"Director's here!"
The police officers who had just surrounded the interrogation room hurriedly made way. A man in a police uniform, taller and broader than Tie Xuan, strode into the station, his face dark with anger.
"What exactly is going on?" Guo Jian looked at the large group of fully armed subordinates surrounding the interrogation room and felt a growing sense of unease.
He had just heard that his son had gotten the criminal investigation team to "arrest" someone. That wastrel had pulled stunts like this before. He had never actually caused anyone's death, but when you pulled something like this often enough, sooner or later, something was bound to go wrong.
As the saying went, if you kept walking by the river, how could you avoid getting your shoes wet?
The last time, over a verbal spat, Guo Ming had left a civilian permanently disabled. Guo Jian had had to call in favors and pull strings to suppress the matter. After all, the Guo family didn't have the final say in T City.
"Captain Chang arrested someone on suspicion of intentionally causing injury and brought him in. But then, unexpectedly, he..." A quick-tongued officer briefly explained what had happened.
"I swear, that brat's going to drive me to an early grave!" Guo Jian seethed as soon as he heard.
Still, the fact that someone had dared to assault the police inside a police station was beyond anything Guo Jian could have imagined. And when he heard that the man had knocked Tie Xuan—the strongest fighter in the force—to the ground with a single blow, his heart tightened for no apparent reason.
He knew exactly how strong Tie Xuan was. How could someone have knocked him down with one hit?
Could the person they arrested today also be...? The thought made Guo Jian's unease grow even stronger.
If Li Wei had been there, he would have recognized Guo Jian as the experienced veteran who had sided with the "Undead Necromancer Sand" in the previous mission.
Guo Jian had been unlucky. Because of Li Wei, he had failed to complete his mission and been forced to pay a penalty of 10,000 points. Fortunately, he had deep pockets and could afford it, but the resentment was hardly easy to swallow.
What's more, that morning, Guo Jian had discovered something that shocked him: the abilities he had gained from Shadow Street could now be used in the real world.
It should have been wonderful news, but he soon realized that the "Undead Constitution" enhancement he had obtained in the Heroes of Might and Magic mission had taken effect too.
His hair was falling out, his skin was pale, dry, and hard, and if anyone got close, they could even smell a corpse's stench. It had terrified Guo Jian. The Undead Constitution had greatly enhanced his abilities, but its side effects were no joke. He hadn't noticed before, because whatever happened on Shadow Street never affected the real world. But things were different now.
Guo Jian had spent the entire morning hiding in his room, using cosmetics to cover up his skin. If someone from the station hadn't called him, he might still have been in there doing his makeup.
"To be safe, tell me carefully: who is the person in there?" Guo Jian pulled the officer aside and questioned him.
When he heard that someone had defeated Tie Xuan with a single blow, Guo Jian immediately thought of Shadow Street. Could the person in there have come from Shadow Street, too?
"Director, I heard he's a company manager. This morning, he slapped Young Master Guo in his office. Can you believe how lawless he is? He's at the police station and still acting like he owns the place. If a dangerous criminal like this keeps resisting, I say we should just shoot him!" The officer looked as if his own son had been the one slapped.
Guo Jian didn't reply. He walked to the doorway and peered inside.
His pupils instantly contracted!
"It's him!"
Guo Jian had never expected the man who had made trouble at the police station to be the very person who had ruined his mission. But soon, he began to smile.
"Fate gave you a road to heaven, but you wouldn't take it. Instead, you barged into the gates of hell!" At the thought of finally getting his revenge, Guo Jian was thrilled. This was the perfect chance to settle the score. Even if he shot Li Wei dead now, people would only think the police chief had heroically gunned down a violent criminal who had assaulted the police.
He also thought of the purple-quality dagger.
As Guo Jian considered how to get the most out of the situation, Li Wei inside the room was thinking about something else.
I wonder if Innate Skill can stop bullets?
Li Wei felt a little uneasy. Honestly, based on his judgment, this single layer of Innate Skill might be enough for fighting people, but it clearly wasn't enough to protect him from bullets.
Still, these officers didn't look as if they were about to execute him, the "criminal." And if it came to that, Li Wei had a way to escape.
He could just open the "door" to Shadow Street, and everything would be settled. If he couldn't win, he could run. At worst, he'd give up the manager position he had just landed. Gold was dirt cheap on Shadow Street—less than 100 points per kilogram. He could trade for a little and have more than enough to live on.
Letting go of his last lingering worry, Li Wei smiled freely. Since heaven had given him this opportunity, he should live a little more freely. If he still had to suffer at the hands of evil people after gaining such power, what was the point of living?
With that thought, Li Wei simply pulled over a chair and sat down, leisurely watching the police officers surrounding him.
"Hey, look. Why are his eyes red?" A rookie officer nudged his colleague and stared at Li Wei's eyes in curiosity.
"Be careful. There's something strange about this man. Didn't you hear the director just order us not to shoot? There's definitely something wrong with him."
The director?
Li Wei's ears twitched. He glanced toward the doorway and spotted someone peering at him through the crowd from time to time. The moment he saw that figure, he thought of someone.
