Chapter 81: Dream Concert
The grenade exploded, forming a smokescreen that enveloped a patch of silence. Moments later, only a few short bursts of footsteps could be heard approaching step by step. Immediately after, several figures burst through the dust and smoke, charging madly toward He Jia’an and the other two in the corridor.
In terms of speed, none of the three could outrun the blood people. So after the blood people entered their more precise shooting range, all three drew their guns and fired, trying to block the madly pursuing blood people.
The specially made high-damage bullets pierced through the bodies of the blood people, opening several holes in them. But despite this, it only caused a brief delay to the blood people. Before their heads were destroyed, their bodies could still maintain the characteristic of rapid healing, quickly recovering from injuries and continuing the relentless chase.
Among He Jia’an and the other two, except for Yu Lianyun, He Jia’an and Li Yingqi both had decent marksmanship. But maintaining stable shooting while running at such high speed was not easy, especially when facing so many blood person monsters that moved incredibly fast. They simply had no time for precise aiming.
Thus, even after the three emptied three magazines in succession, they had not eliminated many of the pursuing blood people.
Just as He Jia’an and the other two turned a corner in the corridor, a flustered figure jumped down from the staircase nearby, then fled desperately ahead of them.
“Xin Junmao?” When He Jia’an saw this person who suddenly jumped out, they were also somewhat stunned.
Xin Junmao, focused on escaping, vaguely heard someone calling him. He glanced back and discovered that three mystic investigators, looking as disheveled as he was, were also fleeing, with a group of madly pursuing blood person monsters hot on their heels.
Xin Junmao’s eyes reddened with some excitement, but he was parched from running and couldn’t speak for the moment. He could only nod vigorously at them.
He Jia’an and the others quickened their pace to catch up with Xin Junmao. He Jia’an asked, “Have you seen any other survivors?”
Hearing this, Xin Junmao shook his head.
After receiving this answer that held no surprise, He Jia’an paused for less than two seconds before saying to Xin Junmao, “Since you’re still alive, come escape with us.”
Xin Junmao nodded heavily. That was his greatest wish at the moment.
Boom!
The wall and ceiling suddenly caved in and bulged, a flood of blood plasma squeezing out from the cracks, breaking through. In an instant, it crashed down toward Xin Junmao and the others, trying to devour them.
Xin Junmao’s heart tightened. Instinctively, he positioned himself in front of He Jia’an and the others. Then the comb in his pocket lit up again. The illusory figure of the nun appeared once more in his eyes. The nun recited Buddhist scriptures from her mouth, and immediately an invisible barrier rose up, spreading outward and blocking and wearing down the scalding, corrosive blood plasma flood.
But those blood people and the mindless deformed madmen without the nun’s protection were not so lucky. A vast blood ocean burst through the dome, submerging and devouring everything in the corridor. Even they, as faith followers and kin of the Gluttonous Daughter, could not escape unscathed.
The angry Gluttonous Daughter seemed to show signs of losing control.
Watching the blood torrent devour everything, everyone’s hearts trembled. He Jia’an looked at the comb in Xin Junmao’s hand with some shock. He hadn’t expected Xin Junmao to have such a powerful forbidden object, and it didn’t seem as evil as other forbidden objects.
But the thought that the comb was not evil didn’t last long. He Jia’an soon noticed that the compassionate-looking nun was deliberately contracting the invisible barrier, seemingly intending to protect only Xin Junmao, while they were about to be excluded from the protection range.
Xin Junmao also noticed this. He quickly said, “Hurry and follow closely behind me to escape, or you’ll all die here.”
With no other choice, the three had to run together with Xin Junmao.
In this blood-soaked world where directions were indistinguishable, He Jia’an and the others ran at top speed, their hearts pounding chaotically, tense to the point of nearly dying on the spot. Their current terror was not just because of the life-or-death speed, but because in such an environment, they had no ability to discern direction. A single misstep would mean death.
However, to He Jia’an and the others’ surprise, the leading Xin Junmao not only hadn’t crashed into a wall once in this environment, but it was as if he could see other obstacles. He would even warn them in advance when they were about to accidentally collide.
