"We're here!" Rusty Sister pointed excitedly out the car window like a little child.
With a sharp *crack*, a hole punched right through the side glass. An iron palm thrust through the opening, then quietly pulled back, pretending nothing had happened.
What was supposed to be a little over an hour's drive had turned into nearly two and a half hours across the desert before the traffic ahead finally began to grind to a halt. Vehicles then fanned out to both sides, each parking deeper into the wasteland.
The fireworks display hadn't started yet. A glance at a watch showed there were still a dozen minutes or so before the scheduled time.
A faint moonlight hung in the sky overhead.
Several abandoned lighthouse-like structures loomed in the distance, their towering silhouettes crowned with roaring fires that cast a dim glow over the open space ahead.
Wen Jifei steered the wheel, turning the car to the right as he eased off the gas.
He didn't bring it to a full stop, though. The car crept slowly forward, weaving its way past already parked vehicles and the throngs of people who had gotten out to walk.
Perhaps because a festive celebration was such a rare treat in the City of Iniquity, where daily life was normally so oppressive, quite a crowd had turned out tonight. Not just Huaxians, but plenty of foreigners too.
A single glance took in at least several thousand people, with a steady stream of vehicles still arriving along the road.
"Aren't we getting out? Let's get out too, can we?" Rusty Sister nudged Han Qingyu's arm beside her.
Han Qingyu looked down at his suit and white shirt. "The wind's blowing out there, kicking up sand. Step out and these clothes get filthy, and stay out a bit longer and they'll reek of gunpowder smoke."
He seemed to genuinely love this suit, treasuring it almost too much.
Wu Xu and He Tangtang felt the same. This was the first time any of them had worn suits.
Doctor Zhe had indeed mentioned that these clothes were hard to wash—she had laundered one back home, and the crisp silhouette had completely sagged. Rusty Sister turned to look at Zhe Qiuhong.
Han Qingyu reached over, pressing her head to shove her back so the side of her helmet rested against the hole in the window.
Soft chuckles rippled through the car.
"If it gets dirty or ruined, he can just buy another one. It's not like he's short on cash," Zhe Qiuhong remarked with a smile.
*He's mostly just worried about feeling awkward, isn't he? What an odd guy. He's done so many brazen, thick-skinned things, yet he's afraid of this,* she thought to herself.
Right then—*bang!*
A burst of fireworks soared into the night sky ahead, exploding at its peak. Brilliant sparks scattered down like water from a fountain.
That single boom served as the opening curtain.
Immediately after, a rolling cascade of pops and cracks thundered without pause.
The entire sky bloomed in vibrant, dazzling colors like a shimmering curtain of light, a river of silver stars. Gasps and cheers rose from the crowd as nearly everyone tilted their heads back, following the trajectory of the fireworks as they walked forward.
With people packing together, driving was growing difficult. Hunched low inside the car, Rusty Sister had to crane her neck at an awkward angle to watch the display.
"I want to get out and watch, Qingzi, please?" She turned around and gave Han Qingyu's arm a shake, pleading again. "Can't we get out and watch?"
Han Qingyu hesitated.
"You aren't really that embarrassed, are you? You guys aren't the only ones out there wearing suits," Zhe Qiuhong chimed in, gesturing toward the crowd outside, looking rather eager herself.
"That's not it," Han Qingyu denied. He thought for a second and added, "It's mainly because of the things in the car. Why don't you guys head down? Plague Chicken and I can stay behind."
He indicated the wooden cases lying across the floorboards.
"Excuses," Rusty Sister retorted, leaning down. She hauled up the two wooden cases containing the large and small blue-light column swords, stacked them right on top, and patted them firmly. "There, that solves it. As long as we don't wander too far, you'll feel it the moment anyone touches them."
She wasn't so easily fooled. Besides, what was the point of coming together if two people stayed behind? It was New Year's! Rusty Sister loved lively crowds, and to her, enjoying the excitement meant experiencing it together.
"Guess we'll pull over here, then?" Wen Jifei glanced at Han Qingyu. Seeing no objection, he gave in to Rusty Sister's wishes and found a spot to park.
By this point, there were hardly any other cars driving ahead.
The doors slid open with a *swish*. Everyone stepped out, and the doors clicked shut behind them.
The seven of them walked along the flank of the crowd.
"See?" Han Qingyu turned around before long, speaking helplessly to Rusty Sister.
