Chapter 53: Did You Become Beautiful Today?

Watching Wu Xiao Qiu gradually blend into the crowd of city dwellers, becoming indistinguishable, all the exiles remained silent, unable to speak.

It wasn't that they wanted to watch her do this; it was just that everyone understood that nothing they said would make a difference to Wu Xiao Qiu now.

"...This damn world."

It's truly unbearable.

Afterwards, Chen Shijin and the exiles from Group One exchanged distant glances with Bai Ling and others from the mutual aid group, neither side speaking, before turning and going their separate ways.

Bai Ling and his group were well aware that no matter what, Chen Shijin and his people would not ally with them or offer them the slightest bit of help.

Yu Er

Xi Er

And for Chen Shijin and his group, refraining from attacking was already their way of looking at the bigger picture.

In the end, their fate is in their own hands; life and death are predestined, and they cannot rely on others.

"Family, do you think they'll go for a full facial surgery?"

"That's highly unlikely. After seeing what happened to Wu Xiao Qiu, going for the same standard face would be suicidal. Those sly and cunning folks in the mutual aid group want to live longer than anyone."

"Exactly, and besides, they have someone called A Ruan, right? That guy has a disguise ability. It's easy to reveal oneself with his skill if it involves being fat or thin, but with the Standard of Beauty, it's not like anyone's going to touch faces to check."

Lei Hu sneered: "Bai Ling is the craftiest of them all. Even if she leads others to their death, she'll do anything to survive."

"But, I swear I'll kill her in this world."

No one can plot to kill me and live unscathed.

Then Lei Hu turned to Chen Shijin: "Group leader, let's find a place to review tonight's plan again! We need to ensure it's foolproof!"

Chen Shijin nodded.

Although they had already split into three groups, each equipped with strong offensive, defensive, scouting, and support personnel, and should operate smoothly, it's still a big operation, so reviewing the plan several times is prudent.

Thus, the citizens of the City of Beauty witnessed a group of odd individuals gathered in a circle on the square, sitting in rows, silent yet fervently tapping on their phones.

To the uninformed, it might seem they were in the City of Phones rather than the City of Beauty.

But considering their faces were passable, it seemed best to respect their quirks.

However, this respect diminished over time, becoming less and less, until it turned into disdain that could not be accepted as they gradually came to be seen as outliers—

Their faces weren't perfect enough, not up to the standard! Why hadn't they undergone surgery? Why hadn't they become more beautiful?!

By 5:30, the sixty-eight exiles were slowly surrounded by hundreds of city dwellers sharing the same face, clearly waiting for the disqualification attack to happen in half an hour.

"Cousin, I think we can't wait any longer, I feel like in the next second they're going to start pointing at my nose and cursing me."

The expressions of the other exiles also appeared troubled, Chen Shijin took a deep breath and then nodded seriously: "Let's begin then!"

The first step was to split into three teams to leave the square, hiding until 2 a.m. before coming out to cause trouble.

Among the exiles in Group One, there were seven skilled in concealing their tracks and six with special abilities to assist in hiding, distributed into three teams to help everyone evade detection.

Instantly, the crowd that had gathered split into three teams, and before the citizens of the City of Beauty could react, each team dashed off in three different directions.

The city dwellers paused, then the next second, their expressions turned fierce, and they automatically split into three large groups to chase after them without hesitation.

Chen Shijin watched those relentless city dwellers, smiled to himself, then took a deep breath, pulled out a megaphone, and announced:

"Citizens on the square, look up! There's a cow flying in the sky!"

N-10000

Instantly, the sharp-eyed city dwellers of the City of Beauty, who were chasing after the three teams, subconsciously stopped in their tracks and looked up.

Where's the cow?

How could there possibly be a cow flying in the sky?

Then, suddenly, a red fireball streaked across the sky.

Feng Tianhuo grinned.

Chen Shijin spoke gravely: "Ah, it turns out it's a ball flying."

The citizens waiting to see the flying cow: "..."

By the time they managed to lower their heads from looking up, the area in front of them was completely empty. The imperfect exiles they had been chasing were nowhere to be seen.

Feng Tianhuo stood in place, laughing heartily: "No matter how many times, I always find it super thrilling whenever you start tricking people, haha!"

"Indeed, the power of verbal charms is truly handy!"

Chen Shijin curved his lips into a smile, "Let's go, we should hide as well."

Even though they were wearing masks identical to the Standard of Beauty, it wasn't safe to stay in the Beautiful Square. They needed to find a safe place to hide until 2 a.m.

