Chapter 172: Blood Blossom

Rolling to shed the momentum from the fall, I tucked away the Black Eyeball and sprinted out of the villa with everything I had.

"Stop right there!" Zimao followed close behind. The lunatic didn't even bother breaking his fall, leaping straight down from the second-floor balcony with his Precept Blade in hand and blood covering his face.

Outside the villa, two teams of security guards had sealed off the exits. The surveillance cameras had definitely caught me on tape. Escaping now would be nearly impossible.

My legs pumped furiously while my mind raced. 'I killed Wang Erjun, and Lu Tianxiao was the only witness. But as luck would have it, Zimao stabbed her in the chest and silenced her perfectly. With that, I can pin Wang Erjun's death entirely on him.'

An idea struck me, and I screamed at the guards standing on alert outside. "Murder! Murder! Catch the lunatic behind me! He killed Wang Erjun!"

While I looked suspicious, I didn't have a single drop of blood on me. Zimao, on the other hand, looked exactly like a deranged psychopathic killer.

Besides, the current situation fit the narrative perfectly. I was fleeing for my life in a panic, and he was desperately trying to hunt me down.

The guards were stunned by the scene before them. They were just security guards, not detectives or armed police. The most advanced weapon in their arsenal was a temperamental stun baton, and even then, only the captain was qualified to carry it.

"What are you standing around for? He's a murderer!" I yelled, playing the villain who files a complaint first, and shoved my way into the thickest part of the crowd.

"Gao Jian! I'm going to kill you!" Zimao didn't even bother to deny it. With bloodshot eyes and blood on his lips, he looked every bit like a life-claiming vengeful ghost.

I didn't know what kind of trauma he had suffered to make him completely disregard the consequences. He charged straight into the crowd, plunging his blade into anyone who dared block his path.

That murderous, unstoppable aura terrified the security guards. By some unspoken agreement, they actually parted to open a path for him.

"Fuck!" Just as I was hoping to catch my breath and slip away in the chaos, Zimao closed the distance again.

He was incredibly fast. Running blindly in my panic, I ultimately sprinted back into the Jiang Family Villa.

"Get out of the way!" I kicked over a banquet table blocking my path, leaving the men and women still immersed in their cheerful chatter standing there dumbfounded.

"Who is that?"

"Where are the security guards?"

The crowd stood frozen until Zimao appeared, his face smeared with blood and his Precept Blade gripped tight. Only then did they scream and scatter.

Zimao and I ran in circles around the courtyard's rockery and tables. I ran for my life in the front, and he chased madly in the back, wildly swinging his Precept Blade.

"Gao Jian! You can't run away!"

A dozen seconds later, the distance between us had gradually shrunk. Just as he was about to catch me, the door to the inner house opened, and a woman of outstanding beauty and elegance stepped out wearing a one-shoulder evening gown.

The people inside had been having a very agreeable conversation and had drunk plenty of wine. None of them had noticed that the courtyard had devolved into absolute chaos over the last dozen seconds.

"The agreement is basically finalized. Let's hold the formal signing ceremony tomorrow. We must act quickly so we don't give Huang Boyuan time to react." Jiang Chen, looking like a perfect gentleman in his white suit, followed closely behind the woman.

"Don't worry, I've already prepared everything. As soon as the funds are in place, we can immediately..." The woman suddenly stopped mid-sentence. She looked up just in time to see Zimao and me playing cat and mouse in the courtyard.

"Gao Jian?"

Zimao slashed down with his blade, and I rolled forward, dodging it by a hair's breadth.

When I scrambled up from beneath a table, I saw the woman was still standing in the doorway. Panic seized me. "Huang Lan! Get inside quickly!"

Even though Huang Lan, dressed in her expensive gown, hadn't yet realized what was happening, the moment she saw the crazed Zimao with veins bulging all over his face, she immediately sensed the danger. She stepped backward to retreat, but fate was against her; an accident occurred at the worst possible moment.

She was wearing eight-centimeter stiletto heels and moving backward in a panic. Not paying attention, she stepped on the hem of her dress. Her leg buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.

Zimao also noticed this beautiful woman who had suddenly appeared. His bloodshot, scarlet eyes locked onto Huang Lan. Crimson blood trailed down his chin to his neck, then dripped onto his clothes, blooming into large, dark stains.

Meeting that gaze, Huang Lan was absolutely terrified. She held her breath, unable to believe that such a horrifying living person existed in this world.

