The shadows behind them pursued at an unhurried pace. No. 2 stayed close to Zhou Ze, ready to guard against a possible attack at any moment.
"They're deliberately driving us somewhere." No. 13 looked up at the encroaching shadows, his voice weak with exhaustion. "Like a pack of wolves herding their prey."
How could No. 2 not know? But they had no choice now. He wasn't alone—No. 13 was with him. He regretted agreeing to bring him along.
The massive bar was still in full swing. Colored spotlights from the dance floor fell across people's faces and bodies, in stark contrast to the incomplete shadows left on the ground.
Some people nearby had noticed them, but Zhou Ze kept his attention on the floor and the walls. In this bar, people weren't frightening. The shadows were the true source of terror.
His gaze swept over the floor. The bizarre shadows repeatedly challenged his understanding of fear, until two of them caught his eye.
It wasn't that they were particularly strange. They were too normal. They weren't twisted or missing limbs, and their heads and bodies were intact. There were no holes where something had been gouged out, either.
Before Zhou Ze could think it through, the two shadows suddenly moved. No—that was... those two people suddenly moved! A glint of cold steel flashed as a dagger slashed toward him.
Zhou Ze was quicker than he'd ever been in his life. He immediately twisted aside, barely dodging the blade, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw another dagger block his retreat. Its target was no longer him, but the boy on his back.
In desperation, Zhou Ze raised his arm almost instinctively to block the strike. The next second, warm blood sprayed across his face, but he felt