Bang!
A gunshot echoed in the alley, sending rats scurrying from their dark corners.
Xia Zhi felt a heavy blow to her abdomen, then her entire body was thrown backward onto the ground.
Had she been shot?
But it didn't hurt as much as she had imagined…
Xia Zhi snapped back to reality and quickly looked at her stomach. She saw that the wooden bird, which had been in her handbag, was now in her arms. The wooden bird's beak held a bullet!
The wooden bird's lively eyes were staring at Xia Zhi!
This wooden bird had actually saved her!
But the wooden bird was just a block of wood. How had it crawled out of her bag and actively blocked the bullet?
Xia Zhi was baffled, but everything had happened in the blink of an eye.
The moment Xia Zhi fell, Yan Shouyi had already charged at Zhao Hu.
Zhao Hu was, after all, an ordinary person without training. He hadn't expected the recoil of a pistol to be so strong. Unprepared, his right hand was jolted above his head. His wrist went numb, and he couldn't aim at Yan Shouyi again in a short time.
In an instant, Yan Shouyi had reached Zhao Hu and chopped his wrist with a palm strike. The pain made Zhao Hu drop the gun directly.
Before Zhao Hu could recover, Yan Shouyi delivered a whip kick, hitting Zhao Hu's ribs fiercely!
Everyone seemed to hear the sound of a bone breaking. Zhao Hu grimaced in pain, almost fainting.
Knowing he was no match for Yan Shouyi, Zhao Hu pushed Zhang Yingying towards Yan Shouyi, intending to use Zhang Yingying to block Yan Shouyi's path and buy himself time to escape.
"Don't run!"
Xia Zhi gritted her teeth, struggled to get up, and lunged forward, grabbing Zhao Hu's ankle.
Although the wooden bird had blocked a bullet for her, Xia Zhi had still suffered the impact. She clearly had internal injuries and found it difficult to move, but she absolutely could not let Zhao Hu escape.
"Damn it, let go!"
Zhao Hu was desperate to escape and had his progress delayed by Xia Zhi. He became fierce and noticed the pistol Yan Shouyi had knocked to the ground not far away.
He immediately dragged Xia Zhi, picked up the gun, and then aimed it at Xia Zhi's forehead!
"Bitch, die!"
At this moment, time seemed to slow down countless times.
Yan Shouyi wanted to intervene, but he wasn't Superman and couldn't stop Zhao Hu in time.
As Xia Zhi looked at the gun barrel just inches away, she was afraid but also confused.
Didn't they say I had three life-and-death tribulations in my life?
The second tribulation had clearly been avoided, but now, I still seem unable to escape death.
Did Yan Shouyi miscalculate?
As Zhao Hu fired, a graceful figure appeared at the end of the alley.
She was dressed in purple and held a pair of black bells, which she gently shook, making a jingling sound.
The moment Zhao Hu fired, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in front of Zhao Hu and forcibly raised Zhao Hu's arm!
Bang!
The bullet grazed Xia Zhi's ear, tearing it. If it had been a few centimeters closer, she would have had no chance of survival!
The dark shadow protecting Xia Zhi flickered and instantly dissipated into black smoke!
Zhao Hu felt incredible: "What was that just now?!"
Was it a ghost?
Did ghosts truly exist in this world?!
"Big idiot!!"
As Zhao Hu stood stunned, Lin Zitong, who had appeared in the alley, yelled furiously at Yan Shouyi.
Yan Shouyi sighed and said dejectedly, "Don't call me that. My grandfather said that if people call you stupid all the time, you'll really become stupid."
Lin Zitong pouted and snorted at Yan Shouyi from a distance: "I don't care, you're still a big idiot! Who told you to avoid me!"
Yan Shouyi coughed twice. To ease the awkwardness, he changed the subject: "Was that you just now? The black bells… they seem to be magical artifacts of the Lushan Sect. When did you learn this skill?"
These black bells were called Soul Summoning Bells, the magical artifacts of the Red-Hatted Sorcerers of the Lushan Sect, said to possess the miraculous ability to summon spirits and dispatch generals.
That's right, the dark shadow that stopped Zhao Hu moments ago was indeed a ghost.
Lin Zitong really wanted to answer, but it wasn't the time for casual conversation, as Zhao Hu had recovered and was preparing to escape again!
"Brat, don't let him get away!" Yan Shouyi shouted urgently.
Lin Zitong huffed, "Don't call me 'brat'."
Despite her complaints, Lin Zitong didn't hesitate. She shook the Soul Summoning Bells and stepped in strange patterns. Behind the escaping Zhao Hu, five dark shadows slowly appeared!
These five dark shadows could barely be recognized as human figures, but they were entangled together with thin, long legs. The five pairs of legs converged into a small tail, which seemed to be attached to Zhao Hu's back!
The five dark shadows reached out, some covering Zhao Hu's eyes, some strangling his neck, and some even grabbing Zhao Hu's legs to prevent him from escaping!
Zhao Hu, unaware of what was happening, stumbled to the ground. His face instantly turned red, and he struggled non-stop, appearing to be on the verge of death from torment!
Zhang Yingying was so frightened by this scene that she dared not speak. Xia Zhi reacted in time and quickly shouted:
"Don't kill him! He's responsible for two more lives. We must find out who he killed!"
