Chapter 296: Rescue
The corpses of their teammates who died miserably were bouncing and twitching on the ground. Some people did not die immediately; their facial expressions rapidly turned deathly pale, and they let out heart-wrenching screams from their mouths.
At the same time, fragmented whispers like the Buddhist chant of a demonic monk disturbed their minds, echoing in the dark space.
The terrified everyone’s thoughts became increasingly disordered. They gasped roughly and looked around their surroundings, only feeling ambushed from all sides. They had arrived in the endless hell full of netherworld evil spirits.
If not for An Fang’s timely warning, some of them would have already been unable to bear the pressure and could only vent their intense fear emotions by firing their firearms wildly.
Fang Mu pricked up his ears and scanned his surroundings. He could hear those detestable monsters muttering fragmented incantations nearby; they were hiding in some inconspicuous dark corner, watching every human whose faces were filled with terror.
Looking toward the sound, Fang Mu saw a hunched and frail eerie figure. It was like a skinny and shriveled old woman with ragged clothes, standing in a corner. Her shriveled and sagging body was thus boldly exposed in the air. Her ferocious and twisted face twitched, and in her wide mouth was a set of uneven and incomplete yellowed old teeth. With such a blood basin mouth, she whispered and recited eerie magic spells.
This was the witch! A type of monster among the corpse disciples that retained intelligence no less than that of humans. They were skilled in sorcery, witchcraft, and magic, making them more dangerous beings than ordinary corpse disciples.
The witch’s pointed ears twitched slightly. She revealed a ferocious grin and slowly turned her head. Her gaze immediately locked onto a mystic investigator who was sneaking away to escape but had accidentally made a commotion.
Fang Mu silently cursed idiot, but he could not remind him out loud. He lowered his head to look for a weapon and soon found the firearms in the hands of a mystic investigator who had just died not long ago. Without hesitation, he pounced forward, picked up the dropped firearms, and fired several shots at the witch he had discovered.
However, Fang Mu was ultimately one step too late. The witch had already finished reciting a segment of incantation.
Aiming at the witch, at the instant the bullet was fired, Fang Mu saw the space in front of the witch twist eerily. Flying sand and stones rose from the ground, like an invisible slash breaking through the air.
The slash’s speed was extremely fast. When the bullet pierced the witch’s body, that invisible slash also severed the head of the mystic investigator who had been sneaking away to escape.
Fang Mu quickly evaded behind a cover. He could hear that the fragmented whispers had not stopped. There was more than one witch around. Immediately after, the sound of another slash landing on a stone beside him rang out. The explosive-like noise made Fang Mu’s liver tremble.
“Fang Sen!” An Fang had always been by Fang Mu’s side and immediately realized that the one who had fired just now was Fang Mu. She couldn’t help but call out to him worriedly.
“Shut up, hide well, don’t make a sound. They have good hearing!” Fang Mu, however, scolded her with scalp-numbing sternness. This usually never-angry person’s sharp shout immediately scared An Fang into shrinking back her body, even though she was usually such a strong-willed person.
And when An Fang perceived that the cover stone behind her was struck hard by something and shook violently, she also immediately understood that Fang Mu was not exaggerating. Calming down slightly, she guessed that the monsters secretly attacking them now were the witches they were looking for.
At this critical moment, An Fang would not nitpick Fang Mu’s behavior of picking up hot weapons. After all, right now, only Fang Mu could normally and freely counterattack.
Fang Mu’s heart was beating extremely fast. He felt blood rushing to his face, his eye sockets burning hot like fire. His spirit was highly concentrated. Under the dual cooperation of superhuman vision and hearing, the time to lock onto an enemy became shorter and shorter, and his ability usage became increasingly proficient.
Gunfire burst in bursts in the darkness, monsters shrieked, and at the same time came the sound of Fang Mu’s extremely hungry and madly growling stomach.
Watching the explosive flame bullets pierce through the flesh and blood of those barbaric corpse disciples and witches, blowing their bodies into chunks of flesh and blood, it was like seeing plates of freshly baked delicious food. He was so hungry that he wanted to rush up, pounce on their corpses, and immediately devour and enjoy them.
But Fang Mu’s reason was also desperately striking the big bell of his desire, continuously admonishing him not to do so.
Thus, his appetite transformed into even stronger aggression. He couldn’t eat them, but watching a “brilliant display” and something “mouthwatering” was fine!
When the bullets were completely emptied, Fang Mu touched the hot gun barrel and sniffed the smell of gunpowder. His consciousness slowly returned to clarity.
He looked somewhat blankly at An Fang, who had a trace of terror on her face as she walked toward him. His heart felt like it had been struck by a heavy hammer, and the memories from the earlier battle slowly became clear in his mind.
Earlier, he had been madly gunning down those witches hiding in the darkness while drooling insanely and laughing maniacally.
He didn’t even need to imagine; he knew exactly how terrifying and ferocious he must have looked just now.
He was out of control.
Fang Mu dropped the gun, hurriedly wiped the drool from his face forcefully, and said in a dry and hoarse voice: “It’s fine now. We can continue moving forward.”
Everyone was silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to speak. Every mystic investigator gripped their respective weapons tightly, relying on night vision goggles to watch Fang Mu, whose facial expression was stiff. Although their consciences told them this was their lifesaver, their bodies’ instinct and reason told them this person was simply too dangerous.
He could brutally kill the witches, and just as easily mad laugh while killing all of them.
Fang Mu was more dangerous than the witches.
After this frightening ordeal, everyone’s emotions had gone through ups and downs. The deaths of their fellow traveling teammates did not make them feel too much grief. They just walked in silence and vigilance, keeping their distance from Fang Mu.
More than twenty minutes later, with the cooperation of Fang Mu’s perception and scientific instruments, they found the abducted children and boy.
When they saw several human corpses soaked in cauldrons and a mutilated girl who was being hung upside down and transforming into a corpse disciple, everyone became even more silent. Everyone wished they could grind their teeth to pieces.
The mystic investigators hurried to rescue the abducted children. Moments later, some children were rescued from the mine cave. Behind the evacuating team came bursts of heavy and mournful gunfire, deafening…
There were too many people needing rescue, so Fang Mu also carried one on his back.
It was unclear if An Fang did it on purpose—to apologize or to regain his trust—but the child Fang Mu was carrying at the moment was An Qin, who resembled An Fang by six points. She was also his wife from his previous life.
“My past is your future…” Fang Mu and the others walked out of the cave. The slanting sunset reddened every pale face. He turned back to look at that weak little face.
Perhaps feeling the reassuring warmth of Fang Mu’s back, or stimulated by the sunlight, the unconscious little An Qin briefly opened her eyes.
Fang Mu’s gloomy and gaunt face and sorrowful pained eyes thus entered those pure and clear eyes, blurred yet indelibly deeply imprinted in her memory.
Twenty years later, An Qin, who had always been searching for the owner of that blurred face and pained eyes, would resolutely save an injured man she had never met in that empty alley, continuously deeply attracted by that dangerous man.
