Chapter 39: Bizarre Ways to Die

Click!

Li Chenqiu’s fist stopped just a dozen centimeters from Xu Yuan’s face, unable to advance or retreat. The opponent’s hand had clamped onto his wrist like a pair of iron pincers.

"You really are cautious!" Xu Yuan flashed a triumphant smile.

Li Chenqiu’s expression remained unchanged. Just as he was about to transform his fist into a stream of water to pierce through Xu Yuan’s brow, the man did something that left him completely bewildered.

Xu Yuan flipped his palm, which was locked onto Li Chenqiu’s, and interlaced their fingers together. He shouted aloud, "Shared Fate, activate!"

In that instant, Li Chenqiu felt as if a subtle, ethereal connection had formed between him and Xu Yuan, as if a thread were tethering them together.

After doing this, Xu Yuan immediately pulled back and retreated, stopping several dozen meters away.

Li Chenqiu looked at him, confused. "Why did you stop fighting?"

Xu Yuan shook his head with a mysterious air. "Before fighting me, didn't you bother to ask around about my ability?"

"If I had asked so thoroughly, the fight wouldn't be any fun," Li Chenqiu replied in a low voice.

To win this battle, he had devised several ways to succeed. But now, without even having to reveal his identity as a Awakened or his "Extreme Water" ability, the opponent had suddenly stopped. What kind of situation was this?

"Heh heh, for the next hour, you belong to me. My ability is called 'Shared Fate.' Simply put, whatever damage you take, I take, and whatever damage I take, you take. This effect lasts for one hour. In other words, if you want to stay alive, you have to listen to me."

A glimmer of smugness flashed in Xu Yuan’s eyes. He hadn't originally intended to use his ability, but upon seeing Li Chenqiu’s strength, he had suddenly changed his mind.

First and second-tier Awakened were disposable; their only roles were to slaughter and hunt humans, which was trivial. But third-tier ones were different—they had missions to fulfill. Now that the two third-tier subordinates under his command were dead, the vacancy had to be filled. And this Destiny-bearer before him, who could briefly contend with a fourth-tier, was undoubtedly the best choice to fill that gap.

Hearing this, Li Chenqiu finally understood what the man was up to.

Awakened could recover from injuries instantly, but Destiny-bearers could not. Clearly, Xu Yuan had mistaken him for a Destiny-bearer and intended to use self-mutilation as a threat.

Thinking of this, Li Chenqiu smiled wordlessly. "So, if I blow my own head off right now, you’ll die too, won't you?"

"Yes, but do you dare? Behave now, and I’ll grant you your freedom in an hour. Otherwise, if you end up crippled or dead, don't blame me for not giving you a chance," Xu Yuan said coldly.

Li Chenqiu’s lips twitched. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. Then, in front of Xu Yuan, he pressed his fingertip against his own brow. "I’ll give you a chance to live. Tell me everything you know, and I might let you survive."

"What did you say?" Xu Yuan acted as if he had heard the world's biggest joke. He also placed his hand over his own heart. "I’ll give you a chance as well. Follow my orders later, and I’ll let you live."

"I’m different from you. I won't die even if I pierce through my own brow. Are you sure you want to gamble your life on this?" Li Chenqiu advised in a well-meaning tone.

"I’m betting that you don't dare. If you have the guts, then let’s die together. There's no point in just talking big here..."

*Pfft!*

Before Xu Yuan could finish his sentence, a stream of water shot from Li Chenqiu’s fingertip, piercing his own brow.

At the same time, a small, bloody hole appeared on Xu Yuan’s forehead.

The difference was that the hole in Li Chenqiu’s brow healed quickly, while Xu Yuan collapsed tragically, his eyes fixed on Li Chenqiu as if asking *why*.

Li Chenqiu walked over to Xu Yuan and said helplessly, "I told you I wouldn't die if I pierced my brow. Why didn't you believe me?"

"Pfft!" Xu Yuan turned red and spat out a mouthful of blood before his head tilted to the side, and he died completely.

Seeing this absurd scene, Li Chenqiu couldn't help but laugh out loud. He crouched down and fished a satellite phone from Xu Yuan’s body. After fumbling with it for a moment, he dialed the number for the Special Ability Bureau.

"Hello, this is the Special Ability Bureau of City 11," a pleasant female voice replied.

"Yes, yes... I need to reach your..." Li Chenqiu spoke urgently, his voice filled with panic.

"Please don't be agitated. Have you encountered Awakened? Please tell me your exact location, and we will send people to clear them out immediately."

"I... I encountered them. I encountered the Disaster Water—no, I mean, I saw it. I saw the Disaster Water and a large group of Awakened. You have to come quickly, you have to come!" Li Chenqiu stammered.

"What!" The voice on the other end became tense immediately. "Are you sure you saw the 096 Disaster Water?"

"It’s not just the Disaster Water; there are many, many Awakened! They are all gathered at the summit of North Huang Mountain!"

"Alright, please calm down. Can you roughly describe..."

*Static!*

Before the woman could finish, the satellite phone emitted a sound like a short circuit, and the line went dead.

At the same time, the deep night sky seemed to be stained with blood. The moon and stars were all tinged with a scarlet hue, as if a canvas had been draped over the entire summit of North Huang Mountain.

However, from outside the mountain, the summit looked just as it always did—peaceful and serene.

Li Chenqiu’s eyes were profound. He dropped the satellite phone to the ground and crushed it into pieces with his heel.

Before he could take his next step, a deafening, chaotic sound like a tsunami rose and fell in the distance. Although Li Chenqiu couldn't hear exactly what they were shouting, he could clearly feel the overwhelming terror radiating from it.

Li Chenqiu knew the bonfire party had begun its slaughter; it took the hysterical screams of thousands of people to create such a commotion.

"So soon?" Li Chenqiu’s brows furrowed slightly. The situation was escalating faster than he had anticipated.

According to his initial plan, since the television news mentioned a few days ago that the Security Administration would be coming to handle the Disaster Water, their people might have already arrived in City 11. Since they were sent to clear high-risk disasters, they must be powerful. If he informed the Special Ability Bureau of the Disaster Water’s location, the Security Administration might be able to tie down the experts from the Underworld and the New World, giving him a chance to fish in troubled waters.

But now, the slaughter had begun too quickly. Perhaps before the Security Administration could arrive, those two factions would have already taken their artifacts and left. That was something Li Chenqiu did not want to see.

"I hope there aren't ten thousand of them."

Li Chenqiu prayed silently. If the number was under ten thousand, these Awakened would surely send people to capture more humans. He might be able to use that to stall for time and, incidentally, craft an image of righteousness for himself to shape his public persona.

*Crunch!*

A sound of a branch snapping came from the shadows in the distance.

Li Chenqiu turned to look and saw Li Qingxia standing timidly behind a tree.

"Little... Little Qiu... did you do all this?" Li Qingxia looked at the corpses littering the ground. Her voice was intermittent and weak, as if she had left her vocal cords at home.

"Second Brother?" Li Chenqiu frowned slightly. "Why are you here?"

Li Qingxia swallowed, steadied herself against the tree, and stepped out bit by bit. "I... I heard the commotion over here and got a bit worried... so I came over."

Li Chenqiu’s gaze turned cold. "But at your speed, you shouldn't have arrived so quickly!"