Chapter 309: White-Hot

Raincoat Man's rule failed.

Or rather, faced with a group of "living corpses" that had fear erased and could not even comprehend death, his hunting game based on visual slicing was like a precision machine meeting tangled, chaotic minced meat—it jammed instantly.

One, two, three...

The controlled survivors were like moths flying into flames, using their flesh and life to repeatedly strike that invisible boundary of death.

Their bodies were dismembered in midair into uniform chunks of flesh, organs and blood splashing across the street like ink wash paintings, yet the following people showed no hesitation, stepping on their companions' warm corpses and continuing the charge.

This scene was more bizarre and crazy than any horror film.

Raincoat Man's bellows-like laugh finally stopped.

He had to move.

He constantly had to adjust his stance and swing the boning knife in his hand to face the fearless "cannon fodder" surging from all directions.

His elegant hunter's posture vanished; now he resembled a butcher backed into a corner, clumsily blocking every stone and steel pipe hurled at him.

"Hah! Keep pretending! Aren't you so capable?"

Zhang Wei stood on the giant dog's back, seeing this scene, his expression twisted with excitement.

He enjoyed this feeling.

Using the lowliest lives to wear down a seemingly lofty powerhouse, this pleasure made every pore of his body tremble.

"Good dog, go!"

He stomped his foot hard; the mountain‑sized mutant giant dog beneath him let out an earth‑shaking roar, its massive body turning into an out‑of‑control heavy truck that slammed straight toward Raincoat Man!

A fishy wind blew in his face.

The giant dog's speed utterly belied its huge size; in an instant it broke through the flesh‑formed barrier, a massive claw covered in keratin, emitting a piercing shriek as it tore the air, slamming hard toward Raincoat Man's head!

For the first time, a look akin to shock and anger appeared on Raincoat Man's face beneath his hood.

He jerked backward, simultaneously angling the boning knife in his hand upward in a tricky move.

Pfft!

The claw and blade crossed past each other.

Although Raincoat Man avoided a headshot, the edge of the claw ruthlessly scraped his shoulder.

A large swath of blood‑stained raincoat fragments fluttered down with pallid flesh, revealing the non‑human, deathly pale and smooth skin beneath.

"Ho...... ho ah ah ah!"

A shrill, inhuman wail finally came from beneath the hood.

That sound was sharp and twisted, filled with extreme pain and fury.

The injury completely enraged this monster.

On the other side, the mutant giant dog also let out a painful roar; on the claw it had swung, a deep knife cut down to the bone was starkly visible, black ooze continuously seeping from it.

The two monsters were utterly locked in a mad, endless brawl.

The giant dog relied on its huge size and brute strength to crash wildly, while Raincoat Man used his eerie footwork and razor‑sharp boning knife to continually carve wounds into the dog.

Flesh and blood flew everywhere, roars shook the heavens.

Lei Yu and the Special Operations Team he led had long been forced back by this god‑like battle, barely maintaining a defensive formation to protect the survivors behind them, fearing they'd be swept up by the aftermath.

Everyone's attention was firmly captured by that bloody slaughter.

Except for one person.

Su Ming.

At the moment the giant dog launched its charge, when everyone's gaze was drawn there, he was like a drop of ink silently sinking into the night, lowering his posture without a sound.

His movements were light and steady.

He attracted no one's attention.

His brain raced like a super‑precise computer, frantically analyzing the chaotic situation before him.

Zhang Wei is a lunatic, Raincoat Man is a monster.

When two lunatics fight, no matter who wins, the unlucky ones are always us spectators.

As for that Divine Gift?

Even dogs won't touch it!

Isn't the lesson from my past life deep enough? Risking one's life for that illusory power is the stupidest thing to do.

Just survive—that's the true way.

Su Ming's gaze locked firmly on the opposite side of the street—the rust‑streaked iron door leading to the underground passage.

That is his path to survival.

He began to move.

He did not choose to run straight; instead, he kept close to the outer walls of street shops, using the shadows cast by huge billboards and doorway ornaments as his best cover.

Raincoat Man's murder rule is visual slicing; it requires a fixed fulcrum.

Now he is entangled by the giant dog, his position constantly shifting, so the rule has long been ineffective.

But Su Ming still maintained the utmost vigilance.

He calculated each of Raincoat Man's knife‑swing angles and each dodge landing point, seeking the absolute blind spots his vision could not cover.

One step.

Another step.

His footsteps landed on the water‑logged ground, yet made not a single extra sound.

His whole being seemed to merge with the surrounding darkness.

The members of the Special Operations Team were nervously on guard against the monsters' battle.

Zhang Wei laughed wildly, admiring his own "masterpiece".

The survivors trembled as they prayed.

No one noticed that an inconspicuous figure had disappeared from the crowd.

Thirty meters.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Su Ming's breathing was steady, his heartbeat normal.

He even had the leisure to glance at the center of the battlefield.

The battle had already entered a white-hot phase.

The Raincoat Man was wounded in multiple places, his raincoat tattered, revealing pallid skin covered in claw marks.

And the giant hound was even worse: half its body was sliced by the sharp boning knife into a bloody mess, one eye gouged out, leaving only a dark socket.

"Die!"

The Raincoat Man let out a venomous hiss, twisting his body at an impossible angle to dodge the hound's lethal lunge; the boning knife in his hand turned into a pallid streak of light, viciously stabbing into the hound's other good eye and then slicing downward.

Pfft!

Half of the giant dog's head was cleanly sliced off!

The massive body lost support and, due to inertia, crashed heavily onto the center of the intersection, onto the stone pillar bearing the Divine Gift.

"Crack... crack..."

A faint but clear cracking sound rang out.

The stone pillar, already riddled with cracks, could no longer bear the final weight; a huge crack instantly ran from its base to its top.

But at this moment, no one cared about that.

Everyone's gaze was drawn to the Raincoat Man who had slain the giant hound.

Including Zhang Wei.

His manic grin froze, replaced by shock and anguish.

His greatest reliance was gone just like that.

At that very moment, Su Ming had already reached his destination.

Five meters.

Three meters.

One meter.

His icy fingers finally touched the rusted iron door handle of the underground passage.

A cold, solid sensation transmitted, allowing Su Ming's perpetually tense nerves to finally relax a little.

As long as he pushes open this door.

As long as he enters the darkness below.

He could then completely shake off those lunatics behind him, continue his survivalist grand undertaking, and head to the safer northern suburbs.

Goodbye, you lunatics.

Su Ming silently muttered a complaint in his heart, and his arm began to exert force.

"Creak—"

The rusted hinge emitted a piercing sound as a gap leading to absolute darkness slowly opened.

However, just as Su Ming pushed open the iron gate, preparing to plunge himself into darkness...

Behind him, a sudden earth-shattering roar rang out!

"Boom—"

The entire ground shuddered violently, as if a minor earthquake had occurred.

Su Ming's motion froze abruptly, and he instinctively turned his head to look.

He saw that at the center of the street, the platform bearing the Divine Gift had completely collapsed amidst countless shocked gazes.