Chapter 229: Chapter 229: Farewell to This World

“It worked. Let’s see what this thing actually is…” Chen Ke observed his surroundings, attempting to determine from which direction the monster would come, with the help of Spiritual Vision.

As the concentration of weapons increased, the surrounding area grew colder. Ying Baiyi, dressed only in a thin shirt, could hardly bear it.

Unfortunately, the cold was the result of psychosomatic suggestion; wearing more clothes was futile… Shivering, he turned to Chen Ke and asked in surprise, “You aren’t cold? How do you manage that?”

“Clear your mind of distractions, Ying Baiyi,” Chen Ke said nonchalantly.

In reality, he wasn’t immune to memetic infection and could be affected like anyone else, but his physical condition was somewhat unique; it wouldn’t be accurate to say he was like a dead person, but it was close, so he wasn’t particularly sensitive to changes in the climate.

The two of them took cover behind a police car that had crashed into a lamppost, covertly observing their surroundings.

Chen Ke found a Winchester M1887 shotgun in the trunk of the police car, along with six usable deer bullets.

“That thing… it won’t do any good against that monster… you know that, right?” Ying Baiyi asked.

“Better than being unarmed,” Chen Ke replied.

Ying Baiyi said nothing, curling up and continuously exhaling hot breaths as his body shivered from the cold.

Not sure if it was an illusion, the darkness seemed to grow thicker around them; where they could previously see within a 10-meter range, now they could barely see past 5 meters.

Moreover, a white frost crystallized on the surfaces around them. Chen Ke touched the toe of his leather shoe and found a layer of dew clinging to his fingers.

“This Illusion Technique is… so realistic,” Chen Ke remarked.

He turned back to look at Ying Baiyi, whose face was deathly pale and shaking violently; it seemed that the temperature had now dropped below zero.

A shroud of white mist enveloped them; a blue silhouette appeared within the range of Chen Ke’s Spiritual Vision scan.

Its form was hunched as it moved in a gliding manner toward them; at a conservative estimate, it was about 100 meters away from Chen Ke and himself.

Chen Ke reasoned that the direction the monster was coming from must be the route Sam and Diana had taken to escape. By cautiously bypassing this monster, they should be able to find them.

Sam, being a Ranger, was not the type to only rush in head-first, and Diana, as an agent of the Administration Bureau, should be able to gauge the monster’s strength and the situation around them.

Chen Ke trusted they were still alive; they hadn’t stumbled upon any corpses on the road yet.

“We should get going…” Chen Ke said, turning back.

Ying Baiyi nodded, forcing himself to concentrate and slowly followed, creeping forward behind Chen Ke.

They needed to maneuver past the vehicles on the street and use various buildings and obstacles to quietly get around the monster.

Now, Chen Ke no longer faced the immediate need to prolong his life; with forty-one souls in hand, by his usage, he had far more than 168 hours of actual time, meaning his reserves were quite ample. There was no need for the desperate fight for survival as before.

Chen Ke wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating, but suddenly he faintly heard a sound like a ringing bell, “Ding… ding… ding…” repeating every few seconds.

“Ying Baiyi… do you hear anything?” Chen Ke asked.

“Don’t bother… It might be part of the memetic infection too, just pretend you can’t hear it…” Ying Baiyi shivered as he spoke.

“No… that sound… no… it’s a thought… I imagined that bell ringing…” Chen Ke said.

“Don’t think about that… stop thinking about it…” Ying Baiyi warned, his hand on Chen Ke’s shoulder.

Chen Ke tried to ignore the sound of the bell, but he could still faintly hear it. Overcome with curiosity, he closed his eyes and focused on the sound, imagining a small silver bell in his mind…

“Heehee… where’s the sun…” Suddenly, the small bell transformed into the face of an Asian woman, staring at him with an eerie smile.

Startled, Chen Ke opened his eyes and realized that the monster had instantly teleported right in front of him!

“Holy shit!!!” Ying Baiyi also jumped in fright, collapsing onto the ground.

