Chapter 296: Halfway Champagne
As Zheng Qing’s voice fell, the people who had been frowning relaxed, and their expressions improved considerably.
Some of the younger ones were even trying to get closer to the girl.
Wang Que tapped the table with his finger, drawing everyone’s attention.
He said with a serious expression, “Alright, we’ll discuss other matters later. The most important thing now is…”
Without any preamble, he began to explain the key points of the operation and the potential difficulties during the arrest.
For example, the Earth Evasion Technique that the higher-ups coveted.
Wang Que paused here, about to continue speaking, when he suddenly felt the ground beneath him shake.
Immediately after, a strong smell of blood wafted into the air.
The ground trembled violently, and an ominous premonition filled everyone’s hearts.
Wang Que was the first to rush out of the convenience store, his face immediately filled with shock.
The sky, it turned out, had changed color at some point. It was no longer a clear azure blue but a terrifying, eerie blood-red.
It was as if a giant bowl had been placed upside down over the sky, enclosing both the orphanage and the convenience store.
On the ground, blood-red arms kept emerging from the earth, and eerie, rasping whimpers echoed all around.
“What’s going on?!”
Someone exclaimed. Even though they dealt with cultivators regularly, this bizarre scene sent shivers down their spines, making goosebumps appear all over the ground.
Zheng Qing’s face turned extremely grim at this moment. Having grown up on Mount Qingcheng and studied various Taoist scriptures and classics, she knew a great deal more.
She said in a deep voice, “The intel was wrong. Such a terrifying celestial phenomenon could never be caused by someone at Qi Cultivation Level 3.”
“Judging by the looks of it, it’s likely a formation that the Evil cultivator set up long ago to lure us into a trap.”
After speaking, the woman pulled Lin Jingq and quietly retreated behind everyone.
If the situation turned bad, she would quickly escape with her Junior Sister.
As for the others, they would just have to fend for themselves.
The next second, before anyone could react, a sharp, tragic scream suddenly rang out.
A panicked young man in the crowd, who had just tried to approach Lin Jingq, looked down at his feet with a terrified, pained expression.
A blood-red hand was tightly gripping his ankle.
The palm of the blood-red hand revealed numerous dense orifices, all filled with neat rows of teeth.
Then, the orifices began to writhe, slowly gnawing at the man’s flesh and blood.
The young man could no longer endure the fear and pain welling up in his heart. He drew a pistol from his waist and began to shoot frantically at his leg.
The gunfire poured out like water, accompanied by dazzling muzzle flashes.
And the man’s even more agonizing wails.
When the smoke from the gunpowder dissipated, the blood-red hand remained completely unharmed.
The man’s lower leg, in those few short seconds, had been completely gnawed away, leaving only bare bone.
Then, one after another, screams erupted. People panicked, and their pre-planned combat strategy was utterly vanished into thin air.
No one could remain calm in such a situation.
Even the team leader, Wang Que, had his legs trembling, his clothes clinging tightly to his skin, soaked in cold sweat.
Damn it, what was the point of fighting? They hadn’t even seen the enemy yet, and their teammates were nearly all dead.
Regret surged within him. The Evil cultivator’s methods this time were so bizarre and unpredictable; they were leagues beyond the Evil cultivators they had encountered before.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was like comparing the sky to the earth, a difference as great as that between clouds and mud.
They had made the mistake of relying on their past experiences, using previous Evil cultivators to estimate the strength of this target.
But clearly, such an estimation was a grave error!
For mortals, every increase in a cultivator’s level brought about changes that were exponentially greater!
“Run!”
Wang Que finally reacted and shouted at everyone.
But there was no need for him to say anything more. Everyone had legs, and they ran faster than anyone.
Dragging their teammate, whose thigh was almost reduced to bone, they began to flee for their lives.
Perhaps when facing things that were still within the realm of humanity, they could still maintain their composure and find ways to resolve them.
They could still maintain some sense of responsibility and mission to protect the people.
But now, faced with a scene that far surpassed their imagination, those so-called missions were long forgotten; all that mattered was to flee for their lives.
But looking around, all they saw were blood-red hands. Where could they run?
Everyone’s gaze turned to the only direction not yet occupied by blood-red hands.
That was the road leading to the orphanage.
Without any hesitation, they rushed into the orphanage.
In a life-or-death crisis, who could afford to worry about anything else?
They needed to get out of this blood-red area first, then worry about other things.
At this moment, Zhang Asi, who had been lurking in the background, slowly revealed himself.
His face was growing increasingly pale, and there was significant abnormal swelling.
He looked like a body that had drowned and had been submerged in water for four or five days before being salvaged.
There was no other way. For this blood sacrifice to cause such a commotion, Zhang Asi had invested all his worldly possessions.
