Indeed, Yue Hongbo thought. No sane woman would want to come back to the home she shared with her housemates whom she witnessed with her own eyes their gruesome deaths.
Not even warriors, never mind an ordinary woman, would feel comfortable coming back here.
“So, what now, Uncle?” asked Yue Hongbo. Calling Chu Xun “Uncle” sounded really like a norm to him.
Chu Xun, on the other hand, still found it unsettling to be addressed such. “We wait,” he answered.
And so their long vigil lasted for hours.
Until the sun began to set and night began to fall.
“There she is,” Yue Hongbo said.
The woman was leaving her home and she looked pretty well-dressed too.
“Let’s follow her,” said Chu Xun.
They maintained a distance while tailing her from behind.
“What the...”
Yue Hongbo could not believe what he saw. The woman walked into a nightclub?! His earlier investigations about this woman had shown that the woman works as a hostess here. But considering how three of her colleagues and housemates had just died before her very eyes, it was outlandish that she could still think of dressing up and come to work.
If she was not an abnormally fearless person, then something must really be wrong here.
Chu Xun and Yue Hongbo followed her into the nightclub.
The string of murders still unsolved had caused widespread terror in the city that hardly anyone dared to come out at night. This culminated in the low number of patrons in the local nightlife scene.
This nightclub however was quite a sizable establishment with its dance hall divided into many small areas and corners.
The young female survivor stepped into the dance floor and began gyrating wildly to the raunchy beat of the blaring music.
Chu Xun found himself bewildered, not so much about the woman’s voluptuous movements than the noisy environment. Having been roaming the wildernesses since the anomalies around Earth began, he had been largely detached from the effulgent splendors of city nightlife.
The two men looked around and found a quiet corner to sit in.
It did not take long for the woman to finish her dance and she left the floor.
Yue Hongbo got up, but Chu Xun pulled him back down. With his Divine Sense fully enveloping this entire building, there was no worry at all that the woman could escape.
And so they sat there for hours.
The young woman busied herself all night, promoting liquor and wine to her patrons while accompanying them.
“Dammit, what a bloody waste of time,” seethed Yue Hongbo uneasily.
“You don’t come to places like this often?”
“I did a few times,” admitted Yue Hongbo, blushing, “But it’s only for work. Father is strict; no children of his are permitted into such places.”
“I say you should bring your father here. He might like it here,” teased Chu Xun.
Yue Hongbo stared at him blankly before answering solemnly, “Impossible. My father spends his time solely on training.”
Chu Xun’s jaw dropped. He was only joking.
“All right, let’s go,” said Chu Xun.
“She’s leaving now?” Yue Hongbo asked, puzzled.
It was already midnight and most of the patrons had all left.
“We’re waiting outside.”
They were just barely out when the female survivor came out, accompanied by a group of pretty women.
“How about supper? I know a coffee house not far ahead and they operate 24/7,” said the female survivor.
With everyone agreeing, the group of women began moving in the direction of the coffee shop the female survivor pointed out while chattering incessantly.
“I think we should take the main road. This alleyway looks so dark and scary. Look at those recent murders, this place reminds me of them.”
One of the women voiced her reluctance when the survivor insisted on taking them through a darkened back lane, calling it a shortcut.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s a shortcut. We’d be taking a big detour by taking the main road. That will cost us more than a half-hour,” coaxed the female survivor.
Ultimately, the girls caved in and listened to her.
They walked into the back lane, plunging into shadows so dark that not a ray of light from the street lamps outside reached inside.
Suddenly, the female survivor halted.
“What is it? Come on, get a move on! It’s so dark in here that it’s scary,” said one of the girls.
The female survivor displayed a wicked smile, saying, “We’ve arrived.”
Before the girls understood what she said, one of them thrust a finger forward and let loose a terrified shriek.
The rest of the girls began screaming too.
Strangely, no one outside could hear them; a huge black smog seemed to envelop them like a barrier, keeping their voices inside.
A several-meter-tall hulking monster fully purplish-green came into view, showing them its sharp fangs and its red ruby-like eyes.
