# 388
Chapter 388 – The Wrong Prey
Gusu City.
Center of the fog.
Southern Gate.
This grand structure, shaped uncannily like a pair of long johns and towering above the cloud layer, is one of Gusu’s landmarks. At its summit, two figures stand beneath the night sky, quietly watching the fog-shrouded city below.
Evening wind lifts the woman’s black, curling hair, revealing a bewitching, seductive face. Her strange vertical pupils, snake-like, gaze ahead with a half-smile.
Were Lin Qiye here, he would instantly recognize this perverse, alluring woman. Just before last New Year, the two had fought fiercely in an old alley; only the intervention of Believer Han Shaoyun had let her escape.
She is the evil goddess of the Church of the Ancient Gods, Medusa’s proxy, codename [Snake Woman].
“The prey seems to have entered,” she murmurs, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear.
Beside her, a man like an iron tower—tall, straight, wrapped entirely in a black coat—frowns. “No… it’s not Team [Phoenix] coming.”
Snake Woman starts, her slender brows knitting. “Weren’t we told that any overseas mystery would be handled by Team [Phoenix]?”
“That is the rule.” The iron tower speaks slowly. “But Team [Phoenix] definitely wouldn’t jump from a plane with parachutes… far too low-class.”
Snake Woman hesitates. “Could it be another special squad?”
“Impossible.” The man is certain. “Currently active outside, only three special teams remain: [Spirit Medium], [Phoenix], and [Mask]. [Spirit Medium] rides the Thunder-God pillar, [Phoenix] rides the phoenix, [Mask] simply floats in the air… none would land in such a primitive way.”
Her serpent eyes sweep the three black cases beside them, regret surfacing.
“Team [Phoenix]’s captain, Xia Simeng, is our main target this operation. If she doesn’t come… these three relics tailored for her, and the Bell Cranel we finally captured—were they all prepared for nothing?”
The man hesitates. “Wait a bit longer. Though it isn’t a special team, since Night Watch high command sent them to deal with Bell Cranel, they can’t be nobodies. Since we’ve already sacrificed Bell Cranel, we need some return.”
Snake Woman’s gaze drills into the purple fog; she licks her lips. “Shall I go greet them?”
“No rush.” The man’s voice is calm. “Let those waste pieces test them first.”
……
On an empty street, Lin Qiye wearing a Sun Wukong mask and An Qingyu in a Tang Monk mask walk forward in silence.
Dim streetlamps cast patch after patch of light and shadow along the quiet roadside, stretching their silhouettes long, then shortening them again…
Even though the heart of Gusu is wrapped in fog, the power grid still runs; neon on the distant Southern Gate keeps flashing, piecing together the words “I ♥ Gusu” again and again.
An Qingyu strolls beside the lake, inhales slowly, exhales…
“What’s wrong?” Lin Qiye turns to ask.
An Qingyu shakes his head. “Nothing. I just haven’t walked in a city like this for ages—from Cangnan’s sewers to the Purification Chamber, then primeval forest… suddenly returning to normal human society feels nice.”
Lin Qiye is slightly taken aback, then smiles bitterly. “Pity we’ve got a mission. Otherwise we could wander more. Back in Cangnan my aunt kept telling me how great Gusu was, said I should come here for university…”
He lifts his eyes to the calm lake, murmuring, “Now, university is out of reach, and the person who wanted me to come… is gone.”
An Qingyu watches him for a moment.
“Whenever the two of us walk together, the mood turns melancholy,” he says with a wry smile. “Used to having that fat Baili clowning around; the sudden quiet feels strange.”
“True.” Lin Qiye chuckles. “A group staying together without talking is tough; having a dim-witted joker isn’t bad.”
As the words fall, Lin Qiye senses something and stops abruptly.
An Qingyu halts too, frowning. “What is it?”
Lin Qiye stares ahead. At the dim road’s end, dozens of figures approach hand-in-hand from the darkness, eyes vacant, steps eerily synchronized, bodies stiff.
They form a moving human wall, ends brushing the buildings, shoulders touching, no gap in the middle, completely blocking the street.
“Mind-contaminated civilians?” An Qingyu studies the scene, expression darkening. “Sent to stall us… Strange, why not dispatch Team 017 to kill us directly?”
“No idea.” Lin Qiye shakes his head, gaze sliding to the office blocks and shops flanking them. “But it looks like we’re surrounded.”
One after another zombie-like silhouettes appear in windows, empty eyes fixed on the two in the road; more file down staircases, surging like tidewater.
An Qingyu glances back—the street behind is likewise sealed by dozens of hand-holding, shoulder-pressing people advancing inch by inch.
Hundreds upon hundreds of contaminated citizens pack the street airtight.
“This level shouldn’t hold you,” Lin Qiye says, looking to An Qingyu.
The latter nods. “I’m fine.”
Lin Qiye hums. His fingertip brushes the catch on his black case; a Straight Blade springs from its side. Darkness swallows the blade; it lifts into the air and unsheathes itself—
Shring—!
“See you on the rooftop of that high-rise to the southeast,” Lin Qiye says calmly.
The next instant, the hovering Straight Blade whistles away toward the skyscraper looming in the dark. A shimmer of sorcery wraps Lin Qiye and he vanishes.
An Qingyu sighs, envious. “Such a handy ability…”
His feet explode with strength; he leaps an astonishing height, then lands lightly on a vertical wall, limbs adhering.
An invisible thread shoots from his palm into the opposite building, and like Spider-Man he swings over the encircling crowd, vanishing into the night.