Chapter 66 (76,000 Nutritional Drops)

Chapter 66 (76,000 Nutritional Drops)

The two teenagers turned to look and saw the car burning fiercely from inside out. They gasped for breath and stared at each other in a daze.

At that moment, they both recalled the government's announcement of a unilateral lockdown on several cities, sending chills down their spines.

But they still didn't give up on the people in the car. What if there was a miracle? However, no miracle occurred. When they ran over, all they could see through the heat waves were the burning corpses in the driver's seat, showing no signs of life—they were already dead.

Zhou Pei looked blank. Born into a wealthy family, he had only ever seen good things in his life. This was his first encounter with death, and it hit him hard.

"Liang Jie... Let's go back," Hao Cheng said. Their phones—one with a shattered screen, the other waterlogged—were useless. This wasn't an isolated area; someone else must have called for help. They should go back to find their parents.

Zhou Pei nodded.

"Dad, let me hold your hand," Hao Cheng said, already grabbing Zhou Pei's hand out of fear. Who cares about dignity when their lives were at stake?

Zhou Pei didn't feel disgusted; he gripped his friend's hand tightly.

As they walked, they realized this road had experienced a series of accidents. Cars were scattered, some overturned, with bloodied windshields. Ambulances and police cars hadn't arrived yet, but passersby and unaffected drivers were helping rescue victims. The two immediately joined in the efforts.

But as Zhou Pei bent down, that unsettling feeling returned. His feet moved faster than his mind, pulling Hao Cheng along as he shouted, "It's going to explode! Run! Run fast!"

Some people reacted and started running away.

In that instant, the first car exploded. It turned out one of the crashed vehicles was a fuel tanker, leaking oil that spread across the ground, ignited by the explosion. The fire raced like a snake, causing a chain reaction. Cars exploded one after another...

Zhou Pei and Hao Cheng felt the heat chasing them, running back to a nearby residential area, too scared to look back at the horrific scene.

They stumbled into Hao Cheng's home, where his mother was holding the phone, looking anxious. Seeing their disheveled appearance, she quickly ushered them inside.

"Zhou Pei, your mom just called. You need to call her back!" Hao Cheng's mother said.

"Okay, thank you, Aunt."

Zhou Pei took the phone and went into the bathroom. He sat on the floor, holding his head and taking deep breaths to calm himself before dialing Jiang Ruyan's number.

She answered immediately, asking if he was okay. After confirming he was safe, she began scolding him. But Zhou Pei didn't mind; he had narrowly escaped death multiple times and almost couldn't hear her voice again.

He listened while looking at his shoes, suddenly noticing they were dry!

What?

Zhou Pei was stunned. He lifted one foot to examine it closely. Indeed, the shoes were dry, even though he had been drenched in rain, with wet socks and clothes. Only these shoes remained dry, even the insoles!

These shoes, given by his grandfather, weren't his favorite style or brand, but he wore them because they were a gift. Today, he had put them on without thinking. Could they be waterproof?

No... He turned on the faucet and poured water into the shoes, but instead of being repelled, the water was absorbed. Yet the shoes remained dry! This was not scientific!

Zhou Pei thought about his seemingly prophetic reactions tonight. He knew he didn't have such abilities and suddenly had a hunch. Could it be...

"Mom... Are these shoes my grandfather gave me not ordinary?" Zhou Pei asked. He remembered Jiang Ruyan mentioning how nice the shoes looked when he first wore them, suggesting he wear them whenever he went out. Was it just a casual comment, or did she know something?

Jiang Ruyan didn't hide it anymore, fearing he might take off the shoes and face danger. She explained everything to him.

Zhou Pei was dumbfounded.

Then Jiang Ruyan's phone was taken, and his grandfather's voice came through: "Boy, don't take these shoes off, even when sleeping. As long as the danger isn't beyond the shoes' range, they will guide you away. I'll arrange for you to stay inside for now!"

Zhou Pei hurriedly put the shoes on and tied the laces tightly.

