The pain she had imagined never came.
Bai Xiaoyu opened her eyes in confusion.
"Am I dead?"
"Lin Yi? Looks like I really am dead..."
The moment Bai Xiaoyu saw Lin Yi's back, she knew she had arrived in the underworld.
She lunged forward and hugged Lin Yi from behind. "Boohoo, I haven't lived long enough yet."
"There's still so much food I haven't tried!"
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Lin Yi used Otherworldly Walking to slip out of Bai Xiaoyu's embrace.
When the Long-Tongued Ghost had attacked Bai Xiaoyu, he had used Otherworldly Walking to charge straight into the little supermarket and severed its tongue with a single slash of the Blade of Greed.
"Boohoo, boohoo..."
The Long-Tongued Ghost's sobs grew even more piercing. Its remaining half-tongue swiftly retracted, then shot toward Lin Yi.
"Whoosh."
Lin Yi's form turned insubstantial, and the tongue passed straight through his phantom image without doing any damage.
When Lin Yi appeared again, he was already behind the Long-Tongued Ghost.
"Cry, cry, cry. The last one cried, and now you're crying too. So damn annoying."
Lin Yi drove the Blade of Greed viciously into the Long-Tongued Ghost's head.
"Boohoo~~~"
Its piercing cries grew even louder.
Unfortunately for it, the Blade of Greed was incredibly sharp. The moment it pierced the Long-Tongued Ghost, it began devouring the ghost in great gulps.
In three seconds, the Long-Tongued Ghost that had slaughtered survivors so effortlessly was sucked down to half a tongue.
"Anomaly material?"
Lin Yi picked up the fallen half-tongue. Together with the half he had just cut off, it made a matching pair.
"Heh, what a cheesy hero-saving-the-damsel scene."
Li Jie had already reverted to his original form and was now standing inside the store, clicking his tongue in wonder as he looked at Bai Xiaoyu.
"You seem to talk a little too much." Lin Yi was somewhat speechless.
"What can I do? I'm desperate too. The price of my ability is being a blabbermouth..." Li Jie looked deeply aggrieved.
Lin Yi rolled his eyes. Only then did he notice that the atmosphere inside the little supermarket was rather grim.
"What's wrong with you all?"
Lin Yi walked into the supermarket, and a moment later, he saw Da Hu's body, which Li Yong had dragged aside.
Da Hu was dead...
In truth, Lin Yi did not feel much turmoil.
Perhaps it was because he was used to losing loved ones.
Perhaps it was because he had had so little contact with Da Hu.
Everyone else, however, was shrouded in grief.
"Thank you."
Bai Xiaoyu walked up to Lin Yi, her eyes filled with gratitude.
"You're welcome."
Lin Yi watched Bai Xiaoyu's Contribution shoot straight to full.
Saving a life really was worth more than building a seven-story pagoda.
It was just a pity...
So many had died for nothing outside the little supermarket.
Still...
His gaze swept over the survivors in the supermarket.
Huh, when did this Skinning Ghost fellow get the number above his head up to six hundred...?
The Skinning Ghost was rubbing his hands together as he eyed the still-warm bodies by the entrance when he suddenly felt an unsettling gaze.
He looked up, and his expression changed at once.
"Come on, man, I've changed skins twice already. Why are you still staring at me?!"
"Look at the sky."
A startled cry came from the crowd.
Everyone looked up.
Scarlet and cyan-blue light crisscrossed the sky.
The fighting had turned the whole sky into a riot of colors.
"Your young lady really is fierce," Lin Yi could not help saying.
He could not produce any of those flashy effects.
"Damn right. You think the Ice Emperor's a joke?" Li Jie looked utterly smug.
Lin Yi instinctively moved a few steps away.
Fortunately, this guy was not part of his convoy. Otherwise, he probably would not be able to keep a single secret.
"Elder Qi, let's leave this place first."
Lin Yi looked at Elder Qi.
Somewhat embarrassed, Elder Qi tucked the message book back into his coat and began organizing everyone's retreat.
With combat personnel like Lin Yi joining them, the return journey became much easier.
Above all, Lin Yi's Otherworldly Walking combined with the Blade of Greed made him practically a god of assassination.
No matter how fierce an eerie creature was, it could not hit Lin Yi.
Lin Yi, on the other hand, could approach unseen and finish it off with one slash of the incredibly sharp Blade of Greed.
Apart from Lin Yi, no one noticed someone secretly slipping out of the group.
It was the Skinning Ghost.
After sneaking away from the group, he picked through the still-warm bodies of the recently deceased.
As though choosing clothes he liked...
Lin Yi kept a close eye on the Skinning Ghost.
Every time the Skinning Ghost put on a new skin, the Contribution that had vanished upon death reappeared.
The Contribution that had once belonged to the survivors instantly stacked onto him.
Even Lin Yi could not help smiling at this.
How could there be such an adorable eerie creature in this world?
"What are you smiling about?"
Bai Xiaoyu walked beside Lin Yi, her eyes full of stars.
Lin Yi's last-second rescue had been so cool.
Even now, her little heart was pounding wildly.
"Uh..."
"I'm smiling because..."
Lin Yi was just about to make up an excuse.
"Boom!"
Something traced a parabola through the air, followed by a series of heavy crashes against the building behind them.
Everyone instinctively turned to look.
They saw Lu Hanxue kneeling on one knee in the snow, a sword in one hand. Her face was deathly pale, and blood kept spilling from the corner of her mouth.
"Y-young lady!"
Li Jie started. He had never seen Lu Hanxue so badly injured.
He hurried over in a few panicked strides.
Just then, Lin Yi felt an utterly terrifying gaze fall on him from above.
He looked up and saw that the formerly white giant head had turned pitch-black.
The giant head's eyes converged in the middle, its enormous scarlet pupils trembling constantly as it stared fixedly at the people preparing to flee.
More terrifying still, a woman in a long red robe stood atop the giant head, holding a bone whip and staring at them.
That aura of death came from the woman as well.
The woman's appearance and facial features were all exactly the same.
Yet, for some reason, her features always gave people a deeply strange feeling.
It was as though...
As though the features of five different people had been forcibly stitched onto one face!
"Crack."
The whip lashed down.
The giant-headed eerie creature charged swiftly toward the crowd, carrying the woman with the whip.
"This is bad. It's a Blood Ghost."
Even Elder Qi's voice trembled. "Run! Hurry, run!"
Without waiting for Elder Qi's instructions, everyone ran madly toward the outskirts the moment the Blood Ghost charged down.
Now they would rather starve and freeze in the vehicles outside than search for that sliver of hope in this damned Ice and Snow City.
"Cough, cough, cough."
Lu Hanxue spat out several mouthfuls of blood. She stared at the Blood Demon charging down from the sky, her eyes showing not a trace of fear, but instead brimming with overwhelming killing intent.
"Sequence, Copper Wall, Iron Rampart!"
Li Jie roared, his swelling body instantly shielding Lu Hanxue behind him.
Lin Yi did not leave.
It was not that he was unafraid.
It was just that Lu Hanxue was their strongest fighter right now.
What good would escaping Ice and Snow City do?
Without Lu Hanxue, their strongest fighter, they would still end up being picked off by the Blood Ghost one by one.
He handed Da Sha over to Clown.
Lin Yi turned and stood beside Lu Hanxue.
Before you continue