They're here!

Lin Yi picked a random spot in a corner on the first floor.

The contributions from Elder Qi and the others were still there, and none had disappeared for a long time.

That meant they had ways to hide themselves too.

Lin Yi leaned against the corner and soon drifted into a light sleep.

All the running around had truly exhausted him.

"Yi, look at you. You're already twenty this year, and you're still so careless."

A nagging voice sounded beside his ear.

Lin Yi opened his eyes groggily. Warm sunlight streamed through the window into the bedroom.

"Mom, stop nagging. What time is it even?"

"Oh, you. Complaining about your mother nagging again. You went and rashly found yourself a job out of town. Without me around, remember to eat properly, drink more warm water, and put on more clothes when it gets cold. Don't be afraid to spend money. If you run out, ask me..."

The nagging voice kept droning on beside his ear.

The middle-aged woman in an apron never stopped working, as though the messy room could never be tidied up.

"Mom..."

Lin Yi got up and rubbed his messy hair.

He slowly walked behind the middle-aged woman, reached out, and hugged her from behind.

Then a scarlet dagger pierced through the middle-aged woman's body.

Lin Yi held his "mother" tightly.

He sighed deeply. "Thank you for imitating my mom's voice. It's been so long since I last heard her."

"Thank you, all the same."

He pulled out the Blade of Greed, and every illusion around him dissipated.

Lin Yi was still standing on the shop's first floor. Only the red blood mist still wreathed the Blade of Greed as it devoured the sinister entity within the illusion.

"Not bad. You broke free that quickly."

Li Jie's voice came from ahead.

At some point, he and Lu Hanxue had already taken their places at the shop entrance.

Clown had also broken free of the illusion.

His eyes gleamed with excitement, though there was no telling what he was thinking.

Only Da Sha stood blankly in place, utterly motionless.

"Da..."

Lin Yi was just about to wake Da Sha.

But Li Jie stopped him. "He has to get out of the illusion on his own."

"Have we been noticed?"

Lin Yi walked toward the entrance.

Li Jie shook his head. "No. That big head spreads illusions indiscriminately. It happens once every night."

"I see." Lin Yi looked through the curtain, gazing up at the big head beneath the night sky.

The big head's eyes shone with an intense green light beneath the night sky, constantly sweeping every dark corner like searchlights.

"Wait."

Li Jie's expression quickly changed. "They really do seem to have found us!"

"Huh?" Lin Yi froze for a moment.

Before Li Jie could speak, Lu Hanxue whipped the curtain open.

A row of white figures stood across the street.

Every one of them wore a serene smile, constantly waving toward the shop.

They seemed to be inviting them to leave the shop.

Rustling sounds came from all around, too. Clearly, more sinister entities were converging on the shop.

"Goddamn it, I get it now. No wonder there aren't any survivors in Ice and Snow City besides us." Li Jie's face darkened. "They purge the city every few days!"

"We can't wait any longer. We have to move the plan up!"

As Li Jie spoke, his body suddenly swelled.

In the blink of an eye, he had grown to four meters tall.

His formerly pale, plump skin turned bronze in an instant, making him look like one of the Eighteen Bronze Men of Shaolin Temple.

"Uh..."

Lin Yi paused, then glanced at Da Sha. "Buddy, can you help look after Da Sha?"

"No problem."

Li Jie's voice came out in a deep rumble.

He picked Da Sha up like a little chick.

The instant Li Jie transformed, Lu Hanxue had already kicked the door to pieces with a bang.

With a cyan-blue longsword in hand, she led the charge into the sinister entities.

The longsword glowed with a faint blue light. It was clearly an Anomaly too.

The wind and snow were like Lu Hanxue's home ground.

Snowflakes falling from the sky swirled around her. Seemingly frail and powerless, they crushed any sinister entity that approached.

"She really is terrifying."

Lin Yi sighed in admiration and charged into the street with the Blade of Greed in hand.

Heavy snow swirled as countless sinister entities surged toward the shop, an endless tide.

"At this rate, they'll wear us down to death. Young miss, go take out that big head!"

Li Jie spoke in his rumbling voice.

"We still have to get close before we can kill the big head."

Lin Yi was just about to tell Lu Hanxue not to act alone.

The next moment, he was stunned.

Lu Hanxue leaped lightly into the air.

Ice instantly formed beneath her feet.

She leaped again.

Another block of ice appeared beneath her feet.

She-she just went up into the sky like that!

She looked like an immortal descending into the mortal world...

"We all have sequence abilities. How can the gap be this big?" Lin Yi was somewhat speechless.

"Hehehe, now you know why the young miss doesn't wear skirts, right?" Li Jie sent a sinister entity flying with a punch and chuckled.

Whoosh. An ice crystal fell from the sky and struck Li Jie, forcing him back two steps.

"Ah! Young miss, I didn't say anything! Lin Yi asked first!" Li Jie hurriedly explained.

Lin Yi: ...

You really are a bastard.

"Ah~"

Just then, a familiar singing voice rang out in the distance.

Lin Yi's gaze shifted. It was Bai Xiaoyu's singing. Something must have happened to the convoy.

He glanced at Lu Hanxue, who was stepping into the sky with one foot over the other, and figured she probably didn't need his help at all.

"Li Jie, fight your way toward the singing. That's the convoy I got separated from."

Lin Yi spoke.

Li Jie didn't mind. One direction was as good as another.

After all, every time, all he had to do was wait for the young miss to slaughter her way through.

He was used to winning without lifting a finger.

At a small supermarket two streets away.

Da Hu guarded the entrance, driving back one sinister entity after another with his punches.

Zhao Xing created confusion beside him.

Bai Xiaoyu let out a shout whenever an opening appeared.

For the moment, they just barely managed to protect the survivors inside the small supermarket.

Elder Qi looked at the dense mass of sinister entities outside, but his expression was far from optimistic.

Outside the small supermarket, sinister entities lunged at them without end.

Thud, thud, thud.

The ground trembled.