Guilt

He should be completely dead, right?

Zhang Ping watched the masked man's mangled Corpse from afar and muttered to himself.

He was genuinely afraid.

The masked man's attack had nearly cost him his life.

In fact, the Electric Eel Snake Venom the masked man had placed such high hopes on had no effect on him at all. Although water itself was an electrolyte, its electrolysis was slow, and the current did limited damage to him. What had truly threatened him was the high temperature caused by the short-circuited dagger.

The vast amount of steam rising from his body at the time was the best proof.

Fortunately, the Changsha River lay east of Mingzhu City, so the air was fairly humid at night. On top of that, the water vapor evaporating from his own body increased the humidity in the air. After all that, he had been injured, but not seriously.

At this point, he glanced at the masked man and confirmed that he was not moving. He quickly took out a barrel of water from the Golden Treasury and poured it over his head. The Pure Water Body, which had been reduced to only a tiny lump, rapidly absorbed the water and gradually expanded until it returned to its original size.

He put away the barrel, gave the masked man a wide berth, then bent down and picked up the Fear War Scythe from the ground.

"Is he really dead?"

Holding the war scythe, Zhang Ping looked at the masked man again and wondered uncertainly.

He had deliberately exposed openings twice, yet the masked man still lay face-down on the ground without moving.

Still, he did not dare approach the masked man. Instead, he cautiously condensed a Nethermist Flying Knife and shot it over.

Pfft!

The masked man took another knife, but he still lay motionless on the ground.

This man seemed to know no fear. From beginning to end, he had not shown the slightest trace of it.

Zhang Ping could not judge whether he was still alive through his emotions, so after thinking it over, he threw another Nethermist Flying Knife from afar. This one landed right in the masked man's butt.

"All... right. Kill me. Give me a quick death," the masked man said with difficulty, his body trembling slightly.

Zhang Ping was truly startled. "Holy shit, he's still alive!"

He had merely been cautious. Deep down, he had not believed the masked man could survive such injuries.

Yet the masked man really was still alive. That was terrifying.

The Awakened had terrifying vitality.

At that moment, Zhang Ping gained a new understanding of the Awakened. He could not treat them as ordinary people. Whether in terms of superpowers or life forms, the Awakened were beings beyond everything he had previously known.

He restored his flesh-and-blood body, and a ball of flame appeared in his hand. As he fed on the flames to restore his strength, he observed the masked man's condition.

In truth, the masked man's body was already like a battered rag sack, covered in wounds from head to toe. Blood had pooled all over the ground. An ordinary person in his condition could never have survived.

"Hmph. I never thought I would fall into the hands of a coward like you," the masked man said disdainfully, forcing his eyes open to look at Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping had no intention of speaking with him. He knew full well that he could not get any information out of him.

Not only did he not step forward, he backed away several more steps. Then he condensed another Nethermist Flying Knife and shot it at the masked man's vital points.

The masked man laboriously raised a hand to block the flying knife, then let out a deep sigh.

"You're really cautious. You clearly look like a rookie, yet you refused to take the bait in the end."

The masked man gave a bitter smile. The next moment, he smashed the ring on his index finger with all his strength.

Danger!

Zhang Ping's hair stood on end in an instant. He rapidly retreated as Nether Mist completely enveloped him.

Most of the time, he relied on the Pure Water Body's ability to ignore most attacks and simply did not expend Nether Mist on defense. In his view, using Nether Mist defensively was wasteful.

But now, he could not care whether it was wasteful. He had to withstand this attack first.

Boom!

A clap of thunder rang out.

A blazing bolt of lightning descended from the sky, and the entire street shook violently.

The masked man was at the center of the lightning strike. His body was rapidly reduced to ashes amid the lightning, while the surrounding houses were also affected. Every window shattered, and many sleeping residents were jolted awake, letting out terrified screams.

The temperature along the entire street rose rapidly. Zhang Ping retreated frantically as the mist wrapped around his body was continuously consumed.

Ten seconds later, the lightning vanished. The entire alley had caved in into a massive pit, obvious cracks covered the walls of the surrounding houses, and the air was thick with the smell of ozone.

The Nether Mist instantly turned into a black cloak. Zhang Ping hovered uncertainly atop a house, staring at the lightning-blasted street as his heart pounded wildly.

[So that's it. Rather than acting on the target, they changed the surrounding environment to blind the vision of us Moonfolk. What a good idea.]

This was bad.

His ear twitched slightly, and he immediately looked toward the City Lord's Manor. The disturbance was too great. The Heavenly Fox had been alerted.

"Sis Sishan, retreat now! The Heavenly Fox is coming out!" He quickly took out his badge and contacted Liu Sishan.

Without waiting for Liu Sishan's response, he put away the badge, turned, and fled at once.

Ten seconds earlier, City Lord's Manor.

Prince Yue leaped out the window and gazed toward where the lightning had struck. Even with the light screen in the way, he could still sense the fluctuations of that lightning.

"So that's it. Rather than acting on the target, they changed the surrounding environment to blind the vision of us Moonfolk. What a good idea," Prince Yue said slowly, narrowing his slender fox eyes.

The next moment, his eyes widened sharply. The tails behind him rapidly grew longer, and then split again and again. Countless tails spread throughout the city like an impenetrable net.

