Chapter 51 – Rainy Night, Overpass, Maybach

After leaving the classroom, Lin Xi glanced up at the sky.

“Ah. Looks like it might rain.”

“Spring weather is just like your face, Shi Yu. It changes at the drop of a hat.”

“Do you want to die?” Shi Yu asked softly, smiling.

Students were coming and going, so she had to maintain her gentle pretty-girl image.

“I just love telling the truth.” Lin Xi rummaged through her backpack.

Sure enough, she’d forgotten to bring an umbrella.

Shi Yu said, “Don’t worry. There’s a car picking us up on the way there, and a car taking us home afterward.”

“Wow,” Lin Xi praised. “Zheng Mo really is a young lady of means. She’s got everything arranged for us.”

The two of them arrived outside the school. Lin Xi spotted the black luxury car at a glance and felt a little excited.

“Shi Yu, I’ve never ridden in a luxury car before.”

Shi Yu had ridden in one a few times. This wasn’t her first visit to Zheng Mo’s home.

As they approached, someone got out from the driver’s seat.

Though his hair was completely white, it was slicked neatly back, and his suit was immaculate. He was an exceptionally elegant old gentleman.

Lin Xi thought, Is he the young lady’s butler?

Lin Xi had guessed right. The old gentleman knew Shi Yu. He looked at Lin Xi and introduced himself.

“You must be our young lady’s friend, Miss Lin Xi?”

“Greetings. I am the butler of the Zheng Estate, Sebas.”

Then he greeted Shi Yu as well. “Miss Shi, hello.”

Lin Xi felt a little overwhelmed by the honor. “Hello, Mr. Sebas. I’m Lin Xi-“

Lin Xi was very stiff and formal. Shi Yu, on the other hand, was perfectly at ease. “Hello, Sebas.”

“Ladies, please get in.” Sebas opened the car door for them.

Lin Xi climbed into the luxury car and felt… comfortable. She wasn’t sure how to describe it.

Maybe it was psychological. In any case, she felt like sitting in this car was much more comfortable than sitting in an ordinary one!

Expensive things were expensive for a reason.

Lin Xi looked left and right, full of curiosity.

They didn’t set off right away. They still had to wait for Lu Yi.

A few minutes later, Lu Yi arrived. Lin Xi waved, motioning for Lu Yi to sit on her side.

Time to snuggle up with her Neko teammate and gain some lifespan.

Lu Yi got into the car and sat down beside Lin Xi, the two of them pressed together.

“Are the three young ladies seated comfortably?” Sebas asked gently.

“Okay,” Shi Yu said.

The car started up, smooth as silk and unbelievably steady.

Part of it was the car itself, but the other part was that this old butler’s driving skills were truly impressive.

Compared to riding Shi Yu’s motorcycle, sitting in this car was the difference between hell and heaven. Lin Xi couldn’t help praising him.

“Mr. Sebas, your driving is amazing.”

“Hohoho,” Sebas laughed. “Miss Lin Xi may laugh at me, but when I was young, I was known as the God of Speed of Mount Akina1.”

Lin Xi believed him. Sebas wasn’t bragging.

“Haaah-” Lu Yi let out a soft, drowsy yawn. “Lin Xi, can I borrow your shoulder for a bit?”

Lin Xi answered with heroic righteousness, “Does that even need asking? We’re peerless teammates with an invincible bond and a friendship as deep as the sea!”

Shi Yu cut in, “Lu Yi, remember: guard against fire, theft, and perverts.”

Maybe she was too sleepy, or maybe the car was simply too comfortable. Lu Yi gave a little “Mm…” and still leaned against Lin Xi.

Lin Xi immediately had the urge to pat Lu Yi on the head.

Of course, she wasn’t having any improper thoughts. It was just that Lu Yi felt like a lazy little cat, and Lin Xi really wanted to give her a good ruffle.

However, with Shi Yu there, Lin Xi had no choice but to give up.

Pitter-patter-

“It’s starting to rain…” Lin Xi looked through the window at the gray, gloomy sky.

The sky grew darker and darker, and the rain came down harder and harder.

Raindrops struck the car window like machine-gun bullets, rat-a-tat-tatting against the glass.

The car remained perfectly steady, making Lin Xi admire Sebas’s driving even more.

Gradually, the rain blurred the car windows, and blurred the world outside as well.

