Chapter 492: Not a Single Person Retreats

The rain is still falling.

In front of Secret Passage No. 3, the alarm's red lights spin in circles, casting the drainage station in flickering light.

Ji Bai stands before the broken outer gate, the Old Black Umbrella held horizontally in front of him.

On the high wall, Liang Wen presses his knife with one hand, his Windcoat rattling as the rain lashes it.

Behind him, another silhouette steps out of the shadows.

Su Ming.

The Black Combat Suit clings to his slender frame, his face expressionless, his right hand hanging at his side, fine silver‑gray veins crawling over his fingertips.

Ji Bai lifts his gaze.

One Core Captain, trouble.

Another has arrived, so "trouble" no longer suffices.

A Jie whispers, "Ji Bai, take a step back."

Ji Bai does not move.

Behind him lies the inner gate.

Beyond the gate is the shelter.

Hong Jie may be inside.

Step back?

That word was shattered into his two legs years ago in an abandoned chemical plant.

Liang Wen looks down at him, sighing in an exaggerated manner.

"Young man, I, the King, admire your courage."

"But admiration aside, breaking my door is excessive."

Du Bi Lao Gui lowers his voice from behind, "Can this person skip the opening animation?"

Xiao Li clutches a cloth doll, whispering, "Can we fast‑forward?"

A Jie presses a hand to her forehead.

Liang Wen hears it.

His skin twitches.

"Hey, could you show some respect to the strong?"

No one replies.

The rain intensifies.

Su Ming steps forward two paces, standing beside Liang Wen.

Two Core Captains stand side by side.

That pressure is neither resentment nor murderous intent.

It is closer to the hardness forged in those who have survived disasters for a long time.

The Fierce Ghosts around fall silent.

Meng Wan's facial crack oozes Black Water, his fingertips trembling.

A Jie's blood line contracts half an inch, while the tips of her hair slowly rise.

Ji Bai presses the umbrella handle into his palm.

Su Ming speaks, "Ji Bai, nineteen years old, illegally harboring Fierce Ghosts, assaulting ghost‑hunting gangs, destroying the Federation's Forbidden Zone, and tonight leading a ghost horde to assault Qiu Ce Yuan."

"The résumé is short."

"The list of crimes is long."

Ji Bai says, "You are killing people."

The words are light.

Falling into the rain, yet it makes Liang Wen's expression lose some of its playfulness.

Liang Wen frowns, "If you want to save people, we can talk."

Ji Bai lifts the tip of his umbrella, pointing at the inner gate.

"Useless."

Su Ming says, "So you chose to bring Fierce Ghosts inside?"

Ji Bai answers swiftly.

"Yes."

"If you try to block."

"I'll strike through."

Liang Wen grins, his peach‑blossom eyes finally shedding their frivolous looseness.

"Fine."

"I, the King, love this kind of straightforward youth the most."

He draws his sword.

Black flame climbs up the blade, vaporizing the rain before it can touch it into white steam.

The next second, Liang Wen leaps down from the high wall.

His body is still mid‑air, the sword already slashing down.

"Dark Lineage Secret Art."

"Throne Severance Judgment Slash!"

The blade presses down.

The black flame clung to the ground, rolling, corroding the cement and burning a blackened groove.

Ji Bai did not retreat.

Ji Bai flung the Old Black Umbrella backward, his right hand forming a fist.

He stepped forward into the knife's aura.

Blue veins bulged on the back of his fist, and short red markings briefly surfaced under the skin.

Bang!

The knuckle struck the black flame.

The wave of fire flared open to both sides.

Ji Bai's cuff burned through on the spot, the skin on the back of his hand split, blood just gushed out, then was darkened by the intense heat.

But that black flame was brutally shattered by him.

Liang Wen's pupils contracted.

Ji Bai pressed forward with his feet, leaping upward.

The umbrella handle swept horizontally across Liang Wen's neck.

Liang Wen reversed his hand to hold the knife.

Clang!

The sparks were swallowed by the rain.

Liang Wen's feet stayed on the ground as he slid two meters, the soles of his shoes carving two shallow marks into the cement.

Before he could steady himself, Ji Bai was already pressed up in front of him.

Knee strike, elbow blow, the tip of the umbrella jabbed his throat.

The movements were frighteningly brief.

There were no superfluous motions.