"Zimao! Don't you want to avenge your brother anymore?" I threw a wine bottle at Zimao's head, but he easily dodged it.

Hearing my voice, he finally shifted his gaze away from Huang Lan and continued chasing me.

Thanks to Huang Lan's brief distraction, I successfully pulled away from him, sprinting out of the villa and running straight toward the security guards.

"Don't come over here!"

"Stay away!"

The guards waved their hands and yelled, looking even more terrified than I was. But in this situation, it was every man for himself. I didn't care about their protests. I wove through the crowd, occasionally using a natural human shield to put more distance between us.

The scene was utter chaos. Several people had been chopped down by Zimao, blood flowing like rivers in a thoroughly wretched display.

It wasn't until five or six minutes later that a gunshot shattered the peace of the Southern Suburbs. The police from the station nearest to the Southern Suburbs Villa District had finally arrived.

"What took you so long? I heard the sirens ages ago!" The moment the police appeared, I immediately dashed toward them.

"Bang!" Another gunshot rang out.

"Drop your weapons! Hands behind your head! Squat down right there!" Two police officers stood with their guns drawn, shouting at Zimao and me.

At the sound of the gunshot, my soul nearly fled my body in terror. It wasn't until I patted myself down that I realized the police hadn't been shooting at me.

"Don't shoot the wrong guy! He's the murderer!" I wanted nothing more than to honestly squat on the ground, but Zimao gave me absolutely no chance. He completely ignored the officers' warnings, his speed only increasing instead.

"He's a murderer! Shoot him!"

My voice pitched slightly out of tune in the night wind. Seeing the number of injured rising, the two officers grabbed their radios and requested permission to shoot to kill.

The moment their superiors heard the incident was happening in the Jiang Family Villa Area, they immediately approved it, instructing them to protect the guests on the scene at all costs.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

Three consecutive gunshots deafened the ears. I stealthily shot a glance backward—Zimao was still bursting with energy. He didn't look like he'd been hit at all!

"They missed?"

"Bang!" At the fourth gunshot, I felt a burst of heat across my scalp. That bullet had actually grazed right past my hair!

"Fuck! Do you even know how to shoot?!"

The hands of both officers were trembling as they held their guns. Local station police rarely had any real experience firing their weapons; carrying guns was meant more as a deterrent to criminals.

On top of that, Zimao wasn't a normal person. He moved with incredible agility and seemed to have taken some sort of physical stimulant. His extreme speed vastly increased the difficulty of getting a clean shot.

With no other options, I could only run toward where the two officers were standing, hoping to close the distance and make it easier for them to shoot.

My intentions were good, but to my surprise, seeing this play out only made their hands shake even worse.

This time, I finally understood. Their hands weren't shaking from the recoil—they were trembling from pure nerves.

"Shoot him!"

Two more gunshots rang out one after another, but I didn't hear the sound of anyone hitting the ground behind me. A chill ran down my spine. I didn't dare turn around—I knew Zimao was already right behind me!

The dark muzzles of the guns were right in front of me, but I had nowhere else to retreat. I charged straight at the officers.

"Stop, stop right there! Stop!" one of the younger officers shouted in a panic as he caught sight of Zimao's terrifying, inhuman expression.

But neither Zimao nor I was going to stop at a time like this. We couldn't afford to pause for even a single step. Before life and death were decided, whoever stopped first would lose absolutely everything.

My mind sank into my spirit platform, pushing my Chasing Eye to its absolute limit. I could even see the sweat slowly seeping from the young officer's thumb.

'To break this deadlock, I have to kill Zimao. Not only will I escape the danger, but I can also pin everything on him.' Even in the final moments, my mind still operated with mechanical precision. This was the absolute calmness I had tempered during my Underworld Live Show live broadcast missions.

'He must die. I have to kill him before he can open his mouth!' I locked my eyes onto the young officer's gun-holding hand, memorizing the position of every single finger without the slightest error.

"Stop!"

I ignored the officer's shout and blew past his side at top speed. Then, I did something completely unexpected to everyone.

Whirling around, I relied on the positions burned into my memory and accurately grabbed the service weapon right in the officer's hand!

In that instant, time seemed to slow down. A blood-red hue surfaced in my eyes. Like a Blood Fox spotting its prey, I revealed a smile brimming with killing intent.

"Goodbye, Zimao!"

"Bang!" The gunshot rang out, and a dazzling blood blossom dyed the night sky red.