The dark-night leopard made a sharp U-turn, blending back into the endless, lengthy road at the end of the night. Shi Yixing drove back along the original route, tree branches swaying and rustling, while at the dimly lit street corner, that black van had long since vanished without a trace. Several pools of thick blood on the gravel and concrete surface emitted a foul, fishy stench.
Shi Yixing’s chest rose and fell as he slowly exhaled a warm breath, continuing forward along the straight road until his motorcycle stopped in front of a 24-hour convenience store.
Taking off his helmet, he shook his blood-flushed rabbit ears and casually ruffled his flattened hair. His fingers pausing briefly as they brushed against his ear tips, his red pupils flashed with clever alertness, and a curve of a smile hooked at the corner of his lips hidden in the darkness.
Stretching his long legs, he entered the convenience store to make purchases according to the shopping list Xiaze Mingluo had sent to his phone, while his gaze swept back and forth through his peripheral vision to monitor the person closely following behind him.
It was an A-class macaque beta with a spiky, yellow-dyed fringe, wearing a white mask that concealed his face. A scar at the outer corner of his triangular eye looked like it had been caused by a knife blade, and clutching a canned beer he had just grabbed from the refrigerator, he maintained a distance of about ten meters from Shi Yixing the entire time.
Carrying his bags, Shi Yixing finished checking out. As his fingertips grazed the edge of his black belt, the dark-purple-enchanted leopard motorcycle shrank and morphed, gathering in a concentrated beam of light as it was recalled back into his storage space.
He deliberately slowed his pace and walked toward a deeper, more deserted alley. The streetlamp at the entrance of the alley was broken, and the entrance was pitch-black, unable to even see one’s hand in front of one’s face. Rabbits naturally possessed superior night vision, allowing him to clearly see the two familiar A-class weasel betas hiding in the dark against the wall.
He stopped abruptly about three meters outside the alley entrance “Clack-” A large bag of snacks spilled all over the ground, and with agile and swift rabbit-like movements, he spun around landing an upward punch straight into the jawbone of the macaque beta behind him.
“Ugh-gvk!!” The yellow-haired macaque beta tumbled head over heels as he fell backward, the sudden and fierce impact directly flooring him as the people lying in ambush inside the alley surged forward.
There were more than two people; among the dozen or so A-class betas, there were also two B-class falcon alphas. Armed with close-combat military daggers, short eagles holding handguns, and iron-chained batons, they were fully equipped. In just a few short seconds, they had surrounded Shi Yixing right in the center.
“It’s him! He ruined our good deed, let the duck in our hands fly away, and even crippled two of our brothers.”
“Dead rabbit, messing with us is your bad luck. Today, brothers will make you remember the price of meddling in other people’s business.”
The two weasels swaggered with overbearing, dog-backed arrogance, while a falcon alpha holding a short gun pulled the trigger, aiming straight at Shi Yixing’s skull: “If you don’t want to eat lead, obediently hug your head and squat down.”
Among their group, only two alphas possessed firearms, and since the distance was too close, counterattacking rashly would harm others without benefiting oneself. Shi Yixing hugged his head and bent his knees, feigning a crouch. The weasel beta holding the iron chain trotted forward eagerly, while the rabbit’s red pupils kept close watch on the muzzle of the gun, the iron chains clanking and clattering crisply.
Catching the falcon alpha’s momentary distraction now is the time.
He yanked the weasel beta’s collar forward to use him as a human shield right in front of him.
“Bang-bang-bang-!!”
“Ah-gvk…..”
The sonic explosion of the silenced pistol still rattled his eardrums. The weasel beta took three bullets, getting hit right between the eyes, in the chest, and in the abdomen, dying on the spot. His blood-seeping eyeballs left only protruding whites as he twitched twice and ceased breathing.
“Bam-!” With a single arm, Shi Yixing hurled the corpse straight into the crowd, smashing open a gap, “Bang-bang!!” Breaking through the gap instantly, he rolled into the cover of a roadside vehicle just as bullets struck the reinforced glass windows, sending shards of shattered debris flying everywhere.
Reacting, the group swarmed forward together. The broken streetlamp at the alley entrance suddenly flickered, alternating between light and dark. Sidestepping an incoming beta with an elbow strike, Shi Yixing “Rip-” had his red-shield arm patch on his long arm torn open by a military dagger.
With strength in his wrist, he counter-twisted to bend and snap the beta’s wrist joint, the crisp cracking of bones mixed with weeping whimpers piercing the quiet night.
Quickly catching the falling short military dagger, a silver light flashed across the cold blade as the beta’s throat was slit, blood spurting from his veins before he collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
“Bang-bang!” The slenderly built rabbit dodged nimbly and effortlessly; his speed was no slower than the velocity of a bullet, and close combat was his absolute domain of advantage. The little rabbit flashed past the continuous baton attacks of several betas, conveniently wielding the sharp short knife to slice through the most sensitive gland blood vessels on their necks.
