ACIFITFDB – Chapter 20

Chapter 20: The Dog Stares at His Bleeding Wound…

Looking at the grotesque being maintaining a distance of more than two meters, Qin Xian tilted his head and said nonchalantly, “I’m very tired now, so…”

With that, he raised his steel rod and, in a standard athlete’s pose, threw it like a javelin.

Aunt Zhou’s eyes widened, and she nimbly dodged to the side. The steel rod clanged against the stone ground, leaving a long scratch before rolling several meters away.

Aunt Zhou looked at the mark on the ground. If it had hit, it would have pierced right through. But before it could catch its breath, Qin Xian suddenly flung a black long whip from his hand.

Aunt Zhou’s scalp tingled. It hadn’t forgotten how the blue flames on the whip had burned it.

It instinctively wanted to run, but the whip flew over and directly coiled around its leg. The grotesque, which had been so arrogant moments ago, fell face-first onto the ground, looking exceptionally pathetic.

The grotesque trembled with rage. It slammed its hands on the ground, and over a dozen metal spikes erupted from beneath its palms, rushing towards Qin Xian.

Qin Xian directly pulled out his whip, swung it upwards, coiled around a pipe high above, and easily used it to swing away, his clothes brushing past the tips of the charging spikes.

He landed lightly on a stone five meters away.

“Damn it! Are you a monkey?!” Aunt Zhou got up and beckoned. A metal spike flew from the wall to its side.

But Qin Xian remained unperturbed. He even pointed behind Aunt Zhou and said, “Aren’t you going to look behind you?”

Aunt Zhou instinctively turned its head, only to see nothing behind it.

Realizing it had been tricked, Aunt Zhou was about to attack Qin Xian again when it suddenly heard a deafening gunshot. A bullet shot from above and to the right, directly piercing its temple, bringing out mushy brain tissue and stray metal.

Aunt Zhou’s expression was one of shock as it swayed and then face-planted onto the ground.

Huang Quxie slid down from above, panting heavily. The underground battle had been too fierce, and a large hole had been opened in the ceiling. Huang Quxie had fired a shot from this spot, hitting the grotesque’s head directly.

“Brother Qin, mission accomplished!” Huang Quxie landed, wiped his sweat, and flashed Qin Xian a brilliant smile.

Qin Xian nodded and replied, “You’re very smart. I just drew a power symbol on your shoulder, and you immediately understood what I meant.”

Huang Quxie scratched his head and laughed, “Ah, we police officers often have to communicate with gestures, so we’re quite sensitive.”

Qin Xian was about to say something more when his expression suddenly changed, and he looked at the grotesque lying on the ground behind them.

Seeing this, Huang Quxie also spun around sharply, raising his gun at Aunt Zhou. Aunt Zhou did not get up but let out a few low, maniacal laughs.

The underground area, which had been quiet for a short while, suddenly began to vibrate. The grotesque’s massive body, which had been powerless and extinguished, suddenly started to shake. Overwhelming cables and metal spikes attacked from all directions, causing the entire underground space to collapse.

Huang Quxie shouted, “Didn’t it run out of power!?”

Qin Xian looked at the grotesque’s main body, which was half-lying on the ground not far away. It was staring at him ferociously, its cracked mouth revealing a crazed smile.

“Let’s run. It’s planning a mutual destruction.”

With that, Qin Xian dodged the attack and rushed out.

Huang Quxie looked at the chaotic and deadly scene and wailed, “Ahhh!! How do we run!?”

The overwhelming attacks left no room for breath or thought, only instinct to dodge as much as possible. Huang Quxie didn’t know how many times he had been hit; the adrenaline made him numb to pain.

When he finally scrambled out of the underground, he felt pain everywhere. His leg gave out, and he fell to the ground.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo, Mom, am I still alive? My heart is about to jump out of my throat…” Huang Quxie lay on the ground, struggling to check his injuries.

“Ha… you’re alive, I’m alive. That’s good.”

Qin Xian’s voice came. Huang Quxie tried to lift his head with all his might but weakly lowered it again, resting his chin on the ground and trying to turn his eyeballs to look in the direction of the voice.

Qin Xian was leaning against the wall, his clothes tattered, and wounds on his arms and legs oozing blood. He didn’t look too relaxed either.

The small stones on the ground dug into his chin painfully. Huang Quxie rolled over to face the sky. The sky was already showing the dawn, but the crescent moon and stars were still clearly visible.

“Hey, it seems normal now? The sky was so dark just before fighting the boss that you couldn’t see anything.” Huang Quxie asked.

“Yes, the domain has been lifted. That thing is most likely dead. You can get up. You still need to take that little girl and her brother to the hospital.”

Huang Quxie was stunned. “I can’t get up! What about you? Don’t… don’t fall asleep! Those villagers might still attack us! Hello, hello, Brother Qin? You’re not dead, are you!?”

Qin Xian frowned and opened his eyes, cursing, “Who are you cursing? You’re a People’s Police officer; saving lives and helping the injured is your duty. Keep at it.”

