A crawling creature desperately fled through the sewers.
It was a native species of Alantia known as a Gek.
A small reptilian scavenger that survived by feeding on insects.
Its natural defense mechanism was tail detachment—sacrificing part of itself to escape predators.
Unfortunately, the hunter chasing it had no interest in its tail.
It wanted the meat.
Its pursuer was another native Alantian species, a rodent-like predator called a Rotu.
The two tiny creatures raced wildly through the sewer tunnels, splashing through filthy water without care.
Even climbing walls couldn’t save the Gek, because the Rotu possessed the same climbing ability.
Eventually, the Gek reached a dead end.
Cornered against the wall, it could only stare at the slowly approaching Rotu.
The Rotu, realizing tonight’s meal was secured, began making mocking clicking sounds with its teeth.
The Gek was not an aggressive creature.
It knew there was no escape left.
So it chose to fight with everything it had.
The Gek suddenly lunged forward and bit directly into the Rotu’s eyeball, trying to rip it out.
The Rotu never expected prey to attack back.
Worse, the pain enraged it.
Ignoring the eye being torn apart, it bit into the Gek’s hind leg and violently yanked backward.
Green blood splattered across the sewer floor as the leg was ripped clean off.
But the Gek succeeded in one thing.
It swallowed the eyeball whole.
That only drove the Rotu further into a frenzy.
The two creatures immediately descended into a brutal struggle.
But the difference in size and strength was simply too great.
In the end, the Gek still became the Rotu’s meal.
Yet even in death, it had left behind a painful lesson.
Any creature facing death would fight with everything it had for even the slightest chance of survival.
The one-eyed Rotu chewed on the Gek’s remains when it suddenly felt vibrations beneath the ground.
Something huge was running toward it.
Using its remaining eye, it stared toward the end of the sewer tunnel.
A dark silhouette slowly emerged.
And it was moving incredibly fast.
The moment it realized it was a beastman, the Rotu abandoned its unfinished meal and fled.
Because the scent coming from that beastman was far more terrifying than any being it felt.
That beastman was Lidi.
After being caught in the shockwave of the pulse flashbang, he had escaped into the sewer through sheer willpower.
He didn’t understand what was happening to him anymore.
Why could he still run after taking a direct blast?
Why could he still move after enduring so many electric shocks?
Why could he send people flying with a casual strike?
Why?
Why?
Why…
Ahead of him was a massive drainage shaft.
A giant vertical drop where wastewater from four different directions converged.
The gap to the opposite side stretched more than twenty meters wide, with a seemingly endless abyss below.
Yet Lidi didn’t slow down.
Instead, he accelerated.
His body lowered instinctively, sprinting almost like a four-legged animal.
The old him would never have been able to clear such a distance.
But now…
He felt like he could do anything.
As he reached the edge, both feet pushed off with explosive force.
Moonlight streamed through the opening above.
For a brief moment, the image of a fox soaring beneath the moon appeared in the darkness.
Arms extended forward.
Legs stretched behind him.
He could feel the airflow brushing through his fur.
Feel himself floating.
Something primal inside him finally found release.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” With a shout, Lidi twisted his body midair and prepared to roll.
He crashed onto the opposite platform.
After several rough tumbles, he slid across the filthy ground before finally stopping with both hands digging into the floor.
Panting heavily, he turned back toward the impossible distance he had just crossed.
“Heh…
hah…
hahaha…!” He began laughing softly.
Unable to believe he had just done something so absurd.
And even more absurd— he actually made it.
He never once considered what would happen if he failed.
He laughed at himself.
At his recklessness.
At his desperation.
But slowly, the laughter faded.
And tears replaced it.
“Auntie Wency…
I’m sorry…
I…” He couldn’t even form complete sentences anymore.
Tears dripped into the filthy sewer water beneath him.
Ripples spread across the surface.
And within those ripples, his reflection shifted.
The reflection became his younger self.
Seventeen-year-old Lidi to be precise.
Back then, he had cried exactly the same way.
Rain hammered endlessly against his body as he sat alone outside, sobbing.
He wanted to stop caring.
Stop thinking.
Disappear from everything.
But suddenly— the rain stopped hitting him.
He looked up.
Wency stood there holding an umbrella over him.
“I’m hurting too, Lidi…
but your mother would never want to see you destroy yourself like this…” She extended a hand toward him.
“Come on.