Moving next with a clear objective, he launched a close-quarters frontal assault against the two falcon alphas. Amidst the crossfire, one of their spare magazines ran dry. Appearing abruptly like a ghost of the dark night, Shi Yixing kicked upward to send the black-eagle short gun flying out of the man’s grip “Bang!!”
A bullet grazed his furry rabbit ears, blasting a deep crater into the stone wall. Shi Yixing’s red pupils darkened in an instant, closing in instantaneously “Bam!!”
His movements were even faster than the alpha’s finger pulling the trigger. A horizontal sweep of his long leg sent the final black-eagle short gun spinning away.
The gleaming tip of the military dagger pierced and cut through the skin of the alpha’s neck, causing blood to ooze out. The little rabbit’s ear tips twitched as he gripped the knife handle, pressing inward by another two millimeters into the flesh straight toward the carotid artery. Fixing his gaze on the group of injured betas who wanted to advance yet lacked the courage, his cool voice rang out:
“What are you trying to do? Who is pulling the strings? How many people have you kidnapped, and how many are still alive?”
The night wind whistled mournfully, and the approaching buzz of a siren drew near. Before Shi Yixing could wait for an answer, three or four modified military mecha vehicles surrounded them first.
The remaining betas and the hostage-holding alpha panicked, all of them growing as restless and terrified as ants on a hot pan “Bang!” One of the betas picked up a handgun from the ground and shot himself in the head.
Shi Yixing’s red pupils widened as realization dawned, but before he could react—“Pfft—” An alpha resolutely threw himself against the military dagger held at his neck, blood bursting forth as the breath left his body. The remaining individuals collapsed one after another…
Eight or nine alliance soldiers dressed in military uniforms stepped down from the modified vehicles, and the leader was none other than Helin Zhou, the one who had been at loggerheads with him all day.
Shi Yixing’s military dagger slipped from his hand and dropped to the ground. The dead alpha collapsed right at his feet, his blood-stained strands of hair fluttering in the wind. Their gazes met in the air, and with a stinking expression, Helin Zhou waved his hand to stop the others from approaching, closing in on him step by step.
The little rabbit’s instinctive heartbeat accelerated, stumbling backward half a step into a defensive posture while his expression toward Helin Zhou turned equally sour.
Damn it, he was about to get the answers out of them! Why couldn’t they have arrived a little later? At the very final moment, that idiot Helin Zhou had to show up and ruin everything.
Helin Zhou halted half a meter away from him, sweeping his gaze around the circle before fixing it back on his face. Gritting his teeth as though wishing he could strangle him with his bare hands:
“Explain yourself do you have any idea who these people are? …Forget it, what on earth happened here?”
Shi Yixing rolled his eyes at him: “I was being tracked and ambushed. Originally I could have left a few alive, but the moment you showed up, you scared them into committing suicide. Major General He really possesses such great prestige; if you hadn’t come, I almost could have squeezed some clues out of them.”
The more he thought about it, the angrier he grew; the more he looked at Helin Zhou, the more infuriated he became. Stepping past him to retrieve his scattered bag of snacks from not far away, he hoisted the plastic bag and turned to leave.
Before he had taken two steps, his arm was yanked hard, and Helin Zhou slammed him against the hood of the broken-windowed vehicle, pinching his jaw to force him to look up:
“Shi Yixing! Are you playing me for a fool? Why would they track you? What value do you have?”
“Are you fucking out of your mind? Is being tracked my fault?! Xiaze Mingluo almost got kidnapped, I saved him, and when I went out to buy things, those people followed me again. Are you satisfied now? Let go of me!”
Helin Zhou’s grip strength was terrifyingly intimidating. When it came to speed, he was afraid of no one, but in terms of brute strength, he truly fell short of Helin Zhou. On top of that, this guy was utterly insidious, launching sneak attacks every single time shameless!
Helin Zhou scanned Shi Yixing from head to toe. Seeing that there were no major injuries on him, he relaxed slightly, casting a disdainful glance down at the bag in his hands.
Spicy gluten strips, potato chips, sour plums, nuts, jelly, self-heating rice, cola, soda… over half a bag of junk food. The look of disgust in his eyes instantly grew even more contemptuous.
“Get in the car. We have an obligation to ensure the safety of our students. Anyone caught sneaking out this late at night again will receive an immediate demerit asking for leave won’t work either. Shi Yixing, three demerits mean direct expulsion.”
Shi Yixing was forcefully hoisted into the car by Helin Zhou, while the beta driver in the driver’s seat didn’t even dare to draw a loud breath.
“Who taught you to go head-to-head with a bunch like that? Have you got a death wish?”