The Sidewalk Was Wide Enough, Wasn't It?

"Yueyue, which mall are you at?!" Su Li asked anxiously.

"I'm on the second floor of Jinzhan Shopping Mall..." Su Lin Yue's voice trembled.

"Listen, Yueyue! Find somewhere safe to hide right now. I'm coming!"

Su Li hung up, threw on an old jacket, grabbed her car keys, and bolted out the door.

Jinzhan Shopping Mall was downtown. Even if the nearest police station dispatched officers immediately, they'd need at least fifteen minutes to arrive.

Luckily, her home was close by. It usually took her only six or seven minutes to get there.

"Faster! Come on!" The black SUV roared as it charged onto the main road with unstoppable momentum.

The needle on the dashboard climbed wildly: 80, 100, 130... 150!

Driving at 150 kilometers per hour through the city was practically playing with her life.

But despite the burning urgency inside her, Su Li's mind and movements were terrifyingly calm.

"Vroom—vroom!" The black SUV became a bolt of lightning amid the dense traffic, darting left and right, changing lanes, and overtaking cars.

Every lane change came within a hair's breadth of disaster, like an elite driver performing the most extreme maneuvers.

The drivers around her saw a black blur, and then her car was already past them.

"Holy crap?! A street racer in broad daylight? This is the city! Does she have a death wish?!" Passersby leaned out of their cars and cursed.

But a city was still a city.

At a traffic-light intersection, the cars ahead were jammed together.

"Tsk!" Su Li anxiously scanned her surroundings. Time was life. She couldn't wait even a second.

What could she do? Su Li glanced around and noticed the road beside her.

Wasn't the sidewalk wide enough?

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Li wrenched the steering wheel and floored the accelerator.

The black SUV jolted over the curb and charged straight onto the sidewalk!

"Vroom—" Fortunately, there were no pedestrians on the sidewalk, allowing the SUV to speed ahead without restraint.

At the same time, a piercing system alert suddenly rang through the command center of the city traffic police brigade.

"Report! The surveillance system has spotted a black SUV speeding along the sidewalk on Zhongshan Road! Its speed is—its speed is 150 kilometers per hour?! No, it's hit 160!" The monitoring officer's voice cracked.

"What?! 150 kilometers per hour on the sidewalk? That's a serious threat to public safety!" The brigade chief sprang to his feet and slammed a hand on the table.

"Notify all traffic officers on the roads immediately! Send everyone out and stop that vehicle!"

"Yes, sir!"

Meanwhile, the downtown police station was in chaos.

The incoming emergency calls rang one after another. The dispatcher was practically choking on smoke.

"Hello, this is... What? A skeleton monster at Jinzhan Shopping Mall? Please stay calm, sir..."

At first, the dispatcher thought some bored person was making a false report.

But as the calls kept coming, all reporting the same location, his expression quickly turned grave.

He ripped off his headset and rushed into the director's office.

"Director Wang! There's trouble! We've received a flood of reports about skeleton monsters inside Jinzhan Shopping Mall!"

Director Wang frowned. "Skeleton monsters?"

"That's what the callers are saying! And people have already been injured!"

"You're telling me there are skeleton monsters at Jinzhan Shopping Mall? Is this some kind of sci-fi movie?!" Director Wang was about to reprimand him when the internal phone on his desk suddenly rang.

It was a call from the traffic police.

"Old Wang, we're tracking a black SUV that's seriously over the speed limit. The license plate is XXX. It's tearing toward Jinzhan Shopping Mall in your district. Watch out and stop it!"

"Huh?" Old Wang felt like the day had taken a surreal turn. A street racer and skeleton monsters, all at once?

Before he could make sense of it, another phone rang.

As soon as he answered, the station chief's stern, urgent voice came through:

"Old Wang! Seal off Jinzhan Shopping Mall immediately! Make sure the public is safe. The SWAT team will be there soon! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!"

Old Wang's heart jolted. He immediately realized how serious the situation was, and his expression turned grim.

"Contact the officers at the Jinzhan Shopping Mall police post right away. Have them assess the situation and organize an evacuation! Everyone, gear up and move out!"

"Wail—wail—" Piercing sirens blared one after another.

By then, Su Li had arrived.

A drive that usually took six minutes at 80 kilometers per hour had taken her less than three.

Seeing the barrier ahead, Su Li didn't even bother checking whether she could stop. She floored the accelerator, smashed straight through it, and came to a domineering halt at the mall's main entrance.

The area around the mall was already in total chaos. Countless shoppers screamed as they rushed out of the exits and fled in every direction.

Some passersby who had just arrived nearby had no idea what was going on. Though confused, they saw the mass exodus and instinctively ran along with everyone else.

Yet amid the panicked crowd moving in the opposite direction, a few young people with selfie sticks were actually rushing into the mall, their eyes shining with excitement.

"Hey, everyone! There might be a supernatural creature at Jinzhan Shopping Mall! Give me a follow, and I'll take you inside to investigate!" For the sake of views, these people were willing to risk their lives.

Su Li didn't even glance at the reckless streamers. She reached back and grabbed a baseball bat she kept in the car for self-defense, then headed straight for the second floor.

On the first floor, a little girl was being carried out in her mother's arms.

The girl looked back and caught sight of Su Li charging forward with the bat, her figure bold and striking.

"Mom, that big sister was so pretty!"

"Don't look! Keep running!"

On the second floor, Su Li scanned her surroundings.

The place was a wreck: shattered glass, toppled display cases, and people huddled in corners, trembling with fear.

Suddenly, her gaze fixed on the entrance of a clothing store nearby.

A group of people stood there, tensely facing off against something.

It was two young police officers, a man and a woman. They held batons and riot shields, shielding two girls behind them.

One of the girls was her younger sister, Su Lin Yue! The other was her best friend.

In front of the officers wandered two monsters with bones as white as snow and Soul Fires flickering blue in their eye sockets.

They were Skeleton Soldiers from the Eternal Realm! They'd actually appeared in the real world!

The two officers were clearly nervous. Their hands trembled slightly as they gripped their batons.

After all, who had ever seen a walking skeleton in their life? Even so, they stood steadfast at the front, protecting the two girls behind them without taking a single step back.

"Don't be afraid. We'll protect you. Backup will be here soon!" The female officer even turned her head slightly and gently reassured the two girls.

Seeing that her sister was unharmed, Su Li finally felt the weight lift from her heart.

She shifted her gaze to the two Skeleton Soldiers.

"I thought we were dealing with some Big BOSS. Turns out they're just a couple of bottom-level Skeleton Soldiers."

As a longtime gamer who'd beaten the crap out of Skeleton Soldiers, Su Li knew exactly how strong they were. Even an ordinary person could take them on, as long as they overcame their fear.

Since they were just trash mobs, there was nothing to worry about.

Su Li tightened her grip on the baseball bat, her gaze sharpening, then strode toward them.

The female officer heard someone approaching and turned around. To her surprise, it was a beautiful young woman.

And instead of running away, the woman was charging straight at the monsters with a stick in her hands!

The female officer panicked and hurriedly called out, "Don't come any closer, miss! It's dangerous! Get out of here!"

Su Lin Yue, who was hiding behind her, heard the voice and poked her head out. She cried out excitedly:

"Bro!!"

Su Li ignored them for the moment. Her eyes were fixed on the weakest joints in the two Skeleton Soldiers.

Then she swung the baseball bat in a full arc and smashed it down!