First, there was a CLICK, then a BANG!
A metallic rain burst forth from the gun barrel, instantly sending the old woman flying into the wall. Instantly, she sprayed copious amounts of blood, as if her body were a sieve.
But Liu DongLi's actions were relentless. His hand worked the bolt of the gun, loading a special round designed for Sublimators into the chamber.
Then, he pressed forward and pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The old woman, her face mangled beyond recognition, almost a mere lump of flesh after the close-range shots, slid down the wall. Her limbs twitched as if she were still struggling. Incredibly, even after taking two rounds to the face at such close range, she was still alive!
But not for much longer.
Liu DongLi cracked open the gunstock, fished two bullets from his pocket, loaded them, and fired two more shots, then another two.
He continued until the barrel burned red-hot.
The lump of flesh on the ground finally stopped moving for good.
Only her steel-shredded face still retained an expression of unfaded ferocity and panic.
Liu DongLi didn't have time to catch his breath. He turned and walked towards the two men entangled in the fight, swinging the hot barrel and cracking King Ocean on the back of the head with the gunstock.
The old man's eyes rolled back, and he fainted, leaving Huai Shi still lying on the ground gasping for air, tears and snot still streaking his face.
In that instant, Huai Shi saw Liu DongLi's eyes… His pupils had inexplicably become double pupils!
Fifty seconds passed.
The battle was over.
Lao Tang Lockdown Countdown: 2:40
"Take this and get moving. We have to at least get out of the church…"
Liu DongLi picked up his pistol from the ground and tossed it to Huai Shi, along with a magazine. Then he turned, grabbed the box, and hastened their retreat.
Huai Shi climbed up from the ground, gasping heavily, and staggered after him.
Then he saw the box tucked under Liu DongLi's arm.
That box, that familiar box… He'd seen it again. It was definitely the same box he had found; Huai Shi was sure of it. And it should have been his… Yes, it should have been his. Did Liu DongLi really think that taking his things would settle everything?
Enraged, he raised the pistol in his hand, aimed at Liu DongLi's back, and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The gunshot faded. Blood sprayed out.
Liu DongLi's body jolted violently and fell to the ground. He turned his head stiffly, looking back in disbelief at the young man behind him… at that distorted, vacant face.
After firing the gun, Huai Shi also froze, staring blankly down at the smoking barrel in his hand.
What's going on? What did I do? Why did I try to take that box? And why am I here? Didn't I feel the threat of death the moment I entered this place? Haven't I repeatedly felt the ever-thickening shadow of death? Why did I come to the church? Why did I shoot Old Liu? And what exactly am I doing?
In an instant, his thoughts tangled into a mess. An intense wave of nausea followed. His stomach churned, and he bent over abruptly, vomiting.
Then, he felt something being expelled from him.
It landed amidst the filth on the ground.
It appeared to be a living, writhing… goldfish?
Goldfish? Again with the goldfish? The person who just brushed past me seemed to have goldfish in their eyes too. And earlier, at the very beginning… that corpse, before dying, had also vomited… a goldfish?
"So, this is the stress response period? Not even six hours, and already a rejection reaction," a raspy, unfamiliar voice sighed from behind him. "Even second-generation goldfish can resist it; no wonder the initial Third Generation Goldfish couldn't establish parasitism. Such bad luck. Otherwise, the box would have been ours long ago. Why would we need all this trouble now?"
With that husky sigh, the air slowly distorted. A gaunt figure emerged from thin air, revealing a dark windbreaker and a cold, indifferent face.
He wore a pair of blood-red gloves and held a fish tank in his right hand.
Inside the small fish tank, several slender goldfish fry swam slowly.
…Green Day?
Amidst the blood, Liu DongLi saw the green circular emblem on the back of the man's hand and finally understood. He struggled to lift his gun. "Huai Shi, run…"
Red Gloves looked down at him, shaking his head pitifully. "You can't even fend for yourself, let alone others."
The chill of death suddenly flared.
Then, gunshots rang out from behind Huai Shi.
BANG! Then another BANG!
One shot finished off Liu DongLi, and the other was for Huai Shi himself.
Liu DongLi convulsed once and then fell silent.
Huai Shi stiffly looked down to see blood blooming on his chest and a gaping hole, as if his back had been struck by a sledgehammer.
It hurt like hell.
He knelt, crying out uncontrollably.
But when he turned and saw the person who had fired, his hoarse cry of pain froze in his throat.
…Old Yang?