Let’s say goodbye to her together.
Remember her one last time.” Even though tears streamed down her own face, she still tried to pull him back up.
For the first time in forever, Lidi felt supported.
Like someone in this world still cared whether he existed.
So he took her hand.
Together, they walked slowly back toward the funeral beneath the umbrella— to say goodbye to his mother one final time.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” Lidi slammed his fist into the sewer floor.
Water exploded upward as cracks spread through the concrete.
He stared at his reflection in the filthy water.
Ugly.
Dirty.
Pathetic.
Now he truly had no one left.
No one…
He slowly lay down on the ground, uncaring of the filth beneath him.
He just wanted to stay here forever.
To disappear into this sewer where nobody could ever find him.
Listening to the roar of rushing water like a waterfall, he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.
…
“The sewers?!” Commissioner James the gorilla barked in disbelief, startling the Black Guard officer reporting to him.
“Yes, sir.
Intelligence reviewed nearby surveillance footage.
The target’s last confirmed location was a sewer entrance roughly ten meters from the house.
The cover showed signs of forced removal.” “Then send everyone down there and drag that bastard out!” “But…
we don’t have enough manpower for a search on that scale.
Huashan City’s sewer network is extremely complex.
Without specialized equipment, a full search is impossible with current personnel…” James understood the explanation.
He just refused to accept it.
“Then request support from the Government Alliance immediately!
Send search teams down there first!
I want that bastard found before sunrise!” After shouting, James stormed back toward the mobile command vehicle.
The moment he sat down inside, the red panda beastman Jeremy spoke nervously.
“Um…
commissioner James…
someone’s calling you.” James was already in a terrible mood after suffering heavy losses in his elite Rift Fang unit.
“Who the hell is calling me at a time like this?
It better be important!” Jeremy silently held out the phone James had left inside the van.
The screen showed: Minister of Defense — Nait James’ eyes widened.
Cold sweat instantly formed across his face.
He realized immediately that he had just cursed at the wrong person.
His entire expression flipped as he quickly grabbed the phone with both hands.
“Haha…
Minister Nait!
Sir!
I was disciplining my subordinates just now and didn’t notice the call.
Please don’t take it personally.” Silence answered him.
Several long seconds passed.
Yet those seconds felt far more terrifying than shouting ever could.
Just as James felt like he was about to collapse from the pressure, Nait finally spoke.
“How did the operation went?” James immediately began sweating heavily.
Even his swallowing could be heard through the phone.
Finally, with despair in his voice, he answered honestly.
“The operation…
f-failed, Sir.” He forced every word out carefully despite the trembling in his voice.
Nait fell silent again.
This time even longer.
James had never experienced time moving so slowly.
Every second felt like torture.
After nearly ten seconds, Nait finally spoke again.
“This is your second failed operation, James.” Nait’s voice carried no emotion whatsoever.
Yet that single sentence shattered James completely.
“Yes, Minister Nait!
I’ve already initiated lockdown protocols and citywide bounty alerts!
We’re mobilizing every available unit for pursuit!” “I guarantee the next operation will succeed!
Absolutely!” Nait waited for him to stop rambling before calmly replying: “One last chance.
You have twenty-four hours.” “If you still fail to bring him back…
you can hand your position to someone else.” The call ended.
James sat frozen.
“One day?!
How the hell is that possible?!
He’s trying to get me killed!” The moment he confirmed the call had disconnected, he hurled the phone against the wall, smashing it apart.
Nobody inside the van dared look at him.
Everyone pretended to stay busy.
Only Jeremy was forced to endure the gorilla’s terrifying rage.
“Commissioner James…
We found a lead.
A possible location where the target may appear next.” James instantly grabbed Jeremy by the collar like a drowning man clinging to a lifeline.
“What lead?!
Where?!” The gorilla’s grip nearly crushed the air out of him before James quickly released him.
Jeremy gasped several times before continuing.
“We extracted data from the crow beastwoman Wency’s phone.
There was a map and several photos pointing toward the same location…” He pulled the images up across the command vehicle monitors.
The red road signs.
The marked locations.
Everything Wency had investigated.
Now it had fallen directly into Black Guard hands.
And with that discovery, James finally smiled for the first time that night.
“Good.” “Lock the place down immediately.” “Set every patrol in that area.” “Take control of every surveillance camera in the mall.” “The moment that red fox appears…
I want every available unit on him!”