Chapter 164#
The Hunt 15#
Evening.
Bai Song, who was sweeping the dust off the ground, wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. He looked up toward the high point of the ruins to see what his Brother Yu was doing.
Upon seeing what was happening there, Bai Song turned back without surprise and continued his work.
As he worked, he sighed: Brother Yu truly is Brother Yu; even falling in love is done with the High Priest of the Paradise. Brother Anfei is truly special; perhaps he should have realized this much sooner.
—And all he could do was work.
Windsor, who was propping up an overturned spectator chair, saw Bai Song’s movement and also looked up in that direction.
After seeing it, Windsor likewise turned back without surprise.
As he worked, he pondered: Just what on earth happened to make these two end up in this kind of relationship? Individually, both of them looked like the type destined to be alone forever.
—Perhaps it’s because the two of them look so much alike. Although he understood in his heart that their appearances were actually different, to this day, he could only distinguish the two of them through their different hair colors and temperaments.
So, why was one the Prime Deity while the other was not?
Murphy, who was clearing trash from the ground, noticed Bai Song and Windsor’s movements out of the corner of his eye.
Is there an enemy?
And so, he also looked up.
He saw that under the afterglow of the twilight, the black ruins were stained with gold and red. At the top of the ruins, Yu Feichen had his head lowered. The God had moved back slightly, separating himself from Yu Feichen by a short distance—a distance of about fifteen centimeters.
Murphy’s gaze froze.
If pulling back to a distance of fifteen centimeters required moving backward, then just now, when he wasn’t looking, had they been closer than fifteen centimeters???
His gaze, hollow from stiffness, slowly shifted downward to Yu Feichen’s back.
There—right there—the God was slowly withdrawing his right hand, which had originally been placed on Yu Feichen’s back.
Murphy’s body swayed on the spot.
“They…” Murphy’s expression was slightly dazed, his voice floating like ash in the wind: “What happened to them?”
Xina walked over from the circus backstage, cradling a pile of miscellaneous items.
“Oh dear, oh dear.” Xina placed the pile of things on the ground, patted Murphy on the shoulder, and said, “A little bit of black ash got on Xiao Yu’s face; he was just reaching out to help Xiao Yu wipe it off. After all, he has always been such a helpful deity, hasn’t he? If there were ash on your face, I would reach out to help you wipe it off too, wouldn’t I?”
Murphy’s mental state seemed to stabilize a bit due to Xina’s words, but it remained precarious.
He looked at Xina: “…Is that so?”
“Of course it is. After all, I am so wise. What I say must be right, mustn’t it?”
Murphy: “Heh.”
Seeing that Murphy was about to turn his head to look in that direction again, Xina hurriedly said, “Quick, look at what good things I dug up from the backstage!”
High atop the ruins.
Anfei’s kiss paused gently at the corner of Yu Feichen’s eye for three seconds, then he pulled away.
It was like a dream.
Having done all this, Anfei frowned slightly, but not at Yu Feichen.
Yu Feichen thought that this person might be feeling some regret, pondering why he had violated his principles and committed such an unseemly act.
But the action had already been taken; it could not be erased.
With a hint of a smile in his eyes, Yu Feichen pulled the retreating Anfei back toward himself.
The ruins were uneven. Anfei’s footing was unsteady, and he stumbled into Yu Feichen’s embrace, where he was held tightly.
“You—”
Hearing that the voice was already a prelude to anger, Yu Feichen’s expression did not change in the slightest as he took out Anfei’s semi-transparent hair tie.
“Don’t move,” he said. “I’m going to tie your hair up for you.”
Anfei: “…”
By the time Yu Feichen used his fingers to smooth the medium-length silver hair and loosely tied a small tuft at the back of the head, another three minutes had passed.
Anfei leaned against him. This man’s movements were agile and his breathing was exceptionally steady; aside from his heartbeat being slightly, almost imperceptibly faster, there was nothing unusual.
After finishing the hair tie, Yu Feichen even seemed a bit reluctant to let go.
