Chapter 20: Whom Has Heaven Ever Spared?
In a deep pit outside the old tenement building—
A woman in a purple coat stood there, her face ashen and drawn, breathing heavily.
“I must go now. My physical body has been seized,” she said, voice hoarse and fading. “Our time together has come to an end, and though I am loath to part from you…”
Beside her in the pit stood a man in a green jacket printed with the words: ‘Commemorating Over a Hundred Million in Savings.’ His mouth was sharp, and fox ears peeked from his hair.
He was the fox spirit, Zi.
But now he was nothing more than a drifting soul—his body had become translucent, like mist, slowly dissipating into the air. He gazed at the sickly woman before him, his eyes heavy with sorrow.
“Zi, such is life. Parting is inevitable. We met, we loved—that is enough. Thank you for all you’ve done for me. That is everything…”
The woman looked back at the fading fox spirit with deep affection.
Fox spirit Zi nodded silently. “With you, I have no regrets.”
The woman in purple coughed, licked her lips, and said slowly, “But I have one last request.”
Zi replied, “Speak.”
“Let me devour you.”
Before the fox spirit could react, the woman he loved so dearly opened her mouth wide and inhaled him with a sudden, forceful breath.
“How marvelous…”
…
In an alleyway, a crowd of people dressed in black knelt in the darkness.
“I am January Black, here to beg for medicine…”
“I am March Yellow, come to beg for medicine…”
“I am August Purple, here to beg for medicine…”
One after another, the black-clad figures knelt, their voices rising in a relentless chorus.
Xiao Qing and Blackwa stared in astonishment.
What on earth was going on?
The black-clad supplicants filled the alley, but as time passed, some slowly faded away until only a handful remained.
Li Changlu, thoroughly satisfied, held a small green bottle high above his head. The green liquid inside shimmered with a crystalline light.
The monsters who had come to this world were all people who’d died in bizarre ways.
Li Changlu had taken a bold gamble.
He wagered that these black-clad figures were the Begging-for-Medicine Monster Army.
And what do beggars do when they see medicine?
They beg, of course.
So, they knelt.
Li Changlu hurriedly signaled to the still-bewildered Xiao Qing and Blackwa to squeeze through the kneeling monsters and make their escape.
“Boss, why did you kneel?”
“I don’t know. I saw you all kneeling, so I followed suit. Can’t be the odd one out, right?”
…
The crowd quickly realized what was happening and scrambled to their feet, chasing after Li Changlu.
Li Changlu, unhurried, turned and brandished the green bottle at them.
He was ready to bask once more in the worship of the Begging-for-Medicine Army.
Yet this time, the crowd hesitated. No one knelt.
Li Changlu tried again, waving the bottle, but nothing happened.
It was then he noticed the green liquid inside was nearly gone—just a few drops remained.
By now, the Soldier Monster and his army had surrounded them.
Li Changlu sighed deeply, his hand trembling as he lit a cigarette. Calmly, he addressed the Soldier Monster, “I believe it’s time for an honorable battle between us.”
“An honorable battle?” the Soldier Monster asked, bewildered.
As Li Changlu racked his brains for some way to talk his way out of this predicament, a commotion arose at the mouth of the alley—footsteps and the blinding beam of flashlights.
It was evening. Who would be in the alley at this hour?
“Damn it, find that brat—I want to see him swallow gold.”
“And that girl—my neck still isn’t right after what she did.”
“That idiot, installed a tracking app on his phone…”
Li Changlu recognized the voices—they sounded all too familiar.
Soon, a group of people wielding flashlights, steel rods, wrenches, thermoses, and nunchaku appeared at the end of the alley, coming face-to-face with them.
Li Changlu finally saw the source of the familiar voice.
The driver—the veteran whom they had knocked out earlier.
He was massaging his neck as he led the group, and in an instant, his gaze found Li Changlu.
“You little punk! You hitch a ride, beat me up, think you can bully me, Li City’s Brother Long? After all the bragging you did, this is how you treat me? You even sprayed me with a water gun—try it again if you dare!”
“Master, how did you find me?”
“Isn’t this your phone?”
Li Changlu only knew Blackwa in this world, and his phone had just one saved contact—Blackwa. To make their tasks easier, they’d even downloaded a location app. Who would’ve thought…
No one escapes fate.
But right at the dramatic moment of this vengeance, Brother Long’s phone rang.
“Master, may I answer this?” Li Changlu asked with a cheeky grin.
“Take it!”
“A man of principle.”
Li Changlu answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Hello, would you like to buy some Power Pills?”
Power Pills?
Seriously, someone is trying to sell Power Pills at a time like this?
Does this world need such things too?
I’d hoped to use this chance to call the police, and instead, they try to sell me Power Pills.
How am I supposed to get out of this?
Li Changlu nodded absentmindedly and hung up.
He walked up to the Soldier Monster and said respectfully, “Boss, the guys over there just caught a big fish—a driver.”
The Soldier Monster stared at Li Changlu, utterly baffled.
What nonsense was he spouting? Robbery? Driver? Was the man an idiot?
But if the Soldier Monster didn’t understand, someone else did.
“So, this is your hideout?”
“No wonder our brothers keep getting robbed—it’s their doing.”
“Have you no conscience?”
“Wearing black at night—were you heading out for a raid?”
The vengeful drivers erupted in righteous indignation, their voices rising in a chorus.
“Beat them up!”
No one knew who shouted it, but the drivers could no longer contain their anger. Gripping their makeshift weapons, they surged forward to teach these so-called ‘robbers’ in black a lesson.
Brother Long was forced to the front, dragged into the fray.
The Soldier Monster’s group hadn’t even registered what was happening before they were swept into an unexpected brawl.
The alley descended into chaos as furious drivers and black-clad figures clashed.
No one really knew why they were fighting—just that the urge had gripped them.
Shouts and curses echoed endlessly.
In such a melee, neither side cared about taking out any supposed leader. Everyone was there out of confusion: woken from sleep, dragged from streaming to their favorite online hostess, hauled from the toilet before they’d even had time to wipe.
No one had the sense to catch the ringleader.
Everyone was brimming with pent-up rage, desperate for release.
So they hit whoever bothered them.
Whoever was close got punched.
Whoever hit them, they hit back.
And even if there was nothing but air, they flailed—anything but standing idle.