Chapter 24: Showdown in the Devil City (1)
The battleground between Jin Cheng and Meng Yufei shifted from midair to the rooftops, and from the rooftops down into the avenue, moving so fast that onlookers could barely keep up. The players originally trailing the four-person group scattered in a frenzy, terrified of being caught in the crossfire, yet unable to suppress their burning curiosity, poking their heads out from every nook and cranny to watch.
It was only then that Chi Yan and An Ning realized that the prowess Jin Cheng had displayed earlier had likely still been held back.
Chi Yan put away the megaphone, no longer daring to chatter, and inched over to Tang Cuo, clicking his tongue in awe. “Ge, what’s Cheng-ge’s background? How is he so ridiculously strong?”
Tang Cuo: “You want to know?”
Chi Yan nodded vigorously, and An Ning pricked up her ears as well.
Tang Cuo: “Ask him yourself.”
“Ying.” Chi Yan couldn’t help letting out a dinosaur whimper, disgusting An Ning so much she wanted to hit him.
Meanwhile, Tang Cuo posed an emotionless, soul-searching question: “Aren’t you two going to help?”
Chi Yan and An Ning thought to themselves that the big boss was so terrifyingly powerful they couldn’t intervene even if they wanted to. But Tang Cuo’s piercing gaze was equally formidable; shuddering, the two took off running to help.
Tang Cuo himself didn’t go up to help. Hands thrust into the pockets of his trench coat, he remained in power-saving mode. Most importantly, he still lacked a handy weapon, and now he didn’t dare pull out his Survival Evaluation Report anymore.
By now, the battle had drifted far from Tang Cuo. Jin Cheng’s figure flickered atop a distant tall spire, his tall, straight silhouette framed picture-perfect against the glowing sphere behind him. Draw bow, release—the arrow shot like a meteor, streaking from a tricky angle directly toward Meng Yufei’s face.
Meng Yufei dodged with a backbend, hooking one leg around the tavern’s banner eaves like a bat hanging upside down, then swerved his body with extreme speed to evade the second arrow that followed right on its heels.
Bang! The metal arrow lodged into the tavern’s wall, blasting open a gaping hole. Plumes of dust billowed in an instant, frightening the drunkards inside into scattering in panic.
Taking a shortcut to close the distance to the battlefield, Tang Cuo observed intently.
Meng Yufei was a blade-wielder. Tang Cuo couldn’t decipher his blade style just yet, but Jin Cheng’s arrows were clearly far more potent than they had been in the instance. The arrows were coated in a faint silver luminescence, packing immense lethal force.
Meng Yufei’s blade was somewhat sinister.
Only when he drew closer did Tang Cuo see that the scimitar-like blade had blood grooves, which seemed to explain why every crime scene was left with a massive pool of blood. Meng Yufei’s strikes were blindingly fast. Just as Qian Wei’s sword possessed sword qi, his blade possessed blade intent—a thin, dark-crimson haze.
Crucially, his blade could sever Jin Cheng’s arrows.
This was the first time Tang Cuo had ever seen a weapon capable of breaking Jin Cheng’s arrows.
While Jin Cheng appeared to be a long-range archer, their duel had never maintained much distance from start to finish. That mechanical bow could shoot arrows, but it could also serve as a handy melee weapon. With a clack, the spring mechanism released, and the mechanical bow split down the middle into two halves—resembling twin curved blades.
Scimitar against scimitars, different materials and different techniques, yet Jin Cheng still held the upper hand.
Because he had two blades.
Meng Yufei could parry one blade, but not the second; a gash was sliced open on his arm in an instant. Gritting his teeth, he retreated, his feet kicking off the walls as though running on flat ground, totally defying gravity. He could even twist his torso in an uncanny fashion to parry Jin Cheng’s arrow behind him.
With another clack, Jin Cheng snapped the longbow back together. A volley of two simultaneous arrows forced Meng Yufei to scramble for a new position.
As they fought, the two drifted further and further from East Cross Street. Tang Cuo continued taking shortcuts, nimbly darting through various streets and alleys, trailing them at a steady distance.
