Chapter 260 - 225: Try Mine_2

Chapter 260: Chapter 225: Try Mine_2

The two men dragging the corpse were Hong Chuan’s subordinates. He usually didn’t bother with such trivial matters, so he hadn’t given it a second thought.

But now, hearing what his boss said, he whipped his head around. His panicked gaze landed on the three underlings in the surveillance room who were in charge of the watch. He lowered his voice and roared, "Where are they? Are Yang Shuting and Wang Heng back yet?"

"N-No, they’re not back..." one of the underlings replied, his face growing paler by the second. He glanced at the wall clock, and his voice cracked. "Brother Yang took Wang Heng out the south gate to drag the corpse. They’ve been gone for almost twenty minutes..."

One of the three men answered in a hurry.

"Something’s happened!"

Hong Chuan slapped his thigh hard, the fat on his face trembling. ’How could things be so coincidental? Li Xun and the others had just reported an armored car—a fat sheep—parked on the roadside, and the next thing I know, a fully armed "soldier" has snuck into the factory grounds. This is no coincidence. Our den has been raided!’

"...Zheng Lv, Tao He, you two take some men and find him. Kill him."

The cold, wet voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie spoke again. Though the tone remained mostly flat, the hair-raising sense of pressure it carried was almost tangible. After hearing the other two men affirm the order, the voice paused, then continued,

"Then go find Li Xun... I need his corpse. It still has its uses..."

The voice paused. The SQUELCHING, churning sound in the background stopped, replaced by a slick, dragging noise.

"Hong Chuan, you go too. If you can’t bring the body back, you can come report to me instead..."

"Don’t worry, Boss!"

Hong Chuan’s face went white. Even knowing his boss couldn’t see him, he frantically nodded at the empty air.

"I’ll go right now! I’ll skin that bastard and bring him back to you alive!"

The moment the call ended, the servile look on Hong Chuan’s face vanished, replaced by a desperate ferocity. He spun around and kicked the ass of the young underling who was still staring blankly.

"What are you gawking at?! You enjoying the show?!"

He continued, spittle flying everywhere,

"You! Keep your eyes glued to the security feeds! Report the instant you see that rat poke his head out! You two! Grab your weapons! You’re with me!"

"Brother Hong... but that guy has a rifle..." one of the underlings said hesitantly. He had pulled a police-issue handgun from a drawer, loaded the magazine, and chambered a round when he suddenly remembered the armed, shadowy figure from the surveillance footage. "If we just rush out there, won’t we be..."

"So what if he has a gun? I’ll be right at the front!" Hong Chuan roared, striding over to the wall and snatching up a heavy, thick-spined great-axe used for chopping bones.

The axe head gleamed with oil and was stained with dark red blood.

...

「Two minutes later, in the curtain of rain.」

The iron gate at the front of the factory was thrown open with a violent CLANG. Hong Chuan took the lead, followed by his two underlings and two burly men hastily summoned from the first-floor workshop. The group of five, all wearing raincoats, carried a motley assortment of weapons—a shotgun, a handgun, a hooked spear, and even a fire axe.

The moment they stepped past the threshold, the walkie-talkie clipped to Hong Chuan’s collar suddenly erupted with a burst of harsh static, followed by the frantic, high-pitched shouts of the underling left in the surveillance room:

"Brother Hong, he’s appeared again! He’s right on the loading dock at the main factory entrance!"

"What the fuck are you talking about!"

Hong Chuan stopped dead in his tracks and wiped the rain from his face, his bloodshot eyes scanning intently ahead.

This was the main loading area of the meat-packing plant, a wide, flat concrete platform several hundred square meters in size. Aside from a few metal pillars that normally supported a rain canopy, the platform was completely empty, with nowhere to hide. A dense sheet of rain hammered down on the concrete, kicking up a white mist.

"I’m on the loading dock right now, where the hell is anyone!"

He took a few more steps forward as he spoke, but still saw no one.

Not even a damn shadow.

"What? Th-That’s impossible!"

On the other end of the walkie-talkie, the surveillance kid’s voice shot up an octave in surprise, laced with a hint of utter bewilderment.

"Boss! I see you! I can see you on the screen!"

His voice, cracking and unsteady, came through intermittently, laced with terror.

"The shadowy figure with the gun... he’s standing right in front of you, looking right at you!"

A low clap of thunder boomed at that exact moment. Every hair on Hong Chuan’s body stood on end, and an unprecedented chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. He froze, staring intently at the empty space directly in front of him.

The rain fell normally in that spot, without distortion or obstruction. But he could clearly feel it—the prickling sensation on his back, like being stared down by a predator, was sending his nerves into a frenzy.

"You’re saying... he’s right in front of me?"

A flicker of panic crossed Hong Chuan’s eyes, but he tightened his grip on the axe and composed himself.

’We’ve seen Awakened Ones who can turn invisible before. We’ve even killed them. Nothing to be scared of...’

He repeated the words silently in his mind to calm his nerves, but his grip on the axe only tightened. The exposed skin all over his body slowly began to gleam with gray lines, and his fleshy skin took on a faint metallic sheen.

"Come on out, friend..."

Hong Chuan took a deep breath. His eyes darted around wildly, trying to catch the slightest disturbance, but he bluffed with a calm facade,

"Stop hiding... I see you!"

...

[720/720], a blue-purple border, and higher HP than Ye Qingniao.