With a tearing sound,
A figure dressed in theatrical robes squeezed its upper body out of the red paper monster, hanging upside down in the air.
Sensing Chen Yifei's imminent return, the red paper monster struggled fiercely, its body becoming increasingly transparent, like wet paper, thinning out.
Chen Yifei, hung by it, flew low and swayed, feeling dizzy and disoriented.
The torn gap in the paper kept twitching, as if trying to swallow Chen Yifei back in, while Chen Yifei struggled to hold up his upper body, enduring the dizziness and resisting with all his might!
Just then, a wet, young boy ran across the devastated land, heading straight for them! "Brother!!"
A hand grabbed Chen Yifei's arm and pulled him down forcefully!
Feeling a surge of strength, Chen Yifei's lower body detached from the paper, and he passed through the gap between the theater and reality, crashing heavily onto the ground!
In the instant Chen Yifei broke free, the airborne paper monster completely melted and vanished, as if it had never existed.
Chen Yifei, clad in a bright red theatrical robe, lay on his back on the muddy ground, breathing heavily.
The storm clouds in the sky were gloomy and oppressive, with scattered droplets of water sliding down his hair.
In the midst of the spinning sensation, Chen Yifei saw a familiar face appear in front of him, anxiously shaking his body.
"Brother! Brother!! Are you okay?"
As the dizzy sensation gradually subsided, Chen Yifei looked intently and was slightly taken aback.
"Muyu? How did you get here?"
The teenager standing in front of him was his younger brother, Chen Muyu.
In Chen Yifei's memories, there were only two things he was proud of in his life.
First, getting into the law enforcement agency through his own efforts; second, having a younger brother like Chen Muyu.
This wasn't to say that Chen Muyu was particularly smart or talented. Quite the opposite, Chen Muyu wasn't intelligent, his grades in class were at the bottom, and he struggled to speak to others, making him one of the most easily bullied kids in school.
But since Chen Muyu was just a toddler wearing open-crotch pants, he had followed Chen Yifei everywhere, doing whatever Chen Yifei asked him to do. Even when Chen Yifei mischievously buried Chen Muyu in the sand and almost suffocated him, after being rescued, Chen Muyu's first reaction wasn't to cry but to grin at him.
Since then, Chen Yifei had taken Chen Muyu wherever he went, and regardless of what he did, Chen Muyu trusted him unconditionally.
Chen Yifei was ordinary, but in Chen Muyu's eyes, he saw a different version of himself... a version that was admired.
"I, I..." The wet young boy spoke incoherently,
"After I woke up from the surgery, I waited in the hospital for you to come and pick me up... Then, then I heard outside that there was a 'world-ending' disaster invasion, and I was very worried about you.
I sneaked out when the hospital staff weren't looking, planning to go home and find you, and then I saw you hanging from that monster..."
"Aren't Districts 2 and 3 sealed off? How did you get here?"
"It seems like the law enforcement agency didn't have enough people. They only sealed off the outskirts of Districts 2 and 3, but there weren't many guards between the two districts, so I sneaked through."
Chen Yifei shook his head and finally managed to sit up with difficulty. He looked at the worried face and felt extremely complex emotions.
Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan had plotted to murder him to give his heart to Chen Muyu... to save his life.
In a sense, Chen Muyu was responsible for Chen Yifei's death.
Upon closer thought, Chen Muyu himself didn't know much about it. He was just a fifteen-year-old teenager who had been told by his parents that there was a way to cure him, so he obediently lay down on the operating table...
Even if he were healed, he wouldn't know that the heart beating in his chest came from his brother. Thinking of this, Chen Yifei looked at him with a hint of faint sorrow in his eyes.
"Brother... Did you kill someone?"
Chen Muyu's gaze fell on Han Meng, who was covered in blood, his youthful face as pale as paper.
"I didn't kill him," Chen Yifei subconsciously replied, "That wasn't me, it was..."
But before he could finish, he froze.
He didn't know how to explain everything to Chen Muyu. Chen Muyu had witnessed him emerging from the red paper monster, and now, with a fierce wound on his neck and covered in blood, he looked nothing like a normal human... Should he tell him that there was actually an audience in his mind? That he had just been possessed?
Chen Yifei's mind was in chaos. He had inherited the memories of the original host, as well as his feelings for his younger brother. Deep down, he was even somewhat afraid... He feared that Chen Muyu, like their parents, would also see him as a monster.
Chen Muyu just looked at him silently, with no trace of fear in his chestnut-colored eyes.
After a moment of serious thought, he walked over to Han Meng, used all his strength to pick him up, and then staggered deeper into the wilderness.
"What are you doing?" Chen Yifei was taken aback.
The slender figure of the teenager, carrying Han Meng who was nearly twice his weight, left deep footprints in the wet wilderness with each step.
Even so, he gritted his teeth and stumbled forward.
"Brother, he's a law enforcement officer."
"I know."
"Killing a law enforcement officer is a serious crime. Once they find out, whether or not it was you who killed him... they will come to kill you."
"...I know, I..."
"Brother." Chen Muyu spoke softly, "I'll help you bury him."
Seeing the firm and serious look in Chen Muyu's eyes, Chen Yifei's heart trembled slightly.
He hesitated for a moment and finally finished his sentence:
"No... Muyu, what I mean is... he's not dead yet!"
Chen Muyu: ?
Confused, Chen Muyu turned around and saw Han Meng's eyelids fluttering and emitting a slight groan, as if he was about to wake up soon.
He exclaimed and lost his balance, stumbling to the side, causing the unconscious Han Meng to fall to the ground with a thud.
In a daze, Han Meng's eyes slowly opened a slit...
A red figure suddenly rushed to his side, raised its fist high, and struck the back of his head!
Bang——!
Han Meng, who was just about to wake up, felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and fell unconscious again.
Chen Yifei shook his painful palm and let out a long sigh of relief.
He almost let this guy counterattack!
Just now, Chen Yifei saw the whole process of Han Meng fighting with the red paper monster through the stage curtain. Although he didn't know what kind of special ability this man used, without the red paper monster, he definitely wouldn't be able to defeat him.
"Let's go."
After knocking Han Meng unconscious, Chen Yifei looked at the increasingly heavy rain and immediately pulled Chen Muyu away from there.
There wasn't only one law enforcement officer like Han Meng in Zone Three. Han Meng might be here just because he was the fastest... If they delayed further, once other law enforcement officers arrived, they wouldn't be able to escape anymore.
Han Meng lay unconscious in the pit, while the two teenagers gradually disappeared into the distance.
The heavy rain washed over the devastated wilderness, and the mud flowed, erasing all traces of footsteps. A few minutes later, a group of figures wearing black and red uniforms hurried over...