Cang Liu, covered in frost, looked back worriedly. He had set up several restrictions on the original path to prevent pursuit, yet the feeling of unease remained strong.
Even so, despite his anxiety, Cang Liu could see that Gu Mingze had reached his limit. He also knew Gu Mingze had tried his best.
"Brother, why don't you take the children and go? I'll give you my clothes, you can carry them and go," Gu Mingze swallowed, feeling a burning pain in his throat. "You go get reinforcements, I'll stay here for a bit."
Cang Liu didn't speak, nor did he leave. He stood rigidly beside the three people, sword in hand, his face a mask of coldness, making Gu Mingze feel extremely awkward.
He had finally mustered the courage, offered himself, sacrificed himself, and made a grand gesture, only for no one to respond.
Shouldn't there be some poignant farewell, some lingering reluctance at a time like this?
"Let's go. This time, we'll go slower," Cang Liu pulled up Gu Mingze, who was sitting on the ground. His tone was indifferent, without a ripple, like a pool of cold, dead water. "Don't sit for too long. Once you fall, you won't be able to get up again."
"Okay." Gu Mingze nodded obediently. This time, they walked much slower. Gu Mingze didn't carry the two children but held their hands as they walked quickly.
The passage was not large, simply plastered with cement, and the light grew dimmer. Cang Liu had to inject his power into his long sword, illuminating the path ahead with its faint glow.
However, the passage stretched straight ahead without end, and a sense of inexplicable loneliness enveloped everyone's hearts.
"Ahem, Brother, can you talk to me for a bit?" Gu Mingze couldn't stand it any longer. Seeing that the two children he was holding were about to cry from fear, he decided to speak up to lighten the mood.
"What about?" This time, Cang Liu did not remain silent but responded to Gu Mingze.
"Brother, are we really going to die? Aren't you Miss Bai's subordinate? Will she come looking for you?" Gu Mingze asked.
"It's not just because I'm her subordinate; I would save her life too," Cang Liu said. "But it is possible we might die."
Hearing Cang Liu's words, Gu Mingze suddenly regretted his earlier chatter. The two children beside him had been holding on, but the moment he heard "might die," their hands went limp. They were clearly terrified.
"Brother, can't you say something more positive?" Gu Mingze coughed awkwardly.
"There's a mortality rate for missions. Even Miss Bai's success rate is bought with a price," Cang Liu stopped, his gaze sweeping over the two children before settling on Gu Mingze's face. He said earnestly, "However, I will protect you, until I die."
"Uh, Brother, why are you being so serious?" Gu Mingze felt even more awkward.
He always felt that such serious and heartfelt words should be spoken when the male and female protagonists face a crisis, like a domineering CEO cornering the heroine.
To have a man say it so earnestly now felt quite strange.
"At least, you won't die before I do. 'Shadow' not only has successor positions but also sacrifice positions," Cang Liu said indifferently.
"Sacrifice positions?" Gu Mingze didn't understand.
"It's a rule. The person who sacrifices the least to preserve the greatest interests and the safety of the majority, cutting off the tail to survive, from strongest to weakest," Cang Liu explained. "If we split up, ordinary people's safety must be ensured first, so I would die before you."
"Ah? There's even an order for sacrifice?" Gu Mingze put on a pained expression, unsure how to respond. He was about to say something else when a loud roar echoed from above.
The roar was not far away, like the collision of two missiles, shaking the tunnel. The two children immediately burst into tears, and Gu Mingze was also quite frightened. Looking up, he saw a hint of surprise on Cang Liu's icy face.
"They're here!" Cang Liu's voice, which was usually as calm as ice, finally showed a crack, even a hint of relief. Just as he was about to do something, his expression suddenly turned grim.
In that instant, the lights in the tunnel suddenly blazed to life. The previously dim lights, almost non-existent, all flickered on, one by one.
"They've found us!" Cang Liu's internal alarm bells rang. He knew that Bai Cha's intrusion had likely alerted the people here. They were in a hurry to bring them back but discovered they had escaped.
These were crucial pieces of evidence. Two official personnel escorting two pieces of evidence – if they escaped, it would be a definite crime. It was easy to imagine that those people wouldn't let them go easily.
This was likely the moment when both sides would be fighting for them.
Even so, Cang Liu was helpless. He specialized in agile assassination, so he certainly couldn't blast through the ground above like Bai Cha. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered finding a way to escape with them. Even Yun He would be at a loss in this situation.
"Boom!"
Another loud bang echoed from above, this time much closer. The ground light even flickered erratically due to voltage fluctuations. Cang Liu was anxious, but then he heard a shout from behind. Turning around, he saw that a crack had appeared in the ground at some point, and the three behind him had already fallen through with one foot.
From the bottomless crack came the sounds of rotating gears and grinding metal, a sound that clearly indicated trouble. If it were any other time, the cowardly Gu Mingze would have either been paralyzed with fear or scampered away like a monkey.
But today, for some reason, Gu Mingze's latent chuunibyou heroic complex suddenly surged. The image of a magical girl flashed in his mind, and he instinctively threw his hand out, tossing the children upwards.
Oh dear, he seemed to have overdone it this time.
Gu Mingze felt a chill in his heart. Although he was a coward, he also had a suppressed, crazy little desire within him. He didn't know if he regretted his sudden act of heroism, his mind was a complete blank.
Just as Gu Mingze thought he was doomed, a cold hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. The cold touch felt like flowing seawater, surprisingly comfortable, and a faint power began to circulate within him.
