Chapter 581: Unraveling Chaos in the Abandoned Town

Lu Xin was only curious enough to take a look.

He’d seen something new and wanted to get a closer view – what’s wrong with that?

Yet the young man in a Tang suit, who had been knocked to the ground by Lu Xin’s kick, clearly displayed enormous panic.

Even though his face was hidden behind a mask and his expressions were hard to read, it was obvious he was frantic. After a bout of retching, noticing Lu Xin drawing near, he scrambled to his feet and stumbled forward a few paces before ducking behind a group of armed personnel.

Surrounded by armed men from the cars nearby, no matter how terrified they were, they mustered the courage to close in. Their numbers were impressive – eight vehicles had arrived. Aside from the first car, each of the other seven carried at least four armed men. With three or four already down and another twenty-plus scattered in the ruins on reconnaissance, they hadn’t all returned.

The remaining dozen-plus men nervously lined up, blocking Lu Xin’s path.

Many were hastily switching out for special bullets, and some even produced bizarre instruments.

Even so, as he extinguished a cigarette butt on the ground, Lu Xin’s gun barrel trembled lightly.

……

“Who… who exactly are you?”

The Dragon Team Leader’s voice trembled with incredulity.

“Didn’t I say so before?”

Lu Xin furrowed his brows and replied, “I’m just passing by, waiting for a friend, yet you just can’t let me be.”

With that, he steadily moved forward.

“Clatter…”

A row of gun barrels were raised, yet the armed personnel maintained an overall slightly recoiled stance.

“Wait…”

The Dragon Team Leader’s voice suddenly grew anxious as he shouted, “You didn’t come here specifically for us, did you?”

Lu Xin shook his head. “No. I had no idea you were here.”

His answer was so frank and honest that no one doubted his sincerity.

Nonetheless, even as he spoke, he didn’t slow his pace.

“Friend, this must be a misunderstanding…”

The Dragon Team Leader, crouched behind the armed men, struggled to contain the raging blood in his chest. Feeling as if any loss of control would have the blood bursting from his throat, he pleaded, “Earlier, it was my men who wronged you. I apologize…”

“But you did kill him, so isn’t that even? All right… is that acceptable?”

……

“Hm?”

Lu Xin paused his steps slightly upon hearing this and smiled, saying, “Not acceptable.”

“You…”

The Dragon Team Leader was stunned, a mix of anger and disbelief crossing his features.

Lu Xin explained with a smile, “Maybe it was a misunderstanding before, but now it’s not!”

“You…”

The Dragon Team Leader abruptly lifted his head. Through the mask’s eye slits, his eyes locked onto Lu Xin, a faint red flush creeping in.

Suddenly, he declared with resolve, “Do you know who I am?”

Lu Xin paused briefly, a smile flickering across his face.

Then he turned to the Dragon Team Leader and asked, “Then do you know who I am?”

The eyes in the Dragon Team Leader’s mask contracted sharply, and he slowly shook his head heavily.

“Better not to know.”

Lu Xin grinned and said, “That way, even if I overstep, you won’t have anywhere to complain…”

“You…”

The Dragon Team Leader was clearly taken aback, but in that brief moment, Lu Xin had already withdrawn his smile and quickened his pace.

Despite his lean frame, as he strode forward with determination, everyone – including the Dragon Team Leader – began to witness a surreal distortion: the very air around him seemed to warp, with the crimson moonlight dripping from the sky turning into flowing streams of radiant light, as if his presence was growing larger, ready to engulf them all.

“Stop him…”

The Dragon Team Leader roared in a hoarse whisper, retreating rapidly.

Even without his command, the armed personnel, already tense to the extreme, instinctively started cocking their weapons.

When a man’s heart is pounding, anyone with a gun will want to empty their magazine in a flash.

Unburdened by silencers, the deafening gunfire resounded.

Over a dozen guns spat dark yellow tongues of flame as hundreds of bullets cascaded simultaneously.

Among them were numerous special bullets.

