Chapter 23: The Cold Wind of the Snowfield

The city's night was originally like iron, cold and hard. All the buildings stood icily, lights flickering, without half a star visible in the sky.

But the sudden rainstorm softened the city's cold hardness, causing all the neon lights to diffuse in a hazy mist.

Qi Yuan cursed viciously, "This dogshit weather."

He was taking shelter from the rain at the entrance of a 24-hour convenience store. Seeing the rainstorm getting heavier and not wanting to drench his expensive leather jacket, he went back inside intending to buy an umbrella, only to be told they were sold out.

The emotion in his eyes grew increasingly irritable. Qi Yuan swore loudly, "Damned Wei Yunmo, where the hell did this kid run off to? Supplied with good food and drink, yet he still runs away! What a cheap piece of trash!"

Suppressing his temper, he looked at the tracking traces on his phone. The target was right in a small city surrounding this metropolis, he should be able to find the person very soon.

The laboratory was pressing him urgently.

Not daring to delay for another night, Qi Yuan pulled his clothes tighter around himself and stepped out into the rainstorm.

The young people seeking nightlife had already been dispersed by the rain. The originally bustling streets were now desolate, with only the merciless raindrops flowing freely.

Walking and walking, Qi Yuan suddenly stopped.

He pulled out the handgun at his waist and whipped his head around.

"Who is it! Come out!"

What answered him was a burst of icy coldness in his chest, followed by agonizing pain. He realized he had been pierced by a bullet, fresh blood constantly flowing from his heart out of his chest.

Who was it?

Another familiar muffled gunshot rang out. Qi Yuan saw a man not far away holding a black umbrella, a Glock gleaming with an icy light.

Qi Yuan's last thought was, when did he ever offend such a person? Who wanted to buy his life?

............

He killed someone.

Xie De held his umbrella and quickly left the scene. With Gibberish around, all surveillance footage where he appeared would be deleted, and even in the eyes of passers-by his image would also be blurred. He hadn't left any clues behind either. Based on current technology, the police shouldn't be able to trace the murder back to him.

This rain is really cold.

Xie De walked for a long time. Feeling his fingertips grow cold and his clothes already soaked through by the rain, he strolled along the riverway of the metropolis holding an umbrella.

He inexplicably thought to himself, this doesn't feel real at all.

A gun really is the most convenient tool for killing. Without deliberately getting close, you can kill someone from dozens of meters away.

In such a heavy rainstorm, he could only see a vague outline of the victim. Xie De didn't even clearly see the image of the bullet blowing the head apart, the man just fell to the ground as if he had suddenly tripped.

This gave the act of killing no sense of reality.

It also made the scene from just now feel like a hallucination, making him inevitably doubt.

Did I really kill a person in reality?

Gibberish was currently still roaming through the city's surveillance systems and was temporarily unreachable.

Raindrops beat against the river's surface.

As Xie De watched, a very down-to-earth thought inexplicably popped up.

Where am I going to sleep tonight?

Time had been too tight, and he came in such a rush that he hadn't booked a hotel at all, and the nearby hotels all required reservations.

Wait, he wasn't going to just sit blankly in this rainstorm all night, was he?

He fished out his phone and took a look. It only had 10% battery left, likely not enough to last until he got home.

Uh, he should stop letting his imagination run wild and first go see if he could find a power bank.

He was just planning to look for a convenience store.

From behind came a familiar panting sound. The person seemed to have run a long way, running very anxiously and quickly to arrive in front of him. Rainwater had almost soaked the person from head to toe, yet his appearance remained as gentle as jade and as upright as a long breeze.

"Mr. 39, long time no see!"

Wei Yanchi? Why is he here? Gibberish never mentioned that the protagonist was in this city.

Wei Yanchi didn't have an umbrella. He brushed his wet hair up, holding his hand above his eyes to shield them, and smiled brightly.

"Can I invite you to my place to sit? Please, I have some things regarding the scenario I want to chat with you about."

Xie De hesitated before nodding. The protagonist probably wouldn't harm him for no reason, and he could conveniently go to his place to take shelter from the rain.

At this moment, he remembered Gibberish had said the protagonist was a southerner.

............

Wei Yanchi indeed didn't live in this city. He had just been invited here to help a family exorcise an evil spirit.

They were newly risen elites. In recent years, they had spent a tremendous price to bring back a "Wealth-Embracing Buddha Mother" from Southeast Asia for worship. They originally thought the Buddha Mother could guarantee their business would flourish, but they never expected that what they brought back was an evil entity. Now, the better their business did, the worse their health became.

As of today, two people in their family had already died, three had contracted cancer, and the rest were constantly plagued by illnesses and misfortunes, big and small.

Driven to sheer desperation, pleading to anyone and everyone, they finally managed to find Wei Yanchi.

Wei Yanchi had arrived at the location before 3 PM today. First, he went to the main residence to examine the Wealth-Embracing Buddha Mother. After getting a general understanding, he determined that what they had brought back was likely some sort of spirit creature related to snakes and rats. He immediately told their family head to go buy a red-crested large rooster that had lived for more than five years, and a purebred Wuhei dog that had lived for more than ten years.

These two things were not easy to find, but Wei Yanchi wasn't in a hurry. Calculating the exorcism details in his mind, he stretched and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out and looking down over the entire city.

The time was now 9 PM.

The heavy rain poured as if it were about to overturn the entire city. One simply couldn't see very far.

Wei Yanchi leisurely poured himself a cup of Longjing tea. Before he could even take a sip, he caught the scent of blood permeating the air. Very clear, very faint, carrying a touch of resentment from a soul.

He clearly understood the source of this bloody scent: someone near him had died a violent death.

His movements paused immediately. Out of curiosity, Wei Yanchi walked to the hotel entrance to look outside. He wasn't a police officer, this wasn't his business to manage. But what if he saw the murderer with his own eyes? Then he could act as an enthusiastic citizen and help the police solve a case.

His eyesight was very good. Relying on this good eyesight…

Through the layers of hazy rainstorm, with a fleeting glance, a figure holding a black umbrella flashed by, just as stunning as when they first met.

39?!

Wei Yanchi didn't have time to open an umbrella and directly chased after him. Terrified the person would vanish from his line of sight, he ran very fast.

Fortunately, Xie De didn't suddenly disappear.

The river on the ground flowed surgingly nearby, and the river in the sky was also pouring down. In the hazy darkness, streetlights shakily cast down a dim yellow glow.

It spilled and reflected onto the smooth, rain-slicked surface of the black umbrella.

His long silver hair was like a waterfall and like mist. Xie De's brows were lowered, looking somewhat desolately at the river beneath his feet, all alone, a solitary figure.

He called out, "Mr. 39."

Xie De raised his eyes to look over. Where was there even a fraction of desolation? He was clearly a lone wolf enjoying the darkness all to himself, the heavy rain unable to wash away the distinct smell of blood and gunpowder.

Aloof and cold.

Yet not a flower upon an isolated peak.

But rather the bone-chilling cold wind of the distant north, capable of freezing a person to death.

–

Rei’s Note:

I LOVE the way how Xie De is described in the last few sentences (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）