I Am Your Eyes!

The man trusted the blade in his hand more than anything else in the world. His expression was calm yet radiant with vitality—a natural-born killer. It seemed as though whether firearms or gunpowder, magic or curses, science or rituals stood in his path, all would be cleaved apart by his blade. Fang Xiaoxia stared in a daze, like an ordinary mortal seeing Superman in his outside-worn briefs descending from the sky while carrying an airliner for the first time. "Actually, from the moment anyone sets foot into the occult world, it's predetermined that there's a fifty percent chance they'll die an unnatural death," Bai Zhou said, misinterpreting her daze as lingering nerves and offering comfort. His comfort did nothing of the sort; it only made Fang Xiaoxia's heart sink further. She couldn't help thinking: *Is your world a bit too lethal? Does it pull off a Normandy Landing every day or seize Verdun every night...?* "What about the other half?" Fang Xiaoxia pressed. "The other half?" Remembering everything he had experienced lately, Bai Zhou blinked. Without hesitation, he answered: "The other half—they get to experience adventures and glory that no one else ever could!" He paused briefly, then added: "Honestly, the probability of dying is a hundred and ten percent. Everyone dies eventually, right? It's just a matter of sooner or later... So all we need to do is enjoy this world before triggering the ending." "Why a hundred and ten percent instead of a hundred?" Fang Xiaoxia couldn't wrap her head around it. "In your world, it's a hundred percent, sure." Bai Zhou thought for a moment and elaborated, "Back where I used to be, there were too many taboos. That extra ten percent is because people were always breaking taboos and getting burned to death ahead of time, and even after dying, they'd have to be refined into ashes on top of that." "B-Burned to death...?" Fang Xiaoxia was flabbergasted. She wondered if these ghostly Extraordinaries were facing the same plight as witches hunted by the Holy See. But then she caught a blind spot: "What do you mean, 'where you used to be'?" "Yeah. In the past." Bai Zhou nodded, seemingly unwilling to expand on the topic. This piqued Fang Xiaoxia's curiosity. She suddenly realized Bai Zhou must come from a mysterious place—one that might be completely different from the world she knew. At that moment, Fang Xiaoxia let her imagination run wild regarding Bai Zhou's origin. Perhaps he was an elven holy son from Gensokyo where fairies gathered; or a natural supreme born in the depths of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, raised by an ancient guardian spirit; or a child of destiny carrying a secret heritage, tutored by a cabal of reclusive villains... Her head, always brimming with fantastical notions, filled with a sudden surge of solemn respect for Bai Zhou. "What about now?" Watching Bai Zhou drive with one hand while holding a saber in the other, the girl's eyes widened in wild speculation. "Does that still happen now?" "It's much better now," the seasoned fugitive on the run replied. "I'm a special case. Nothing is taboo for me." With a wanted warrant hanging over his head, how could anything be taboo? No matter how law-abiding he was, nobody would call him a good person anyway... Only Bai Zhou knew how terribly wronged he was! *Boom!* As they spoke, the Maserati flew forward another stretch. The rain grew heavier, shifting from a drizzle to a torrential downpour that drummed frantically against the windows, washing away the foul black blood. The night deepened. The streetlights flickered with utterly negligible glow, and the car's headlights couldn't pierce the swaying deluge to illuminate what lay ahead. Wind and rain surged through the open window, brushing against their faces. The blade outside seemed to escort them, yet as Bai Zhou sped through the rainy night, an inexplicable unease settled in his heart—as if monsters were concealed within the deep dark, hidden from his sight. "I feel like I'm lost..." Bai Zhou noticed the subtle anomaly, sounding as if muttering to himself. "The darkness is getting heavier. I can't see beyond three meters. It's one thing for an ordinary person, but for me too?" "Is someone exerting an influence in secret?" Of course, he wasn't talking to himself, nor was he speaking to the uneasy Fang Xiaoxia beside him. He was asking Miss Crow, who stood on the hood of the car. Untouched by wind or rain, Miss Crow remained motionless on the front of the car hurtling at three hundred and eighty kilometers per hour, encased in an invisible barrier within three feet of her person. "As a Destined, the instinct of life and death is truly the most vital 'instinct' to awaken..." Crow nodded, as if reflecting. "Just like now, your intuition has saved you once again." "You're right. In the darkness, something is already closing in on you." "They're right ahead, having constructed defensive barricades, waiting for your car to slam headlong into them—waiting like the farmer for a hare to dash itself against a tree." "A Titled Extraordinary simply used 'Spirit' to blanket the entire elevated expressway, blinding your perception so you couldn't see them." "No wonder!" Bai Zhou's heart tightened abruptly. "I knew it felt like the expressway was getting darker and quieter..." Body, Mind, Qi, Essence, Intent, Spirit—that final "Spirit" was the very reason Bai