Chapter 31: The Shadow on the Wall

At the entrance of the police station, under the bright lights, the figure’s features gradually became clear—it was none other than the Vigil Keeper of Qingfu District, Gu Nian, known for her long legs.  

The moment Fat Dragon saw her, his will to fight vanished instantly. “Skinny Monkey, retreat!”  

“Wordless Stele—Isolation!”  

With a soft incantation, the gray stone tablet hanging at Gu Nian’s waist emitted a gentle glow.  

Buzz!  

A ripple of energy spread out, instantly enveloping a radius of several hundred meters. All the passersby in the area became blurred, as if completely isolated from this space.  

Even Ren Qingning and her three friends, now panicked, were excluded from this zone as they hurried into the police station.  

Within the isolated area, the surroundings grew distorted, losing their sense of reality. Ordinary people without Stellar Energy fluctuations were entirely cut off.  

At the same time, Fat Dragon had already turned to flee as soon as the Wordless Stele’s supernatural power activated.  

The appearance of a Vigil Keeper meant the kidnapping attempt had failed. To fight now would be sheer folly.  

From an alley nearby, the sounds of another skirmish could be heard.  

Gu Nian’s calm gaze followed Fat Dragon as she raised her glowing magic staff, chanting softly, “True Magic—Binding Cage!”  

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!  

At her words, the cobblestones paving the area in front of the police station seemed to be swept up by a fierce wind. In an instant, they flew up and converged on Fat Dragon from all directions.  

Each stone emitted a faint glow, swirling together at lightning speed to form a massive, oval-shaped cage that completely encased Fat Dragon.  

Crack!  

The oval stone cage began to shrink, compressing inward. In moments, it had shrunk by a full circle.  

Inside, Fat Dragon felt intense pain throughout his body as if he were about to be crushed. His bones creaked audibly under the pressure.  

“Performance Magic—Ring of Fire!”  

Boom!  

The magic staff burst apart in mid-air, transforming into four burning rings of fire, each over a meter in diameter, which sped toward the stone cage.  

Trapped inside, Fat Dragon’s deformed face twisted in agony as he screamed, “This Vigil Keeper is a magic user! Someone help me!”  

Hum…!  

The rings of fire streaked through the air, closing in on the stone cage.  

“I’m here. Get ready to run,” came a voice in Fat Dragon’s earpiece.  

Squeak, squeak…!  

At that moment, a dozen rats suddenly leapt out of a nearby sewer. Their eyes glowed red, and their grotesque bodies lunged at Gu Nian’s exposed nape.  

Whoosh!  

Gu Nian swiftly sidestepped several paces, pulling back one of the fire rings to sweep it behind her.  

Bang, bang!  

Boom!  

The flames erupted, and the leaping rats squealed in agony before their bodies turned to ash upon hitting the ground.  

But this brief distraction allowed the stone cage to explode at one corner with a loud bang, sending debris shooting into a nearby alley like bullets. Two parked cars were hit, setting off their alarms.  

Thud!  

Fat Dragon hit the ground, his limbs twisted unnaturally. Both his legs were fractured, and black viscous fluid oozed from every pore on his body. Casting a venomous glance at Gu Nian, he turned and fled.  

Squeak, squeak!  

A second wave of rats swarmed out of the sewer, a dense mass that encircled Gu Nian’s ankles.  

Boom, boom!  

Three fire rings descended, burning through the swarm. Gu Nian stepped back onto the police station’s stairs, frowning as she glanced in the direction where Fat Dragon had escaped.  

At the same time, two other Vigil Keepers emerged from a nearby alley where the fighting had subsided. “Gu Nian, you stay here. We’ll pursue them.”  

“Don’t pursue!” Gu Nian, known for her meticulous reasoning, immediately stopped them. “Follow the Vigil Keeper pursuit protocols. A premeditated assault like this means the attackers’ reinforcements number at least half the perpetrators. If there were three attackers, there are at least six accomplices. Our primary duty is to ensure the safety of his sister.”  

