The only sound in the stillness was gulps of fear.
"What do you think of my magic trick?" The Professor laughed hoarsely, sliding a flute out of his sleeve. The instrument looked so delicate at his fingertips. "I think that we can discuss now. About that Eastern kid…" He waved his hand and the silent butcher returned to his side.
"A musician?" Lorenzo muttered to himself, his features twisting. "What level?"
"At least the Musician level," a musician hidden in the group answered. "Just the Bloody Butcher himself would be hard to handle. I’m not confident."
"As powerful as the Butcher is, he’s just a man."
"No, when things get to this level, we call them beasts." The musician sighed. "The Professor has always been so shady. No one could’ve guessed that he’s a musician. Lorenzo, we fallen into the Professor’s trap."
Lorenzo understood. If they attempted to fight both the Professor and the Butcher, they might not lose. But even if they won, they would suffer great losses. One had endless tricks, while the other was a beast that was practically invincible. There was no point in fighting a battle that they would lose either way. And there was still the Pyramid King and Basset.
No matter what, everyone understood something as soon as the beast had appeared. The Professor had the upper hand.
--
On the rooftop, the Pyramid King watched the beast, the corner of his lips quivering. "Professor, what do you really want?"
"It’s simple." The Professor gazed at all of them, "There are two solutions. The first one is that all of you leave and the kid is mine, or maybe you’ll like the second solution…fight to the end."
In the suffocating tension, everyone glanced at each other, their eyes full of caution and greed.
The first to back out was Lorenzo. The leader of the Sicilians raised his hand and announced darkly, "I don’t care what you all plan to do. The Lucos will step out. Basset, tell your men to move."
The Sicilian thugs slowly retreated. They gripped their weapons, cautious of the Asgardians behind them.
Seeing the treasure slipping from his fingers, Basset’s expression was unreadable. Tightening and loosening his hold on his sword, he finally grit out, "Move out. We will retreat as well…"
"An intelligent choice." The Professor clapped his hands and finally looked at Sam Luo on the roof. "Mr. Pyramid King, it seems that you’ll be brave and fight me?" It was a joke. The Pyramid Scheme was the most cowardice in Avalon’s downtown.
Seeing his great plan fail, the Pyramid King’s eyes rolled. As if in physical pain, he lightly put down his hand, "We will retreat as well…"
The three groups watched the Professor and the beast closely, then stepped back carefully. The tense atmosphere slowly relaxed. Seeing that there was no need to fight, everyone let out a sigh of relief. But then a confused voice sounded throughout the alley.
"Excuse me, anyone here?" A lost boy lugging a pile of stuff walked into the alley under everyone’s eyes. "I’m sorry, I got lost. Senior, are you…holy sh*t!"
"What the f*ck?!" he thought. Ye Qingxuan almost jumped when he saw the sight before him. His mind went blank as he gaped at the battle axes, steel bars, heavy armor, bows, and that inhumane creature. As he stared at them, they also stared back at him.
They gaped at the white-haired youth with one kilogram of carrots in his left hand, a bag of tomatoes in his right, and a giant lantern in his arms. He looked like he just come back from grocery shopping.
As everyone stared at each other, the youth finally reacted. He stepped back saying, "I’m sorry. I’m in the wrong place. Please continue. Don’t mind me!" Amidst the sounds of everyone’s jaws hitting the ground, he slowly retreated, turned, and stepped away.
Panicking, the Pyramid King called out, "Halt!"
"Okay…" But despite his words, his body did not listen. As if shocked by electricity, Ye Qingxuan sprinted away.
"Sh*t, he runs fast!" someone in the crowd murmured, which opened the dam and everything went out of control. The ones who had been retreating were now restless.
"Catch him!" Someone yelled, "Whoever catches him gets him!"
The still atmosphere had shattered, and the crowd went wild. Lorenzo, Werner, and the Pyramid King all forgot what they had said about retreating and charged forward wildly.
The Professor was frozen in his spot. He had not expected for the situation to change so dramatically within seconds. As he watched the mass of people rush into another alley, he glared at his flute, anger flashed through his eyes. "Butcher, catch him!"
