Chapter Fifty-Nine

He had crossed this road for a whole year. (As the plot requires, the three members of the family always obey traffic rules twenty-four hours a day, sometimes even helping elderly ladies cross the street. Everyone should learn from them, always obey the rules, hehe...)

At that moment, Luo Wen felt a sudden discomfort, an intense sense of crisis he had never experienced before. The gloomy street suddenly burst into dazzling light, the white stripes of the crosswalk reflected onto his face.

Instinctively, he glanced to his right and understood at once.

The light did not come from the street, but from two intense beams shining from a car less than ten meters away, heading straight towards him. Luo Wen realized the car was speeding up, not slowing down, directly charging at him.

What should I do? Am I about to be killed? What does death feel like? Ten meters—the car isn't slowing down. Is it drunk driving? Or deliberate? Luo Wen never imagined he could think so much in a single second. There was no time to react; he moved in less than a second.

Without any acceleration, and already hesitant, Luo Wen was struck by the car.

A sharp screech of brakes filled the air. Luo Wen, just fifteen and not particularly strong, was thrown five or six meters through the air.

As he flew, Luo Wen wondered, Is this the end for me? He smiled faintly. Life is so fragile. Is there any hope left for me?

The instant he hit the ground, his lips moved.

So tired. My whole body hurts, but I’m so sleepy. Is it pain or fatigue? It’s unbearable. Luo Wen lay on the ground, his mouth barely opening and closing.

Five meters away, the car had stopped. The window rolled down, and a head poked out—a man in his thirties. Seeing only a “T” intersection and realizing the person he had hit was just a child, motionless, likely dead, the driver breathed a long sigh of relief, wiped his sweaty face, and muttered, This damned alcohol... He hung up the already dialed emergency number. In this county of less than fifty thousand, many “T” intersections lacked cameras.

After about ten seconds, confirming there were no pedestrians and no cameras at the intersection, the driver quickly stuffed his phone into his pocket. The child was dead, and if he called the police, it would be drunk driving—a crime strictly punished nowadays. No matter how much money he spent, jail was inevitable. Thinking of his beautiful wife at home, his face twisted with ferocity.

Just to be safe, he activated the car’s navigation broadcast. Hearing, “No illegal surveillance cameras present,” the driver felt as though he’d received joyous news. He shifted gears, pressed the accelerator, and the car shot away like an arrow.

Luo Wen lay on the ground at that moment. Seeing the driver poke his head out, he thought he might still be saved, but minutes later, the man drove away, and hope drained from his heart.

Am I really going to die? Hey, driver uncle, I’m still conscious, there’s hope yet—don’t commit a hit-and-run! Luo Wen tried to shout, but found he had no strength at all. He pressed his hands to the ground, attempting to stand, but his body felt impossibly heavy.

With his left elbow pressed into the pavement, he managed to roll his upper body over, his hips straining, finally ending up prone on the ground.

The pain of turning over hit him all at once.

Again, the fatigue—instinctively, Luo Wen rolled himself back onto his side, expending unknown amounts of energy. After much struggle, he lay fully turned at the corner of the street, splayed out in the shape of a giant “X,” leaving streaks of blood where he had moved.

He opened his eyes, but his eyelids felt leaden, and he could only squint at the sky. Why am I still alive? He thought he’d prefer death to this agony. If he kept struggling, maybe he’d bleed out and die, but instead, the more blood he lost, the clearer his mind became. Didn’t biology class say excessive blood loss leads to death?

Where’s the ambulance? Of course, the driver had fled, certainly wouldn’t call the police; so where would help come from?

Luo Wen looked up and saw two figures fighting in the sky. As a diligent student, he always spent half an hour after homework reading online novels, and over the past three years, he’d read many.

Combat in mid-air—wasn’t that only in cultivation novels? Could such people exist in reality? Or was he hallucinating on the verge of death? Well, they say the dying see strange sights; perhaps he was indeed about to die. Or maybe it was a movie shoot—two actors on wires.

He doubted it was a shoot; if it were, they’d have noticed him lying on the street.

The two figures in the sky seemed to have been fighting for a long time. Unlike those in novels, they wore modern clothes, not strange costumes.

Hey, stop fighting—can’t you save me, a dying soul? Gods can brawl, but shouldn’t they save lives?

To save one life is a greater merit than building a seven-story pagoda!

Luo Wen called out, but no sound came; to others, only his lips moved.

Unless they looked carefully, the two in the air wouldn’t notice someone lying below. Night was falling, and the streetlights were gradually shutting off.

“Xiao Yan, isn’t this unnecessary? You’ve chased me from Jiangjiu City all the way to Changnan City—it’s been almost two weeks. Now I’m hiding in this tiny county, and you still won’t let go?” one said, dodging a black tiger claw strike to the left.

Xiao Yan, seeing his attack miss, wasn’t angry. He shaped his right hand into a blade and swept horizontally, saying,

“Lin Dong, your Butterfly Step has improved a lot since last year,” Xiao Yan praised.

“But this time you stole a family secret treasure. I’ll let you go if you hand it over—otherwise...”

“Otherwise, what? You think I’m afraid of you, Xiao Yan? How is it your family’s? I saw it fall from the sky into your house with my own eyes—it’s clearly extraterrestrial! Just because it landed at your place doesn’t make it yours. Secret treasure, my foot! If you weren’t talented, I’d have toyed with you countless times already. Ha!” The other, named Lin Dong, flickered to the right, leaping several meters away, interrupting Xiao Yan with a mocking retort.

“You—!” Xiao Yan shouted angrily.

“You what? If you want the treasure, beat me and it’s yours!” Lin Dong finished, laughing heartily.