Chapter 47 – Leak

“What do you mean?”

White Li was a bit confused and frowned.

What did he mean by ‘come with him’?

“Isn’t the car heading to the shelter? Why should I go with you?”

According to her script, the Blazing Knight and Huang Mao should have fought, Huang Mao would hold him off, and then Martha would emerge from the shadows and rescue her from the car.

Perfect.

Flawless.

But the current direction was completely wrong.

That’s not how a hostage rescue game is played.

Could it be… that he had seen through her?

White Li realized something and shouted at the top of her lungs:

“Help—! If you don’t come soon, I’m really going to be taken away—!”

Her voice was shrill and piercing, like a pig being slaughtered.

“Shut up.”

Lin Du grabbed her by the collar and lifted her out of the carriage.

White Li hung in midair, flailing her arms and legs, her tail spinning like a propeller.

“I won’t shut up—Help—! Mmph—”

Lin Du covered her mouth with one hand, and all her cries for help were blocked by his palm, leaving only muffled nasal sounds.

In the distance, the re-risen Huang Mao monster was confronting the police.

His body was riddled with bullet holes and burn marks.

Purple blood oozed from the wounds, then quickly stopped.

Hearing White Li’s shouts, he turned his head sharply, and his eyes flickered in the darkness.

Lin Du frowned and ran in the other direction, dragging White Li along.

White Li was still making “mmph mmph” noises, on the verge of tears.

‘Madam, Martha, are you coming or not? If you don’t, I’m really done for.’

…

As he ran, Lin Du rapidly replayed the previous scene in his mind.

When the Huang Mao monster first appeared, he had sensed something was wrong.

There seemed to be some kind of extra weapon attached to his right claw.

Like blades embedded on the outside of his nails, one on each finger, faint black aura flickering on them.

Those were poison-coated blades.

Those weapons couldn’t harm him at all; the alloy could easily resist cutting and piercing, and the poison couldn’t penetrate either.

Using them on a human would be overkill—the monster’s claws alone were enough to cut a person in half.

So, there was only one possibility.

They were meant for White Li.

He, or rather the organization behind them, didn’t want to kidnap White Li—they wanted her dead.

Lin Du ran even faster.

He absolutely couldn’t allow that to happen.

This fox clan monster named Li Ya must have information that certain people didn’t want her to reveal.

He needed that information.

Moreover, moving White Li now would minimize the losses.

Since the enemy was after her, they would definitely follow him.

If he moved the battlefield away from the convoy, at least he wouldn’t drag those ordinary people into it.

Lin Du freed one hand and pressed the communicator against his ear.

“Ju Zhang.”

“I know. Follow your own plan. I’ve already informed the shelter. The east entrance will be left open for you.”

The old man’s steady voice came through the communicator, accompanied by the clatter of a keyboard and the overlapping chatter of walkie-talkies in the background.

“Understood.”

Lin Du cut the communication, adjusted his grip on White Li, and leaped off the edge of the viaduct.

“Whoa, can’t you walk normally?!”

White Li was carried by him as they fell from a height, below them an abandoned factory district.

The wind howled in their ears as the ground rushed toward them.

Lin Du landed on the sandy ground in a superhero landing pose—knees bent, one palm on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Ptooey, ptooey—!”

White Li, tucked under his armpit, stuck out her tongue.

She looked around at the surroundings.

Abandoned factory?

Rusty workshops, collapsed walls, overgrown vacant lots, and old equipment scattered everywhere.

Desolate—not even a ghost in sight.

‘Could it be?’

White Li panicked and quickly hugged herself.

“I warn you, monsters have rights too,”

she said with righteous indignation.

“If you dare touch me, I’ll sue you until you’re bankrupt!”

Lin Du glanced at her, and White Li could feel contempt in that look.

“What are you looking at? Put me down.”

“You’re a criminal. I have to take you to the shelter.”

“Tch.”

White Li wanted to retort, but a loud crash came from behind.

The Huang Mao monster had shaken off the police.

He didn’t linger—from the moment White Li shouted her first “Help,” he had fixed his eyes on their positions and followed closely.

The Huang Mao monster ran on all fours like a wild beast, landing heavily.

An electric scooter parked by the road was crushed under him.

The battery exploded, sending up a huge blaze.

Hearing the commotion behind her, White Li quickly waved.

“Hey, Huang Mao, I’m here!”

Lin Du was almost infuriated by her.

He shoved White Li’s head down and started running.

Huang Mao caught up quickly.

His speed was even faster than Lin Du had anticipated.

In this complex environment, he could leap between abandoned equipment, use collapsed walls for leverage, and each landing closed the distance between them.

‘At this rate, it’s not going to work.’

Lin Du called up a nearby map in his vision, a semi-transparent projection appearing inside his visor.

The abandoned factory covered a large area with complex terrain, offering many obstacles and dead angles he could use.

He needed to find a place to trap the enemy and wait for the retrieval team to collect him.

“Got it!”

Lin Du turned into a row of abandoned warehouses.

The passage was narrow, flanked by rusted iron walls, with a precarious canopy overhead.

The Huang Mao monster followed.

His body was wider than the passage, and the iron walls scraped against his shoulders and bone spurs, sending sparks flying.

He lunged, swinging his claws at them.

“Rip—!”

Lin Du ducked to avoid the strike.

Huang Mao’s right claw scraped across the iron wall, leaving a deep gash.

From the edge of the gash, black smoke rose from the iron, hissing as if something was corroding it.

“Just as I thought.”

Lin Du glanced back, confirming the mark.

They really wanted her dead.

Lin Du’s grip on White Li tightened.

“Easy… you’re crushing me…”

White Li, struggling to breathe, protested.

Lin Du burst out of the warehouse passage and found himself facing a wooden platform with several rusty steel cables discarded on the ground.

He quickly scanned the area and confirmed that the steel cables were strong enough to tie up Huang Mao.

“Roar—!”

Huang Mao charged out of the passage, roaring, and lunged at Lin Du’s back.

Lin Du sidestepped.

Huang Mao’s claw grazed White Li’s sleeve.

“Rip—”

A long strip of fabric was torn from her shoulder to her elbow.

White Li looked down and shouted:

“Watch it! Friendly fire!”

The moment Huang Mao missed, Lin Du spun around and jumped, throwing several fireballs downward.

Huang Mao instinctively raised his arms to protect his face, but the fireballs zipped past him and struck the wooden planks under his feet.

“Creak, crack—”

Before he could react, the planks snapped.

Huang Mao lost his footing and fell.

He instinctively spread his limbs to grab something, but he fell right into the trap.

The steel cables scattered on the ground quickly tightened around his limbs and torso as he struggled, forming a net that grew tighter and tighter.

Huang Mao hung below the platform, his body firmly bound by the cables.

The more he struggled, the tighter they became.

His claws flailed in the air, but grabbed nothing.

Lin Du landed steadily.

Confirming that Huang Mao was completely restrained, he pressed the communicator.

“The retrieval team can come now.”

“Received. Arriving in three minutes.”

Ju Zhang’s voice came through the communicator.

Lin Du lifted his head, sniffed, and looked at White Li.

“Is there… some kind of smell?”

White Li was under his armpit, red as a boiled shrimp.

She lowered her head, her voice as small as a mosquito’s hum.

“I… I need to change my pants…”