Huang Quxie struggled like a fish out of water but couldn’t get up. He gritted his teeth and tried again, but his hands trembled, unable to support his body.

Suddenly, he heard Qin Xian walking over, and then… he grabbed his collar and yanked him upwards forcefully.

“Oh, my god! Are you trying to strangle me!?”

But with Qin Xian’s pull, he managed to get up from the ground.

Qin Xian held his steel rod, using it as a prop to push off the ground, and quickly walked towards the little girl’s hiding place. Huang Quxie quickly picked up a stick nearby and followed, leaning on it.

They hadn’t walked far when they discovered that the surviving villagers seemed to be unconscious, lying in all sorts of awkward positions. Besides them, there were many highly decayed corpses on the ground, likely the remnants of the camera and flashlight monsters from before. They had transformed from humans who had died here, and their bodies were now tattered.

Qin Xian, accustomed to such sights, scanned them briefly and continued forward. Huang Quxie behind him, however, kept letting out trembling sounds.

“So many people died… I thought… we thought this wasn’t a very serious place…”

Qin Xian calmly looked ahead and asked, “So what’s going on with your police station? Why did only you come?”

Huang Quxie was silent for a moment and said, “Sorry, that’s our work, and it’s not convenient to disclose. But if you come to our station, I can tell you.”

Qin Xian said, “Oh,” and continued, “Then forget it. I don’t want to have tea.”

Huang Quxie asked, “I’m almost suspecting you’re a fugitive. Otherwise, why would you be so resistant to going to the police station?”

“I attract trouble. Alright, I see the little girl.” Qin Xian stopped walking. The little girl, peeking out from behind a house not far away, saw the two of them and immediately ran over with tears in her eyes, carrying her brother on her back.

“Sorry,” Qin Xian said to her, looking down. “We might not have the strength to carry your brother right now.”

The little girl shook her head vigorously. With practiced movements, she adjusted her unconscious brother on her back and asked, “Can we go out now? I don’t know how much longer my brother can hold on! Oh, right, I found your bags. They’re over there!”

“Hmm? That’s great. How did you know they were our bags?”

“I… I saw you coming in from outside the village.”

Huang Quxie stepped forward and ruffled the little girl’s hair, praising her. “Clever girl. I’ll notify the people at the station right away with my phone and have them send someone over. Let’s head out of the village first. I’ll go in front, and you stay in the middle.”

The three of them took out some water and supplies from their bags, replenishing their strength quickly as they walked, hurrying towards the village exit. When they reached the outskirts, a black car had just arrived. A young man ran out and took Lou Xingye from the little girl’s back.

The young man exclaimed, “My goodness, what did you encounter?! How did you end up like this??”

Huang Quxie asked, “Is the station still short-handed? The problem in this village is very serious; people must be sent immediately to handle it. I’ll explain the situation to the chief later.”

The young man shook his head. “Alas, everyone is swamped. So many places are having problems.”

He then looked at Qin Xian and swallowed the rest of what he was going to say.

“In any case, get in the car quickly. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Huang Quxie opened the car door, about to get in, when he saw Qin Xian turn and sit down at the bus stop.

“You should come with us!”

Qin Xian waved his hand.

He could handle these injuries himself back home. Going to the hospital would cost hundreds or thousands, and Huang Quxie might find out his identity… although that was only a matter of time.

Huang Quxie called out a couple more times, but Qin Xian remained motionless. Seeing that there was still someone in critical condition nearby, he had to give up.

“Anyway, I’ll find a way to find you later. See you,” he said, then got into the car. The black car quickly drove away.

Qin Xian watched the car disappear from his sight, then turned to look in the direction of Fanggu Village. A golden light flickered in his eyes.

After confirming there were no grotesque auras there, he went to a nearby public restroom to clean off the bloodstains. He took out a new set of clothes from his backpack and changed. After doing so, Qin Xian sat back down at the bus stop, leisurely waiting for the first bus of the morning.

Another half-day of travel, spent in a semi-sleep state. It wasn’t until past three in the afternoon that he wearily returned home.

As soon as he opened the door, an unfamiliar doggy smell wafted to his nose. Qin Xian paused for a moment, then remembered that he had acquired an animal at home.

“Woof!”

A black dog suddenly rushed to his feet, sniffing from his toes all the way up to his calves.

“Mmm…”

Tangyuan let out a low sound from its throat, not sure if it was being cute or complaining about his two-day disappearance… perhaps it smelled the blood on him.

Qin Xian looked down at the dog’s belly and legs, which seemed to be without any problems, and it was eating.

He decided not to worry about it for now and just rest.

Qin Xian sidestepped Tangyuan and lay down on the sofa, sinking into it.

But this was clearly a mistake. The bruises and wounds all over his body were aggravated, causing him to gasp in pain and see stars for a while before recovering.

As soon as he regained his senses, he saw Tangyuan standing by the sofa, its muzzle less than a centimeter from his body, staring at the newly reopened wound on his hand.

Then, it extended its tongue towards the oozing drops of blood.

Qin Xian suddenly grabbed the dog’s mouth.