Although Xin Junmao himself was unaware and hadn’t noticed his own anomaly, He Jia’an and the others had.
Thinking back to the corpse in the storage room that had an abnormality similar to Xin Junmao’s, He Jia’an increasingly felt that this unremarkable-looking Xin Junmao hid some enormous secret that even he himself was unaware of.
“We’re out!” Just as the four were running closer and closer with no space between them, and the protective barrier controlled by the nun had narrowed to the point of almost unable to support protecting four people at once, the sweat-drenched Xin Junmao finally showed joy on his face and shouted.
The mystic investigators’ hearts leaped with joy, closely following Xin Junmao as they charged toward the red ahead.
Passing through the blood barrier and returning to the outside world, the mystic investigators who flew out protected their bodies and fell to the ground. They had once again returned to the position at the stone gate’s entrance, exiting from the spot where they had blasted their way in.
Xin Junmao protected his head, rolling several times on the ground. Shards of stone pierced his skin, but he suddenly went silent and motionless.
Seeing Xin Junmao roll to the ground and remain lying there without getting up, Yu Lianyun hurried forward to check. “Hey! Are you okay!?”
Upon reaching him, Yu Lianyun discovered that Xin Junmao had already passed out.
Boom boom boom…
An earth-shaking tremor grew increasingly intense. Cracks appeared in the rock dome of the underground city, with stalagmites and stone pillars breaking. Sharp stalagmites pierced deformed buildings, collapsing stone pillars crushed structures. In a short time, the underground city lay in ruins… And the source of all this was the being behind the stone gate. The Gluttonous Daughter was manifesting her true form. She was about to awaken from this blood-soaked underground city, erupting onto the surface world like an angry volcano.
Seeing this scene, He Jia’an and the others immediately felt deep despair. With such intensity, they no longer had time to escape…
He Jia’an tried to contact the outside world, but from the moment they entered the hidden tunnel, all signals had been cut off. He knew his message couldn’t get out, but he kept trying, hoping for a miracle.
At this moment, He Jia’an wasn’t trying to plead for help from the outside, but to tell those outside to escape quickly.
“Hehe.” Yu Lianyun and Li Yingqi exchanged a smile, neither bitter nor relieved, but with the calm indifference to death of those who had long walked the edge of it.
Death for mystic investigators was inevitable, and a gruesome death offered no choice.
Unable to face death with the noble composure of those who meet it willingly, numbness to death was the truest reflection in their hearts.
Hearing only dead silence-like static in response, He Jia’an gradually gave up on the call, sighing “giving up,” then took a cigarette from his inner pocket and put it in his mouth. He pulled out the full-fuel lighter he had almost never used to light a smoke.
He spun the flint wheel to produce a spark, igniting a short flame. He Jia’an stared straight at it, as if seeing the candle before his posthumous portrait, murmuring, “The last time in my life, you can’t blame me for taking a puff, old captain…”
Just as He Jia’an slowly brought the cigarette to the flame, Yu Lianyun let out a surprised sound. “Wait, something seems off.”
He Jia’an paused his lighting motion. Li Yingqi stood up to observe the collapsing underground city. They soon all felt the “off” that Yu Lianyun mentioned.
The shaking was diminishing!
They looked in astonishment at the stone gate. The stone gate, which had been deformed by the red liquid bursting it open, had stopped changing, leaving only a surface covered in cracks. The thing inside that had been expanding had disappeared…
The Gluttonous Daughter suddenly calmed down, her anger gone.
The three, who had already prepared to die, were stunned in place, their eyes showing bewilderment. What was happening now?
“Tch, so annoying.” He Jia’an regretfully put away the cigarette, feeling it was the “old captain” he had just mentioned manifesting spiritually, stopping the enraged Gluttonous Daughter just so he wouldn’t take that puff.
“So what exactly happened?” He Jia’an glanced at Xin Junmao, then at the cracked stone gate. “I have a feeling some strange connection has formed between Xin Junmao and the Gluttonous Daughter.”
Xin Junmao’s sudden coma, the Gluttonous Daughter’s sudden cessation of rampage… There must be some unknown thing at work.
