In the vast blizzard, a black trench coat strode forward steadily.
Black boots left one footprint after another in the snow, with blood dripping from the hem of the coat, adorning the snowy ground like a thin, long red line.
Spark! Spark! Spark!
The sparks from striking flint ignited a cigarette, and he took a deep breath of the thick smoke, exhaling slowly...
"Most of them have been cleared out, just a few remnants left... This time, let's finish them off in one go," he muttered.
The hem of his bloodstained trench coat shimmered with four faint silver patterns.
Just then, in the grayish-white sky, two stars simultaneously lit up, and ethereal divine light descended upon a distant mansion.
Seeing this, his eyebrows raised slightly,
"[Divine Favor]?"
"Given the direction, it should be Ma Zhong's mansion... Among those remnants, there's actually someone with divine favor?"
As he muttered to himself, another star lit up, and the third divine favor descended...
"Three divine paths' favor?" His surprise turned into shock, "What kind of monster is this..."
He unconsciously increased his pace.
The flying snowflakes were chilling to the bone, and the outline of the mansion in the distance was faintly visible.
One minute,
Two minutes,
Three minutes...
His eyebrows furrowed deeper.
Regardless of how he walked, the mansion remained hazy and unclear, with no signs of getting closer... It was like a mirage in the heavy snow.
Finally, he seemed to have sensed something and turned back to look behind him.
Without knowing when, his footprints since his arrival had all disappeared.
The cold wind howled in his ears, and in this vast white world, it seemed as if he was the only one existing.
"Who?" he asked coldly.
His voice dissipated into the swirling snowflakes, as if devoured by some monster, and an eerie silence lingered around.
"...Playing tricks," a murderous intent flashed through his eyes, and his right hand grasped the gun handle at his waist, as an invisible domain suddenly expanded!
His eyes closed, the cigarette at the corner of his mouth burned silently, and he seemed to be seriously sensing something.
Suddenly, he lifted the gun like lightning, aiming at a certain position beside him, and pulled the trigger without hesitation!
Bang——!
The power of deconstruction tore through the void, crushing all the snowflakes in its path.
At the same time, everything around him seemed to be ignited like a paper scroll, the earth, the sky, the snowflakes, the distant outline of the mansion... He was like being wrapped in a giant cocoon, and with this gunshot, the cocoon shattered!
The sense of unreality around him faded like mist, and the distant mansion became clear again.
"Huh?" A light exclamation came from beside the bullet's trajectory.
He turned to look and saw a boy with a piece of white paper covering his face, crouching in the snow, holding a branch in one hand, looking at him through crude holes cut out of the paper with surprise.
On the snowy ground before the boy, there was a large circle outlined by the branch, and the man's figure was now trapped in the center of this circle.
Only at the position where he fired just now, a gap had opened in the circle.
"I thought you would need to walk for a few more minutes to discover this," the boy shrugged, "It seems I underestimated you... You are indeed the legendary talented law enforcement officer."
"Who are you?"
Han Meng frowned and stared at him. He could feel that the aura emanating from this boy was even stronger than his own, indicating that he had already stepped into the fifth stage!
Yet, Han Meng was already twenty-five... The boy in front of him looked to be no more than fifteen or sixteen years old!
Fifteen or sixteen and already in the fifth stage?
He had never heard of such a prodigy in the Aurora Realm.
"I've covered my face. How can I tell you who I am?" The boy pointed to the white paper covering his face. Then, seemingly feeling a bit suffocated, he casually poked a hole in the position of his nose and continued,
"You're old, but your brain isn't working well, huh?"
Han Meng's face turned iron-green instantly.
"Do you know what crime you'll be tried for if you obstruct a law enforcement officer from carrying out his mission?"
"Law enforcement officer? Is that so impressive?"
The boy chuckled and used the branch in his hand to casually draw in the snow. A square pattern instantly appeared beneath Han Meng's feet, framing him inside.
"Once you can walk out of this, I'll admit you're somewhat impressive... Maybe, one-tenth as impressive as me." A smile emerged on the boy's face beneath the white paper.
Han Meng looked down and saw that, without knowing when, a giant playing card had appeared in the snow beneath his feet...
[Club 8]
The moment Han Meng saw the face of the playing card, his pupils contracted sharply as if he had remembered something.
"...Twilight Society?!"
...
Inside the mansion.
Chen Yifei stared blankly at the third star that had lit up, with some confusion in his eyes.
He didn't recognize this star, and he didn't know why it was attracting him... If killing had triggered the attention of the "Way of the War God", then what about the other two divine paths? Why did they come?
Chen Yifei couldn't figure it out and decided not to think about it anymore. For him, the question he faced now was which divine path to choose.
As long as he stepped onto a divine path, he would gain extraordinary power... Maybe one day, he could rely on his own strength to escape from being a "spectator"!
One person couldn't step onto multiple divine paths simultaneously, just like a person couldn't be split to walk on two paths. Chen Yifei looked at the three divine paths and made a decision without much hesitation... After all, among the three divine paths, he only knew the "Way of the War God".
Moreover, the impression left by Han Meng's "Dance of Slaughter" was too profound. He even felt that the "Way of the War God" might be the most combat-proficient divine path among all.
Just as he was preparing to choose the "Way of the War God", something unusual happened!
In the void behind him, pairs of crimson eyes suddenly opened, resembling a sea of writhing shadows!
The "spectators" had begun to intervene in the performance!
Thump—Thump—Thump—Thump—
In the theater, countless "spectators" who were watching the performance simultaneously stomped on the floor, creating a muffled rumble that was continuous like thunder!
Numerous gazes were cast from the theater, looking up at the three stars in the sky. At this moment, "world-ending" level power dispersed along with the crimson eyes, akin to an invisible, immaterial super giant roaring silently at the three stars!!
They were rejecting the divine paths;
They were intimidating the divine paths!
In the next moment, the three stars in the sky trembled violently!
The divine glow that enveloped Chen Yifei shattered inch by inch, resembling a sky-piercing divine road that was collapsing from the bottom...
The divine paths were afraid.
They saw the monster behind Chen Yifei. They, who had initially favored Chen Yifei, began to fear his existence. They all refused to let that monster step onto their paths... Just like no one would actively invite a fierce tiger to their home as a guest.
Therefore, they severed their own divine paths and retreated to avoid the sharp edge or tip of danger or conflict.
The three divine glows that enveloped Chen Yifei shattered, and the path to divinity quickly disappeared. At this moment, both Chen Yifei and the others present, including Qian Fan, were all stunned...