Shen Ye carefully closed the cabinet without making a sound, turning his head at the same time to look toward the office door.
The door was shut tight.
Good. No one had come.
He had only just relaxed when someone outside began knocking on every door along the corridor, shouting:
"Everyone out! Assemble downstairs for inspection!"
Shen Ye immediately wavered.
Should he expose the murderer right away?
...No.
Even the chief was no match for him.
Once his identity was exposed, he might kill Shen Ye when he returned, before anyone else could react.
He would kill everyone who intervened.
And on closer thought-
Who could prove he had no accomplices?
His accomplices might be hiding right here in the Police Station.
In other words, Shen Ye was still in danger!
-Given the power of "Dark Whisper," Luo Feichuan probably could not have lied to him.
He needed to heed the advice and hurry to the armory on the third floor!
Shen Ye was just about to move when footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Someone was coming!
Without hesitation, Shen Ye raised his hand and pressed it against empty air, silently saying "Gate."
A door appeared.
It looked exactly like the chief's office door.
The Parchment on it had also changed into a formal sheet of official stationery.
This ability really knew how to make doors. Whatever the surroundings, the door would take on a matching appearance.
-But a door standing all alone here was far too conspicuous.
Shen Ye silently said, "Dismiss."
The door immediately vanished.
He quickly stood, walked to the wall, pressed his hand against it, and said in a low voice:
"Gate!"
-A door appeared in the wall.
If someone unfamiliar with the office entered and saw a door in the wall beside the desk, they would simply assume there was another room here.
Shen Ye pushed the door open and entered the Nightmare World, closing it behind him.
The eerie corridor was empty.
Big Skeleton had been gone for some time. Relatively speaking, this place was still safe.
Shen Ye surveyed the area for a while, then looked out through the windowpane.
-He had chosen this spot himself. It gave him a view of both the office door and the outside window.
Before long.
Sure enough, someone knocked on the chief's office door.
"Shen Ye, right? Chief Luo wants you downstairs to assemble."
There was no response.
Someone murmured:
"That's odd. Should we open the door and check?"
"That kid should be inside. Did he faint from fright?"
Just as the door was about to open, another voice suddenly spoke:
"All of you go downstairs. I'll get Shen Ye."
-It was an exceptionally steady voice.
"Yes, Captain Wang."
"We'll head down to assemble, then."
Footsteps receded into the distance.
A second before the office door was pushed open, the "door" in the room's wall swiftly vanished.
Shen Ye sat down in the Nightmare World's corridor with his back against the wall.
Although he could no longer see what was happening in the chief's office for the moment, he could make a guess.
The man called "Captain Wang" had sent the other officers away.
He must have had some purpose in mind.
Perhaps Shen Ye had guessed correctly.
The murderer was not working alone.
Elsewhere.
The chief's office.
A tall, burly man walked in, looking around as he said with a smile:
"Shen Ye, come out."
"There's been an attack. Everyone must be screened by the Central Intelligent Brain immediately."
There was no response.
The man's smile did not fade. Without looking back, he closed the office door and said gently:
"I know you're a little scared, but only Chief Luo was taken away by Spellcraft. In other words-"
"You're safe."
"Besides, we're all police officers here. We'll certainly take good care of you."
Silently, a black dagger appeared in his hand.
Yet there was no movement anywhere in the room, nor anything unusual.
The man strode to the corner and opened the cabinet.
The corpse was still there.
As he looked at it, the smile gradually faded from his face.
The corpse's posture had changed slightly.
-These were changes in its stiff muscles left when the soul departed.
The man stared at the corpse.
"It's been moved. Was that you, Shen Ye?"
Suddenly.
Seven or eight black human silhouettes emerged behind him and flashed through the entire room at lightning speed.
Only after all the black silhouettes returned behind him did he slowly put away his dagger.
"Hmph. Not here."
In a self-mocking tone, he murmured:
"After killing so many people, we grew too arrogant in front of a fifteen-year-old child, thinking the mission was far too simple..."
"That was our mistake."
"From now on, I'll correct that."
The man called Captain Wang turned, left the office, and went down the stairs. Facing all the officers, he said solemnly:
"I strongly suspect Shen Ye is connected to this incident."
"Could he be a member of some church?" an officer asked.
"Very likely," Captain Wang said.
He swept an unobtrusive glance over the crowd.
Fear, hatred, disgust.
Yes, those are exactly the expressions you should have.
"Issue a wanted notice immediately. Anyone who sees Shen Ye should apprehend him at once or notify me promptly," Captain Wang said.
"Yes, Chief," everyone answered.
An electronic voice suddenly rang out in the hall:
"The Central Intelligent Brain System has completed its environmental assessment."
"Preliminary assessment indicates that the current situation will last:"
"20 minutes."
"Everything will return to normal in 20 minutes."
Everyone's spirits lifted.
-Only 20 minutes!
As long as Chief Luo held on for 20 minutes, he could return alive!
The electronic voice continued:
"Everyone, please assemble in the plaza outside the hall and prepare for inspection."
Captain Wang strode to the entrance and looked outside.
A police cordon had already been set up outside.
His nostrils flared slightly.
The earlier eruption of Spellcraft had left traces of another world's presence.
The chill and briny tang left by the sea breeze still hung in the air.
Ocean Abyss...
It should be the Silent Church. A bunch of lunatics who enjoy ruining other people's business.
He thought silently, a vicious glint flashing through his eyes.
The second floor.
The chief's office.
First, a window appeared in the wall.
An eyeball peered out through it and immediately spotted the tightly closed door.
