Chapter 28: Spring Thunder

The man was walking briskly when he suddenly paused. The pair of eyes tightly wrapped beneath his hat were now icy and terrifying. Had someone approached him at that moment, they would have noticed his ears making subtle movements.

Chen Meng quickened his pace, and saw the man’s figure flash as he slipped into an old, yet-to-be-demolished electrical substation within the complex. Was this the meeting place? Chen Meng speculated, and followed after him.

"Come out, I know you’re in there."

Chen Meng reached the substation door but dared not enter; it was simply too dark inside to make out anything at all. He waited several seconds, but there was no response from within.

“Still hiding?”

Chen Meng frowned. He had clearly seen Mouse Beibei’s new contact enter the substation—could he really have been mistaken?

Click!

A strange, vaguely familiar sound echoed out. Chen Meng’s expression changed abruptly as he realized: it was the sound of a bullet being chambered in a pistol.

What was going on? Why did the man inside have a gun?

His breathing grew tense, mind sharpening with awareness. This man had been acting suspiciously from the start; his entire getup was wrong. But a moment’s impulse had led him here, thinking this man was cutting off his source of income. Now he was in real trouble.

Instinctively, Chen Meng wanted to flee. If the man was armed, he was no ordinary person. But just then, a gun barrel slowly emerged from the darkness, and the man, still wrapped tightly in his hat and coat, stepped out of the substation.

Chen Meng’s breathing grew heavier. He knew that even if he tried to run, it was too late now. At this range, if the man fired, he would have no chance.

“Brother, this is a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!” Chen Meng blurted out, his mind racing through possible means of saving himself, but finding none viable. He knew nothing about his adversary.

“Why are you following me?” The voice was muffled and hoarse.

Chen Meng swallowed hard. Now he realized this man had nothing to do with Mouse Beibei—Mouse Beibei wasn’t even inside the substation.

“I was just curious. I saw you bought a roast chicken too and took the same route back. I thought you lived in our complex.” Chen Meng gestured to the residential area just beyond the old substation.

The man frowned, unconvinced. “Is that so?”

“Yes, that’s it. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going. This was just a misunderstanding.” Chen Meng tried to seize the moment, hoping to leave before the man could react.

He could tell the man was hesitant to kill; he wasn’t the type to shoot on a whim. Chen Meng began backing away, never turning his back on the man, knowing that would leave him utterly defenseless.

One step, two steps…

Chen Meng’s breathing grew heavier. He calculated that after five steps, he would be out of the substation’s range and could leap behind the wall, out of the man’s sight. Then, even if the man changed his mind, he could use the darkness to escape.

But just then, as if by cruel fate, a distant car’s high beams swept across the substation. In that instant, Chen Meng’s face changed dramatically. He saw the man’s inner clothing—a school uniform from Jiangzhou University. The man wore a hooded coverall over it, but it didn’t fit and the zipper wouldn’t close, leaving the uniform exposed. No wonder, Chen Meng realized, the man had been shielding his chest with one hand at the roast chicken shop.

More critically, Chen Meng recognized the contours of the man’s face—he wasn’t unfamiliar. That morning, he had seen this face on Mo Xiaoyi’s phone.

Wang Jie!

The fourth-year student from Jiangzhou University who had killed a part-time student, stolen two vials of Divine Body Serum, and fled.

He hadn’t left Jiangzhou, but was instead hiding in this abandoned neighborhood near Chen Meng’s home.

This was bad.

Chen Meng realized his reaction had just given away that he’d recognized Wang Jie.

Sure enough, Wang Jie’s voice turned icy: “You know who I am?”

Chen Meng felt truly unlucky. Wang Jie hadn’t seemed inclined to kill at first; he might have let him go. But now, having exposed himself, Wang Jie would have to silence him.

Damn those high beams!

Chen Meng now resented those reckless drivers—what was the point of using high beams in the city?

Hearing Wang Jie’s question, Chen Meng had no doubt he would shoot at any moment. Perhaps he was only hesitating now to avoid drawing attention with gunfire.

What to do? What to do!

Sweat poured from Chen Meng’s face in fat droplets.

…

Creak, creak!

