Chapter 132: Accomplice

When the two of them rushed out of the hot pot restaurant, they found the shopping mall almost completely empty. It was as if by some mechanical data regulation, the people here had spontaneously vacated the area the moment Qin Mo and Ji Ning entered the restaurant.

The emptiness of the mall was magnified infinitely at this moment. The instant she saw this, Qin Mo made a judgment: Adonis’s will had already locked onto her invisibly. To maintain the stability of the dream, he had long since expelled those phantom-like crowds.

For some reason, the gunman behind them did not fire again. The man in the trench coat paused slightly when his gaze fell upon Ji Ning beside Qin Mo, and then he walked straight toward them. Compared to the flesh-and-blood people in the dream, he was more like a Terminator wrapped in human skin—devoid of any extraneous expressions or words. He only cared about fulfilling his mission; nothing else mattered.

Escape? Qin Mo quickly dismissed the thought. This city was constructed by Adonis, who could easily know everything within it. To Adonis, she was merely a hamster hiding in a cage; no matter which corner she retreated to, it was equivalent to facing him directly.

Why send only one person? To Adonis, these dispatched envoys were merely avatars of his psychic power. If he had sufficient psychic energy, there would be no need to send only one. There was only one possibility: he could not spare more. London had a population of nine million, and the number of supernatural entities within it must be immense. He needed to spend more energy dealing with those more threatening existences. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to send more psychic avatars, but in his judgment, he only needed one to handle Qin Mo. Unless he confirmed that more investment was necessary, he would not squander his psychic energy. Adonis’s true enemies were the entire supernatural sphere of London.

Perhaps when Adonis finished handling other matters, he would devote more energy to dealing with these insignificant anomalies. But at least one thing was certain: for the short term, the only thing Qin Mo had to deal with was the guy in the black trench coat not far away.

Having spent a year at Deer Academy, Qin Mo was no longer the princess hiding in a castle, weeping and waiting for a knight to save her. On the contrary, she was here to save her own knight. Although her courses at Deer Academy leaned toward auxiliary combat, what kind of place was Deer Academy? It wasn't a place where every school handbook listed survival probabilities; it was more like a crucible. Everyone there had to be tempered to learn how to survive, regardless of what they faced.

Although she didn't know why the man in the trench coat hadn't fired, Qin Mo assumed he possessed long-range attack capabilities at all times. So, while formulating a plan, she kept running with Ji Ning. This was just a shopping mall; no matter how demanding the client was regarding construction quality, it would never reach the level where everything could be used as cover. Everything was built to standard specifications. Apart from load-bearing pillars, billboards, floor-to-ceiling windows, and cabinets could only serve to block the line of sight. Bullets would not only pierce through them but would also put a hole in whoever was hiding behind.

Qin Mo pulled Ji Ning down, using the height advantage to disappear from the gunman's line of sight at a corner.

"Why does that guy have a gun?" Ji Ning held his heart, which felt like it was about to jump out of his chest. He felt like an ordinary person who had stumbled into a bar during a mafia shootout; he just wanted a cocktail, but the bartender had filled his glass with gleaming yellow bullets.

"Remember what I told you? That is one of Adonis’s dream envoys. To him, I am like a virus interfering with the code, and he wants to eliminate me." Qin Mo answered while grabbing a fire extinguisher from a glass cabinet labeled "Emergency Fire."

"If it’s really as you say, that this person named Adonis has constructed countless dreams, then isn't he like a god within them? How could you have a chance to fight back? Wouldn't he have finished you off the moment he discovered you?" Ji Ning quickly spotted the contradiction.

"He needs to invest more energy to deal with anomalies in other people's dreams. There are far more powerful people in this world than me." Qin Mo tested the fire extinguisher; it seemed the fire safety in this mall wasn't just for show.

"Fine, you always have a reason, just no evidence." Ji Ning was a bit angry, feeling that she was still lying at a time like this, which was undoubtedly a lack of trust in him.

Qin Mo heard the dissatisfaction in Ji Ning’s tone. She didn't say anything more; there was only one thing she needed to do now, and that was to take care of the man in the trench coat who was searching for them. Once that was handled, she would have plenty of time to soothe the temperamental boy.

