The Line of Yin and Yang, Life and Death

After that ordeal, it was quite difficult for Wu Hen to fall asleep, likely because the mat underneath was too hard—it had been rock-hard all night long.

Su Li's breathing was very steady; it was hard to tell if she was asleep or not.

Her hand was still gently clutching Wu Hen's arm, as if that were the only way she could feel a shred of peace in this precarious, storm-tossed world.

However, not long after, Su Li noticed something strange about Wu Hen's right hand.

"What are you doing with your right hand?" Su Li's voice sounded softly.

Wu Hen felt incredibly awkward, and since he didn't know how to explain it to Su Li, he had to be honest: "It's eating the pistol."

In the pitch-black tent, Su Li widened her eyes, glanced at the trembling Wu Hen, and finally just turned over, saying huffily, "Then solve it yourself."

Wu Hen looked at the exquisite, curved back pressed close to him, feeling both like crying and laughing.

It's not what you think!

Let me explain.

My right hand, that Black Divine Trace Material, is really eating the pistol you gave me!

I don't know what to do either.

After a long while, Wu Hen's arm stopped moving.

After a moment of silence, Su Li felt that Wu Hen must be finished, and her gentle voice sounded again:

"He was wounded by a Silent Ghost when he was eight years old, and ever since then, he lost his soul. For all these years, he has seemed like a child with low intelligence in the eyes of others. The Nuwa Divine Mother would not let an unrelated soul inhabit another body without reason. I will follow the will of the Nuwa Divine Mother; you are him, grown up."

"Have you always been walking within the Otherworld?" Wu Hen asked, somewhat surprised.

It seemed that Su Li and Xiao Yun did not live in the world he came from.

"You are lucky, pure. Not every soul can obtain the protection of the Nuwa Divine Mother," Su Li said.

"But a piece of news was just announced where we are: the Nuwa Divine Terminal won't last much longer," Wu Hen said.

"Then exhaust everything you have to guard the Nuwa Divine Mother. Your tribe must be strong; you must save yourselves," Su Li said.

"We still know nothing about this place," Wu Hen said.

"No one dares to claim they understand the Desolate Dust," Su Li said.

"Then..."

"Sleep. We have to fight for our lives first thing tomorrow morning."

"Oh." Wu Hen nodded, sensibly deciding not to ask any more questions.

"Do you know that girl who just woke up?" Su Li asked with her eyes closed.

"Not really."

Wu Hen's hearing was extraordinary.

Even in this small tent, Wu Hen could clearly hear the conversations of everyone in the subway carriage.

Those two words, "not really," were not spoken by Wu Hen first.

Yang Qin was already busy currying favor with that Glasses Man.

A pale sun slowly rose from the seaside.

The city in the light, apart from looking a bit empty and desolate, did not have the same terror as it did at night.

Wu Hen and the others in the subway began to carefully check their surroundings.

The subway carriage was an enclosed space and could indeed ensure their safety, but the subway station itself was dim; they had to be careful of the things hiding in the shadows.

"Is there anything out there?" Su Li asked Wu Hen.

"There is something at Exit A. We'll leave through Exit B," Wu Hen said with certainty.

His powerful hearing played a major role at this moment.

"Alright, everyone follow me. Once we're out, make sure you stay in the sunlight!" Su Li commanded.

"Are there things out during the day too?"

"Shadow Evil Spirits can move within shadows even during the day."

The group led by Su Li consisted of about thirteen or fourteen people. Most of them were obedient and possessed clear consciousness.

Everyone had a strong desire to survive, so they followed Su Li's lead.

After walking out of the subway station, the radiance of the day spilled down, and everyone immediately felt as if they had been reborn.

Wu Hen instinctively looked back and noticed that the sun had already risen slowly from the seaside position and would soon move above the high-rises.

But soon, Wu Hen realized something was wrong.

Didn't the sun set at the seaside yesterday too?

"Keep up!"

Su Li held her firearm, her figure agile as she led the way in front.

The group stood in a long line, their eyes fixed intently on the areas of the road illuminated by sunlight.

"We need to hurry. After ten o'clock, the shadows of the buildings will intersect with the streets, and we will find it difficult to move," Su Li said.

At first, Wu Hen did not quite understand what it meant for the building shadows to intersect with the streets.

But as the Pale Sun moved, it stretched the shadows of the city's skyscrapers, casting them across the straight streets like black, diagonal ravines. Only then did Wu Hen realize why movement would become difficult after ten o'clock!

If a person could not step into the shadowed areas, then there was no path ahead of them.

Fortunately, some people in the group had scouted the route beforehand. They knew which streets to take first to ensure sufficient sunlight, and which streets to take later to avoid the shadows of the high-rises.

If one were to look down from above, they would see that Wu Hen and his group were like ants in a giant maze. The shadows, shifting with the movement of the sun, were like massive, ever-changing blades that they had to dodge at every moment.

From morning until noon, the situation was manageable.

Even if they encountered a dead end blocked by shadows, they could simply wait a while; as the sun rose higher, they would be able to continue moving.

But after noon, as the sun reached its zenith and began to descend, the available paths became fewer and fewer, and the group's pace slowed significantly.

By the afternoon, the group had stopped at an open park, needing to wait for the sunlight to shift before they could head toward the train station.

"There is sunlight over here!" Glasses Man suddenly pointed out a path.