Each strike was aimed at the waste.

Liang Wen stepped back while defending, and still managed to taunt, "Kid, your technique is really brutal!"

Ji Bai gave no reply.

The tip of the umbrella brushed Liang Wen's cheek, cutting off a few wet strands of hair.

Liang Wen squinted as the Black Flame Knife flicked back.

Ji Bai sidestepped to avoid it, but his fist pierced upward from below, aiming straight for Liang Wen's rib.

Just as the fist was about to land,

the surrounding raindrops slowed.

They didn't stop.

They just slowed.

The falling rain streaks stretched, the sparks left a dim tail in midair, and Liang Wen's retreating motion became sluggish.

Su Ming made his move.

He stood several dozen meters away, his right hand's two fingers together, silver‑gray veins climbing up along his wrist bone.

The Time Marrow Worm's power spread into an invisible zone, compressing the three‑meter area around Ji Bai into a slowed flow.

Su Ming whispered, "Seize the opening."

Liang Wen understood.

The Black Flame Knife sliced horizontally across Ji Bai's both legs.

At the same time, Su Ming's figure darted out, his palm holding a thin metal sheet.

It was a neural severing chip the Investigation Bureau used specifically against high‑risk anomalous beings.

As long as it is affixed to the spine, the target loses mobility within three seconds.

Ji Bai's fist lagged by half a beat.

The blade had already reached before his knee.

Su Ming's hand was also behind Ji Bai.

A Jie screamed, "Ji Bai!"

Ji Bai lowered his head.

The rain slid down his forehead and hair across his nose bridge, dripping onto his chin.

His chest suddenly heated up.

It wasn't warmth.

It was burning.

The searing sensation spread from his heart, tearing flesh, revealing a tragic crimson pattern.

The pattern did not form characters.

Nor did it become a design.

Yet it made every Fierce Ghost present retreat simultaneously.

The resentful aura of the red dress left by Hong Jie surged from Ji Bai's chest, crawling over his skin to his collarbone, shoulders, and arms.

Behind him, a brief outline of a woman briefly surfaced.

The red dress shattered.

Long hair fell down.

There were no facial features.

But the instant Liang Wen saw her, his scalp tingled.

Su Ming's neural severing fragment emitted a shrill alarm, and the surface runes cracked open outright.

"High‑level Fierce Ghost power residue?"

Ji Bai looked up.

His pupils glowed dark red.

"You forced me."

The five words fell.

The lagging zone was forcefully broken open.

Ji Bai vanished on the spot.

Su Ming reacted instantly; the Time Marrow Worm forcibly tugged the local flow rate, yet Ji Bai had already pressed up close.

The Old Black Umbrella swept in.

Su Ming raised his arm to block, and his whole body was knocked sideways, crashing through a temporary shield, his back sliding down the wall.

Liang Wen's blade followed through with a slash.

Ji Bai turned, grabbing the knife's spine with his left hand.

Black Flame burned through his palm.

The scent of meat stung his nose.

But he curled his five fingers, forcing the knife down half an inch.

The right fist thundered out.

Liang Wen only managed to raise his elbow.

Click.

The bone cracked with a sound.

Liang Wen's entire arm went numb and out of control, and he was knocked back seven or eight steps.

"Damn it."

Liang Wen shook his arm, gritting his teeth in pain.

"I, the king, admit, you kid have something."

Ji Bai kicked off the ground.

There was no response.

He surged forward again.

In the narrow passage, three figures collided into a tangle.

The Black Flame Knife sliced the rain curtain; Su Ming's temporal flow speed fluctuated, while Ji Bai, relying on the resentful aura of his red robe, fought back stubbornly.

Each collision caused the wall to crack thin streaks.

The ceiling shed dust.

The light tubes shattered in sheets.

Ah Jie and the other Fierce Ghosts tried to advance, but the overflowing force forced them to lose their footing.

Liang Wen's blade movements opened wide and closed, the Black Flame burning only the resentful aura; it brushed Ji Bai's chest several times, darkening the red markings.

Su Ming grew even harsher.

He didn't seize the front.

He only cut in a few tenths of a second after Ji Bai acted.

Once striking the shoulder blade.

Once targeting a knee bend.

Once the palm edge pressed against the neck side.

All were spots that robbed movement.