"Take this. Do you know how to use it?" Qin Mo handed the extinguisher to Ji Ning.

Ji Ning didn't speak; he pressed the handle, and the nozzle sprayed white ammonium phosphate.

"Good. Wait for my signal and act accordingly."

"What does that mean?"

Qin Mo pointed at Ji Ning, then at herself. "Are we on the same side?"

Ji Ning nodded.

Qin Mo nodded too. "Then you should know who to spray in a moment."

Without waiting for Ji Ning to ask again, Qin Mo bent down and moved through the mall like a nimble cat. She soon spotted the man in the trench coat searching nearby. There was no expression on his face; he was as precise as a robot, following the optimal route to search every place that might hide Qin Mo.

Qin Mo made a small detour and grabbed a stack of metal coat hangers from an unattended clothing store. She adjusted her position and threw one of the hangers toward Ji Ning’s direction.

The crisp sound made the searching man shift his gaze toward the massage chair where Ji Ning was lying hidden. He soon sensed that someone was hiding there.

The footsteps grew closer, and Ji Ning became increasingly panicked. Just as he was debating whether to run or make a desperate stand, the man in the trench coat was attacked by Qin Mo.

She had prepared on the path the man had to take to reach Ji Ning. There was a clothing store there, and she hid behind a sofa meant for resting. She calmed her breathing, hid her presence, and listened to the footsteps to judge his position. Everything she had done so far was for the decisive blow to come.

His camouflage was extremely crude; behind the massage chair was a row of temporary lockers. The smooth surface was like a mirror, and the lying Ji Ning revealed half his body in the reflection, but Qin Mo didn't point it out, because she had already formed a plan the moment she saw the lockers.

Ji Ning was only a seventeen-year-old boy with no combat ability; he could only, and should only, serve as bait.

Qin Mo was certain that once she made a noise near Ji Ning, the man in the trench coat would inevitably spot the prone Ji Ning in the reflection. Even if he feigned ignorance to avoid alerting his prey, he would definitely draw closer. Qin Mo didn't care how the man reacted; she only needed him to notice that spot and move toward it. That was enough. A mantis stalking a cicada only has eyes for the cicada.

When the footsteps were right beside her, Qin Mo didn't hesitate. She leaped up like a vigorous leopard. The metal hanger she had prepared was bent into a circle in her hands. Like a cowboy roping a horse, she faced the man whose back was turned to her and, without a shred of mercy, locked it around his throat.

Once confirmed, Qin Mo threw a right elbow strike, using that momentum to pull backward, while simultaneously twisting her left hand to tighten the metal hanger. She had rehearsed the movement dozens of times in her mind, and it proceeded without any surprises.

According to the experience shared by her combat professor, this type of strangulation using tools was an extremely efficient method. Within seconds, the carotid arteries and vertebral arteries would be blocked, leading to brain ischemia and death. At the same time, the target's vertebrae would be snapped by the sudden force, and due to oxygen deprivation, the target would be unable to mount an effective defense.

But that was for ordinary people. Strictly speaking, the man in the trench coat could not even be considered human; he was merely a psychic avatar sent by Adonis.

Although he was bound by the constraints of the dream and his physique was at most that of an ordinary person—meaning the ways to kill an ordinary person worked on him—he was not human after all.

Not being human meant having no emotions; the weakness of suffocation and the fear of death did not exist for him. A machine runs according to instructions, not logic.

The moment he was attacked, he reacted. His left hand blocked the metal hanger that was about to crush his throat, his body leaned back, and his right hand used the momentum to strike backward with an elbow.

The olecranon bones of their elbows collided. A wave of painful numbness caused Qin Mo to lose focus for a split second, but the man's combat instinct didn't end there. The next second, Qin Mo was forced to abandon her advantageous position.

The man’s right hand, which had thrown the elbow strike, seemed to feel no pain. He steadily grabbed the pistol tucked at his waist, inverted his wrist, and fired two shots behind him. The sound of the gunfire was like shattered glass. Ji Ning, who had been hiding, decided to charge out. He raised the fire extinguisher and aimed it at the man, who was turning his face to observe his opponent with his peripheral vision.