On Shadow Street, everyone's face differed from their real-world appearance to some degree. And if you had only met someone once or twice, recalling the details after some time was no easy task.
But Li Wei had an ability other people didn't: the Eye of Perception. It didn't matter if the man's appearance had changed. Even if he had no face at all, he couldn't hide from the Eye of Perception.
"So he's the person numbered 348. Turns out he's in T City, and he's the police chief..." Li Wei didn't know what to say. Shadow Street really was packed with all kinds of people. At this rate, even running into the president of the United States next time seemed possible.
Anyone who signed the Yellow Paper had their fate entirely under Shadow Street's control. But it also offered infinite possibilities. If you worked hard, you could rise above the rest.
Now that he knew who he was up against, Li Wei understood that Number 348 could use Shadow Street's abilities in the real world, just like him. In that case, he stood no chance.
Since he knew he couldn't win, he might as well leave this troublesome place as soon as possible!
Li Wei raised his hand and summoned the Yellow Paper from Shadow Street. Seeing the movement, Guo Jian realized what was about to happen. How had he forgotten? Even surrounded, Li Wei could still enter Shadow Street to avoid the danger.
"Grab him! Don't let him get away!" Guo Jian shouted. No longer caring about hiding his intentions, he charged through the doorway like a hungry tiger, unleashing the Rakshasa Three Forms. His target was Li Wei.
Unfortunately, he was a step too late. As soon as the "door" to Shadow Street appeared, time slowed hundreds of times for everything around it except the person who opened it.
In an instant, Li Wei saw everyone's expressions and movements clearly, all unfolding in slow motion. He took a long look at Guo Jian's twisted face as he lunged toward him, memorized his appearance, and then stepped through the "door" to Shadow Street.
In the eyes of everyone else in the interrogation room, Li Wei had simply made a hand gesture and then vanished into thin air. Many of the officers rubbed their eyes and shook their heads, hoping to wake up from the "hallucination" before them.
"G-Ghost!" Guo Ming reacted the most. The rich second-generation had clearly been terrified. He had originally planned to use his family background and influence to teach Li Wei a harsh lesson. Instead, he had discovered that the person he had provoked was an existence he couldn't possibly stand against.
On top of that, Li Wei had suddenly "disappeared." Already guilty as a thief, Guo Ming was consumed by panic. He was afraid—afraid that the "ghost" Li Wei would come after him again someday.
Tie Xuan, whom Li Wei had knocked down with one blow, naturally didn't believe in ghosts. Ever since the fight, he had been lost in thought. To a man obsessed with martial arts, the pursuit of the Way was supreme. Now that he had encountered someone who could clearly help him improve his strength, he was tempted. He also wanted to hurry back to Shaolin Temple and tell his master everything that had happened that day. Perhaps his knowledgeable master would have an answer that satisfied him.
As for Guo Jian, he was also filled with regret, but he didn't give up. A position of power in the real world could bring countless advantages, such as using his authority to track down a person.
"Listen up. This criminal is a serious threat to public safety. Issue a wanted notice immediately and have every precinct start searching for him!" Guo Jian was about to return to his office, but then seemed to remember something and came back to add, "Tell the records room I want every file on this man, from childhood onward. Bring it straight to me as soon as it's ready!"
Li Wei, already walking down an alley on Shadow Street, had no idea that he had become a wanted criminal in the real world.
Thinking of Guo Jian and his son, Li Wei knew that there was no resolving the hatred between them. Since that was the case, he might as well find a way to eliminate the threat.
As he made up his mind, a sharp killing intent showed in Li Wei's eyes. If no one harmed me, I wouldn't harm them. But if anyone harmed me, I would strike back!
Shadow Street was still dim and damp. Only after he reached a few of the main roads could he sense a trace of life. This time, Li Wei planned to take a good look around.
And as it turned out, he made quite a discovery.
Although it was called Shadow Street, Li Wei realized it was actually a vast "city," larger than any city in the real world.
What's more, he discovered something else that intrigued him: what lay beyond Shadow Street?
A few hours later, Li Wei saw an enormous "gate." Dozens of guards in black armor stood there. From them, Li Wei couldn't sense any trace of "humanity."
"Shadow Guard, Strength 70, Agility 77, Mental Strength 23, Stamina 82, Grade A. 'The power of darkness has corrupted these once-noble warriors, but it has also given them great strength. Whether they use it for evil or good is entirely up to them!'"
They were natives of Shadow Street. Li Wei knew that "natives" was what people from the real world called those who had always lived there. They were said to possess great power, yet they spoke little and were extremely difficult to approach. Aside from a few natives who offered paid services to "outsiders" like them, few people willingly interacted with them.
People feared the natives' terrifying power, though no one knew where it came from.
The information from the Eye of Perception did tell Li Wei one thing: the natives' formidable strength was undoubtedly connected to "darkness."
As soon as he reached the gate, a black-armored guard over two meters tall stopped him.
"This is a forbidden area. If you don't want to die, turn back!" His voice sounded like it came from a demon in the depths of the underworld. Just hearing it sent a chill through anyone.
(Today, as usual, there will be three updates. Please recommend, favorite, and tip! Thanks to Feifei456 for the tip. Here's the first update!)
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