Anfei’s tone was completely cold.
“Since you’re finished, go clean up.”
Yu Feichen said, “I’m not finished. I’ll take you down first.”
The vine on Anfei’s wrist shook frantically, as if it had been seized by a fit of madness.
Anfei scrutinized it silently for three seconds, confirming that this shaking was not normal.
Moreover, it hadn’t just started shaking now; the vine had started ever since they landed on the high platform.
Anfei: “What does this represent?”
Yu Feichen scanned Anfei with Spiritual Healing once more.
The result: he was still in a state of mental dissociation.
Yu Feichen said, “It represents that I am telling the truth.”
The vine shook even more joyfully.
Anfei gave it a faint glance, turned, and left.
The road through the ruins was complicated, and it took some time to walk down. By the time they reached the ground, the sun had already sunk below the horizon, and the city lights were like dots of stars in the night.
“The blackboards are about to open~” Xina picked up a picture frame in one hand and a pen in the other.
“Mr. Vincent, are you ready then?”
Murphy remained in a state of mental daze. Seeing Yu Feichen and Anfei come down from the high platform, his gaze only drifted over them hollowly, as if he had seen nothing at all.
He said, “I’m ready.”
Yu Feichen looked in their direction. He saw that these two had occupied a large open space, which was piled high with large-scale fireworks.
Murphy stood at the edge of the firework clusters, holding a torch in his hand.
Xina said, “Found them backstage. The circus has a lot of good stuff.”
While she spoke, a flash of gray mist appeared on the picture frame, and the original painting instantly transformed into a black stone slab.
Xina began writing rapidly with her pen. As the deity in charge of wisdom, she must deal with written words on paper frequently—because her hand moved so fast it was almost a blur.
As she wrote, she muttered, “Dammit, how is there someone with faster hand speed than me? Dammit—”
There were many decorative paintings around the circus, and at this moment, they had all been turned into blackboards.
On the blackboards, messages began popping up rapidly.
“Good people, can someone tell me what happened at the circus?”
“Spooky, it’s too spooky.”
“Why was there screaming at the circus during the day? Is it the loss of morality, or the distortion of human nature?”
“Is the person who burned the circus the same one who burned the department store???”
“Burn it, make the burning louder.”
“Hee hee, what do you know? That’s the Lady Bodhisattva delivering all living beings from suffering.”
“? But what I saw nearby wasn’t a Lady Bodhisattva.”
“Brothers, should we form a group to go take a look?”
Amidst the rising tide of discussion, a long message scrolled out on the blackboard.
[Red Doll]: Central District Circus [Rose] Countless secret passages and mazes for easy hiding [Rose] All spectators cleared, no one hunting [Rose] Huge area with many entertainment projects [Rose] Guarded by a Gatling gun, no bad people allowed [Rose], welcome all hunted little cuties to come and take refuge!!!!
[Claw Machine]: Central District Circus [Rose] Countless secret passages and mazes for easy hiding [Rose] All spectators cleared, no one hunting [Rose] Huge area with many entertainment projects [Rose] Guarded by a Gatling gun, no bad people allowed [Rose], welcome all hunted little cuties to come and take refuge!!!!
[I’m Really Not An Alpha]: Central District Circus [Rose]… welcome all hunted little cuties to come and take refuge!!!!
[Little Frog]: A Lady Bodhisattva is actually by my side.
[Rag Doll]: …After lighting such a big fire, did you really not burn yourself?
[Lord of Eternal Night]: This way you can catch them all in one net. How cruel.
[Red Doll]: Warm reminder: Lady Bodhisattva only delivers those she is destined to meet ^ ^
Following this, the “Red Doll” began spamming the black stone slabs with long paragraphs of promotional slogans.
One message was inconspicuous, but countless messages spamming the screen were practically an eyesore. Even those who didn’t like to chat and were just passing by the blackboards noticed.
Just then.
Murphy lowered the torch in his hand, lighting the night while also igniting the fuses of the fireworks.
On the other side, Windsor also struck a match and, smiling, held it toward another fuse.