“My Lord!” the female survivor bowed to the monster, her eyes flashing similarly red too.
“Well done,” croaked the monster raspily in human tongue.
“Thank you, my Lord,” said the woman reverently, stepping aside, “Do enjoy your meal.”
The monster sniggered vilely. “With today’s meal, I’ll just need another seven hearts, then I’ll regain my full power! By then, you shall have your reward of eternal life.”
The female survivor dipped her head lower, appearing ever so demure and deferential.
The monster’s incredibly long arms stretched well past its knees, with five razor blade-like bones for fingers instead of a meaty paw.
It threw itself forward suddenly, clawing at one of the girl’s chest.
But before its talons could pierce through the soft flesh of its prey, it leaped away quickly.
Boom!
A white flash of light came and blasted open a wide crater at where it was standing just a split-second before.
Chu Xun and Yue Hongbo strolled into the alleyway.
It was the latter who had fired the shot just now.
“You,” the female survivor gasped with surprise at Chu Xun.
“And here I was, thinking you’re just a poor survivor of a bloody massacre,” smirked Chu Xun, “I did not take you for such a cunning and cruel person. To think that you would lure fellow humans to feed this monster.”
“You fool, you led them here!” snarled the monster.
The female survivor shot a scathing glare at Chu Xun.
“My apologies, Lord. I...”
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Bang!
The monster callously drove its claws right into her, swatting her with such force that her entire self burst into pieces like a squashed insect.
For her crimes, Chu Xun did nothing to save her and watched her die. But when the monster seized the dead woman’s heart, Chu Xun fired a blast to destroy it.
“You puny human,” it snarled, “Are you seeking death?!”
“So you are the monster that’s been terrorizing this city recently. I wonder what gives you the courage to hurl threats at us. I should just annihilate you and be done with it!” Yue Hongbo hissed, annoyed for all the trouble he had been through for the past few days.
All of a sudden, auras burgeoned and the hordes of energy bolts shaped like fists filled the air.
Being a Seventh-grade Human King, any single blow from him was so powerful that it could shake the earth. But his energy bolts struck on the monster like harmless little needles, eliciting no more than fiery little sparks and ringing metallic tinkles.
The monster roared and retaliated, swinging a taloned, bony paw that swiped a huge chunk off the concrete wall.
Letting loose another angry snarl, it charged at Yue Hongbo, flailing its claws furiously with smogs of foul air swirling around him and holes and fissures everywhere on the ground and the walls in its wake.
Both man and beast flung themselves at each other in a fierce whirl of battle.
“Go, now. Leave this place,” Chu Xun told the deeply-shaken girls.
Like frightened little chickens, the girls could barely stand up. Finally, they managed to scramble out one by one.
Boom!
More sparks flew into the air like fireworks as a miniature storm raged inside the narrow breadth of the alleyway in Yue Hongbo’s gritting melee against the monster and with each delivering a blow at each other at the same time, and the impact threw them both apart.
That enraged Yue Hongbo. As a Seventh-grade Human King, he could not believe that he could not even defeat a simple foul creature. With a bitter growl, he channeled more Internal Breath and fired another blast at his foe.
Boom!
The energy beam screamed dangerously through the air, emitting incessant loud crackles like bursting firecrackers.
The monster charged, letting loose a bestial howl of its own. More dark smog cloaked all over it with its talons glinting brightly in its midst like flashes of lightning in a squall. With all its might, the monster swung its talons, whistling as it sliced through the air.
Bang!
Both man and monster threw themselves forward again and more sand and dust whisked up into the air by the force of their attacks and its ensuing collision once again flung both of them apart.
“Imbecilic mortal. You’re lucky that my power is not yet at its fullest, or killing you would be no difficult than slaughtering a dog,” the monster’s hoarse voice, laced with fury, resounded.
“Damn your fullest,” hissed Yue Hongbo, glaring at the monster.
The words barely escaped his lips when he lunged again.
Only this time, their fight slowly trailed beyond the darkened alleyway and out to the streets.
