Split Zone No.13

Volume 1

15 A Bad Fate With Murder

Dressed in black, the five of us arrived at the West-East line. The sky was still lit. We filed across the district line and entered the Eastern Forest. I was so delighted that I couldn’t help humming a song.

“Quit singing. Who are you trying to scare to death?” Nie Zun mocked. I ignored him and continued humming my song.

We walked through the forest when I suddenly noticed a figure in our path, up ahead. I adjusted my eyes as I tried to identify the person. She was a very pretty young lady, with bright eyes and curved brows.

The peculiar thing was that her hair was white. It fell down to her ankles, nearly 1.5 meters long. Her skin was clear as jade. Her dancing figure, dressed in a white robe, easily made a person lose themself in reverie. She was standing not too far from us, as if inspecting one of the trees in the forest.

When she felt that someone was approaching, she quickly raised her head to look at us. I was a bit dazed by her pretty features. “What a pretty girl,” I mumbled to myself.

After hearing my words, the girl’s long brows knit together. “Who are you calling a girl?”

I felt like I’d been struck by lightening, glued to the ground. This... Her voice was that of a man’s! Ha...ha... What kind of hobbies did people have nowadays... “Ah, so you were actually a handsome man,” I said, a bit resentful.

The strange man who looked as beautiful as a woman, with a head of white hair that extended to his ankles, raised his brows at me. “Are you the Western District bugs?” Bugs??? Who are you looking down on?! I scowled at him indignantly.

Dressed in long robes, he walked over to us calmly. Yu Liang took the lead and stepped forward. “Hello, sir. We are indeed from the Western District. We have a few friends in the Eastern District, so we came today to pay them a visit.”

The white robed man suddenly dusted off his hands at us. “There’s no need to tell me those things. I have no interest in understanding ugly things.”

...Ugly things? I turned to my side and looked at the hot and sexy Song Lu dressed in black. Then I looked over the well-built and stoic Yu Liang, and then over to the gentlemanly Jie Pa. And me—I-I wasn’t that bad! Who was he calling ugly things?!

The white robed man scanned over our group, and then his eyes stopped on Nie Zun. A smidgen of appreciation flit across his eyes. Before I could react, he suddenly disappeared from before me. I was stunned, and in front of me, Yu Liang and Song Lu exchanged confused expressions. All of us turned back at the same, only to realize that this man was already standing behind us, looking at Nie Zun!

Seeing his back, I immediately grew alert and grabbed my bow with my left hand. This man moved extremely fast! I hadn’t seen him move at all, not even a trace of a shadow! I retreated several steps until I stood beside Yu Liang and Song Lu, about a meter away from the stranger. Standing in front of him, Nie Zun had his hands stuffed in his pockets, a slight smile and a lazy expression on his face.

“You’re beautiful, a true work of art. Won’t you come along with me?” The white robed man actually extended his hand to caress Nie Zun’s face. The hair on my body stood on end, and I felt my body on the verge of collapsing. What was this guy playing at?

But before the stranger’s hand could touch Nie Zun’s face, Nie Zun pulled his black gloved hand out of his left pocket and grabbed onto the man’s pale hand, though it seemed he hadn’t exerted much force.

“My also beautiful friend, I also like your appearance very much. But I’m sorry, I have business to attend to, so I cannot go with you,” Nie Zun said with a smile. After I heard his words, I couldn’t help feel that something was off. Also beautiful friend? Wow. He really never forgot to praise himself.

Just then, the white robed man did something that caused both myself and Song Lu to grab onto each other, both feeling the urge to vomit. He bent over slightly, and from the corner of my eye, I saw some kind of infatuation glimmer in his eyes. Then he lowered his head and stuck out his tongue to lick Nie Zun’s hand! I gagged as I grabbed onto Song Lu, who was standing stiffly.

I raised my head, enduring the disgust, curious about Nie Zun’s reaction. But his expression made me regret my choice. He looked the same as always, that carefree smile on his face, as if he didn’t care at all that a man had just kissed his hand. No, licked his hand. No, that’s not right either. That a man had licked his glove.

Suspicious. Considering how much Nie Zun cherished his gloves, how could he have no reaction to them being licked by this wretched man? Nie Zun made no move to resist, and he simply tugged his hand out of the man’s hold.

The white robed man took a step towards Nie Zun and thrust his face at Nie Zun. “Then, how about you come find me again after you finish your business?” I shivered. They were so close together that Nie Zun could probably have felt the moisture of the man’s breath.

“Okay,” Nie Zun responded, his eyes curving with his smile.

The white robed man nodded with satisfaction at Nie Zun’s response. Then, he turned and slowly walked away, without sparing me a single glance. After the man walked a bit further, he suddenly vanished from sight. I shook my shoulders in an attempt to get rid of my remaining goosebumps.

Yu Liang looked in the direction that he disappeared, thoughtful. “His ability to transport is the fastest I’ve ever seen. He’s certainly not an ordinary person.” I quietly shook my head. Did this place even have ordinary people?

Song Lu nodded. “We should be very careful since we don’t know what his motives are.”