Those tails slowly lowered, and crimson eyes opened one after another upon them.

Cleanup Team headquarters,

Inside the barrier room, a girl dressed in camouflage sat in a recliner, controlling the Black Curtain with both hands. She suddenly frowned. "This is bad. The Heavenly Fox is acting strangely, but I don't know what happened."

Another girl beside her had her eyes closed, with light flowing around her. Upon hearing this, she quickly said, "Xu Jie, contact Sishan."

"No, Manny. Take Sishan away directly," said a swimsuit-clad woman bathed in light from nearby.

The girl in camouflage, Manny, hesitated for one second before decisively activating her ability.

In Mingzhu City, Liu Sishan, who was fighting the crimson-eyed man, was instantly enveloped by the Black Curtain. The next moment, she was teleported into the secret chamber. After a brief daze, she took out her badge and contacted Manny. "Manny, what are you doing?"

"The Heavenly Fox is acting strangely. I can't let you keep risking yourself, Sis Sishan!" Manny said seriously.

"He's already escaped into a drainage channel. There shouldn't be any danger," Manny answered.

Although Mingzhu City had no sewers, it had many drainage channels. A heavy rain had fallen over Mingzhu City the day before yesterday, so most of the channels contained standing water. Zhang Ping had transformed into his Pure Water Body and mixed into the pooled water, making him extremely difficult to find.

He was still listening carefully, hoping the Wind Whisperer would bring the latest news.

Elsewhere, the crimson-eyed man had not expected his troublesome opponent to suddenly leave. After a brief stunned pause, he hoisted Chen Juntaing over his shoulder and turned to run. But after only a few steps, he abruptly stopped. A beautiful woman stood ahead of him, smiling brightly.

"Luo... Luo Shiyu!" The crimson-eyed man recognized the girl.

What he knew even more clearly was that this girl had long since died, and the one replacing her now was... Prince Yue!

"You know me?" Prince Yue looked down at the crimson-eyed man and asked after narrowing his eyes.

As the crimson-eyed man backed away, he gritted his teeth and said, "Of course I know you. The most dazzling genius of this class at Pearl Ability Academy—how could I not know you? What do you want?"

"Wrong answer."

Prince Yue suddenly wrapped his tail around the crimson-eyed man and yanked him before himself.

He stared at the crimson-eyed man's sweat-drenched face and asked, "You aren't with those people. A battle just took place here, and the other person who attacked is the one allied with those who killed my kin. So you fought here... to fight over her?"

As he spoke, it walked over to a wall and gently touched the cut marks on it. It had seen such marks on a Moonfolk member before.

He leaned in and sniffed, then continued, "The other party is a woman. I'll remember this scent. Tell me, why were you fighting over this woman?"

"Luo Shiyu, I don't understand what you're talking about. Let me go now, or else... you'll die horribly," the crimson-eyed man said, trembling all over, yet surprisingly defiant.

Prince Yue grinned viciously. "Interesting. Very interesting."

Suddenly, a tail pierced through the crimson-eyed man's brain, splattering blood and brains everywhere.

Prince Yue grabbed Chen Juntaing with one hand, then casually seized the crimson-eyed man's headless Corpse and tossed it aside. "Moon Shadow, eat him. Don't waste him."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

A silver-furred fox slowly emerged from his shadow.

Prince Yue looked at Chen Juntaing and muttered to himself, "Since both sides are fighting over this woman, tell me... would things become interesting if I ate her?"

But no fox answered his question. The only sound remaining on the street was Moon Shadow's horrifying chewing.

At that moment, Chen Juntaing let out a soft moan in Prince Yue's hand and gradually awoke from her unconsciousness. When she opened her azure eyes, Prince Yue seemed to have been struck by a petrification spell and suddenly forgot what he had been about to do.

"Why am I not at home? Big sister, you're so pretty." Chen Juntaing first wondered why she was on the street, then saw Prince Yue and gave him a sweet smile.

Prince Yue gritted his teeth and raised his hand, but he could not bring himself to harm the girl before him.

"Moon Shadow, kill... kill... kill her!"

It set Chen Juntaing down, quickly turned away, and roared hoarsely.

Moon Shadow, who had been crouched nearby eating the man, immediately sprang up. But the next moment, it saw Chen Juntaing's eyes. The right claw it had extended instead plunged into its own left shoulder.

"Your Highness, I can't do it!"

It landed on the ground, covered its wound with a claw, and lowered its head, not daring to look at Chen Juntaing.

With his back to Chen Juntaing, Prince Yue gritted his teeth and controlled his tail to stab toward her. Yet at the final moment, it suddenly stopped, and overwhelming guilt rose within him.

It panted heavily and stared at Chen Juntaing in disbelief.

"Big sister, what's wrong?"

Chen Juntaing tilted her head and looked at Prince Yue in confusion.

In her eyes, Moon Shadow did not exist, while "Luo Shiyu" would occasionally space out before turning her back to her and panting heavily. It was a little strange.

Prince Yue's expression kept changing. At times, he wanted to kill Chen Juntaing; at other times, he felt ashamed.

In the end, it gritted its teeth and decided to bring Chen Juntaing back to the City Lord's Manor before making further arrangements.