The commotion attracted many warriors, including other acolytes of the Sanctuary who were nearby patrolling.
None of them could rein in their shock when they saw Yue Hongbo fighting a gritting battle against an unknown monster.
“What in the hell is that? It’s so powerful!”
“Is this monster the culprit behind all the murders recently?”
“...”
More whispers ensued.
“Wait... That looks like the Devil, Chu Xun?!”
Everyone’s attention focused only on the hideous monster, and it was only when someone noticed Chu Xun’s presence did everyone turned to look at him.
“Not ‘looks like’; it really is him.”
“Well, with the Devil here, I doubt this monster will be able to do anything.”
The intensity of Yue Hongbo’s fight against the monster entered its peak that both man and monster had begun fighting for their lives.
Boom!
A sudden burst of shock wave forced everyone to retreat several dozen meters away.
Bang!
Yue Hongbo mustered more Internal Breath and fired another salvo at the monster, setting off more sparks as the energy bolt ricocheted off the monster’s thick hide.
The monster gave a retaliatory swipe of its talon-sharp claws, piercing cleanly through Yue Hongbo’s protective aura and nearly hurting him.
Shocked and fuming, Yue Hongbo realized a dismal revelation: even after such a long fight, his foe only seemed to be getting stronger.
“Puny mortal, die!” shrieked the monster as the strange black smog swaddling it thickened suddenly like a swarm of bees before rushing at Yue Hongbo.
A shrill, ear-splitting howl came from inside of the menacing black fog racing towards Yue Hongbo, then he saw it, the huge, grotesque face of a monster appearing from inside, baring its jaws wide to gnaw at him.
In his haste, Yue Hongbo summoned his Internal Breath and conjured seven layers of protective aura, standing in the midst of the thick black fog like a lighthouse in a squall.
Bang!
The enormous silhouette of a demon’s face opened its jaws like a yawning cave, and its fangs stabbed through Yue Hongbo’s layers of protective auras, destroying them with the ease of puncturing balloons.
Whoosh!
Chu Xun made his move. With one single step, he magically materialized right beside Yue Hongbo and seized him. Flinging the man to safety, he summoned his Hong Meng Immortal Qi, focusing it on his fist and thrust right at the demon face silhouette into its wide-opened mouth.
Boom!
Chu Xun’s fist glowed and a beam of Immortal Qi blasted at the demon face as it howled with agony and it exploded.
The onlookers all reeled with excitement to be able to witness the Devil’s prowess.
Roar!
With a terrifying shriek, the monster lunged. With its long, gaunt arms clawing through the dregs of the dissipating demon face now returning to its original form as the dense dark fog, the monster charged at Chu Xun.
Chu Xun smirked and clenched a fist tightly. It glowed once more and Chu Xun fired another blast into the monster’s claw just before it came close to grazing him.
Crack!
An unmistakable sound of bones cracking resounded, followed by the monster’s painful squeals; Chu Xun had blasted off one of its fingers.
Hardly anyone could refrain from being shocked and awed. The Devil lived up to his name; with just one single stroke, he wounded the monster!
The monster let loose another guttural howl of pain and disbelief.
“You’re a Zombie, aren’t you?” asked Chu Xun. This monster looked slightly different from the one he encountered at Qianlong Mountain.
Through its hollowed but bloodshot eyes, the monster glared intently at Chu Xun, croaking hoarsely, “You know about the race of Zombies?”
“I’ve met one before, although he looks categorically better than you,” Chu Xun jibed.
“Where is he now?” asked the monster. Zombies are powerful and strong, but their numbers had been dwindling especially these days.
“I killed it,” muttered Chu Xun casually.
“How dare you kill one of us!” snarled the monster.
Nonchalantly, Chu Xun said tauntingly, “Shouldn’t you worry more about yourself now?”
He dove at the monster with his fists brandished, and he drove it forward with only brute strength.
Roaring with defiance, the monster swung a claw at Chu Xun.
Crack! Sadly, it overestimated itself; with sheer ferine strength, Chu Xun broke its arm.