It was a single-lane Sub-Street. Because the buildings there were relatively short, two-thirds of the street was bathed in sunlight.

"That is not the direction to the train station," Su Li said, shaking her head.

"If we cross the Sub-Street and follow the perpendicular Main Street, we can reach the shelter of the Black Shirt Organization," said a woman with broken eyebrows in the group.

Upon hearing this, Su Li understood what Glasses Man and the woman with broken eyebrows were planning.

She gave a scornful smile and said, "Jiang Wang, Xu Yan, if you want to defect to the Black Shirt Organization, go right ahead."

"Su Li, it's not that we don't want to follow you, it's just that even if we escape this city, what then? The outside world might not be as safe as it is here!" said a woman who looked a bit older.

"You need to make your decision quickly. In a little while, there won't be any sunlight left on the Sub-Street," Su Li said.

The orientation of the Sub-Street was perpendicular to the sun's movement, and the shadows were indeed beginning to shroud the entire street. However, if they reached the Main Street, they would be able to bask in the sunlight once more.

The Sub-Street was quite long, at least two kilometers. If they wanted to leave the group, they really had to do it soon, as the sunlit area was shrinking rapidly.

"Let's go, follow me!" Jiang Wang, the Glasses Man, said.

Jiang Wang stepped out of the line first.

Soon, four or five people followed closely in his footsteps. It was clear they had already discussed this last night.

There was clear hesitation among several people in the group. They had likely received favors from Su Li in the past, but in their eyes, the road ahead was far too dangerous. To play it safe, they still wanted to join the Black Shirt Organization.

Soon, a few more people left.

The group was instantly cut in half.

"We need to run, everyone! Move quickly, get moving!" Jiang Wang, the man with glasses, shouted loudly.

Seeing that half the people were following him, Jiang Wang's tone changed; he acted as if he were the leader of these people.

"I... my leg is injured, I can't run fast! Help me!" Yang Qin shouted toward the man with glasses.

However, Jiang Wang did not pay her any mind at all. He quickly ran into the sunlit area of the Sub-Street.

The others followed suit, rapidly accelerating into a run.

A distance of two kilometers was exhausting to run; it required full speed.

"Don't go! Don't go! Didn't you promise to take me with you?" Seeing that not a single person in the group was willing to give her a hand, Yang Qin's face turned as pale as flour.

She limped, trying to keep up with the departing group, but she soon realized she was being left far behind.

Having at least finished high school, Yang Qin realized that with her speed, there was no way she could finish running these two kilometers of street within the limited time.

She stopped at the entrance of the Sub-Street, watching the back of that shameless man, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

She walked back with unsteady steps and looked at Wu Hen with pleading eyes. "I... can I follow you guys?"

"Suit yourself," Wu Hen said indifferently.

With red eyes and a pitiful expression, Yang Qin said, "Just because I wouldn't agree to his unreasonable demands last night, he's treating me like this..."

Yeah, sure, sure. You'd rather die than submit.

Wu Hen couldn't even be bothered to retort.

He could only say that Yang Qin wasn't stupid; at least she hadn't been used and discarded before being left behind.

"Xiao Hen, listen carefully," Su Li said, walking to Wu Hen's side and pointing toward the shadowed area of the Sub-Street.

Wu Hen nodded, no longer bothering with Yang Qin.

He stared at the two-kilometer-long Sub-Street. From his angle, he could see the end at a glance.

Wu Hen began to focus his hearing.

He wasn't sure what Su Li wanted him to listen for.

She must be trying to teach him something.

Yet, after waiting for a while, Wu Hen still couldn't hear anything.

However, Wu Hen's naked eye soon caught a bizarre scene in the shadows of the Sub-Street!

The shadow looked like a narrow, dark river. Something was emerging from beneath the surface of this dark river, causing ripples and even making the shadows boil!

Wu Hen was greatly alarmed. What was inside that shadow zone?

Why couldn't he hear a single sound?

"You only used Synesthesia for your hearing, but some species in the Desolate Dust do not make any sound. Take these Shadow Evil Spirits, for example. In the future, you must observe more; you cannot rely on just one sense," Su Li explained to Wu Hen.

Wu Hen nodded, subconsciously wanting to hug his aunt's long legs.

The Desolate Dust is chaotic, and little Hen is scared!

"Run faster, don't panic! They don't dare to crawl into the sunlight!!" Glasses Man Jiang Wang shouted loudly.

The area bathed in sunlight was becoming narrower and narrower.

Moreover, the buildings along the entire Sub-Street were of uniform height and packed tightly together; there was simply nowhere else to set foot along the way.

At this moment, they were like a group of ants fleeing frantically through a maze. The wall on the other side was slowly squeezing in; if they couldn't run out of this path, they would all die!

On the street, the boundary line between light and shadow was very distinct. Like a tide, the shadows were devouring the limited area.

The sun was moving faster than they had imagined.

They hadn't even run half the length of the street, yet the shadow area had already occupied two-thirds of it!

As if they could smell the vitality on the people, the Shadow Evil Spirits—each one like a venomous Water Ghost—were already restless at the boundary, hungry and ready to leap out of the darkness at any moment!

"Run! Run faster!!!" shouted Xu Yan, the woman with broken eyebrows.

"I... I can't... I can't run anymore..." the older man said, panting heavily.

"Wait for me... wait for me..." said the bloated, greasy man at the very back of the group.