Chi Yan and An Ning were slightly closer than Tang Cuo. An Ning occasionally found openings to trip up Meng Yufei, while Chi Yan was purely along for the ride—because only after jumping in did he realize he had no combat skills whatsoever.
Letting hot blood rush to your head could get you killed.
Yet Chi Yan couldn’t just stand by and do nothing; his righteous and courageous heart wouldn’t allow it. So after racking his brains, he pulled out the little megaphone once more.
“Testing? Testing? Is Baldy Meng Yufei there? Are you there?”
Meng Yufei was ready to explode with rage.
He cleaved his blade viciously toward Jin Cheng, parried by Jin Cheng’s longbow. But fueled by sheer fury, his strike carried monstrous force, knocking Jin Cheng back half a step.
“Give me back my evaluation report!”
Jin Cheng chuckled instead. “I returned it to you long ago. Did you forget?”
How could Meng Yufei forget? But Jin Cheng had already memorized the contents. Memorizing it was bad enough, yet he only remembered half of it and made up the other half with embellishments—utterly shameless. Meng Yufei didn’t consider himself a good person, but even he wouldn’t be that wicked.
“I deliberately slaughtered Cheng Ke, yet you didn’t even clash with his people. I don’t get it, Jin Cheng: why do you insist on opposing me?” Meng Yufei paused to catch his breath, his eyes fixed on Jin Cheng, glowing a murky crimson.
“Haven’t you heard the saying?” Completely unaffected, Jin Cheng drew his bow and nocked an arrow, the tip aimed directly between Meng Yufei’s brows. “Villains die from talking too much.”
What Jin Cheng hated most was people blabbering nonsense during a fight; if you have something to say, spit it out beforehand. But Jin Cheng could never understand the suffocating urge of anyone facing him to vent their grievances.
Meng Yufei: “You can’t kill me, Jin Cheng. I won’t let you succeed again.”
Jin Cheng: “You’re so annoying.”
Having grown used to being infuriated, Meng Yufei sneered. Suddenly swinging his blade, the blade intent extended about half a meter, nearly stabbing Jin Cheng.
Jin Cheng sidestepped the strike, but a whip of light abruptly materialized in Meng Yufei’s hand. With a lash of the whip, ball lightning detached from the tip, hurtling toward Jin Cheng with thunderous speed.
“Ball Lightning!” An Ning cried out in alarm, her face turning exceptionally pale. This was a skill—specifically, a consumable card-type skill with limited uses. This Ball Lightning had clearly been Cheng Ke’s trump card reserved for life-or-death moments, yet it had been plundered by Meng Yufei.
Over on the battlefield, Jin Cheng leaped and bounded with flashy footwork, dodging one lightning orb after another. Amidst crackling snaps, the spheres slammed into the roofs and walls along the street, blasting out scorched craters.
The entire sky instantly illuminated as bright as day.
Caught in the shockwave, Jin Cheng wasn’t heavily injured, but the hem of his clothes was scorched and his elbow stung. Yet thanks to this assault, Meng Yufei managed to widen the gap between them once more.
But running furthest ahead was Tang Cuo.
Taking advantage of their intense clash, he had silently circled around to the front. The moment Meng Yufei approached, Tang Cuo hurled a meat cleaver through the air. Clang! Unsurprisingly, the cleaver was deflected by Meng Yufei, but that split-second parry was all Jin Cheng needed to charge in from behind again.
Meng Yufei shot Tang Cuo a vicious glare, but having no time to retaliate, he was forced to pivot. Unbeknownst to them, the battleground had shifted from Zone F all the way to the border of the Central District.
In the distance, the Game Hall was already in sight.
Meng Yufei’s eyes darted around. Pivoting sharply, he bolted straight for the Game Hall.
The Central District was hardly a safe haven either. Players coming and going saw the chase and took it as an ordinary sight. However, some caught sight of Jin Cheng’s face, recognized him, and exclamations rippled through the crowd.
Having recognized Jin Cheng, some naturally recognized Meng Yufei in turn.
“Whoa, isn’t that the lunatic Meng Yufei?!”
“What?!”