Feng Tianhuo nodded in agreement: "I know of a wooded area outside a residential district with particularly thick bushes, let's hide there."

Feng Tianhuo was cut off mid-sentence as Chen Shijin pulled him into invisibility, concealing both their figures, including the large parrot on his shoulder.

Then, he led Feng Tianhuo, who was accustomed to roughing it outdoors, directly into the guest lounge of the Montecarlo Beauty Salon with dignity.

Feng Tianhuo: "..."

Chen Shijin sat on the sofa, sipping a steaming cup of tea: "I never squat in little woods. It feels utterly lacking in style to me."

"Exactly! A beauty never squats in little woods!"

The colorful parrot sneered at Feng Tianhuo with a mocking bird laugh, "Only rough men do that."

Feng Tianhuo, looking at the "noble and elegant" duo of man and bird, suddenly felt that his once thought adorable and dependable little Jin might not be so adorable after all.

If it were anyone else daring to act this way in front of him, he'd feel compelled to give each one, man and bird, a good smack.

Since the Montecarlo Beauty Salon started charging fees after being burglarized, customers gradually became scarce until there were none, leading to its closure.

Thus, Chen Shijin, Feng Tianhuo, and Yue Feng the parrot stayed there comfortably and safely until 2 a.m.

By then, the entire City of Beauty had fallen into a deep slumber, with only sparse dim lights on the square unable to illuminate the overly dark night.

Chen Shijin opened Group One chat.

[Chu Tiankuo (Demolition Team One Captain): Ready!]

[Yun Xia (Demolition Team Two Captain): Ready!]

[Lei Hu (Demolition Team Three Captain): Ready!!]

[Chen Shijin (Group Leader): Begin the demolition! Wait for our signal!]

After receiving three acknowledgments, Chen Shijin looked at Feng Tianhuo: "Is your earth escape technique up to the task? We're about to draw a lot of hate."

Feng Tianhuo rolled his eyes: "It's called shortening the earth! I've never failed! The biggest walking hate machine in the Exile Lands, that's me!"

The two exchanged glances, Chen Shijin putting back on his golden fish head and grabbing Feng Tianhuo, who had donned a black hood, by the arm: "Teleport!"

They instantly went from the Montecarlo Beauty Salon to the energy room on the second floor of a beauty salon on the easternmost side of the square.

In this room were giant energy extraction columns constantly absorbing the energy of the City of Beauty's citizens, along with three purified energy tubes.

Of course, there were also six beauticians on guard next to the energy tubes, their vigilance heightened due to the previous burglary at the beauty salon.

Due to the beauty salon being burglarized on the first night and no incidents occurring for six consecutive days afterward, the six beauticians guarding it had unconsciously lowered their guard.

At this moment, four of the beauticians were dozing off, while the remaining two, though not sleeping, were browsing their phones to stay alert.

Then, these two beauticians felt a gust sweep through the room and three shadowy figures suddenly appeared before them. Before they could react, the figures snatched the three energy tubes they were guarding and then disappeared in a flash!

The two beauticians browsing their phones paused for three seconds, exchanged glances, and then let out piercing screams.

"Aaaaah—The energy thieves have come back, aaaah!"

Instantly, the four dozing beauticians jolted awake, and all six displayed fierce expressions: "Find them! Catch them! Kill them!!"

The easternmost beauty salon lit up instantly, and the six beauticians charged out like specters.

Their Kasirlan large eyes glowing crimson, their sharp noses lightly sniffed and locked onto the target in the neighboring beauty salon!

"Charge in!"

The six ferocious beauticians forcefully kicked open the door of the neighboring beauty salon. Before they even reached the second floor, they heard piercing screams similar to those of the two beauticians browsing their phones.

"Aaaaah—Someone's stealing the energy again!! Catch them!!"

The next second, six angry beauticians with large eyes glowing red charged down from the second floor.

The moment the six on the ground saw the six coming downstairs, communication was instant without words. The twelve identical faces simultaneously showed extremely angry, distorted expressions, and their identical thick lips opened to roar:

"Chase them down!"

Thus, six became twelve, rushing out the door, they locked onto the third beauty salon nearby.

But just as the first salon couldn't prevent the tragedy of the second, the second couldn't stop the third's tragedy—

The same piercing screams emanated from the second floor of the third beauty salon, and the number of angry, screaming, twisted-faced beauticians grew from twelve to eighteen.

When these eighteen identical-looking beauticians looked at each other, one of them said through gritted teeth, "They're stealing in sequence! Let's skip the fourth and guard the fifth, sixth, and seventh directly!!"