A message box popped up in front of Chen Ke:

[Evil Creature Level: High-Level]

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[Status: Active]

[Form: Biological]

[Category: Sin]

[Attribute: Magic]

The monster, clad in a tattered white robe, had a pale complexion with long, disheveled hair dragging on the ground. Its eyes were pitch-black, and green slime oozed from its nostrils. It reached out with its gaunt, four-fingered claw, grabbing towards Chen Ke’s chest.

“Fuck me…” Chen Ke pulled the trigger of his shotgun only to realize it wasn’t loaded! He cursed himself for being careless, for not having checked the gun after obtaining it.

At that moment, a Spiritual Ability Pistol was pressed against his right cheek, and with a “bang,” a bullet hit the monster’s face.

The gunshot burst Chen Ke’s eardrums, and blood popped from his ear canals, but he quickly used up some of his lifespan to heal.

By the time he regained his senses, the monster had vanished without a trace, and the bullet hadn’t hit the creature but instead shattered the shop window behind it.

As the monster disappeared, the white fog around them also dissipated, and the oppressive environment lightened slightly.

“I’ve never seen this monster before… it’s not in the registry… damn it…” Ying Baiyi said, his complexion slowly regaining its color, and he no longer felt cold.

Chen Ke sat on the ground, loading the shotgun. He didn’t respond to Ying Baiyi because he knew where this monster had come from…

From a TF card that Chen Ke had picked out of a spy camera in a motel, there was a very strange video. The girl in that video looked exactly like this monster…

It had promised to come for Chen Ke in 7 days…

Calculating the time, starting from the day Chen Ke first watched the video until now, it was indeed exactly 7 days…

This thing had come for him.

Moreover, Chen Ke noticed that this monster wasn’t a mutated individual but an “evil creature” he had never seen before, and its level was actually high-level…

“This monster is very dangerous; it can instant teleport. I suspect that the bell sound is its meme perception system,” Chen Ke said.

“I told you not to pay attention to the bell… It seems the more you care about the bell, the stronger its perception of you becomes, allowing it to instantly appear before you…” Ying Baiyi agreed.

“But now it’s gone, we’re temporarily safe. Let’s hurry up and find Sam and the others.” Chen Ke stood up and casually pulled Ying Baiyi up from the ground.

The monster belonged to the category of Sin, and the bullets in Ying Baiyi’s gun were Punishment bullets, an attribute that should counter the monster’s. It must have sensed the aura of the Punishment attribute Spiritual Energy, so it fled immediately after Ying Baiyi’s attack.

Chen Ke, with Ying Baiyi, ran toward the direction where the monster had appeared, having a hunch that Sam and Diana were nearby.

Sure enough, under a street corner lamp, he saw a Black Man holding a gun, looking up and down the street.

“That’s Sam!” Chen Ke said.

Sam also saw Chen Ke and Ying Baiyi, his big black face revealing a row of white teeth, seemingly smiling.

“You two… did you encounter something just now?” Sam asked anxiously, not having time to relish the joy of finding his companions.

“If you’re talking about a girl in a white robe who looks like a ghost,” Chen Ke said.

“I knew it… Did those two shots kill it?” Sam asked.

“Unfortunately, no, it disappeared,” Ying Baiyi answered.

“Damn! That’s really bad! It came out of the hospital right after you went in. I thought you had made a mistake and let it out… Diana thought you were already dead…” Sam said.

“How is Diana…?” Chen Ke quickly asked.

“Oh… she’s in a bad way… To protect the two kids, her barely healed wounds ripped open again, bleeding a lot. I don’t know how much longer she can hold on,” Sam sighed.

“What about the others?” Ying Baiyi asked.

“There are only seven of us left… including you guys, that makes nine… Diana heard the gunshots and told me to come and look… Tell me, Chen Ke! Have you sorted everything out, can you take us back now? Please tell me!” Sam grabbed Chen Ke’s shoulders.

“Take me to see her, it’s time to say goodbye to this world,” Chen Ke said.

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