Ji Bai was sandwiched between the two, and his old wounds began to burst open one after another.

The shoulder bandage soaked with blood.

The abdominal sutures split, hot blood mixing with rainwater flooding into his waist.

But he grew fiercer with each strike.

He did not retreat.

He did not dodge a half step.

Liang Wen pressed down with a blade, Ji Bai blocked with the umbrella, then grabbed Liang Wen's collar with his other hand and pressed the person against the wall.

Su Ming sliced in from behind, his palm's silver pattern pressing against Ji Bai's spine.

Ji Bai's head didn't turn, yet his body was forced to twist, his spine emitting a sour‑tooth‑making crack.

The umbrella handle thrust back.

Su Ming sidestepped, his collar slashed open, a fresh line of blood appearing on the side of his neck.

"This kid's combat experience is off."

Su Ming dabbed the blood.

"It's not a rogue method."

Liang Wen gasped, still trying to sound tough: "Nonsense, can a rogue method turn me into a super soldier?"

Ji Bai gave them no chance to regroup.

The resentful aura of the red robe surged into his legs.

The ground erupted in splashing water.

He surged to Su Ming's front and hammered a fist at his face.

Su Ming slows his punch, his body retreats.

But the next punch arrives.

The third punch is even faster.

Su Ming's Time Marrow Worm can alter regional flow speed, but it cannot change Ji Bai's extreme close‑range pressure.

Liang Wen slashes from the side, the Black Flame Knife cleaving toward Ji Bai's waist.

Ji Bai does not dodge.

He hard‑eats half the blade with his body.

The Black Flame cuts the coat, burning into flesh and blood.

Ji Bai turns, the Old Black Umbrella swings out.

Liang Wen blocks it with a horizontal slash.

But Ji Bai's true killing move is not the umbrella.

It is his left fist.

The fist emerges from under the umbrella's shadow, striking Liang Wen's chest.

Liang Wen is flung backward, crashing into a concrete pillar beside the inner gate.

The pillar's surface cracks.

He spits out a mouthful of blood, then raises his hand to signal a pause.

"Stop, stop for half a second."

Ji Bai does not stop.

Su Ming also will not let him pursue.

Silver‑gray patterns spread across the ground.

The flow speed beneath Ji Bai's feet suddenly drops.

Su Ming's figure cuts in from the side‑rear, his hand now holding a second severing shard.

This time, he aims at the red‑clad totem on Ji Bai's chest.

Ji Bai just breaks through the sluggish zone, and his old wound finally gives way.

The abdominal wound tears open completely.

Blood spurts out.

His movement shows a brief discontinuity.

Su Ming seizes it.

The metal piece presses against the red pattern.

Liang Wen grits his teeth and rises, the Black Flame Knife horizontal across Ji Bai's retreat path.

The two cooperate with seamless precision.

Wherever Ji Bai goes, he is suppressed.

Sister's complexion loses its blood hue.

"We can't let them touch!"

Meng Wan grits her teeth, Black Water spreads from beneath her feet.

One‑Armed Old Ghost mutters low, "All in."

Xiao Li clutches the cloth doll tightly, her eyes reddened, "Sister......"

Sister does not look at her.

She only watches Ji Bai.

The youth stands in the rain, fresh blood from his abdomen dripping down, his shoulders still trembling, yet he continues to block the inner gate.

Just like every previous time.

He shields all danger in front of himself.

Sister suddenly scolds with a laugh, "Xiao Bai, we won't let you bear it alone!"

In the next instant, a dozen Fierce Ghosts move simultaneously.

Meng Wan transforms into a Black Water current, lunging toward Su Ming's feet.

One‑Armed Old Ghost pushes a wheelchair toward Liang Wen, cursing, "Dark‑Blooded King, huh? I'll create your throne today!"

Xiao Li's cries pierce the surveillance system, the tunnel lights flicker wildly.

Sister burns away half of her vengeful aura, blood veins intertwine into a net, hard‑blocking Su Ming's hand that is about to attach to the red pattern.

Su Ming presses his brows.

Liang Wen's Black Flame Knife also halts by half an inch.

Ji Bai looks up, his pupils contract sharply.

"Come back!"

No one returns.

A dozen Fierce Ghosts, bearing overwhelming resentment, charge at the two Core Captains.

Like moths to flame.

Not a single person flinches.