I Return From Hell

Chapter 22: Chapter 20: Outbreak of the Third Mist Event

The future you?

What kind of answer was that?

Ye Zilan was completely baffled.

Sister Yan paused in surprise, then found Xia Yu rather interesting. She smiled and said, ”Congratulations, you’re both hired.”

Ye Zilan was confused. ’Aren’t they only hiring one person?’

The phone rang.

Seeing the caller ID, Sister Yan hurriedly answered, her tone utterly respectful. After a few seconds, she glanced at Xia Yu and Ye Zilan, her eyes shifting thoughtfully.

After hanging up, she plastered on a smile and said, ”You two are very lucky. My boss is short a secretary. He saw your résumés and was quite impressed, so he wants to interview you personally. If you pass, the working hours stay the same, but the salary doubles.”

An hourly wage of 1000?

Ye Zilan was intrigued, her attitude growing much more enthusiastic. ”When does the boss want to do the interview?”

”Right now.”

Completely unsurprised by Ye Zilan’s reaction, Sister Yan smiled and looked at Xia Yu. ”And you?”

’In my past life, this didn’t happen.’

’Something must have gone wrong somewhere.’

Xia Yu recalled the message from Xie Shaokun. With a subtle glint in her eye, she instantly understood everything and nodded. ”I’ll give it a shot.”

”Excellent.”

”This way, you two.”

Sister Yan just smiled, saying nothing more.

’I thought Xia Yu would be different, but it turns out she’s just another woman who can’t resist the lure of money.’

’Then again, our company’s main draw is the high salary. If it weren’t for that, a girl this exceptional in every way wouldn’t have come.’

The three women soon arrived at the first basement level, which was a small parking garage.

Dozens of luxury cars were parked in dense rows.

’So many rich people?’

’Why are we in the basement? Is the boss in one of the cars?’

’Besides, the company doesn’t even have that many employees, does it? Why are there so many cars?’

Ye Zilan found the situation stranger and stranger, but she didn’t let her guard down. After all, this was the city center, and it was a legitimate, fully-licensed company. There couldn’t be any danger.

The three of them passed through two successive doors and entered the second basement level.

”There’s a second basement level?”

Ye Zilan was completely stunned.

”I need to use the restroom.”

Just then, Xia Yu clutched her stomach, a pained look on her face. ”Sorry, I have an upset stomach.”

Sister Yan’s brow furrowed. She instinctively thought Xia Yu was up to something, but seeing her pained expression, she remembered they were on the second basement level. Not even a fly could get out of here, so she wasn’t worried about any tricks. She nodded in agreement. ”Hurry back. We’ll wait for you right here.”

Xia Yu nodded and walked straight toward the restroom.

’Hmm?’

’Has she been here before? How else would she know where the restroom is?’

’A coincidence?’

Sister Yan had a sharp mind. She instantly realized something was off and shot a meaningful glance at a female ’employee’ beside her. The ’employee’ followed after Xia Yu.

”Nine sixteen.”

Xia Yu hid in a stall, the only place without surveillance cameras. She calmly pulled on white gloves, took out her Butterfly Knife, and quietly waited for time to pass.

Soon.

The familiar Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power began to surge.

As she activated the Ancient Guiding Skill, the exquisite pain of her body tearing apart and rebuilding itself was intoxicating to Xia Yu.

Outside, the ’employee’ who had followed her figured Xia Yu was a trapped rat. There was no need to be as polite as she had been upstairs, and she lost her patience. On top of that, a strange, inexplicable pain wracking her body put her in an even fouler mood.

”Are you done in there?”

she demanded in a harsh tone, taking a drag from a potent cigarette.

CLICK.

The lights went out. The Mist Event had begun. The power grid was cut, and the surveillance cameras went dead.

CREAK.

Xia Yu pushed the door open and stepped out.

”Took you long enough. You on your period or something?”

The female employee took a deep drag and blew a smoke ring in Xia Yu’s face as she spoke.

In the intermittent glow of the cigarette tip, her face was faintly visible, twisted in pain. Her eyes were turning bloodshot, and her voice was hoarse.

’Now I remember.’

’In my past life, this woman turned into a Mutant and almost killed me.’

Xia Yu drew her Butterfly Knife, ready to give the woman a quick end.

During this Mist Event, besides the threat from the Alien Clan, Mutants were also a serious threat. At her current level, she wasn’t strong enough to disregard any of them.

In the faint light, the female employee saw Xia Yu draw the knife. Instead of being afraid, she sneered, her words foul. ”You smelly bitch. Looks like you know what kind of place this is. Good. Saves me the trouble of putting on this act for you.”

As she spoke, she violently flicked the half-smoked cigarette at Xia Yu’s face and lunged for the knife in her hand.

Her movements were swift and decisive.

Clearly, any ’female employee’ who could operate freely here was no simple grunt.

Unfortunately for her, she had run into Xia Yu.

In the darkness, it was impossible to see Xia Yu’s movements clearly, but her slender fingers easily plucked the half-smoked cigarette from the air. She took a diagonal step forward and viciously jammed the lit end into the woman’s right eye socket.

