4: Chapter 4 The Night Watch Appears

Wang Lin could hear his wrist bones groaning.

The intense pain made him almost lose his grip on the knife, but he gritted his teeth and did not let go.

"Let go!" Lin Weiwei growled, her hand tightening around his neck.

A feeling of suffocation washed over him, and his vision began to darken.

Wang Lin could feel his consciousness rapidly slipping away.

He couldn't die.

He couldn't die here!

[Damn it, I might as well play dead and see if it works!]

Wang Lin suddenly stopped struggling, his body going limp as if he had lost all his strength.

Lin Weiwei was stunned for a moment, and the pressure in her hand subconsciously eased slightly.

Now is the time!

Wang Lin suddenly raised his head and slammed it hard into Lin Weiwei's chin.

"Bang!"

Lin Weiwei was knocked backward, and the hand gripping his neck released.

Wang Lin seized the opportunity to break free with his other hand, stepping forward instead of retreating, and stabbed the knife in his hand into Lin Weiwei's abdomen again.

"Sshhh!"

The blade sank into flesh once more.

He put force into his wrist, twisting the blade inside the wound again.

"Ahhhhh—!"

Lin Weiwei let out a shrill scream.

She had gone completely insane.

Her pitch-black eyes began to emit a blood-red glow, and something was writhing frantically beneath her skin, almost ready to burst out.

Her strength surged, and she slapped Wang Lin away.

Wang Lin crashed into a broken wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

He could feel that at least two of his ribs were broken.

But he didn't have time to worry about that.

Because Lin Weiwei had completely lost her human form.

Her body began to expand and twist, her limbs elongating and deforming.

Countless tiny slits opened on the surface of her skin, and dense, tentacle-like things extended from them.

Her head split into four petals, revealing a mouthpart filled with ringed, sharp teeth.

This was her true form.

"I will… tear you apart…"

She lunged at him, her Speed faster than imaginable.

Wang Lin only had time to raise his knife to block.

"Clang!"

The knife was knocked away, arcing through the air and landing in a pile of rubble in the distance.

Wang Lin's left arm was pierced by a tentacle and pinned to the wall.

The intense pain nearly caused him to faint.

A second and third tentacle followed, piercing his right leg and flank respectively.

Wang Lin was pinned to the wall, unable to move like a specimen.

"This time I will eat you… I won't give you another chance…" A strange voice emanated from her mouthparts.

Lin Weiwei opened her massive maw, and just as the mouthparts were about to bite down, Wang Lin suddenly reached out his right hand.

Not to attack, but reaching toward the wound on Lin Weiwei's abdomen.

The knife wound there hadn't fully healed, and black blood was still flowing.

Wang Lin's hand plunged into the wound, gripping something tightly.

It was something hard he had felt when he was twisting the blade earlier.

"Urghhh—!"

Lin Weiwei let out a painful roar, all her tentacles thrashing wildly, but Wang Lin refused to let go.

He dug his fingers into the hard object and pulled outward with all his might.

He could feel that something was being pulled out.

It was a fist-sized red crystal with liquid flowing inside; this was the Calamity Core.

Losing the support of the core, Lin Weiwei's body began to rapidly wither and shrivel, and those tentacles hung down limply.

Wang Lin slid down from the wall, fell to the ground, and spat out blood again.

He looked down at the red crystal in his hand.

The crystal was still pulsing slightly, emitting warmth, as if it were alive.

Devour it.

This thought suddenly appeared in Wang Lin's mind.

Just as he was about to put the crystal into his mouth—

"Clap, clap, clap…"

A round of applause echoed from the shadows of the ruins.

Wang Lin turned his head sharply.

Under the moonlight, two figures emerged from behind a broken wall in the distance.

Walking in front was a middle-aged man wearing a black trench coat, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, with a cold expression and sharp eyes.

And following behind him…

Wang Lin's pupils constricted slightly.

It was Chen Jing.

That Chen Jing who had been missing for many days.

She was wearing a black combat uniform similar to the man's, her hair tied in a neat ponytail, with no expression on her face.

"Staying calm in the face of danger and actually killing a Calamity with the strength of an ordinary person,"

"Even though it was only the lowest-level Calamity, that is quite impressive."

Wang Lin looked at the newcomers: "Who are you?"

"Forgot to introduce myself,"

"I am Captain Ye Han, leader of the Seventh Squad of the Night Watchers."

Night Watchers.

Wang Lin felt a chill in his heart.

He looked at Chen Jing: "Then she…"

"Your classmate Chen Jing has Awakened a Sequence, Sequence Number 77—'Shadow Walker'."

"She is now a member of our Night Watchers, although only a reserve member."

Chen Jing looked at Wang Lin, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just nodded slightly.

"So, you were watching the whole time?"

"From the moment you left school." Captain Ye Han admitted frankly,

"This Calamity—Lin Weiwei—was very cunning. We couldn't act rashly before she was fully exposed, lest we alert the enemy."

"In other words," Wang Lin's voice turned cold, "I was your bait?"

"Don't put it so harshly. We would naturally have intervened if you had encountered fatal danger."

Wang Lin stared at him, asking word by word: "When I was almost choked to death just now, wasn't that dangerous enough?"

"Don't mind the details; that was just to test your on-the-spot reaction and combat instincts."

[I really thank you for your test.]

Wang Lin suppressed the anger in his heart and turned to Chen Jing: "So the reason you haven't come to school these past few days is because you joined the Night Watchers?"

"Yeah." Chen Jing's voice was very soft. "I Awakened last week. Captain Ye Han found me and took me to the Night Watchers headquarters."

"Why didn't you tell the school? Or your family?"

"You can't." This time, Captain Ye Han answered,

"Before an Awakened fully masters their abilities, their identity must be kept secret. Otherwise, it will attract unnecessary trouble, or even danger."

"Take tonight for example. If Lin Weiwei had known Chen Jing was an Awakened, she might have acted earlier or changed her target."

Wang Lin was silent for a few seconds, then nodded and turned to leave.

"Hey, you're just leaving like that?"

Wang Lin didn't look back: "What else? Stay here and listen to your preaching?"

"Kid! Have you ever thought about joining the Night Watchers?"

Wang Lin turned around: "Can I?"

Captain Ye Han smiled: "Of course you can, but the prerequisite is that you must awaken a Sequence. Ordinary people cannot become Night Watchers."

After hearing this, Wang Lin also smiled: "If I awaken a Sequence, why would I need you Night Watchers?"

"I can hunt Calamities myself; I don't need to be bound by rules."

Captain Ye Han's smile deepened: "Kid, do you think awakening a Sequence makes you invincible?"

"Without systematic training, team support, or logistical backing, how far can you go alone?"

He pointed to the remains of Lin Weiwei on the ground: "You can deal with low-level Calamities like this one."

"But what about stronger ones? Or swarms of Calamities? What about high-level Calamities with special abilities?"

Wang Lin turned around again, his back to Captain Ye Han, and waved his hand:

"No need to worry about that. Don't you know that some geniuses cannot be described by common sense?"

Before Captain Ye Han could speak again, Wang Lin continued: "Don't even think about it, I am that kind of genius!"

"Also, thanks for your test; I almost died in it."