At that moment, Chu Sheng sorely missed the Eerie Cat and the Eerie Pig.
If only all Anomalies were like them.
Even the Paper Doll Anomalies he had encountered a long time ago would have been better.
A single unupgraded Butcher Knife had scared that one off.
An Xi, meanwhile, was unaffected. Under her control, the White Jade Spear only flew faster.
"Get back here!!" An Xi's little face flushed red. The White Jade Spear shot forward like an arrow, its speed surging. In an instant, it drew level with the pickup, and An Xi pulled herself back into the passenger seat with it in hand.
Dazed and groggy, Zhu Qing seized the opportunity to throw his backpack into the truck bed, then jumped in after it.
"I'm leaving this to you!"
The moment he finished speaking, he passed out.
The Anomalies was still following them.
Despite walking on tiptoe, it was anything but slow. Chu Sheng glanced back and saw it hot on their heels. Fighting the urge to let his eyelids close, he said, "Throw the White Jade Spear at it!"
"Huh?!" An Xi froze, but quickly understood what he meant. She extended the White Jade Spear out the window and leaned her head outside again.
With a flick of her wrist, she sent the White Jade Spear hurtling toward the Anomalies like a javelin. It neither dodged nor ducked, continuing to doggedly pursue the pickup.
As expected, the White Jade Spear pierced straight through the Anomalies's chest. To An Xi's surprise, however, it suffered no damage. Its movements didn't even falter.
She flicked her wrist again, and the White Jade Spear passed through the Anomalies from behind before returning to her hand.
The Anomalies remained completely unaffected.
"What the hell is this thing?! My attack went straight through it!"
Chu Sheng had seen An Xi's movements, as well as the White Jade Spear passing through the Anomalies's chest in the rearview mirror.
"Then forget about it!"
Chu Sheng stopped paying attention to the Anomalies behind them. As long as it couldn't catch up, that was enough.
Just then, however, he spotted two people sprinting for their lives a short distance ahead. An idea stirred in his mind, and he discreetly glanced at An Xi, who was still frowning as she puzzled over the Anomalies.
"Let me borrow your White Jade Spear."
"Huh? Oh! Sure!" An Xi paused, then nodded without saying anything else.
She didn't understand, but she trusted Chu Sheng completely.
After all, Chu Sheng had helped her upgrade and fuse the White Jade Spear into a sacrificial item.
Besides, it had already recognized her as its owner. Unless she abandoned it or died, she could summon it right back.
She handed the White Jade Spear to Chu Sheng. He stuck it out the window and swept it straight at the two fleeing people.
The blow severed one man's right leg, sending it falling to the ground. His momentum threw him down, and he rolled several meters.
The other man was scared out of his wits and hurried away from the pickup. Only after it passed him did he breathe a sigh of relief. He glanced back at the man whose left leg had been severed, then at the Anomalies approaching on tiptoe, and took off running again in terror.
But just then, a spear like white jade streaked through the air and pierced straight through his thigh. Its tip sank into the ground, leaving the shaft humming and trembling.
He, too, fell to the ground. He tried to get up, but the intense pain from his impaled thigh made him fall again as soon as he stood.
His legs would no longer support him, yet he was terrified of the Anomalies behind him. Overwhelmed by fear, he dragged himself forward with his hands.
Watching from the pickup, An Xi summoned the White Jade Spear back, her feelings complicated.
Emotionally, she felt that this was heartless, downright beastly.
Rationally, however, it was the best solution.
They were almost back to the convoy.
If the Anomalies was still following them when they reached it, who knew how many people would die?
Seeing An Xi's conflicted expression, Chu Sheng fought off the urge to sleep and said, "Don't overthink it."
"You're not a savior, and you're not the one who has to shoulder everything, either. Just stay alive."
"Protect as many people as you can within your abilities. That's what makes a Sequence Transcendent, and a good person."
"Is that so?" An Xi felt a little less conflicted. Then she turned to Chu Sheng and challenged him. "But that doesn't seem to be what you do, does it?"
"That's right," Chu Sheng replied without a trace of shame.
"But I'm not a good person, either."
An Xi: "..."
She knew it. Chu Sheng was an absolute bastard!
She leaned out to look behind them. The Anomalies was no longer chasing them.
Instead, it had stopped by the stragglers Chu Sheng had attacked and left behind.
An Xi took one look, then stopped watching.
She didn't need to look to know what would happen next.
Looking away was the last scrap of conscience she had left.
The pickup soon reached the place where the convoy had been.
After driving another two or three minutes down the road, Chu Sheng finally made out the convoy ahead.
Up ahead, Captain Hui and Old Man Li also sighed with relief at the sight of the pickup.
With the enhanced physiques and eyesight of Sequence users, they could naturally see Chu Sheng and An Xi in the driver's and passenger's seats, along with Zhu Qing lying in the truck bed.
"Good thing they're back."
Old Man Li added, "The Anomalies they ran into this time must have been powerful."
"We'll find out once they get here."
Captain Hui nodded, working the fingers of one hand in front of him as though calculating something.
The pickup soon stopped in front of them. Chu Sheng sighed with relief, then slumped straight onto the steering wheel as if he hadn't slept for three days and nights.
Turning his head sideways to look at An Xi, he said, "Help me drive in a bit."
"No way am I-"
Before An Xi could finish, Chu Sheng fell asleep.
"I swear, I must owe you from a past life!"
With a look of distaste, she pushed Chu Sheng back against his seat, then opened the door and climbed out.
Old Man Li frowned at the sight and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
"What happened to those two lads, Chu Sheng and Zhu Qing?"
An Xi shrugged. "The Anomalies did it."
"That Anomalies seemed to have some kind of mental attack. Both of them got hit."
"If my white tiger sequence didn't grant immunity to mental control and attacks, I'd probably be in the same state."
"So that's what happened." Captain Hui stopped his finger calculations and nodded with an inscrutable air.
"What do you mean?" An Xi asked curiously.
"I was calculating what Zhu Qing and Chu Sheng would do after coming back today, to determine whether they were safe. But all I got was a blank void, pitch-black."
"Those two came up blank, while you would volunteer to drive. That wasn't like you, either, so I thought something had gone wrong."
An Xi: "..."
So I'm just a driver?
Captain Hui dropped the subject and looked toward the town instead. "Let's leave this place first."
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