The four flying knives, transformed into arcs of ghostly blue light, had only traveled half their distance when a sudden change occurred.
They seemed to crash into an exceptionally viscous medium, their momentum abruptly stagnating and warping. The Power of Heavenly Wind that Jiang Ming had attached to them was wiped away as if by an invisible hand, and his connection with the knives was instantly severed.
The four knives traced strange curves in the air before finally falling powerlessly with a few clatters, embedding themselves diagonally into the wooden floor at the edge of the auction stage, trembling in vain.
Jiang Ming’s pupils shrank, and he was about to move again—
Bang!
A deafening explosion erupted behind him without warning!
Jiang Ming whipped his head around.
Not far behind him, a young man wearing a deep blue janitor uniform with his cap pulled low was holding a rugged, silver revolver with an exaggeratedly long barrel.
A wisp of pungent gunpowder smoke rose from the muzzle.
On the stage, a violinist who had just raised his bow froze. A finger-sized hole abruptly appeared in the center of his forehead. No blood sprayed out immediately; instead, in the next second, the man and his violin collapsed silently like a sandcastle, disintegrating into a puddle of rapidly evaporating dark purple dust.
“Not bad, kid.” The “janitor” stepped forward, blocking the path between Jiang Ming and the auction stage. He casually swung open the revolver’s cylinder, ejected the scorching shell casing, and deftly loaded 2 special bullets engraved with runes from his ammunition belt. “You didn’t fall asleep in all this wailing and howling?”
His voice carried a lazy, mocking tone, but the eyes lifted from beneath the shadow of his cap were as sharp as a hawk’s, locked firmly onto the three remaining musicians on stage.
They seemed completely indifferent to their companion’s death, still immersed in their performance. However, the sense of distortion in the music intensified, and the invisible pressure in the air spiked.
“Who are you?” Jiang Ming asked.
“Special Operations Group, Luther,” Luther replied briefly, his gaze never leaving the stage. “Consider me… your temporary babysitter. Though this job is a real pain in the ass.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the three remaining musicians on stage seemed to receive a silent command, and the rhythm of the performance suddenly intensified! A series of sharp, chaotic, and terrifying sound waves blasted out!
These sound waves were like tangible shockwaves, spreading in all directions!
Luther snorted coldly. Instead of retreating, he advanced and raised his gun again!
Bang! Bang!
Two more deafening gunshots rang out. The special bullets, carrying his immense King-level magic power, tore through the air like two streaks of burning silver stars, aiming straight for the other 2 musicians!
However, at the very moment the bullets were about to hit their targets—
The crimson curtains behind the auction stage were suddenly thrown open!
A wave of sound—grander, heavier, and more distorted than the music on stage—roared out from behind the curtain like the bellow of a sleeping giant! That sound could not be produced by any known instrument or human throat; it seemed to act directly on the soul, carrying whispers of chaos and madness.
Luther’s two special bullets, under the frontal impact of this horrific sound wave, actually stopped mid-air less than 0.5 meters from the musicians, as if hitting an invisible iron wall!
Immediately afterward, the runes on the bullets’ surfaces flashed wildly, flickering as if fighting intensely against an invisible force. In less than 1 second—
Puff, puff!
With two muffled sounds, those special warheads, capable of piercing thick steel plates, disintegrated and shattered in mid-air, turning into two small clouds of fine metal powder that rustled to the floor!
Luther’s expression instantly became incredibly grave. The veins on the back of his gun-holding hand bulged slightly, and a solid, pale gold magic shield instantly expanded in front of him. It blocked the subsequent horrific sound waves that were enough to tear eardrums and vibrate internal organs. The surface of the shield rippled violently from the impact of the sound waves, emitting an overburdened hum.
“Damn it… Is The Conductor personally taking the field?” Luther spat, his voice coming through the magic shield. He suddenly turned his head and shouted sternly to Jiang Ming behind him:
“Kid! Take those 2 dazed girls next to you and get the hell out of here! This is a King-level battle now!”
Immediately after, he tossed a car key and yelled:
“It’s right at the entrance! You’ll recognize it at a glance!”
Before his voice could fade, the bodies of the three remaining musicians on stage convulsed violently. The sounds from their instruments were now completely inhuman, and the source of the even more terrifying sound behind the scenes was rapidly approaching. The crimson curtains moved without wind, as if something indescribable was about to step out!
Jiang Ming didn’t hesitate for a moment and caught the key Luther threw.
He turned quickly, scooped up the dazed Lillian, who was still murmuring “don’t go,” and slung her over his back. Lillian’s white hair brushed against his neck, bringing a cold sensation. With his other hand, he grabbed the waist of the stiff, red-eyed Elvira, whose pupils were out of focus, and held her firmly. Her dark blue velvet dress billowed slightly in his arms.
Carrying the weight of two people was nothing to a Beyonder’s physique. Jiang Ming exerted force through his legs and shot forward like an arrow toward the heavy oak doors of the banquet hall!
Luther saw Jiang Ming’s decisive departure out of the corner of his eye and felt slightly relieved. However, as his gaze swept over the side of Lillian’s face—her snow-white hair hanging down over Jiang Ming’s back—a sense of familiarity struck his heart.
‘That face?’
‘How could it… be so similar…?’