…
“This is… the stadium, the on-site audience seats for the concert!?” After escaping from Miss Zhao’s royal palace, Xin Junmao felt his vision blur. After just rubbing his eyes, he suddenly found himself in this concert venue that was gradually filling up.
Then, Xin Junmao felt there was some other foreign object in his pocket. He reached into both side pockets and pulled out things: that magical bloodstone comb and a concert ticket.
The ticket read “Haimofen Shenzhou Region First Tour Replay,” and it also marked the seat number corresponding to the ticket.
Xin Junmao was somewhat dazed but followed the seat number to find his seat.
Upon seeing the seat, Xin Junmao froze in place, eyes widening. He looked at the glamorous woman in a plum blossom qipao sitting next to his seat number. Fear surged into his mind again. He felt like he was having a nightmare.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but right now I hope you’ll sit nicely beside me.” Miss Zhao hugged her arms and smiled at Xin Junmao.
Her words sounded like a request, but Xin Junmao heard a thick threatening undertone, as if he dared to run now, none of the audience at the entire concert site would escape unscathed.
Hearing this, Xin Junmao could only steel himself, walk over, and obediently sit next to Miss Zhao. He tried to lean toward the other side of the seat, but Miss Zhao proactively scooted closer, hugging his arm and pressing against it with a giggle.
Looking at that face, mature and glamorous yet with a hazy innocent cuteness, Xin Junmao felt somewhat dazed.
This daze was different from the previous times. This time, it wasn’t Miss Zhao actively seducing him with her seduction ability, but him inexplicably feeling moved.
“If… if you don’t eat people…” Xin Junmao murmured an unfinished sentence.
Miss Zhao heard it beside him and smiled back. “Then what would you do?”
Xin Junmao shook his head, not answering.
Miss Zhao seemed to have gotten her answer, smiling even more happily.
Suddenly, the audience seats erupted in enthusiastic cheers and thunderous applause.
The protagonist of this concert, Haimofen, took the stage with his violin, followed closely by a group of ashen-faced classical orchestra members.
“Good evening, everyone. I’m Haimofen.” Haimofen smiled in a casual tone he had never used in public. “I’m very happy to see you all again in a place like this. Last time, a rude guy disrupted the concert, making you feel unpleasant. I apologize sincerely for that.”
Haimofen bowed, then immediately straightened up, laughing. “To make up for your loss, I’ve decided to hold my tour again—this soul concert that truly belongs to me personally.”
Xin Junmao found this very strange. He clearly wasn’t an on-site audience member that day, so why was he invited too.
And soon Haimofen gave the answer: “This time, I’ve not only invited the previous on-site audience, but also those who watched my live performance through live streaming and other channels at the time.”
“I see.” Xin Junmao suddenly understood, but then showed a bit of shame. A freeloader like him had actually received an invitation from Haimofen. He couldn’t help but secretly praise Haimofen as a very magnanimous music master.
Miss Zhao smiled and said, “Not bad, actually able to pull even my consciousness in.”
Hearing Miss Zhao’s words, Xin Junmao was suddenly startled, realizing this was a very real dream, and also noticing the eerie aspect of Haimofen.
“No more talk, let’s start tonight’s performance.” After Haimofen spoke, he got to the main topic. His hands slowly deformed, black sharp knife gloves appearing on them. He used the knives as a bow to play the violin again, explaining, “First piece《demonic sound》, hope everyone likes it.”
As the conductor, finally able to command normally this time, made the starting gesture, Haimofen played the first note of the movement. The magical tone of the entire concert seemed fixed in place.
After Haimofen did a soul solo performance, the conductor faced the orchestra, raising his hands repeatedly. The orchestra’s instruments instantly sounded, the notes gradually rising, perfectly connecting with Haimofen’s violin solo, merging with Haimofen’s unique string sound into a more vigorous musical power—that was true symphonic music.
Listening to Haimofen’s eerie melodies and weird chords in the fantastical music, Xin Junmao became somewhat immersed, forgetting for a moment that a peerless monster was right beside him.
Unknowingly, the piece ended amid thunderous on-site applause. It was then that everyone noticed Haimofen’s strings had extended from the knot, like growing hair, reaching all the way to the ground.
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