Jie Pa pushed up his glasses. “Nie Zun, he was right up next to you. He didn’t try any tricks, did he?”

Nie Zun’s gaze was still focused on where the white robed man had disappeared. His eyes dimmed, leaving others unclear on his thoughts. Finally, he said, “No.”

I clicked my tongue. “What? Are you that disappointed that he left? Did we miss out on seeing some kind of shocking love affair unfold?”

Nie Zun turned to me, a flirtatious look in his eyes. “How could that be. If I got involved with him, what would happen to you?”

My leg flew at him. “If you did, the rest of my days would be wonderful!”

After another three hours of banter, we finally made our way through the forest and stepped into the Eastern District. When we arrived at the the residence, we saw a crowd of people surrounding one of the entrances. Of course, there was no lack of strange looking characters among them.

Squished between the crowds, and with so many people present, we couldn’t see what was happening clearly. I signaled to Yu Liang, who nodded and then closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, I knew that he’d already sent his soul projection out of his body.

After a moment, he suddenly pulled Nie Zun and Song Lu toward himself. When we all made our way back together in the crowd, Yu Liang lowered his head and quietly spoke, “There’s a corpse in the center. Looked like a murder, an ugly one. The body had been severed into hundreds of pieces and then shaped into the word ‘death.’ There were too many pieces to be able to tell where the split symbol originally was.”

I frowned. After killing someone, they even played around with his corpse. The Eastern District was indeed a scary place. I motioned for the group not to push forward anymore. We wouldn’t be missing out by skipping that kind of scene. And so, we backed out from the crowd.

No one had arrived to take care of the body yet. I told everyone to split before we ended up stirring up some trouble in the Eastern District. We quickly moved on our way, but after traveling about 100 meters, a voice suddenly called out to me. “Ms Li Shen, I trust you’ve been well since our last meeting.”

I halted and turned around. Less than 20 meters away stood the muscular man, Tao Lie, and the bandaged man, Mu Li. I couldn’t help growing apprehensive. Why did the A-rank officers have so much fate with me?

Song Lu and Yu Liang didn’t know who the two men were, so I winked to Song Lu and mouthed the letter ‘A.’ Song Lu quickly understood my meaning.

The man called Mu Li suddenly stepped forward. His whole body was covered in bandages, but for his eyes. And it was with those eyes that he was currently giving me a murderous look. That’s right. His eyes were filled with a murderous intent, different from the last time we met and not at all subtle.

“What a coincidence. Every time one of our B-rank officers meets their death, we get to meet with Ms Li Shen. Shouldn’t you give us an explanation, Ms Li Shen?” Mu Li’s eyes were locked on me.

I frowned. So what he was saying is that the corpse there, the one that was hacked to pieces and used to spell out the word ‘death’, had been one of the B-rank officers? If that were the case, it was no wonder that people would misunderstand. I must be some kind of jinx. When I came, it wasn’t even ordinary people who died, but B-rank officers! Oh my goodness. The person I most didn’t want to start a feud with was Jiao S. But from the look of things, this dispute was already set.

“I find it regretful that these things always happen as I’m passing through, but I truly am just passing through.” I spread my hands helplessly and smiled awkwardly, unsure if my words would be of any use at all.

Mu Li scoffed. “Whether or not you’re just passing by, you’ll still have to come with me for further questioning!” His words had just hit the air when a bandage from his arm flew at me. Looks like he had no plans to discuss at all.

His strength was clearly different from last time. It didn’t feel as if a bandage were coming at me, but rather like a golden cudgel was flying towards me. I stood in place, still. Before the bandage hit me, Muscle Man Tao Lie suddenly stepped forward to block the attack. With a single hand, he easily grabbed the bandages heading towards me.

Tao Lie’s voice sounded coldly, “Mu Li, why are you always so impatient? We’ve yet to find any evidence that Ms Li Shen had anything to do with the previous days’ events. And have you forgotten what the commander told us?”

Mu Li seemed to recall something, though he continued to glare at me as he unhappily retracted his bandages.

Tao Lie walked up to me and nodded slightly. “Ms Li Shen, our commander has instructed us that if we were fortunate enough to run into you again, that we are to escort you to see her.”

Escort me to see her? Are you sure we’re not being brought in to get hacked apart?

While I was trying to figure out how to respond, Nie Zun suddenly stepped forward from behind me. With a smile, he said, “Okay, we’ll go. Please lead the way.”

I immediately turned to him and made a face that said ‘Are you crazy?!’ But he didn’t seem to mind me at all.

“Alright, please follow me.” Tao Lie pointed to the right, at a differnet entrance to the residence.

Nie Zun quickly followed behind Tao Lie and Mu Li. Song Lu and Yu Liang exchanged a glance and then signaled to me not to worry before following along. Even the ever-cautious Jie Pa nodded to me, suggesting it was fine to follow.

I turned and glanced at the still-large crowd around the chopped up corpse and resigned to shake my head. Muscle Man and Bandages didn’t mention taking care of the corpse of their comrade, but instead opted to take me to meet with Jiao S first. I could already see my future—a burial in the Eastern District.

The others had already started walking into the residential building. With a silent wail, I hurried to catch up.

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