Chapter 47

No, that did not seem right.

Stormbringer's ability was a natural-disaster-level storm, savage beyond measure, utterly different from the danger before them, which hid its sting beneath a soft exterior.

Then was it because a new S-class Polluted had emerged in City S?

Liu He's expression abruptly changed. He could hardly be blamed; anyone would react that way at the mention of an S-class Polluted. But something was strange. Regardless of rank, the Polluted were mindless killing machines bent on slaughter, yet everything behind this incident seemed full of the sort of calculation only humans possessed.

The more Liu He thought about it, the grimmer his expression became.

His gaze shot toward Little Thief, whom the expert had brought back. Could Little Thief know something?

He was just about to interrogate Little Thief when a strange glimmer suddenly caught his attention. This was...

Liu He looked up at the sky. Ye Jiang, who was still feeling around in midair, trying to locate the barrier, also looked up. Nurse Ding Xuan, who was looking after the child, and the two elderly people did the same. Under their gazes, a crack opened in the dingy sky that looked veiled in dust and haze. A brilliant ray of light burst through it. Everyone froze, taking several seconds to realize it was sunlight.

The crack grew wider and wider, revealing a round ball of light.

The sun had come out.

But the way it appeared was extremely bizarre.

Sunlight spilled out, enveloping a tiny corner... of the gray, decaying city.

Yes, the sun had come out, but it illuminated only this nearby area.

The fallen members of the Hyenas suddenly mustered unimaginable willpower, sprang up, and scattered without a second thought, soon disappearing into the surrounding buildings. Little Thief tried to run too, but Ye Jiang reacted and caught him by the back of his collar. His arms and legs flailed, his neck stretched out like a tortoise on dry land. "Boss, let me go! Hurry and hide with me! This isn't ordinary sunlight. It's sunlight hotter than fifty degrees! Anyone exposed to it will be dried into a husk in no time! Can't you feel that burning sting on your skin?!"

At first, Ye Jiang had felt nothing. She had even thought the sunlight falling on her was warm and gentle. Only after hearing him shout all that did she belatedly feel the sunlight pricking like needles, the surface of her skin seeming to lose its moisture instantly, followed by dryness and searing pain.

Upon hearing Little Thief, Liu He unleashed his plant ability. Several vines shot out, wrapped around those without abilities, and quickly carried them into a nearby building. Ye Jiang followed at once, carrying Little Thief.

Liu He was still injured, and using his ability left him pale. He clutched his chest and leaned against the wall, panting, large beads of sweat dripping down. The other ordinary people were not doing well either. Their exposed skin was red, swollen, and peeling, their lips parched.

The temperature in the room kept rising. They were no longer suffering direct harm from the blazing sun, but the air was abnormally hot. The two

elderly people had already been thin and frail, and now they looked even more like dehydrated vegetables.

Ye Jiang tossed Little Thief onto the floor. "What's going on?"

Little Thief dared not conceal anything. "Half a month ago, it suddenly became impossible to leave this place. I don't know what happened. We just couldn't get out. We were trapped here. At the same time, strange phenomena started appearing randomly around the city. That scorching sun outside is one of them, and it does the least damage. There are also flames and lava falling from the sky. Each phenomenon appears at random and only affects a small area, but they happen very frequently. There used to be quite a lot of people in the city, but many have died now."

"Because of the flames and lava, the city's once-abundant supplies were burned to ash. Everyone's going hungry. When they get hungry enough, all they can do is rob people wherever they can. In just half a month, all sorts of alliances and organizations have sprung up. The powerful factions control the roads leading into the city."

This entrance was the Hyenas' territory. The organization was extremely cruel. Not only did they rob people of their supplies, they also killed for fun. Their reputation was notorious. Even organizations capable of defeating them wanted nothing to do with them. Only Little Thief, relying on the advantage his ability gave him, hid here and occasionally came out to pick up scraps.

Little Thief said, "The city's in complete chaos now. Whatever you came here for, I advise you to put your plans on hold. Find somewhere to hide and hunker down. Staying alive is what matters."

The others fell silent. The two elderly people tightened their arms around the bottles they held.

"Hide, and then what?" Amid the silence, Ye Jiang spoke in a flat voice. "Use up all our food and wait to die?"

Besides, they had not brought much food on this trip. All that remained in the vehicle now were a few cans, a few bottles of water, and... a few apples.

Ye Jiang had brought the apples herself. She had been fond of them lately.

Little Thief's shoulders slumped in defeat. "What else can we do?"

The oppressive atmosphere fermented in the heat, suffocating them.

Scrape-

A piercing noise suddenly rang out. The sound of metal dragging echoed through the street outside, interspersed with heavy footsteps.

"He's here." Little Thief's expression changed drastically.

Everyone looked at Little Thief. His shoulders were hunched, his body trembling slightly, his eyes filled with terror.

"Aah!!!!"

A scream came from a distant building. The ordinary people exchanged panicked looks and instinctively drew closer together. Liu He, an ability user, cautiously approached the window to look outside. Before he could make anything out, another figure appeared beside him. Ye Jiang stood brazenly at the window, peering out.

