Chapter 3
The moment the words fell, the blade was already upon her.
Chen Yinuo didn't hesitate for even half a second—in the blink of an eye, that black figure had crossed more than 10 meters, the Straight-edged Blade slicing through the curtain of rain, slashing toward the side of her neck.
Lu Li desperately wanted to run, wanted to shout, wanted to say this was a misunderstanding—
"Wait—"
But her throat was as though stuffed with a wad of cold, soggy cotton. Her vocal cords were completely beyond her control.
She opened her mouth, and what came out was only a single shrill, hoarse, inhuman low cry,
"—Grrr!!"
Then her body moved on its own.
It wasn't Lu Li moving—it was this unfamiliar body, driven by some kind of instinct, reacting of its own accord.
Her torso snapped violently backward, at an angle that far exceeded the limits of a normal human body.
Shrrk.
A razor-sharp gust of wind scraped across her cheek. Several strands of silver-white hair were cleanly severed in midair, drifting slowly downward.
"...?"
Chen Yinuo's expression shifted.
That slash—she hadn't held back. At that distance, at that speed, a low-ranking Calamity shouldn't have been able to dodge it completely. But this thing—it had dodged.
In a manner that was almost grotesque.
The 2nd slash followed without a moment's hesitation, this time a horizontal sweep that cut off all retreat.
Lu Li's body reacted on its own again.
Her legs exploded with force and she launched herself sideways—but she was still a beat too slow. The blade caught her left arm, slicing from shoulder to elbow.
There was no pain. Only a strange...itch.
As though that arm didn't belong to her at all.
Lu Li looked down and saw that her left arm had been severed.
The wound was healing at a visible speed, regrowing before her eyes.
A few seconds later, the arm was restored to almost exactly what it had been before—the only difference being a gash torn through the sleeve.
"...Regeneration." Chen Yinuo halted her offensive and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Rank D Calamity? No, that's not right..."
A faint note of caution had crept into her tone.
And Lu Li had no mental space left for thinking. In that moment just now, her body had genuinely been moving on its own—but that sensation...was deeply unsettling, as though someone else was living inside this body, and she was nothing more than a spectator.
Worse still, she still couldn't say a single word.
She wanted to explain, wanted to beg for mercy, wanted to say she was just some unlucky soul who had come out to buy a cake—but her throat simply wouldn't obey.
Chen Yinuo didn't give her much time to think. The Straight-edged Blade in her hand rose once more, its edge shimmering with a faint light that seemed almost solid.
The 3rd slash came. This time it was a downward cleave—carrying a killing intent she made no effort to conceal.
And Lu Li's body moved without her permission again—that hand, which only appeared frail and delicate, actually reached out to catch the blade head-on.
CLANG—!!
Both of them froze.
The enormous metallic clang reverberated through the alley.
The palm was not severed.
That pale, slender hand was now clamped around the black blade like iron tongs, dark crimson mist seeping from the palm, violently grinding against the light on the blade's edge, producing a sizzling sound of corrosion.
Chen Yinuo's brow furrowed deeply, as though she had sensed something—in the instant the blade made contact, what traveled up through the hilt wasn't only monstrous brute force...but also a pulse, faint to the point of near-imperceptibility. Without any hesitation she immediately pulled her blade back and stepped away.
And on Lu Li's end, an image flashed through her mind.
An expanse of boundless darkness.
Something slumbered within the darkness.
It had no form...no face, yet it was undeniably there.
Ancient.
Silent.
Waiting.
The image lasted less than a second before it vanished. By the time Lu Li came back to herself, she found she was kneeling on the ground, gasping for breath, her palm completely healed.
Chen Yinuo stood with the hand gripping her blade trembling faintly—compared to the absolute confidence she had shown before, her expression had shifted ever so slightly...
"What...are you."
She had seen through it. The thing before her was not an ordinary Calamity. That brief moment of contact was enough for her to assess—whatever this thing was, its rank far exceeded her authorization to handle.
At the same time, a burst of noise crackled through Chen Yinuo's earpiece. She snapped her gaze up toward the far end of the alley, as though confirming something.
Then she loosened her grip on the blade.
"...This really is terrible timing.."
Lu Li lifted her head in bewilderment, staring at the woman in black before her. Not killing her? Why?
The weighing of risks and benefits took only an instant.
Chen Yinuo cast one glance at the bedraggled, silver-haired girl before her, radiating that strange and unsettling aura...
Though the girl had caught the slash, her body was shaking violently, and those crimson eyes were filled with chaos and madness—clearly teetering on the edge of losing control.
If the fight continued, the commotion would grow too large, and the Night Wanderer Society's people would inevitably intervene.
"The Night Wanderer Society's people are here. Count yourself lucky today."
She sheathed her blade. The moment the words fell, she turned, vaulted onto the wall, and her figure swiftly dissolved into the darkness of the night—as though she had never been there at all.
Silence reclaimed the alley. Lu Li was left alone. The rain kept falling, though it seemed to have lightened somewhat.
In the distance, the roar of a motorcycle could be heard circling the area—but seemingly finding nothing, it gradually faded away.
"Cough...cough, cough..."
Lu Li's body lost all the strength holding it upright. She slid down the wall and crumpled to her knees in the muddy water, her lungs burning as though they were about to burst.
The cake box had rolled off to the side at some point, its lid half-open, revealing the strawberry cream cake inside. It appeared to be intact.
Was it over? She had survived?
Confusion, relief, and lingering dread flooded her all at once, tangling into a knotted mess.
What was the Night Wanderer Society that woman had mentioned? And that image just now—what exactly was that thing lurking in the darkness?
She couldn't make sense of it. Her mind was total mush.
Lu Li tried to stand, but found her legs had completely given out. It seemed those few automatic reactions had drained more than just her physical strength—something else had been sapped from her too. Her whole body felt hollowed out; even lifting a finger felt like an ordeal.
She could only crawl on all fours to the corner of the alley, lean against the cold brick wall, and pull the cake box back into her arms.
"..."
She wanted to say something to cut through this terrible silence—wanted to cry, wanted to scream, to vent—but her throat still wouldn't produce a sound.
So she could only shrink silently into the corner...
The rain gradually lightened.
And at that very same moment, back in the apartment, Lu Qi checked the clock for the 17th time.
"Why isn't my brother back yet..."
23:41.
Her brother had been out for nearly 2 hours. That dessert shop—even taking the long way around—shouldn't take more than an hour, round trip.
She tried calling. No answer. She sent a message. Read but no reply—no, wait, it hadn't even been read.
Lu Qi rose from the sofa, walked to the window, and watched the rain gradually thinning outside.
Unease.
An inexplicable, gnawing anxiety had taken hold—one that made it impossible for Lu Qi to sit still any longer.
The feeling rose slowly from her stomach, spread to her chest, and became an indescribable restlessness.
She wasn't the type to let her imagination run away with her. But something tonight wasn't right. The two siblings had depended on each other for so many years; she had something close to an instinctive sense for Lu Li.
Lu Qi bit her lip, her eyes growing slightly red, and made a decision.
She walked to the front door, took the clear plastic umbrella from the hook, and put on her shoes.
"...I'll go look for him."
The unfinished dinner still sat on the table. Lu Li's pair of chopsticks lay neatly arranged.
But no one answered her. The empty apartment offered only the steady hum of the refrigerator compressor.
Finally, the door opened and closed. The young girl stepped out into the rainy night, umbrella in hand.