Chapter 152#
The Hunt 03#
While facing off against the hunters opposite him, a system announcement chimed in Yu Feichen’s ears.
“Prey condition three fulfilled. Hunt successful.”
“Thank you for your contribution to the City of Mist.”
“Please collect your reward.”
With the announcement complete, the grey mist drifting from the shoulder of the fallen youth floated gently away from him, merging into the wisp of fog at Yu Feichen’s own shoulder, making it denser and more substantial than before.
——The little metal rabbit on his shoulder looked all the gloomier for it. Its red and black eyes carried a faint, inexplicable air of melancholy.
The leader of the hunters had watched the entire process of the mist merging, and when he looked again at the rabbit on Yu Feichen’s shoulder, he suddenly felt a twinge of unease.
What sane person wanders through a kill dungeon with something like that on their shoulder?
Looking again at the man’s posture — half-embracing his prey, gun pressed to the back of their head, yet still not pulling the trigger — something about it felt deeply wrong.
The stranger the get-up, the more dangerous the person.
His mind drifted to the few powerful gods who often appeared on the black message boards, their speech always dripping and wavy with affectation. His heart began to thud.
His thoughts were still wandering when, without warning, he met that man’s gaze.
In the dim light, those dark, sunken pupils held nothing at all. He looked at them the way one looks at a group of dead men.
The ones he was looking at felt a sudden chill run through them.
He just killed a prey — he’s got a high-level item now, the leader thought, gritting his teeth. He turned and walked away. “Fall back.”
Two others left with him. Three remained, bodies coiled tight, waiting to strike.
A wordless killing intent smothered the air.
They hadn’t gone far when a heavy thud of bodies hitting the floor sounded behind them.
The ones who’d fled spun around to look. The three who had stayed were now three motionless corpses.
Good thing they’d gotten out fast.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, the leader quickly found a black message board and wrote a few words on it.
[I’m the Best at Lying Low]: Department store — watch out for someone carrying a rabbit.
Right on the heels of his message, another appeared.
[Eternal Night Is Mine]: Near the underground casino, watch out for someone in a black raincoat. No more rewards, still killing at random.
[Acri]: So many kind-hearted people~ Nothing I can offer in return, so just a friendly reminder — watch out for me, okay? ☆
[Vincent]: What do you look like?
[Acri]: I’m a little girl~
[Vincent]**: ……
Those who needed to leave had left. Those who needed to die were dead. The gift box section fell once again into silence.
Yu Feichen’s gaze dropped. The person in his arms was still just as he’d left them — motionless, still being held by him.
He had just killed people; the cold still clung to him, his eyes flat and dark. Sensing no movement, he pressed the gun barrel against the person’s head again.
Then he heard a soft laugh.
No hair color, no eye color, not even a teardrop mole was needed — just that single laugh, and Yu Feichen could confirm once again that this was An Fei.
——He watched as An Fei lifted his head and looked at the little metal rabbit on his shoulder.
His frost-blue eyes resembled semi-transparent ice crystals — still and calm, the corners curved gently upward, carrying a hint of a smile. A barely-there teardrop mole nestled beneath one eye.
Yu Feichen’s brow furrowed. He slowly released An Fei, put away his gun, and picked up a candle to illuminate his face.
His instincts told him something was off.
He watched as An Fei reached out and took the rabbit into his hands.
In the candlelight, frost-blue eyes met listless red-and-black ones.
An Fei was still smiling. Tender warmth filled his lashes as he called softly to the rabbit: “Little Yu.”
Then he curled his fingers, cradling the rabbit in his palm, and lowered his eyes.
“Little Yu.”
“Don’t be angry with me, okay?”
Across from him, Yu Feichen looked An Fei over from head to toe with suspicion.
No signs of injury. No missing limbs. He even remembered that the rabbit was an apology-item. It really was An Fei himself.
“An Fei,” Yu Feichen said.
An Fei didn’t react.
“An Fei.”
Still nothing. Yu Feichen reached over and took the rabbit back from his hands, returned it to his right shoulder, and called his name once more.
At the sound of his voice, An Fei — who had been glancing around searching for the rabbit — finally looked up at Yu Feichen’s face.
The instant their eyes met, he froze.
After a brief moment of stillness, the smile rose again — but now a faint wetness gathered in his eyes, like morning mist spreading across a lake.
He did something Yu Feichen had not anticipated in the slightest.
His arms lifted gently, and he pulled Yu Feichen into an embrace of his own accord. His arms drew slowly together behind Yu Feichen’s back, his forehead resting against his left shoulder.
——Like a butterfly settling on a flower.
Candle wax dripped down and fell onto Yu Feichen’s hand. The firelight made that silver hair shimmer brilliantly. Yu Feichen moved to set the candle on a nearby shelf, and at the slight shift, An Fei tightened his hold.
