Chapter 144: Torrential Downpour

What?

Chen Yu's pupils shrank to the absolute limit at that very instant.

The sound of the torrential rain, the howling wind, Shen Feng's ragged breathing—everything faded away into the distance in his ears.

Only those three words echoed crazily in his mind, over and over again.

"She... is not dead!"

"She's not dead?"

Chen Yu's lips trembled slightly. He stared fixedly at Shen Feng's blood-stained face, asking uncertainly.

An indescribable emotion, like a volcanic eruption, suddenly gushed forth from the deepest part of his heart!

It was not joy.

It was an emotion far more intense, far more scorching, far more frantic than joy!

It was the ecstatic frenzy of recovering something lost!

It was the madness of seeing a ray of light after being torn apart by despair!

Li Qing!

That woman who had swallowed poison without a moment's hesitation for his sake!

That body that had gradually lost its warmth in his arms!

That white moonlight that had made him doubt and hate his destiny as a "protagonist" for the very first time!

She wasn't dead!

"Ha... hahaha..." Chen Yu suddenly lowered his head, his shoulders shaking violently as he let out a low laugh.

The laughter grew louder and more uncontrollable, eventually turning into a wild, roaring peal of laughter that echoed through the entire restaurant!

He laughed like a lunatic, yet his eye sockets uncontrollably turned red.

Inside the live broadcast room, within the old villa, everyone was utterly stunned by Chen Yu's sudden and drastic reaction.

Liu Hong covered her mouth, tears streaming even more fiercely; surprisingly, she was actually feeling happy for Chen Yu.

Watching the madman-like Chen Yu before him, the smile at the corners of Shen Feng's mouth only grew more cruel and twisted.

Savoring Chen Yu's loss of composure, he taunted derisively.

"You're happy, aren't you?"

Shen Feng coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam, interrupting Chen Yu's wild laughter.

"However..."

He viciously dragged out the syllable.

"By now, she should already be on her way to another kind of hell!"

"Over there, even wanting to die is a luxury!"

Chen Yu's laughter abruptly ceased.

The roaring flames of ecstatic joy were instantly extinguished by a basin of ice water.

"Where is she?!"

Chen Yu lunged forward with a stride, grabbing Shen Feng by the collar and lifting his dying body right out of the chair.

"Tell me! Where the hell is she?!"

A terrifying murderous intent erupted from Chen Yu's body like a physical substance, and the temperature inside the entire restaurant seemed to plummet by several degrees.

"Cough... cough cough..."

Choked to the point of breathlessness, Shen Feng nevertheless revealed a satisfied smile on his face.

He shook his head.

"With my status... I... I'm not even qualified to know that place..."

"I'm just a... piece on the board, too."

Veins bulged on Chen Yu's arms; he truly wanted to smash this monster's head with a single punch.

But he could not.

Li Qing was still alive—this was the single piece of information, and it was the most important one.

He had to remain calm.

At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through Chen Yu's mind.

This bastard had just said... one piece of good news, and one piece of bad news.

Li Qing not being dead was the "good news."

Yet this news was clearly a poison wrapped in a shred of hope, hidden inside another layer of despair.

If this was fucking considered good news...

Then what on earth would the bad news be?

It was as though Shen Feng could see right through Chen Yu's thoughts, for the smile on his face reached the pinnacle of smug triumph.

"Ha... hahahahaha!"

He laughed wildly and violently, more blood gushing from his mouth to stain the back of Chen Yu's hand.

"The bad news is..."

"You haven't won!"

"You! Too! Will! Die! Right! Here!"

The moment his words fell, Shen Feng used his final ounce of strength to pull a black remote control from his pocket.

His unfocused eyes gazed with feverish fanaticism toward the ceiling, as if reporting to some unseen presence.

"You all saw it!"

I haven't messed up! I... I can clean up the mess!"

"Are you satisfied now?!"

Without waiting for Chen Yu to react, he pressed his blood-soaked finger down hard on the bright red button of the remote!

"Click—"

A soft sound echoed.

Chen Yu's heart gave a violent wrench.

Deep in his mind, the long-dormant [Crisis Warning] flared up at this moment with unprecedented intensity, sounding a frantic alarm!

Fatal danger!

An irresistible danger!

Thrown roughly to the floor by Chen Yu, Shen Feng's body convulsed as he continued to spit blood, yet he smiled with utter bliss.

