He and Edmond chased after the motorcycles, one in front and one behind. I reached the doorway and froze in place. This world... it felt like a realm of death!
Before me lay an endless desert, bathed in the bright moonlight, its peculiar reddish-purple hue giving the impression that the earth's skin had been gruesomely peeled away, revealing its fresh, rotting flesh. The air carried a faint stench of decay, and even the moonlight seemed to take on a strange, eerie shade of red.
In the navy blue night sky, a disc-shaped object hung high, seemingly another moon! Yet, this one was a crescent moon! It appeared to be of similar size to a regular moon, but its surface was uneven, lacking the smoothness of a typical crescent moon. Moreover, it was unusually close to us, almost as if it were truly suspended in the night sky and not at the distance of the moon from the Earth.
Hold on, that doesn't seem like the moon after all, because it contained glittering starlight. It sparkled, resembling the signal lights on top of our skyscrapers. Additionally, it was filled with numerous tiny black dots, which seemed to be moving. It moved slowly, as if progressing alongside the Earth.
"Boom, boom!" Suddenly, I heard the roar of motorcycles.
The wind suddenly died down, revealing the clear silhouette of Campbell Russell in pursuit against the vast, dark-red desert backdrop. Not far from him were two... motorcycles!
Damn it! Was Campbell Russell planning to chase after motorcycles on foot?! Moreover, the exhaust pipes of those motorcycles emitted not smoke but blue light! The rumbling sound resembled the starting noise of sci-fi motorcycles rather than the familiar roar of gasoline or diesel engines.
The motorcycles soared into the air with a humming noise. The engines didn't seem to run on gasoline or diesel but rather on an energy source I had never seen before. This energy source allowed the bikes to fly, as if they were using magnetic levitation or had escaped Earth's gravitational pull!
I hurriedly ran towards them. Edmond had already stopped, panting. "Can't catch up... anymore..."
I stood beside Edmond, about to shout at Campbell Russell to stop, as there was no way he could catch up. However, suddenly! Campbell Russell disappeared from my sight as if he had been swallowed by time and space!
In the next moment, I saw a figure appear above one of the motorcycles. Under the moonlight, the figure swung a knife down, a flash of blood slicing through the air. A black, spherical object soared in the blood's glow, tracing a parabola in the azure night sky, leaving behind a trail of black droplets that tumbled through the air.
At that moment, the entire world fell silent...
Silent, as if time had come to a standstill...I seemed to no longer hear the roar of the motorcycles, nor the whooshing wind. In my eyes, there was only that soaring figure—Campbell Russell...
The spherical object dropped to the ground, bouncing a few times before rolling to the side. However, the motorcycle continued its journey through the night.
I stood still, and Edmond also straightened his body, silently gazing at the airborne figure. The night wind lifted strands of his hair, tinged with the red moonlight, giving it a bloody glow.
Campbell Russell, now in mid-air, had drawn his handgun, and beams of light flashed under the moonlit night.
"Thud!"
The other motorcycle promptly flipped over on the ground. Edmond immediately ran towards it, and I snapped out of my daze to follow him.
The purplish-red ground felt sticky and peculiar. The sound of our footsteps echoed in the night, like the shuddering feeling of stepping on a mass of flesh.
At this moment, a seemingly leader-like thug fell not far from the motorcycle, his head cracked open, blood flowing, and he held a gun, aiming at Campbell Russell. "If you kill me, I'll kill you! Hahaha—let's die together—" The thug, with a sinister appearance and pockmarked face, grinned evilly. Blood from his head wound flowed into his yellowed teeth, staining them with a gruesome hue, creating a horrifying image that sent shivers down the spine.
Campbell Russell didn't hesitate to pick up his gun. However, just as he did, the thug fired.
"Campbell Russell!" I shouted in alarm.
But Campbell Russell had already vanished into thin air, and the beam of light hit the spot where he disappeared.
I couldn't see him, but suddenly, a gust of wind swept past me, lifting my bangs. In the next moment, Campbell Russell had reappeared beside the thug, the muzzle of his gun aimed squarely at the thug's temple!
The thug was instantly dumbfounded, frozen in place.
I watched in astonishment as Campbell Russell vanished and reappeared, utterly confused about what was happening!
"Amazing!" Edmond exclaimed beside me. "Campbell Russell, quickly! Don't let him live; Asura King will come to exterminate our clan!"
I continued to stand there, dazed, between them. What was this about Asura King?
"Hmph, does your Silvermoon City also care about the lives and deaths of people on the surface?" A mocking laugh escaped Campbell Russell's lips, his sharp and cold gaze focused on Edmond's face. A disdainful and mocking smirk played on his lips, as if shaking his head in utter disappointment. "Stop pretending here. It disgusts me! Weren't you afraid of dying? Now that you've escaped, you can find someone to take you back. Get lost!" Campbell Russell's eyes flashed with a hatred that was no longer concealed, and he no longer paid any attention to Edmond.Edmond froze in place, pursed his lips, as if unwilling to offer any explanations or retorts. He lowered his face, and the night wind gently lifted his bangs, revealing a hint of melancholy in his expression.
The thug under Campbell Russell's gun remained motionless, and he looked cautiously at Campbell Russell before shifting his gaze between Edmond and me. Suddenly, he began to plead, "Please, spare me! I swear I won't return to Eclipse City! So Asura King won't come back to hunt you down and exterminate your clan! Silvermoon City is even more unlikely! We all know that Silvermoon City is supreme, and you don't interfere with surface matters, right?" He ingratiatingly looked towards Edmond, "We all know, Silvermoon City is the supreme authority. You guys don't meddle with the affairs on the surface, right?" There was a hidden meaning in his words, and his eyes squinted slightly, "But Asura King has built quite a few spaceships, and Silvermoon City might not be safe either..."
Suddenly, Edmond raised the gun in his hand without hesitation, and a beam of light instantly pierced the thug's forehead, burying the words he hadn't finished saying forever in his lifeless body.
I stood there in shock, next to him. The Edmond, who had previously cowered in fear, had unhesitatingly fired the gun. His face, semi-lowered, displayed no expression. There was no panic, no tension in killing, not even the cold ruthlessness seen in Campbell Russell. It was as if he had just stepped on an ant, showing no ripple in his expression.
Campbell Russell also appeared somewhat surprised and astonished. He looked at Edmond with a gaze that held scrutiny and evaluation. Was he reassessing Edmond?
Previously, confined together, we were unfamiliar with each other. Judging from Campbell Russell's disdain for Silvermoon City, he wouldn't pay much attention to Edmond. Edmond seemed to have feigned fear for safety reasons. However, at this moment, the composed act of pulling the trigger had completely exposed him.
Even someone like me, who underwent frequent training, wouldn't be able to casually pick up a gun and kill someone, even if that person deserved to die. In my heart, I couldn't bring myself to do it, and my hands would tremble.
Edmond blinked, and his long eyelashes caught a glint of frosty white under the moonlight. He casually tossed the gun aside, turned, and walked away. The night wind lifted the white hem of his clothes as he departed. He didn't say a word, nor did he offer any farewell or nostalgia. It was as if, at this moment, Campbell Russell and I were just strangers, and he merely brushed past us in the vast crowd of people.