"Exactly! Ah, you're so smart! Let's head to those three next and lie in wait! Like waiting for a rabbit!"

Thus, the eighteen split into three teams, each staking out the fifth, sixth, and seventh beauty salons.

As the beauticians from the fifth, sixth, and seventh salons all widened their eyes and grimly prepared to catch the damned thief,

They heard no screams for quite some time?

Just as the eastern beauticians wondered if the thief knew the difficulty and had backed off, their keen ears caught a roar tearing through the night from the far west:

"Aaaaah—The golden fish head and the black hood! They've stolen our energy tubes!!!"

The eastern beauticians: "..."

Damn it! Did that damned thief know to switch locations after a few hits?!

What happened to going in order?!

Thus, the enraged beauticians from the east, from salons one, two, and three, rose in anger, dashed out of salons five, six, and seven, and headed straight west.

No matter how far that damned thief ran, they were determined to catch him! To kill him!

As a result, more and more beauticians rushed out of the beauty salons, and more and more salons were robbed by the golden fish head and black hood.

Ironically, these two despicable robbers didn't play by the rules at all, swinging east with a hammer and west with a club, teleporting without any discernible pattern, making them impossible to catch!

The swallowtail beautician on the second floor of the Royal Dreamy Beauty Salon listened to the occasional piercing screams from outside the square, his forehead veins throbbing.

What a bunch of incompetents! Just to catch two people, and they've taken so long and so many people still haven't caught them!

However, he couldn't personally go after those two, because the Royal Dreamy Beauty Salon housed ten energy tubes.

These were also the ten of the highest quality.

Given the clear indication that the group of exiles wanted to cause trouble, leaving even for a few minutes could lead to irreparable consequences.

But, did they think their only enemies were the beauticians?

The swallowtail beautician let out a cold laugh, and then a theft alarm sounded across the entire square.

In that instant, all the citizens of the City of Beauty who had been in deep sleep suddenly opened their eyes.

[Chen Shijin (Group Leader): Now is the time!! You only have half an hour! Hurry up and finish it!]

As the alarm went off, Chen Shijin and Feng Tianhuo stopped their raid on the beauty salons; they stood atop the large screen in the square, one with a fireball and the other's fish head shining golden light, sparkling in the dark night!

Thus, like zombies, the frenzied citizens immediately spotted the two figures standing on the large screen and, along with the angry beauticians chasing thieves, they rushed towards the golden fish head and the black hood.

At this moment, neither the citizens nor the beauticians cared about the beauty salons that had been robbed.

The other sixty-six in black hoods mingled with the citizens to infiltrate the beauty salons, causing havoc and destroying all the beauty machines amidst the loud, chaotic shouting outside the square.

Demolition Team One:

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Silence all the noises here! Draw all the curtains! Smash and destroy all these machines! If there's space, take them away! The group leader said we can extract energy from inside!"

"No problem, watch my powerful demolition kick! No machine can keep running under my foot!"

"Take the food too! Take everything we can carry, destroy everything we can't! In the end, leave them our group leader's verbal bomb!"

Demolition Team Two:

"It's not suitable for fire now, but all water types, soak the machines in water, and all electric types, electrify them in the water! Directly scrap all the machines!"

"Metal, gravity, and stone, come forward, poke dozens of holes, and smash them to bits!"

Demolition Team Three:

"What are you waiting for? Draw the curtains! Let's transform together! No shouting or yelling, just silently destroy everything!"

"Got it, Tiger Bro!"

Then, in the pitch-dark room, a moment later, dozens of pairs of beastly eyes glowing eerily in the night appeared.

Tiger-men and bear-men smashed the machines with a single swipe, while the motorbike guy simply destroyed them from the inside.

But the one with the most destructive power was an exile with the appearance of a werewolf, who pounced on a beauty machine and began furiously shaking and tearing at it. Despite being made of very tough metal, the machine was dismantled in a few shakes under the werewolf's fangs and claws!

This impressive efficiency astonished his teammates.

The werewolf, feeling affirmed, showed his bright white teeth: "Ah! Boss! My wild nature has awakened! I've gained an ability called [Indestructible]!"

Lei Hu: "..."

Damn, I always thought this guy was a wolf-type transformation from animal evolution. Turns out, he's basically a Husky!

Regardless, the demolition speed of all three teams was extremely fast.

In just half an hour, they had completely dismantled all the beauty machines in the thirty-six beauty salons that had been raided by Chen Shijin, Yue Feng, and Feng Tianhuo.

