The Only Way

After a brief exchange, the two brothers in misfortune had managed to get a rough grasp of the situation and accepted each other's brand-new personas. The lazy older brother, who spent every day doing nothing but picking his toes, slacking off, and scrolling through short videos, really was an airborne elite who had crawled out of the mud pits of the Mid-Continent, a cold-blooded special forces veteran. Meanwhile, the younger brother, who even in his dreams was grinding out certifications to outcompete everyone else, had quietly and suddenly turned into an esper who could talk to telephones. Looking at it this way, for the tiny Dalu Auto Repair Shop to assemble such a pair of hidden talents, it truly was a place of blessed feng shui. "That's her?" Lu Feng made his final ammunition checks, confirming. "Yeah, at least one of the ringleaders." Ji Jue nodded. "Be careful. These bastards aren't human anymore." "I know." Lu Feng nodded as he loaded shotgun shells with unhurried deliberate care. Even if he hadn't known at the start, he certainly knew after killing a few of them. "I've seen plenty of these freaks in the Mid-Continent. No matter what kind of messed-up junk they are, one shell from a coastal defense gun blows them away clean and simple all the same." Lu Feng racked the slide one last time, then suddenly asked, "Scared?" "Terrified," Ji Jue replied without a second thought, countering, "Does being scared help?" "If you're scared, head out first in a bit and wait for me in the car. In case I mess up, you'll still have a chance to run." Lu Feng glanced back at him. "These freaks have power and influence. If we don't wipe them out, neither of us will ever have a day of peace in Yacheng for the rest of our lives. You get that, right?" Ji Jue didn't answer. He suddenly felt that ever since this morning—no, ever since yesterday afternoon, when that old man who had turned into a monster charged him on that tricycle—his life had perhaps been thoroughly altered. It was just that he had only now realized it. Crimson eyes, hunger, mutation, beasts, blood, entrails, and those things that were neither human nor ghost... Once they were marked, there would never be peace! If he didn't clear away these stumbling blocks, he would have no future! But since there was an opportunity... In that brief dawning comprehension, Ji Jue looked up at Lu Feng. Through their masks, what surfaced in both pairs of eyes was an identical, mirror-like calmness and clarity: —Every last one of them had to die! *Wait, that's not right...* Ji Jue's lips parted slightly, hesitating. For a moment, a voice had been ringing in his mind, though whether it was "conscience" or "weakness," he didn't know. It stirred, whispering to him: *You can't do this, Ji Jue. Don't be impulsive. Calm down. Just killing them won't solve the problem...* *At the very least, you have to set a fire!* Machines could speak and tell him the truth, so corpses might also have things to tell others. What about souls? Did they really exist? Would they become ghosts? Would their spirits linger? To be safe, kill every single one of them, drain their spiritus with the watch, burn the corpses to cinders, grind their bones to dust and scatter the ashes, wash them down the sewer, set a blaze to torch the scene, and after clearing the crowd, use gas to blow this damn nightclub sky-high. Finally, wipe all the surveillance footage along their route, find a place with Brother Feng to grab a drink, stir up some minor commotion, and ideally alter the timestamp under the cameras in front of a police station or some gang's turf to establish an alibi. Only then could they go home, sleep soundly, and actually have a tomorrow. Yet no matter which path or choice he took, there was only one prerequisite: Those damn things—every single one of them—had to die! "Fourteen people inside, four in the small side room. One by the door, one in the car, and another in the rear cargo bed," Ji Jue said. "Out of those, the one to the left of the doorway, that woman, the guy next to her, and the one in the car are all monsters. Hitting the heart is useless, and even with their heads blown off, they might still thrash around. Can you handle it?" "A bit troublesome, but I can manage." Behind his mask, Lu Feng grinned, like a beast relegated to a house pet honing its claws and fangs once more. He reached into his bag to rummage through his gear and instructed, "In a moment, cut the power for me." "When?" Ji Jue reached out, pressing his hand against an electrical outlet down beside him. Lu Feng clamped a somewhat aged pair of night-vision goggles over his face, carefully adjusting the straps. Once secured, he began to count down: "Five, four, three, two..." Out of the silence, the soft numbers echoed through the dim stairwell and hallway, drifting into the distance along with the wind tinged with the stench of blood. A crimson light glowed on the indicator, like an awakening beast. And just like that, the final countdown reached its end. "—One!" *Snap!* At that moment, blinding electric sparks erupted from the outlet. It was as if, in an instant, all of his soul had been cast into flames and ignited! Pushed with unprecedented effort, Ji Jue's spiritus surged, coursing through his fingertips without turning back. Meanwhile, his consciousness seemed to detach from his physical body, following the electrical circuits into an unimaginably vast husk, suffusing everything. As if swelling in a heartbeat into an all-controlling titan, Ji Jue could feel the electric current galloping along countless cables, coursing through the massive building like blood through veins. The sound systems roared, the neon lights flickered, massive ventilation fans turned silently in the dark, countless cables in the server rooms intertwined, and data surged like an ocean. Yet in a flash, it all vanished. Because as Ji Jue clenched his fingers into a fist, the titan's heartbeat came to an abrupt halt! *Boom!