Chapter 31 – You Almost Killed Jiang Yushi

“Huff… huff…” Jiang Yushi sprinted forward with everything she had, the heavy footsteps of the “Reporter” echoing right behind her. Ahead, students heading toward the school gates cast bewildered glances at her and Li Yi. Groups of girls suddenly covered their mouths, giggling and leaning in to whisper while pointing at her. “Oh my, isn’t that Jiang Yushi?”

“What kind of scene is she making? Is that guy behind her her boyfriend?”

“Probably. I just don’t know why they’re making such a fuss…”

Jiang Yushi shot them a glance, then looked at the green light in the distance. Gritting her teeth, she charged straight toward them.

“Ah!”

“Are you crazy?!”

“God, my bag fell on the ground!”

Caught completely off guard, the group of girls began shouting and cursing after Jiang Yushi forced her way through the middle of them.

However, right at that moment, one of the girls noticed the man in the suit was also charging directly at them.

“What do you think you’re doing!” A plain-looking girl with heavy makeup and a shrill voice had just steadied herself when the man in the suit grabbed her arm and tossed her into the nearby bushes. She screamed, struggling to crawl back up, only to feel her hand press into something slimy.

“AHHH!!! Dog poop! Someone help me clean this off! AHHH!!!”

That brief obstruction bought Jiang Yushi a little time. She crossed the road with only three or four seconds left on the green light and ducked into a small alley. Hearing the screams from behind, she couldn’t help but purse her lips. In the past, she never would have cared about petty gossip. Although she had done it just to facilitate her escape, Jiang Yushi felt a faint sense of satisfaction from the act…

“I’ve turned into a bad girl…” Jiang Yushi didn’t dare dwell on the thought. The time she had gained was limited; she had to take this chance to get away.

After Li Yi pushed through the girls, he saw that Jiang Yushi had already crossed the street. He immediately tried to follow, but the light had already turned red.

“Thump!”

A car couldn’t brake in time and knocked him to the ground.

The driver was stunned and hurriedly opened his door to jump out. “Hey, are you al-“

Before he could finish, he froze. Li Yi had climbed back up without a word. He looked down blankly at his slightly deformed knee, then gave it a violent twist.

“Crack!”

The driver was certain he heard the sound of bones being forced back together, yet the man in the suit didn’t show the slightest expression of pain. Furthermore, he immediately resumed running toward the other side of the road.

“…” The driver stood there dazed for a long while. It wasn’t until a horn honked behind him that he clutched his hair and muttered, “What the hell was that…”

Jiang Yushi was just an ordinary girl, after all. After sprinting for several hundred meters, her body began to grow uncontrollably heavy.

Yet, for some reason, her mind remained relatively calm. She had known from the moment she started running that she couldn’t outrun the Reporter on stamina alone. What she needed to do was find a safe place and hide.

Both sides of this alley were lined with low buildings, many walls, and flower beds. When she turned and saw that the Reporter hadn’t caught up yet, Jiang Yushi glanced left and right, then ducked behind the corner of a wall, pressing herself tight against the base.

Once the Reporter passed by, she could slip out behind him and run in the opposite direction. Maybe then she could find Su Lifeng, or reach a police station… Given her current state of mind, this was the best plan she could muster.

Only dozens of seconds later, Jiang Yushi heard a set of heavy footsteps again. Her heart constricted, and she instinctively held her breath.

The footsteps drew closer. Jiang Yushi could hear the frantic pounding of her own heart; she struggled to control her breathing, terrified the sound would give her away.

When the footsteps passed by less than two or three meters from her, she couldn’t help but close her eyes.

Fortunately, the footsteps didn’t stop…

“Is he gone?” Jiang Yushi felt a wave of relief. She slowly opened her eyes and nervously turned her head, wanting to see if the Reporter had moved further away.

However, the moment she peeked out, she let out a startled cry. “Ah!”

The Reporter’s face was right in front of hers!

This time, before she could retreat, the Reporter reached out instantly and lunged for her throat.

Jiang Yushi’s mind went completely blank… Was she going to die?

