Night’s Nomenclature

The blaze roared up as it devoured more than ten inns, blown amok by the mountain gust and spreading further away.

What was supposed to be a good National Day holiday trip had turned into a dangerous farce.

Even the sky was illuminated, like an afterglow drifting from within the veil of midnight.

Countless tourists hastily ran out of the inns only to be greeted by a shootout, causing them to flee in frenzy.

The two remaining thugs hid inside the crowd, ushering Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen while rushing towards the parking lot with their heads hung low.

They could always kidnap other time travelers and look for new accomplices. As long as they could leave Laojun Mountain in time, they could still make it.

However, just as they reached the juncture, the thug leader abruptly turned around.

He scanned past the chaotic mass, zeroing in on a young man who was also staring straight at him through the crowd.

Behind the boy was the harrowing fire. Boisterous, panicked visitors surrounded his sides.

But none of the mayhem was reflected in those eyes – they were only looking at him.

He felt his heart beat in terror, overcame by a sudden sense of foreboding.

He knew he had been marked. The other would never let him go until he killed him.

The thug leader recalled the smooth and neat procession of Six’s murder in a burst of biting chill.

If it weren’t for Hu Xiaoniu blocking the path between him and the boy, the one who died at that time could have very well been himself.

“Dongzi, we definitely won't be able to escape unless we kill that kid,” the leader said. “Make sure to wait for my signal when we get to the parking lot.”

As he spoke, the leader who was clad in a black trench coat actually took out his gun and shot two times, each bullet hitting Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen in the abdomen, letting them slowly crumple to the ground.

“Brother, what are you doing?” Dongzi asked in shock.

“That kid might know these two students, so let's see if they can help to buy us some time. Besides, we can't let them drag us since we’re going to attack him," said the leader, leaving Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen as he dashed to the parking lot.

There were hundreds of parked buses that could serve as natural covering, like a labyrinth designed to obstruct vision.

Qing Chen quietly came to Hu Xiaoniu's side. Once he confirmed the other was still breathing, he immediately dug out Hu Xiaoniu's phone to dial 120.1Emergency number for ambulance in China

There were healthcare centers around the scenic area. Although those doctors and nurses had probably never seen gunshot wounds, Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen were both shot in the stomach, not at fatal points.

They should be able to survive as long as the medical staff arrived on time.

He said to Hu Xiaoniu who was lying on the ground, “I've called, the ambulance will be here soon. I’ll stay here to watch over you guys. It's not a fatal injury so don’t worry, nothing bad will happen.”

But all of a sudden, Hu Xiaoniu struggled to rise up and pulled on Qing Chen's sleeve. His lips were pale and his voice trembled as he talked, “I know you’re very strong, please help me to kill those two thugs!”

Qing Chen glanced at the web-like parking lot.

Before he could say anything, Hu Xiaoniu continued, “You’re Liu Dezhu’s man, right? Please help me to avenge them. After this, I’ll pay Liu Dezhu to double the number of gold bars as I did the last time! You can’t let the two heroes from Kun Lun die in vain! Don't worry about us!”

Qing Chen fell into a long stretch of silence. He didn't know what exactly happened in this short period of time that drove Hu Xiaoniu into such a state, disregarding even his own life to ask for help in getting revenge.

He uttered in a low voice, “You guys should lie down, cover your wounds, and don't move. Rest assured, they’ll certainly die today.”

After speaking, he looked at the maze of a parking lot and then stepped forward.

It was a moment of utmost danger. He was well aware that the thugs were precisely waiting for him inside.

When the battlefield was a maze, whoever entered earlier had the absolute advantage: vision, terrain, and timing.

It seemed as though every element of the battle was unfavorable to Qing Chen.

This time, however, Qing Chen didn't care about the gold bars. This time, he just wanted to kill.

After taking a moment to think, he used both hands and feet to climb on the top of a bus.

The iron roof was flimsy, but he stepped on it without making a single sound.

Just as he walked to the edge, he was stunned to see a thug standing right below.

The thug was struggling to raise the muzzle of his gun – it was as if his body was stuck in viscous glue.

Qing Chen swiftly looked to the other side.

There, a person wearing a hooded sweater and a black mask was standing in the shadows.

That person stretched out an arm with an open palm facing the thug, seemingly controlling his destiny with just one hand.

A time traveler!

And a superhuman, on top of it!

Qing Chen pondered, was this ability related to gravity?

The hooded time traveler cocked her head to the east, and a female voice came from beneath the mask, “This one’s been cast away. The other one ran off and left him behind. I’ll leave it to you.”

Qing Chen came to a sudden realization. The two thugs should have been hiding behind the bus with the intention to ambush him, but this time traveler of unknown origin unexpectedly subdued them.

Due to her bizarre ability, the leader abandoned his own subordinate to make an escape.

Qing Chen briefly examined her – she was about 176cm tall, with a slender and well-proportioned figure. He couldn’t get a clear look at her appearance because she was standing in the dark.

She was tall and had her figure concealed underneath the loose sweater, so Qing Chen subconsciously took her for a man at first.

He didn’t expect her to be a girl with a very young voice.

“What are you standing around in a daze for, the guy will slip away if you keep zoning out,” said the mysterious girl.

The roar of an engine could already be heard in the distance. From afar, Qing Chen saw the thug leader sitting in the driver's seat of the black van he had previously seen, slamming on the accelerator to head to the mountain road outside the scenic area.

Qing Chen didn't spare any more time to think; he jumped off the roof of the bus, snatched the thug's gun, and sprinted madly.

The girl kept her gaze on Qing Chen as he left, getting taken aback upon seeing his bare feet covered in blood.

But the boy didn't seem to feel any pain at all.

She slowly walked out of the shadows and stood beside the thug, silently peering down at him as he gradually knelt on the concrete path.

The next second, her always open palm closed without warning.

A scream instantly tore out of the thug. Both of his legs were pressing hard on the concrete, and the huge pressure shattered the bones in his knees.

“This is to give you some retribution on behalf of those who died tonight,” said the girl softly. She put her hands into her sweater pockets and walked back into the shadows.

All that was left in the parking lot were the howling shrieks of the thug and his broken knees.

…

The black van drove down the mountain road, but the thug couldn’t pick up his speed because there were too many narrow twists and turns along the way.

Gunshots kept coming from behind the car, and it made him terrified. The young man had excellent marksmanship; he would’ve still managed to land accurate hits on the car even if it had been moving at high speed.

But he probably couldn’t predict that in order to accommodate their Glock 34 handguns and silencers, the thugs had specially chosen subsonic bullets to reduce the sound of gunfire.

This kind of bullet had no other advantage aside from the sound suppression, and with the silencer installed, its effective range was further reduced to less than 20 meters.

It was only suitable for a close-range assassination attack!

At this moment, the thug leader felt it fortunate that they had used subsonic bullets because he might have died otherwise!

The gunshots gradually ceased. The boy seemed to have run out of bullets and could only toss away the firearm in his hand.

But Qing Chen’s feet never stopped moving.

In the rearview mirror, the thug watched as the masked boy chased him like a lone wolf, rabidly gnashing his fangs in determination to bite him to death.

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