps, left and right.

The horrifying sight made everyone’s eyes go wide in an instant, and they bolted out the door.

Fortunately, the black lines were not fast. For an ordinary person, even a steady run was enough to escape. Yet the moment they stepped outside, they realized the threads were beginning to pursue them from different directions.

The four women exchanged a brief glance, and in that instant, their strategy was decided.

They could only scatter.

“If we survive…” Yun Yao called out, “we meet back here.”

The others nodded.

“Tian Tian, you must be careful,” Yun Yao added.

Tian Tian nodded without expression, yet Yun Yao could still see what lay beneath her silence.

“Try to live, just once,” Yun Yao pressed her lips together. “Someone will be waiting for you at the end.”

“Yes.” Zhang Chenze, tears shimmering in her eyes, nodded to them as well. “We have endured more suffering than most. We deserve a better future.”

With their directions decided, the four fled, each pursued by those uncanny black threads, scattering toward four different paths.

As Yun Yao ran, she lifted her gaze to the sun above.

Behind it, countless black threads were spilling outward, drifting and dancing as they swept toward every corner of the city.