Chu You moved like lightning, leaping along the steep roller coaster framework until she landed atop the highest carriage.
She steadied herself and peered down into the carriage, and the scene before her sent a chill down her spine.
In the cramped carriage, four seats per row, eight rows packed tightly front to back, every seat was filled with terrified, anxious tourists.
Each person’s face was etched with fear, bodies locked in by the safety bars, trapped like lambs awaiting slaughter.
“Help!”
“Save us!”
“Let us down, please!”
Seeing Chu You appear, the ordinary tourists paid no attention to the fox tail behind her, assuming she was an official Oracle rescue worker.
“Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep—”
That faint yet deathly electronic sound came clearly from a corner at the bottom of the carriage, striking each heart like a death knell.
Chu You’s eyes grew sharp.
There was no time for hesitation.
She bent down suddenly, her voice slicing through the noisy cries—calm, urgent, and commanding—reaching every tourist’s ears: “Listen to me! I can only take two people down at a time. Children and women first… Once you’re free, run far away, don’t look back, don’t stop!”
Even as she spoke, Chu You began the rescue.
She roughly tore open the safety bar of the pale, terrified young woman in the front row.
“Hold onto me!”
Chu You barked, leaving no time for the girl to react.
One arm wrapped firmly around her waist.
Almost at the same moment, her other hand did the same for the equally panicked girl beside her, breaking open the safety bar, and in one swift motion, she clutched the two girls as if carrying light packages, securing them to her sides.
“Go!”
Chu You’s toes kicked hard off the carriage edge, her fox tail scattering particles of light, adding extra lift and balance.
With the two in tow, she dove and glided along the steep track supports at astonishing speed, every movement precise and quick, striving to deliver them to the relative safety of the ground in the shortest possible time.
The moment the two girls touched the ground, their legs went weak, barely able to stand, but the instinct to survive drove them to stagger away, supporting each other, running desperately from the roller coaster.
Chu You didn’t even glance back at them.
Having rescued them, she immediately turned and shot back, like an arrow going against the current, toward the carriage suspended in the countdown to death.
120, 119, 118…
Time ticked away, second by second.
Every round trip felt like a race against death.
Inside the carriage, the number of remaining passengers dwindled, hope and despair interweaving.
The crying, the urging, and the ever-faster beeping combined into a suffocating symphony of death.
Sweat beaded on Chu You’s brow, and her breathing grew rapid.
The high-intensity bursts of effort made the demonic power in her body ever more unstable, as if a seductive, sinister voice whispered at her ear.
She clearly felt her sanity being gnawed away.
Faster, faster still!
Clenching her teeth, Chu You’s gaze remained steadfast, her movements unrelenting, repeating the rescue process mechanically—break open the safety bar, gather the people, leap down, deliver them to safety, return…
…
Far away, atop a building at the amusement park’s perimeter.
A man in a black trench coat raised binoculars, watching Chu You darting up and down within the park.
After a moment, he slowly lowered the binoculars, glancing down at the bizarre, boxy device at his feet with its digital readouts.
A faint smile curled his lips.
“What a perfect catalyst…” The man slowly closed his eyes, snapping his fingers in a rhythm, his expression intoxicated, swaying with the beat. “You two, you’ve done well.”
As soon as his words fell, not far behind him, Chen Xinyu and Lu Ran knelt, heads bowed, faces full of delight.
“During the fight with her, all data feedback was perfectly precise. I was planning to commend you, Chen Xinyu…”
The man turned slowly, the dark mask covering his face revealing no emotion, his tone calm: “But you installed a second bomb without my permission. That deserves punishment.”
At these words, Chen Xinyu’s body stiffened, then began trembling uncontrollably.
“P-professor, I’m sorry, I…”
“Shut up!”
Before the words had faded, the figure at the rooftop’s edge vanished, reappearing before Chen Xinyu in the blink of an eye, lifting her up by the throat.
“From now on, without my orders, you are not to act on your own, understand?”
A slight pressure from his hand, and a trace of fear flashed across Chen Xinyu’s already pallid face.
She nodded frantically: “Yes, yes… I understand, Professor. I won’t do it again!”
“This time, I’ll let it go…”
“One more mistake, and you’ll be abandoned by the gods.”
The professor released her, letting Chen Xinyu fall to the ground, turning away slowly to pick up the binoculars and look again toward the amusement park.
“Y-yes… I understand…”
Chen Xinyu collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
After hearing the professor’s warning, her eyes filled with panic and regret, nodding repeatedly.
…
Amusement park, roller coaster site.
“Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep beep—!”
The countdown’s electronic beeps grew more urgent and shrill, like Death’s mocking laughter, pounding in every heart.
And on the roller coaster, six tourists were still trapped!
Desperate cries and pleas roared in Chu You’s ears, mixing with that relentless ticking.
Her vision was starting to blur, darkness flickering before her eyes.