Zhou considered Titled Extraordinaries to be gods in the eyes of ordinary people. An Extraordinary who had mastered "Spirit" could disrupt the cognition of ordinary Extraordinaries, allowing them to die with a smile without ever realizing it. But... what was he supposed to do now? Bai Zhou frowned. The expected clash of fierce, furious slaughter had not materialized when the enemies appeared. Unseen enemies striking by waiting, moving only when provoked... The opponent was far more methodical and terrifying than anticipated. Even with an absolute advantage, they extended that fraction of an advantage further, turning it into an impassable chasm. It seemed the Major had indeed learned from previous lessons, striving for flawless execution. Now caught between wolves ahead and tigers behind, Bai Zhou seemed trapped in a dead end. As he pondered a way to break the deadlock, even Fang Xiaoxia noticed his grim expression and didn't dare utter a sound. And yet. "It's fine. I'm here." At that moment, Crow stood with her hands behind her back and said flatly, "I can make you see, and I can help you avoid them." Bai Zhou blinked in surprise. "What are you going to do...?" Dense sheets of rain wove a shimmering curtain before the twin headlight beams, only to be brutally torn into splashing mist by the wind pressure of three hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. Outside the windows, the entire elevated highway blurred into a shifting, abstract canvas of black and gray. Only the roar of the engine and the thunderous rattle of raindrops battering the chassis hammered steadily against Bai Zhou's tense heart. "Follow me," Crow said, leaving behind words as simple as could be. "—I am your eyes." Then, standing on the hood, Crow moved. She leaped off, her trench coat fluttering violently, diving off the speeding sports car. The girl in the black trench coat spread her arms. At the same time, the crow on her shoulder took flight into the rain-drenched midair, flapping its wings in motion that seemed to overlap with hers. The next instant. The girl vanished. Mid-leap, her body abruptly disintegrated. At the same time, amidst the deluge drumming on the expressway where the Maserati raced, an anomaly suddenly arose. *Flap, flutter, flap...* The sound of countless wings fluttering filled the sky, drowning out even the furious roar of the Maserati's engine—yet only Bai Zhou could hear it. "This is...?!" Bai Zhou stared dumbstruck. In the low air ahead, hundreds and thousands of crows shimmering with dreamy luminescence materialized out of thin air. Across every crow's plumage flowed a luster like the Milky Way, their sharp beaks and talons like tempered silver-white points of light, making Bai Zhou feel as if he were beholding a reverse meteor shower. Specks of fluorescence converged, their magnificent glow illuminating Bai Zhou's face. —Without a doubt, they were all conjured by Miss Crow. They flew ahead of the Maserati, guiding the way for Bai Zhou, for this yellow swan hurtling through the storm! The lights on their bodies flickered. On any single crow, it was merely a few sparse points of eerie blue or translucent white light, like phosphorus fire that might be scattered by the tempest at any second, yet tenaciously glowing amidst the storm. But gathered together, they grew brighter and denser—a grand cluster of light dancing gracefully within the furious beams of the goose-yellow Maserati's headlights, amidst the cascading sheets of rain. How could one describe them? It was as though countless stars had fallen into the mortal realm, or like candle flames fluttering in the wind of this rainy night. They were clearly a flock of crows, yet they danced like hundreds and thousands of fireflies. Countless tiny specks of light flapped their wings, shifting shapes in the blink of an eye, resembling a living, fluttering aurora that swept forward and blanketed the sky above the highway. Ignoring the violent downpour, the flock of crows deftly darted and danced in the beams before the car, gathering at times into an arrow that pointed the way, and scattering at other times like a brilliant nebula escorting them. The sound of their beating wings pierced through the wind, rain, and roaring engine, turning into an ethereal, mysterious rhythm that harmonized with the roar of the Maserati's eight exhaust pipes to form a bizarre symphony. *Whoosh!* Two beams of light sliced through the curtain of rain, sticking close behind the flock, while the crows fluttered playfully around the beams. In the deep, rainy night, amid a grand flight. Splashing through storm puddles, the Maserati tore ahead like lightning. Dragging two beams of light that illuminated the rain, it followed hard behind the massive flock of low-flying crows, speeding across the overpass. With specks of luminescence dancing, the scene was both romantic and magnificent. A rainy night, an elevated expressway, a racing Maserati, and a flock of glowing crows fluttering ahead to guide the way... For Fang Xiaoxia, this rainy night was bound to be thrilling and romantic. —And for Bai Zhou, how could it be anything less than unforgettable? Just then, the crow flying at the very vanguard glanced back across the dense flock. Its face was shrouded in shifting faint light, save for a pair of eyes condensed purely from red fluorescence, which met Bai Zhou's gaze across the distance in an instant. In