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Chapter 723: Mephis

“Did you say there’s a back door here? Mind showing me the way?” he asked in a low voice.

The waiter continued to wipe the glass in his hand. Without saying anything, he pointed in a direction.

“Thank you.” Timo nodded. Just as he turned away, the waiter called out to him, “Do you know that duoluozhong?”

Timo turned around and peered at the waiter. However, since the waiter did not raise his head, Timo could see only his scarlet hair that shimmered under the lamp.

“Why you...” The real estate broker did not finish his sentence. He swallowed the rest of his words and flashed a bitter grin. “Is it really that obvious? That woman just found out about me too.”

Even until now, he could still vaguely feel Lin Sanjiu’s palm squeezing his shoulder. Nevertheless, it occurred to him that she had just used a tenth of her strength to force him to spill the truth as he was very certain that if she were to unleash her full strength, she could crush his shoulder easily.

‘What the hell is happening inside these posthumans to have such monstrous strength?’

“Yep, as clear as day,” the waiter answered, “You aren’t fit for the job. You’d better find another job if you don’t wish to die so soon.”

Timo snorted at the waiter’s remark. He understood everything the waiter said, but he did not want to give up so early. Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his face. “Even though I’m not a posthuman, it doesn’t mean that I’m a pushover,” he said dryly, “I’ve been a real estate broker for some time and have developed a certain set of skills and amassed a handful of items to keep myself out of danger. If you want to catch me, it won’t be that easy.”

The waiter shrugged before turning his body around and placing several glasses back on the shelf. There was a collection of glasses and wine bottles in different shapes and sizes on the rack. All of them gleamed weakly under the dim light.

Suddenly, Timo said hesitantly, “The holograph ended sooner than I thought.”

“Yeah,” the waiter harrumphed. His voice was so low it was smothered by the husky female singer that crooned a soft and sentimental song in the background, causing Timo to think that he was having an illusion.

He waited for a while longer, yet the waiter did not say anything more. He dusted his jacket off and paced towards the exit.

The sky that day was overcast, filled with puffs of black clouds like clumps of cotton in a moth-eaten blanket. Timo pushed the door open and scanned his surroundings meticulously before stepping into the parking lot.

The parking lot was a heritage from the modern days. Since those in the Heaven Underworld who could afford a vehicle would not come to such a shabby and dingy bar, the parking lot had lost its purpose. After being corroded by the apocalypse for 70 years, it had now become a barren land, filled with all kinds of trash and rubbish.

The duoluozhongs usually began the cleaning process starting from the end of the street. Since the parking lot was situated on the other side of the street, it would normally already be noon by the time the duoluozhong reached.

Walking past bag after bag of rubbish, Timo pulled out a compass-like roundel from his pocket.

He was still a little concerned about the things the waiter said earlier on. He let out a sigh and pushed a red button on the edge of the roundel. A silver pointer appeared on the black surface and began spinning. It rotated faster and faster, turning into a fuzzy white afterimage.

After a few dozen seconds, the pointer stopped and several dots of lights appeared.

The blue dot in the center was Timo. Not far away from the blue dot, where the bar was behind him, there were two red dots, one of which was the waiter while the other was a customer.

Even though the range of the [Humanoid Bioradar] was limited, it was accurate. Ever since he spent a mint to acquire this Special Item, it had never made a mistake before.

He fitfully pulled the radar out as he traversed down the parking lot. Other than the bird calls in the distance, only his footfalls could be heard. After he exited the parking lot, Timo took a left turning and saw a garbage truck collecting rubbish on the side of the street. He began pondering how he should talk Lin Sanjiu into buying the ring as soon as possible. Even though the holograph was short and her eyes were glowing with merriment, Lin Sanjiu had not asked him about the formalities as he expected.

Timo looked down and saw that the blue dot was walking past a red dot. He then shoved it back into his pocket.

Suddenly, there was a whoosh of wind. By the time he realized it, it was already too late for him to put up any effective retaliation. He felt a radiating pain from the back of his head, and his vision turned black as he fell to the ground.

There was a short, sharp buzz in his head. As his head received another harsh blow when he dropped to the ground, stars burst before his eyes. Timo’s blood ran cold as he flailed his feet frantically, yet none of his kicks could connect. Peering through blurred vision, he turned his head around and finally saw the true appearance of his assailant.

The assailant had a slit that streaked across its face from ear to ear. It breathed heavily into its mask, causing its wispy bangs that fell from its forehead to flutter with every puff. Its eyes had an icy cold gaze as it stared fixedly at Timo. Gone was the docile kuchisake-onna.

“Good day, Sir,” Naga-ashi’s voice came to Timo, muffled through the mask, “It has been such a long time.”

Timo clawed his way on the ground as he tried to increase their distance as much as possible, but the waves of pain and nausea that pulsated from the back of his head rendered his arms and legs useless. He could not tear his gaze away from his opponent’s arm as Naga-ashi had removed its sleeve, bringing the full length of its blade-like arms into the light.

“What...what do you want? You know your owner won’t allow you to do that, don’t you?”

“Have you forgotten?” It took a step forward and Timo realized that his way had been blocked by the duoluozhong. The garbage truck that it had snatched from an unknown duoluozhong continued to whir loudly next to him. The air was tainted with a strong stench and the garbage truck shrouded Timo in its shadow, effectively blocking him away from the reach of the pedestrians. “You’re just an ordinary person. Perhaps I may get punished if I murdered a posthuman, but who would care about the life of a normal person? Not to mention, you are a real estate broker.”