This included a priceless Blood Condensation Bead that came with his initial blood fiend inheritance.
That was a true treasure. According to the Blood Fiend Technique, it was refined by collecting the hearts of nine hundred and ninety-nine newborn infants and infusing them with the most painful souls in the world.
It was precisely this Blood Condensation Bead, coupled with Zhang Asi’s remaining vital blood, that met the basic requirements for activating the formation.
Otherwise, with his cultivation at Qi Refining Level 3, he alone would have been completely unable to support the entire blood sacrifice.
Zhang Asi stood in place, looking in the direction the others were fleeing. A smile appeared on his lips.
Yes, yes, yes.
Let them all run inside. It would save him the effort of catching them one by one.
With this thought, Zhang Asi couldn’t help but hum a little tune with ease.
This was the benefit of thoroughly studying military strategists. Did they understand what “surround three sides and leave one open” meant?
The blood sacrifice was complete. Who could stop him now?
He, Zhang Asi, had been dormant for so long and was finally about to take off!
When the outside world was plunging into a bloody and terrifying chaos, Chen An was still braiding the hair of the girl beside him.
In the small orphanage, time flowed peacefully.
As for the children from the orphanage, they were currently in class in the inner classroom.
The old director was teaching them phonics today, and at times, the sound of orderly reciting could be heard from the classroom.
Chen An thought for a moment and said to Qin Shou, who was still playing games, “I think you should go to the restroom.”
Qin Shou was a bit confused and asked blankly, “Why?”
Chen An retorted, “Don’t you think playing games and going to the restroom go well together?”
Qin Shou scoffed, “I think reading novels goes better with doing your business.”
“But now that you mention it, I do feel like I need to go. Do you have any tissues?”
Chen An took out a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed it to him.
After taking it, Qin Shou stood up, patted his butt, and ambled towards the outhouse behind them.
As he passed by the kitchen, he heard Chen An calling out behind him.
“And throw that fire-poker by the kitchen door over here.”
Qin Shou was in a hurry to relieve himself and didn’t ask any further questions. He casually picked up the poker and threw it over.
He muttered, “Brother An, what are you up to?”
Chen An smiled, “It should be useful later.”
Useful?
Useful for what?
Qin Shou found it very strange. What else could this useless thing be used for besides burning wood?
However, it wasn’t light. Perhaps it could barely be used as a baseball bat?
(End of this chapter)
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Chapter 296: Halfway Champagne
As Zheng Qing’s voice fell, the people who had been frowning relaxed, and their expressions improved considerably.
Some of the younger ones were even trying to get closer to the girl.
Wang Que tapped the table with his finger, drawing everyone’s attention.
He said with a serious expression, “Alright, we’ll discuss other matters later. The most important thing now is…”
Without any preamble, he began to explain the key points of the operation and the potential difficulties during the arrest.
For example, the Earth Evasion Technique that the higher-ups coveted.
Wang Que paused here, about to continue speaking, when he suddenly felt the ground beneath him shake.
Immediately after, a strong smell of blood wafted into the air.
The ground trembled violently, and an ominous premonition filled everyone’s hearts.
Wang Que was the first to rush out of the convenience store, his face immediately filled with shock.
The sky, it turned out, had changed color at some point. It was no longer a clear azure blue but a terrifying, eerie blood-red.
It was as if a giant bowl had been placed upside down over the sky, enclosing both the orphanage and the convenience store.
On the ground, blood-red arms kept emerging from the earth, and eerie, rasping whimpers echoed all around.
“What’s going on?!”
Someone exclaimed. Even though they dealt with cultivators regularly, this bizarre scene sent shivers down their spines, making goosebumps appear all over the ground.
Zheng Qing’s face turned extremely grim at this moment. Having grown up on Mount Qingcheng and studied various Taoist scriptures and classics, she knew a great deal more.
She said in a deep voice, “The intel was wrong. Such a terrifying celestial phenomenon could never be caused by someone at Qi Cultivation Level 3.”
“Judging by the looks of it, it’s likely a formation that the Evil cultivator set up long ago to lure us into a trap.”
After speaking, the woman pulled Lin Jingq and quietly retreated behind everyone.
If the situation turned bad, she would quickly escape with her Junior Sister.
As for the others, they would just have to fend for themselves.
The next second, before anyone could react, a sharp, tragic scream suddenly rang out.
A panicked young man in the crowd, who had just tried to approach Lin Jingq, looked down at his feet with a terrified, pained expression.
A blood-red hand was tightly gripping his ankle.
The palm of the blood-red hand revealed numerous dense orifices, all filled with neat rows of teeth.
Then, the orifices began to writhe, slowly gnawing at the man’s flesh and blood.