The two men gritted their teeth, wanting to argue, but Gu Nian was their team leader.

Tap, tap…  

Footsteps echoed in the distance as another Vigil Keeper arrived. “I gave chase, but they scattered and ran in different directions. I didn’t dare go too deep, worried they’d ambush me. How’s the situation here? Any casualties?”  

“None,” Gu Nian replied immediately. She then gave her orders: “Notify the department to send reinforcements. Dispel the Wordless Stele, and communicate with the police right away.”  

The other three nodded in agreement.  

“Withdraw!”  

Woosh!  

The wave of light receded like a tide, swiftly retracting into the Barrier Monument hanging from Gu Nian’s waist.  

The surroundings returned to normal, and passersby seemed completely unaware of what had transpired. They didn’t even notice the large section of missing green stone bricks on the ground.  

…

Inside the police station, Ren Qingning was animatedly recounting the incident to an officer:  

“Someone was following us just now—trying to kidnap us, right outside the door!”  

“Outside the door?!” The officer, holding a large tea mug, glanced at the entrance. He saw a stunning woman entering with three others. “You’re saying someone tried to kidnap you here, right at the station?”  

“Yes! A fat guy was following us!” The plump girl quickly chimed in, “He was coming right at us, but for some reason, he… suddenly ran away. Oh, wait! Did any of you see how he ran off?”  

“I don’t remember… I don’t think I saw him at all…”  

“What happened to your waist?” The officer pointed at the wound on Ren Qingning’s side. “Are you okay?”  

At that moment, Gu Nian approached with her team, smiling as she spoke to the officer: “Hello, Officer. Could you take a call for a moment? We’re from the Qingfu District Branch.”  

The officer was briefly stunned but instinctively followed Gu Nian to the corridor. “What’s going on? Let me see your credentials.”  

A younger Vigil Keeper frowned as he noticed the wound on Ren Qingning’s waist and immediately asked, “Miss, are you okay…?”  

“Ah!”  

Ren Qingning glanced at the shallow, bloodied marks on her waist, her face turning pale. “I’m bleeding…!”  

“Quick! Does anyone have tissues?” One of her friends gestured toward the chubby girl.  

“No need, I’ll go wash it in the restroom,” Ren Qingning said, grabbing a pack of wet wipes from a friend’s bag. Feeling that the injury wasn’t too serious after touching the wound, she walked toward the restroom. “Lanlan, could you help me buy some disinfectant? I’ll clean it up.”  

“I’m scared.” The plump girl shivered. Though she couldn’t recall Fat Dragon’s face clearly, the encounter had left her deeply unsettled. “That guy was terrifying…!”  

“She’ll be okay, right?” the young Vigil Keeper asked a colleague.  

“She’ll be fine,” the colleague replied, shaking his head. “Those guys were after her, and the chain didn’t have poison on it. They probably just wanted to knock her out to prevent resistance…”  

Relieved but still cautious, the younger Vigil Keeper followed Ren Qingning and stood outside the women’s restroom, silently keeping guard.  

Inside, Ren Qingning found the space small, with just two stalls. She instinctively locked the door, lifted her T-shirt, and began wiping the wound with the wet wipes.  

The moment Ren Ye had returned home that day, he’d warned Huang Wei that the Bell Society might target his family offline.  

For the ever-pragmatic yet temperamental Huang Wei, this was enough to set him on high alert. To ensure her safety, he had specifically assigned Gu Nian and her three team members to shadow Ren Qingning and provide close protection. At least until Ren Ye cleared Qingliang Town, this level of protection would only increase, not decrease.  

…

No. 88 Lianhu Road  

Ren Ye and Xu Peng were sitting in a restaurant, having a meal.  

“You’ve worked hard these past few days,” Ren Ye said with a smile. “I don’t have much money right now, but once everything goes smoothly… I’ll make sure to reward you properly.”  

“How properly?” Xu Peng asked curiously.  

“I’ll even get you a couple of days at a club,” Ren Ye said, winking at Xu Peng.  

