Chapter 276: The Final Performance

"Bang!"

As if struck in the back by a heavy hammer, he instantly collapsed to the floor.

"Sorry about that. My aim was off." Qiu Ren wiped the disguise from his face and grinned fiercely at the convenience store. "Enemies meet on a narrow road. I never expected to run into you in a place like this."

The police officer at the very front also wiped the makeup from his face. He turned and fired another shot into the fallen cop. "Senior Brother, you have to silence them when you kill. Only then can you find peace of mind."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up the moment I heard that voice. "Lu Xing!"

As early as five years ago, I suspected they had infiltrated the police force, using the internal communication systems to carry out targeted crimes.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Gunfire rang out continuously outside the convenience store. Lu Xing and Qiu Ren seemed to know this was a perfect opportunity to kill me. One slowly closed the distance, waiting for an opening, while the other provided covering fire.

The glass of the shelves and counters inside the shop completely shattered. Shards flew everywhere, mixed with the miserable screams of the police officer Bai Qi had bitten.

The girl named Jiajia curled up behind me. Gunshots were actually much louder than most people imagined; within ten meters, the noise would leave your eardrums aching.

"Stay here and don't move. They aren't the police." I let go of the girl and shoved her into the corner behind the counter. Taking off my raincoat and gripping it in my hand, I locked my eyes on a police pistol dropped near the convenience store entrance. 'With the help of Chasing Eye, Lu Xing and Qiu Ren can't even compare to my shooting accuracy, but the problem is I need to get my hands on that gun first.'

The Hanyang Police Station 6th Team had a total of four officers. Lu Xing and Qiu Ren had pulled a bait-and-switch to impersonate two of them, and another had just been shot dead right outside the door. Now, the only real police officer left was the one Bai Qi had bitten.

The moment the shooting started, he tried to run for the back room. But the man's luck was simply terrible; first he was bitten by Bai Qi, and then Lu Xing shot him in the thigh. Blood was spilling everywhere, and even crawling proved incredibly difficult for him.

Bullets flew past him. Lu Xing and Qiu Ren were getting closer with their guns drawn. Watching everything unfold outside, the officer couldn't understand why his comrades had suddenly turned against each other, nor did he understand what those peeling folds on his colleagues' faces were. Inside the shop hid a wanted murderer, while outside were crazed cops executing their own. The man was on the verge of a breakdown, relying purely on his survival instincts to hug the wall and drag himself toward safety.

"Save me..."

I heard the officer's pleas for help clearly. Looking at that face collapsed in the pool of blood, I saw he was very young—he should have been full of vitality, but his features were now twisted in pain and terror.

Looking at him, it was as if I saw my own self struggling in the dark mire five years ago.

"Save me, somebody save me."

That helpless voice pierced straight through my memories. It had been the same kind of night, with the same torrential rain pouring down.

"Just my rotten luck." I turned my head to confirm the location of the convenience store's light switch, took a deep breath, wrapped a bottle of liquor inside my raincoat, and hurled it toward my front left.

The moment the dark raincoat was exposed, two gunshots rang out at the entrance. In the exact instant the shots fired, I pushed off the ground and lunged forward, sprinting past the aisle to kill the convenience store's lights.

I rolled across the floor and hid in the back room, letting my eyes slowly adjust to the dark.

I peeked out; the convenience store had been plunged into pitch blackness. Lu Xing stopped at the doorway, not daring to rush in recklessly. With his gun pointed upward, he hesitated.

"Fate Ghost!" I shouted in a low voice, seizing the opportunity to summon it.

Black hair drilled out from the shadows, slithering across the freezing floor like plant vines before wrapping around the police officer's body.

Feeling something strange crawling over his body, the police officer subconsciously began to struggle. I cursed under my breath and ordered the Fate Ghost to use all of its black hair to drag him into the back room.

"Shut up and stop moving." I clamped a hand over his mouth and hauled him the rest of the way into the room, letting the Fate Ghost's black hair blanket every inch of the convenience store's floor.

'If Lu Xing dares to step inside, I'll make sure he never leaves!'

My idea was good, but Lu Xing was incredibly cunning. Even with the complete upper hand, he remained cautious.

Standing at the entrance, he pulled out a piece of Talisman Paper and flicked it into the shop. The talisman imprisoned a Little Ghost, but it only managed to fly half a meter inside before it was shredded to pieces by the black hair.

