Chapter 307: Variable

The fog, under Su Ming's throat, drills desperately into his lungs.

The noisy intersection, because of those three words, fell into a stiffness even tighter than before.

The fleeing crowd, halted by that shout, seemed to have the pause button pressed, holding bizarre poses, hesitating.

The man in the yellow raincoat stopped, tilted his head, the shadow under his hood aimed directly at Su Ming.

Lei Yu turned his head and stared at Su Ming.

Su Ming didn't look at Lei Yu; his gaze was locked on the Boning Knife in the Raincoat Man's hand.

The knife was held level, its tip slanting toward the crowd.

"Captain Lei, if you want to live, listen to me. Look at that knife, then look at the person who was just sliced up." Su Ming's voice sounded cold and crisp on the open street.

He pointed at a pile of meat blocks shaped like building blocks on the ground. "See? That unlucky bastard, when he ran, his occiput lined up exactly with the knife's tip. The moment a line formed between him and the tip, he fell apart."

Liang Wen heard that and looked where Su Ming pointed, his complexion shifting repeatedly.

"You mean..."

"Rules. This thing kills by rules, not speed." Su Ming spoke at a breakneck pace, his chest rising slightly. "It's a living visual trap. He places the Boning Knife on a fixed fulcrum; if you move and, during the movement, any part of your body aligns with the blade, the rule triggers. In other words, he's not chopping you; he's slicing the scene."

Su Ming exhaled a cloud of foul air, staring at the Raincoat Man. "As long as we stay put—or rather, as long as we don't enter his designated 'Cutting Track'—that knife is just scrap metal. He can't charge forward to slash because any movement would scramble his own coordinate system. That's why he sings, creates fear, forces you to run, forces you to crash into his blade!"

Those words sent the few survivors, who had been trying to flee, into a terrified collapse on the ground, yet they truly remained motionless, nailed to the spot.

The Special Forces members exchanged glances.

Even the seasoned Captain Lei felt a chill down his spine.

He looked at the Raincoat Man and saw the hidden side of his face slowly exude a nauseating malice.

"Heh... hehehe..."

A wind‑box‑like laugh rang out again; the Raincoat Man stopped humming that children's song.

He slowly drew the Boning Knife back to his chest, both hands gripping the hilt as if holding a baton, tracing a faint circle in the air.

"Caught, huh." His tone carried a twisted excitement, like a child finally getting a fun toy, "You were seen through by a little mouse. Pathetic, you officials—your brains aren't even as sharp as a mouse's."

The Raincoat Man's blood‑red eyes swept past Lei Yu and Liang Wen, locking onto Su Ming. The gaze was like a rusted iron hook, trying to snag Su Ming's flesh.

"Little mouse, you're right; if you don't move, I can't kill you." He shook his head, blood dripping from the raincoat onto the ground, "But... if you stay still, that treasure will be mine."

He freed a hand and pointed at a support platform in the center of the intersection.

There sat a pitch‑black treasure box, emitting a mesmerizing yet unsettling eerie red glow.

That was the so‑called Divine Gift, the prize everyone was vying for in this Blood Moon game.

He licked his cracked lips, tilting his head provocatively, "What, scared to move? Since you won't, I'll just walk over slowly and take that treasure."

Lei Yu's gums were about to bleed; the gun's grip squeaked a sour‑tinged pressure in his hand.

Humiliation. It's an almost devastating disgrace.

As elite members of the Federation Investigation Bureau, when had they ever been mocked like this before?

But Su Ming's words were nailed to their minds. The smoking meat block on the ground was a fresh warning.

If they charged now, the Raincoat Man would only need to tweak the Boning Knife's angle, and the person at the front would shatter into airborne fragments.

It was an unsolvable killing method; as long as you existed in that space, any attempt to resist or flee supplied the opponent with material to kill.

"Everyone, hold your ground, don't move!" Lei Yu closed his eyes, the words forced out through his teeth.

The Special Forces lowered their heads, breathing rapidly.

Liang Wen's black windcoat fluttered faintly in the fog; his ever‑playful eyes were now frosted over.

His hand remained on the hilt, never drawing the knife.

Seeing this, the Raincoat Man let out an even more reckless cackle. He began to move.

He dragged the heavy Boning Knife, step by step, moving slowly yet arrogantly toward the support platform at the road's center.

The knife tip scraped the asphalt, sparking faintly and emitting a harsh screech.

The sound was like a steel needle lightly scraping each person's heart.

Dozens of survivors watched the killing deity approach, some so terrified they wet their pants, yet none dared even a breath.

Su Ming stood at the crowd's edge, appearing cautious and fearful, but his hands hidden in his sleeves were already inching toward a homemade spear at his waist.

He was waiting.

Waiting for a variable.

He watched as the Raincoat Man's overly pallid hand reached for the red‑glowing treasure box, the fingertips less than an inch from the eerie lid.

The surrounding air seemed to solidify in anticipation of the imminent touch.

At that moment.

The seemingly indestructible load‑bearing wall of the side shop suddenly emitted a deep, massive burst.

It wasn't a sound of something smashing it open; it was more like the wall being torn apart from within.

"Boom!"

Bricks and rubble, accompanied by a cloud of dust, surged like a murky wave, instantly engulfing the entire intersection.

Before anyone could discern what happened, a massive beast burst through the dust, exuding a wildly ferocious aura, like an ignited meteor slamming into the arena's center.

It was a giant dog.

No, calling it a dog was inadequate. The creature was as large as a loaded dump truck, its body devoid of intact skin, covered in writhing dark‑red flesh tumors.

The tumors burst with each breath, spewing thick black slime that hissed corrosively upon hitting the ground.

The giant dog let out a mournful, high‑pitched wail in the air, its massive body crashing precisely between the Raincoat Man and the support platform.