45: The Invisible Hunter

The night deepened, and the city's neon lights flickered on one by one, weaving a bustling yet bewildering web of light.

Lu Jianchuan politely declined Liu Yuqin's suggestion to stay a little longer and walked alone on the road back to his rented apartment.

The faint warmth and soreness in his lower abdomen persisted, serving as a reminder of the drastic changes occurring within his body, which made him subconsciously observe his surroundings with even greater vigilance.

Just as he was passing through a relatively quiet street park that connected two main roads, familiar scolding and a few resentful mumbles drifted from ahead.

"Hurry up! You're just kids, yet you don't learn anything good. Is that the kind of place you should be going to?"

Lu Jianchuan looked up and saw his colleague Wang Qiang, along with another unfamiliar young officer, escorting three dejected teenagers from the other side of the park.

Those three teenagers were none other than the three bullies who had caused such a stir at school today!

They looked even more disheveled now; their hair was messy, and their clothes were covered in dust, clearly having just gone through quite an ordeal.

"Brother Wang." Lu Jianchuan stopped and greeted him.

"Oh, Little Lu?" Wang Qiang was a bit surprised to see him, then gestured with his chin toward the three boys and said irritably, "What a coincidence. We were just assisting the Public Security Brigade in raiding an underground casino and caught these three little brats.

They're just kids, yet they're learning to gamble and even calling the thugs in there 'brothers.' Right now, I'm about to contact their parents to come to the Police Station to pick them up, but we're going to lecture them first."

The three bullies also saw Lu Jianchuan. The one with the shaved head, in particular, had a flash of panic and deeper resentment in his eyes, and he immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet his gaze.

Lu Jianchuan frowned, not expecting these guys to cause trouble again so soon.

He was just about to briefly tell Wang Qiang about what happened at school during the day, but his gaze inadvertently swept over a row of dense holly bushes beside the park.

Something was wrong.

An inexplicable feeling, as if he were being watched by something in the dark, pricked him gently like a cold, thin needle.

This was the intuition he had honed after experiencing multiple life-or-death battles.

Although there was only the sound of the wind and the noise of distant vehicles, the "watch" on his left wrist, which had been temporarily dormant, seemed to faintly emit a trace of an extremely weak, non-physical vibration.

"...These kids definitely need to be disciplined properly." Lu Jianchuan responded to Wang Qiang while vigilantly scanning the shadows that appeared particularly deep under the neon lights with the corner of his eye.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

"Ah——!!!"

A shrill, distorted scream suddenly shattered the tranquility of the night!

The one screaming was the skinny follower!

He suddenly clutched his abdomen, his body arching like a shrimp thrown into a frying pan, his face instantly drained of all color, etched with extreme pain and unbelievable terror.

Bright, piercing blood gushed out from between his fingers, quickly staining his school uniform and hands red!

Yet, in front of him, there was no one!

No one had approached him, no weapon had appeared, and yet he had been gutted out of thin air!

"What's going on?!" "Who is it?!!"

Wang Qiang and the young officer's expressions changed drastically. Almost instinctively, they instantly drew the police batons from their waists, looking around in extreme horror, facing a formidable enemy but unable to find where the attacker was.

This extremely bizarre scene was completely beyond their comprehension.

Lu Jianchuan's heart also contracted sharply, his pupils constricting.

In the split second before the skinny follower screamed, relying on his dynamic vision that far exceeded that of an ordinary person, he vaguely caught the air behind the skinny follower twisting and fluctuating for an extremely brief moment, and a blurry, almost non-existent black shadow flashed by!

In the air, a faint, lingering... metallic scent of blood spread, along with a cold, inhuman malice.

The shaved-headed boy and the stocky follower were already terrified out of their wits, standing frozen in place, their legs shaking like chaff, looking in horror at their wailing companion, and then blankly at the empty surroundings.

Lu Jianchuan slowly clenched his fists, the warmth in his lower abdomen seemingly becoming clearer due to his tension.

He stared intensely at the Void Realm that seemed to have swallowed the attacker, his body sinking slightly as he assumed a defensive stance.

Something was here. Some kind of invisible, extremely dangerous thing.

Lu Jianchuan was the last to get into the car, slamming the door shut.

Wang Qiang immediately started the engine and slammed on the gas pedal. The police car roared, darting out like a frightened beast, quickly speeding away from this nightmarish corner of the park.

Inside the car, only heavy breathing and the teenagers' irrepressible groans of pain remained.

The skinny follower curled up in the back seat, his hands pressed tightly against his abdomen, blood still seeping from between his fingers, his face as pale as paper.

The stocky follower clutched his bloodied arm, trembling all over from the pain.

The shaved-headed boy held his nearly ruined ankle, every bump of the vehicle causing him to let out a pig-like howl.

Wang Qiang glanced at the miserable state of the back seat through the rearview mirror, his face livid, and jerked the steering wheel.

"We're not going to the Police Station! We're going straight to the City First Hospital! Their injuries can't wait!"

He roared at the young officer, then abruptly turned his head, his sharp gaze sweeping over the three miserable bullies, his voice carrying unquestionable authority:

"You! Give me your parents' phone numbers! Now! Immediately! Name, relationship, phone number! Hurry!"

The intense pain and extreme fear had completely shattered the teenagers' psychological defenses.

The shaved-headed boy was the first to report his father's mobile number, his voice thick with tears.

The stocky follower and the skinny follower also stammered theirs out.

The young officer immediately took out the police communication device and began dialing the numbers one by one.

"Hello? Is this Mr. Zhang Jianguo? This is an officer from the XX Police Station. Your son, Zhang XX, has been injured and is in serious condition. We are taking him to the Emergency Department of the City First People's Hospital. Please head there immediately!"

"Hello? Is this Ms. Li Mei? Your son, Wang XX..."

"Hello? Is this Zhao..."

As each call went through, the parents' voices—shifting from sleepy confusion to panicked alarm—were clearly audible within the confined cabin, intensifying the heavy atmosphere in the car.

While driving, Wang Qiang exchanged a look with Lu Jianchuan through the rearview mirror, a look filled with lingering fear, gravity, and incomprehensible confusion.

They had just experienced an attack that was completely beyond their comprehension; the opponent was invisible and intangible, and their methods were cruel and precise.

Lu Jianchuan sat silently in the passenger seat, watching the brilliant, flowing night scenery of the city rapidly receding outside the window.

His fists remained tightly clenched, and the strange sensation in his lower abdomen had not yet subsided.

In his ears were the urgent voices of his colleague contacting the parents, as well as the suppressed groans and weeping of the three teenagers in the back seat.

That thing... did not follow.

It seemed its goal had been achieved.

It did not intend to take their lives immediately, but rather, like a cat playing with a mouse, after inflicting enough pain and fear on its prey, it allowed them to flee with their battered bodies and spirits on the verge of collapse.

What was it? Why did it target these three boys? And why did it suddenly stop attacking? What in the world had these three boys provoked that they shouldn't have?

All these questions, along with the persistent warmth in his abdomen, weighed heavily on his heart, signaling that a more chaotic and dangerous night had only just begun.

And they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the enemy's true form.