The young man could no longer endure the fear and pain welling up in his heart. He drew a pistol from his waist and began to shoot frantically at his leg.
The gunfire poured out like water, accompanied by dazzling muzzle flashes.
And the man’s even more agonizing wails.
When the smoke from the gunpowder dissipated, the blood-red hand remained completely unharmed.
The man’s lower leg, in those few short seconds, had been completely gnawed away, leaving only bare bone.
Then, one after another, screams erupted. People panicked, and their pre-planned combat strategy was utterly vanished into thin air.
No one could remain calm in such a situation.
Even the team leader, Wang Que, had his legs trembling, his clothes clinging tightly to his skin, soaked in cold sweat.
Damn it, what was the point of fighting? They hadn’t even seen the enemy yet, and their teammates were nearly all dead.
Regret surged within him. The Evil cultivator’s methods this time were so bizarre and unpredictable; they were leagues beyond the Evil cultivators they had encountered before.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was like comparing the sky to the earth, a difference as great as that between clouds and mud.
They had made the mistake of relying on their past experiences, using previous Evil cultivators to estimate the strength of this target.
But clearly, such an estimation was a grave error!
For mortals, every increase in a cultivator’s level brought about changes that were exponentially greater!
“Run!”
Wang Que finally reacted and shouted at everyone.
But there was no need for him to say anything more. Everyone had legs, and they ran faster than anyone.
Dragging their teammate, whose thigh was almost reduced to bone, they began to flee for their lives.
Perhaps when facing things that were still within the realm of humanity, they could still maintain their composure and find ways to resolve them.
They could still maintain some sense of responsibility and mission to protect the people.
But now, faced with a scene that far surpassed their imagination, those so-called missions were long forgotten; all that mattered was to flee for their lives.
But looking around, all they saw were blood-red hands. Where could they run?
Everyone’s gaze turned to the only direction not yet occupied by blood-red hands.
That was the road leading to the orphanage.
Without any hesitation, they rushed into the orphanage.
In a life-or-death crisis, who could afford to worry about anything else?
They needed to get out of this blood-red area first, then worry about other things.
At this moment, Zhang Asi, who had been lurking in the background, slowly revealed himself.
His face was growing increasingly pale, and there was significant abnormal swelling.
He looked like a body that had drowned and had been submerged in water for four or five days before being salvaged.
There was no other way. For this blood sacrifice to cause such a commotion, Zhang Asi had invested all his worldly possessions.
This included a priceless Blood Condensation Bead that came with his initial blood fiend inheritance.
That was a true treasure. According to the Blood Fiend Technique, it was refined by collecting the hearts of nine hundred and ninety-nine newborn infants and infusing them with the most painful souls in the world.
It was precisely this Blood Condensation Bead, coupled with Zhang Asi’s remaining vital blood, that met the basic requirements for activating the formation.
Otherwise, with his cultivation at Qi Refining Level 3, he alone would have been completely unable to support the entire blood sacrifice.
Zhang Asi stood in place, looking in the direction the others were fleeing. A smile appeared on his lips.
Yes, yes, yes.
Let them all run inside. It would save him the effort of catching them one by one.
With this thought, Zhang Asi couldn’t help but hum a little tune with ease.
This was the benefit of thoroughly studying military strategists. Did they understand what “surround three sides and leave one open” meant?
The blood sacrifice was complete. Who could stop him now?
He, Zhang Asi, had been dormant for so long and was finally about to take off!
When the outside world was plunging into a bloody and terrifying chaos, Chen An was still braiding the hair of the girl beside him.
In the small orphanage, time flowed peacefully.
As for the children from the orphanage, they were currently in class in the inner classroom.
The old director was teaching them phonics today, and at times, the sound of orderly reciting could be heard from the classroom.
Chen An thought for a moment and said to Qin Shou, who was still playing games, “I think you should go to the restroom.”
Qin Shou was a bit confused and asked blankly, “Why?”
Chen An retorted, “Don’t you think playing games and going to the restroom go well together?”
Qin Shou scoffed, “I think reading novels goes better with doing your business.”
“But now that you mention it, I do feel like I need to go. Do you have any tissues?”
Chen An took out a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed it to him.
After taking it, Qin Shou stood up, patted his butt, and ambled towards the outhouse behind them.
As he passed by the kitchen, he heard Chen An calling out behind him.
“And throw that fire-poker by the kitchen door over here.”
Qin Shou was in a hurry to relieve himself and didn’t ask any further questions. He casually picked up the poker and threw it over.
He muttered, “Brother An, what are you up to?”
Chen An smiled, “It should be useful later.”
Useful?
Useful for what?
Qin Shou found it very strange. What else could this useless thing be used for besides burning wood?
However, it wasn’t light. Perhaps it could barely be used as a baseball bat?
(End of this chapter)