Overdrawing her demonic power made her thoughts sluggish, as if countless tiny voices shrieked in the depths of her mind, trying to devour her consciousness.
Yet she forced her nearly shattered body up again! Her movements were mechanical, repeating the ingrained process—break the safety bar, gather two, leap down, deliver them, immediately return.
“Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep beep…”
The sound grew ever faster, like war drums heralding the end.
“Cough!”
Chu You staggered, dropping to one knee, a metallic taste rising in her throat.
She pressed her hand to the ground, nails nearly digging into the concrete, her body trembling uncontrollably, but she gritted her teeth and stood up.
The peach-hued glow in her eyes burned brighter than ever before, and at the same time, a complex, elegant, ancient-looking mark shimmered into reality at her smooth brow, flickering in and out of sight.
Chu You hesitated not a moment, leaping up once again!
This time, she was even faster than she had been at her peak, streaking upward like a peach-colored bolt of lightning.
She shot toward the last four.
For an instant, her blurry vision cleared, and she could see the faces before her.
It was exactly the people in Lin Mo’s dossier: Zhao Dongyuan’s wife Qin Yufei, and her daughter Zhao Yueyue in the children’s seat beside her.
Next to them, a young couple clung tightly to each other.
Chu You reached out, grasping the safety bar restraining Qin Yufei, ready to break it.
“Save my daughter first!”
Qin Yufei suddenly spoke, her voice trembling but firm, then pointed to the other young woman.
“And that girl behind… She has asthma, her medicine is in her bag below.”
Chu You glanced over; indeed, the girl was clutching her chest, struggling to breathe. Without hesitation, she changed course.
“Crack!”
Zhao Yueyue’s safety bar snapped.
Chu You scooped the crying girl into her arms, then stepped forward and broke the asthmatic girl’s restraint, holding her close as well.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
Zhao Yueyue wailed in Chu You’s arms, but, sensibly, did not struggle.
Qin Yufei gazed at her daughter with gentle eyes, her voice choked but striving to remain calm. “Be good, Yueyue. Don’t be scared, Mommy will be right there…”
The young man beside the asthmatic girl turned a twisted, desperate face to Chu You, begging in tears.
“Save me first! Please, save me first, I’m begging you!”
Chu You ignored him, holding Yueyue and the girl tightly, and with the last of her strength, leaped downward.
“Beep beep, beep beep beep—!”
The countdown was now a piercing, continuous shriek.
Chu You counted madly in her heart: 10, 9…
She delivered the two girls safely to the ground and, not pausing to look at them, her eyes now burning with peach-colored light, the fox-shaped mark on her brow shining brilliantly.
She shot upward once more—this time, the peach tail behind her coalesced into tangible light, wrapping around the roller coaster’s steel framework, lending a final burst of furious speed!
She pushed past her limits, racing back to the top.
“Crack! Crack!”
Two crisp snaps—the restraints on Qin Yufei and the young man broke simultaneously.
Chu You grabbed them, one in each hand, and with all her remaining strength, flung herself away from the roller coaster, far from danger.
Just as she and the two were clear of the tracks—
“Beeeeeeeep—!”
The last, long electronic tone, like final judgment.
Boom!!!!!!
A deafening explosion erupted!
A massive fireball blossomed like a flower from hell, instantly consuming the highest section of the roller coaster track.
Scorching shockwaves, broken metal, and splinters swept outward, smoke and fire billowing to the sky, turning the area into a blazing inferno.
The blast and rolling smoke swallowed Chu You and the two she’d saved in an instant.
Not far away, pulled along by the asthmatic girl, Yueyue happened to look back and saw the devastation.
“Mommy—!!!”
The little girl wailed desperately, wrenching free of the girl’s grip, and like a wounded cub, she dashed heedlessly toward the sea of flames.
The girl, inhaler halfway to her mouth, froze, looking at Yueyue’s small figure, then at the horrifying explosion site. Biting her lip, she stumbled after.
The two of them ran back to the edge of the blast, coughing as thick smoke choked them.
Slowly, the smoke began to thin.
Yueyue stopped abruptly, staring blankly ahead.
A huge fox tail, stained with ash, blood, and scorch marks, spread out like a shield, revealing what lay inside.
On Chu You’s left, Qin Yufei was shaken, her face smeared with soot but otherwise unharmed, even retaining a degree of composure and self-control.
On her right, the young man had collapsed to the ground, pale as death, shaking like a leaf in the wind, clearly terrified out of his mind.
And between them—
Chu You knelt weakly, her head bowed, motionless.
Bright red blood trickled from her forehead, arms, and waist, dripping, dripping onto the charred ground, pooling into a striking puddle.
The dazzling peach-colored glow that surrounded her had faded completely, the mark on her brow vanished, leaving only a chilling silence.
In the void of chaos—
By the Moonlit Lake, burning with pale flames, Chu You’s eyes snapped open.
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