Chapter Sixteen: Everything Has Just Begun
Bang——!
The b*llet traced a thin arc through the air, hitting the man’s forehead. It traveled through his skull, hollowing out the back of his head. As his body fell backward, it left a splatter of red and white on the alley wall, forming a jet-like mark.
A certain righteous companion once said, “When a person is killed, they will d*e.”
Though this saying sounds a bit strange, it aligns well with the rules of this world. The man was shot dead because he provoked the gunman.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints, his eyes wide as he wore the expression of someone in disbelief. The body clad in work attire fell into a pool of bl**d, resembling a pile of mush.
After the gunfire and the sound of the man’s body hitting the ground echoed in the alley, a short silence followed, before the burly man with the g*n regained his composure first. He scoffed, “How funny, I thought he was tough!”
The guy who got shot dared to emulate others’ heroics?
While speaking, Du Han turned the g*n towards the shopkeeper, darkening his face and saying, “Just had a little incident. I hope you don’t harbor any bad thoughts because of it.”
“Gulp!”
The shopkeeper swallowed hard, glancing at the still-smoldering black muzzle of the g*n, then at the man lying in a pool of bl**d outside, his head shaking like a rattle.
Before the man was shot, he didn’t think the burly man would really k*ll someone. But now, watching a life extinguish right before him, he was genuinely scared, his brain short-circuited, completely unable to think.
So, “zero-dollar purchase” continued.
However, Huaxie Yu suddenly lost her earlier jubilance, becoming unusually quiet. Even when handling the raw stones from the display rack, she was exceptionally cautious.
It was as if she was afraid of disturbing something.
“Hey Flower, is something wrong?” A burly black man sensed something unusual about Huaxie Yu and asked through the gap between the display racks.
Startled by the sudden question, Huaxie Yu flinched but quickly adjusted her demeanor, sweetly smiling at the black man, “Not at all!”
That wasn’t true!
The man’s d*ath filled her with an extraordinary fear, an intense chill rising from deep within, causing her soul to tremble. Such d*ath was far too ordinary in Dawn City; even the local news was too lazy to report it. But at the moment the man fell in his bl**d, it seemed something had truly changed.
“I was just thinking that after finishing this job, I can buy many things I want, as if those clothes, bags, and shoes were floating right in front of me. I got a bit lost in thought, that’s all, heh heh.”
As if she was trying to cover up something, Huaxie Yu explained again.
Upon hearing Huaxie Yu’s words, the burly black man teased her a couple of times, not taking it seriously. Huaxie Yu was lying; she did see something.
Not clothes, shoes, or bags, but the twisted face of the man stained with bl**d and his unyielding eyes just before he died. That bloody image seemed to be branded into her mind, like a nightmare, continuously replaying.
They seemed to come alive, lurking everywhere, hiding in the corners beyond her line of sight, occasionally making faint noises, reminding people of their presence while ensuring they couldn’t be seen.
Huaxie Yu expanded her faint spiritual perception to its maximum. Everything seemed normal.
But she still felt like something was watching her.
It seemed like a deep, shapeless black flame, swirling with chaos and madness, just outside the range of her spiritual perception, less than a micron away.
She heard faint sounds near her ear, as if the wind was stirring up debris and garbage in the alley, or perhaps something was whispering.
Scolding, condemning, cursing.
“Someone died because of you!” No one spoke. Yet everyone in the alley seemed to experience a hallucination, hearing such a phrase.
In an instant, it felt as if everything in sight had become an enemy, and the world’s rules were suffocatingly rejecting their existence in a silent yet oppressive manner.
Though the three burly men were also spiritual ability users, their spirit energy fluctuation levels were lower than Huaxie Yu’s. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need guns to rob a small shop.
The low level of spirit energy fluctuation resulted in dull perception.
They sensed something was off slightly later than Huaxie Yu, but they also sensed the rising unease, causing them to handle the jade raw stones with increased caution.
The small store fell into an eerie silence, strangely quiet.
Why was this happening? Clearly, it was just the d*ath of a self-righteous uncle. Such people d*e many times each year in Dawn City!
It wasn’t me who acted! Why am I being blamed?
d*mn, he wouldn’t suddenly resurrect and jump up shouting for revenge, would he? Huaxie Yu thought anxiously and resentfully.
She felt somewhat wronged, along with a pang of inexplicable guilt.
