Chapter Sixty-Five: The Reaper Arrives (Part Two)

As Xiao Yang cried out a warning, the steel bar had already pierced Wu Jue’s body. He collapsed instantly, blood gushing across the ground, and lay motionless from that moment on.

The scene was so tragic that Xiao Yang was left breathless with shock. He was just about to step forward to see what had happened when a trash can came flying through the air and slammed into his chest. The force threw him violently backward, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Fortunately, the armor he wore protected his body. Although the impact was harsh, it was not fatal. Still, it was clear now that some unseen force was manipulating the fate of everyone present. This had to be stopped.

Xiao Yang glanced at Wu Jue’s corpse. Right now, his only option was to leave and find the others—he refused to believe Wu Jue was truly dead. Filled with suspicion, Xiao Yang activated the rocket pack on his armor and soared into the sky. He dodged the deadly force from above while scanning for his companions below.

He had barely begun his search when the acrid smell of burning reached his nose. Glancing back, he realized the rocket pack was on fire. That cursed reaper was everywhere—it had even targeted him.

In desperation, Xiao Yang fumbled to remove the rocket pack, but at that moment, his armor failed him; nothing he tried worked. At the critical moment, he steeled his resolve and dove toward a nearby building, scraping desperately along the wall just before landing.

With a thunderous crash, the rocket pack exploded from the pressure, and he lost control, plummeting to the ground with a heavy thud. The fall was brutal. Xiao Yang struggled to his feet, staggering forward, only to be met by a scene of utter despair.

Princess An Yi lay crushed between three or four cars, her form unrecognizable, clearly long dead. Farther off, Xiao Han was sprawled beneath a shattered mirror, his body cut into dozens of pieces—a horrifying end. Even Huron was hanging suspended in midair, his body aflame and reeking of burned flesh. None had escaped the reaper’s grasp.

Only Xun’er remained, sitting blankly amid the blood, gazing at Xiao Yang with a vacant smile. “You’re next. Here it comes!”

With a deafening roar, a car in the distance suddenly hurtled forward, launching Xiao Yang into the air. The armor that should have protected him had been torn open during his earlier fall against the building wall.

Now, as he soared helplessly, he was utterly vulnerable. He crashed to the ground, blood spraying, and breathed his last.

At last, silence fell once more. Only Xun’er’s dazed voice broke it, counting softly, “One, two, three… six, all accounted for!”

With a dull thud, she too collapsed into the pool of blood, her head severed from her body.

A discordant wind swept across the ground, swirling up sand and scraps of paper before fading into nothingness.

***

Night fell.

On the other side of the city, someone rose quietly to their feet, wiping blood from their neck as if nothing had happened.

“So that’s how you deal with the Tianzhu clan, Reaper,” Wu Jue remarked, standing as if unscathed. The ominous threat he had felt earlier was gone.

It seemed the Turtle Breath Technique from Dalin Monastery had served him well at the crucial moment. Wu Jue touched the bloodstains on the ground. When fleeing earlier, he had cut his arm and faked his own death, the spilled blood deceiving even the reaper.

But the situation was still perilous. Though he had temporarily fooled his enemy, there was no guarantee the reaper wouldn’t strike again. He needed to uncover its weakness quickly.

Wu Jue had already scouted the area during the day, so he quickly made his way to a nearby building and slipped into the basement.

Inside, lights were on. Several people waited, unsurprised by Wu Jue’s arrival.

It was Xiao Yang and the others—all alive and well.

Xun’er clapped her hands. “If not for my spell, we’d all be dead. How do you plan to thank me?”

Xiao Han ruffled her hair. “Be good, and I’ll buy you ice cream later!”

As it turned out, everyone had faked their deaths during the day to deceive the reaper. When Xiao Yang saw Wu Jue collapse, he immediately understood. Wu Jue possessed an indestructible body—there was no way he would die so easily. That had been the signal.

As he went to meet up with the others, Xiao Yang had discreetly updated them via wireless earpiece, and with Xun’er’s help, everyone played their parts. Now, having regrouped in secret, they needed a plan to identify the mysterious reaper.

“Who would have thought a real reaper existed in this world? How are we supposed to fight it?” Xiao Han’s voice was a mix of excitement and fear.

Wu Jue replied, “Everything has its cause and effect. Perhaps the reaper exists to keep the world in balance. What I don’t understand is how it came to be, and why it’s confined to this place.”

Xiao Yang brought out a tablet and pointed to the screen. “I checked the security cameras. Not many still work, but I found some footage. Every time one of us was attacked, there was an invisible force sabotaging the environment, guiding us toward death.”

“Just like in ‘Final Destination’?” Xiao Han mused, recalling the movie. “Could it really control objects like that?”

“Perhaps. But it seems to go beyond that—it must also be manipulating luck, or we wouldn’t all be so unlucky at once,” Wu Jue said, frowning. Thanks to Xiao Yang’s night vision mode, he could see invisible currents swirling through the air, like ghostly hands controlling deadly objects.

“It’s back!” Huron suddenly looked up. “Looks like we’ve been found again.”

Wu Jue smashed the window with a punch. “You all go—I’ll stay and hold it off.”

Xiao Han pushed him aside. “Why do you always get to play the hero? Watch me!” With a flash, Xiao Han transformed into a beam of reflected light and shot out of the room.

The sounds of fierce combat erupted outside, shaking the very earth. An Yi and the others exchanged worried glances.

Wu Jue urged, “Go now! Until we find its weakness, we must preserve our strength.”

An Yi and Xun’er left in turn. Huron remained behind. “I’ll hold the second line and buy more time. Wu Jue, you must be our last hope.”

Wu Jue sighed but didn’t hesitate. He and Xiao Yang darted out through the opening together.

In the darkness, they exchanged a glance. “Split up—take different paths. Don’t die together.”

The four of them scattered instantly, vanishing into the night.