Luther shook his head violently, forcing the absurd association out of his mind. ‘An illusion. It must be an illusion caused by this damned music. How could Her Majesty the Empress appear here, and in such a state?’
In the moment his mind wavered—
On the auction stage, the crimson curtains were completely pulled back.
A middle-aged man dressed in a well-tailored dark gray suit, his hair combed meticulously, stepped calmly from behind the scenes and stood under the glow of the stage lights. His face was refined, and his lips held a compassionate, almost merciful smile.
However, when Luther saw that face, all the laziness and mockery on his own face froze and shattered, replaced by a beast-like, murderous intent.
“Luther, our dear Chosen of God,” the man on the stage spoke, his voice gentle and clearly penetrating the increasingly frenzied background music. “You shouldn’t be standing there. That place doesn’t belong to you, just as… light does not belong to the gutters.”
His eyes fell on Luther with the sympathy one might show a lost lamb.
“Goddamn it, Ron!” Luther growled through his teeth. “Stop playing the saint! You skin-wearing piece of filth!”
Hearing this, Ron did not get angry. Instead, he sighed softly and shook his head, his expression full of confusion and regret, as if Luther’s rage was merely the irrational crying of a child.
“What exactly did we do wrong, Luther? Paths diverge, and choices differ.” His voice remained steady. “Aila… she chose that path herself, and she pulled the trigger herself. We merely… provided a tiny, insignificant bit of help to help her see the void ahead while she was wandering at the edge of the cliff.”
Aila.
When that name was uttered so casually by Ron, time seemed to freeze for a frame in Luther’s world.
All the ferocious and furious expressions on his face vanished, replaced by a dead, silent blankness. The murderous intent in his eyes receded like a tide, leaving only a deep, bottomless, hollow darkness.
However, this silence lasted for less than a single heartbeat.
In the next moment!
A murderous intent ten—no, a hundred times more violent than before—erupted from the depths of his hollow eyes like a volcano suppressed for 1,000 years, mixed with bloody grief and all-consuming rage! That tangible killing intent almost distorted the air around him, and his pale gold magic shield was stained with a terrifying blood red.
Yet his voice became unnaturally calm, so calm it seemed to come from the bottom of an abyss of ice, with every word condensing eternal frost and rust:
“I made a promise to her.”
He slowly raised the massive silver revolver, pointing the muzzle at Ron on the stage.
“I will use these hands to send you maggots hiding behind the scenes, one by one, personally into the hell where you belong.”
“Until…”
He grinned, revealing a cold, bone-like smile without a shred of warmth.
“This shell completely breaks down and can no longer move an inch.”
“Until…”
“I meet her again in the depths of hell.”
The moment his words fell, he pulled the trigger.
There was no sound of a gunshot. The bullet had already left the chamber in silence, carrying his burning soul and boiling murderous intent, tearing through the air and shooting straight toward that hypocritical face.
***
Jiang Ming carried Lillian on his back and held Elvira as he rushed out of the mansion’s heavy oak doors at top speed. The cold night wind, smelling of metallic dust, immediately hit his face, dispersing the increasingly distorted and ominous music and rumbles coming from behind.
On the open ground outside, just as Luther had said, a vehicle was parked that looked completely out of place in its dilapidated surroundings. The streamlined body was painted a dazzling silver-blue, gleaming with a low-key luxury in the dim light.
With no time for nitpicking or admiration, Jiang Ming quickly pulled open the back door and as gently as possible placed the still-dazed Lillian and Elvira inside. Lillian’s white hair spread messily over the dark seats, while Elvira curled up.
Closing the door, Jiang Ming slipped into the driver’s seat. The leather seats carried a new-car smell, and the dashboard lit up with a ghostly blue backlight.
‘It’s a good car,’ Jiang Ming judged.
But he had no time to admire it. He didn’t hesitate to insert the key into the ignition. The moment the crystal handle touched the interface, there was a slight clicking sound as it engaged, and the engine immediately woke up.
Suddenly, Jiang Ming remembered something, and his hand on the steering wheel paused.
…A driver’s license.
He didn’t have one.
Jiang Ming was silent for 1 second.
“Forget it,” he whispered to himself. “A driver’s license from my previous world… counts for something, I guess.”
“Elvia,” he called out.
In the air beside him, Elvia’s translucent Spirit Body quickly condensed and appeared. Her face still carried the lingering shock from before, but her eyes had regained their liveliness.
“Brother?”
“Do you know the way back to the Order Bureau Headquarters, or at least a safe house?” Jiang Ming was concise, his hands already gripping the steering wheel and his foot hovering over the accelerator.
“I do!” Elvia nodded immediately, her spiritual finger pointing in a certain direction outside the window. “Go out from this street, turn right, then take the third ramp. Avoid the Rustwater Bridge; there are fewer cars there at night…”
She spoke quickly, clearly knowing the terrain of the Lower City like the back of her hand.
“Good,” Jiang Ming replied with a single word.
The next second, his gaze narrowed, and his foot slammed the accelerator to the floor!
The special engine let out a suppressed roar, and the powerful force of acceleration instantly pinned him against the seat. The silver-blue silhouette of the car shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, tearing through the heavy darkness in front of the mansion. The tires shrieked against the rough ground, and the rear of the car traced a sharp arc as it plunged without hesitation into the thick, ink-like night ahead.
The headlights were like swords, cutting through the fog.
Light entered the night.