That feeling was like witnessing a bullying incident and walking past, witnessing a theft yet pretending not to see, or encountering an elderly person fainting yet worrying about being framed, pulling away. All these should count as serious wrongdoings, only to suddenly remember them in the dead of night, feeling regret and shame.
Regardless, feeling wronged aside, she silently picked up a piece of exquisite jade raw stone and stuffed it into her bag. Life came first, followed closely by money; that’s just who she was.
Now, it was just the situation that was a bit bizarre, but it didn’t hinder her from making money!
~~~~
Huaxie Yu had been hustling in the night market of Dawn City since she was young, having witnessed various treasures. Armed with the aid of the spirit pattern “Evil Spirit Seed Entrepreneur,” she became an expert in identifying treasures.
When it came to judging the quality of jade raw stones, she was exceptionally adept, never making a misstep. Her small bag, not large enough to hold many jade raw stones, was stuffed full.
It wasn’t suitable to linger much longer; it was about time to leave. With her bag stuffed, Huaxie Yu muttered to herself, adjusting her bag, and approached the burly man at the head of the group.
“Hey big brother, I’ve almost finished my business here. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way?”
“Leaving already?” The burly man glanced at Huaxie Yu and then at her bag, frowning.
That small bag could barely contain one-twentieth of the total jade raw stones in the shop.
Was she suddenly trying to leave with it? What was the burly man thinking?
From the thoughtful look in his eyes, Huaxie Yu sensed the rising suspicion in his heart and hurriedly explained, “Big brother, please don’t misunderstand. I’m just a bit timid and scared.”
At this point, she paused, turning her head to look at the corpse of the man outside the alley. She raised a hand to her mouth, lowering her voice and saying, “That uncle was quite eccentric. After he died, I felt something was off. It’s making me uneasy, and I really can’t stay any longer.”
After all, the most valuable items were all in my bag, worth more than half of the shop’s total. Huaxie Yu added mentally. She had indeed promised the burly men to share the earnings, but how could she ever really do that?
The value of jade had never solely relied on quantity and size; the three burly men, lacking discerning abilities, should not blame others.
Three muscle-bound men expecting to split the treasures with me? They should find out who the real boss of Dawn City night market is!
Perhaps sensing the strange atmosphere after the man’s d*ath, the burly man believed Huaxie Yu’s words without overthinking it. He nodded, “Alright then, it was nice working together. If there are similar businesses in the future, remember to call us brothers, we all want to prosper together.”
“Definitely, definitely!” Huaxie Yu replied with a forced smile.
While speaking, she casually pulled out a handwritten business card with a red ghost face drawn on it from her pocket and handed it to the burly man. “This is my contact information. If you have any big business and need help, remember to call me.”
“Also, if you encounter any trouble while selling stuff, you can find me.”
Huaxie Yu watched as the burly man accepted the card she handed over, slipping it into his pocket without a second thought, turning with an elegant flair and stretching her back.
“Brothers, work hard to make money; I’m off to sleep for some beauty rest!”
After Huaxie Yu left, the three burly men quickly wrapped up their “big business” and left the scene. Thus, an unusual yet quite reasonable robbery incident in Dawn City drew to a close. Everything seemed to have ended.
However.
Each participant in the event still felt shrouded in a great shadow. It was as if something terrifying was quietly approaching.
The shopkeeper appeared to have lost his soul, slumped behind the counter, staring blankly at the looted shop like a statue.
Long after Huaxie Yu and the three burly men had left, his fingers twitched slightly, followed by one hand rubbing his temples while the other reached for the counter, skillfully finding a box of cigarettes.
Snap!
With a soft sound, the lighter ignited in the darkness, illuminating the shopkeeper’s slightly plump face before extinguishing, leaving behind a spark that flickered like a crimson eye.
“Huff!” Accompanied by a heaving breath, a peculiar sound emerged from the darkness.
“Didn’t expect that guy would actually open fire. If I’m not careful… this is bad, I definitely can’t get back before twelve-thirty.”
He muttered to himself, taking a slow drag on his cigarette as he stood up and walked out of the store, approaching the corpse that had been soaking in bl**d for nearly half an hour.
Crouching down, his eyes met the lifeless eyes of the corpse, and after a few silent seconds, he sighed with a complex expression, “No matter how many times I go through this, seeing oneself in such a way still makes it hard to bear.”