"Brother!" Gu Mingze was both shocked and delighted. He had truly broken out in a cold sweat. His grand gesture this time had indeed gone too far, almost costing him his life.
The key point was that no one saw him make this gesture. His heroism went unwitnessed. What a loss!
"Don't move, I'll pull you up!" Cang Liu's opinion of Gu Mingze had genuinely changed. He had initially thought Gu Mingze was a carefree, slightly foolish kid who would just grin even if kicked.
At least Cang Liu never expected Gu Mingze to dare to sacrifice himself to save the children.
Gu Mingze wasn't heavy. Although weak, his weight and other factors met the minimum standards for a Dragon Rider, so pulling him up wasn't difficult. Cang Liu exerted force to pull Gu Mingze up, but his peripheral vision caught a flash of silver light. His expression changed, and he immediately dropped to the ground, lowering his arm by a segment.
This action greatly frightened Gu Mingze. He had been thinking of using his strength to grab the ground and pull himself up, but suddenly he lost his footing and plummeted further, his heart pounding wildly.
"You scared me, Brother! Grab me… Brother!" Gu Mingze thought Cang Liu had lost his grip. He was about to look up and make a joke when he looked up and saw that Cang Liu's entire arm was mangled by a string of blades, the exposed flesh revealing stark white bone.
Fortunately, Cang Liu had pulled him down in time. Otherwise, if Cang Liu had been even a moment slower, his brain might have been turned into mush for tofu pudding.
Cang Liu's body temperature was icy, and his blood was even colder. Even though Gu Mingze couldn't feel the chill emanating from Cang Liu, he shivered from the flowing blood.
Cang Liu gritted his teeth and exerted force again, pulling Gu Mingze up.
"Brother! Brother, are you alright! Your arm!" Gu Mingze was completely panicked. This was the first time in his life he had been so flustered. His legs went weak with anxiety, and he knelt down.
Cang Liu's skin was pale and tinged with green. Dark red blood flowed from his exposed flesh, and the sight of the stark white bone made Gu Mingze's heart creep.
"They're right there! Kill them!"
"Quickly!"
Hearing the rapidly approaching voices, Gu Mingze's heart sank. Sometimes, when one bad thing happens, a string of misfortunes follows. Cang Liu's severely injured arm happened to be his right arm, and Cang Liu wasn't left-handed. Gu Mingze had no offensive capabilities himself.
A cold glint flashed in Cang Liu's eyes. He switched to his left hand, holding his sword and blocking in front of Gu Mingze and the children.
"Boom!"
Another roar, this time the heavens and earth shook. Huge rocks exploded and shattered, completely blocking the path behind Cang Liu and the others. Gu Mingze looked up and gasped.
No wonder Bai Cha had such a difficult time breaking through here. At this depth, Gu Mingze wouldn't doubt it even if it were eighteen or thirty-eight levels underground. Such thick cement and steel plates were pierced by Bai Cha? How incredible!
What worried Gu Mingze the most at this moment was Bai Cha's condition. One-third of the right side of Bai Cha's face was covered in black scales.
The black scale armor further accentuated Bai Cha's graceful figure, making her more alluring than a succubus and nobler than an elf. She was handsome, beautiful, and cool, more beautiful and cooler than any anime character Gu Mingze had ever seen.
However, Gu Mingze also knew what these black scales signified. He had attended basic theory classes on Jun Yao. Bai Cha's dragon blood had been stimulated to at least sixty percent.
Normally, if an S-class dragon was not fully resonated, the host could share eighty percent of its power. The stimulated power of the dragon blood in the body doubled, but only up to that point. The lower the dragon's level, the lower this limit.
Once this limit was exceeded, it would be dangerous – either self-detonation or going completely mad.
S-class had eighty percent, A-class only sixty percent, B-class only forty percent. Full resonance was said to cause very strange sensations throughout the body, which Gu Mingze felt Bai Cha would definitely not wish to experience.
A group of men in black, holding guns, at the end of the passage were stunned to see Bai Cha blast open the ground. But they reacted quickly, raising their guns to shoot the hostages first. Before they could pull the triggers, Bai Cha smashed them to pieces with a single palm, guns and all.
"Trash," Bai Cha snorted, her normally clear voice carrying a hint of hoarseness.
As the ground was broken open, golden radiance flowed in like liquid from the outside, spreading throughout the entire passage.
"Hold them," Bai Cha looked at Gu Mingze. Gu Mingze didn't understand. Seeing Cang Liu reach out and pull the two children towards him, he finally reacted and hurried forward.
"Brother, let me, let me," Gu Mingze took the children, smiling brightly.
It was uncertain if Cang Liu's right arm was废, so how could he let his savior continue working?
Bai Cha said nothing more. Holding one child in each hand, she flew out of the large hole in the ceiling.
Gu Mingze hadn't understood what the golden light that had illuminated the entire ground was until Bai Cha brought him out. The golden light almost blinded him. Gu Mingze pointed at the Thousand-Armed Guanyin on the dome, speechless for a long time.
"This, this… you, I, him, this…" Gu Mingze's face turned red with frustration. This time, it had truly exceeded his common sense.
The Thousand-Armed Guanyin flying in the sky was incredibly cool and awe-inspiring. He remembered Gu Zitan was also a world-class powerhouse, so was he also this powerful?
Then how powerful was the world's strongest person?