Xu Peng immediately waved his hand. “Women only slow down my pace of brewing herbal medicine. If you really want to thank me as your mentor… just buy some medicine from me. I’m seriously running out of money.”  

“…!” Ren Ye stared at the stubborn man, momentarily at a loss for words.  

Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached, and Huang Wei rushed over. “Stop eating. Come with me to the university district.”  

Ren Ye snapped his head around. “What happened?!”  

“What you mentioned about offline action—it’s actually happening,” Huang Wei replied truthfully.  

Ren Ye froze for a moment before his face twisted with rage. He shot to his feet, grabbing Huang Wei by the collar. His expression mirrored the one he had when he killed Liu Linger—a cold, menacing glare. “What happened to my sister? Tell me, what happened to her?!”  

…

At that moment, it had been less than five minutes since the attempted kidnapping of Ren Qingning.  

In a dimly lit alley, Fat Dragon and Skinny Monkey had just regrouped and were moving quickly.  

“We had a car, but we’re stuck walking,” Fat Dragon muttered, his whole body aching, his expression dark.  

Skinny Monkey, walking beside him, wasn’t any happier. “This is your fault, idiot! You got spotted tailing a regular person? I almost got killed by those two Vigil Keepers!”  

“Who are you calling an idiot?!” Fat Dragon shot him a venomous glare.  

“The Vigil Keepers might’ve been carrying tracking tools! Mr. He didn’t let us use the car to avoid exposing everyone, you moron!” Skinny Monkey, slightly sharper, hissed. “Keep moving… my stomach hurts like hell.”  

Fat Dragon clenched his fists, grinding his teeth as he spat out, “Fine—let’s—move!”  

The two bickered briefly but kept going.  

They were now in a suburban slum area, at the back of some residential courtyards. The further they walked, the dimmer the streetlights became, and there wasn’t a soul in sight.  

“Ugh…!”  

Suddenly, Skinny Monkey doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain as blood trickled from his nose.  

“Are you dying? If you are, I’ll bury you here before leaving so you don’t blow our cover,” Fat Dragon remarked earnestly, his tone devoid of humor.  

“Screw you!” Skinny Monkey growled through gritted teeth. “One of the Vigil Keepers was Strength-based… they wrecked my intestines. Damn!”  

After a brief rest, Skinny Monkey managed to steady himself, supporting his knees as he prepared to stand.  

Tap, tap…  

A faint sound of footsteps echoed nearby.  

Skinny Monkey, his face close to the ground and his body slightly hunched, suddenly froze, his expression stiffening. His senses were sharper than most.  

“Hurry up if you’re not dead! I’m starving!” Fat Dragon snapped impatiently.  

“No… something’s not right…!” Skinny Monkey’s face turned pale with fear.  

“What’s not right?”  

“Your shadow… you have two shadows! Watch out!!” Skinny Monkey shouted as he leapt backward in alarm.  

Fat Dragon instinctively glanced at the ground. Among his large, bulky shadow was a faint second shadow clinging to the ground—a slim, human-like outline. It looked like a woman.  

“Solidify!”  

“Petrify!”  

Without hesitation, Fat Dragon activated his supernatural ability. His skin bubbled with viscous black liquid, and in an instant, his body transformed into a stone statue.  

Whoosh!  

The second shadow rose from the ground like a paper cutout.  

It stood up.  

The shadow was alive. Its contours revealed a woman’s figure with long hair.  

The shadow held a sharp blade. The moment it sprang up, it slashed directly at Fat Dragon’s neck.  

Slash!  

With a single strike, the shadow’s blade cut clean through Fat Dragon’s petrified neck. His hardened, stone-like body crumbled like paper, offering no resistance.  

On the wall, Fat Dragon’s shadow split in two, his head tumbling like a watermelon to the ground and rolling into a sunken storm drain nearby.  

In the distance, Skinny Monkey reacted in an instant, unleashing his maximum speed. Like a madman, he sprinted toward the bright, bustling streets ahead, desperate to escape.  