In the moment they left the barrel, they burst into streaks of blue electric sparks. When meeting resistance, these transformed into clusters of electric arcs, dazzling like fireworks worth tens of thousands, all erupting within the narrow confines.

The burst of flame from the submachine gun illuminated Lu Xin’s face – he was smiling.

Without looking ahead, he glanced toward a spot beside him and softly said, “I know you’re angry. Let it be.”

“Our own people must not be bullied.”

“Not even the Screaming Chicken.”

……

“My brother is just too kind…”

A strange, almost imperceptible childish laugh echoed out.

With courage, his sister charged at the line of armed men. Even though many bullets – including those special ones that posed serious risks – flew around, she felt no fear with Lu Xin watching from behind. Her pace was so swift it seemed faster than the bullets, and as she scurried, her body started splitting into pieces that scattered in all directions.

Her single presence managed to encircle the dozen-plus men.

When her little hand touched them, the row of armed personnel convulsed and lost control.

The reverberation from the bullets leaving the barrel made their guns seem as if they had a will of their own, and in the midst of the little girl’s gleeful laughter, the barrels uncontrollably swiveled toward the enemy.

That web of intersecting bullets soon ensnared Lu Xin’s companions.

“Crackle, crackle…”

The sounds of bullets tearing through flesh, splattering against steel, and the mingling chatter of electric arcs filled the air.

Screams. Cries.

The overwhelming stench of blood, the acrid odor of charred flesh, and a whiff of something foul and terrifying…

The searing rush of heated air from slicing bullets, the stinging abrasions of grit and debris.

All combined into a palpable taste of fear.

……

……

The Dragon Team Leader truly savored that taste.

As he ordered his men to fire at Lu Xin, he charged straight toward the truck at the rear.

His injuries earlier had largely been feigned.

Though Lu Xin’s kick was heavy enough to break several of his ribs and make him cough up blood, when he wore his mask he could deploy his spider-type ability, using its traits to help mend his wounds.

So he had long since adjusted his condition in secret.

His earlier display of frailty was merely an act – to feign weakness, to pitifully appeal, and to lull his enemy into a false sense of security, thereby creating an opportunity.

With that, he scurried across the ground like a swift spider clinging to the earth.

That kick had shattered the enemy’s confidence. He wondered how much longer the armed personnel could hold out.

Seizing every moment, Lu Xin dashed to the very front of the last truck.

“Clatter, clatter…”

The remaining armed men were frantically advancing with their weapons, when Lu Xin gritted his teeth, grabbed the ledge, and propelled himself upward. In a single mid-air flip, he landed firmly on the truck roof before finally turning his head to look around.

At the sight before him, a chill ran down his spine.

A mysterious man with a cigarette dangling from his mouth was standing there, watching him.

He hadn’t managed to catch up after all.

Meanwhile, the armed personnel who had tried to block him had been transformed into twisted, contorted figures.

Bathed in eerie red moonlight, that blood-soaked man was illuminated. Beside him were his own armed men, now contorted into grotesque works of art; their bodies folded into bizarre shapes.

Some even clutched their guns, seemingly still alive.

But they were no longer his subordinates – they had become mere elements within this horrific tableau…

In this hellish scene, that man’s expression remained unnervingly calm as he stepped on blood and spent casings, casually puffing on his cigarette.

“Hee hee…”

A faint, childlike giggle echoed near him, spinning around him like a mischievous little girl.

This added yet another layer of eerie peculiarity to the already terrifying atmosphere.

……

“Clatter…”

That indescribable sense of mystery and oppression finally pushed the Dragon Team Leader past hesitation as he forcefully tore off the black cloth draped over the car compartment.

Then, gritting his teeth, he glared at Lu Xin, “Friend, no one can remain arrogant forever…”

“I’ve been pushed to the edge by you, yet you refuse to relent?”

……

As he shouted, his hand gripped the railing so tightly that veins bulged on his wrist.

“What’s that?”

