Chapter 127: Death Gathering (1)

The night in the Xinsu district should have been lights red and wine green, with a clamor of voices.

Tonight, however, it was occupied by an even more frenzied clamor.

On a temporarily erected square, heads gathered, a black mass.

Countless red-and-white flags fluttered in the night wind, like a burning forest.

On the stage, a right-wing legislator named Xiao Quanxin, with an oily slicked-back pompadour, was delivering his passionate speech with flying spittle.

"Comrades! Our great Dongdao is being corroded from within by 'non-nationals'! They fawn over foreign things, they have forgotten the glory of their ancestors!"

"We must eradicate these traitors of the nation! With their blood, we will wash away our shame!"

"For Da Dongzi! For our new glory! Heaven's Punishment to Traitors!"

His voice, through the loudspeaker, spread across the entire square, carrying an extremely agitating power.

Below the stage, hundreds of civilians raised their arms, eyes frenzied, faces flushed with near-madness.

"Heaven's Punishment to Traitors!"

"Long live Dongdao!"

A response like mountains shouting and seas roaring gathered into a heart-pounding sound wave that hovered over the district.

And Lingmu Jianer walked against the current within this sea of fervor.

He stepped with stiff steps, one step, one step, through the chaotic crowd.

Those around him were shouting and waving their arms; only he, like a ghost stripped of all emotion, was terrifyingly silent.

His gaunt figure did not fit in with the surroundings.

His hollow eyes formed a stark contrast with the surrounding fervor.

Thus, ignoring everyone, he walked straight up the steps to the stage.

"...... We want the whole world to see that the warrior spirit of our Da Dongzi has never died!"

Xiao Quanxin was at the climax of his speech when his peripheral vision caught a figure that should not have been there.

A man in worn clothes was stepping onto his podium, one step at a time.

His speech was interrupted.

Xiao Quanxin's brows knit tightly; the elation on his face was instantly replaced by displeasure.

He lowered his voice and said to the man beside the microphone.

"Hey! Sir, please get down; this is not where you should be."

Lingmu Jianer ignored him.

He didn't even glance at him.

He simply continued his stiff stride toward the center of the stage.

Xiao Quanxin's face darkened completely; in front of so many supporters, a madman had disrupted the event, challenging his authority.

"Drag him down for me!"

He no longer concealed his anger, loudly ordering the two black-clad bodyguards stationed at either side of the stage.

"Don't interfere with my speech!"

The two burly, stern-faced bodyguards immediately understood, flanking him left and right and quickly moving to surround Lingmu Jianer.

Their movements were efficient, without hesitation; their fan-like large hands directly grabbed Lingmu Jianer's slender arms.

However, the expected scene of lifting and dragging this thin man away did not occur.

Lingmu Jianer's body was as if rooted, utterly motionless.

The two bodyguards' faces twitched; they increased their grip, muscles bulging on their arms.

Yet they felt they were not gripping a person's arm, but two steel bars welded to the ground.

At that moment.

Lingmu Jianer slowly turned his head.

His face first turned toward the left bodyguard, then slowly toward the right one.

That waxy, bloodless face showed no expression.

Those hollow eyes, like a dry well, held no spark.

Then.

Under the gaze of the two bodyguards and countless eyes below the stage.

Lingmu Jianer's mouth corner began to move upward in an extremely slow, uncontrollable manner.

A bit.

Another bit.

That arc grew larger and wider as it was pulled.

Finally, a huge, ear-to-ear, rigid-to-the-extreme smile blossomed on his face.

It was a corpse's smile, filled with ultimate weirdness and madness.

The two bodyguards gripping his arms froze instantly.

The ferocity and bewilderment on their faces quickly faded, replaced by a blank bewilderment.

Immediately after, their facial muscles began to twitch uncontrollably.

Their mouth corners, uncontrollably, split upward.

Two identical, lifeless, weird smiles appeared on their faces.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and act!"

Xiao Quanxin sensed something amiss and shouted angrily.

Those two bodyguards released their grip on Lingmu Jianer's hands.

They were like two marionettes programmed with a script, turning their bodies in perfectly synchronized motions.

Then, stepping with the same stiffness, they walked side by side to the edge of the stage.

Under the stunned gazes of the entire audience.

They faced the terrified crowd below, at an extremely dangerous angle, heads down, and fell straight down.

Bang!

Bang!

Two muffled, teeth‑aching thuds rang clearly across the Square.

Undoubtedly, the neck was broken.

The two robust men who were alive a second ago became two warm corpses the next.

The Square's roar, like a mountain‑calling tsunami of frenzy, abruptly ceased at that moment.

A death‑like silence lasted less than a second.

Ah—!

A scream sharp enough to pierce the night sky burst from a woman in the front row.

Like a powder keg with its fuse lit.

Panic detonated instantly!

The crowd erupted like a lake surface struck by a massive stone.

They're dead!

Screams and cries mingled together.

People shoved and crowded like the mad, desperately trying to get away from the front of the stage.

Stampede erupted instantly.

The scene fell into complete chaos.

Meanwhile, on the stage.

Councilor Xiaoquan Xin was so frightened he collapsed on the ground, crawling backward with hands and feet, his crotch damp and hot.

He pointed at the man slowly approaching him, his voice trembling.

"You... you don't come closer! You monster!"

Lingmu Jianer did not stop.

He stepped forward, one foot after another, until he stood before Xiaoquan Xin, then halted.

Then, he slowly bent down, bringing his face bearing a Weird smile up to Xiaoquan Xin's eyes.

The extreme terror in Xiaoquan Xin's eyes froze the instant they met those hollow eyes.

The muscles on his face began to contort, eventually freezing into an identical Weird smile stretched to the ears.

He stood up.

His movements were as stiff as a corpse just risen from a grave.

He then turned, facing the solid wooden podium behind him.

Then he lifted his head.

He lunged violently toward the podium!

Thud!

A muffled crash.

Fresh blood streamed down his forehead.

He seemed unaware, stepped back, and crashed into it again!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Once, then again.

He used his own skull to deliver the most primitive, blood‑soaked blows against the hard podium.

Fresh blood and brain matter splattered wildly across the stage.

Finally, with the last muffled thud, his body crashed to the ground.

Lingmu Jianer slowly straightened his body.

His body and face were splattered with warm blood droplets.

His tattered clothes were stained with mottled patches.

Yet the smile on his face did not change at all.

He turned, facing the crowd below that was disintegrating, screaming, and fleeing.

His smile widened even more.

A young man desperately fleeing, out of curiosity—or perhaps an irresistible instinct—glanced back.

Just one glance.

His gaze met that blood‑soaked demon on the stage.

The young man's steps abruptly halted.

The terrified expression on his face began to contort uncontrollably.

A Weird smile slowly emerged on his face.

Amid the nearby chaos, a camera originally meant for live streaming, though knocked to the ground, happened to point directly at the center of the stage.

On the screen.

A face soaked in fresh blood, its grin split to the ears, like an Evil Ghost descended into the human world, filled the entire frame.