Chapter 1 Stand Still!

"Halt!"

Just as Gu Shen leaned against the alley wall, breathing a sigh of relief and preparing to tidy his clothes before leaving, a sharp shout suddenly came from behind. Immediately after, hurried footsteps echoed from outside the alley.

Was that directed at me?!

The moment the sound rang out, Gu Shen's heart tensed up.

Driven by a guilty conscience and the thought that there was no harm in running, he immediately started twisting his hips and picking up speed the moment he heard the voice.

He had just ripped off Cui Zhongcheng, so who knew if the young Mr. Cui would suddenly change his mind, send someone to chase him down, and take back the E-grade hourglass that contained hidden mysteries.

Glancing back hastily, he caught sight of several figures darting out of the shadows, all tall guys around six feet two, dressed in black suits, faces grim, each wearing a pair of sunglasses... most importantly, the collars of their shirts were all embroidered with black hibiscus.

This was the emblem of Huazhi.

These people really were from the Zhao family!

As he ran, the voices behind him grew even angrier.

Someone roared, "Don't run!"

Gu Shen ran even faster.

If it weren't for the fact that he had used the Ruler of Truth twice in a row, Gu Shen would have even wanted to use the ruler to escape… In reality, this was purely a biological, instinctive response.

No matter what happened, being chased just made you want to run.

The faster the chase, the faster the run.

The alley wasn't wide, and it was cluttered with unmanned wicker baskets, so the path of his frantic sprint was full of obstacles, causing him to stumble and stagger.

What made it even worse was that this seemingly secluded and quiet alley was actually a dead end. After running for more than ten seconds, Gu Shen saw the wall at the end of his vision and felt a sense of despair.

"Step on the baskets... climb over!"

Just then, a slightly anxious reminder came from behind.

"???"

Only then did Gu Shen realize that there was a figure closely following behind him. The person wasn't tall or strong, easily overlooked in his peripheral vision, but upon closer inspection, he was an eyesore.

This guy was wearing a thin floral shirt in the dead of winter, sporting a buzz cut, and wearing a pair of flip-flops. He was running anxiously and quickly, but unfortunately, the alley was too narrow, so he could only be stuck behind Gu Shen's rear end.

There was no time to think about who the person was, nor to ask any questions.

Gu Shen acted almost subconsciously according to what the person said, stepping on a basket and jumping up, using the force to kick off the wall and bounce back. Fortunately, his physique had always been pretty good, but this was the first time he had climbed a high wall in this way...

*Thud!*

Five fingers slammed down heavily, barely managing to grab the upper edge of the wall, but at least he was holding on. He swung to the side and exerted force again. Gu Shen felt like a gymnast on a horizontal bar, supporting himself with some close calls.

Then, Gu Shen glanced back slightly and saw a scene that left him dumbfounded.

The buzz-cut man in the thin floral shirt didn't bother stepping on any baskets or other objects to gain height. Instead, he took a remarkably fierce running start from four or five meters away, his jump in the last two meters resembling a liftoff. The whole person was like a large bird spreading its wings, the arc of his jump light and graceful.

Gu Shen had previously estimated that the height of this wall was at least four meters.

He could easily step on the top of the wall with just a short running start.

Was this guy... even human?

The buzz-cut man didn't stop. After leaping onto the wall, he immediately jumped down. This time, his posture was even more like a large bird... Gu Shen suspected that this guy had grown a pair of wings. He could even see the gliding trajectory of the wings soaring in the air.

"What are you waiting for?"

The buzz-cut man landed on the ground and looked back. "Aren't you running?"

Gu Shen was stunned. The pursuers behind him had already arrived menacingly. The cooperation of these strong men was quite tacit. Some had already started running, while others consciously leaned against the wall and squatted down, using their backs to build a human bridge.

"Damn it..."

Gu Shen snapped back to his senses. He quickly jumped down from the wall. The buzz-cut man chivalrously gave him a hand when he landed. The two ran wildly through the alley one after the other, like two ostriches burying their heads in the sand and rushing forward. The alley after crossing the high wall was no longer a straight line, but connected to a maze of interconnected hutongs. The buzz-cut man led the way, taking the lead. This guy not only jumped high but also ran extremely fast. No wonder he was a little anxious when Gu Shen had blocked him from behind.

Facts proved that the economic development of East Continent still needed improvement. Even the most prosperous metropolis of Jiangnan had dilapidated old districts with crisscrossing ancient alleys. After the buzz-cut man led them on a winding path, the original straightforward trajectory of the two immediately branched out... It was even more difficult for the guys behind to pursue them.

It wasn't until the shouts behind them could no longer be heard that the buzz-cut man gradually slowed down.

"Huff... huff..."

Gu Shen supported his knees with both hands and asked with difficulty, "Did we shake them off?"

"Shook them off by eight thousand li." The buzz-cut man sneered disdainfully, "With their IQ, they'd need another eight hundred years to catch your grandpa."

He was in excellent physical condition. After a burst of frantic running, he only took a few deep breaths to regain his composure.

