Chapter 22: Chapter 18: Throat Slit
The corridor on the second floor of the church was in chaos. Everyone was running madly, rushing into the rooms on either side and locking the doors, completely ignoring the people behind them.
Some of the church’s children, frightened, ran out. The Priest, running at the front of the crowd, saw a few girls running outside and shouted loudly: “Get back inside!”
The girls screamed and ran back into their rooms. Some fell to the ground in fear but quickly got up and continued running, their bodies trembling incessantly. The Priest led Irina to the innermost room to take shelter.
“Stay close to me.” Xu Mo held Yaoer as he spoke to Mia and the others. He could sense that the leather armor man and the ghost-faced man had already come upstairs and were behind them. However, they did not shoot but instead followed them forward.
The doors on both sides of the corridor were locked one after another. The people who went inside closed the doors immediately. Xu Mo could only continue forward.
At this moment, a door beside him suddenly opened, and a small head peeked out from inside, whispering: “Here.”
Without hesitation, Xu Mo led Mia and the others inside.
The door closed, and Xu Mo looked ahead. It was a very frail girl, one of the previous singers. She had changed into ordinary clothes, somewhat tattered. After looking at Xu Mo and the others, she sat down beside them.
Besides her, there were a few other girls in the room. Their eyes were lifeless. When Xu Mo looked at them, they all slightly lowered their heads and sat in the corners. These girls had not participated in the earlier performance.
“Thank you,” Xu Mo said to the girl who opened the door. The girl didn’t say anything, still keeping her head down.
Xu Mo felt something was off about this church.
Expanding his perception outward, he saw two figures at the end of the corridor: a bald man and another person holding a knife, staring intently at the approaching leather armor man and ghost-faced man.
There were even electric sparks flickering on the knife held by that person.
“Source Power.” The leather armor man stared ahead, his eyes suddenly becoming particularly serious.
“Uncle Fang, it seems like we’ve barged into their hideout,” the ghost-faced man whispered. “Should we retreat?”
“Destroy it.” Uncle Fang, the leather armor man, didn’t retreat. He directly charged forward. Seeing this, the ghost-faced man raised his gun and fired at the two people opposite them.
The bald man and the knife-wielding man also moved, charging forward, causing the corridor floor to tremble.
“Bang!” The bullet struck the bald man’s front, seemingly embedding into his skin but not penetrating or bleeding. His skin seemed fake, like it was made of steel. His body appeared before the leather armor man at an alarming speed, and he fiercely punched out.
The leather armor man’s steel fist also struck out, the two fists colliding with a crisp sound, a clash of metal.
“Cyborg!”
The leather armor man’s face changed slightly, his body recoiling. The bald man also stopped, but then an electric knife appeared. The knife-wielding man’s body emerged from behind him and slashed toward the leather armor man. The blade light streaked like lightning, extremely sharp.
The leather armor man raised both fists to block the electric knife, but the opponent quickly slashed a second and third time, each slash extremely perilous.
Meanwhile, the bald man charged toward the ghost-faced man.
The ghost-faced man moved quickly, retreating while continuously firing, aiming at the opponent’s eyes and head. The bald man shielded his face with his arms. Bullets pierced his arm’s skin, revealing the steel underneath. The opponent’s clothes tore apart, showing a body covered in armor.
The ghost-faced man’s expression darkened beneath his mask. He could clearly see the opponent was a cyborg.
In the room, Xu Mo leaned against the door, sensing the fight outside. The leather armor man’s power and agility were strong. He fought the electric knife with his steel fists without losing ground. That man’s knife was equally fearsome, far beyond the black market fighting arena’s level.
Any of these four people were stronger than him.
The last time he faced the leather armor man, it was mainly the Meteor Dart’s directional changes that caught his opponent off guard and threatened him directly. In a head-to-head confrontation, Xu Mo was not his match.
“Uncle Fang, it’s difficult. We should retreat first,” the ghost-faced man shouted. His dual guns couldn’t threaten the opponent, and he kept dodging in retreat.
“What about those children?” Uncle Fang was unwilling. His steel fist’s attacks grew more violent, clashing fiercely with the electric knife with a reckless fighting style.
They had chased the abduction case to the church, only to find themselves in the hideout.
“Children?”
Xu Mo had always felt something was wrong. These two didn’t seem like thugs. They hadn’t killed indiscriminately upon entering the church. From their words, it seemed they were here for the ‘children’ too.
On the street earlier, when he encountered them, it was at the location where the Magician abducted people. They might be investigating the abduction case too.
This church definitely had issues.
Xu Mo’s gaze moved from the door, looking at the girls curled up in the corner. His eyes emitted an energy light, penetrating through their clothes. He saw scars on the girls’ bodies, some not yet healed, horrifying to see, making his heart clench.
“How did you come here?” Mia asked the girls, obviously having heard the commotion outside as well.
The girls kept their heads down, not answering.