Lin Xi suddenly felt as if the world outside was being battered by a storm, while she stood alone in a tiny boat.

It was not a good feeling.

Fortunately, Lu Yi was leaning against her, sleeping peacefully, and Shi Yu was there too, turning her head to look out the car window.

Shi Yu murmured to herself, “I really do hate rainy days…”

“I don’t like rainy days either,” Lin Xi said, joining in.

Weather like this made her want to talk to someone, even if that someone was Shi Yu.

“Like you two young ladies, I also detest rainy days,” Sebas cut in. “Especially abnormal rainy days like this.”

“Abnormal???” Lin Xi only thought the rain was heavy, but Shi Yu instantly understood what Sebas meant. “Don’t tell me… it’s appeared again?”

Shi Yu leaned forward and looked out through the windshield.

The wipers kept sweeping back and forth, clearing away wave after wave of rainwater.

Before they realized it, the car had already driven onto an elevated bridge.

And yet there wasn’t a single other vehicle around.

Lin Xi noticed something was wrong too.

“What’s going on?”

“Why is it only us? Where is everyone? Where are all the other cars?”

Shi Yu finally confirmed it. “Looks like we’re unlucky. We’ve barged into its Dark Domain.”

Lin Xi panicked a little. “It? Dark Domain? What the hell is that?”

Shi Yu said, “The Super-Grade Dark Realm Disaster, Kun2, appears in torrential rain like this.”

Lin Xi was alarmed. “A Super-Grade Disaster?!”

Super-Grade was already the highest classification among Dark Realm Disasters.

“Where is it?”

Shi Yu pointed at the sky. “Up there. No one has ever seen the full form of that colossal thing. Fortunately, it only drifts in the sky. If it ever fell, Z City would be reduced to ashes.”

Outside, everything was a murky gray, and Lin Xi couldn’t see a thing.

“Wait, does that mean the gray isn’t the sky? It’s the color of its body?!”

“As expected of a Kun!”

“A Kun is so huge, no single pot could stew it!”

“Huh???” Lu Yi woke up in a daze. “Stew? What are we stewing? Is it time to eat?”

Lin Xi: “…”

Shi Yu: “…”

Shi Yu explained the situation to Lu Yi, then told Lin Xi what a “Dark Domain” was.

“Super-Grade Disasters and some Special-Grade Disasters can unfold a unique domain of their own within normal space-time.”

“These abnormal spaces opened up by Dark Realm Disasters are called Dark Domains.”

“Without realizing it, we entered the domain unfolded by Kun.”

“Holy shit!” Lin Xi’s scalp went numb. “The domain of a Super-Grade Disaster? Aren’t we basically dead?”

Shi Yu said, “The missing persons cases that happen on rainy spring nights in Z City every year are most likely people who entered Kun’s Dark Domain and died here.”

“But there have also been lucky ones who somehow stumbled upon the exit to the Dark Domain and escaped safely.”

“Then we’re still dead,” Lin Xi said. “I’ve always had terrible luck. I’ve never won a single scratch-off ticket.”

“Neither have I,” Shi Yu said. She and Lin Xi looked at Lu Yi. Lu Yi shrugged. “Same here.”

Three unlucky ghosts??? No wonder they had been unlucky enough to enter Kun’s Dark Domain…

“If luck won’t cut it, strength will,” Shi Yu said. “Our corporate culture at ZERO is: my fate is mine, not heaven’s!”

“So…” Lin Xi asked, “what do we do?”

Shi Yu smiled faintly. “We fight our way out, of course.”

“Huh? Us? Taking down Super Disaster Kun?”

“Of course not,” Shi Yu said. “Kun is floating in the sky. How are you supposed to attack it? Our enemies are-“

A strange roar suddenly came from outside the car, drowning out Shi Yu’s voice.

Whatever they were, Lin Xi only knew one thing: they had arrived. They were right outside the car.

The Maybach was speeding through the downpour, but the elevated bridge seemed to have no end…

Footnote:

• God of Speed of Mount Akina(秋名山车神): A reference to Mount Akina from street-racing culture, especially associated with skilled downhill drivers.

1. Kun(鲲): A mythical colossal creature often depicted as an enormous fish or bird; the line about a pot not being big enough to stew it is a playful reference to its legendary size.