Chapter 750 - 656: Some Face Death, Some Seek Life

Chapter 750: Chapter 656: Some Face Death, Some Seek Life

Afterwards, communication was completely cut off, and this time it was truly silent.

Yet Xiaojiu still maintained his highest level of kowtowing, his forehead pressed tightly against the cold, clammy ground, like a petrified thin-skinned skeleton.

One second, two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds...

All his strength had been drained away with this final call.

He slowly lifted his head, the abnormal flush on his face rapidly fading at a speed visible to the naked eye, replaced by a deeper, more silent pallor than before.

He used the last ounce of his strength to tightly clutch the communicator.

Crunch!

The precision instrument was forcibly crushed by his withered hand, tiny metal and crystal fragments slipping silently between his powerless fingers, blending into the sewage and sludge beneath, leaving no trace.

Having done all this, he again choked out his final blessings into the empty air ahead:

"Xiaojiu thanks Young Master, wishes Young Master good fortune... peace....."

The words of blessing dissipated in the foul air.

After speaking, he struggled and shakily stood up.

The soul-rending, burning pain surged back more violently than ever before, threatening to shred his last bit of consciousness completely.

This time, there was no kind-hearted vagrant to stop his pain.

He knew his time had truly come.

He staggered forward, like a puppet rusted all over, stepping through the filthy flowing water towards the deeper, darker parts of the sewer.

He wanted to leave here, to use the last bit of strength in this body, to get as far as possible away from the place where the Sheepskin Scroll was hidden.

He wanted to discard his useless shell in a place where no one could find it, as far from the Young Master’s important things as possible.

The stumbling, limping footsteps echoed in the empty, deep pipes, growing fainter and more distant.

Step by step.

Xiaojiu’s figure was finally swallowed by the bottomless darkness of the sewer.

Presumably... it will go as he wished.

To die in a corner where no one can find him, to silently rot and dissolve, eventually becoming an insignificant part of this sewer, guarding his loyalty until death.

Soon, the sewer returned to its quietness.

Only the slow flow of sewage remained, making a rushing sound like sobbing.

And, somewhere hiding in the rusty pipes or garbage heaps, the rats emitted rustling noises, with the occasional sharp "squeak".

They seemed to be whispering, discussing the uninvited guest who sometimes crawled, sometimes stood upright, and the secrets he took and left behind... all not to be exposed to daylight.

Elsewhere in the city, in the underground sewer of an abandoned chemical plant.

Li Shang and Chang Erbing were curled up, like two frightened rats, almost merging with the dense shadow within the pipes.

They had racked their brains and decided that the labyrinthine sewers were the safest place, most suitable for hiding people.

Indeed, the pervasive stench was, surprisingly, more comforting than fresh air.

However, they weren’t just hiding; they also had an "escape plan".

Li Shang and Chang Erbing found a suitable spot in the underground tunnel and threw a cellphone hard onto the damp ground.

The strength was just right, the phone screen cracked with fine lines, but it didn’t stop working entirely, with a faint glow like the last breath of a dying firefly.

Then, the two efficiently made menacing gashes on each other, letting the blood drip around the phone and along a path extending from it.

In just a few minutes, the scene was disguised to appear as if someone had been attacked and had accidentally dropped the phone.

On the ground, a scattering of bloodstains stretched forward, trailing for several meters, as if someone injured had fled desperately, trying to escape deeper into the tunnel’s darkness.

If one were to follow the blood trail deeper inside, they would find another law enforcement device amidst the muddy sewage.

Half hidden in the dimness, its screen also broken, faintly flickering cold light, like a silent witness voicing its owner’s terror and unended escape.

In reality, in the opposite direction, not too far away.

After doing all this, the two quickly retreated, but did not follow the fabricated blood trail; instead, they silently slid into darkness on the other side.

A distance not too far, not too near, about forty meters.

This was a carefully calculated distance, enough to vaguely observe the "first crime scene," yet dark and hidden enough not to be easily detected.

They found a recessed pit, silted with a layer of murky sewage.

The two gritted their teeth and lay down, letting the icy sewage almost envelop their bodies, with only their eyes and noses barely above the surface.

Li Shang and Chang Erbing quietly stayed in the sewage, observing the "crime scene" from the shadows.

As a detective, faking and returning to a "crime scene" was simple, basic practice.

The true test of patience was the silent waiting that followed.

Time seemed to lose its rhythm in the pitch-black underground tunnels.

Only cold, only darkness, only the all-pervading stench, only the slow, heavy pulsing of one’s heart in the chest.

Chang Erbing felt his body slowly losing sensation, his thoughts beginning to freeze and blur.