"Mom... Mom...?"
A girl covered in blood stumbled forward, leaning against the wall. Her left leg twisted unnaturally, her eyes scanning the lifeless fog with terror and despair.
A strange hissing sound came from the street ahead. The girl's face instantly paled. She curled into a ball against the wall, trembling uncontrollably.
Then, a hand gently tapped her shoulder.
The girl gasped and instinctively shrank away. She looked up in horror—only to find not a monster, but a young man in a black trench coat standing behind her.
"What's wrong, little one?" Xi Renjie forced a gentle smile onto his exhausted face.
Perhaps it was the warmth in that smile, but some of the fear faded from the girl's expression. "I... I got separated from my mom," she whispered.
Xi Renjie glanced around. The foggy street was utterly devoid of life.
"When did you get separated?"
"Which way did she go?"
The girl pointed down the empty street ahead.
Xi Renjie sighed and crouched down. "Let me carry you while we look, okay?"
The girl nodded. Xi Renjie lifted her onto his back, gripping his bloodstained steel sword as he limped into the dense fog.
After hours of searching and fighting, Xi Renjie was nearing his limit. But he couldn't rest yet. With Han Meng gone, he was District Three's pillar. Until every street was cleared, he couldn't afford to collapse.
As Xi Renjie trudged forward with the girl on his back, the storefronts lining the street were splattered with blood. Mutilated corpses lay exposed, their blood long dried...
"What's your name?" Xi Renjie suddenly asked.
"Xiao Qi."
"Xiao Qi, close your eyes for me. Don't open them until I find your mom, alright?"
"Okay." The girl obediently shut her eyes.
Xi Renjie moved through the deathly silent streets. After about ten minutes, a clamor of voices sounded in the distance.
People!
He immediately quickened his pace.
As the noise grew louder, he spotted a group huddled around a mangled body inside a house at the street corner, arguing anxiously.
"I told you he's beyond saving... We need to go!"
"Yeah, if we stay, those things will catch up!"
"But he's still alive! We can't just leave him—he saved our lives!"
"Running further out seems more dangerous. Maybe hiding indoors is safest."
About six or seven people filled the room, their faces smeared with dirt and blood, clearly refugees from another street. Two or three were gathered around a severely wounded man, desperately trying to bandage him.
Hearing the voices, Xiao Qi suddenly opened her eyes on Xi Renjie's back and cried out joyfully,
"Mom!"
Everyone in the room turned.
Their eyes landed on Xi Renjie in his black trench coat at the doorway. They froze—then a middle-aged woman sprang up and rushed toward the entrance.
"Xiao Qi!! Where did you run off to? I've been looking everywh—"
"STOP!"
Xi Renjie's sudden roar stunned the room. The woman halted mid-step, confusion flooding her face.
Xi Renjie tightened his grip on Xiao Qi's arm, preventing her from jumping down, and began backing away cautiously... His sword trembled in his hand as he glared at the group. Through the fog, their shadows squirmed unnaturally against the walls.
Every single one of them has been marked by the calamities.
"Mom..." Xiao Qi reached out desperately as the distance grew, her eyes brimming with confusion.
"Law Enforcer, what's the meaning of this?" the woman demanded, frowning as she tried to retrieve her child.
Instead, Xi Renjie yanked open the door of the opposite house, shoved Xiao Qi inside, and locked it behind her.
"MOMMY!"
Whoosh—
The moment the woman stepped outside, inky shadows erupted from the room behind her. In the cramped space, the creatures pounced instantly—screams and the sound of tearing flesh filled the air in a horrific symphony!
Xi Renjie's eyes burned red. His body darkened as if coated in steel armor. Sword raised, he charged into the house without hesitation!
He tried to save the nearest woman, but by the time his blade struck the shadow centipede, half her head was already gone. Even as he cleaved the creature apart, it was too late.
The slaughter ended in seconds. The remaining centipedes scuttled along the walls, sealing the exits. The black-coated figure now stood trapped in the narrow room, surrounded on all sides by skittering legs.
Gripping his sword tightly, Xi Renjie took a deep breath. The blade darkened to match his armor as an icy aura radiated outward.
After so much fighting, his stamina was nearly depleted—but retreat was never an option...
Eight centipedes lunged simultaneously. In that instant, Xi Renjie's sword traced a perfect arc around him. A razor-thin black line shot from the tip, bisecting the three nearest creatures!
He tried to dodge, but two centipedes already had their jaws clamped on his shoulders. At this range, evasion was impossible.
The remaining centipedes swarmed over him like a writhing black mass, their fangs tearing into his body. Though most of his steel-hardened skin resisted, patches gave way—crimson bloomed across his coat...
Xi Renjie's eyes bulged as he prepared for a final stand—when a figure alighted gracefully outside the door like a crimson butterfly.
All movement ceased. The centipedes turned as one toward the newcomer. Through the swirling fog, a figure stood holding seasonings in one hand and a blazing torch in the other, his narrowed eyes assessing the scene.
"Who—?!" Xi Renjie blurted.
With a casual twirl of his torch, the stranger chuckled. "Even a law enforcer is just human."
Then he vanished.
The centipedes clinging to Xi Renjie went berserk, scrambling over each other to chase the retreating flame through doors and windows!