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墨書 Inktalez
A sound broke the silence.
Then came a second sound.
As the noise echoed, it felt as if the ground trembled beneath me.
I couldn't move. It wasn't that I had lost the ability to act, but rather that my chest felt constricted, as if a stone were lodged there, making it difficult to breathe.
I coughed forcefully, spitting out a mouthful of salty blood.
It was quite a lot, I thought to myself with dark humor.
As if to confirm my self-mockery, a beam of light shone down, illuminating the bloodstains before me. Indeed, it was a large puddle.
After expelling that blood, I felt a rush of relief; my mind cleared and my body hurt less. Although I still couldn't perform any complex movements, turning around and getting up posed no obstacle.
However, as my face emerged into the light, a piercing scream suddenly shattered the air.
"No!"
I was convinced that even if he were in agony, he wouldn't emit such a hoarse cry. The sound was long and mournful, reminiscent of someone like Fatty being pushed to the brink of pain.
The one who screamed was Cao Mingzhe. He stood nearly ten meters away from me, arms raised high, fingers curled like claws as if trying to grasp something. His neck arched back at an exaggerated angle, his face turned toward the dark void above, his Adam's apple protruding and trembling.
From my angle, I couldn't see his mouth shape clearly; perhaps from another perspective, I would catch sight of his throat quivering. I had never seen Cao Mingzhe make such a face; his mouth was stretched wide open.
Not far from him stood Jack, looking utterly disheveled. His face was red—not from excitement or agitation but from blood. Blood streamed down from his damp hair, soaking not only his face but also staining his clothes a gruesome brownish-red.
Jack was terrified of Cao Mingzhe's appearance and stumbled back, jumping to the side. However, he did not flee. Instead, he stood about five or six meters away from Cao Mingzhe, shining the flashlight directly at him, with his right hand gripping a dagger in a stance that suggested he was ready to fight fiercely.
Cao Mingzhe's background became apparent under the light of the flashlight and several glow sticks; it was a black circle. A black hole.
I immediately understood. Cao Mingzhe had kicked me into the black hole but had not achieved his original intention; I did not enter the black hole. Instead, like a glow stick, I passed through it and flew out from the other side.
However, Cao Mingzhe's kick had been so powerful that I was sent flying ten meters away. Meanwhile, both Cao Mingzhe and Jack jumped over from the other side of the black hole.
As Cao Mingzhe's roar echoed, the lights on both sides of the black hole became even more pronounced. There were flashlights and glow sticks illuminating the scene, all flickering and moving. Soon, I saw the Hakka People, A San, and Xiao Ting running towards me, their lights directed at the still-howling Cao Mingzhe.
"How is this possible?" Cao Mingzhe concluded his inexplicable question with a murmur directed at me. "The Lord does not make mistakes."
"Hahaha."
Suddenly, Cao Mingzhe burst into mad laughter.
Then he threw his head back and shouted, "He is not an Awakener! Unbelievable! He is not the one the Lord needs!"
As if in response to Cao Mingzhe's roar, a metallic clanging sound suddenly rang out in the air. Immediately after, two dark figures descended.
These two figures landed on one side of the black hole; from my position, they were to Jack's right while Cao Mingzhe stood to Jack's left. They were not in a straight line; when Jack jumped away from Cao Mingzhe, he purposefully moved closer to me, forming a triangular formation.
The two dark figures faced off against each other. For a moment, I could only see that they wore black clothing similar to what Cao Mingzhe was wearing and each held a Black Longsword.
"Number One betrayed the Lord and killed my shadow. Ah..." A familiar voice came from one of the dark figures but abruptly cut off.
The two flashlights swept towards the source of the sound, and I could feel one of them coming from Xiao Ting. I understood her desire to see the owner of that voice, a voice I had heard not long ago—it belonged to Xiao Guolin.
Unfortunately, I couldn't see anyone's face. Among the two men in black, one had his back to me, while the other was obscured by the person in front of him.
I saw the person with his back to me gripping a blade with his left hand; he must have been injured, as blood was flowing down the edge of the knife. In his right hand, he thrust a Black Longsword into the abdomen of the other man in black. These two sudden duelists had quickly determined their fates in a matter of moments.
My heart sank into despair. Based on the sounds and the sight of the knife piercing flesh, it seemed that Xiao Guolin was dead.
Xiao Ting shared my conclusion. The moment she witnessed the scene before her, she screamed, "Dad!"
Her cry seemed to awaken one of the duelists. The man with his back to me remained still, but the one I had already deemed dead moved. He released his grip on the Black Longsword and leaped backward.
In that instant, I saw his face—it was Xiao Guolin.
It was truly Xiao Guolin. His face was pale, unnaturally so. It was even whiter than Song Guilong's face. It wasn't just a lack of sunlight; it was a pallor caused by severe injury and blood loss.
Though the stab from the man behind me hadn't immediately taken his life, it had left him gravely wounded. I saw blood gushing from the wound in his abdomen.
"Help me!"
Xiao Guolin's cry weighed heavily on my heart.
He wasn't calling out to me or Xiao Ting. He must have heard Xiao Ting's scream, but his plea for help was directed at Cao Mingzhe.
He didn't trust his closest family! He placed his faith in Cao Mingzhe. He and Cao Mingzhe were in cahoots!
Cao Mingzhe turned and charged toward the man in black. As he brushed past Jack, he struck out with a punch like lightning. Jack seemed to be prepared, crossing his arms to block, but he was still forced back repeatedly by Cao Mingzhe's blow.
In this sudden and chaotic situation, I found it impossible to make an accurate judgment. However, since I had already decided to trust Xiao Guolin, I could no longer trust anyone else. This included the real Xiao Guolin; I couldn't fully believe him either.
The key was that so much was happening in that moment. I had no idea what occurred after Cao Mingzhe kicked me into the black hole. I could see the hostility and fear everyone felt toward Cao Mingzhe, and combined with Jack's bloodied state, it was clear that Cao Mingzhe had turned against us and was attacking.
But why weren't they resisting? Jack had a gun, and A San had one too. Especially Jack; he wasn't a pushover who would let himself be manipulated.
Suddenly, I remembered something—I hadn't seen their guns. I turned to A San and shouted, "Where's your gun?"
"It was destroyed. The moment you were kicked into the black hole, he attacked us. He first disabled our weapons. His fists are harder than guns; he smashed my gun with one punch. He didn't go easy on Jack either—he slashed at him, breaking his gun, and European was killed by him."
I reached into my pocket and felt my handgun still there. Gritting my teeth, I said, "Let's take him down."
(To Be Continued)
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