Lu Xin looked at the train car, his expression curious.

In the convoy, all the vehicles ahead were modified off-roaders, except for a solitary truck at the rear whose bed was completely concealed under a black cloth.

Lu Xin had originally assumed it carried mere supplies, but when he lifted the cloth, he discovered that the truck bed was reinforced with sturdy metal bars, forming a massive cage that housed numerous bottles.

The transparent bottles were as large as fuel drums, filled with a golden liquid resembling formalin.

As the cloth was ripped away, the liquid swirled, and suddenly, a pale face pressed up against the glass jar.

Lu Xin jumped in alarm. On closer inspection, he realized it was merely the head of a doll fashioned to resemble a child.

Much like the mannequins in trendy boutique windows.

Adorable and pretty, yet horrifyingly lifeless.

Why would they dismantle such child mannequins and submerge them in formalin?

……

Puzzled, he glanced upward toward the truck roof where the Dragon Team Leader, nearly on the brink of losing control, was visibly agitated.

Then, shaking his head, the Dragon Team Leader murmured, “That remark was spot on – no one can remain arrogant forever…”

“So if it makes sense, why did it take you so long to understand?”

……

“You madman, you lunatic…”

The Dragon Team Leader was on the verge of tears, utterly confused about what kind of enemy he had encountered.

In this abandoned town, a solitary, mysterious, powerful, and unnervingly abnormal monster had taken notice of him. Calm, confident, unhurried, yet exuding an eerie aura.

What the hell was this? How had he come to provoke such a creature…

And the most critical point: by all appearances, he had brought this on himself…

“Damn it, just die!”

At last, he resolutely muttered a curse under his breath.

The mask resembling Beijing Opera makeup on his face distorted strangely; the black and white inked lines around his eyes suddenly glowed red, line by line, like rows of lanterns turning him into a monster with six eyes.

At the same time, he kicked a button.

A tremendous hiss emanated from the giant glass jars within the cage beneath his feet.

Soon after, a series of gurgling sounds arose as enormous bubbles began rising, increasing rapidly as if the contents were boiling.

“Pfft, pfft, pfft…”

Suddenly, a muted series of thuds rang out as the lids of those glass jars flew off.

Then, numerous tiny, white figures burst forth, tumbling out from the jars – the very child plastic models that had been immersed in the jars – flipping and rolling as they soared into mid-air with the force of their escape.

Their bodies, still splattered with the pungent formalin, were spewed in all directions.

Beneath his mask, the Dragon Team Leader emitted a muffled groan, as if enduring unbearable pain.

“Hee hee ha…”

Around Lu Xin, strange, childish laughter began to resound.

He turned his head slightly, and his pupils contracted involuntarily.

Everywhere he looked were scores of those bare, plastic toddler models – seemingly hundreds of them.

They had astonishingly come to life, hopping and bouncing around him.

Their plastic feet crunched on the sand with eerie rustling sounds.

Their pale, stiff features gradually unfurled into grotesque smiles, as if their fake eyes emitted sinister glances that seeped into one’s very soul, encircling him as they hopped and spun in circles…

The clapping sounds and childish giggles layered upon one another, forming a tangible mental assault.

They bombarded his mind relentlessly, plunging him into a state of extreme agitation.

The raucous chatter of a thousand ducks couldn’t compare to the terrifying screams of a horde of crazed children, intensifying his inner torment.

“Clatter, clatter…”

From a distance, footsteps sounded – those armed personnel who had been scattered throughout the deserted town were rushing back upon hearing the chaotic gunfire. Yet when they witnessed the scene before them, they abruptly froze in shock.

Gazing at the throng of plastic children, their faces turned pale with terror.

……

……

Amid the surreal chaos, Lu Xin frowned, and then slowly, a look of nostalgia emerged on his face.

……A reminiscence.

Mad children, eerie gazes, twisted smiles.

It reminded him so vividly of the orphanage where he’d grown up – a sight that softened even his hardened heart…