Chapter 40 - The Fine Line between Life and Death (Part I)

Green City’s government building, in the main hall on the third floor.

A dozen people were gathered around a round table. An intense meeting was in progress.

Sitting at the head of the table, a middle-aged man in a white shirt put down a document and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose. “Up till now, still no news of the chairman of Lewei Group?”

“No.” Someone on his left stood up to report, “A thorough search has been conducted to pick up on his trail, and according to our findings, over the past few days, not a single warrior in the Foreign Realm has seen Lewei and company. The presumption is that… most likely they met with misfortune.”

“Didn’t he bring a Level 3 warrior with him? And several Level 2 warriors? None of them are alive?”

“Yes. Inside 312B Foreign Realm, other than radiation, we haven’t detected any other dangers. So our preliminary assessment of the situation is that it was a case of homicide.”

“…. Who in Green City could have possibly killed a Level 3 warrior?” the middle-aged man questioned, a sharp, stern look in his eyes.

“Not many.”

“Are their names all included on the list?”

“Yes, they’re all on the list.”

“Let’s wait a day or two more. If we still don’t hear from Le Wei, then we’ll start the tracking process.”

“Yes, Mayor.”

After he finished making the arrangements, the middle-aged man adjourned the meeting, shut his eyes, and did some eye exercises.

The disappearance of Le Wei was, in fact, only a small matter.

At the moment, his greatest headache was the matter of the missing team of Capital University…

In order to collect samples from the peripheral region surrounding Green City, Capital University had sent a total of two teams.

They were still in contact with the main team, which was led by the president of the Student Association of Capital University.

The secondary team, led by Xing Bi, had lost contact with the school as early as four or five days ago…

Le Wei was merely one of many businessmen. His death wasn’t anything to cry over.

But the students from Capital University were all the pride of the nation, so it would be a major problem if even a single one of them was injured!

Not to mention a whole team going missing…

After a long time, the middle-aged man looked up and asked, “Has contact with Xing Bi’s team been re-established?”

“Not yet. The technical team is still trying its best to work on it,” someone next to him replied.

“Sign…” Letting out a deep sigh, the middle-aged man felt mentally and physically drained. “Can’t you all just let me finish with this college entrance examination in peace?” he lamented.

“Bang!”

At this juncture, the door of the hall was pushed open.

Xing Bi, covered in blood, walked in step by step.

“Clamor…”

The middle-aged man, as well as the other government personnel around him, all stood up in shock.

“You… What happened to you?”

“Nothing much.” Xing Bi grabbed her ponytail and wrung out some blood. Then, shaking it off, she said, “Just escaped from the doors of death. That’s all.”

The middle-aged man stepped forward and asked, “Where’s the rest of your team?”

“Dead.”

“…” At that point in time, the entire place instantly fell into absolute silence.

His face somewhat pale, the middle-aged man said, “Xing Bi, you’re joking, right?”

“No. Our team, two teammates and one safety officer, was all sacrificed. I’m the only one left alive.”

“Weren’t you guys there to just gather samples?!” The middle-aged man instantly flew into a rage and slapped the table forcefully, demanding, “How can people die on a mission like that!!”

“Gathering samples? That’s all a lie. Capital University has lied to you.” Xing Bi wasn’t afraid of incurring the mayor’s wrath. So, she continued to speak slowly, “The main reason they lied to you was that they didn’t want to cause panic among the local official authorities.”

“You… what do you mean…” The middle-aged man was now breaking out in a cold sweat, as he vaguely sensed that something ominous was coming.

“Step, step, step…”

With slow steps, Xing Bi left a trail of bloody footprints as she walked to the podium of the hall. Then she scanned the whole room once before saying, “The reason why Capital University sent two teams here to Green City wasn’t to gather samples but to investigate the issue concerning foreign beasts.”

“Foreign beasts…”

“Yes. Through satellite observation, they found that in recent months, the foreign beasts around Green City have been growing at an abnormally rapid rate. And they have demonstrated a tendency to form clusters. In layman’s terms…”

Xing Bi paused for a slight moment. Then, she spread her hands and said, “There may be an emergence of a beast tide. The target this time is Green City.”

After she finished speaking, the entire hall was in total silence. And it was so silent that you could hear the sound of a needle dropping.

But Xing Bi simply didn’t give the crowd the slightest time at all to catch their breath. She went on to say, “Therefore, Xing Bi’s team ventured deep into the danger zone, and at the cost of sacrificing three lives, we managed to get information on the population size of the beast tide, their direction of travel, their speed, their different levels of strength, their racial composition, and lots of other valuable information.”

