Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Green Scythe Demon
The world outside the bar became incredibly quiet, just a bit cold.
Lu Qianqian’s steps suddenly faltered because there were suddenly many people standing outside the bar. They weren’t customers here to have fun—among the ten people in front of them, each wore the Alliance’s black uniform.
Gu Qing’s steps also slowed slightly. At this moment, Lu Qianqian was carefully supporting him, afraid he might lose his balance and fall from drinking too much. He spoke softly, “I’m fine. I just drank a bit too much earlier and got unsteady.”
Lu Qianqian still stubbornly held onto his arm. “I’m supporting you.”
“Really, I’m fine.”
The ten people in black uniforms glanced at Lu Qianqian and Gu Qing but didn’t stop them from leaving. Lu Qianqian and Gu Qing stood by the roadside waiting for a taxi that would arrive soon. Only then did Lu Qianqian ask quietly, “Those are Alliance uniforms, right?”
“Yeah.” Gu Qing nodded lightly.
“Why… would they appear here?”
“There might really have been a demon hiding in the bar earlier.”
Lu Qianqian’s legs almost gave out immediately. She grabbed Gu Qing, wanting to run further away. Gu Qing said softly, “It’s okay. With those people here, even if that demon is S-rank, it’s definitely going to die today.”
The moonlight tonight was brilliant. Clear moonbeams fell as a cold wind blew, making Lu Qianqian’s body tremble slightly. At that very moment, sudden screams came from inside the bar, followed instantly by countless customers frantically fleeing outside. In an instant, the crowd became chaotic like a swarm of bees, only focused on running for their lives. Gu Qing straightened up and suddenly pulled Lu Qianqian into his embrace.
The crowd swarmed past them, while Gu Qing stood like a tree rooted in the ground, holding Lu Qianqian tightly. Lu Qianqian’s face pressed against his chest in panic, not knowing what was happening, only vaguely hearing his calm heartbeat.
It wasn’t until the crowd had completely dispersed and the piercing buzzing sound rang in their ears that Gu Qing slowly looked down at Lu Qianqian in his arms and asked softly, “Can you still walk?”
Lu Qianqian turned back to look at the Green Scythe Demon emerging from the bar and almost immediately collapsed weakly in Gu Qing’s arms, unable to summon any strength.
Gu Qing bent down slightly, gently lifting her body, and walked toward the trees in the distance.
………………………………
The buzzing finally stopped, and the crowd had dispersed.
Gu Qing had already brought Lu Qianqian to sit by the flower bed under the trees. Lu Qianqian’s body was still held in his arms. She didn’t dare look at the Green Scythe Demon not far away, yet her eyes were instinctively drawn to it.
“It’s safe here. Those people in black uniforms are Alliance Erasers, A City Alliance’s strongest combat force.”
This statement brought Lu Qianqian some comfort, but she instinctively asked, “How do you know…?”
“Their information is on the dark web. Although this information isn’t published for the public, some people still collect it. It’s not really classified information. I happened to see it once on the dark web. You know I have a good memory.”
Gu Qing turned his gaze toward the emerging Green Scythe Demon.
The Green Scythe Demon was ugly, with a green face, six eyes, hideously grotesque.
But gradually, the green skin on her body flowed like liquid, shrinking. Her body once again took the form of a woman, though her skin remained deep green. Those excess green liquids had now formed into a green bone scythe in her hand.
She looked at the ten people surrounding her and spoke stiffly, “Negotiate.”
The lead Alliance Eraser stepped forward. He was a middle-aged man, his bald head conspicuous in the darkness. His voice carried weariness and a trace of surprise. “What do you want to negotiate?”
“Let me… leave. I… won’t… come… again.” The Green Scythe Demon in woman form spoke with an especially stiff, mechanical voice.
“You’re beyond redemption. You must die here today.” The bald man took out a large blade from the case on his back.
With negotiations broken, the Green Scythe Demon naturally had only two choices: fight or flee. The demon’s instincts drove her to fight, but her will hoped she would escape. She had already obtained enough nourishment for her child to be born. Now there were more important things than instinctive killing… letting her child be born.
The next moment, those fleshy wings sprouted from her back again. The wings stirred up violent winds, but one of the Erasers stepped forward and raised his hand. The Green Scythe Demon, who had just taken flight, crashed to the ground, and cracks appeared on the surface.
“He applied gravity to the area around the Green Scythe Demon,” Gu Qing explained softly to Lu Qianqian in his arms.
Under the gravity, the Green Scythe Demon straightened her spine and let out a howl. She gripped the bone scythe handle tightly and charged forward wildly, swinging the scythe down savagely. But the next instant, the bald man appeared before her, his long blade blocking the bone scythe, sparks flying like a small fireworks display.
Once battle began, it was destined to be a fight to the death.
The ten Alliance members swarmed forward. The best method for dealing with demons was naturally human wave tactics. Now they had come prepared, each taking formation positions and wielding their abilities. Brilliant lights flashed one after another. Gu Qing reached out and gently covered Lu Qianqian’s eyes.
“I’m not afraid,” Lu Qianqian’s voice grew somewhat smaller.
Gu Qing hesitated for a moment, then withdrew his hand and said softly, “She could have escaped.”
