Chapter 84: Sudden Psychic Contamination Incident

“What happened?”

The change in the picture made Lu Xin’s heart tighten.

Even through the screen, he could sense something deeply wrong.

Chen Jing beside him also paled drastically. Just then, the satellite phone beside Chen Jing suddenly rang. In the dead silence, its chime became the only abnormality in the frozen scene.

At some unknown moment, the people on the screen had all turned their heads to stare at the camera’s direction.

And outside their vehicle, behind the glass windows, countless unseen gazes seemed to focus on them.

“Sudden Psychic Contamination Incident!”

Amid the silence, Chen Jing suddenly screamed into the walkie-talkie: “Retreat immediately!”

Shouting, she violently wrenched the steering wheel while slamming the accelerator to the floor. The high-performance Jeep, monstrous in power, spun at an impossible angle, colliding with the rear of the Jeep ahead and crumpling it. Immediately, this beast charged ferociously toward the roadside railing.

Due to the chaos ahead, numerous vehicles piled up around them, blocking all directions.

They seemed trapped. Yet, in that instant, Chen Jing had already scanned the surroundings. Only to the upper left was a gap between two cars. She aimed to ram through that narrow space. This way, the two cars would only be shoved aside, not snapped in half. Occupants would survive, and she would escape this congested main road.

The flimsy metal railing couldn’t withstand the Jeep’s impact.

Beyond the rail lay steps, over a meter high, and a drainage ditch.

For this high-horsepower, high-clearance Jeep, clearing the steps and ditch was simple.

Everything decided in the blink of an eye—Chen Jing made the perfectly logical call.

Even as she decided and acted, chaos erupted outside the vehicle.

The girl, who had obsessively loved the young man, now threw herself onto his motionless body. Meticulously, savagely, she gnawed on the flesh torn from his body, rigorously fulfilling her oath to merge with him. The white wedding gown bloomed scarlet, blood soaking through its fabric.

Like a shocking rose blooming.

The dazed onlookers surrounding her gradually turned their stares onto each other.

Their gazes slowly became fevered.

“Xiaoqin, I love you…”

Someone yelled wildly, scrambled into his car, grabbed the woman in the passenger seat, and kissed her ruthlessly.

“Wife, I love you! Wait for me to come back…”

Another driver roared while flooring the accelerator, surging forward.

He utterly ignored whether anyone was in front of his vehicle.

This spiraling chaos radiated outward from the bloody-bridesmaid girl, rapidly intensifying into pandemonium.

Amid it, only a few lone figures stood frozen, seemingly unsure whom to seek.

But soon, the frenzied crowd swallowed them utterly.

“Sudden Psychic Contamination Incident occurred at Jiujiang Road, East City, Satellite City No.2…”

“Dispatch cleanup teams immediately!”

Thanks to Chen Jing’s swift reaction, her Jeep had already left the chaotic road as madness spread.

Shouting into the satellite phone, she stomped the accelerator, aiming for a small side street.

……

Suddenly, a car that had remained eerily quiet on the road gently opened its door. A middle-aged man emerged from the passenger side. Dressed in shabby leather, hair slicked with grease, a massive pair of sunglasses covered his face. He pulled a black grenade launcher from the vehicle and mounted it on the roof.

Squinting one eye, he took aim at Chen Jing’s Jeep just as it prepared to surge forward.

He pulled the trigger.

……

“Hehe, Big Brother, run quickly!”

Struggling against Chen Jing’s violent maneuvers, even buckled in his seatbelt, Lu Xin nearly flew sideways. Suddenly, he heard Little Sister’s voice. Spinning around, he saw her sitting in the back seat, grinning grotesquely at him.

His heart lurched. The corner of his eye caught a streak of firelight.

It was a self-propelled grenade trailing a long banner of flame.

In Lu Xin’s peripheral vision, time seemed to slow down dramatically.

Yet reality dictated the grenade reached the Jeep’s flank within a second of launch.

The trajectory dipped slightly, its path shifting.

Then, the round exploded beneath the Jeep’s side. Deafening flames instantly drowned all ambient noise. The heavy, fortified Jeep, built like a beast, was hurled into the air. It slammed violently into the building beside it, then rebounded back onto the street. Windows, tempered glass, the frame—all warping, snapping, shattering simultaneously.

Inside the wreckage, Lu Xin felt like an earthquake had struck him.

In the explosion’s instant, he saw Little Sister reaching toward him. Then his body contorted with unnatural, rubbery pliancy, absorbing much of the impact force. Yet, inside this violently twisted, now nearly ruined cage, countless shards of glass and torn metal pierced his flesh.

The world spun violently. Agony tore through his body.

When the indescribable vertigo and pain slightly subsided, allowing his vision to clear…

He found himself pinned beneath the wreckage, half his body ejected from the cab.

A shrapnel piece impaled his thigh.

Nearby, Chen Jing strained against her door, trying to push it open with all her strength.

A figure in black camo and worn military boots stepped into view. Casually carrying a grenade launcher, he strolled leisurely toward a nearby, miraculously intact glass case—the one holding the Crimson Moon oil painting, crafted from some special material that resisted both explosion and crushing impact.

Staring at the man’s back, Lu Xin felt a shocking surge of familiarity.

As this thought struck the man, picking up the case, turned back to look toward the Jeep.

A bizarre smile etched across his face.

Qin Ran!

……

At that moment, Lu Xin froze. An icy chill washed over him, his mind abruptly sharpening.

That man… wore Qin Ran’s face!