Timo felt his blood rush into his brain, causing his mind to go on a strike and deprive his tongue of utterance. Right now, all he could do was try to move as far away as possible from the duoluozhong with the knowledge that the odds were against him. After all, like a normal person, there was no way he could go ground to ground with a duoluozhong.

He had already stayed long enough in the bar, but how could he have still ended up like this?

Timo tried to calm his breath down as his brain worked desperately to slow his galloping heart rate so that he could hear the footsteps on the street more clearly and call for help. He knew this was his only chance, and that in the Heaven Underworld all posthumans were ultra-sensitive towards the words “A duoluozhong is trying to kill me.”

“W-why do you...want to kill me?” he stammered, hoping to buy himself some more time.

“Don’t you know?” The kuchisake-onna flourished its arms and slashed them through the air. “I just can’t help it...Why, why, why is it me and not you?”

All the color suddenly drained away from Timo’s face.

“Duoluozhong...are you guys really the seamier side of humans?” he asked through a shaky voice as he held his head up, meeting Naga-ashi’s gaze. With pleading eyes, he asked again, “Is the reason you want to kill me just because I didn’t get to turn into a duoluozhong?”

“Yes.” Naga-ashi shrugged, its eyes turning bloodshot. “It’s as simple as that.”

Timo did not get the chance to say anything else after Naga-ashi had finished speaking. The footsteps from the pedestrians did not come close to him in the end. For a moment, his vision was filled with Naga-ashi’s figure and its brandishing blade-like arms. He curled his body into a ball like a frozen shrimp and his heart stopped pumping for a second as he waited for his long and painful death.

However, the expected pain did not come. He heard a light pat and a wind graze past his hair. Dumbfounded, he peeled his eyes open slowly, then his mouth was left ajar.

The woman, who had left her fingerprint on his shoulders, was now standing beside Naga-ashi. Her hand was gripping the duoluozhong’s arm tightly. Her pair of amber eyes glowed under the shadow of her eyelashes while her face had a calm expression. She did not look angry or surprised as she just stared at the kuchisake-onna blade arms serenely.

“You?!” Naga-ashi shouted aloud, its voice grating to the ears, “Why are you here?!”

“I realized it before I went into the room,” Lin Sanjiu said softly, “Is your real name Mephis?”

Even though it was wearing a mask, Timo could still somewhat see Naga-ashi’s face distort upon hearing that name. He whimpered as he scampered back. Then, he tried to raise himself from the ground but to no avail. His legs were just too weak to move right now. The kuchisake-onna wriggled with all its worth under Lin Sanjiu’s steel-like grip. Its mask fell off, bringing the large slit on face into the light. It roared like a wild beast, “You must die! I must kill him today! I must kill him today! Let go of me!”

“Can you please calm down?” Lin Sanjiu twisted the kuchisake-onna’s arm behind its back. She moved to the side to inch a little further away from its scythe. “Aren’t you afraid of activating the device on your body?”

A chain of guttural roars reverberated from Naga-ashi’s throat and tumbled out from its mouth. The skin on its forehead scrunched up to a sickening degree. Meanwhile, its body was quivering vigorously as if it was almost torn apart by its overwhelming emotions that ran amok within.

“I asked him before I went into the room. He told me that you guys have been friends since you were young,” Lin Sanjiu said. She inched herself a little further away as she did not want to activate the mysterious device that its owner had planted on the duoluozhong’s body. “Is he the one you’re looking for?”

“No!” Naga-ashi growled out loud.

“So, you don’t have any ill feelings towards him?”

“Yes, yes,” Naga-ashi panted. Its rationality returned a little, but its eyes were still red. “Still, I can’t let him live! I want to absorb his fear! I want to hear him scream!”

Timo gawked at it vacantly. Since he knew he was safe now, the fear on his face slowly faded into oblivion, replaced by a strong melancholy. His two eyes, which were perpetually surrounded by two black rings, seemed to be trapped in a deep pool in which Lin Sanjiu seemed to see a flicker of lights.

“Why do you want to kill him?”

The kuchisake-onna let out a scoff. It turned its head and leered menacingly at Lin Sanjiu. “I can’t kill posthumans, so I just picked a normal human as my target! What’s wrong with that? Don’t you already know that we duoluozhongs have no conscience or goodwill? I want to kill this b*stard! He should have died!”

Be that as it may, perhaps because it knew that it had lost its chance to kill Timo, the kuchisake-onna, which was renowned for its docility, began to calm down.

Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and stole a glance at Timo who was leaning against the garbage truck, his head held low. She was quite surprised that he had not seized the chance and ran away.

“Who are you looking for then?” she growled.

The kuchisake-onna did not reply to her question. It slowly spun its neck like a snake turning its body. The bone structure of a duoluozhong was obviously different from humans. It spun 180 degrees and looked eye-to-eye at Lin Sanjiu.

At last, the one who responded to Lin Sanjiu’s question was not Naga-ashi but Timo.

He crouched down and delved his hand into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled cigarette. He tried to light it up, but his hands were shivering so terribly that he failed several times.

“The name is Melhor,” he said, “It’s looking for Melhor. However, it will try to kill me whenever it sees me... I guess the last time was about six years ago.”