Next, he carefully examined the entire room. Only after making sure nothing was wrong did he slowly push open the door and land softly inside.
Shen Ye understood one thing very clearly.
-These Assassins were far beyond his ability to handle.
Middle school only covered the fundamentals.
Only in high school did students learn combat moves, use weapons, and choose classes.
Right now, he was only a middle school student.
He could barely use a gun and knew no combat moves at all. What could he possibly use to fight Assassins of that caliber?
-Get to the third floor!
Shen Ye quickly allocated all 4 attribute points to Agility and opened another, undamaged window.
Outside this window was the Police Station's rear wall.
Shen Ye jumped straight out, caught hold of the drainpipe beside the wall securely, and rapidly climbed to the third floor using both hands and feet.
He found an open window, glanced inside, and immediately jumped through.
This seemed to be the archives.
All sorts of old case files sat quietly on rows of shelves, covered in dust.
-I need to find the Weapon Storage Room right away!
While everyone was assembling in the plaza outside the hall, Shen Ye pushed open the door, entered the corridor, and looked both ways.
Sure enough, at the other end of the corridor stood a thick iron door bearing a sign that read "Weapon Storage Room."
That silver wall was right outside the storage room!
A pen hung beside the wall.
Shen Ye hurried over, fishing the slip of paper from his trouser pocket as he ran-
A faint breeze blew past.
His expression changed abruptly, and he reached out to slap the Weapon Storage Room's door.
"Gate."
In an instant.
An identical iron door rose, blocking the Weapon Storage Room's iron door.
At the same moment the door appeared, a window at the other end of the corridor opened, and a black shadow landed soundlessly on the floor.
Captain Wang.
With a harmless expression on his face, he said cheerfully:
"I was wondering why I heard something up here... So it's you, Shen Ye. What are you doing here?"
Shen Ye did not even look at him. He picked up the pen and rapidly copied the password.
"You know, my High School Entrance Exam is coming up soon. My teacher assigned some math problems today, so I need to make the most of my time and work through them."
Damn it.
Why was this password so long?
"Children shouldn't tell lies. It can end very badly," Captain Wang said.
Just as he was about to strike, Shen Ye suddenly kicked the iron door with a thud.
The door slowly opened.
Beyond the door lay a gloomy, dimly lit corridor.
No.
On closer inspection, the corridor looked more like some kind of secret passage.
Captain Wang paused.
"That's not right..."
He stared fixedly at the secret passage beyond the door, speaking under his breath.
-Why would there be a secret passage in the Third-Floor Weapons Storage Room of the Police Station?
Where did it lead?
Taking advantage of that brief moment, Shen Ye wrote down a few more passcodes.
Captain Wang's expression changed.
That was an emergency activation device connected to the World Government's central AI. He couldn't let Shen Ye keep writing!
"Brat, I'll deal with you first."
Before he had finished speaking, he charged at Shen Ye.
Almost at the same instant he moved, Shen Ye stopped writing, twisted his body, and charged toward him as well.
-His opponent was no fool, and he had no other way to stall for time!
"Huh?"
Captain Wang let out a sound of surprise.
He had expected that, having pushed the door open, Shen Ye would surely try to hide inside.
All he needed to do was speed up and catch him in time.
Yet Shen Ye had charged toward him instead.
Was he going to fight?
Captain Wang lightly licked the corner of his mouth and drew a black dagger. "Brave and foolish little fellow. I'll cut your head off right now."
The two rapidly closed in on each other.
Captain Wang was ready to strike-
Suddenly, Shen Ye twisted his body and hurled himself toward a window to the side.
Crash!
He smashed through the windowpane, tilted his body, and immediately activated "Dodge" from "Deer Walk Beneath the Moon." As though treading on waves, he took several steps along the outer wall of the third floor, covered a long stretch, caught hold of another windowsill, and vaulted through the open window into the corridor.
-That open window was the very one Captain Wang had opened earlier!
Shen Ye had circled along the outside wall and reached the other end of the corridor!
Captain Wang followed close behind him.
-But how could Shen Ye not know that?
He put all his attribute points into agility and bellowed, "Go!"
"Deer Walk Beneath the Moon: Charge!"
Leaning forward, he shot down the long corridor like an arrow loosed from a bow, returning to the silver wall.
He pulled out the pen and continued writing passcodes on the wall, holding a pistol in his left hand and pulling the trigger.
Bang, bang, bang!
Three shots in succession forced Captain Wang, who had just landed at the other end of the corridor, to dodge back and forth.
That bought a little more time.
After being led around in a circle and then startled by the gun Shen Ye had suddenly produced, Captain Wang radiated murderous intent.
Where did this brat learn footwork like that?
No, I really was careless.
The commotion just now has already drawn the attention of everyone in the square outside.
I have to kill him quickly!
"Die!"
Captain Wang roared in fury, yet remained standing where he was.
Shen Ye raised an eyebrow.
He was chasing me so eagerly just now, but now he isn't moving. Is he going to attack from a distance?
Without hesitation, he silently called out in his mind, Gate.
An iron door suddenly appeared in front of him.
Clang!
A resounding crash rang out.
The black dagger struck the iron door hard, then bounced off and fell to the floor.
It blocked it!
That was close. It really was a ranged attack!
Shen Ye let out a long breath of relief as he rapidly wrote the passcodes.
The speed and force of that dagger throw had both been beyond his ability to handle.
-Luckily, he had placed the door in front of him to block it!
Luckier still, the door had adapted to its surroundings and transformed into the Weapon Storage Room's iron door!