I Can’t Die Here!
It took one look for Du Lang to realize the caller was Gu Ling. She had probably broken into the condo, or was stumped by the lock, or had dug through all of his possessions. And yet… the Xiaomi continued to wail, and the numerous men snapped their heads towards the source of the disturbance – in the right pocket of Du Lang's pants.
"F*ck! This stupid big-breasted woman!"
Du Lang mashed his fingers on the phone screen as he tried to manage the suddenly unresponsive phone. Just as he had managed to silence the call, a disdainful grunt caused a long sigh to escape his lungs. Five men had decided to trace their steps around the corner, and stared at his body as though they were gazing at a fattened sheep.
"Young man, did you manage to lose your way? How coincidental… you seem to be someone we know?"
The man's accent was soft and mellow on the ears, bordering towards femininity and gentleness. And yet, when Du Lang gazed into the leading man's eyes, his heart twitched. They were mild and well-mannered, dignified and forged in the image of someone well-functioning in society.
…and yet, the gaze directed onto his body held an aftertaste of blood and violence. All he received was a gentle smile that most definitely didn't belong to a male alongside of a calm expression, but Du Lang felt the hairs of his body rise.
"Ah, I just needed to find a quiet place to have a phone call. Sorry if I disturbed you."
People who held a placid, well-mannered gaze and conducted themselves well were the most dangerous. They exercised great restraint on their emotions and only displayed a positive, amiable outlook for the outsiders to revere. Since they could suppress their inner urges to the greatest extent, it was second nature for them to control and climb up the corporate and societal ladder.
"I see. Sour matters with your girlfriend?" the man nodded with an understanding expression.
"Little brother, take your time – don't give up on your girl!"
They were the gentle neighbor and passive, wise mentor from the side, but when provoked beyond their limit of control, they turned into literal demons from the depths of hell –
[Detected mild threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
The chains sprung from the ground and severed the alleyway from time. The man's lips paused before Du Lang mid-sentence, and when Du Lang managed to look around, he noticed two others that had made their move to flank his rear and strike with metal bats. He sighed – with eighteen seconds, there was quite a lot of responses that were available to him.
But there were little choices.
"F*ck, truly a deadly viper. Just like the ones from the past, ah?" Du Lang rubbed his head, and lightly stepped to the side.
"I don't know how to fight, but I can stop time if they attack me?"
With just ten seconds remaining, Du Lang pondered between committing to simply dodging the twin blows aimed towards either side of his head, or taking the initiative to make a strike. And yet, with five men fiercely glaring at him from the front and two from the back, he felt rather hesitant – but still followed his decision. Three steps forwards, and a flush roundhouse strike towards the jaw, and the nice-personality exhibited by the man was splendidly deformed.
[Host has initiated attack.
There were still five seconds remaining, and Du Lang was of the mind to perfect his artwork and give the soft-spoken male another punch towards the left. Alas, the feminine secretary followed her duty to shove a spike into his plans, and the chains abruptly vanished from existence.
"Augh!"
The two men at Du Lang's rear flinched as their bats swung through the air and smashed onto the concrete ground. As their arms were rendered numb, the kindly gentleman staggered back and clutched his left cheek in pain, and his façade was completely ripped away.
"How did you… take him down!"
Well… perhaps he wasn't as particularly refined and developed as the generous and prominent figures that Du Lang had tailed for weeks.
The single order was all that was required as all seven men hurled themselves at Du Lang, their menacing arms extended to their fullest length. Bats, metal rods, knives, and solid fists and legs; anything and everything they held in their possession, the men grasped to strike at Du Lang who had been completely encircled. Wraith was hurled to the side of his vision, and Du Lang brought his arms to cover his chest as Sibyl's voice continued to ring in his ears.
[Detected mild threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
The 'time' he was granted had been cut in half once more. The chains simply fazed into existence from their original positions instead of bursting from the ground and piercing the heavens. Du Lang took a glance around his body, and ground his teeth in fright.
He truly was surrounded in a web of danger. Just three centimeters from the base of his neck, a bat impaled with rusted nails hovered, the sawed rims desperately seeking to draw blood. Gangs who lacked the societal and political influence to secure themselves an arsenal of firearms had to resort to unconventional weaponry, such as the weird object shaped like an oversized drill bit surging towards his lower abdomen.
Du Lang nimbly stepped out of the thin encirclement, and brushed the thin layer of grime that had settled on his clothes. A few seconds later, the chains secluded in the background gradually rendered themselves transparent and nearly invisible to the naked eye, and time within the alleyway resumed once more.
"Argh!"
"...Brother, you… you got my balls…"
The seven men, propelled by the great momentum and enthusiasm they had invested into their strikes, tripped and tumbled onto one another as their overswings failed to connect. The lack of a resistive force allowed the improvised weapons to continue their trajectory regardless of their owners' wills, and soon, four men found themselves impaled upon deadly homemade knives, and the rest were completely incapacitated by the spiked bats.