Yu Feichen felt An Fei’s displeasure.
In the end, Yu Feichen simply let go. The candle fell to the floor. He freed his hands and wrapped them around An Fei’s shoulders and back, stroking gently a few times in quiet comfort.
As though feeling his response, An Fei half-closed his eyes in something like contentment.
Soft silver hair brushed against Yu Feichen’s neck.
The cold killing intent that had filled the air faded away without him noticing.
Elsewhere, a black wig had been drifting through the air toward them in an eerie, suspended fashion. As it drew close, the wig dropped to the floor with a soft smack, as though it had lost all life.
Three seconds later, it floated back up into the air again, as if lifted by invisible hands.
——An invisible Bai Song stared at the scene before him, jaw slack.
Using the invisibility item, he’d successfully slipped over to the wig section and picked out a disguise. He was about to leave when he spotted three people rushing past the entrance with the look of someone who’d barely escaped with their lives, muttering fragmented things like “rabbit” and “so ruthless.”
His Yu-Ge radar immediately activated. He trailed the wig in the direction the three had come from.
Through the layered rows of shelves, the first thing he saw seemed normal enough — his Yu-Ge had a gun pressed to someone, a classic prelude-to-killing pose.
The person being held at gunpoint was also completely still, apparently scared stiff.
From the back, he thought the silver-haired one must be very good-looking.
Good-looking or not, though — the hair wasn’t blond, so it was useless. Time to say goodnight.
Bai Song quietly mourned for this person while continuing to move closer.
But just as he rounded a shelf and the view cleared, he saw the silver-haired man bury himself in Yu Feichen’s arms.
Bai Song picked up the wig he’d dropped in shock and stood there, unsure whether he should go forward.
Yu Feichen glanced up and saw a black wig hovering silently in the air, looking thoroughly hesitant.
Yu Feichen: “……”
After a moment, the sound of Windsor’s footsteps came.
——Windsor also stopped where Bai Song was standing.
But Windsor spoke.
“Yu-Ge.”
Yu Feichen looked over to show he was listening.
“Yu-Ge,” Windsor said. “There’s a fire.”
The candle that had fallen earlier had landed in an unfortunate spot, and at some point had caught the corner of a gift box. But the edges were half-soaked in blood, still damp, and the flames were spreading slowly.
A sound came from the wig area: “This is bad — should we run?”
“It’s fine, I happen to have an item called Fire-Extinguishing Liquid,” Windsor said.
He pulled a bottle of clear liquid from his item storage, unscrewed the cap, and poured it onto the flames.
The fire surged two meters into the air in an instant, like an explosion.
Windsor: “……”
He immediately grabbed the wig and bolted for the stairwell.
His voice echoed in the stairwell: “Did you do that on purpose?! Are you jealous of Yu-Ge?!”
“I didn’t — it really is called Fire-Extinguishing Liquid, and it said — for use on flames only.” Windsor said in despair. “Did I just make things worse?”
Bai Song began shouting at the top of his lungs in the stairwell: “FIRE — RUN FOR IT —”
The flames roared and crackled. The An Fei in Yu Feichen’s arms finally let go and looked back at the savage blaze.
Then he quietly looked back at Yu Feichen, as if waiting for something.
Yu Feichen let out a silent sigh in his heart.
He didn’t know what was wrong with this person, but one thing was certain — his ability to take care of himself had declined further.
Before, he’d merely failed to right a tipped ink bottle. Now he’d evolved to standing in the middle of a fire without running.
He took An Fei’s hand and pulled him toward the stairwell.
The fire spread quickly, and thick smoke poured down through the stairwell entrance. Yu Feichen heard An Fei cough once as they ran, and picked him up to carry him the rest of the way down.
Apparently, now a certain someone no longer had to bother walking himself.
Before long, an explosion actually did go off upstairs — because right next to the gift box section was the festive fireworks section. The smell of gunpowder mixed into the smoke, drifting outward, very much like the acrid scent of a battlefield.
An Fei wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Through the billowing smoke, Yu Feichen was struck by a fleeting sense of unreality.
It felt as though, a long, long time ago, he had once carried someone away from somewhere like this.
After leaving the department store, Yu Feichen spotted Bai Song and Windsor in a narrow alley outside.
Bai Song’s invisibility had expired. He was back to his normal appearance, eyes unfocused, staring at the sky, thinking about who-knows-what.
When Yu Feichen appeared at the mouth of the alley, leading that pretty, silver-haired man by the hand, Bai Song looked over with glazed eyes.
Windsor, however, smiled.
“Ah, it’s Bishop Tang Po,” he said with a smile. “Long time no see. How have you been?”
Two question marks slowly materialized in Bai Song’s blank eyes.