Lin Xian's heart hammered as he stared wide-eyed at Liu Wei on the ground.
The blood and pain seemed to unleash something savage inside him.
I can't die. I don't want to die!
His will to survive sent his Blood Aura surging. The pain throughout his body seemed to go numb in an instant. The moment Liu Wei fell, Lin Xian spun around without pausing even half a breath, raised his hand, and fired a Wind Cannon straight at his face!
Pfft!
A bloody hole appeared in Liu Wei's face!
"Ah!"
Liu Wei screamed, his face twisted. His four tentacles scooped up pebbles from the riverbed and hurled them wildly at Lin Xian, so hard that the stones whistled through the air.
Lin Xian dared not take them lightly. He hurriedly dodged to the side.
"I'll smash you to death!"
Driven into a corner, Liu Wei frantically grabbed more stones with his tentacles and flung them at Lin Xian.
He could tell this guy relied on speed. Aside from whatever hidden weapon he could shoot from his hand, he did not seem to have any other way to threaten him.
Otherwise, Liu Wei would not still be alive.
As it happened, Liu Wei's guess was right. Apart from a Wind Cannon, Lin Xian had only a fairly useless Ice Shield. His only other option was to fight Liu Wei up close.
Liu Wei was on guard now, too. Lin Xian would have a hard time getting close again. Two hands against six? If the guy tried it, Liu Wei could not imagine losing.
But he feared Lin Xian's ranged attack. Once they had put some distance between them, both men stood catching their breath, neither making the first move.
Beep, beep.
Lin Xian's watch suddenly sounded.
Both men's expressions changed. Liu Wei knew what it meant, too.
Night was coming!
"Brother, it's almost dark. How about we stop fighting and head back?" Blood covered Liu Wei's face, and his eyes glowed a murky green. He looked like a demon that had crawled out of a sea of blood.
Lin Xian gave a cold laugh.
"You think that's going to happen?"
What kind of idiot would believe that in the apocalypse?
Liu Wei's eye twitched. The young man was no pushover. He had not fallen for it at all.
"Fine. Let's see how many more times you can point that finger."
Liu Wei watched Lin Xian closely, his gaze sweeping over him.
As an Esper himself, he knew using an ability took a heavy toll on the body. A long-range attack like Lin Xian's had to cost even more energy than his own ability. Otherwise, the man would have sprayed him like an automatic rifle instead of waiting for openings.
Liu Wei might have looked thickheaded, but he did not consider himself stupid. After a lifetime running a small business, he thought himself shrewd.
"Fine."
Unfazed, Lin Xian raised his right index finger and aimed it at Liu Wei's face.
Liu Wei instinctively lifted his tentacles to block it. But with his face covered, he could not see Lin Xian's next move. That was the problem.
Thinking quickly, he kept two tentacles over his face while the other two grabbed pebbles off the ground and threw them at Lin Xian.
Lin Xian's gaze sharpened. He stayed where he was, tilting his head just enough to dodge a stone. Then his finger slowly lowered toward Liu Wei's crotch.
Pfft!
The Wind Gun punched through!
Liu Wei's whole body convulsed as agony exploded through him. Lin Xian had aimed for his head from the start, so it had never occurred to Liu Wei that he would go for the other one...
"Ah!"
His crotch burst open. Liu Wei screamed, mouth wide. In the instant his mind went blank, Lin Xian appeared before him like a ghost. Death closing in, Liu Wei lashed out with all four tentacles!
"Die, you bastard!"
Bang!
His full-force strike slammed into an Ice Wall instead. The wall shattered, spraying shards of ice. Lin Xian was nowhere in sight. By the time Liu Wei realized what had happened, a finger was right in front of him!
A finger aimed at his eye!
"Wait!"
In that instant, regret overwhelmed him.
Pfft!
Liu Wei's gaze shuddered. Before he could finish speaking, his left eye became a bloody hole, and he toppled straight backward.
He had never imagined that after gaining the boss-level Esper power of "Doctor Octopus" and ruling like a king for a few days, he would die at the hands of some young man.
Cough, cough!
When Liu Wei fell, Lin Xian coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. But he gave himself no time to recover. He picked up a large pebble, walked over, and brought it crashing down on Liu Wei's face!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With every blow, Liu Wei's tentacles gave a strange twitch.
Until... they stopped moving altogether.
Only then did Lin Xian sit down and gasp for air.
Huff... huff...
As the adrenaline faded, intense pain set in. Judging by the fight, he was lucky not to have broken any bones, but some of his internal organs were injured, and he had plenty of external wounds.
A strange light flickered across the sky. Lin Xian's eyes widened.
"Oh no!"
Meanwhile, on the train, Chen Sixuan leaned against the wall deep in the corridor, staring tensely at the cab door as blows pounded against it.
"Open up! Open the door!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Little Yellow Hair climbed onto the windshield with a handgun and hammered at the glass with its butt.
But apart from the cracks Liu Wei had made earlier, the windshield did not budge.
"Get the hell out of my way!"
Another man climbed up with a submachine gun. He kicked Little Yellow Hair aside, a cigarette hanging from his mouth, then stood at the front of the train and fired a burst straight into the windshield!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Sparks flew, and stray bullets ricocheted everywhere.
"Holy shit, it's that tough? Is it bulletproof?"
"Watch it, Da Fei, you asshole! Those bullets could hit us!"
"We can't get the door open either. Not without a cutter."
"Where the fuck am I supposed to find you a cutter right now?"
"Forget it. Let's go. It's almost dark."
At the mention of nightfall, the thugs' faces changed.
"Brother Wei took care of the man. That woman's meat in a can. We'll bring some tools and get her out tomorrow."
"Heh, I piled some rocks on the tracks. The train isn't going anywhere!"
"Brother Da Fei, Liu Wei used the Zhao Family's car to block the road. There's no room for them in the convoy. What do we do, squeeze them in?"
"Squeeze them in, my ass. Tell them to get lost. They barely contributed anything, and they've got a whole family tagging along."
"Then we'll leave them..."
The group left, cursing. Chen Sixuan watched the seconds tick by on the clock inside the carriage, her heart in her throat.
Is he dead?
It's almost dark. What do I do...?
Chen Sixuan gripped the door handle tightly, struggling to keep her head clear.
More than ten minutes later, frantic knocking sounded. Thinking it was Lin Xian, Chen Sixuan was about to call out when she heard a woman shouting outside.
"Is anyone there? Please, can you let my family in?"
"Miss!" A neatly dressed man wearing glasses climbed up beside the window. The moment he saw Chen Sixuan, he called out, "Can you open the door and let us hide inside? It's almost dark!"
"Please!" The woman outside sounded close to tears. A baby's cries rose alongside her voice, each wail wrenching at Chen Sixuan's heart.
"Please, miss. We won't eat anything or ask you for anything. Just let us hide inside..."
"Our car was destroyed. We have nowhere to go."
"Please..."
"Please, have mercy on us."
"Then... then..." the woman sobbed desperately. "If you're worried, could you at least take my baby? He's so little. He won't eat much..."
"Please."
The woman's sobs, the man's pleas, the baby's cries—one sound after another battered Chen Sixuan's ears. Curled up in a corner, she clamped her hands over them. Silent tears streamed down her face as she struggled with herself.
Please stop calling. Please...
The clock in the cab ticked on.
Gradually, the cries faded. The knocking stopped.
The Black Night fell!
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