Just as expected, eyes all around quickly turned toward them in droves.
"Whoa, they came too."
"Not surprising, they're Huaxian. Hey, look at the suits!"
"Yeah, turns out wearing a suit with a blade on your back can actually look that sharp."
"Who are they?!"
"You don't recognize them?! That's A Jing and his bunch from the Azure Dragon Gang. The guy who fought six matches straight in the latter half of last year and cracked the top ten right before the year ended."
"Oh, right, that's him!"
"Yeah, people are saying he might hit fifth or sixth this year. That would make him a true big shot, especially since he's still so young."
"Some say he's actually The King..."
"Who knows?!"
After a flurry of whispered chatter, the crowd's attention gradually drifted back to the fireworks lighting up the night sky. Han Qingyu felt a quiet sense of relief. Keeping pace beside Rusty Sister, he continued forward, constantly tracking his sensory link to the blue-light column swords.
In truth, he enjoyed watching fireworks too. Remote Fenglong'ao had never had displays this magnificent, though the New Year firecrackers back home were always a lively affair. When he was a boy, he and his neighborhood pals would blast cow patties, sending battered aluminum pots flying high into the air.
Amid the crowd, Jenna gave Lynne a hard tug. "Come on. Staring won't get him into your bed; it'll just make you miserable when you get back. Even if he's wearing a suit, you still won't drag him down the aisle..."
Lynne stole another glance before turning away. "As if I even want to look! I despise him."
"Oh, really?" Jenna asked with a sly grin.
"Really!"
"But some people say he's The King!"
"...Bullshit! What I hate most is him parading around under The King's name to con people and trick women. Let's go. We're staying far away from scum like that."
Lynne ground her teeth, holding back the sudden waves of bitterness and ache, and grabbed Jenna's arm to pull her briskly ahead.
In the night sky before them, brilliant fireworks lit up one after another like two rows of streetlamps stretching far into the distance, drawing the stream of people along with them.
The wind blew past, heavy with the scent of gunpowder.
"Wait, that's odd. Why does it smell like the sea? Are we that close to the ocean?" In the crowd behind Han Qingyu and the others, Uncle Shiliang suddenly stopped, muttering to himself.
"The sea?! The sea?! Uncle Shiliang, do you mean the ocean?!" Lubi Azha grew instantly excited, eagerly standing on tiptoe to peer ahead.
He had been born and raised in the City of Iniquity. Since childhood he had heard tales of an ocean beyond the wasteland, but he had never laid eyes on it...
Though the City of Iniquity had no fixed boundary markers, an invisible cordon enclosed it for the vast majority of its residents. Stepping beyond that line meant courting death.
Hunter teams from Azure, Snow Lotus, and various other factions were waiting outside, ready to slaughter them or haul them off for their own ends.
Aside from those born here like Lubi Azha, most of the city's inhabitants had arrived by sea years ago, fleeing their crimes, yet none of them had seen the waters of their arrival since.
Xu Shiliang stood on tiptoe without realizing it. That was the path he had traveled and never looked back upon for over twenty years.
They weren't far from the sea... which meant that, guided by the fireworks, they had unknowingly breached that invisible cordon.
Yet no panic swept through the crowd.
Some hadn't realized it. Those who did took one look around at the thousands of people accompanying them and relaxed. With a force of this size, even if hunting squads were out there, would they dare show themselves? Coming out would be suicide!
Han Qingyu and his companions were different; the concept of a cordon meant little to them. Having just drifted across the ocean for so long the previous year, the thought of seeing the sea held no novelty, so they paid it no mind.
"It's the sea! I see the ocean!" people at the very front shouted ecstatically.
The fireworks streaking across the sky cast a pale gleam over the dark water below. At the sight of even that faint silhouette, the crowd erupted.
Amid the wild cheering...
*Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...* Sounds echoed out that resembled fireworks, yet were distinctly not.
The noise came from the loose sand beneath their feet.
Han Qingyu felt the telltale chain of vibrations as source energy apparatuses jolted awake from dormancy. But the enemy followed up so blindingly fast that there was no time to think.
"Look out!" Han Qingyu only managed that single cry before twisting midair, drawing his blade, and slashing straight down.
The sand burst open, spraying into the air.
Blades tore upward from beneath the earth, lunging straight for them.
Chapter 489