Those in the know immediately provided background for the bystanders: Meng Yufei was a homicidal maniac who once ran rampant in the lower zones—insane by nature and cold-blooded. Evernight City’s rule that murder does not cause permanent death made him completely unscrupulous. By slaughtering others for points, he had clawed his way up to Zone C, until he crossed paths with Jin Cheng, who had been penalized and sent back to Zone F to start from scratch.
He never imagined someone could level up faster than him, kicking him straight into prison from the get-go.
After his first stint in prison, he was released quickly, only to walk right into the city-wide purge, where Meng Yufei was ranked thirteenth on the wanted list.
And so, he was killed by Jin Cheng once again.
Every time he got out, he was killed. His prison sentences grew longer, the penalties heavier, until he was knocked all the way back down to Zone F to start from scratch.
This was his third release from prison.
He had originally planned to slaughter his way up to Zone A to seek revenge on Jin Cheng, but as he racked up kills, he discovered Jin Cheng was fucking right here in Zone F—a gift from heaven! So in a stroke of genius, he sent Cheng Ke to prison, intending to stir up trouble for Jin Cheng.
The trouble failed to materialize, and he was being hunted down by Jin Cheng yet again.
Weaving through the crowd, Tang Cuo kept an ear on the chatter while swiftly approaching the Game Hall. Looking up, Meng Yufei just happened to streak across overhead, with Jin Cheng hot on his tail.
He didn’t rush to follow them up, instead surveying his surroundings and stepping up next to the Mission Wall.
“Jin Cheng, I said I won’t let you have your way again! Next time we meet, it’s a fight to the death!” Meng Yufei sneered menacingly atop a claw machine. With a wave of his hand, he hurled another sphere of ball lightning.
This was the Central District, home to players from every zone. Since Meng Yufei dared to unleash ultimate moves here that caught bystanders in the blast, the short-tempered players from various zones certainly wouldn’t let him off easy.
In an instant, the entire Game Hall descended into utter chaos.
Amid the exploding beams of light and an amalgam of miscellaneous skills, Jin Cheng momentarily lost sight of Meng Yufei. In the racket, he couldn’t distinguish Meng Yufei’s voice either. Sweeping his gaze across the hall, his eyes met Tang Cuo’s.
Tang Cuo tilted his head toward the Mission Wall.
Jin Cheng raised an eyebrow and rushed over. He knew what Tang Cuo meant, and he didn’t agree. But just as he reached out to grab him, Tang Cuo slipped right in with a whoosh.
Jin Cheng had no choice but to follow. The moment he crossed into the Mission Wall, the system announcement kicked in seamlessly.
Ding—!
Congratulations to the players for initiating the quest “Showdown in the Devil City”. A total of twelve players are participating in this game. Basic objective: Survive for three hours! Individual rewards will be distributed according to the final rankings!
Wishing you a pleasant survival!
As vision flooded back with light, deafening cheers crashed into their ears like rolling tsunamis.
Ignoring the noise, Jin Cheng immediately searched for Tang Cuo’s figure, finally spotting him about a hundred meters away. Across a line of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven people, the two looked at each other from afar.
Tang Cuo silently turned his head away.
“Where are you looking?” Jin Cheng had an uncharacteristically stern face. Despite the distance, his voice carried across unobstructed, impossible for Tang Cuo to ignore.
Tang Cuo had no choice but to turn his head back, deadpan.
Jin Cheng: “Do you have to go against me on everything?”
Tang Cuo: “Pretty much.”
Jin Cheng was furious.
Standing next to him, Qian Wei was also enraged—angry enough to bash his head against the ground. Seeing that the big boss acted as if he didn’t exist at all, flirting from afar, Qian Wei grew even more frantic: “Dage! I say, Dage, why are you two in here again???!”
Jin Cheng arched an eyebrow. “Got a problem with that?”
I don’t dare have a problem, but I am having a mental breakdown!
Qian Wei was on the verge of collapse. After emerging from the Returner on a Snowy Night instance, he and Peng Mingfan had unanimously agreed that while the bosses were god-tier, running instances with them was far too perilous. At least, they had never encountered an instance that brutal before. So the two had deliberately waited a full day before taking on another quest, specifically to stagger their timing with the bosses.
They figured bosses this formidable would either chain missions back-to-back to ascend directly to Zone E, or kick back and take a leisurely break for a few days. But who could have predicted this?