A familiar sound startled Chen Meng. He suddenly saw Mouse Beibei, who had somehow climbed atop the substation. The building was only about two meters high, and now Mouse Beibei’s eyes glowed blue as it stared fixedly at Wang Jie below.

Was that rat planning to attack Wang Jie?

Was it doing this to save him? Had it sensed he was in danger? After all, it was intelligent.

Chen Meng understood Mouse Beibei’s intent and was shocked. No wonder this rat, who dared to take on packs of cats, was unafraid even when facing a suspected Divine Body human.

Why suspected? Wang Jie had obtained the Divine Body Serum but deliberately created a false trail instead of leaving the city—he must have planned to take the serum and transform immediately.

At the same time, Chen Meng was moved.

“If I say I don’t know you, would you believe me?”

He knew any attempt to feign ignorance was futile—his expression had already betrayed him. Now he could only hope Mouse Beibei would distract Wang Jie, giving him a chance to escape or fight back.

He was no pushover anymore; if he could just get his hands on a gun, he felt confident he could take Wang Jie down.

But where could he find a gun? The only one was in Wang Jie’s hand.

Wang Jie was silent. “Is it because I was on the news?”

Chen Meng didn’t know what to say—he hadn’t even watched the news, but such a major incident was bound to be reported.

“Wang Jie, you already killed a Jiangzhou University student today—a vibrant, living person. For the sake of becoming a Divine Body, has your humanity truly vanished? I’ve seen your university entrance photos. Back then you were so sunny, nothing like this.”

Wang Jie laughed, but his smile was chilling, no longer bright. “Back then? None of you understand my situation. My family is poor, very poor. Just to send me to college they borrowed from every relative they could. Everyone—my family, my relatives—they all believed I should become a Divine Body, that it was the only way not to disappoint them. But a term passed, then a year, then four years. Now I’m about to graduate, and still the school hasn’t given me the promotion serum. Why? I worked so hard—why did they treat me like this?”

Wang Jie was almost hysterical.

Chen Meng fell silent. The university must have had its reasons for withholding the serum, but Wang Jie’s choice—to kill and steal the serum—was not a wise one.

“I know there’s a bounty on me from the news. If I let you go, you’ll report me immediately. The authorities will be on my tail and I won’t escape. I’ve already become a Divine Body, and I don’t want to die. I want to become even stronger.” Wang Jie’s voice was hoarse, his eyes bloodshot. “So, I can’t let you go—I have to kill you.”

By the end, he was spitting out each word.

For him, there was no turning back after killing that first person.

Chen Meng saw Wang Jie’s finger tightening on the trigger, cold sweat pouring down his body. At that moment, a sudden clap of thunder rolled across the sky.

It was spring thunder—the rain that had built up all day was finally about to fall.

Wang Jie shuddered, startled by the thunder.

“Squeak!!!”

In that split second, Mouse Beibei leapt from the substation roof onto Wang Jie’s head, its three claws tearing into his scalp while the fourth gripped a shard of glass, aiming for Wang Jie’s throat.

Wang Jie cried out in pain but reacted swiftly. With one hand, he smashed the glass shard held by Mouse Beibei; with the other, he reached for the rat.

He had already become a Divine Body; a grip like that was more than any normal person—let alone a rat—could withstand.

“To hell with it! If I die, I die! I’ll take this bastard with me!” Chen Meng knew he had a good chance of escaping if he ran, but if he did, Mouse Beibei would certainly die.

He wasn’t a saint, but seeing Mouse Beibei risk its life to save him, he couldn’t just abandon it.

Bang!

He hurled his folding umbrella at Wang Jie, but Wang Jie dodged it with ease. Chen Meng, seizing the opportunity, reached down for a brick-sized piece of rubble by his foot to use as a weapon. Without hesitation, he snatched it up and charged, his jacket falling to the ground unnoticed.

…

“Damn rat!”

Wang Jie spotted his attacker—a large rat. Furious, he tried to tear Mouse Beibei off.

But Mouse Beibei, seasoned from countless battles, sprang from Wang Jie’s head to his arm, sinking its teeth into the hand holding the gun.

At the same time, Chen Meng charged in, swinging the chunk of rubble at Wang Jie’s head.