Red Hare abruptly stopped sweeping the shelves clean.
His drooping donkey ears shot straight up.
His thick donkey legs froze, and the potato chips in his hoof fell to the floor with a clatter.
The big buck teeth chewing chips in his mouth stopped moving too.
He turned and slowly looked toward the staircase leading from the Supermarket's first floor to the second.
At the same time.
Chen Mo, who had been stuffing cigarettes and liquor into a bag, stopped as well.
The supernatural power inside him stirred restlessly.
Something was coming down the stairs.
Only Hu Yaya kept carrying a case of bottled water toward the truck, her eyes vacant.
She was still caught in the tangled emotions of being betrayed by her best friend, then unexpectedly rescued.
The stairwell was deathly silent.
The overhead lights flickered wildly.
"Tap. Tap. Tap."
A man in an immaculate suit slowly emerged from the shadows and stood at the foot of the stairs.
He looked to be in his thirties, his hair meticulously combed into a fashionable center part.
He held a black insulated cup in his left hand, a faint scent of goji berries drifting from its rim.
The man stood quietly on the bottom step, calmly surveying the store until he spotted the Sales Assistant embedded in the wall.
He stared silently at Red Hare and Chen Mo.
Chen Mo said nothing, glancing at the donkey out of the corner of his eye.
The sleazy, flippant look had vanished from the donkey's face.
In its place was a gravity Chen Mo had never seen before.
"Kid, this one's going to be tough."
"A second-tier variant, same as me. Probably about as strong as I am."
Chen Mo grew even more solemn.
For this show-off of a donkey to give an assessment like that...
The man was probably no pushover.
Chen Mo couldn't communicate telepathically. He slightly adjusted the angle of the Surgical Knife in his hand, pointing it at the Store Manager by the stairs.
Do we do this or not?
Red Hare understood at once and bared his buck teeth.
He sent another telepathic message.
"Together, we've got a sixty percent chance. But variants are unpredictable, so play it by ear. Pull this off, and we're both going to be rich."
Chen Mo moved closer to the donkey, his eyes fixed on the man as he lowered his voice to a whisper.
"High risk, high reward."
The man on the stairs looked at the whispering man and donkey as though they were idiots.
He blew across the top of his insulated cup.
Then he finally spoke.
"Making such a fuss on my turf is rather rude, wouldn't you say?"
"We should stay out of each other's way."
Red Hare gave a dry chuckle.
His donkey face instantly switched into shameless-scoundrel mode.
"Rude? You're fucking talking to me about manners?"
"Your sales assistant killed our companions. We came in to take a few things as compensation. That's not unreasonable, is it?"
"They were some of my closest buddies. I'm not asking for much. A few Mechanical Cores will do."
Seriously, this donkey... was his skin as thick as a city wall?
Chen Mo really wanted to spit on the shameless old donkey.
His mouth twitched as he looked at that brazen face.
His eyelids jumped wildly.
To hell with it!
He stepped forward and twirled the Surgical Knife.
"My dearest friends and family died in your store. Don't you owe us an explanation?"
"I'm not trying to extort you. Just give us a few top-hundred wondrous items to honor their souls in heaven."
Hu Yaya was holding a case of bottled water. Hearing their words, she froze completely.
She stared at the man and donkey playing off each other.
How... could anyone be this shameless?
Just then.
Hu Yaya suddenly saw the donkey turn his head and frantically signal her with his eyes.
His face practically screamed, "Play along or I'll kill you."
Hu Yaya shuddered, lowered her head, and let her shoulders tremble.
I'm being forced into this.
Her gaze fell on Li Shiqi's headless corpse nearby.
That familiar face, the one she had shared so much laughter with.
Now all that remained was a horrifying severed stump.
She slowly set down the potato chips and covered her face with both hands.
Pointing at the corpse, she played along and began sobbing softly.
The Store Manager stared at the three clowns, dumbfounded.
Veins bulged on his forehead, and the corners of his eyes twitched wildly.
He didn't dare let Hu Yaya speak too.
He was afraid he would hear something even more outrageous.
"Enough. Drop the act."
The Store Manager walked down from the stairs.
His gleaming leather shoes crunched over broken glass.
He studied the donkey, who looked utterly grief-stricken as he strained to squeeze out tears.
"We're both second-tier variants. You should know neither of us can do much to the other."
Then he slowly turned toward Chen Mo.
His stare made Chen Mo's skin crawl, and he tightened his grip on the Surgical Knife.
"This kid who only just awakened his awakening sequence is somewhat interesting, but the two of you aren't enough to keep me here."
"There'll be no compensation. Take your things and get out."
Red Hare's donkey eyes rolled.
Then he suddenly opened his mouth in a broad grin.
He revealed two rows of stark white buck teeth.
Swinging his thick donkey legs, he swaggered toward the Store Manager.
He extended a furry hoof covered in potato chip crumbs.
A fawning smile filled his face.
"Sure, sure. We're all variants here. We were one family five hundred years ago. Fate brought us together, so let's be friends."
The donkey's behavior left the Store Manager a little bewildered.
Why wasn't this variant following the usual rules?
Didn't variants see one another as nourishing meals?
If the other party hadn't been his equal in strength, with a three-fingered kid in tow...
He would have already charged over and started feasting.
He hesitated, then extended his hand anyway.
He was going to shake hands with this seemingly unhinged donkey.
Just as their hands were about to touch.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, acting all high and mighty!"
The fake smile vanished from Red Hare's face, replaced by the grin of someone whose scheme had succeeded.
At the same moment, Chen Mo, who had seemed like a mere bystander all along, moved.
The Surgical Knife spun through his hand with blinding speed.
Trailing a blur of afterimages impossible to distinguish from the real blade, the Precision Surgical Knife drove straight toward the Store Manager's back, right behind his heart!
The man and donkey moved in perfect sync, launching a shameless sneak attack!
The Store Manager clearly hadn't expected them to be so brazen. His pupils abruptly contracted!
Thud!
Red Hare's hind hoof slammed squarely into the Store Manager's eye, the tremendous force sending him staggering back a step.
Shhk!
At the same time, the Surgical Knife pierced the Store Manager's back.
But it sank only an inch before a powerful, uncanny force stopped it.
It couldn't advance another fraction.
The Store Manager grunted, and the air around him instantly distorted.
An immense force erupted from his body, blasting Chen Mo and Red Hare away.
The three instantly plunged into a furious melee!
Shelves inside the Supermarket collapsed one after another amid the fierce battle, scattering goods across the floor.
Although the sneak attack had put the Store Manager at a slight disadvantage, his ability was extraordinarily bizarre.
Sporting an enormous black eye, he spread his arms.
Every object in the Supermarket began to shake.
Everything inside the Supermarket rose into the air.
The objects crashed toward Chen Mo and Red Hare on the floor like an overwhelming tidal wave.
Chen Mo darted and twisted across the floor, slipping through gaps in the barrage.
Using the Surgical Knife's acceleration effect, he repeatedly attacked the Store Manager's vital points.
Red Hare was far more direct and brutal, relying on his thick hide to endure the attacks.
His dark hooves kept hammering toward the Store Manager's face.
"You bastard! You dare throw Old Tan Pickled Cabbage at Grandpa Hare?"
"Hit his face! Beat him to death!"
The shock waves of the battle threw the Supermarket's entire first floor into chaos.
Hu Yaya hid behind the Dump Truck in terror.
Watching the chaotic battle raging before her like a clash of gods and demons, her mind went blank.
"Bzzzt..."
Suddenly, every light in the Supermarket went out at once.
The entire space plunged into darkness.
"This store is closing."
Before you continue