Chapter 450: A God's Gambit |
In apartment 1101, Unit 2, Building 12 of the Near River District, Si Qi leaned against the window of the secondary bedroom, listening as the footsteps outside the door grew steadily closer.
At a distance of less than ten meters, a single bomb would have been enough to blast the target hiding behind the door to smithereens, but the investigators clearly had no intention of taking his life.
Perhaps they had received new orders, or perhaps they had simply lowered their guard against a once-dangerous entity now reduced to a mere mortal. A voice crackled through a megaphone: "Qi Si, you are surrounded! Cease all hostile actions, disarm, and surrender immediately. Otherwise, we will be forced to use violent measures, at which point your safety can no longer be guaranteed."
It was known that Qi Si's physical body was not in Jiang City. Yet both the Weird Investigation Bureau, the representatives of order, and the terrorists who sought to destroy the world had, by some unspoken agreement, chosen this very place as their final battlefield, throwing all their chips and hidden cards onto this massive grindstone...
Si Qi suddenly realized that the being who had orchestrated this scheme had ambitions far greater than he had imagined. In this bewildering game, both he and Lin Jue were merely pawns.
He had drawn the attention of the Weird Investigation Bureau while Lin Jue had sacrificed the Sea God card ahead of schedule. After slaying the god, they would both be stripped of their supernatural powers. It was all designed so that when Qi Si returned to this world, his path to the one and only divine throne would be completely unobstructed.
He laughed, a breathless, wheezing sound. "It seems someone's finally caught on. Is the plan to take me alive? If I'm not mistaken, Lin Jue is probably far more afraid of me dying here than you are."
The people outside seemed to ignore his probing remark. The megaphone simply repeated the pre-recorded message: "Qi Si, you are surrounded! Cease all hostile actions..."
"Surrender, you mean, and be locked away in a cage on the fifth basement level?" Si Qi's smile didn't fade; it grew even more brilliant.
Though he was furious at having been deceived, if he had to choose an ultimate victor between Lin Jue and Qi Si, Si Qi hoped it would be Qi Si. After all, they shared the same thoughts, memories, and inclinations. If one died, the other would live on as a continuation of his existence, free to continue turning this miserable world upside down.
The floor-to-ceiling window slid open from the inside, and a white rain, infused with the dissolved divinity of the Sea God, drifted into the room. The high-density divine power buoyed his body. Si Qi stepped onto the window ledge. Thirty meters above the ground, a fierce wind howled, whipping the young man's black hair and long suit about violently. A trail of blood droplets, like tattered feathers, streamed behind him.
The door to the room burst open behind him. As the sound hit his ears, he stepped forward and leaped into the void. The investigators who broke in caught only a fleeting glimpse of a dark gray shadow plummeting from the window, its afterimage streaking through the air like the fiery tail of a meteor, making the rain appear to fly backward in the resulting slipstream.
The ground rushed up to meet him. Blood surged into his brain, and his congested eyes momentarily lost their sight. The moment his body slammed into the earth, pain shot through every bone. Si Qi couldn't hear the sound of his own impact; his ears, he presumed, had been deafened by the force.
Warm blood poured from his body, its heat instantly leeched away by the cold rain, leaving him so chilled he wanted to tremble. He was still alive. It was as difficult for a god to die as it was to live. Here in Jiang City, a place newly transformed into a godfall site, the residual power of the Sea God was ceaselessly mending his broken body.
He struggled to his feet and stumbled madly toward the back gate of the Near River District, a route etched in his memory. His vision gradually returned with each step, the black-and-white world slowly, almost imperceptibly, regaining its color—a clear sign that the Sea God's influence was fading.
If he could just hold out until the Sea God's divinity dissipated completely, and if he could avoid capture by the Bureau until then, he would find a way to kill himself and send Lin Jue's plan spiraling out of control. The thought alone was enough to make Si Qi want to laugh triumphantly.
A figure in a black suit and rimless glasses emerged from the back gate, entering the Near River District. Lin Jue, carrying a long rifle, blocked the fugitive's path, his gaze obscured by the rain-misted lenses.
Si Qi guessed the rifle was loaded with tranquilizer darts, designed to incapacitate him without ending his life.
At this range, a miss was impossible. Lin Jue raised the rifle. Si Qi, with nowhere to run, could only lean back on pure instinct.
Without warning, a dusty-gray shadow burst from a corner, throwing itself in front of Si Qi to block the shot. In the fleeting moment it glanced back, Si Qi saw Lin Chen's face.
For a long time, the Undead Shepherd had been without a mind of his own, wandering aimlessly. Unconsciously, he had followed the faint sensation of the Soul Leaf all the way to Jiang City.
Now, with the Sea God's fall in Jiang City, all things strange, mysterious, and grotesque for kilometers around had vanished. The aura of the Soul Leaf was gone, but in its absence, Lin Chen was freed from his ghostly state, his human consciousness restored.