TSSS.

Smoke and steam billowed out.

”Ah... urk... ROAR...”

In a single second, the female employee let out three distinct cries.

The mutation was complete.

Her slender fingers danced, the Butterfly Knife fluttering in her hand like its namesake. The instant the newly-turned Mutant lunged to bite, the blade moved faster, plunging into its forehead.

Dead.

No Crystal Core.

Xia Yu became a blur of motion and vanished.

There was a backup generator here; the power would undoubtedly be restored within three minutes.

She needed to use this time to avoid the Long-tongued Monster and rescue Xie Shaokun. ’I hope he’s not dead yet, and that he’s awakened his superpower and become a Spiritual Ability User.’

Once this incident was over, Xia Yu would have the physique of a Second-level Athlete, maybe even a bit stronger.

After all, the criteria separating a Second-level Athlete from a Third-level athlete wasn’t just physical fitness, but also technical skill, willpower, and mental fortitude.

Just elevating her physical fitness to the level of a Second-level Athlete wouldn’t be too difficult.

”Why did the power suddenly go out?”

”The power doesn’t go out once a year, and you two had to be here for it.”

Sister Yan’s voice rang out.

Ye Zilan felt a strange sense of unease. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a phantom-like afterimage—like a Ghost—flashing past, and she let out a terrified scream.

But when she looked again, there was nothing there.

”What are you screaming about?”

Sister Yan quickly chided her. ”Don’t scream! Brother Li hates it when people shout. You’ll upset the boss.”

Xia Yu sped past the two women without stopping, continuing onward.

Soon.

She reached the deepest part of the second basement level: Brother Li’s office.

...

...

「At the same time Xia Yu arrived on the second basement level.」

”Xie Shaokun, I never believed a damn word you said from the start. You idiot, you can’t even tell a convincing lie. A punk like you knows a rich backer?”

”I came here this time just to see what tricks you and the person behind you were trying to pull.”

”And it looks like I was right.”

Brother Li waved his hand, stopping his subordinate from beating Xie Shaokun. He scrolled through Xie Shaokun’s phone as he spoke. ”I’ll give you one last chance. Spill everything now, and I can let this slide. Otherwise, once that bitch gets here, it’ll be too late.”

Xie Shaokun’s mouth was full of blood. He remained silent.

He was as stubborn as ever.

Having decided to stake his bet on Xia Yu, he would never betray her, even though the information he had wasn’t much of a threat to her anyway.

Besides, there was no useful information on his phone. Even Xia Yu’s contact name was just ’Yu.’ There was no way Brother Li would ever connect this ’Yu’ to Xia Tian’s older sister.

Brother Li leaned back on the sofa, propping his legs on the coffee table. ”I’m very curious,” he said. ”What did she offer you to make you dare to betray me?”

”Hmph.”

Xie Shaokun snorted coldly and finally spoke. ”I have never been your man. How can you speak of betrayal?”

SLAP.

One of Brother Li’s subordinates, Xiao Hu, slapped him across the face. ”Speak normally!”

Xie Shaokun stiffened his neck. ”I’m not repeating myself.”

”You motherf—”

Xiao Hu proceeded to beat him savagely again.

Brother Li’s expression darkened. His main worry was that the woman behind Xie Shaokun was a reporter or the daughter of some big shot. How else could she possess such an extraordinary air?

And why else would she dare to barge into the White Building all by herself?

In the age of the internet, if the shady dealings here were exposed, he and the sponsors behind him would all be finished.

And he certainly couldn’t afford to offend the daughter of a powerful figure.

That was why he hoped to force a confession out of Xie Shaokun before she arrived, so he would at least know what he was dealing with.

”Why must you force my hand?”

Taking a deep breath, Brother Li picked up a fruit knife from the table. Just as he was about to get up, he suddenly felt dizzy, and his entire body ached.

”Ah!”

One of his men cried out, dropping to his knees with a face twisted in agony.

WHOOSH!

Everyone’s gaze snapped toward him, a chill running down their spines.

”What did you do?”

Brother Li glared at Xie Shaokun, asking with extreme vigilance.

???

Xie Shaokun was just as confused, especially as a numbing sensation, as if from poison, spread through his body. It was all so strange.

The next moment.

The lights went out.

”Careful! Don’t let him escape!”

Brother Li jumped, now completely certain that this was the work of Xie Shaokun and the woman behind him. He yelled out the order.

His men rushed toward Xie Shaokun, but one of them, in unbearable agony, collapsed. The man behind him, unaware, tripped over the fallen body and went down with a yell.

The sound of toppling tables and chairs filled the room.

The scene descended into chaos.

Xie Shaokun’s eyes lit up.

’This is the perfect chance to escape!’

Relying on memory and his own reckless, fearless nature, he made a brutish charge for the door, only to have his path blocked by one figure after another.

At that moment, a strange thought occurred to Xie Shaokun: ’If I had a body like Zhan Huang, I could easily crash through these people and escape.’

The next moment, a strange power enveloped his entire body.