Meanwhile, the citizens chasing Chen Shijin and Feng Tianhuo in the Beautiful Square had become so numerous that they almost occupied the entire square, making it difficult for the two to navigate. Even the beauticians, each armed with sharp scissors and syringes, leaped high above the citizens like monsters, pursuing them through the air.

Several times, Chen Shijin and Feng Tianhuo narrowly avoided being greeted by knives or syringes.

Feng Tianhuo grimaced, feeling his energy rapidly depleting. Although these minions couldn't kill him, the endless chase was indeed frustrating.

"Isn't this over yet?" Feng Tianhuo couldn't help but roar at Chen Shijin.

Chen Shijin remained silent.

But at that moment, his phone vibrated. His considerate golden gemstone phone automatically announced: [You have a group message.]

[Demolition Team One is done!]

[Demolition Team Two is done!]

[Demolition Team Three is done!!]

Chen Shijin immediately broke into a smile.

[Everyone withdraw!] He would handle the rest.

Receiving the message, members of the three demolition teams quickly withdrew amidst the chaos.

Meanwhile, Chen Shijin, pursued by hundreds of crazed, fierce-looking beauticians, headed straight for the large screen.

The moment he stood on the large screen, he turned around and fiercely flipped off the beauticians and citizens rushing towards him.

Her lips slowly curled up as she began to speak:

"Explode!"

Boom!

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—

As the word "explode" was uttered by the young man on the big screen, thirty-six beauty salons surrounding the square exploded simultaneously, creating a deafening noise.

Flames soared into the night sky, shocking all the citizens on the square as they turned around to stare at the roaring fire, dumbfounded.

Even the beauticians chasing after Chen Shijin and Feng Tianhuo did a one-eighty to see their workplaces in flames turning into ruins.

The citizens: "……"

The beauticians: "……………"

After a brief moment of stupor, the beautiful city of beauty was filled that night with screams that spread throughout the entire city, enduring and incredibly loud and uniform—

[Ahhhhhhhh—]

[The beauty salons are burning ahhhhhh—]

The tens of thousands of citizens and beauticians on the square, using the same face, displayed identical expressions of horror, their mouths wide open like countless identical screaming chickens.

Their overlapping screams, frantic covering of faces, and uncontrollable spinning in place painted a scene of chaos.

It was evident how angry and clueless they were.

When the tailcoat beauticians were forced to leave the Royal Dream Beauty Salon due to the deafening screams, what they saw were citizens screaming like chickens all over the square and the thirty-six burning beauty salons.

Tailcoat Beautician: "……"

The City of Beauty had never suffered such a loss in its existence.

How daring!

But when those screaming citizens on the square came to their senses, wanting to burn those two heretics with their rage, where were the glowing golden fish head and the fireball black head set shadows on the big screen?

The citizens all over the square: "………"

With no target to vent their anger, they decided to just roar it out!

Thus, the refugees of Group No. 1, who took the opportunity to sneak back into the residential area, listened to a night full of roars.

By 8 a.m. the next day, each of them had heavy dark circles under their eyes and their ears stuffed with paper balls.

When they appeared, the citizens who had not returned home overnight looked at them with identical faces, their gaze chillingly ominous.

Some things were mutually understood, yet unsaid.

But without evidence, anger could only be vented through glares.

Fortunately, at this moment, the big screen lit up on schedule, revealing the fourth beauty trend—

It showed a man and a woman, smiling and holding hands, walking step by step towards the viewer.

They appeared neither fat nor thin, and their facial features were not the same.

It seemed like there was no issue.

Then, after exchanging glances, the smiles on their faces slowly faded, and the man on the screen suddenly pulled out a cleaver and violently chopped off his right hand! Then he attached his right hand to his left arm!

Similarly, the woman on the screen stretched out her finger and dug out one of her eyes! She then placed that eye on her forehead!

Several refugees in the group couldn't help but gasp! The imagery was too gruesome and shocking.

Yet, even more horrifying and shocking events were to follow—the man who had chopped off his right hand and attached it to his left arm, the palms began to merge, turning into a bizarre sight with no palm on the right hand and two palms on the left hand.

And the woman who dug out her left eye, placing it on her forehead, saw it actually grow there, turning into her "third eye"!

Then, the man with two left hands and the woman with three eyes finally showed their brilliant smiles again.

Waving their hands and with the corners of their eyes bent, covered in blood, they presented this time's beauty trend—

[Deformity Beauty!]

Instantly, all the refugees showed expressions of unbearable fear and disgust.

Chen Shijin reached out and directly poked the parrot's chest, transferring his current dreadful feeling to it.

The colorful parrot: Vomit!