One had been partially castrated by the oversized diamond drill bit, for the front of his pants were soaked with his blood. Howls of pain and agony suffused the area as Du Lang quickly dove past the corner and towards the right –
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
When the chains surfaced and the world became laced with the monochrome film of grey, Du Lang found his vision restored and brought face-to-face with the double barrel of a pump action shotgun. Its wielder was that of a beautiful young girl seemingly a year older than Mu Wuying, yet Du Lang's heart felt only dread. He quickly raced towards the young girl's back to ensure that he avoided all of the possible trajectories of the shotgun blast, then heaved a light sigh of relief.
The chains adjusted their form to become slightly transparent, but not fully detached from the world –
Bang!
The shotgun clenched in the young girl's arms buckled, and a massive plume of silver lights carved a brutal stampede across the corridor. The wails of pain and agony abruptly stilled at the loud reaction of the firearm, but the young girl narrowed her eyes as she realized that the man who was standing before her was no longer –
"Yu, he's behind you. Still, what an impressive technique."
A male's deep and rich voice echoed behind Du Lang, and both he and the young girl whirled to face the amused countenance of a middle-aged man well seated in his forties. The man chuckled at the surprised expressions and gently brushed at the thick trench coat shielding much of his body.
"You can travel a short distance at a quick speed beyond what the human eye can track – no wonder those kids were unable to land a hit even with buckshot shells. You're starting to make me rather curious" the man smiled, and tipped his hand towards Du Lang.
"Haoran slipping up and allowing a cheap muckraker like you get a hold of his activities was a major misplay. However, if we can harvest that interesting technique, heh… Yu, Ming, take him down!"
Following the man's cold order, two figures swept towards Du Lang's exposed and defenseless back, while the former mounted a brutal frontal strike. On the surface, it was an exact replica of the gang's attempted assault just moments earlier – one serving as the vanguard whilst two others flanked from the rear.
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
Du Lang inhaled sharply at the freshly bought time, and winced when he quickly assessed his current situation. The man had withdrawn his right fist towards his chest in preparation of a lethal straight jab towards Du Lang's heart, while his other hand clenched tightly to a double-edged knife. A young man had swung a machete towards the soft flesh of the back of his knees, and the young girl hacked towards his exposed nape in a wide, circular slash with a lethal blade.
It was a completely different experience than the wild and haphazard attack by the seven gangsters.
If he ducked and lowered his body into a crouch, the machete was bound to sever the ligaments of his legs, and if he jumped – the girl's blade would score a heavy wound across his back. Yet if he sidestepped towards the sides, the middle-aged man's left hand was prepared to unleash a terrifying sweep of his knife. There wasn't much choice for Du Lang except to completely leave the encirclement and flank the closest – the man's rear –
"– I was expecting that!"
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
Sibyl froze time once more as man had reversed his body and stabbed the knife towards Du Lang's liver. The latter wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and ensured that he had increased the distance separating them to one that a human couldn't possibly reach. As the black sphere relinquished its hold on time, the chains remained their blood-rich hue and saturated themselves on the gloomy, dark atmosphere of the dim alleyway.
"Interesting. Such movement is indeed beyond the capabilities of our squad leader," the man grinned, and waved his hand.
"Change of plans. Two Circles, Three Howls. Don't let him escape!"
There was a howl of wind as the man who seemed rather encumbered by his overly thick clothing raced to stand just three centimeters from Du Lang's nose before the latter could blink. Two flashes swept past his sides and converged towards his rear, performing another flanking strike as a powerful, solitary fist stormed from the front.
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
[Detected severe threshold of danger to the host. Initiating
A shattering strike towards his spleen; a lethal stab towards his spine; a sweeping kick to snap the tender ligaments of his knees; a head-crushing, vertical slash; a venomous sting towards the defenseless nape; the two men and one young woman completely trapped Du Lang into a permanent passive state. Time paused and resumed; with each attempt made by Du Lang to escape the mobile encirclement, either the young man or young girl swiftly predicted his next movement and intercepted his incoming position with a miserable strike, or the man occupying the front of his vision unleashed a flurry of strikes to distract his perception.
Du Lang's complete ineptitude at fighting was displayed at full effect – he could take the advantage of paused time to find himself an advantageous position, but his lack of experience ensured that his movements landed him to the worst possible spot.
[Detected minimal spiritual essence reserves within the host. Severe caution is advised.]
The repeated use of the curse models caused his mind to furiously buzz with an overwhelming noise that deafened his ears and caused his vision to warp. He felt increasingly lightheaded and exhausted, and had to actively resist the urge to fall unconscious on his feet before the man's feet. Furthermore, the number of mistakes he made continued to increase, and the wounds on his body welcomed new arrivals and recruits whenever time resumed.
"I don't want to die here, I don't want to die!!!"
The tendon on his left leg cut and his body peppered with an eye-watering array of bruises, cuts, and stab wounds, Du Lang heaved painful breath after breath within the stopped time. He glared at the imposing man who had caused the brunt of his injuries as well as the young girl who was responsible for inflicting severely debilitating wounds, and felt the agonizing pain flare in great rage. He dragged his ragged and drained mind to focus once more, and clapped his hands.
He only had one shot left!