Chapter 33: Underwear in the Water

The setting sun cast a chaotic, fractured light through the gaps in the canopy. Li Chenqiu, carrying Li Qingxia on his back, wove through the dense mountain forest, darting left and right, leaping and skulking like an elusive phantom. The Awakened pursuers behind him were driven to the brink of frustration.

"Is that kid part monkey? How did he vanish again?"
"Even if he can run, where can he go? The path down the mountain isn't in that direction."

Xu Yuan looked toward the direction where Li Chenqiu had disappeared and commanded the two people beside him, "You two, take your teams and form a C-shaped perimeter to close in on him. Remember, our goal isn't to kill the brat; just make sure he doesn't get off the mountain. Once Lord Horse-Face activates the boundary, we'll pull out."

"Understood." The man and woman exchanged a glance before dashing off in opposite directions.

Deep in the woods, Li Chenqiu’s heavy, thunderous gasps echoed, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Xiao Qiu, why are you running this way?" Li Qingxia asked, utterly bewildered.

Li Chenqiu’s gaze was profound; his tone remained steady. "There’s no surveillance here. Even if I reveal my Awakened abilities, it won't matter. Second brother, use your nose—see where the air is more humid and point the way for me."

"You don't mean to fight that whole group, do you?" Li Qingxia’s voice was filled with shock. "How could you possibly win? You don't even know what their abilities are. How can you fight?"

A corner of Li Chenqiu’s mouth curled up, a flash of scarlet light glinting in his eyes. "Wealth is found in peril; surviving a desperate situation is the only way to make life interesting. If I always sought safety, how dull my path would be!"

At this moment, there wasn't a trace of fear in Li Chenqiu’s eyes. The madness suppressed in the deepest parts of his soul was fully unleashed. He was rational most of the time, but rationality was also a form of suppression. Since some things could no longer be solved with logic, he decided to become a madman.

After hearing this, Li Qingxia hesitated for a moment before saying, "Ten o’clock."

Li Chenqiu nodded, skidded to a halt, and said to Li Qingxia, "Run toward two o'clock."

"Why?" Li Qingxia scratched his head.

"You’re a liability for me to carry. Run that way. I’ll draw their attention. With your own abilities, you should have no problem staying alive. Good luck."

Li Chenqiu waved him off and bolted in the opposite direction, leaving Li Qingxia standing there in a daze.

Once he parted ways with Li Qingxia, Li Chenqiu returned to his normal pace. Every time he passed a large tree, he would kick it over, creating a massive commotion that acted like a beacon in the forest, drawing everyone’s gaze.

After running for ten minutes, the sky began to dim as a deep, oceanic blue replaced the twilight. Li Chenqiu finally found the stream he had been longing for. It was narrow—less than two meters wide and less than a meter deep—but for Li Chenqiu, that was enough.

His "Extreme Water" ability, in layman's terms, was the wanton manipulation of water, but it required a source. Though he could turn his own body into water, it was taxing; simply put, overuse left him dizzy and lightheaded.

Li Chenqiu tossed his phone into the bushes and leaped into the stream. The moment he hit the water, he vanished completely, leaving only his clothes draped crookedly against the riverbed.

A few minutes later, Xu Yuan and dozens of others rushed to the stream.

"Brother Xu, there are clothes in the water!" one man shouted, pointing at the stream.

Xu Yuan’s gaze turned sharp as a blade. He moved, his five fingers extending like an eagle's talons to fish out...

"Underwear?" Xu Yuan stared blankly at the soggy pair in his hand, a look of disgust crossing his face before he tossed it back into the water. The group behind him jumped in, pulling out various garments: jackets, pants, socks, shoes...

"These are Li Chenqiu’s clothes. What is he trying to do? Even if he wanted to escape downstream, there's no need to strip down to his underwear, is there?"

Xu Yuan looked puzzled, glancing back and forth between the stream and the dark mountain path ahead, unable to make up his mind.

"Boss, let's keep chasing. We’ve surrounded the perimeter; there’s no way they could sneak out. If anything happens, we have walkie-talkies and signal flares. Anyone who runs into him can call for backup."

Xu Yuan nodded in agreement. "True. But leave a few men here. I have a hunch that Li Chenqiu might come back for his underwear."

Hidden in the water, Li Chenqiu was speechless. What kind of logic was that? But, Xu Yuan wasn't entirely wrong—he did intend to put his underwear back on later.

After setting up his men, Xu Yuan left, heading deeper into the woods and leaving three people behind to watch the clothes.

"Watching clothes? The man is gone. Who would come back for clothes?" A young man walked to the stream bank, bored, and tossed stones into the water.

*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!*

At that instant, three droplets of water shot out from the surface. Before the three men could react, the droplets pierced through their foreheads with a soft *thwip*.

They were dead.

Once the three had fallen, a surge of water carrying the discarded clothes erupted from the stream, instantly coalescing into the form of Li Chenqiu. He gave his wet clothes a light shake, and beads of water drifted off, leaving him as dry and refreshed as before.

He walked over to a corpse, stripped off the security guard uniform, put it on, and used his ability to mimic the guard's appearance.

"Should be close enough!"

Li Chenqiu patted his face, and with a thought, he manipulated the stream to drag the three corpses into the water, grinding them into a bloody mist with a few dull thuds.

...

In the dark forest, beams of yellow light swung through the shadows. Over fifty Awakened were carefully searching for traces of Li Chenqiu. Leading them was the man from downstairs, Zhang Tong, a top-tier Third-Forbidden Awakened.

"Ahhh! Help me!!!"

A terrified cry for help suddenly pierced the silent forest, rapidly approaching Zhang Tong’s position.

"Alert!" Zhang Tong raised his arm. The Awakened behind him immediately stopped, watching the direction of the sound with tension.

Soon, a panicked figure dashed out from the woods. Everyone immediately trained their flashlights on the person, revealing his wretched state. His clothes were shredded and full of holes, his body covered in fresh, crimson blood—he looked just like a terrifying zombie from a movie!

"This... isn't this Xue Dayong?"