Lu Qianqian looked up at him in confusion.
“That Green Scythe Demon is pregnant. She possesses a rare strain of mutated Green Scythe Demon bloodline. She has several embryos in her belly. If she were willing to absorb all the energy from those embryos, she would have a chance to escape.”
Lu Qianqian’s eyelashes trembled lightly as she listened to Gu Qing continue, “But if she doesn’t do that, she’ll definitely die here today. Even so, she still doesn’t seem to plan on doing it.”
“Why?” Lu Qianqian’s voice trembled.
“Maybe because this is a mother’s obsession.” Gu Qing’s tone was also somewhat hesitant. He couldn’t explain it clearly either.
“This should also be why she came to A City. She needs human hearts to replenish her strength for her children to be born. Otherwise, her children would only be stillborn.”
The moment she heard these words, Lu Qianqian suddenly felt her heart ache.
She couldn’t explain it clearly. Obviously she was also human and should naturally stand on humanity’s side. The Green Scythe Demon had killed so many people—how could she feel sympathy?
She just stared blankly as sparks burst across the Green Scythe Demon’s body—traces left by the bald man’s blade cutting into her. Green blood splattered on the ground, the scalding blood quickly rising into thick white smoke.
Before she knew it, Lu Qianqian suddenly felt her eyes growing blurry, until Gu Qing once again covered her eyes. “Don’t look.”
His voice was so gentle, yet seemed to be issuing some kind of command. She no longer argued but closed her eyes herself, suddenly feeling sharp spasms in her chest.
Meanwhile, Gu Qing continued watching everything in the distance. The battle had reached its final stage. The Green Scythe Demon retreated a few steps but no longer swung her scythe. Instead, she suddenly stopped there.
The ten Alliance members didn’t understand. Their faces full of vigilance, they maintained strict formation. But the next second, the Green Scythe Demon suddenly knelt down.
Kneeling was a human gesture used for pleading.
The bald man was stunned for a moment but didn’t hesitate to grip his blade with both hands and reply coldly, “When those humans you killed pleaded before you, did you ever show mercy?”
Gu Qing looked toward the distant Green Scythe Demon, turned his face away, and shook his head very slightly.
Demons were also naturally proud creatures. They generally wouldn’t kneel before humans, nor would they plead. In the demon world’s rules, there was only devouring and being devoured, killing and being killed. There had never been mercy or compassion.
Perhaps after becoming a mother, her pride gradually faded, or perhaps…
Moonlight fell on her face. Her skin now showed a deep green color. Perhaps knowing that pleading was meaningless, she slowly stood up from the ground again. Her eyes just looked at the ten Alliance members before her, and finally the expression on her face became crazed and sickly.
Her previously swollen belly now gradually flattened, and green tears flowed from the corners of her eyes.
She no longer chose to flee, even though she now had the ability to escape.
The green scythe in her hand suddenly glowed with an even deeper green light. Even her body seemed to glow, as if burning with green fire. The next instant, her body became like a ghostly green light, shuttling among the ten Alliance members.
The Alliance Eraser who had applied the gravity field earlier—his head flew off and rolled several circles along the ground.
Her body was also severed in two at that instant, the ghostly green light gradually dimming.
Gu Qing picked up Lu Qianqian, whose face was now streaked with tears, and walked away with light steps.
………………………………
After walking three kilometers, Gu Qing finally hailed a taxi.
Lu Qianqian now leaned against him. She always felt an inexplicable pain in her heart, even her voice becoming choked up. “Why… am I… crying?”
She clearly knew that demons and humans were never on the same side. She should feel relieved that the demon was killed, but right now even she couldn’t explain why her heart was instinctively contracting, inexplicable sadness quietly spreading in her heart.
“Maybe because you’re both women? Maybe because you can understand her feelings, and you’re relatively sentimental?” Gu Qing comforted her softly, but Lu Qianqian buried her face in his shoulder and cried again.
It wasn’t until the taxi reached their destination that Lu Qianqian finally recovered some strength. She gripped his arm and went home with him. Gu Qing helped her to the sofa. She sat there somewhat dazed, tear tracks still on her face, until Gu Qing brought tissues to wipe away her tears. After hesitating for a moment, he gently hugged her.
Lu Qianqian didn’t push him away. She just curled up in his arms. After a long while, she said softly, “I’m… okay now.”
“Then go take a hot bath and get some good sleep.”
“Mm.”
Lu Qianqian slowly got up, took her pajamas, and went to the bathroom. Only then did Gu Qing walk to the balcony, lean against the window to look at the city that was almost asleep and pitch black, and sigh very, very softly.
“That’s why I said don’t give birth, don’t give birth… Even if born, they’ll just suffer. Why bother giving birth to them?”
He began pulling at his messy hair. After a while, he took out that spring knife from his pocket, exposed the blade, and viciously cut his wrist twice. Blood gushed out instantly, like spilled ketchup.
He brought his wrist to his lips and licked all the blood clean. When his wrist moved away, the previously bloody wound had become a fresh scar.
He put the spring knife away again, lowered his eyelashes, and looked toward the lonely moon in the distance. Only now did he finally suppress those restless instincts in his heart.