Chapter 115: Scarlet Trick

For some reason, the moment he saw those hollow eyes, Xi Renjie's heart sank.

"In... in the warehouse!" one of the Enforcers shouted. Everyone's gaze fell simultaneously toward the depths of the warehouse behind the red-clad figure.

An extremely rich, acrid stench poured out of the warehouse. In that sea of burning fire, countless charred centipedes were curled on the ground. Their bodies were mangled, covered in bite marks and severed limbs. Looking at it, it was like a Shura purgatory meticulously arranged by someone.

Whether it was the visual impact or the acrid stench, several Enforcers felt their stomachs twitch violently and began to retch on the spot.

They're all dead??

Xi Renjie looked at the corpses of the Calamities all over the warehouse, his heart shaking violently. From the time that person lured these Calamities away until now, it had only been a dozen minutes, and these Calamities had been completely wiped out?

And looking at those corpses, there seemed to be traces of being gnawed...

Xi Renjie's gaze fell back onto the figure in the bright red opera robe, his eyes full of vigilance.

"Who... are you?" he stared at the bright red opera robe and asked in a low voice.

The figure didn't speak, just walked forward silently, like a shell without a soul.

Suddenly, a breeze blew across the wilderness, and the bright red opera robe swayed gently in the wind. A scarlet butterfly flew out from his sleeve and drifted lightly past everyone's eyes... Everyone froze in place.

This butterfly had no patterns on its body, not even any of the organs or limbs a butterfly should have, just like an imitation made of red paper. Its wings flapped lightly, scarlet as blood.

Immediately after, there was a second, a third, a fourth...

As he waved his sleeves gently, dense swarms of butterflies poured out from under his opera robe, like a tide of dancing butterflies, flooding toward the faces of Xi Renjie and the others!

Xi Renjie and the others were startled and instinctively blocked their faces with their hands. Through their fingers, he could see the bright red opera robe almost decomposing into butterflies filling the sky, completely obscuring their vision. Everything around them was scarlet.

"Where did so many butterflies come from??" An Enforcer was flapped by the butterflies so hard he couldn't even open his eyes. In a panic, he pulled out the gun at his waist.

Bang, bang, bang—!

Successive gunshots rang out, but they failed to disperse the butterflies in the slightest. At the same time, Xi Renjie's scolding suddenly rang out:

"You idiot! Who told you to shoot?!"

Although the red-clad figure was mysterious, he had saved his life, and he had lured away all the Calamities in the Third District. Even though Xi Renjie was suspicious of his identity, that didn't mean they were necessarily enemies. This was why, until now, Xi Renjie hadn't drawn his gun or gripped his sword in front of Chen Ling.

But now that this Enforcer had fired first, if that person took this as a signal to start a war, that would be terrible!

The Enforcer who fired was stunned. Before he could come to his senses, a figure in a bright red opera robe quickly wove out from the butterflies filling the sky. Those hollow eyes stared at him, eerie and chilling.

He was frightened by this scene, let out a loud cry, and instinctively wanted to raise his gun again. But as the red-clad figure waved his sleeve, the gun in his hand suddenly became light...

When he fully raised his hand, a fresh banana was gripped tightly in his palm, aimed at Chen Ling's forehead.

A banana?

The Enforcer was dumbfounded. He stared blankly at the thing in his hand, his brain crashing on the spot.

Before he could come to his senses, the vermilion sleeve waved again. The butterflies around him twisted, turning into long, slender snakes that climbed onto his body like ropes. Black tongues flicked lightly against his cheeks, cold and bone-chilling!

This eerie change shattered the Enforcer's psychological defense. He screamed in terror, trying to break free from these snakes and escape, but no matter how hard he tried, these snakes seemed to have grown on him, impossible to shake off.

"Ahhhhh!! Save me! Save me!!!"

Hearing his cries for help, Xi Renjie gritted his teeth, drew his steel sword from his back, and charged forward, slashing through the thin snakes covering the man.

The thin snakes snapped upon impact, falling away from the enforcer's skin to reveal his bare upper body... At that moment, both the enforcer and Xi Renjie froze. They rubbed their eyes, unable to tell if the clothes had turned into snakes, or if the snakes had turned into clothes...

Was it an illusion?

A ghostly figure in red appeared behind Xi Renjie.

Xi Renjie felt the hair on his body stand on end and a chill shoot straight to his skull. Without hesitation, he spun around and slashed with his sword!

The blade tore through the air with a sharp whistle, but as his vision blurred, the steel sword instantly transformed into a charred black wooden stick, swinging toward Chen Ling's head!

For a split second, Xi Renjie was shocked, but remembering how he had just sliced through the snakes, he told himself this was merely an illusion and that he was still holding an indestructible steel sword... He gripped the end of the stick tightly and swung it with a roar!

Snap—!

The wooden stick snapped in two.

Xi Renjie froze.

Holding the charred half of the stick, a look of bewilderment flashed in his eyes, for he saw that Chen Ling was using the very steel sword he had been holding just a moment ago to block his strike... Like the enforcer, his brain momentarily crashed.

That’s not right?!

Weren't those red butterflies and thin snakes supposed to be illusions??

Just as Xi Renjie thought everything was real, the real turned into the false, and when he decided they were false, the false became real again... For a moment, he couldn't tell what was true and what was fake.

The only thing that remained unchanged was the eerie, sinister smile on the face of the figure draped in the bright red theatrical robe before him.

The steel sword whistled down, narrowly missed by Xi Renjie. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his gun, aimed at Chen Ling, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger!

The sound of the gunshot did not ring out.

A smooth texture brushed against his fingertips.

Xi Renjie opened his eyes in a daze; at some point, the gun in his hand had turned into a banana...

"This is impossible." Xi Renjie’s mind went blank. "This was clearly real... No... could it be fake?"

At the same time, he saw Chen Ling opposite him slowly raising a banana toward him...

Bang, bang, bang—!!

Three consecutive bullets struck Xi Renjie’s body. Although they were absorbed and neutralized by his black [Iron Garment], at that moment, Xi Renjie felt as if his brain had died... There was simply no way to win this.

He didn't understand the principle behind this absurd battle. In his mind, besides endless crimson, there was nothing left but Chen Ling’s eerie face.

When the false is taken for true, the true becomes false; when the true is taken for false, the false becomes true.

It was as if all of this was born from the waving of that theatrical robe...

Crimson Trick.