With family support, Zhou Pei felt reassured. That night, he slept with the shoes on. When Hao Cheng saw him wearing shoes in bed, he exclaimed in surprise.

"Shut up, these shoes saved us multiple times today. Why can't they sleep in bed?"

"I'm sorry, Dad. I'll shut up," Hao Cheng said.

"Good boy, turn off the lights."

...

Wen Ruoyan watched the traffic surveillance footage, narrowing his eyes.

These two teenagers... No, the taller one's reactions were odd, almost prophetic. How could he dodge nails with his eyes closed? And at the chain explosion, he predicted the first car's explosion nearly ten seconds before it happened...

He took a screenshot of Zhou Pei's face, preparing to use facial recognition to identify him.

Soon, he found another surveillance video, this time from a mall in J City.

This was another major incident in J City, which was experiencing severe storms with strong winds, worse than N City. The mall's roof was blown away, letting in the storm. The worst part was that the mall was undergoing renovations, and when the roof was blown off, construction materials rained down, crushing the shoppers below who had gathered to buy daily necessities.

People scattered in panic. Some were too slow to react, others were knocked down, and some slipped on the wet floors.

Liang Jie had just checked his luggage into a nearby hotel and was shopping for supplies at the mall's supermarket. He hadn't taken the government's lockdown seriously until he saw this scene, including a mother with a child. His eyes widened, and he acted immediately.

His stealth suit made him move swiftly, disappearing and reappearing to save people. The power badge gave him the strength to lift and carry people to safety within minutes. His speed was so fast that those rescued barely registered what happened, only realizing they were safe moments before debris crashed down.

"Just now..." When they turned to thank their savior, he was nowhere to be found. If not for the fact that others were also saved, they might have thought it was a hallucination.

Everyone was shaken, children cried, and girls sobbed, thanking their invisible rescuer. Men also expressed gratitude, believing it was a skilled hero who chose to remain anonymous.

Standing nearby, Liang Jie, not looking like a muscular hero, was stunned. His heart stirred slightly.

He didn't think twice and reflexively used those cards. He knew their functions by heart because he would often take them out to flip through, imagining using these cards to assassinate the people who had taken away his light. He thought he had become twisted, transformed into a terrifying version of himself.

He believed these cards were the physical manifestation of his inner hatred, the "Assassination Set." But today, the "Assassination Set" was used to save someone.

Suddenly, the crying child saw him and stopped sobbing, looking at him with wet, pure eyes and reaching out a small hand as if recognizing him.

For some reason, Liang Jie's eyes welled up slightly.

...

Wen Ruoyan also thought he was hallucinating. Otherwise, how could that man have vanished from an ascending elevator in the blink of an eye, while the person nearly crushed to death was suddenly dragged out of danger?

He slowed down the surveillance footage until it was at one-fourth speed, finally seeing Liang Jie's movements and the black trench coat (Stealth Coat) that appeared on him.

Wen Ruoyan's heart raced. If he hadn't understood the seemingly precognitive dodge skill Zhou Pei displayed, seeing Liang Jie made him suddenly have a theory—since Death itself had appeared, why couldn't there be more mysterious beings and powers in this world?

He immediately used facial recognition software and quickly learned their identities.

Zhou Pei, 18 years old, attending a key high school in N City, a senior student. Grandson of the wealthiest family in P City, Jiang family. His mother is Jiang Ruyan, the richest woman in N City, and his father is the renowned artist Zhou Chengge.

Liang Jie is even more peculiar. He is the primary and perhaps the only suspect in a brutal serial murder case, currently in a situation where everyone believes he did it, but there is no evidence to charge him.

These two were ordinary people not long ago. The issue arose when Liang Jie suddenly transferred almost all his savings and forcibly entered a private hospital to see Zhou Pei's grandfather. Not only did he meet him, but for some reason, Zhou Pei's grandfather gave him two hundred million. That same night, the Jiang family patriarch, who was practically given a death sentence, suddenly left the hospital full of vigor.

These two are connected; they must have obtained the same source of power.

And this power might be humanity's only chance against the scythe of Death!