Song Ci dusted off the dirt on his floral shirt. He was a very clean person, but during the frantic run just now, the alley was narrow, and the corners of his clothes inevitably got dirty. After dusting off his clothes, he realized... the development of things didn't seem quite right.

"Wait a minute... why were you running?"

He sized up the guy in front of him with a strange expression. He looked very young, seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he looked a little disheveled now, he had been able to keep up with his speed all along, which meant that this kid was in pretty good shape.

Gu Shen's expression was equally strange.

Because his lines had been stolen by the buzz-cut man in front of him...

The Zhao family's bodyguards should have been chasing him, so why was this man running?

Was there a possibility that the six-foot-two-inch strongmen from just now weren't chasing him?

But... him?

"You know those guys from just now? If you didn't do anything wrong, why were you running?"

Song Ci frowned and said, "Did you steal something? Or are you in debt? Why were you running so fast?"

"Bullshit... I'm a model citizen!" Gu Shen hurriedly denied, "Those strong men were so burly, and they were chasing me, so of course I had to run. Besides, the emblems on their bodies were so obvious. That's Huazhi Group... who knows what they would do if they caught me!"

The buzz-cut man rubbed his chin, listening to Gu Shen's explanation with amusement.

Gu Shen said angrily, "It's normal for me to run! But you, why were you running?"

The sudden question left the buzz-cut man speechless, and the fingers that had just taken out a cigarette froze in mid-air.

"Just like you said, when someone is chasing you, isn't it normal to run?" He held the cigarette in his mouth, calmed down for two seconds, and then argued with a somewhat forceful tone, "Just one look and you can tell that I... I'm also a model citizen."

Gu Shen cast a highly skeptical look.

Buzz cut, floral shirt... With this attire, he didn't look like a model citizen at all, did he?

"Hey, hey, don't judge a book by its cover." The buzz-cut man touched the pocket of his shirt, took out a flint steel wheel lighter, and tried to light it but failed. So he said annoyedly with a muffled voice, "Do you think I can't understand the meaning in your eyes?"

Gu Shen was just about to say something.

"Found them... they're here!"

A familiar voice rang out at the end of the alley.

The persistent tall figures reappeared.

The buzz-cut man's face changed. He frowned, staring at the flint steel wheel lighter. Then, exerting force with his fingers, he flicked the base of the lighter, and a chip the size of a fingernail was attached to the inside of the base.

"This is... a tracking chip?" Gu Shen's eyes narrowed.

"Oh... Little Boss, you know your stuff." The buzz-cut man heard this and looked up with some surprise. He smiled, expressionlessly extended his thumb, aimed it at the base, and pressed down hard. The chip cracked and shattered into dust.

Clean and efficient.

"Now..."

He smiled softly, extended his hand to Gu Shen, "Whether you're a model citizen or not... you have to run away with me now."

"???"

Gu Shen slapped away the buzz-cut man's outstretched hand fiercely. "I can run!"

He gritted his teeth and looked back at the suit-clad strongmen behind him.

Run, he had to run.

The scene of the two of them running away together had already been seen. He would definitely be regarded as an old acquaintance. If he was caught, no one would believe that he had only said two words to this guy.

So the two ostriches continued to run wildly.

After running at full speed for thirty minutes.

"No, no, I can't do it anymore..." Gu Shen leaned against the wall, panting heavily. "I can't run anymore... let me rest for a while..."

The buzz-cut man, who was running fast like a whirlwind in his flip-flops, finally stopped slowly. He crossed his arms with interest and said calmly, "Actually, we shook them off twenty minutes ago. I just wanted to see how long you could run."

Gu Shen: "???"

If he wasn't unable to beat him, he really wanted to give this guy a beating.

Stopping to take a closer look, the buzz-cut man's physique was quite strong. Under the thin shirt, the contours of his full chest and abdominal muscles were faintly visible. Judging from his performance of jumping over the wall just now, this agile body harbored great explosive power.

"Good brother, you're loyal enough, you didn't betray me." Seeing Gu Shen's expression, the buzz-cut man touched his nose, laughed, and said, "There's a noodle restaurant nearby that's really delicious. I'll treat you to noodles later."

Gu Shen's face twitched slightly.

He wanted to betray this buzz-cut man, but he didn't even know his name. If he was caught, he would really be unable to defend himself.

"By the way..."

The man extended a hand in a carefree manner and said, "My surname is Song, Song Ci, the Ci of compassion."

Song Ci... that was a unique name.

Gu Shen muttered this name silently. A breeze blew through the alley, stirring the thin shirt. At that moment, he accidentally glimpsed a small patch of black pattern vaguely revealed on Song Ci's chest.

An eerie black pattern embracing a broken heart, hibiscus flowers blooming amidst thorns. Just revealing a small patch was enough to make one sure of the full appearance of this tattoo... This was the mark of the Chengxin Society.

Gu Shen retracted his gaze.

He extended a hand, shook hands with Song Ci, and said slowly, "Gu Shen, the Shen of cautious solitude."