Chapter 42: Duel of the Divines

"Are you sure this is the way?" Pei Siying wiped the sweat from her forehead, casting a suspicious look at Gao Zheng.

They had been wandering through these ruins for nearly twenty minutes, or at least long enough for the heat to become unbearable. Although she knew her former captain was generally reliable, she still couldn't help but voice her doubts.

Gao Zheng rattled the car keys in his hand, a confident smile playing on his lips. "What's the rush? The good stuff is always hidden where you least expect it."

"Siying, you really need to change that impatient temperament of yours."

"You—!"

"Stop arguing!" Zhang Ming massaged her throbbing temples. The moment they reached Tian'an City, she was definitely going to shake off Gao Zheng, this clingy nuisance.

Yu Niaoniao keenly noticed this and quietly inched closer to her. "Sister Ming, why don't we..." She felt that Gao Zheng was no good news; his eyes had been glued to Zhang Ming the entire time.

"We're here." Gao Zheng suddenly halted and pointed ahead. "Right there."

Emerging before their eyes was a partially collapsed shopping mall.

Pei Siying's eyes lit up. "There really is one!" She gave Gao Zheng a light punch on the shoulder. "I didn't expect you punk to actually be telling the truth."

"Siying, I advise you to show a little more respect to your captain."

Pei Siying rolled her eyes. He was the one who had shamelessly insisted on tagging along, and now he was putting on airs.

Zhang Ming, however, frowned. "It's too quiet." She drew the short blade from her waist. "There might be an ambush."

Gao Zheng chuckled lightly. "Still just as cautious." He took the lead toward the entrance. "Don't worry, the monsters around here have already been cleared out by me."

Pei Siying looked hesitantly at Zhang Ming, who responded with a slight nod.

The three of them followed Gao Zheng into the dim passageway. The damp air didn't smell particularly pleasant, but it was much cooler than outside, allowing even Yu Niaoniao to relax and let out a soft breath.

Li Luyan stepped briskly out of the warehouse, sweeping all the clothing from the apparel section into her spatial storage.

Yu Yue asked in confusion, "Sister Yan, why are you in such a rush?"

Li Luyan breathed slightly, leaving nothing behind in her wake. She answered briefly, "Someone is coming."

"Then what should we do now?"

She retrieved two revolvers from her space and tossed them to Yu Yue. "Give one to Lin Youwei."

Sure enough, no sooner had she thrown the guns to Yu Yue than Zhao Meina rushed over anxiously, clutching the little bastard in her arms. Panting heavily and struggling for breath, she stammered, "Sister Luyan... ha... someone's coming."

Gao Zheng was far too arrogant, completely unaware that his recently cleared temporary stronghold had already been occupied by others.

"What if someone has already taken the place?" Yu Niaoniao had asked earlier.

Gao Zheng had chuckled twice. "Are everyone who hangs out with Minmin this paranoid? Don't worry, I scouted this entire neighborhood beforehand."

"Forget people, there isn't even a single mouse around."

Yet his smile vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, because the supermarket that had been fully stocked before he left had now been completely plundered, stripped so bare that not even a single bottle of mineral water remained.

Even more striking, however, were the three women standing in the center. The guns in their hands were already raised, their dark, hollow muzzles pointed squarely at the four of them.

"Looks like someone beat us to it," Gao Zheng whistled.

Pei Siying's expression grew steadily uglier, her tone turning sharp. "You played us!"

Gao Zheng raised both hands, taking two steps back in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, don't look at me, I had no idea this little girl was going to show up."

"It's you guys?" Li Luyan's gaze remained locked onto Zhang Ming, though she didn't lower her weapon.

Over by the side, Yu Yue had been about to put away her gun upon seeing Yu Niaoniao, but noticing that Li Luyan still kept hers raised, she promptly abandoned the thought.

Seeing that it was Li Luyan and her group, Zhang Ming actually breathed a sigh of relief. "Li Luyan, can you put the gun down first?" She raised both hands with a helpless expression.

"We mean no harm."

She glanced pointedly at the thoroughly looted underground mall behind Li Luyan. "Can you spare a little?"

Li Luyan's jaw remained clenched as she kept her gun trained firmly on them, an action that spoke louder than words—they were not willing to share.

Gao Zheng still held his hands up, but the smile at the corner of his mouth hadn't faded in the slightest. "Don't be so tense, beauties. I didn't open this supermarket; whoever takes it, takes it." He shrugged with affected nonchalance.

"Though you guys sure work fast. When I came to scout the place yesterday, it was still piled high with goods."

He waved a hand as if making a magnanimous concession. "Fine, fine, you can keep the supplies, but those guns are the ones I brought, so you ought to return them to me, right?"

Li Luyan let out a cold laugh, her muzzle unwavering. "Your guns? Did you carve your name on them?"

The smile on Gao Zheng's face stiffened slightly as a golden light flickered in the depths of his eyes.

"Woof!" The little bastard suddenly leaped out from Zhao Meina's arms, its wet black nose twitching rapidly as it emitted a series of "sniffing" sounds.

"A divinity bearer! I smell the scent of a divinity bearer. He is one of the solar divinity bearers."

Li Luyan's lips curved upward abruptly, and she shifted her aim straight at Gao Zheng's forehead.

"A solar divinity bearer?"

She sneered, "No wonder you're so confident."

The smile on Gao Zheng's face finally failed to hold. What kind of creature was this dog, being able to sniff out his identity just like that? It was endlessly amusing.

He narrowed his eyes, golden light swirling within his pupils, while his tone remained flippant. "Oh my, I've been found out, haven't I?"

Zhang Ming's expression changed drastically. "Gao Zheng, you—"

"Shh."

Gao Zheng raised a single finger. "Don't be nervous, I just want my gun back, that's all." His tone carried a hint of grievance, sending a sudden shiver of revulsion down Zhang Ming's spine.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than his figure blurred abruptly, slicing through the air like a sharp blade straight toward Li Luyan.

"Bang!" Li Luyan fired instantly, the bullet grazing the hem of Gao Zheng's jacket, but he had already closed in on her.

With a palm wrapped in golden light, he struck fiercely toward Li Luyan's neck!

Everything happened far too quickly!

At that moment,

Lin Youwei raised her finger, a soft moonlight-white radiance flowing from her fingertips.

Faster than Gao Zheng, she condensed a barrier, enclosing Li Luyan within it.

Gao Zheng, unable to retract his momentum in time, slammed his palm against the moonlight-white barrier.

The instant his palm made contact with the barrier, ripples spread across its surface like a gentle breeze passing over a calm sheet of water.

The impact of the barrier forced Gao Zheng back a few steps. He narrowed his eyes at Lin Youwei. "You're a divinity bearer too?"

"Then let's see whose divinity purity is higher!"

He leaped upward abruptly, his hands gathering two spheres of golden light so intense in the dim environment that they resembled a pair of miniature, ready-to-explode suns.

Raising his hands high above his head, he unleashed a thick pillar of light shooting straight toward Lin Youwei!

Zhao Meina hugged the little bastard tightly to her chest, her breathing nearly coming to a halt.

The little bastard reassured her, "Although I don't know whose concentration is higher, the shadows are the moon's battlefield."

"As long as they stay out of the direct light, that man has no way of dealing with Sister Youwei."

Only then did Zhao Meina let out a breath of relief.

Lin Youwei let out a crisp cry: "Radiance of the Moon!"