Moth Chasing the Sun 21

Because of the license plate, the perpetrator was quickly identified. The female officer told her that the culprit was a driver from the Li family. He had run a red light in his sports car, struck her parents, and driven off without a care.

A driver.

It was clearly a scapegoat.

The female officer said tactfully, "They've paid a lot in compensation. The Li family still holds a prominent position in this city."

And she was just an orphan who had lost her parents, with a bit of savings at home—an ordinary, well-off family. In short, she was a nobody, no match for the Li family.

The police chief was also surnamed Li.

Yan Xianchuan compromised. The lawyer who came to speak with her was satisfied with her attitude and, before leaving, said that the compensation would be increased by another two hundred thousand.

That was also the maximum he could secure.

Would Yan Xianchuan accept this outcome? Of course not.

She was a psychopath with no moral boundaries and no regard for life or death. A person indeed needs ties to live, and also needs meaning.

If everyone were completely independent individuals with no attachments in this world, then death would not be so hard to bear.

Because there would be nothing to care about. Since that was the case, what difference did it make whether one was alive or dead?

She left the police station and began staking out the Li residence, following them, bypassing surveillance, and planting listening devices in the garage.

What a calm and extremely proactive person could do was beyond measure.

She obtained the playboy's schedule. He was going to the club to unwind, and in the car, he grumbled that the old man was making a mountain out of a molehill—the other side had obediently taken the money, so why should he still be grounded at home?

The sports car roared like a furious steel beast.

Yan Xianchuan entered the club through the front entrance. A membership cost a lot, but that didn't matter—she had money now.

Then she found a way to learn the layout, knocked out a waiter, changed into his clothes, and went to deliver drinks to the culprit.

She was a new face and was quickly exposed, but that didn't matter either; she didn't need to stay there long.

How could an unprepared, untrained person evade an assassination specifically aimed at him?

He didn't even glance at the waiter delivering drinks, focused instead on flirting with the woman beside him.

Yan Xianchuan drove the knife directly into his neck, twisting it for good measure. The artery was severed, blood spraying out, staining her, and sending everyone in the private room into screaming fits, scrambling away from her.

For better service, the private room's soundproofing was excellent.

She pushed the door open, and no one tried to stop her. She was too terrifying—a murderer—who would dare get close?

She left the room, climbed the stairs to the rooftop, and the warm sunlight fell on her head, but it couldn't stop the blood on her hands from gradually cooling.

A few sparrows flew across the sky, with only wispy clouds drifting above.

A perfect sunny day.

Yan Xianchuan in the third person watched herself walk to the edge of the rooftop, swing her legs over, and sit there, letting the wind blow.

The dream faded away, disappearing. Her world spun.

Yan Xianchuan opened her eyes and found Lu Mingqiu pressing down on her, body close. "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

She explained, "Your breathing suddenly became rapid."

Lu Mingqiu had been sleeping soundly when the person beside her began panting at a rapid frequency, eyes squeezed shut, chest heaving violently. She woke immediately and tried to shake her awake.

People in nightmares are prone to limb spasms, so fearing she might struggle, she pinned her down.

"I don't know if it counts as a nightmare," Yan Xianchuan answered, eyes wide open, as if talking in her sleep. "It was about the past."

Even though they were close, she felt no romantic stirrings in her heart.

"Bad things are nightmares," Lu Mingqiu judged her current state, confirmed she was fully awake, then got off her and turned on the bedside lamp.

The dim yellow light dispelled the darkness. Lu Mingqiu touched her forehead and said softly, "I'll get you some water."

Yan Xianchuan sat up silently, not stopping her. She did feel she needed to drink something.

Her mouth was dry, perhaps from breathing heavily during the dream.

Lu Mingqiu brought back a glass of warm water and, considerate, didn't ask about the nightmare. After she drank, she took the glass away.

"Don't be afraid," she said softly before turning off the light. "The past is the past."

She tucked in the blanket. Yan Xianchuan hummed in agreement and said thank you.

The next morning, the two went downstairs for a simple breakfast, then set off to scout the Church's stronghold.

It was a meat processing plant on the outskirts, surrounded by a few old residential buildings and some single-story houses. There weren't many people on the streets.

To be safe, they parked the car far away, slung fishing rods over their shoulders, and pretended to be heading to the river.

The plant had few employees coming or going. Druid Ger turned into a small black spider and crawled through the gap under the gate.