He had just come to his senses, drenched in the cold rain, still trying to understand how he had gone from a snow-capped mountain to a city complex in the blink of an eye. Then he looked up and saw a young man in a red suit running desperately, while on the other side, Fu Jue raised a rifle.
Acting almost on pure instinct, he threw himself between them. In the final second before his consciousness faded into darkness, he said to the young man, "Qi, go... run!"
Si Qi turned and sprinted deeper into the complex. A scarlet jeep smashed through a roadblock and fence, screeching to a halt in front of him. Just as he was about to raise his pistol, the driver's window rolled down, revealing a white, masked face. It was Charlie Woodward, holder of the Despair Screenwriter identity card.
"A splendid performance! But now, it's time for an intermission." Charlie's tone was flamboyant as he remotely opened the passenger door. "Mr. Zhou Ke, I suggest you get in the car. Quickly."
After that momentary delay, Lin Jue was closing in fast. He raised the rifle again, aiming for the center of Si Qi's back. There was no escape, forward or back. Compared to being captured by the Weird Investigation Bureau, getting into Charlie's car represented another possibility entirely.
Si Qi pushed off the ground, vaulting into the back seat in a few quick steps. The moment the door slammed shut, he heard the thumping sound of tranquilizer darts hitting the metal. Through the rearview mirror, he stared into the hollow eye sockets of the mask. "Where are you taking me?"
"Fragrant City," Charlie announced with glee. "Next up is a thrilling chase scene! We'll break through the encirclement of extras and cannon fodder, race to the port, and take a boat to Fragrant City."
"Yes, there's a dramatically small fishing boat hidden there," he added, his voice light and filled with giddy anticipation for what was to come.
Si Qi now understood. Charlie had been sent by the Balance Church. White Crow, the inheritor of the Ancestral God's will, had already made arrangements at a port near Jiang City. She was waiting for Charlie to break him out, at which point he would be taken across the river to the Church's headquarters.
As for what she planned to do with him after that, Si Qi had no idea. But he figured that in the coming days, he would have plenty of opportunities to kill himself, which was certainly better than being locked away in a sunless containment cell.
The jeep's engine roared as Charlie floored the accelerator, ramming straight toward Lin Jue. But the latter had anticipated this move the moment the cumbersome vehicle began to turn. He dodged backward with agility, using his body weight to shatter the glass of a ground-floor window and disappearing into the darkness of the room within.
The road ahead was wide open. The car's speed shot up to 120 kilometers per hour, its tires kicking up the surface water into swirling vortexes that rose into the air before crashing down again in a localized downpour.
Charlie, as if self-taught, switched on the car stereo, blasting a frenetic rock song:
"Don't need reason don't need rhyme,
"Ain't nothing I'd rather do,
"Goin' down party time,
"My friends are gonna be there too,
"I'm on the highway to hell......"
Humming along, Charlie drove like a maniac, his movements on the steering wheel downright savage. The red vehicle tore through the chaotic streets like an untamed beast. The black windshield wipers swung frantically as layer upon layer of water sheeted across the glass, making it feel as though they were in a combat submarine carving through the ocean depths. Thrown against the back seat, exhausted, Si Qi was jostled violently. Rainwater soaking his clothes and blood seeping from his wounds splattered endlessly, staining the white cushions a dirty, pale red.
His head repeatedly slammed against the window, his body feeling as if it were being shaken to pieces. A vein throbbed in his temple. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he demanded, "Do you even know how to drive?"
"Of course! It's so simple!" Charlie replied, shaking his head with delight. "Just two hours ago, White Crow showed me where the accelerator and the brake are."
Si Qi was speechless.
Not far away, investigators who had been alerted to Si Qi's movements over their radios pursued them in a long line. The dark muzzles of their guns were trained on the jeep, yet not a single one pulled the trigger.
Military trucks and assault vehicles converged at the end of the road, but they too dared not approach recklessly. Forcing a high-speed vehicle to stop would almost certainly cause a crash, and no one could guarantee that the suicidal Si Qi would survive it.
Charlie rammed the jeep into the narrow gap between two military trucks. Metal screeched against metal, sending up a shower of sparks. A phoenix-tail of fire flared behind the jeep before being extinguished by the rain.
The wail of sirens remained at a constant, cautious distance. The investigators' vehicles chased the jeep at a frantic pace, like hyenas circling a lion's kill—hesitant, yet unwilling to give up.
The roadblock at the entrance to the elevated highway had been removed, a clear sign that Lin Jue was intentionally letting them pass. The sound of the car slicing through the curtain of rain was like a rising tide, the silver glint of water blinding. Suddenly, a massive black shadow loomed on the road ahead.
