Chapter 65

“You're more interesting than the last one.” The man's arm plunged straight through the thug's chest, and Lin Tu clearly saw a still-beating heart clutched in his hand.

The thug looked down blankly, only seeming to realize what had happened when the man withdrew his hand. “No!” He scrambled madly forward, tumbling into a ditch, silent.

“Pity, but that's all he amounted to.” The man crushed the heart, fresh blood splattering across his face. He turned his vile gaze to Lin Tu. “The evolution points are in your hands? I've always wondered—you people favored by the gods, what's different about your hearts? Unfortunately, the previous ones were all quite ordinary."

If she'd only suspected before, now Lin Tu was certain: this was one of those hyenas hunting evolution users that Dong Huadan had mentioned.

“How did you find me?” Lin Tu met his gaze directly.

Not getting the reaction he'd expected, the man shrugged with some disappointment but showed no intention of answering. “Worry about surviving first.”

With that, he tossed the heart aside and lunged at her.

His speed was extraordinary. Even with her guard up, Lin Tu could only throw herself to the ground, feeling her nose slam with a dull ache, barely dodging his strike. The stench of blood filled her nostrils—the last time she'd been this desperate was facing zombies for the first time. Lin Tu had no time to wipe the blood away before another gust of air rushed at her from behind. She kicked off and rolled down the slope, evading his second pounce.

—His strength and speed surpassed everyone she'd ever encountered, even the mutated monsters.

If she'd had a special item ticket, Lin Tu might have had a fighting chance, but right now she carried nothing.

She needed to get home—get home and grab her special items! The alarm bells in Lin Tu's head screamed. She scrambled up from the ground and bolted toward home.

“Where are you going!” The shadow behind her followed close.

Son of a bitch... Lin Tu wanted to curse him out, but she felt a chill creeping up her back; he seemed to be closing in. She quickly changed tack: “Don't you want the evolution points? I'm going to get them!”

“Didn't think you'd turn out to be an obedient dog.” The man behind her did slow down, lazily trailing her as she scurried about.

“Take cover!” Lin Tu scrambled up the shelf stacked with goods and shouted at the top of her lungs before vaulting over the courtyard wall, shoving the shelf back to obstruct the man's advance. Her voice was loud enough that Xiao Huang, who'd been wagging his tail and bounding out to greet her, was called back inside by the Butler.

“Oh, giving me a warning?” The man behind her laughed heartily, dodging the shelf and leaping onto the wall with ease. He watched Lin Tu run into the house, then sniffed the air—sure enough, he caught a whiff of evolution points.

“This is where it ends.” The man picked up speed, crashing brutally through the door Lin Tu had just closed. She'd barely touched her special item ticket when a claw clamped down on her shoulder.

Exposing her vulnerability to grab the ticket, Lin Tu's entire shoulder blade was seized, and she let out a muffled groan of pain.

“I haven't even gotten the evolution points yet, and you're in such a hurry to die?” Lin Tu's fury outweighed her pain. She swung her fist backward, landing a solid hit on the man's ugly face.

Lin Tu's punches were no joke—even this monster of a man winced for a moment, though that was all.

Seeing that he still hadn't let go, Lin Tu deftly drew a long blade from the ticket with one hand and stabbed hard behind her.

The grip on her shoulder loosened, and the man stepped back half a pace. His face, in the well-lit room, looked even more horrifying. He smiled at her, half-amused. “Still a little cat with claws. But I said it—this is where it ends.”

“Cut the crap!” Lin Tu stopped playing games. She pulled out [Raging Corn], [Zombie Nightmare], and all the other damaging special items, hurling them at the man. Nora's figure and cornstalk silhouettes flickered into existence overhead.

Lin Tu seized the chance to fire, the bullet hidden among the barrage of items, flying straight at the man's head.

With a bang, the man instinctively dodged aside, but the bullet blew through half his skull. “You're asking for death!” Finally feeling threatened, his pride wounded, he glared with the remaining half of his face, bared his fangs, and stopped hiding his strength entirely.

With one swipe, he shredded the cornstalks before him, and Nora was sent flying under his heavy blow.

Half his head gone and still alive—his vitality was stronger than a zombie's... Lin Tu's heart raced. She tried to mount another attack, but the man gave her no chance. Lin Tu dodged left and right until she was finally cornered against the kitchen.

—She had no way out.

Anger and resentment surged through Lin Tu. After all these years surviving, was she going to die here at this ugly bastard's hands? She quickly scanned her surroundings for anything that could get her out of this, and soon her gaze landed on the clock on the wall.

“This is evolution points!” Lin Tu dodged into the last narrow spot and, with no other choice, pulled out from her ticket holder the only remaining crystal—a fist-sized gem shimmering with iridescent light. The entire room seemed to brighten.