Against the wall, Fat Dragon’s severed neck continued to spurt blood. His body twitched, but the black substance leaking from him grew increasingly faint. The once-violent Stellar Energy fluctuations within him subsided, eventually dissipating like a fading whisper…  

“Whoosh!”  

Skinny Monkey dashed like a speeding car, glancing back as he ran. But as he approached the crossroads, he caught sight of the courtyard wall to his left—there, the woman’s shadow eerily sat. Thin as paper, her hand toyed with a similarly thin short blade, flipping it casually.  

Halting in his tracks, Skinny Monkey glared at the shadow with hatred. His Stellar Energy suddenly surged with intensity. “Die, you monster!”  

“Swish, swish…!”  

From his left hand, three thick black chains suddenly shot out, while his right arm swelled grotesquely, extending over ten meters toward the shadow’s neck.  

The chains and arm struck simultaneously, aiming straight for the kill.  

But in that moment, Skinny Monkey watched in horror as the shadow began to split—one became two, two became four, and in an instant, it multiplied into over a dozen.  

The shadows moved unpredictably—some leapt forward, others charged, dodged, or blocked—all with uncanny speed.  

“Clang, clang~!”  

Six shadows grabbed hold of the three chains, yanking them forcefully backward.  

Five other shadows, each wielding a blade, slashed and dodged with bizarrely agile movements.  

“Slash, slash, slash…!”  

Skinny Monkey’s grotesquely extended arm was hacked into over a dozen pieces as it recoiled, the severed fragments crashing heavily to the ground.  

“Thud, thud…!”  

Pale-faced, Skinny Monkey staggered back several steps, nearly collapsing. In a desperate shout, he roared, “I’m from the Bell Society! We have more people—our second-phase players are here too! If you don’t want to die—!”  

“Clatter!”  

Six shadows pulled the three chains tight, moving so fast they seemed to teleport. They encircled Skinny Monkey several times, binding him tightly.  

Under the flickering starlight, the dozen shadows merged back into one.  

She appeared unable to speak, merely flipping her blade idly as she approached the bound Skinny Monkey without haste.  

“W-Who are you?!” Skinny Monkey’s voice trembled as he struggled in vain against the chains.  

“Ha!”  

The woman’s shadow let out a soft chuckle, lifting her arm abruptly.  

“Slice!”  

One stab pierced straight through Skinny Monkey’s heart, followed by a downward slash that tore open his chest.  

“Slash!”  

With the second cut, the shadow dug into the gaping wound and directly extracted his heart.  

Skinny Monkey had always enjoyed eating the hearts of others, so the woman’s shadow chose his favorite method to end his life.  

One minute later, Skinny Monkey’s lifeless body, with his own heart clenched between his teeth, hung suspended from a telephone pole by the chains.  

Under the dazzling lights, his corpse swayed gently…  

The symbolic ritual of the hanging seemed to carry the weight of judgment.  

On the ground below, a message written in large, bloody letters remained:  

“To my fellow players from afar, you’ve pissed me off. Don’t even think about leaving!”  [Mommy?]

The shadow turned her back to the “hanging scene” and Fat Dragon’s decapitated body—his head still biting his own corpse. Slowly, she vanished into the night.  

…

At the police station.  

Gu Nian had already left alone, having sensed the Stellar Energy fluctuations from the deaths of Skinny Monkey and Fat Dragon.  

“Bang!”  

The bathroom door burst open as a plump girl rushed over. “Here, disinfectant, gauze… Are you really okay? Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?!”  

“Thanks!” Ren Qingning replied, turning to the Vigil Keeper nearby. “Are you a police officer too?”  

“Heh, yes.” The Vigil Keeper smiled at the beautiful young woman before him. “I’ll take you to the hospital for a check-up soon.”  

“Ring ring!”  

Before he could finish, a phone started ringing. A classmate holding Qingning’s bag called out, “It’s your phone!”  

Ren Qingning took the phone, stepped aside, and answered, “Hello?”  

“Are you okay?!” Ren Ye’s urgent voice came through.