A jet-black Lamborghini was speeding toward them, driving against traffic. Just a meter from the jeep, it swerved slightly, slamming its side into the jeep's body.
"Damn it!" Charlie cursed, and in the next second, he fell silent.
In this godfall zone, everyone save for the gods themselves was as mortal as any other human. With three hundred thousand people dying in car accidents every year, Charlie was about to become just another statistic.
A deafening roar was followed by a massive explosion. The intense heat from the high-speed friction instantly ignited the engines and fuel tanks, and in the blink of an eye, flames devoured both vehicles.
Si Qi looked up and saw a young man in a black hoodie push open the Lamborghini's door. He walked out of the inferno, his golden eyes reflecting the raging fire.
It was Li. Or more accurately, it was Li, inhabiting the body of Chang Xu.
Tongues of fire leaped up, clinging to the hem of his clothes and spreading across the black fabric like a sea of flame. Cloaked in fire, he seemed completely oblivious to the searing pain as he walked directly to the back of the jeep and tore open the warped door with his bare hands.
The shockwave from the impact had displaced Si Qi's ribs and ruptured his organs. Blood, mixed with fragments of his insides, spilled from his mouth and nose.
The searing pain that shot through his nerves quickly triggered a paralyzing numbness. He slumped against the seat, unable to move so much as a finger. He simply tilted his head back, looked at Li, and smiled. "Seeing you now, you don't much look like you've lost your divine power."
Li answered earnestly, "This body is in peak physical condition. It's more than capable of achieving this without any divine power."
Si Qi understood. He chuckled softly. "So, what is it you plan to do now? You don't exactly look like you're here to lend a hand."
"Half a month ago, you told me to be ready," Li said, raising a hand to Si Qi's throat. His fingers tightened, constricting with immense force. "To kill you today."
Si Qi's vision blackened from the lack of air, but he couldn't suppress the urge to laugh maniacally.
At last, he understood Qi Si's entire plan. It was obvious now that the memory of Qi Si's conversation with Li had never been shared with him. With such an imbalance of information, this had never been a fair game.
It was difficult for a god to die, but another god-level being could accomplish the task. And so, Li had been arranged to appear at this precise moment to terminate his now-valueless life, his mission complete.
With the immense pressure on his throat, he couldn't laugh aloud, only manage a rasping, gurgling sound as a seamless darkness flooded his entire field of vision.
The rain, which had been tapering off, was replaced by a fresh downpour. The zone of silenced strangeness, mystery, and grotesquerie expanded from Jiang City to the surrounding urban areas.
Li withdrew his hand. The flames now completely engulfed him, yet he seemed to feel no pain. He turned, ran toward the highway guardrail, and vaulted over it, plummeting into the churning river below as a streak of golden-red light.
The Weird Investigation Bureau's vehicles were stopped twenty meters away, their occupants watching, stunned to stone, as the sudden assassination unfolded. There had been no warning, no declaration. It had happened so fast that it was impossible to prevent.
Si Qi was dead. The dangerous individual who had caused such chaos in the world had died so simply, so anticlimactically, right before their eyes. And the face of his killer was not unfamiliar, lending the entire scene a surreal, dreamlike absurdity.
Only when the downpour finally extinguished the flames did the investigators remember to drive forward. The rear door of an assault vehicle opened, and Lin Jue stepped out, walking briskly toward the jeep, which was now nothing more than a skeletal frame of burnt steel.
The mangled bodies of Charlie and Si Qi were embedded in the wreckage, one in the front, one in the back. Above their corpses, two exquisitely carved cards materialized, wrapped in golden chains that signified their deactivation.
One card was predominantly black. On it, a figure in a long black robe stood atop a pile of skulls, holding a black-covered notebook. Blood flowed from the book's spine, pooling into a stream at its feet.
The other card was scarlet as blood. A bishop in red vestments stood upon an altar, his scarlet eyes downcast. With both hands, he held aloft a massive black cross, facing the dark, dense crowd below.
Despair Screenwriter and Scarlet High Priest. Both belonged to the same sequence as Silent Dictator.
Lin Jue reached out and took the two identity cards in his hand. He felt a sudden premonition and looked toward the seaport.
Regardless of whether the theories Chu Yining had shared with him became reality, he had a more pressing problem to solve: before Qi Si could even appear, the Ancestral God, possessing the body of White Crow, had already set foot on this land.
Li Yunyang got out of a car, limping on one leg. She half-hopped, half-walked to stand behind Lin Jue. Staring down at the corpses for a long moment, she murmured, "Senior, will Qi Si return to this world? And when he does... what will he do?"
Lin Jue turned to look at her. In a rare display of emotion, a solemn gravity brewed in the depths of his silver-gray eyes, magnified to clarity by the raindrops clinging to his glasses.
He remained silent for a long time before finally giving a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. "I don't know."