A miserable wail echoed through the convenience store. Lu Xing lowered his gun and looked toward the counter. "Gao Jian, I know you're hiding in there. It seems you still haven't given up; you still want to fight me for the Eight Characters Divine Fiends."

"The Divine Fiends are destined by Heaven! You tried to intervene artificially. I am doing this to carry out the Way on behalf of Heaven!" With my back pressed against the door, I spoke to stall for time, secretly ordering the Fate Ghost to creep toward the entrance.

"I've waited many years for this day. No one can stop me, not even you." Facing the dark, empty convenience store, Lu Xing holstered his police pistol. He didn't dare enter; he wasn't willing to take the risk right now.

This was very likely going to be the final showdown between us. We both knew this perfectly well. Unless pushed to the absolute limit, neither of us would make a move we weren't certain about.

"Senior Brother, let's go!"

"Go where? That little brat took one of my arms! I have to get my revenge!" Qiu Ren sounded disgruntled, shaking his prosthetic limb.

"There will be plenty of chances for revenge. Tonight is going to be very long." Lu Xing patted Qiu Ren's shoulder and stepped back out into the heavy rain. "This city is destined to change because of us. Whether you are dead or alive, I will make all of you tremble!"

With the sirens blaring, the two got back into the taxi and brazenly drove off in the police cruiser.

"Are they gone?" The Mother-Child Gu in the Black Wooden Box calmed down. I looked at the devastation scattered across the floor, my emotions complicated.

Retracting the Fate Ghost, I flipped the convenience store's lights back on. "Call 120 immediately! That shot hit the artery in his thigh. Ordinary bandages won't be enough to stop the bleeding."

I found a thin rope and tied a tourniquet above the officer's wound, then tossed his phone to the terrified mother. The hour had already passed; I had missed my chance to call Blind Liu.

'The place Lu Xing and Qiu Ren are heading isn't the Anxin Hotel. I should be able to wait until the next hour.' I picked up my raincoat and put it back on. I glanced back at the mother and daughter still huddled on the floor. Even though I felt a surge of anger, reason told me they were victims, too. They were the most innocent people in this entire mess.

"Call the police," I said. "Just tell them you spotted Gao Jian and Lu Xing, and warn them that the killers have already infiltrated the police force, so they need to be extra careful."

I left with Bai Qi. It wasn't until I reached the taxi that I realized Lu Xing had shot out both of the rear tires.

I stood completely alone in the torrential rain pounding down on the city. The dead-of-night streets echoed with the sound of the downpour. There wasn't a single car driving on the road; only the flickering streetlights stood on either side.

I couldn't stay around the convenience store for long. I walked far down the road and took shelter by a shop near an intersection, hoping a car might happen to pass by.

"It's already twelve o'clock." I dug out my streaming gear from under my raincoat. Holding the Underworld Live Show Phone in my hand, I felt resistant to broadcasting for the very first time.

I was currently wanted across the entire city. The arrest warrant had been broadcast throughout the whole province, with a starting bounty of 100,000. That kind of temptation was hard for anyone to resist.

If I started a stream now, with all sorts of people lurking in the chat, someone would definitely expose my location to the police. If that happened, my situation would become even more dangerous.

To be honest, I wasn't afraid of being caught by the police. I simply couldn't accept letting Lu Xing get away like this. The serial murders from five years ago had continued to this day; the innocent victims deserved justice.

'What Tie Ningxiang said on the phone made some sense: there is no absolute fairness in this world, which is why the law itself represents fairness.'

'I agree with the first half. As for the second half... I think that if this city can still live to see the dawn, there should be more people who will finally understand everything I've done.'

I opened the Underworld Live Show's camera function and plugged in the Portable Encoding Stick.

"Acquiring image..."

"Connecting to live chat..."

"Data stable. Start live broadcast?"

"Yes."

"Welcome Teletubbies Died of Murder to the stream. Welcome Master Tieling Biao to the stream. Welcome..."

Once the video feed stabilized, my figure appeared clearly on the phone's screen.

Watching the comments scrolling past one after another, and seeing the constantly rising viewer count, the corners of my mouth subconsciously curled up. Seven life-and-death broadcasts... there were many things you could only understand after experiencing them yourself.

Before I knew it, the resistance in my heart had dissipated. Standing in front of the camera, I decided to treat tonight as my final performance!

"Welcome, everyone, to the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room. Before we start today's stream, I have to tell you—this might be my very last broadcast."