Five Minutes and Fifty Seconds (Part 1)

"Leave?"

Huai Shi stared at Liu Dongli in disbelief.

Even mid-performance, Liu Dongli was still smiling charmingly, winking at the older ladies in the audience. He looked so captivating even when just checking a text message on his phone.

Then, his smile froze on his face.

Amidst the incredibly festive, kitschy Yangge dance, his complexion turned deathly pale. Disregarding his ongoing performance, he turned and grabbed Huai Shi, pulling him away.

It started with a slow jog, then escalated into a full-blown sprint.

"What else would we do? Stay for New Year's?" Liu Dongli retorted, his face ashen. He muttered about that "bitch" and how she had no conscience, shoving people out of his way. Ignoring the commotion he was causing, he headed straight for the back door, trying to push it open.

The door budged slightly, then stopped abruptly.

It was locked.

From the outside.

"Damn it, let's try the front..." Liu Dongli, furious, pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it at the two people chasing them. "Get lost! Get out! Get out!"

Bang!

Bang!

The bullets struck the wall, embedding themselves in the bricks, sending dust flying.

But once they realized Liu Dongli's gun wasn't a toy, the pursuers screamed and turned to flee.

"Was that really necessary?" Huai Shi asked, stunned.

Just then, his phone vibrated again. A text from Ai Qing.

—Closed 4

"Do you know what that means?" Liu Dongli's face was grim as he pointed at the message on his phone screen. "Closed—that means lockdown! This is the Astronomical Society's most common method for dealing with dangerous items. The '4' is a countdown. Four minutes left! In four minutes, this entire area will be physically isolated... and we'll be trapped in a cage with whatever they're trying to contain!"

This was Ai Qing's last chance for them.

Plan canceled. No time to evacuate you. Run as far as you can...

"That's brutal!"

Huai Shi's face had gone so pale it looked translucent. He suddenly felt dizzy, his vision blackening intermittently. He stumbled along behind Liu Dongli, navigating the corridors. He collided with a utility worker carrying items.

"Sorry, sorry."

Huai Shi scrambled to get up, trying to help gather the scattered items, but there was no time. After repeatedly apologizing, he turned and ran after Liu Dongli.

The expressionless man didn't speak, only glancing at Huai Shi before mechanically collecting his things.

But in that moment when he looked up, Huai Shi saw... behind the eyes on that ordinary face, a golden-red shadow seemed to drift by...

Like a goldfish in a fishbowl?

Huai Shi thought inexplicably.

Five minutes earlier.

"Cancel all the subsequent performances."

In the lounge, Wang Hai paced restlessly, awaiting the start of the sermon. For some reason, a sense of foreboding gnawed at him.

All his escape routes had been meticulously planned. Once this job was done, he'd disappear immediately. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling of panic.

Something felt off...

He instinctively gnawed on his fingers, reopening the healed skin until it bled. The unease in his heart grew stronger.

"Start the sermon immediately!"

He could wait no longer. He stomped his foot, grabbed the box from the table, and instructed his disciple, "Stop with those boring performances. We'll keep this one clean, no warm-up needed!"

After his disciple hurried off, he tried to suppress his panic and put on the kind, benevolent smile that had become muscle memory.

Suddenly, he felt his pocket vibrate.

It was his phone.

A bizarre text message from an unknown number. But its contents turned his face deathly pale.

"Tu Tai has been arrested. Astronomical Society is here. Run, Wang Hai. You have one minute."

In an instant, a bone-chilling coldness almost made him scream.

He didn't know who sent the message or how they got this number, known only to a few trusted confidants. But now was not the time to dwell on such things.

This was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Go.

Must go now.

Xinhai is no longer a place he can stay!

Overwhelmed by a fear so intense it almost made him scream, he grabbed the box and pushed open the door of the lounge, sprinting towards the front. He kicked open a door, grabbed his keys, and rushed towards the back exit.

As he rounded a corner, he heard a voice ahead.

"Little brother, why are you leaving? Weren't we getting along just fine?" The elderly aunt, the first person Liu Dongli had struck up a conversation with, grabbed his arm enthusiastically, trying to detain him. "When the sermon is over, I'll make you dough drop noodles."

"No, big sister, I have an urgent matter, really urgent."

Liu Dongli struggled, looking up.

He saw Wang Hai.

Wang Hai also saw him.

As if gazing at each other across an abyss, their expressions froze. In the next instant, determination and ferocity flashed across their faces.

Then, the sound of a gunshot.

From behind Liu Dongli.

In the young man's hand, the muzzle of the gun was smoking.

It was Huai Shi.

In that moment, he snatched the pistol from behind Liu Dongli, aimed it resolutely, and fired.

But he wasn't aiming at Wang Hai, but at the... elderly aunt next to Liu Dongli.

"She's going to kill!"

Driven by the intense stimulus of his Death Sense, Huai Shi felt an undeniable killing intent emanating from the seemingly kind and enthusiastic old aunt.

An intent potent enough to tear him and Liu Dongli to shreds.

Firing in haste, Huai Shi almost couldn't hold on. The bullet, aimed at the old aunt's body, went wildly off course, only hitting the hand she was using to grab Liu Dongli. It tore a large hole in her wrist, nearly taking Liu Dongli down with it.

Silence fell.

Blood splattered.

Liu Dongli instinctively dodged and retreated, watching as the aged hand that had been holding him gradually turned the color of steel, sharp, iron-gray fingernails extending from each fingertip.

