# 402
**Chapter 402 – Surprise, Surprise**
When Jialan heard those words, she froze for a few seconds, then her face suddenly flushed red. She raised her hand to push Lin Qiye away.
But just as her hand lifted, Lin Qiye caught it in his palm.
Jialan: ???!!
Lin Qiye held her hand, feeling its warmth—and the slickness of blood.
He looked down and saw her blood-soaked palm. His brows furrowed instantly.
“You’re hurt?” Lin Qiye’s expression darkened. He lifted his head, staring into Jialan’s eyes, forcing a flicker of clarity into his murky gaze.
“Who hurt you?”
Jialan pressed her lips together, her gaze shifting past Lin Qiye to the snake woman behind him, her expression strange.
Lin Qiye turned. His icy eyes locked onto the familiar figure, and a fierce killing intent surged from his body.
“It’s you…”
His messy black hair fell across his forehead as he stared at the snake woman for a moment. Then he turned back, scooped the flustered Jialan up from the wall…
And pulled the Straight Blade from her back.
“Don’t worry.” Lin Qiye gripped the blade, looking seriously into Jialan’s eyes. “Whoever hurt you—I’ll kill them.”
…
“Achoo!!”
On the edge of Cangnan City, An Qingyu—driving a black van at full speed toward Gusu—suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his nose, a puzzled look in his eyes.
“Strange. Did something go wrong when I made this body…? How am I catching a cold?”
He carefully recalled the process of creating the clone, confirmed nothing had gone wrong, and shook his head.
“Whatever. I need to hurry and meet up with Qiye and the others in Gusu.”
Vroom—!
The black van let out a roar and vanished down the highway.
…
Jialan stared blankly into Lin Qiye’s eyes, her face completely red.
Lin Qiye turned away, gripping two Straight Blades, and slowly advanced toward the snake woman who was watching the drama unfold.
A cold killing intent surged. His eyes ignited with two golden flames. Though his steps were still unsteady, his gaze was unshakable.
“No one hurts my teammate…” Lin Qiye murmured, eyes lowered.
Only when he looked up and started walking did the snake woman see his full face. Shock flashed in her eyes. “You?!”
“Church of the Ancient Gods,” Lin Qiye growled, each word dripping with venom. “Time to settle the score from a year ago…”
His figure flickered as he charged toward her.
The snake woman narrowed her eyes, sneering. “Your mind’s barely hanging on. You think you can beat me in this state?”
One of Lin Qiye’s Straight Blades turned pitch-black and shot out like a bolt. The snake woman vanished in a flash.
“You’re wrong.” Lin Qiye stood calmly, flicking his fingers. The blade spun back to him. “I’m… not alone.”
Boom—!!
Just as the snake woman reappeared, the safety door beside her exploded. Black fiendish flames burst through as the berserk Cao Yuan—who had just sprinted up twenty-two flights of stairs—roared and slashed at her!
Demonic blade light tore through several walls, smoke billowing—but the snake woman was gone again.
Meanwhile, in front of a snake eye perched on a corner wall, the snake woman reappeared, face grim.
“Heh, got you now, huh?”
Behind her, a familiar fat man pulled out a dry wooden broom, sneered, and swung it hard!
A violent storm of lightning swept through. Caught off guard, the snake woman was struck by several bolts, her skin charred black. She was sent flying over ten meters before barely stopping.
Lin Qiye’s palm glowed with summoning light. A silver third-order Rubik’s Cube appeared in his hand. Its surface twisted rapidly—and the entire floor’s layout shifted.
From outside, the twenty-second and twenty-third floors of the office building detached from the rest, floating midair and rearranging themselves in a dizzying dance.
Walls, floors, and ceilings covered in snake eyes were all pulled together by the Chaos Cube into a fully enclosed hollow space. Areas without snake eyes were moved outside.
When the cube stopped turning, the snake eyes were confined to a clearly visible area—most of them now upside-down on the ceiling, with no foothold at all.
The snake woman’s face turned ugly.
“Your God’s Ruins is powerful. The more it grows, the more unbeatable it seems…” Lin Qiye’s face was pale, but he walked toward her calmly.
“So after our last fight, I kept thinking of how to break it. And… I found a way.
If I gather all your snake eyes in one place, your mobility drops sharply. They stop being your escape route—and become your cage.”
The snake woman’s blade clashed several times with the berserk Cao Yuan’s Straight Blade, finally knocking him back. Her eerie vertical pupils narrowed on Lin Qiye.
“Lin Qiye, you really think trapping my snake eyes means you’ve won?” She unstrapped the black case on her back, smirking. “I admit you’re good—but today, you’re not beating me.
This is one of the Church of the Ancient Gods’ trump cards, meant for special squads. You’re not one—but killing a double-god proxy with it? Worth it.”
Baili Pangpang’s face changed. He instinctively stepped back, looking at Lin Qiye.
A Church of the Ancient Gods ace—something that could threaten special squads—was no joke!
Lin Qiye, however, remained eerily calm. He stared at the case, the corner of his mouth curling up—as if smiling.
The snake woman felt a sudden, inexplicable chill.
“Trying to bluff?” she sneered, placing the black case on the floor and reaching to open it.
“Behold—the fury of a fallen god…”
Snap—!
A crisp finger-snap rang out.
A burst of magic flared beside Lin Qiye—and an identical black case appeared in front of him…
The snake woman froze. She looked down—her case was gone.
Lin Qiye leaned lazily against the case, fingers brushing its surface, half-smiling. “The fury of a fallen god… such a dangerous thing. I’ll gladly take it off your hands.”
Snap—snap—!
Two more snaps. Two more summoning circles flared—and now three black cases sat neatly in front of Lin Qiye.
He patted the cases, grinning. “Surprise, surprise?”