* The power equipment perched on the rooftop let out a deafening roar as thick plumes of smoke billowed upward. The backup generators crashed all at once. Every trace of music and dancing ground to a sudden halt, and in that fleeting instant of stillness, the light faded. Darkness surged like a tide, swallowing everything! In the silence, Ji Jue slumped to the floor, gasping violently for air. Thick nosebleeds spread beneath his face mask. He couldn't see anything clearly anymore. All he could sense was that, in the faint breeze, the silhouette beside him had vanished without a trace. Amid the clamor gradually spreading through the parking garage, a piercing scream suddenly erupted. "What happened?!" Zhu Hong was furious. Subconsciously, she looked toward the man who had been offering an ingratiating smile beside her, only to see him frozen in the gloom, looking entirely bewildered. Someone tried to pull out a phone and switch on the flashlight, but the device had barely been lifted when the thud of a heavy object crashing to the ground echoed out. The only thing illuminated was the figure who had just been holding a crate beside him... Now, with the crate dropped, the man had collapsed to the floor, crimson blood spraying incessantly from his neck. The dying man convulsed violently. He reached out, trying to grab his companion's pant leg. Yet the only thing visible beyond the light was a figure emerging from the shadows, like a true monster. A combat knife swept across the throat of the phone's owner. In an instant, the pale white glow was painted red with blood. The phone tumbled down, submerged beneath the expanding pool of blood. "Watch out, something's wrong!" Those quick to react began retreating swiftly, while others shouted and shrieked, "Turn on the lights! Turn on the damn lights!" Those feeling along the walls in the dark couldn't locate the light switches. All one managed to brush against was a face concealed beneath a pair of night-vision goggles. And then, a sharp *crack*. A neck twisted around. In the sudden turmoil, the entire underground garage turned into a boiling pot of oil. The pungent stench of blood mingled with sewage and the rotten stench of drainage ditches, thoroughly nauseating. It was so vivid. Ji Jue could smell it: the scent of death. Now, he finally understood how Lu Feng had slaughtered so many people earlier all on his own. Lu Feng had never spoken about his specific experiences in the military, only remarking casually over drinks or small talk: *It was all dirty work that went against conscience, the kind of rotten jobs that gave you nightmares.* That was what the nameless airborne battalion had taught him; that was the role he had played while walking the Mid-Continent. His job was slaughter. Even with just a few seconds of pitch darkness and fleeting chaos, it was enough for him to butcher all six people along his path of advance, without ever breaking stride, without even firing a single shot. *Damn, that's fucking badass!* Ji Jue couldn't help but nod in admiration. *Brother Feng and me, we're an absolute killing machine!* "The car! The car!" Amid the pandemonium, someone shrieked, "Turn on the headlights!" The stunned driver finally seemed to snap out of it, frantically cranking the ignition. Blinding light at last erupted from the headlights, instantly illuminating that blood-drenched silhouette. Standing right in front of the headlights, the figure turned back. The insect-like night-vision goggles stared at the pale face behind the windshield, a pistol raised, and the trigger was pulled. A mist of blood burst behind the shattered windshield. Then, the muzzle swung around, the trigger pulled again and again toward the people desperately fleeing for the exit. "Get the guns! Kill him!" The man standing guard beside Zhu Hong roared. From the blind spot beside the truck, someone lunged forward instantly. Lu Feng casually swung his gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out, instantly embedding itself in the enemy's chest. Yet the opponent's body began swelling frantically. Like an inflating balloon, mutated flesh grew rapidly over bone. In an instant, he had restored himself, and his speed accelerated even further. Waiting for him next was the dark, gaping muzzle of a shotgun. Behind his mask, Lu Feng remained expressionless as he pulled the trigger. The man went flying backward, the flesh on his chest exploding to reveal shattered bones and entrails. A foul stench billowed out, yet he began rapidly regenerating once more. He opened his mouth and vomited. Bizarre tentacles extended from his throat, coiling tightly around the shotgun barrel and pulling hard. Lu Feng squeezed the trigger repeatedly, blasting the man on the ground until he was reduced to a mangled heap of meat. Only then did he sense a chill at his back. Right behind him, from the shadows of the truck bed, someone was crawling out on all fours like a rabid dog, moving with incredible speed. Springing between the walls and the ceiling, it seized the crucial moment, baring razor-sharp canine teeth to bite down on his neck. *Bang!* A muffled blast suddenly erupted, and a blossom of blood burst across that twisted face as the left eye exploded under the bullet's impact. Then, in that fleeting instant, its right eye detonated as well. In less than the snap of a finger, three bullets slammed into it in near-simultaneous succession. The final shot blew off the monster's skull cap, sending blood splattering everywhere! The deformed corpse plummeted from midair. *A sniper? No...* Through the sudden jolt of cold dread, Lu Feng suppressed the urge to roll and seek cover, snapping his head up toward the origin of the bullets. What he saw was a figure he hadn't anticipated at all. Ji Jue! From the stairwell exit, concealed in the shadows of the corner, the young man had raised his weapon without anyone noticing. And without the slightest hesitation, he pulled the trigger!