A pedestrian who got in his way was flung aside with one hand. His body flew six or seven meters before crashing heavily to the ground.
Fortunately, the cars on the street slammed on their brakes as soon as their drivers realized something was wrong, preventing a tragedy.
"He's a savage! Take him down—don't let him get away!" A middle-aged man who had also fled the bookstore shouted. He grabbed a broom from a nearby shop, turned it around, and brandished it like a sword.
From his stance, it was obvious he had studied swordsmanship. He might even have been a Martial Apprentice. Otherwise, no one would have had the courage to challenge a savage at a time like this.
Chen Shouyi, who had been about to run, couldn't help slowing down.
He was still young, his heart not yet hardened and his blood still hot. He looked around, searching for a weapon he could use.
But before he could find one, the savage suddenly charged at the middle-aged man. Chen Shouyi couldn't describe how fast he was; even with his own eyes, he could barely follow him. The distance of more than ten meters vanished in an instant.
The middle-aged man hadn't even thrust his sword when a fist smashed into his head.
His body flew through the air, then quickly hit the ground and rolled like a discarded sack.
His skull was utterly crushed, like a smashed watermelon.
The most terrifying part was that, from beginning to end, the savage had kept a huge bundle made from bedsheets in one hand. It was packed full of books and must have weighed at least a hundred pounds.
Chen Shouyi glanced at the mangled corpse. The fire in his blood quickly died away, and a chill spread through him. His eagerness to jump into the fray vanished, leaving only fear deep in his heart.
Fortunately, the savage didn't carry out any more pointless killings. After making his show of force, he warily glanced around, then fled down the street. His steps were heavy and enormous, each one covering five or six meters.
Just seconds later, the savage had disappeared from the street.
Everything had happened so quickly that by the time the fully armed special police arrived, three minutes had already passed.
By then, Chen Shouyi had long since left the scene.
The two of them pushed their bicycles along. Whenever passersby saw the bloodstains on them, they hurriedly made way, their faces stricken with fear.
But with their minds in turmoil, neither of them seemed to notice.
Zhang Xiaoyue was unusually quiet, her body trembling slightly.
Chen Shouyi could feel how afraid she was. But it wasn't just her—how could he not be afraid, too?
People who lived in peacetime could never imagine the cruelty of death. Even when the news sometimes reported incidents like this, they seemed unreal, too far removed from their own lives to truly understand.
Dongning City had always been a quiet and peaceful little city. Even the Otherworld invasion war from ten or twenty years ago had been a small-scale, high-intensity conflict in a remote border region.
In terms of scale, it couldn't compare with the two world wars, and it hadn't even affected people's daily lives.
Chen Shouyi might have been fascinated by online discussions of all the advanced weapons used in that war, but he couldn't truly feel how brutal it had been.
In this little city, the only incident that could be called an Otherworld invasion had happened two years ago.
Two savages who had illegally crossed over were killed in the outskirts of Dongning.
Not long afterward, the hidden wormhole near Dongning City was discovered, and the army was stationed there.
The police worked quickly. As they walked down the street, an arrest notice for the savage was already playing on a billboard screen in the square. Quite a few people had stopped to watch, fear on their faces.
Chen Shouyi accompanied Zhang Xiaoyue all the way to the entrance of her residential community. "Class Monitor, I'll be going now."
He paused, then tried to comfort her. "The savage shouldn't be able to get away. There are **police everywhere. Maybe it'll be on the news tonight."
"Thank you, Chen Shouyi. If you hadn't dragged me along, I might have..."
"You're our Class Monitor. How could I possibly have left you behind? Don't dwell on it. I'll be going now." Chen Shouyi managed a faint smile, pretending he was calm.
With that, he rode off as fast as he could.
On the way, he got a phone call.
"Why are you still outside? Hurry home!" Mother Chen's voice came through the phone, frantic.
"Mom, I'm on my way." Chen Shouyi didn't ask why.
He hung up and pedaled faster toward home.
The shop had closed for dinner, and the rolling shutter was halfway down. After putting his bicycle away through the back entrance, he was pulled inside by Mother Chen, who quickly locked the shutter.
"Thank the Bodhisattva, you're finally back! You've no idea what just happened. It was terrifying." Mother Chen looked extremely nervous.
Suddenly, her expression froze, and all the color drained from her face.
"Why is there blood on you?"
Chen Shouyi touched it. The blood had dried, leaving only tiny flakes of scab on his palm. There might even have been a few bits of flesh mixed in. Remembering that the blood had splashed onto him from the corpse made him feel sick.
Seeing that he couldn't hide it, Chen Shouyi had no choice but to tell her everything.
"You... There are so many places you could have gone, but you just had to go to the bookstore. You nearly scared me to death." Mother Chen was relieved, but still shaken. In the end, she got so angry that she thumped him twice. "Take off those clothes. I'll burn them later. Then we'll pray to the Bodhisattva and ward off the bad luck."
People who ran shops were often the most superstitious. His family kept statues of Guanyin and the God of Wealth at home all year round, though neither he nor his younger sister ever paid them much attention.
"All right, Mom. By the way, where's Xingyue?" he asked as he took off his jacket.
"She came home ages ago. She's upstairs watching the news with your dad."
Under Mother Chen's supervision, Chen Shouyi prayed to the Bodhisattva, then went upstairs, where Chen Dawei promptly began questioning him.
The television was showing the news from earlier. He saw one corpse after another, covered in mosaics, being carried out of the bookstore. Some of them were little more than heaps of mangled flesh, stuffed into body bags.
"So far, the death toll from this attack has reached 135. Another 43 people have been seriously injured and are receiving emergency treatment..."
Chen Shouyi took one look and couldn't bear to watch any longer. The scene itself had been far more horrifying than what they were showing on the news. He got up, went into the bathroom, and took a shower, washing every trace of blood off himself.
In the evening, after the family had hastily eaten dinner, they all sat in front of the television to watch the latest news.
Police cars could be heard screaming through the streets outside from time to time. Clearly, the entire police force had been mobilized.
The atmosphere in the living room was oppressive. Hardly anyone spoke.
With such a terrifying terrorist from another world wandering through the city, no one could eat or sleep well, much less pretend nothing had happened.
At seven that evening,
a news bulletin suddenly interrupted the program.
The host glanced at the script, a hint of joy crossing his face before vanishing almost immediately. His expression turned solemn again. "We now have an update. Under a citywide lockdown, at 6:40, the Dongning City special police and several Honorary Special Police from the Martial Arts Association finally found the savage's hideout in Yanghu Park. After an intense battle, the savage was killed.
"In this battle, four special police officers, including Zhou Shaofeng, vice chairman of the Dongning City Martial Arts Association, were killed in the line of duty..."
Zhou Shaofeng was dead!
Chen Shouyi was stunned. The first time he had heard Zhou Shaofeng's name had been from the Martial Arts Teacher at school.
Two years ago, the two savages in the outskirts of Dongning had been killed by Zhou Shaofeng alone, one after another, with his peerless Sting Sword technique.
Yet such a powerful man, such a seasoned martial artist, had died completely unexpectedly—in the battle to hunt down the savage.
A wave of fear washed over Chen Shouyi, along with a measure of relief.
If he had let his blood take over and charged in back then, perhaps...
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