Chapter 82 – Keep Away

“We can’t stay in the house any longer!”

Lu Yuan made a quick decision.

This kind of self-built rural mud house couldn’t even withstand a punch from him, let alone a “laser cannon” like the one Zhou Ling had in his hand.

In a battle of this magnitude, the house was as fragile as paper and offered no protection whatsoever.

If he continued to hide here, he might just end up dead from a stray energy beam.

Lu Yuan grabbed the curtain from the window in front of him and walked to the door. He extended his Mental Power through the thin wooden door to quickly check the situation in the corridor outside.

The crows that had originally crowded the corridor seemed to have thinned out significantly, likely joining the battlefield downstairs.

He couldn’t perceive the situation on the ground floor but could vaguely sense bursts of intense light flashing intermittently.

Lu Yuan quickly twisted the curtain into a makeshift rope and yanked open the door.

Crows that had been waiting outside rushed in.

Lu Yuan swung the curtain wildly, fending off the crows.

Once in the corridor, he wasted no time and sprinted towards the nearest staircase.

As he ran, he glanced down hurriedly.

The area outside the house had almost entirely turned into a battlefield.

Led by Zhou Ling, the Yellow Bear members had surrounded a large shadowy mass of crows, each holding a gun-like device, continuously firing at the shadow.

Lu Yuan watched wide-eyed as orange-yellow bursts of light shot from the gun barrels, each hit on the shadow exploding into dazzling sparks.

“It’s like a sci-fi movie!”

Lu Yuan was both shocked and amazed.

When he reached the third floor, he couldn’t resist pausing again to look at the battlefield.

This time, he focused on the Crow Deity sect being attacked.

Though Zhou Ling and his group were fierce in their assault, the battlefield still belonged to the Crow Deity sect.

Crows were flying everywhere, both in the sky and on the ground.

Lu Yuan had never seen so many crows gathered in one place in his life.

He even noticed crows converging from all directions in the night sky.

These crows were attacking Zhou Ling and his group with ten times the ferocity they had shown towards Lu Yuan, as if trying to disrupt their offensive rhythm.

At the same time, they were constantly replenishing the number of crows in the black aura at the center, providing continuous cover for the figure within.

“Ah—”

Suddenly, Lu Yuan heard a piercing scream from the black aura.

All the crows screamed in unison.

Then, a tentacle-like black aura shot out from the shadow, striking a Yellow Bear member on the periphery.

The member didn’t even have time to scream before being flung like a rag doll, crashing into a large section of the courtyard wall behind him with a burst of sparks.

Leading the attack, Zhou Ling suddenly discarded his gun. His body seemed to light up with several conduit-like lines, and then he launched himself towards the crow-shadow with incredible speed.

Lu Yuan’s eyes couldn’t track Zhou Ling’s movement; he only saw Zhou Ling’s figure vanish and a large shallow crater appear where he had been standing.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Lu Yuan ducked back into the stairwell, his heart racing.

He closed his eyes and quickly entered his Consciousness Space.

[Imaginary Enemy] activated!

A deathly silent hillside, and a building.

Lu Yuan stood in the chaotic courtyard.

In front of him was an eerie figure completely shrouded in black aura.

No crows, no floating.

Lu Yuan swallowed slowly, then gritted his teeth and charged at the figure with determination.

There was no sound of cutting through the air.

A tentacle-like black aura suddenly appeared in front of Lu Yuan.

His pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively entered a state of [Absolute Concentration], and then… nothing else.

“Whoosh—whoosh—”

Lu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes, gasping for breath, his face still showing signs of lingering fear.

In just a few seconds, he had gained a rough understanding of the strength of the Crow Deity sect member being attacked by Zhou Ling and his group.

At least, killing him would be as easy as squashing an ant.

Lu Yuan decided not to focus on the battle below anymore.

Lu Yuan ran straight to the second floor, then leaped out of a side window, clearing the wall and landing steadily on the dirt outside.

This time, no one was there to grab his ankle; only a few clueless crows tried to block his way.

Upon landing, Lu Yuan didn’t pause for a moment. Without a second thought, he sprinted down the Dirt Slope.

Staying there was too dangerous.

Setting aside the possibility of getting caught in the crossfire, what if Zhou Ling and his team were defeated and killed by that powerful Crow Deity sect member?

He’d be next in line for trouble.

Lu Yuan raced along the rural dirt road he had come from, the cool night wind whipping past his cheeks, tiny insects constantly hitting his face.

He pushed his 12 agility points to the limit.

As he ran, Lu Yuan suddenly remembered that the Yellow Bear members had mentioned there were still a few people alive in the basement of the house. And then there was Wang Zhichao, who had saved his dad and the others once before.

These people were still in the house, and they were just ordinary folks. If they got caught in the battle…

The thought flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind but quickly vanished.

He wouldn’t hesitate to do something righteous if he had the strength to spare.

But right now, he was struggling to keep himself alive. How could he have the luxury to worry about others?

He could only hope that Zhou Ling had already made arrangements for those people.

After running for about two or three minutes, Lu Yuan finally slowed down and gradually came to a stop.

By now, he was quite far from the battle.

It looked to be about two kilometers away.

The house on the distant Dirt Slope had become a vague silhouette, and the sounds of the battle were fading into the distance.

Lu Yuan steadied his breathing as he pulled out his mobile phone.

At this moment, his phone showed full signal strength.

He thought about calling Ge Wenjun but realized it would be pointless, so he decided against it.

Instead, he opened the camera app on his phone and zoomed in as close as possible. The image was still blurry.

He decided to just watch from this distance for now.

If things started to look bad, he would run immediately and then call Ge Wenjun.

“Boom—bang—”

Explosions of firelight continued to burst from the Dirt Slope, sounding like distant fireworks.

Lu Yuan tapped the record button on his screen and watched as the explosions continued for about a minute or two before gradually subsiding.

“Is the battle over?”

Lu Yuan blinked, just as he was thinking this, suddenly—

“Boom!”

The screen of his phone was instantly filled with a burst of orange-red.

Lu Yuan quickly looked up and saw a small red Mushroom Cloud rising from the distant Dirt Slope, rapidly engulfing the house.