that moment, there were no spoken words, only a stream of thought as crisp and clear as a bubbling spring, transcending hearing. She said: "Keep close to me!" "..." Bai Zhou suddenly relaxed, nodding with a focused expression. Under Fang Xiaoxia's gaze, she was astonished to find that the man beside her took only a fraction of a second to go from tense to relaxed, as if he had just witnessed something reassuring... yet she had no idea what had just occurred. With one hand steady on the steering wheel, Bai Zhou followed the fluttering, glowing flock without hesitation. The tires screeched as they ground against the asphalt. Tapping the brakes, turning, pulling and releasing the handbrake... Bai Zhou's maneuvers were a blur. The speeding swan swerved and weaved. In Fang Xiaoxia's eyes, the road was clearly wide and empty, yet for some inexplicable reason, Bai Zhou kept making thrilling evasive turns against empty patches of road, as if huge boulders invisible to her blocked the way... Still, Fang Xiaoxia knew Bai Zhou must have a reason for doing so. *A real-life Fast & Furious,* thought Fang Xiaoxia, whose stomach was churning as she felt nearly choked by her seatbelt. Yet behind this speed and fury lurked a hideous malice clinging like maggots to bone! Only Bai Zhou could see them: in the depths of darkness illuminated by the crows' luminescence, creatures he originally couldn't perceive had revealed their silhouettes. They were massive black silhouettes standing silently in the deluge—each over three meters tall, their rugged contours inhuman, their pitch-black bodies blending into the rainy night. Only when occasional lightning flashed did they raise their heads, revealing dark red lights in their eyes, filled with naked, pure, ruthless murderous intent. —Compared to the Type-3 Black Warriors from before, these were the Black Warriors among Black Warriors. Super Black Warriors! Bai Zhou had seen them being produced in the underground factory. Yet he had to admit, only by facing them in person did one truly feel their suffocating pressure... They simply stood in the shadows and turns of the expressway, scattered across various spots, standing like stationary turrets, as if they were bollards naturally sprouted along the roadway. —Yet each bore a massive shield in front, bristling with spikes, standing ready for the Maserati traveling at three hundred and eighty kilometers per hour to slam straight into them. "Speed bumps, huh?" Bai Zhou cursed under his breath. Vicious bastards! He certainly didn't dare hit these "speed bumps"... Those giant shields were covered in spikes! If he slammed into them like that, the monsters behind the shields might die— But the Maserati would instantly crumple and detonate! If an Extraordinary couldn't see them, virtually any of them would fall for the trap. Fortunately, Bai Zhou had the crows guiding his path. —Talk about an old crow knowing the way! Weaving through the course without once slowing down, the Maserati managed by the skin of its teeth to evade each ambush, carving out a sliver of survival from a hopeless situation— This undoubtedly infuriated the giant beasts, as well as the puppet master behind them. Bai Zhou heard roar after roar, drenched in raw desire for destruction and violence. As if receiving an order, they hoisted their shields and began pursuing from behind. *Rumble! Rumble!* The elevated expressway vibrated. Fang Xiaoxia felt the tremor too, but unable to see anything, she could only fidget in terror. Bai Zhou said nothing, only mashing the gas pedal. Soon, the Maserati reached another curve. "Tsk..." Bai Zhou gritted his teeth. Ahead of him, ten monsters stood bearing shields at the curve, arranged in three rows front to back. The spike-covered shields locked together seamlessly, leaving not a single gap, like a fortress wall materializing out of nowhere to block the highway. Evidently, the other side had realized that Bai Zhou could see them... Even Fang Xiaoxia saw the silhouettes of those ten monsters now; after all, at this stage, there was no longer any need to hide them. Like a host of evil spirit warriors leaping from ancient murals and endowed with bodies of steel, they formed an unbroken line shoulder to shoulder, slowly pressing forward like a fortress wall toward the oncoming car. *Thud! Thud! Thud!* Their synchronized footsteps pounded the asphalt, suffocating the air. Behind them, the shield-bearing behemoths were closing in as well. Pincer attack front and back. The "tiny" Maserati was like an unlucky thief trapped in a secret room, about to be crushed into mincemeat by closing walls. Yet Bai Zhou didn't stop. He was still accelerating. "Are-are-are you going to—" Fang Xiaoxia turned pale with fright, thinking Bai Zhou was about to ram straight into the giants ahead. These three-meter monstrosities were the size of small houses, holding spiked shields larger than themselves... —If they crashed like that, wouldn't they be skewered into SpongeBob? Besides, that was a curve! Even professional racers knew to decelerate in a turn or risk flying off the track; even Fang Xiaoxia would instinctively brake in a video game. Yet Bai Zhou didn't. "Only being fast in the turns is true speed!" Bai Zhou declared, adding that Fang Xiaoxia had said that when playing games. Fang Xiaoxia: "?" *Did I say that again?* *Actually, I think I did, but after flying off the track twice, I learned my lesson...