As the flesh slowly healed, a deformed bullet was squeezed from the wound.

"You saw through me?"

The old woman slowly raised her head, her aged face contorting. Her pupils turned a familiar blood-red, and her face began to transform into that of a beast, revealing a hungry smile.

"Damn it, Nue!"

Liu Dongli cried out in horror.

---Closed 3.5

With thirty-three seconds left until the old pond was sealed, the situation began to slide towards the worst possible outcome. Not only for the Dongxia football team, but the time left for Huai Shi and the others was also running out.

Given their awkward reunion under such circumstances, it was natural that they couldn't just sit down for tea and chat.

The quickest to react was Liu Dongli.

Or rather, this show-off was prepared at all times to flaunt his so-called stunning beauty.

"What are you looking at!"

With a shout, the Nue, who had instinctively turned its head, froze in place. Liu Dongli, meanwhile, grabbed the pistol that had nearly numbed Huai Shi's hand and began firing wildly at his "elder sister."

The sweet, cross-generational rural romance from moments ago vanished amidst the gunfire.

In the blink of an eye, he emptied the entire magazine. However, without the firepower of a large-caliber weapon, the pistol's lethality was minimal against an Ascendant who had entered the third stage and whose internal organs were beginning to etherize.

The Nue-like old woman had already closed her eyes.

The tables had turned.

Huai Shi, standing beside them, didn't just stand there. He mustered his courage, rolled up his sleeves, and charged straight at Wang Hai, launching a powerful kick. "Leave the box behind!"

Wang Hai, who was preparing to turn and flee, was caught in the lower back by the flying kick. He flew forward and landed face-first on the ground, but he still clutched the box tightly, refusing to let go.

Huai Shi then pounced, unleashing a flurry of Military Boxing strikes onto Wang Hai's face.

Unsure if Wang Hai possessed any strange abilities, Huai Shi held nothing back, his fingers aching from the impact.

Wang Hai, whose value to the Overlords lay only in his talent for proselytizing and who relied on his silver tongue even when scamming others, had never experienced such a brutal confrontation.

He was just an ordinary person!

Now, the Savior Society's top elder, the Nue, was entangled with Liu Dongli, and her disciples, who were supposed to be acting as bodyguards, couldn't arrive in time. Unexpectedly, Huai Shi's Military Boxing had made its debut today.

Huai Shi unleashed his "Huo Huo Ha Ha" routine, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction. Every pore of his body felt incredibly refreshed. Seeing the scoundrel utterly unable to fight back, he felt a significant release of tension, which quickly turned into burning hatred:

"You're the bastard who sent people after me, aren't you! I'll make you pay for silencing me! For your crimes! For your drug trafficking! For betraying society!"

"Where did this little mongrel come from? Die!"

Wang Hai was absolutely furious, his arms flailing wildly. Huai Shi felt a sharp pain in his arm, and a bloody mark immediately bloomed beneath his torn clothing.

He'd been cut by a knife!

While Huai Shi wasn't paying attention, Wang Hai had drawn a dagger from his shoe. Seizing the opportunity, he clutched the box in his arms, yanked open the lid, and flung it towards Huai Shi. Instantly, a mist-like powder flew out, splashing onto Huai Shi's face.

The effect of that cursed thing was astonishingly fast. As soon as he inhaled it, Huai Shi's body went limp, and chaotic illusions flooded his mind. He felt incredibly good, as if ascending to the clouds, and immediately knew he'd fallen for the old man's trick.

"Damn it, you take some too!"

He grabbed Wang Hai by the collar, his hand closing into a fist. He condensed some Calamity Ash and shoved it unceremoniously into Wang Hai's face, rubbing it in fiercely.

Wang Hai's old face immediately turned beet red, snot and tears streaming down his cheeks as he wailed.

Huai Shi took the opportunity to stuff a bit into his own mouth. The sudden surge of euphoria was immediately washed away by an overwhelming wave of sadness. His mind, which had been soaring blissfully, rapidly deflated under the horrific effects of the mental sludge.

The two of them, alternating between joy and sorrow, with tears and snot all over their faces, burst into wild laughter. They grappled with each other like inmates having a brawl in a mental hospital, locked in a desperate struggle.

Truly, it was a match of equals, a worthy opponent for a skilled player.

But their pathetic struggle lasted only a brief moment, a mere twenty-five seconds from start to finish.

Immediately after, the hazy hallucinations were shattered by a deafening roar.

It came from behind them.

In those brief twenty-odd seconds, Liu Dongli's face had been completely covered in blood, and his custom-tailored suit had been reduced to rags. A deep gash across his chest had nearly split him open.

The pistol was now in Nue's hand, casually tossed aside.

For Liu Dongli, those twenty-five seconds had been pure hell.

Even with its eyes closed, Nue could have easily dominated him.

But as he stumbled backward, he finally found his chance... From the hidden gun holster under his armpit, he drew his long-prepared trump card, aiming it at the old woman lunging at him mid-air.

It was a gun that had been sawed off even further.

This was a special treat he'd prepared for Nue.

The opportunity was fleeting.

There were only two bullets, and the window of opportunity was a single instant.

After this moment passed, the astonishingly agile Nue would activate its skills, glide through the air, evade the muzzle's aim, and then tear off one of his arms.

But now, the outcome was already decided.