"You have... three minutes left!"

His voice sounded like a curse whispered by a demon crawling straight out of hell.

"Three minutes from now... hehe... this entire island will... vanish from the face of the earth!"

"Run, then!"

"I'll watch how you manage to escape! Hahahaha..."

Chen Yu's pupils underwent a violent earthquake.

Three minutes!

The entire island would disappear!

Dammit!

Chen Yu could no longer spare a thought for the dying madman on the floor; his sole remaining thought was to survive!

He turned and bolted!

He drove his physical functions to their absolute limits, shooting out like an arrow released from a bow, charging out of the restaurant and out of the villa!

"Boom—!"

Outside, rain poured in torrents.

The very second he rushed out of the villa's front doors, a deafening explosion echoed from overhead.

Chen Yu looked up and saw that high in the sky, the enormous airship that had been hovering within the storm was now plunging straight down like an out-of-control meteorite, its nose pointed earthward, hurtling directly toward the villa he had just fled with unstoppable momentum!

These lunatics!

Chen Yu cursed internally, accelerating his pace even further.

Paying no heed to anything else, he locked onto a single direction and sprinted wildly through the muddy jungle.

Rain lashed against his face, blurring his vision completely.

Neither the howling wind nor the pouring rain behind him could drown out the shrieking roar of the airship tearing through the air as it fell!

Time!

He needed time!

Two minutes and thirty seconds...

Two minutes...

One minute and thirty seconds...

His lungs felt fit to burst as he ran, but this island felt like an endless, inescapable cage.

Finally, he burst out past the edge of the jungle.

Before him lay a sheer cliff dropping thousands of feet!

Chen Yu slammed on the brakes just in time, skidding to a halt at the cliff's edge as loose gravel tumbled down, vanishing into the darkness below.

Glancing down, he saw only a bottomless black abyss.

Violent ocean waves smashed fiercely against the cliff face, churning up foam dozens of feet high and emitting a deafening roar.

Accompanied by the thunderstorm flashing with lightning, the scene before him was the very definition of ultimate despair.

No way forward, pursuers behind.

No, what came from behind wasn't mere pursuers; it was death itself, capable of flattening everything into nothingness.

"System!"

Chen Yu roared anxiously in his mind.

"Quick! Does the mall have anything that can block an explosion?!"

"Ding, no related items found in the mall!"

The cold electronic voice struck Chen Yu's heart like a sledgehammer.

"What the fuck do I need you for, then?"

Chen Yu cursed angrily.

"Then is there anything that can keep me from dying in a fall? Some kind of exoskeleton armor? Anti-gravity boots? Hand one over, damn it!"

"Ding, no related items found in the mall!"

"Fuck!"

Chen Yu fell into absolute despair.

The system mall was packed with all sorts of wondrous items, yet at this most critical, life-or-death moment, it was utterly useless!

Right at that instant!

From the direction behind him, a blindingly brilliant white light suddenly flared!

Following closely after, the earth began to shake violently!

It was a violent tremor reminiscent of the end of the world, as if the entire island were about to be thoroughly torn apart!

A ferocious shockwave and a deafening roar followed right behind.

Chen Yu didn't even have time to look back.

Just as Shen Feng had said, this island was about to be completely erased from the map.

"BOOM—!!!"

The earth-shattering roar of the airship crashing into the villa made Chen Yu's heart sink entirely to the bottom.

It was over.

There was no time left.

He could feel that world-destroying energy sweeping toward him at supersonic speed.

"Fuck!"

Standing at the edge of the cliff and feeling the ground crumbling beneath his feet, Chen Yu cast one last look at the world swallowed by flames.

"In eighteen years, I'll be a hero again!"

Clenching his teeth, he prepared to leap off the towering precipice, using his life to gamble on a one-in-ten-thousand chance of survival!

Yet!

He was still a split second too late.

The very moment he bent his knees to gather momentum, that violent energy shockwave finally arrived!

"Bang!"

Chen Yu felt as though he had been hit head-on by a high-speed locomotive.

An irresistible, colossal force slammed viciously into his back.

Before he could even let out a groan, his vision went black, and his consciousness plunged into endless darkness.

His entire body was violently scooped up by that surge of energy, then sent tumbling weightlessly downward toward the churning abyss of the deep sea below.

Splash.

A tiny wave formed, only to be instantly swallowed by the monstrous breakers.

Leaving not a trace behind.