His tone carried a hint of regret, as if he had just lost something not particularly important but was still reluctant to part with it. Following that, he reached out a hand and gently placed it on the corpse’s shoulder.
In the next moment, a wisp of pitch-black flame rose from the chest of the corpse, spreading with astonishing speed, engulfing the body in the blink of an eye.
Under the shroud of fire, the corpse swiftly deformed and dissolved as if it were an ice cube being burned, until everything transformed into pure spirit energy, flowing into his body through the man’s arm.
Once the corpse and the pool of bl**d had been fully consumed by the black flame, he withdrew his hand and looked in the direction Huaxie Yu had left, sighing.
“Ah, let’s first find that guy who fired the g*n, then seek out Huazhuang.”
As he spoke, he stood and walked out of the alley. After taking just a few steps, a swarm of black flames erupted beneath his feet. With a whoosh, the flames swirled upwards, completely engulfing his body.
Taking another step, as if reborn from the flames, shedding his cocoon, the black flames dissipated in an instant, revealing his ordinary appearance with a medium build and a weary demeanor.
When a person is killed, they d*e; it is a natural rule. When someone kills, they pay with their life; it is a social rule. He preferred to operate within the rules, so everything had just begun.
Dachunyang Palace, Rear Mountain, Moon Cave.
After hearing Luxianbei’s account, Zhang Hainan, who was searching for healing potions on the display rack, paused for a moment, turned around, and asked, “Are you saying that when you were visualizing the ‘Hunting Map of the Dog Rong,’ you saw a white wolf, hence the spirit seal you condensed turned into a white wolf?”
Luxianbei placed her hands on the gaps of the cushion, supporting herself as she sat obediently on the mat. Upon hearing Zhang Hainan’s question, she shook her head and corrected, “No, no, not a white wolf, but a white dog!”
Zhang Hainan pondered for a moment, turning back to continue searching for medicine for Luxianbei, and explained, “In ancient times, there was the White Wolf Kingdom, part of the Dog Rong clan, self-identified as the Two White Dogs.”
“Ah? Two White Dogs? Isn’t that still a dog?” Luxianbei muttered.
Zhang Hainan shot her a sidelong glare, and when he saw her obediently closing her mouth, he continued, “The Two White Dogs here are not the dogs as understood by people today.”
“During the prosperous era of the Dog Rong clan, dogs were not yet fully estranged from wolves; they could even be said to be wolves mingling among human groups, and the Dog Rong clan revered the Two White Wolves as their totem, worshipping them as the White Wolf God. Dog Rong is a derogatory term used by the Central Plains and not their self-designation.”
“You visualized the ‘Hunting Map of the Dog Rong’ and condensed the spirit seal of the White Wolf God, which is a significant success. Don’t act like you were taken advantage of.” “Woof woof——!” Just as Zhang Hainan was speaking, he suddenly heard two barks from behind, seemingly in agreement with him.
“Strange, where did the G come from?” He muttered as he turned around, slightly stunned.
There, Luxianbei was holding a small puppy that was barely larger than his palm, looking up at him with its eyes askew, asking mysteriously, “You call this thing a wolf?”
Zhang Hainan looked at the puppy’s tail wagging like a propeller, gritted his teeth as he forcefully swallowed the “dog” that was on the tip of his tongue, then calmly replied, “That’s right! It’s a wolf!”
Luxianbei, “?”
Oh dear, this person! How can he still fib at his age? Does he not believe that I could throw a dog at him and blow him up?
Just as she was silently cursing, Zhang Hainan raised his hand and tossed a bottle of alchemical potion at her, “Here, try this bottle first. It should be able to heal your injuries.”
“Should? Try?!” Luxianbei caught the dull-colored ceramic vial, her eyes wide in shock, “No, you can’t use phrases like ‘should’ for a healing potion!”
“When you go to the hospital and the doctor prescribes you medicine, if they say, ‘You might want to try this medicine first,’ would you not be alarmed? Would you dare use it?”
Zhang Hainan glanced at Luxianbei calmly and said, “Then old man here has no solution. I don’t even know what these potions are.”
Luxianbei frowned, “What do you mean you don’t know what your own medicine is?”
“Is that strange?” Zhang Hainan raised his chin slightly, “It’s been over forty years since I’ve been injured or used medicine. How would I remember what they are?”
“At least there’s no poison; it’s worth trying them all.” Luxianbei