Who could have known!
When Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan entered the Mission Wall, Meng Yufei and Jin Cheng hadn’t even fought their way into the Game Hall yet. As casual solo players without An Ning’s intel network, they didn’t know that “Cheng Jin” from the previous instance was the infamous Jin Cheng of East Cross Street. They had simply thought this run was a sure thing—one more quest and they’d reach Zone E. Who knew that after waiting a few minutes in the Mission Wall, with a ding, they’d open their eyes in the instance to see—
Why is it you guys again?!
Even more broken than Qian Wei was Meng Yufei. Looking left and right, he nearly suffered a heart attack upon spotting Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. If he didn’t realize what was going on by now, he might as well end his own life on the spot.
He didn’t know Tang Cuo, but Tang Cuo had attacked him on the way to the Game Hall. It was precisely that attack that forced Meng Yufei to reroute, sending him straight toward the Central District.
Thinking carefully, Jin Cheng had also deliberately herded him toward the Central District, likely intending to force him into the Game Hall all along.
What could one do upon entering the Game Hall? Anyone with half a brain could deduce that entering an instance was a way to evade pursuit. Instances in Zone F were far less dangerous than Jin Cheng, and Meng Yufei had zero doubts about his ability to clear instances.
Yet Jin Cheng and his accomplice had followed him in as well. What were they here for?
To kill.
Murder in Evernight City wasn’t fatal, but inside an instance, it was.
Sure enough, when Meng Yufei looked over at Jin Cheng, he saw the man crossing his arms, pronouncing sentence with a pleasant smile: “You’re dead.”
Jin Cheng’s mood was thoroughly foul. He had originally had Tang Cuo coordinate with him to herd Meng Yufei into an instance, but he never intended for Tang Cuo to dive in alongside them. He had already warned Tang Cuo that now was not the time to enter an instance, yet Tang Cuo refused to listen.
Meng Yufei’s guilt grew by another degree.
At that moment, the mounting clamor all around finally interrupted the undercurrents among the players, snapping everyone’s focus back to the game.
A little red-skinned demon with horns on its head and wings on its back hovered above them. Wearing a dapper little suit vest and clutching a microphone, it spoke passionately: “Welcome, everyone, to the annual Devil City Pet Tournament! A total of twelve beloved pets belonging to the esteemed lords are competing, numbered One through Twelve. Please feel free to cheer your hearts out for your favorite pets!”
Roaring cheers tore through the clouds.
Tang Cuo surveyed his surroundings. They were standing on an unusually broad, rugged thoroughfare. The road was far from straight, featuring bends and slopes ahead. Black houses flanked both sides like stacked building blocks—bizarre and absurd. Moreover, these structures were riddled with irregularly shaped windows resembling grotesque eyes. Inside stood packed crowds of bizarre creatures: horned fiends, fanged beasts, shaggy brutes, and mollusks slithering along the walls—every monstrous shape imaginable.
These monsters were wildly cheering for them, howling and hooting in an incomprehensible mix of languages.
The Devil City Pet Tournament: twelve contestants meant twelve players. Evernight City’s recurring motif was essentially this—if humans burn forests, it burns you like kindling; if humans keep pets, it turns you into a pet. Malice to the brim.
At this moment, the twelve players were lined up abreast across the wide street, evenly spaced apart. Tang Cuo stood at the far right. Testing the waters, he took a few steps to the left, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
Twelve players, twelve lanes, completely separated from one another.
Beneath his feet was red lettering reading “12,” presumably his lane number. Tang Cuo scanned down the line: Meng Yufei was in Lane 8, with Peng Mingfan in Lane 7 right next to him.
Qian Wei was in Lane 5, and Jin Cheng in Lane 4.
The remaining lanes were occupied by unfamiliar players; for now, it was impossible to tell if they knew each other.
The little red imp circled overhead, raising a starting pistol with evident satisfaction: “No doubt everyone has been eagerly awaiting this, and you’ve all formed your first impressions of our competing pets and picked the cuties you want to root for! Without further ado, let us begin the first stage of the tournament—the Fun Obstacle Course!”
Bang!
“Let the race begin!”