The ammonium phosphate dry powder caused the man to shut his eyes, and the pistol in his right hand also turned to point in the direction of the incoming powder. Amidst the snow-like mist, Qin Mo kept her eyes locked on the hand gripping the gun. The moment the muzzle turned, she didn't pause and delivered a side kick, sending the pistol flying.

The man in the trench coat groaned, as Qin Mo’s toe had also struck his waist. The pain did not diminish his resistance; he seized her ankle and threw his entire body toward the left.

He hit nothing, because there was nothing there but the railing.

But that was precisely why it was so terrifying.

The dining area was on the sixth floor. Given the height from the ground, unless Qin Mo could guarantee that this guy would serve as her meat cushion, her fate would be no better than his.

Although Qin Mo was 1.7 meters tall, she was, after all, a nineteen-year-old woman. Her weight was not enough to stop the man in his near-maniacal attempt to take her down with him.

The two of them crashed through the glass railing. Qin Mo released the metal hanger in her left hand and grabbed the railing's handrail with all her might. The expected sound of a heavy object falling did not come.

The man in the trench coat, despite being unable to open his eyes, had his powerful combat instincts remember the terrain nearby when he was attacked. His right hand also grabbed the handrail and exerted force, his arm muscles bulging high, allowing him to pull himself up like a chin-up, but in reality, he was using all his might to drag Qin Mo down with him.

Qin Mo had no time to interfere; she had to climb up first. Rash interference might cause her to be dragged down by him. This was a completely robotic existence; his goal was to eliminate the anomaly that appeared in the dream. He had no human emotions, no excitement, no fear, and no instinctive desire for self-preservation. To him, everything was meaningless; he could use any means necessary to complete his mission.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. From the moment Qin Mo launched her attack until now, only a dozen seconds had passed. She had just flipped over the railing when she heard a heavy thud.

She turned her head and saw a pale-faced Ji Ning holding the fire extinguisher as if it were a baseball bat. The railing in front of him was empty.

"He's dead." Ji Ning's tone was panicked and at a loss, like a child who had knocked over a milk bottle and was standing there waiting for punishment.

Qin Mo’s heart softened slightly. She reached out, pulled him into her arms, and ruffled his hair. "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

"This is murder! Intentional homicide is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or ten or more years in prison!" Ji Ning’s face flushed red as he pushed Qin Mo away.

"This should count as self-defense, right?"

"Who can prove this is self-defense? Even with the best outcome, it's excessive defense." Ji Ning didn't know why he had performed such a foolish act. From an objective point of view, no matter how precarious Qin Mo's situation was, he shouldn't have been the one to act, yet he had chosen the path of most regret.

Ji Ning was on the verge of a breakdown. He didn't want to be a juvenile delinquent at seventeen. He didn't understand why Qin Mo could be so calm; had this person grown up in Gotham?

Qin Mo had never seen such a nervous and timid Ji Ning. It was both novel and made her want to tease him, so she deliberately said, "Actually, when it comes down to it, you were the one who pushed him off, right?"

"What are you talking about? I did it for you!" Ji Ning was very angry. If he hadn't seen the situation was so critical, how could he have made such a big mistake? And she was actually saying things to shift the responsibility!

"Mmhmm, I'm very satisfied." That was exactly what Qin Mo wanted to hear. She felt content and refreshed. Noticing the dry powder on Ji Ning from using the extinguisher, she naturally reached out to pat it off for him.

"Why was he chasing you in the first place?"

"Hmm, you wouldn't believe me anyway." She looked at the flustered Ji Ning with interest again. *Hmm, he's actually quite cute.*

Ji Ning looked at the empty mall. He speculated that the man in the trench coat must have spread some fake news, like a fire drill or something. A thought suddenly popped into his mind: since he was here to assassinate her, he wouldn't leave any evidence. The mall's surveillance footage must have been destroyed by him, which also meant that everything that had just happened here was unrecorded.

Ji Ning’s brain raced, his eyes shifting uncertainly, until he finally made up his mind: he would turn himself in.

The thought of running away had indeed crossed his mind, but, are you kidding me! This was China, a country with a 99.8% criminal case clearance rate. Even Professor Moriarty wouldn't dare claim he could escape from the "Skynet" cameras found everywhere.

Before going to the police station, he decided to go home first.