That said, she picked up an unopened bottle of mineral water from the table, twisted off the cap, and took a sip before saying, “Now, please help me contact the main team led by the president of the Student Association of Capital University. I have to pass on the information. Then…”

“Sound the air raid siren throughout the entire city. Prepare to fight for your lives with all your might.”

…

At the same time, in the KTV district of Clearwater Foot Bath City…

Inside a certain private box room…

“Lover, lover. How could I forget that, midnight, intoxicating voice that sang…”

“Lover, lover…”

Sitting on the sofa, he watched the duet between Sister Qi and the box room princesses. Chen Yu had to admit that this lady boss of his was indeed very charming.

Although she was much older than the four young girls and didn’t look as good as them, her poise and temperament were far beyond them by leaps and bounds.

That kind of noble disposition that she exuded came from deep within. It wasn’t something that ordinary women could easily imitate.

Just that…

This voice of hers…

She sounded as if she had just returned from a World War II battlefield…

Downing half a glass of red wine, Chen Yu propped his swollen, painful head with his palm, feeling like he was about to collapse into complete madness soon.

While others had voices that were blessed with the kiss of angels…

He, on the other hand, suspected that Sister Qi’s throat might have been meddled with by the lock of a devil…

If she were to record a song in the national Karaoke system, the software might simply uninstall itself.

“Lover, lover, how could I forget that, midnight, intoxicating kiss…”

After she was done with one song, Sister Qi sat beside Chen Yu with a wide grin. As she sipped on her wine, she said, “How’s it going for you? Are you feeling relaxed today?”

Chen Yu replied, “Extremely relaxed.”

“Satisfied?”

Chen Yu replied, “Very satisfied.”

“Did I sing well?”

Chen Yu replied, “Your voice is wonderful.”

“Then I shall sing another song.”

Chen Yu said, “Let’s not sing anymore. Just now, I went to the toilet and found that even the toilet had a shattered WC.”

The smile on Sister Qi’s face immediately disappeared, and she said, “What do you mean? Are you saying that my singing is terrible? Do you know that people would have to line up to hear me sing?”

Chen Yu said, “It seems like these days, it’s not easy to get a prescription for sleeping pills.”

“B*llshit! Many people tell me that my singing voice can even give them eargasms!”

Chen Yu replied, “That’s because they were raped.”

“Bang!”

Sister Qi angrily slammed her palm onto the table and said, “How about you sing! Let’s see how good you can sing!”

“I… I don’t know how to.”

“Since you don’t know how to sing, what right do you have to criticize me?”

Chen Yu: “…” (speechless)

“Now let me ask you, is my singing nice or not?” Sister Qi lifted a bottle of beer and aimed it at Chen Yu’s head.

Chen Yu stammered, “… very nice, very nice.”

“What about you all?” She then pointed to the four box room princesses and demanded, “Is my voice nice?”

The young girls all fearfully replied in unison, “Very nice!” (x4)

Sister Qi asked, “Enough to give you all an eargasm?”

Young girl no. 1 said, “Yes!”

Young girl no. 2 said, “Definitely will!”

Young girl no. 3 said, “I’m already having an eargasm…”

Young girl no. 4 blabbered, “Abba, abba-abba…”

“Bang.”

Slamming the bottle of beer heavily onto the table, Sister Qi crossed her legs in an exaggerated and candid manner, then said to Chen Yu, “In one sentence, compliment my voice.”

“… Can you not ask me to give a review?”

“Are a compliment and a review the same?”

Chen Yu: “…” (speechless)

Sister Qi picked up the bottle of beer again, then threateningly, she asked, “Are you going to give me a compliment or not?”

“Say, say, say!”

Turning around to look at the four princesses, who were shivering in fear, then back at the bottle of beer in Sister Qi’s hand, Chen Yu gulped a mouthful of saliva and said, “Err… That is… Your voice, I can use a beautiful line from a wonderful poem to describe it.”

“Go on.”

“What we can never hold back in this world is the eternal youth we see in the mirror now, and the flowers falling off the trees…”

“Mmm…” Squinting her eyes, Sister Qi frowned and said, “Why do I feel… as if you’re scolding me?”

“No, no, no. You think too much.” Chen Yu snatched the bottle of beer from her, unscrewed the cap, and poured the beer out into two glasses. Then, offering her one of the glasses, he said, “Come, let’s toast to your wondrously beautiful voice. Cheers.”

With that said, he downed his glass of beer.

Then…

“Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…”

He heard the sound of an air raid siren, which tore through the quiet atmosphere.

Chen Yu said, “Eh? Sister Qi, are you going to sing again?”

There was a drastic change in Sister Qi’s expression as she exclaimed, “Sing? In my dreams! This is a citywide siren!”

“Citywide siren…”

Chen Yu instantly came to his senses and felt a chill sweep through his entire body…