* At this moment, the game scenes blurred together with the terrifying reality before her eyes. Then, Bai Zhou yanked the handbrake. *Screeech!* The rear swung out, sweeping a violent arc across the slick road. At that exact moment, Bai Zhou countered hard on the steering wheel while slamming the accelerator halfway down once more. Harnessing the burst of torque as the rear tires regained grip, combined with the tremendous inertia of the sideways drift, the modified Maserati maximized the force of a lateral strike. After a fluid sequence of maneuvers— The chassis tilted under centrifugal force, the right tires practically lifting off the asphalt. Like an iron beast spinning close to the ground, it unleashed its momentum. Carrying all the accumulated kinetic energy, the left side of the car body slammed viciously into two or three of the three-meter black shadows lunging from behind. In an instant, the three giant monsters were sent flying. It turned out Bai Zhou's target was never the shields ahead. It was the pursuers behind them. The encirclement was broken open. The Maserati came to a halt right there. Having endured the dizzying spin inside the car, Fang Xiaoxia was practically screaming. "Do you really not have a driver's license?!" Fang Xiaoxia felt Bai Zhou belonged in Formula 1 as a professional racer. What was Schumacher's seven-time championship? An eight-time or even ten-time champion legend was right before her eyes! "I told you, driver's licenses are bizarre. Why should I need anyone else's permission to drive my own car wherever I want?" Bai Zhou replied offhandedly, slowly releasing his grip on the wheel. "After all, the purpose of a car is convenience, so the barrier to entry can't be that high. It merely tests fine motor skills, neural reflexes, and rapid information processing... It's the same principle as playing video games." Bai Zhou explained, "As long as you have those, you can master most tools in the world with ease. And those happen to be the very things Extraordinaries don't lack." "Is... that so?" Fang Xiaoxia doubted this heavily. "Every Extraordinary can do this?" "I think so?" Bai Zhou blinked, suddenly sounding a bit uncertain. "Of course, it also has something to do with my talent being slightly better." *Slightly better talent... what level is that?* Fang Xiaoxia didn't comprehend the sheer weight behind his words. *Click.* Bai Zhou unbuckled his seatbelt, exhaled softly, and looked out the window, his expression turning solemn. "Stay in the car. Don't get out." He instructed: "The final battle is here!" Fang Xiaoxia's heart skipped a beat as she followed Bai Zhou's gaze out the window. She saw the wall-like giants halt, the black monsters surrounding them on all sides. And behind the giants, she saw a freak with a slender build and a grotesquely huge mouth, standing atop a dimly lit streetlight with folded arms. In this night of bitter wind and biting rain, the freak tilted his head back, opening that impossibly wide mouth and sticking out a forked tongue, seemingly savoring the taste of the storm. Arrogant! Confident! That was Fang Xiaoxia's immediate impression upon seeing this. Beneath the streetlight stood a tall masked figure, the facial features on the mask twisted into an extremely abstract portrait. His shoulders were rigid, his presence virtually zero as he hid in the streetlight's shadow, but his sloppy robe was splattered with paint in extraordinarily vivid colors, giving the impression of a madman. Now, Fang Xiaoxia finally understood what Bai Zhou had meant by "a painter and a deformed child." She had even imagined ninja turtles armed with nunchucks, sais, and katanas, but never in her wildest dreams had she expected... In this bizarre and fantastical occult world in her eyes— There really were two such people: one "Painter" and one "Deformed Child." Were these the so-called "Titled Extraordinaries" that had the youth beside her on such high alert? A madman covered in paint? And another Titled Extraordinary who liked to stand atop streetlights with an impossibly huge mouth? *Click!* Shouldering his purple-gold saber, Bai Zhou stepped out of the car, shutting the door firmly behind him. Amidst the swirling storm, Bai Zhou surveyed the layers of colossal, titan-like black silhouettes blocking every direction, then looked into the distance at the two leaders above and below the streetlight. Standing alone, his figure seemed tiny. His heart thumped. His fingers tightened around the saber. "The Fine Arts Society, and that infuriating face... old acquaintances, all of them." Bai Zhou turned toward the mysterious man beneath the streetlight, whose presence was nonexistent and whose robe was splashed with multicolored blocks of paint. "And which 'Master Painter' might you be?" Recalling the Gem Witch's description and looking at that mask with twisted, abstract features, Bai Zhou slowly narrowed his eyes. "—'Picasso,' right?" A Master Painter, plus Big-Mouthed Luo Jiu. Two Titled Extraordinaries blocking the bridge! They certainly gave him enough credit! Only... Bai Zhou's heart stirred. Because the paintbrush hidden inside the Trojan Horse was vibrating. It was the Sketching Paintbrush: Earth! Bai Zhou's sketching paintbrush sensed a connection to the man! At this moment, Bai Zhou knew... One of his other two paintbrushes was definitely on this person. —That damned thief!