“Where are your mom and dad?” Mia continued asking.
A few girls shook their heads. A six-year-old girl pulled a photo from her pocket, holding it tightly. She cautiously opened the nearly crumpled photo, tears falling from her eyes.
“Can sister take a look?” Mia asked heartbrokenly.
The girl nodded and handed the photo to Mia.
Xu Mo also glanced at the photo, his expression changing abruptly.
“Let me see,” Xu Mo said, taking the photo from Mia, who looked at him in surprise.
In the photo were three people: the girl and a couple, forming a family of three.
Xu Mo’s eyes were fixed on the man holding the girl—a burly man with large hands holding the girl, who clung to his neck, her face beaming with a radiant smile.
“Ah Tai.” Xu Mo felt a strong wave of sadness, recalling the man brutally killed in the fighting arena. He participated in fights to send his child out of the cruel underworld but died in the ring.
Now, his child had been abducted here…
He understood why Ah Tai had wanted to send her away.
“You know my dad!” The girl heard Xu Mo’s mutters and looked at him with hopeful eyes. “Brother, do you know where my dad is?”
Xu Mo raised his head to look at the girl, seeing her tear-streaked face and eyes full of hope gazing at him.
He didn’t know how to respond.
“Xu Mo,” Mia also looked at Xu Mo.
Xu Mo lowered his head, unable to meet the girl’s eyes.
“Brother, please tell me where my dad is. My mom and I have been searching for him but couldn’t find him. Then I got caught by bad people and brought here. Did he abandon us?” The girl cried heart-wrenchingly, clearly having suffered too much.
“No.” Xu Mo looked back at the girl, his voice choked.
“Then where’s my dad?” The girl cried even more bitterly.
Xu Mo looked at her, reaching out to wipe her tears, saying sadly: “Your dad always loved you. He worked hard to earn money to send you to a better place, but there was an accident.”
Xu Mo’s voice was somber. The girl, though not fully understanding, seemed to grasp something and cried heart-wrenchingly.
“Do I not have a dad anymore? Is mom gone too? They hit and scold me every day…” The girl’s body shook violently, tears flowing uncontrollably. Mia, listening to this, couldn’t help but cry too.
“Is this really a church?” Mia felt it was surreal, unable to believe a holy place concealed such darkness.
Xu Mo didn’t answer, unsure of what to say. He continued sensing the situation outside. The steel fist and the electric knife clashed fiercely, with the leather armor man’s attacks growing more frantic, as if they had no regard for his life. There was not much time left.
At this moment, a man appeared at the end of the church corridor, holding a girl with a knife. He walked towards the leather armor man: “Are you here to save them?”
Xu Mo had seen this man before. He was the Magician’s assistant from the street earlier.
The knife slashed across the girl’s face, causing her to scream in pain and fear.
“Beast!” The leather armor man roared.
The man quickly reached the two fighters and said to the leather armor man: “She’s all yours.”
Then, he threw the girl directly between the fighters.
The knife-wielding man’s blade slashed down without hesitation. Uncle Fang, his mind in turmoil without time to think, struck at the opponent’s knife with his right hand while reaching for the girl with his left.
“Slash…” As Uncle Fang was distracted, the opponent’s blade struck, blood spraying. Uncle Fang’s right wrist was severed. He placed the girl on the ground, showing a pained expression, sadly watching the crying girl as she ran away.
“Uncle Fang,” the ghost-faced man, cornered at the other end of the corridor, shouted. Simultaneously, three gunshots rang out outside, signaling their need to retreat.
“Go!” The leather armor man’s right hand bled profusely, staining the ground red.
“Uncle Fang…” The ghost-faced man’s voice was pained.
More gunshots came from behind. The leather armor man roared: “Get out of here!”
The ghost-faced man didn’t hesitate further, his face contorted in pain under his mask. He then dashed down the stairs, with the bald man in pursuit.
The leather armor man knew he probably wouldn’t survive. The blood loss was too severe, unstaunchable. Although his body was highly resilient, it was untenable, especially facing a genetic warrior now.
He removed his mask and tossed it aside, revealing a resolute face, glaring at the two opponents: “Pray your children don’t suffer the same fate.”
“Kill him,” the Magician’s assistant ordered. The knife-wielding man stepped forward.
Just then, the lights above flickered eerily.
“Huh?” The knife-wielding man glanced up, hearing electric noises.
“What’s happening?”
The Magician’s assistant also looked at the ceiling. The strange situation persisted, and suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening, as if someone was coming out.
In the flickering lights, the Magician’s assistant saw a figure standing by the door like a ghost, causing his heart to clench.
However, he quickly recognized the face and coldly realized it was the boy from the carriage.
Was he coming out to die now?
But as he thought this, he saw Xu Mo moving in the eerie light, approaching like a ghost. His face changed, and he reached out to clutch his throbbing throat, blood gushing out.
A sharp blade had sliced his throat!