It was such a shame; she hadn’t even had the chance to personally tell Su Lifeng the good news about the laboratory…

“Vroom!”

The roar of an engine suddenly shattered the silence of the alleyway. As a spray of warm blood splattered across her face, Jiang Yushi snapped back to her senses.

The moment her consciousness returned, she saw the Reporter flying backward through the air. A motorcycle skidded to a halt right in front of her.

And there was that familiar figure-someone she never expected to see here.

He found her? He actually saved her…

Jiang Yushi looked down at her feet and let out another sharp gasp. The five fingers of the severed hand were still twitching…

“You should have screamed louder. I would have found you sooner,” Su Lifeng’s voice drifted from ahead, pulling her away from her terror of the severed limb.

Jiang Yushi let out a soft breath, her eyes involuntarily reddening. Suppressing the urge to cry, she said hurriedly, “We have to go, this is the city center… But it’s okay, everyone only saw me run in here. They don’t know you’re here too… As long as, as long as I don’t say anything…”

“He’s not dead yet,” Su Lifeng interrupted her.

Jiang Yushi froze. Not dead? But she had seen him get hit and sent flying with her own eyes!

“Go back the way I came and regroup with Cheng Xiaomei,” Su Lifeng said as he hopped off the motorcycle.

“I…” Jiang Yushi hesitated. She knew she couldn’t help here, but to just leave like this…

“And then wait for me,” Su Lifeng added.

These words clearly put Jiang Yushi at ease. She gave Su Lifeng a deep, lingering look before suddenly wrapping her arms around him from behind. “You must be careful.”

With that, Jiang Yushi immediately turned and ran. She couldn’t help but look back once, only to see that the Reporter, who had been thrown over ten meters away, was actually struggling back to his feet. Su Lifeng was drawing a gleaming scalpel and walking toward him.

Jiang Yushi covered her mouth, her nose stinging again as she turned her head and sprinted away. The further she ran, the more Su Lifeng could focus, right?

“Good… I was looking for… you anyway.” One of Li Yi’s arms had been crushed, and his shoulder had collapsed inward. The injury was gruesome enough to make anyone’s skin crawl just by looking at it, yet his expression remained entirely indifferent. Only his eyes showed interest as he looked at Su Lifeng, even gleaming slightly.

“Who are you? You have… a strange scent about you. You…”

Su Lifeng didn’t say a word. The moment Li Yi stood upright, Su Lifeng exploded with speed and power. He lunged forward in a few strides, slashed the scalpel across Li Yi’s face, and then delivered a heavy kick to his abdomen.

Before Li Yi could fall backward, Su Lifeng grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back, stabbing him twice more with brutal efficiency.

This was the first time Su Lifeng had experienced the sensation of a blade sinking into human flesh, but his heart was filled only with rage. He wanted to riddle this man with dozens of holes.

After kicking Li Yi away once more, Su Lifeng finally spoke. He looked down at Li Yi with cold, hateful eyes. “You almost killed Jiang Yushi.”

Despite such heavy trauma, Li Yi was still alive. Writhing Black Threads suddenly sprouted from his wounds, waving and wiggling as they began to knit his flesh back together.

Only the long gash across his face remained unhealed for the moment. He reached up to touch it and said, “I need… nourishment…”

Su Lifeng wasn’t surprised by the transformation. He simply stepped forward, prepared to give him a few more stabs.

From the moment he saw the Reporter, Su Lifeng knew who he was.

A Xenospecies. The last time he had seen this man was in the news report about the mountain fissure. Now that he had appeared here as a Xenospecies, it meant that the creatures that entered Earth after the mountain cracked had already begun to infiltrate human society. However, that location wasn’t particularly close to Ningnan. Why had a Xenospecies found its way here so quickly? And why was it looking for him specifically?

Though he had many questions, Su Lifeng’s immediate plan was to beat the creature half to death first.

Seeing Su Lifeng approach, Li Yi suddenly unhinged his jaw. A Black Thread, seemingly possessed of its own life, shot out with a whistle and lashed toward him.