The three meter giant roared and jumped up, then landed in the crowd. Swinging his bone saw, two people were instantly thrown into the wall, blood spewed from them. As he swung his saw, many people were instantaneously sliced into halves. Blood spurted out and people screamed.
--
At the other end of the alley, Ye Qingxuan ran as if his life depended on it. Looking back, he saw the mass of menacing men, angry thugs, and one beastly creature. He wanted to cry. "Why are you chasing me?!"
The Pyramid King screamed, "I want...no, hand over the treasure and I’ll let you live!"
Beneath him, Lorenzo yelled, "Friend, don’t run. We can protect you…"
"Psh, yeah right!" Basset was clad in heavy armor, but he was the fastest, chasing without slowing down. "Kid, don’t listen to them! Give it to me! You’ll be the Asgardians’ eternal friend!"
"What treasure? What friend?" Ye Qingxuan thought. He had no clue what they were talking about! Resisting the urge to cry, he sped up. As he ran, he suddenly had an idea and tossed something behind him. "Here’s your treasure. Take it!"
A black object flew from his hands, cut an arc in the air, and fell into Basset’s arms. Forgetting about his sword, the Basset clutched it instinctively. He did not even get the chance to take a look before he was flattened by the crowd behind him.
Someone yelled, "The treasure’s here!"
"Catch him!"
"Basset got the treasure!"
As more and more people piled on, Basset subconsciously tightened his grasp. There was a squelch, and red liquid oozed out from between his fingers.
The rush of people froze. Some of the drops fell into people's’ mouths, and some people swallowed reflexively. "Tastes sour and sweet…we can eat the treasure? Mom, I’m going to Avalon too!"
Lorenzo who had rushed over was pissed. He kicked Basset, yelling, "Idiot, that’s a tomato!"
--
"Don’t you want treasures? Here you go!" Up front, Ye Qingxuan was happily giving out treasures. He continuously tossed things behind him, "Here’s a tomato! Here’s a potato!"
"Here’s a lychee!" He decided to throw whatever he could get his hands on. He even picked up a frog from the ground and threw it. "Here’s a frog! Here’s a squid, and an angry banana!"
The angry banana angrily stuck Lorenzo’s face. There were lychee bits on the other side of his face too. This gentleman now looked like a homeless beggar.
Just as the angry Lorenzo began to roar, something was thrown at him again, and splattered his face with blood. He froze in shock. With trembling hands, he took a bloody tampon off his face and finally screamed, "Kill him! Kill him!"
The Pyramid King finally realized that they could not keep going like this. His men immediately got into position on a rooftop. They aimed at the youth and fired!
Amidst the whistling, an arrow brushed past the youth’s arm and dug into the wall next to him. The arrow twanged like a honeybee’s wings.
Ye Qingxuan looked at the wound on his arm and froze. "Crap, you guys are for real?"
"Who was f*cking playing around?!" On the rooftop, the Pyramid King yelled, "Get ready and kill this b*stard!"
Consecutive twangs of bows sounded, sending chills down Ye Qingxuan’s spine. "I was just buying groceries! What did I do?" Taking a deep breath, he began chanting quietly. Everyone’s angry roars covered his frustration as he chanted the syllables. Under the hoarse melody, the youth’s body blurred, turning whimsical. Rune·Haze!
"Sh*t, forgot that this kid is a student musician!" the Pyramid King growled. "Shoot! Fire! Kill him!"
Next, Ye Qingxuan added "Flow" to himself without hesitation. His pallor turned red immediately. Running while performing this task was practically death. Speeding up, he made multiple near-misses. His body grew blurrier, and after a turn, he disappeared.
The mass turned into a mess. The people at the back did not stop running, pushing the people in front to keep chasing. Many accidentally hurt others in the mess, and there was no room for explanations for injured thugs. They could only start fighting each other. Numerous corpses fell to the ground in the axing and stampede. Blood flew amidst roars and screams. No one noticed that the blurry shadow next to the wall that quietly started to move.