Chapter 29: Night Rain

Bang! The stone slab shattered, and the brick landed squarely on Wang Jie’s head. Even though Wang Jie had ascended to the rank of Divine Body today, his head was split open by the blow. However, even for a newly promoted Divine Body, such ordinary physical injury was far from fatal.

Wang Jie’s head throbbed in pain. He looked up to see Chen Meng before him, wild with frenzy.

“Courting death!” Wang Jie roared and lashed out with a kick.

Chen Meng had no doubt that this kick, backed by such force, could shatter his bones. In that split second, his Little Lotus Step technique kicked in instinctively. His feet traced a swift half-circle, his upper body twisting to evade.

If Wang Jie had still been an ordinary man, Chen Meng would have dodged cleanly. But Wang Jie, now a Divine Body, was far faster than any mortal; his kick was more than twice as quick. Bang! Chen Meng managed to evade partially, but the kick grazed his lower abdomen. Even so, a searing pain lanced through him, and the force sent him flying sideways, crashing into the power distribution shed at the rear.

“Squeak! Squeak!” All this while, Mouse Beibei had been clinging to Wang Jie’s hand, waiting for its chance. In that instant, it sank its teeth in. No one could say what those incisors were made of, but with a sharp crack, the bones connecting Wang Jie’s index finger and palm were crushed.

The pain far surpassed anything Chen Meng’s brick had inflicted. With a reflexive jerk, Wang Jie flung the gun from his grip. Mouse Beibei, sensing peril, leapt to flee, but Wang Jie’s other hand swept over in a slap that sent the creature flying.

“Squeak, squeak!” Mouse Beibei shrieked, rolling a dozen times across the ground before coming to rest against a heap of abandoned bricks.

Wang Jie shook his head, a buzzing in his ears—the aftereffect of Chen Meng’s earlier blow.

“You all deserve to die!” he bellowed, teetering on the edge of madness. He had thought his new status as a Divine Body would make him invincible to mere mortals, yet tonight, one man and one mouse had reduced him to this pitiful state.

At that moment, he spotted Chen Meng making a desperate dash—not toward escape, but for the handgun Wang Jie had just dropped. Panic flared within him; after all, a first-tier Divine Body was not yet immune to bullets. He reacted instantly, lunging at Chen Meng.

Seeing this, Chen Meng’s heart raced with anxiety. He knew that if he failed to seize the gun, death was certain. Ignoring every other concern, he braced himself against the pain and rolled forward, stretching out his hand, relying solely on his memory of where the gun had landed.

His fingers brushed cold steel. Thanks to his recent habit of practicing with firearms, his sense for a gun had reached an uncanny level.

Quick Draw!

The shooting technique he had learned from Lu Guang burst into action. The essence of the Quick Draw was that the hand must move faster than the mind. In that moment, Chen Meng achieved perfection—grasping the gun, swinging the muzzle toward Wang Jie as he lifted it.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out—and then—

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Six consecutive shots shattered the night’s silence. In those shots, Chen Meng’s control of recoil reached its peak.

Wang Jie jerked to a halt. He reached for the center of his brow, feeling a sticky, viscous wetness.

Chen Meng, panting, felt that the effort of firing those shots had drained the last of his strength. From the very start, his mind had been razor-focused; he knew his only hope of defeating Wang Jie lay in that handgun. He had never let his attention stray from it. When Mouse Beibei crushed Wang Jie’s hand and the gun flew free, Chen Meng knew his chance had come.

Combining his newfound skill with the opportunity, he managed to seize the gun and shoot Wang Jie before the latter could reach him.

“How unwilling I am—my life shouldn’t have ended like this…” Wang Jie muttered, stumbling straight toward Chen Meng before collapsing, breath fading away.

Startled, Chen Meng rolled aside to avoid Wang Jie’s falling body.

A few seconds later, Chen Meng slowly got up. Still wary, he stepped over and fired several more rounds into Wang Jie’s head, emptying the magazine before finally stopping.

…

“Beibei!” Chen Meng hurried to Mouse Beibei’s side, profoundly grateful to the big rat. Without it, he would have died for certain tonight.

Thankfully, Beibei seemed only to have lost consciousness; Chen Meng could still feel its breathing. That last slap from Wang Jie had been brutal—enough to break several of Chen Meng’s own bones, had it landed on him—but Mouse Beibei appeared otherwise unharmed.

The gunshots would likely attract the attention of nearby residents. Though modern firearms weren’t especially loud, it was nighttime and sound carried far.

“He stole two vials of Ascension Serum from Jiangzhou University,” Chen Meng murmured, eyes gleaming, “even after using one to become a Divine Body, there should still be one left.”

He pulled out his phone, flicked on the flashlight, and entered the electrical shed. There on the floor was an opened black case; beside it lay a ten-centimeter-long vial labeled “Shen Crimson,” now empty.

“Ascension Serum…” Chen Meng understood at once—this was the serum Wang Jie had already used. Then his gaze fell upon a nearby black backpack. Wang Jie couldn’t have hidden the last vial on his person; it could only be in the bag.

Unzipping the pack, Chen Meng found a box identical to the one outside—unopened, containing the Divine Body Ascension Serum.

“I’ll check it at home,” he thought, knowing this wasn’t the place to linger.

He slipped out of the shed, gazed at Wang Jie’s lifeless, unseeing eyes, and felt no pity. After checking himself over, gathering his clothes, umbrella, and the two roast chickens, and confirming he’d left nothing behind, he scooped up the empty pistol and the unconscious Mouse Beibei, stuffed them into the backpack, and vanished into the shadows.

Above, thunder rumbled louder—the torrential rain finally began to pour.

Back at his apartment complex, Chen Meng had regained his composure. He deliberately chose a blind spot outside the entrance, unseen by surveillance cameras, before heading inside. Eschewing the elevator, he climbed the stairs to his fourth-floor home.

Standing at his door, listening to the downpour, he knew the rain would wash away any evidence he might have missed.

He wasn’t worried about the enforcement squad causing trouble; even if he had killed Wang Jie, it was self-defense, not a crime. What concerned him was the remaining vial of Divine Body Ascension Serum—it would certainly be confiscated, and he very much wanted to keep it for himself.

“My first time killing someone, and I’m so calm,” Chen Meng reflected on the sequence of events, murmuring to himself. Then, pressing his fingerprint to the lock, he entered his home.

From this moment on, he resolved to act as if nothing had ever happened.