CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 46: IF CAUGHT, YOU’LL DIE

A deafening boom.

Seeing Anya appear before her, having crashed through countless walls along with shattered debris, Xu Xiaoyou stopped in her tracks.

Anya’s small face was covered in thick dust; she was unconscious.

"Damn... No way."

Sensing that terrifying presence drawing closer.

She hurriedly hoisted Anya’s body and ran outside without daring to look back, heading downhill along a path.

After descending for several dozen meters, a girl’s loud shout came from behind, "Don’t run!"

Xu Xiaoyou felt the gaze that wished to tear her apart, to devour her alive, and dared not stop for even a moment. Under the cover of the bustling crowd, she quickly slipped into a narrow alley at a corner.

Bai Youyou gritted her teeth as she saw that gray silhouette disappear from sight, shoving her way through the crowd in front of her.

"Damn, who?"

"Watch your way!"

"Why the rush, don’t rush~ Young people these days, really."

This was perhaps the fastest Xu Xiaoyou had ever run in her life.

In this desperate chase, if she got caught, she’d be as good as dead.

The wrath of a Three-winged Investigator was something she couldn’t withstand.

Moreover, with Bai Youyou’s twisted personality, if the other party knew she was the criminal who had been deceiving and toying with her feelings all along.

It’s likely she wouldn’t even wait for the association’s trial; the other party would actually tear her apart with her own hands!

Scenery on either side flashed by in her vision as Xu Xiaoyou forced herself to calm down, observing her surroundings and searching for recognizable landmarks.

Before coming to the slums, she had almost memorized the intricate terrain within them through a map.

While it was impossible to remember every single alley, as long as she could confirm her current position, she could use the myriad of secret passages to shake off the pursuit.

She ran to the end of the alley, leaning against a rusted railing, looking down at an enormous circular pit several hundred meters in radius.

In the center of the circular pit stood a giant elliptical metal sphere, erect on the ground like a massive shield, with its dome casting a large shadow.

Xu Xiaoyou knew this was the Dunkirk spaceship, an industrial product from the era in Corrupt Nest City when it was still called the Star of Cosmos, one of the milestones in Cosmic Heavy Industries’ development of heavy industry.

Unfortunately, the gem on this industrial crown, the spaceship in which countless people placed their hopes, crashed into a residential area on its test flight day.

Like a meteor falling from the sky, the impact nearly flattened the entire residential area, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties.

It was the biggest scandal since the founding of Cosmic Heavy Industries, and after the outbreak of war, the reconstruction plan for the residential area was shelved, causing countless refugees to gather here.

Radiating outward from the crash point of the sphere, the largest, dirtiest, and most chaotic slum in the Nest City was born.

Numerous dilapidated shanties sprawled across this circular pit, like a gigantic open-air prison.

The people living in this area were mostly refugees in poor mental states, and beneath the wreckage of the spaceship lay the largest black market for organ trades in the entire slum.

Xu Xiaoyou recognized her position, not far from the slum’s exit, with a few hundred meters left along the downward path.

"Criminal!"

Bai Youyou’s gritted voice came from behind.

A thunderous explosion erupted, and a scorching fireball grazed past Xu Xiaoyou’s arm, blasting a wall to pieces!

A searing stinging sensation spread across her arm.

Looking at the seven-to-eight-meter drop below the railing, Xu Xiaoyou swallowed hard, then steeled herself, clutching Anya as she aimed for the trash bin below and leaped over the railing.

Plop—

The sleeping homeless man next to the trash bin was startled awake, seeing the blonde girl sit up from a pile of garbage and skillfully remove the banana peel and other such items from her head.

"Buy a hand from me... I haven’t eaten in so long. An arm for just five credit points..."

The homeless man pleaded as he came closer.

"Someone else will be coming soon, she’s more helpful, go find her." Xu Xiaoyou said without turning back, tucking Anya under her arm, and quickly ran off.

Seconds later, a white silhouette plummeted from above, collapsing the entire trash can inward.

Boom—

"Buy—"

"Scram!"

Bai Youyou was nearly driven mad by anger.

This criminal repeatedly provoked her, like prey about to be caught, right within reach, yet it slipped away from under her nose again.

Looking at the old homeless man kneeling on the ground, trembling with fear, Bai Youyou finally fumbled for some coins from her pocket, tossed them to the ground, and continued to chase in the direction Xu Xiaoyou fled.

Eventually, she was blocked after passing through a certain alley.

"Investigator miss, this is as far as you go."

There were many people, nearly thirty, including some Low Tier Cleaners, blocking the entire alley thoroughly.

Observing the tattoos on those people, Bai Youyou guessed they were part of a gang from the slum.

"Move aside," she said.

They were unarmed; none wavered, only surrounding Bai Youyou with unfriendly faces, not taking a single step back.

The air turned silent.

Amid the standoff, the crowd suddenly parted, and an elderly figure was slowly wheeled forward. He sat in a wheelchair, his face aged and wrinkled, with his right eye replaced by a mechanical prosthetic eye.

Beneath the mechanical eye, his dark, weathered eyes were like ancient wells that had withstood the storms, seemingly able to see into the heart.

"Chen Yifeng, a wanted man from Cosmic Heavy Industries, one of Fresh Meat Restaurant’s shareholders, kidnapped and murdered a company executive thirteen years ago..." Bai Youyou calmly spoke. "I’ve looked into most of the criminals in this Nest City, especially those like you with an extensive record of wrongdoing."

"So, you’ve been hiding in the slums!"

"The trafficked population in the slums, organ trades, and those contraband goods circulating in the market! All connected to you! A social order destroyer..."

"It’s an honor to be recognized by a lady from Oasis." The old man chuckled. "But let me correct you, Miss Bai."

"This chaotic area requires a strong hand; civility’s rules can’t restrain wild beasts, so a more forceful and violent approach is needed to make the beasts listen to you, not bite recklessly."

"I’m not destroying order; I’m establishing the order of this slum."

"Without the gangs, this slum would become a hell where people devour one another."

"Move aside! I don’t have time for your business now!"

"Miss Bai, I cannot let you pass," the old man chuckled.

"Why! What did that damn criminal promise? Everyone is helping him!"

"I’m merely repaying an old friend’s favor," the old man said. "I’m already so old, with one foot in the grave; if I don’t repay my debt, I’ll never have the chance."

"What does that criminal have to do with your old friend?!" Bai Youyou clenched her fists, "I don’t care who your old friend is, what favor you owe, or why you are shielding that criminal!"

"If that criminal really gets away this time, I won’t spare you."

"Heh, who knows..."

"These young men have all been graced by me; they’re death warriors I’ve raised from a young age. Without my word, they won’t step aside."

The crowd remained silent, with only the old man’s voice reverberating above the alley, the air so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

When Bai Youyou was about to force her way through, the people around her closed in, murmuring slowly.

"They carry no weapons, Miss Bai."

"Threats, despicable tactics, cowardice, violence." The old man slowly stood up from his wheelchair, his gaze like a dying blaze. "This is the way to survive in this area."

"Nobody will attack you, they will only block you. If you insist on moving forward, you must kill them all, unarmed as they are, let the sin of their blood stain your pristine investigator’s attire, then step over their bodies."