Inside, it was full of frozen meat, the stench heavy even from outside.

The sound of machinery was obvious, indicating mechanized processing. Frozen meat was fed through pipes into a furnace, crushed into pulp, and then transported away along another pipe.

Ger crawled along the wall. But before it had taken a few steps, it suddenly felt its body stiffen, as if thin threads had bound its entire body, immobilizing it and pulling it forward two steps involuntarily.

With a jolt, sensing danger, it jumped back with force. The feeling of breaking free was palpable.

"Huh?"

A questioning voice came from inside.

Ger's heart raced; its eight legs flailed as it bolted. It carried a locator and a miniature camera, and those outside saw the feed suddenly flip and rush toward the gate, instantly realizing something had gone wrong.

Lu Mingqiu said in a low voice, "Prepare for backup."

At this point, exposure no longer mattered.

Pea the Bard, due to her weaker combat ability, was assigned to guard the car.

The three spread out in a fan toward the factory entrance. Within two seconds, Ger zipped out from under the door and immediately transformed into a sleek dog, ready to sprint away.

But unexpectedly, a snow-white thread, about the thickness of a finger, shot out from under the door and wrapped around its hind leg. Ger was yanked down and dragged backward.

Seeing this, Gold Ring raised his hand and threw a circular metal plate that spun through the air, its edge razor-sharp and glinting silver, slicing the thread binding Ger's hind leg.

Ger scrambled, got up, and kept running.

Seeing it escape, Lu Mingqiu ordered directly, "Retreat!"

"Don't leave," came a seductive, smooth female voice. "Since you're here, stay and play with me."

She chuckled lowly. As she spoke, the factory gates swung wide open, and a flood of spiders surged out. Their backs were patterned and colorful, clearly venomous.

The spiders spun webs as they ran, weaving a large net in the blink of an eye, about to come down over them.

Yan Xianchuan wasn't about to sit idly by. She didn't have any weapons, but that didn't matter—anything around her could be a weapon.

She yanked a rusted streetlamp from the ground, cement cracking, the base of the metal pole still caked with dirt. Swinging the long pole, she bashed it into the net, then slammed it down. Some spiders dodged, but those that didn't were splattered, spraying white and green pulp.

Lu Mingqiu didn't just stand there either. As soon as she saw the spider tide, she swept her esper power over them, but there was no reaction.

These spiders had no consciousness at all.

They were like corpses, obeying only their controller's commands.

This was markedly different from the Insect Master's ability.

The Insect Master manipulated insects—living insects around him, with both form and spirit, so they could be killed by Lu Mingqiu.

But these spiders were pure products of esper power. Though they had form, they lacked spirit. They were merely manifestations of the ability itself.

Naturally, they only listened to their master.

Lu Mingqiu's heart sank slightly.

If Ger had turned into another species, it might not have been detected. But since it happened to be a spider, it was immediately noticed.

"My esper power doesn't work."

Gold Ring calmly pulled two gold bricks from his bag and began stretching them with his ability. The bricks thinned and widened like a board, blocking the spiders.

Yan Xianchuan only caught a glimpse of a purple hem before the expanding golden wall blocked her view.

The surface was so smooth it also prevented them from climbing directly up.

This was his newly devised use—besides demanding more physical strength, it had almost no drawbacks.

In Gold Ring's plan, he could even go on missions with just gold bricks. If he needed to throw darts, he'd take a bit of gold and flatten it into thin strips to throw.

The spiders, blocked, began to surge to the sides.

Three people and a dog didn't idle either; they turned and ran.

They were about to get away when suddenly a male voice reached their ears—not loud, but precise, clear to everyone.

"Stop."

As the words fell, their legs involuntarily halted, as if under a freezing spell, with no urge to continue fleeing.

They thought, why run? Isn't staying here just fine?

Lu Mingqiu was the first to break free. Being a mental-type esper herself, even if controlled, she snapped awake after a momentary daze.

"Go now!" she shouted in a low voice.

Her teammates didn't react, dazed and vacant. The dog Ger had transformed into even lifted a hind leg to scratch its ear.

Yan Xianchuan nodded. "Go."

But as she said it, her feet didn't move.

Meanwhile, the spiders were closing in. Seeing this, Lu Mingqiu steeled herself. Using her mental power as needles, she jabbed each of their heads in turn.

Amid unbearable pain, everyone's face went pale, they shuddered, but they woke up.

Lu Mingqiu's expression was grim. "He's a mental-type esper, on par with me. Let's go."