Liu He: "..."

Did he need to remind her of the proper way to scout?

This scouting method seemed rather disrespectful to whatever had appeared outside.

The plant ability user's mind wandered for a second. When he came back to his senses, he saw the scene outside clearly. A person clad in armor had appeared on the street, armored from head to toe, blood-red all over, blood dripping steadily from him. His armor was thick, his footsteps heavy as he moved. He dragged a greatsword along the ground, producing a piercing noise.

Suddenly, the man stopped. He remained motionless, but the blood on his armor began to stir. With a ripping sound, it stretched into threads and shot toward a nearby building with a rush of wind. The blood rapidly changed shape, becoming blades and arrows, shifting unpredictably. A relentless barrage struck inside the building, and sounds of fighting emerged. With a scream, a man fell out of the building, frantically conjuring a few tiny sparks in his hands. But a thread of blood shot out and instantly pierced his body. He hung in midair for several seconds, then landed as a corpse.

The fight could have been called dazzling, but it swiftly ended in death. The armored man began walking again. Thud, thud. His footsteps were heavy, his greatsword scraping against the ground with a piercing noise.

Little Thief covered his ears in self-deception, as though not hearing it meant it did not exist. His lips knocked together. "The... Blood Knight... is here..."

Where the blazing sun, flames, and lava appeared, the Blood Knight descended. Wherever his blood reached, death was certain. Those phenomena that made humans suffer so bitterly seemed to be nothing more than a backdrop for this death knight's entrance.

Liu He spared Little Thief a glance, committing the name "Blood Knight" to memory. The next second, he heard a scream and hurriedly looked over. A giant hyena had been impaled against a broken wall by a sword formed from blood. The leader of the Hyenas, the main fighting force of that vicious organization, had died just like that beneath the Blood Knight's blood sword.

The atmosphere was tense, the inexpressible oppression deepening.

Just then-

"Ah, the little doggy."

A voice expressed regret without sounding regretful at all, its tone flat, without tension or dejection.

The people in the room could not help looking toward the speaker.

Ye Jiang, who suddenly felt everyone's gaze on her: "?"

Why were they all looking at her?

Why were they all looking at her? Because her behavior was utterly out of step with everyone else's. Was this the composure of an expert?

Ye Jiang was indeed composed, but it had nothing to do with whether she was an expert. It was simply because she could not distinguish between the strong and the weak at all, and had felt no pressure from that clanging fight just now.

The Blood Knight was far away from them and was not moving in their direction, which was why they had not left the building. Yet, perhaps sensing something, the Blood Knight suddenly stopped and turned toward them. A thread of blood attacked from afar. Ye Jiang raised her hand and threw. The bone blade in her hand shot out, severed the blood thread, and flew straight at the Blood Knight's forehead. The Blood Knight raised his greatsword and brought it down through the air. Clang. The bone blade broke in two. Liu He's expression darkened. "Go!"

He used his ability, swept up the ordinary people, and left.

Ye Jiang had not followed his train of thought. Her gaze was fixed on the Blood Knight's greatsword. The sword was exquisitely ornate, its blade covered in ancient patterns. It was black, over a meter long, solid and sharp.

It had shattered her bone blade.

Want it.

Ye Jiang stared fixedly at the sword. A vine flew over, wrapped around her, and dragged her away.

Ye Jiang: "..."

By the time Ye Jiang came back to her senses, she was standing inside another dilapidated building. Liu He clutched his chest, panting like an ox, his face as white as paper. She watched him silently for a while, then offered him a candy. Liu He gently shook his head.

The Blood Knight's footsteps could no longer be heard inside the building. They had left the area illuminated by the sun. Surprisingly, Little Thief had not run away and had stayed with their group. Perhaps because they had escaped the Blood Knight's territory, he had recovered some of his spirits.

Although they were out of the sunlight, everyone was exhausted and especially thirsty. Their mouths were dry and astringent, as though they could no longer move their tongues.

They still had to go back. They had to retrieve the food and water in their vehicle.

But not now. They had only just managed to escape.

"When will the sun disappear? When will the Blood Knight leave?" Liu He asked the only person present with any experience. Light was the source of life for all things. How ironic that humans could actually come to hate it.

Little Thief said, "Usually after about two hours."

Those two hours were a game of cat and mouse. The Blood Knight was the cat, and the humans were the mice.

"How does the Blood Knight leave? Does he suddenly disappear?"

Little Thief nodded. No one knew where the Blood Knight went. He would suddenly disappear along with the phenomena, just as suddenly as he had appeared.

"Is he an ability user or a Polluted?" Liu He wondered. That brief glimpse had already shown him the Blood Knight's formidable strength, which undoubtedly eclipsed his own even at his peak. But there was something else that puzzled him greatly: beneath that heavy armor, was there a human or a Polluted? With such malice toward humans, the Blood Knight seemed to be a Polluted, yet there was no pollution on him. How strange.