Lin Zitong shook the Soul Summoning Bells again, this time with different force and frequency. The mere bells seemed to produce several melodies under her control.
An invisible force was peeling the five dark shadows away from Zhao Hu.
However, to everyone's surprise, the five dark shadows began to resist, seemingly unwilling to obey Lin Zitong's commands!
Lin Zitong's small face showed a hint of panic: "Their resentment is too strong, I can't control them anymore!"
Yan Shouyi saw at a glance that these five dark shadows were the victims Zhao Hu had killed. They hated Zhao Hu, which was why they were willing to obey Lin Zitong's orders to take revenge.
But their resentment was so strong that when Lin Zitong told them to stop, they completely disobeyed and were determined to put Zhao Hu to death!
It seemed that at this critical moment, I had to step in.
Yan Shouyi sighed softly and rushed forward, casually pulling out a black bull's horn, as thick as a baby's arm, from his satchel.
With just a slight wave, the five dark shadows were sucked into the black bull's horn, unable to resist at all!
The bull's horn was an object used to suppress evil. The bull's horn in Yan Shouyi's hand came from a thousand-year-old ancient temple. That old yellow ox had plowed the fields for the eminent monks of the ancient temple its entire life, growing up listening to Buddhist chants. After its death, its horns possessed several times the power of ordinary bull's horns. Yan Shouyi's grandfather had paid quite a price to obtain it from that eminent monk.
With the disappearance of the five dark shadows, Zhao Hu was freed but had also fainted from fear.
To prevent further accidents, Xia Zhi quickly stepped forward to handcuff Zhao Hu.
"Your cultivation is still shallow. Don't use summoning techniques lightly in the future. As the saying goes, it's easier to invite gods than to send them away. What if the spirits you summon don't like you and refuse to leave?"
After dealing with Zhao Hu, Yan Shouyi immediately lectured Lin Zitong with a stern face.
Lin Zitong clearly disagreed: "Hmph, even if you hadn't intervened, I would have found a way to handle them!"
"You're bragging," Yan Shouyi flicked Lin Zitong's forehead, showing no mercy.
A small red mark soon appeared on Lin Zitong's smooth forehead.
She stomped her foot in anger, hugged Yan Shouyi's arm, and said domineeringly:
"It's finally taken me so long to find you. This time, you're not allowed to run, no matter what, or else I..."
"What can you do to me?" Yan Shouyi looked at Lin Zitong with a smile.
Lin Zitong was momentarily speechless. Yan Shouyi was elusive, and his skills were far beyond what Lin Zitong could even dream of. If Yan Shouyi wanted to leave, she definitely couldn't stop him.
Zhang Yingying sat in a corner, feeling a pang of bitterness seeing Yan Shouyi playfully bickering with the Lin family's eldest daughter.
After all, Yan Shouyi had drunk a whole bottle of foreign liquor for her sake tonight to protect her.
But now, their destinies had diverged. Zhang Yingying knew clearly that she was inferior to Lin Zitong in every way, let alone betraying and selling out Yan Shouyi tonight.
At the same time, she was also shocked by what she had just witnessed.
Yan Shouyi truly knew magic!
At this moment, Xia Zhi walked up to Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong and said sincerely, "Thank you both for your help just now. Especially you, Yan Shouyi, you are my savior."
If Yan Shouyi hadn't predicted Xia Zhi's life-and-death tribulation tonight and lent her the wooden bird, Xia Zhi would likely be a cold corpse now.
Yan Shouyi shook his head modestly and said, "The brat also saved you just now."
Xia Zhi quickly thanked Lin Zitong.
But Lin Zitong said with a face full of confusion: "Me? I didn't save her! That ghost that protected her just now, wasn't it summoned by you?"
Her words caused Yan Shouyi and Xia Zhi to pause in surprise.
If the dark shadow that saved Xia Zhi's life wasn't Lin Zitong's doing, then who was it?
Yan Shouyi suddenly thought of something and asked Xia Zhi, "Officer Xia, are you carrying any protective amulets or anything like that?"
Lin Zitong also nodded upon hearing this: "Yes, yes, powerful amulets can truly help people avoid disaster!"
"But I don't have any amulets with me."
Although Xia Zhi denied it, she still rummaged through her handbag. After a few seconds, her movements suddenly froze.
Immediately, Xia Zhi's eyes welled up with tears.
Lin Zitong asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Xia Zhi took out an old police ID from her handbag. The surface of the ID was worn and tattered, indicating that Xia Zhi had carried it with her for many years.
Xia Zhi felt a sting in her nose, as if she were about to cry: "This ID belongs to the uncle who saved me back then..."
At this moment, Yan Shouyi understood everything.
The one who saved Xia Zhi just now was none other than the police uncle who had saved her years ago.
Even after so many years, he had still protected Xia Zhi, silently guarding her.
But just now, he must have used all his strength to forcefully interfere with Zhao Hu's actions, at the cost of his soul dissipating.
Everyone fell silent. Yan Shouyi felt a surge of respect.
It wasn't necessarily the extraordinary people like them who could subdue all demons and monsters, but more often people like that uncle.
People with a righteous spirit in their hearts!