The group, faces serious, resumed running. Pea was driving over, the distance shrinking; they just need to last one more minute.

There was an RPG in the car; if necessary, they could just blast a rocket at them.

Whether it was the spider swarm or the golden wall, the commotion was too great. Even if nearby residents didn't call the police, the investigation squad would soon arrive.

Both sides were underground organizations and wanted to avoid official involvement.

But before they could run far, the voice sounded again.

"Restrain."

Lu Mingqiu woke them the same way.

Mental puncture worked well, but its damage was considerable. Gold Ring's face was pale, cold sweat dotting his forehead.

He had already expended much energy controlling the golden wall against the spider swarm and was now clearly exhausted.

Yan Xianchuan, thick-skinned, was unaffected.

But this back-and-forth meant the spiders caught up again.

Lu Mingqiu extended her mental power backward, trying to locate the enemy mental-type esper, but found nothing.

Her ability had high destructive power, but its range was relatively short. Ultra-long-range mental targeting had no damage—perhaps that was a kind of balance.

She wondered if this esper was the same one who had set up the mental barrier during the interrogation of the Walnut Town prisoners.

Mental-type espers were rare, not like common cabbages. The probability was over ninety percent.

Yan Xianchuan, annoyed, grabbed Gold Ring and said harshly, "Take down that golden wall."

She spotted an electric scooter parked by the roadside, dashed over, lifted it by the handlebar, and turned around. A man in a red robe stood far behind the spider tide.

Yan Xianchuan sneered, raised the scooter above her head, and hurled it. The hundred-jin scooter flew like a light frisbee, zipping through the air and crashing straight toward the red-robed man.

He clearly hadn't expected such a large projectile. Losing his aloof dignity, he scrambled aside, his expression cracking.

The purple-dressed woman, seeing the danger, quickly directed the spiders to form a wall to block.

The scooter smashed into the spider wall but continued, covered in pulp, still heading for the red-robed man.

He ran, but the scooter wasn't too large; it only grazed his side, missing him.

He had barely sighed in relief when another bicycle came flying.

The red-robed man's face turned green. He scrambled frantically back into the factory.

He hadn't done a day of physical labor in his life, so he wasn't fast. He was struck directly on the heel.

Even if it only grazed the skin, the pain was unprecedented for him. His face twisted, stifling a cry, and he limped back to see Yan Xianchuan lifting a car.

Terrified, he shouted, "Stop!"

But she didn't stop. Realizing the ability had exceeded its effective range, he abandoned all pretense and scrambled back into the factory. The moment he got inside, a heavy crash sounded behind him. The car slammed down, its alarm blaring, one door knocked off and hanging crookedly.

The purple-dressed woman, keeping her eyes down, pretended not to see the Cardinal's embarrassing moment.

The troublemakers had fled and were beyond pursuit. She raised her hand, and the spiders gathered again, stacking on her palm, finally turning into a red spider about the size of a palm.

She set the red spider on her shoulder, stepped around the wrecked car, and walked back into the factory, asking, "Your Eminence, shouldn't we relocate? The Investigation Bureau might come."

The Cardinal's face turned cold. He stood upright. "Let's go."

As he turned, pain shot through his heel. Suppressing the urge to grimace, he stalked back into the factory, eyebrows twitching.

Having already witnessed Yan Xianchuan tossing stone blocks, Gold Ring adapted well to her lifting a car—after all, she was a physical-type esper, so such acts were normal.

But Pea, who had come to pick them up, was startled, as was Druid Ger.

Though espers had various wonders, the sight of a tall, slim woman casually using a car as a projectile was still too visually shocking.

And Yan Xianchuan didn't even seem tired—throwing a car was as easy as throwing a tennis ball.

The group got into the car and fled like thieves. Ger reverted to human form, sitting on the seat, panting heavily.

On four legs, he ran much faster than his two-legged teammates.

But surprisingly to Lu Mingqiu, the Investigation Bureau didn't come. It was unlikely they didn't know about the esper fight there. The only explanation was that the Church had infiltrated the Investigation Bureau.

Lu Mingqiu wasn't shocked. It was normal for them to have people in government. Wasn't the Resistance even more absurd?

One of its leaders was the Minister of Finance.

More than that, Lu Mingqiu had guesses about who truly founded the Resistance, though she had never confirmed it.

Who established the organization didn't matter. What mattered was that they shared the same ideals—that was enough.