Just as everyone was staring at the blackboards, speculating on the truth of the news, a sharp, shrill whistle rang out in the center of the city.
In the night sky, a cluster of dazzling white light shot up from the circus and stopped in the dead center of the sky.
The next moment, with a loud bang, the white light transformed into a sky full of brilliant fireworks, which then turned into thousands of falling stars trailing down toward the entire city.
Then came the second bang, and the third.
Xina put down her pen, very satisfied with her masterpiece.
Next, they just had to wait for the people who were willing to believe to gather.
The fireworks illuminated the surrounding streets.
In a deep, dark street, a figure in a white lab coat was traversing the alleyway. His speed was very fast, clearly using a life-saving item. By his side, two figures in hospital gowns followed like ghosts; as they fled forward, they would occasionally throw an attack item backward.
—They were being pursued by someone.
Out of the attack items, one in three would have an effect. The sudden appearance of fireworks also caused the pursuer’s movements to pause for a moment. With the pressure slightly reduced, he could pay attention to the surrounding sounds. While rushing forward, the White Coat muttered, “What? What time is it now, and they’re still setting off fireworks… how long has this been going on?”
He looked around and saw the circus up ahead. During the day, bizarre firelight and screams had come from this place. After the screams, fireworks were actually being set off.
Theoretically, one shouldn’t enter such a place. Ridiculous things are often done by ridiculous people, and his life motto was to have as little to do with people who were mentally ill as possible.
But—
Wearing gold-rimmed glasses and possessing blond hair, the White Coat took a look back. At the turn of the alley, a faint figure in a black raincoat was still trailing him like a specter.
Last time it took three streets to shake him off; this time he had accidentally become entangled again. His life was in jeopardy, and he had no other way to go.
One of the Patients let out a giggle: “Hee hee, Doctor, you’re distracted.”
The second Patient also giggled: “If you’re distracted, we won’t help you anymore.”
A kitchen knife flashing with a cold light appeared in the hands of both patients simultaneously, and they slashed toward the Doctor—
“Get lost,” the Doctor said. “Into the circus!”
Since he couldn’t beat the Black Raincoat behind him, he could only fight fire with fire.
With the mindset of charging into a mental asylum, the Doctor closed his eyes and rushed into the gates of the circus.
The mental asylum was his old home, after all.
The scene of demons dancing wildly that he had imagined did not occur; on the contrary, the place was actually quite peaceful.
“Oh, the first little cutie arrived so quickly. It seems our promotion was very effective,” a female voice with a slight rasp came through.
As soon as the Doctor entered, he met a pair of olive-green eyes.
Beside this red-haired, green-eyed witch was a blond boy, and next to him, a thin young girl.
“Good evening,” the Doctor said. “What is going on here?”
“Oh, so you wandered in by accident, but it doesn’t make a difference.” Xina smiled and said: “This is a happy sanctuary we’ve built for all the prey. Anyone who meets the criteria can join for free. Of course, if you’re willing to pay, that would be even better.”
To this, the Doctor could only ask that one question: “Hello, how long has this been going on?”
Patient One: “Hello, how long has this been going on?”
Patient Two: “Hello, how long has this been going on?”
Looking at the wire end in the Doctor’s hand that was fizzing with sparks, Xina pulled down her witch hat and admitted sheepishly: “For a long time now.”
Anfei took a silver lighter from Yu Feichen’s hand. Click, the flame lit up, illuminating his face.
He ignited the largest set of serial fireworks.
The fuse burned rapidly. He was pulled back by Yu Feichen as they waited for the fireworks to ascend.
Amidst the deafening roars and the smell of gunpowder smoke, one brilliant firework after another exploded at the very top until they covered the entire sky.
When the old light extinguished in the night curtain, new light would rise again, as if it would never stop.
The painted spires were exceptionally dazzling under the glow of the fireworks, and the colored flags all around continued to flutter just as they had during the day. From a distance, the grotesque and colorful circus buildings glowed with shifting light, like a dreamlike paradise.