Lin Tu held the evolution points up in front of her like a talisman, speaking rapidly, “I left the evolution points right here, but you didn't come take them beforehand—instead, you waited for me to return. That's because you couldn't find them while they were hidden, right? I have another one. If you kill me now, you'll have a much harder time finding that one.”

The man did stop again, his one remaining eye staring at Lin Tu with clear impatience.

She'd hit the mark. Lin Tu's heart leapt with relief as she continued, “The other one is with my friend Yi Ying. Butler, accept Yi Ying's request.”

Her words seemed nonsensical. The man glared at her fiercely, while Lin Tu looked back at him perfectly naturally, showing no sign of anything amiss.

Lin Tu was gambling. When she'd shouted “take cover” earlier, she'd been telling the Butler to hide with Xiao Huang—but the man had assumed she was talking to him. Lin Tu was betting he didn't know about [Anju] or the Butler, so she could speak openly to the Butler right in front of him.

“This one's yours first,” Lin Tu said, quickly changing the subject as she handed the evolution points over.

The man noticed nothing unusual. His attention was immediately drawn to the evolution points. He took the faintly glowing crystal and sniffed it greedily. “Not using the evolution points on yourself—that was the smartest thing you've done. Bring out the other one, and I might just spare your life.”

“That's wonderful—I really don't want to die,” Lin Tu said with a sincere smile. “I'll have my friend bring it right away. But before that, can I ask one question?”

“Go ahead.” The man's half-destroyed face twisted in a grimace, suppressing his immense malice to accommodate her request.

“You said I'm different from other evolution users—is it because I didn't use the evolution points on myself, so you couldn't locate me directly, and had to find me some other way?”

After Lin Tu asked, the man didn't answer, but she could see confirmation in the expression on that half-face.

Lin Tu's guess was right. The scent of those who'd used evolution points was unmistakable—he could smell them from worlds away. But raw evolution points were different: they were creations of the gods, like pearls hidden in oyster shells, requiring the whole world to be pried open before they could be found.

That was also why he hadn't killed Lin Tu yet. Without her, he wouldn't be able to find the evolution points at all.

“So not by smell—that means through the disaster worlds' residents, or through the special achievement leaderboard,” Lin Tu kept watching that half-face. When she noticed the man reacting to the “special achievement leaderboard,” she was sure of it: this dumb dog was connected to the players, or was even a player in [Infinite Calamity]!

Were these the traitors Dong Huadan had mentioned? But he described evolution users with “you people,” drawing a clear line between himself and them. As far as Lin Tu knew, those traitors were all members of the Evolution Club.

If not him, then who was he?

Lin Tu shook off the tangled puzzle in her mind. She glanced up at the clock and suddenly asked, “Don't you worry I might enter a disaster world to do a mission right about now?”

“Now?” The man didn't turn around. He kept one eye on Lin Tu while his other eye, blown off his face and dangling almost to his shoulder, swept around—and landed on the clock.

22:59:00

In one minute, all the world's light would burst into brilliance. At this time every day, if you stood at the end of the world, you'd see these gray, dying worlds flicker like a final flash of life. Those mesmerizing glimmers meant the worlds were fulfilling their unfinished duty, using their last strength to nurture every life within them.

Few ever got to witness that beauty. Fortunate or not, this man was one of them. Once, he might have thought it a dream beyond reach—but now, he only crouched beside these worlds, praying for them to die sooner so he could have a full meal sooner.

“You won't get away,” the man said with certainty. “Your level means one disaster every seven days. Did you think I wouldn't know? You just came out of the old world yesterday.”

Lin Tu: ?

He didn't seem to know about team tickets? But Lin Tu wasn't about to tell him. Using the last few seconds, she asked her final question.

Lin Tu: “And the others? How should these two evolution points be split?”

“That's not your concern.” The remaining half of the man's face twisted into a bizarre smile. “This world is so well hidden—they'd never find it. Hurry up and bring out the evolution points. They won't get in the way, and I promise I'll spare your life.”

He clutched the evolution point in his hand greedily, his gaze sliding over Lin Tu like a sticky tongue. One more second, he thought, and the moment the next energy stone appeared, he'd kill this damn woman immediately.

“That's wonderful.” Lin Tu looked into his eyes and praised him with the most sincere tone.

She listened to the seconds ticking away until, finally, the hand marking the seconds reached its peak. Lin Tu felt her vision go dark. She was clearly standing with her back against the cabinet, yet her body fell straight backward. As the world spun, she heard a dense burst of gunfire at her ears.

She had entered the disaster [Place of Exile].