Chapter 115: Scarlet Magic Trick

For some reason, the moment he saw those empty eyes, Xi Renjie’s heart sank.

“The… the warehouse!” someone, a law enforcer, shouted. Everyone’s gaze simultaneously fell on the depths of the warehouse behind the red-robed figure.

An extremely strong, pungent odor wafted from the warehouse. In that burning inferno, countless charred centipedes lay curled on the ground. Their bodies were severely damaged, covered in teeth marks from torn flesh and scattered limb fragments. The scene looked like an Asura’s purgatory, meticulously arranged.

Whether from the visual shock or the pungent smell, several law enforcers felt their stomachs churn violently and dry-heaved on the spot.

All dead??

Xi Renjie was deeply shaken as he looked at the piles of disaster creatures’ corpses in the warehouse. Only about ten minutes had passed since that person had led these creatures away. Had all these disaster creatures been wiped out already?

And looking at those corpses, there seemed to be bite marks...

Xi Renjie’s gaze returned to the figure cloaked in the large red opera robe. His eyes were filled with wariness.

“Who... who are you?” he asked in a deep voice, staring at the large red opera robe.

The figure did not speak, merely walked forward in silence, like a soulless shell.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze swept across the wilderness. The large red opera robe swayed lightly in the wind. A scarlet butterfly flew out from his sleeve, drifting lightly past everyone’s eyes... Everyone froze.

This butterfly had no patterns on its body, nor any organs or limbs a butterfly should possess. It was like a replica made of red paper. Its wings fluttered gently, scarlet like blood.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

As he lightly waved his sleeve, a dense swarm of butterflies poured out from under his opera robe, like a tidal wave of dancing butterflies, overwhelming Xi Renjie and the others!

Xi Renjie and the others were startled, instinctively raising their hands to shield themselves. Through the gaps between his fingers, he could see that the large red opera robe had almost disintegrated into a sky full of red butterflies, completely obscuring their vision. The surroundings were a sea of scarlet.

“Where did all these butterflies come from??” A law enforcer, unable to open his eyes due to the fluttering butterflies, frantically pulled out the gun from his waist.

Bang, bang, bang—!

A series of gunshots rang out, but failed to disperse the butterflies in the slightest. At the same time, Xi Renjie’s angry shout suddenly rang out:

“Idiot! Who told you to shoot?!”

Although the red-robed figure was mysterious, he had, after all, saved his life and led away all the disaster creatures from District Three. Even though Xi Renjie doubted his identity, this did not mean they were necessarily enemies. This was also why Xi Renjie had not drawn his gun or held his sword in front of Chen Ling until now.

But now, this law enforcer had fired first. What if that person took it as a signal for battle? That would be terrible!

The law enforcer who fired the shot was stunned. Before he could fully react, from the swirling red butterflies in front of him, a figure cloaked in the large red opera robe rapidly coalesced. Its empty eyes fixed on him, chilling and eerie.

He was terrified by the sight and cried out. Instinctively, he tried to raise his gun again. But as the red-robed figure waved its sleeve, the gun in his hand suddenly felt lighter...

When he finally raised his hand, a fresh banana was clutched tightly in his palm, aimed at Chen Ling’s forehead.

A banana?

The law enforcer was dumbfounded. He stared blankly at the object in his hand, his brain instantly crashing.

Before he could recover, the vermilion sleeve swept up again. The red butterflies around him instantly twisted, transforming into slender, thin snakes. They coiled around his body like ropes, their black forked tongues flicking lightly against his cheek, icy cold!

This bizarre transformation directly shattered the law enforcer’s psychological defenses. He shrieked in terror, trying to break free from the snakes and escape. But no matter how hard he struggled, the thin snakes seemed to have grown onto his body, impossible to shake off.

“Ahhh! Help me! Help me!!!”

Amidst his cries for help, Xi Renjie gritted his teeth, drew his steel sword from his back, and rushed forward. With a single swing, he cleaved the thin snakes on the man’s body.

The thin snakes broke instantly, leaving the law enforcer’s skin and revealing his bare upper body... At this moment, both the law enforcer and Xi Renjie were stunned. They rubbed their eyes, unsure if his clothes had turned into snakes, or if the snakes had turned into clothes...

Was it an illusion?

A ghostly red-robed figure appeared behind Xi Renjie.

Xi Renjie felt all the hairs on his body stand on end, and a chill shot straight to the top of his head. Without hesitation, he spun around and swung his sword!

The sword blade tore through the air with a sharp whistle. But as his vision blurred, the steel sword instantly transformed into a charred black wooden stick, which he swung towards Chen Ling’s head!

In that instant, Xi Renjie was startled. But having just cleaved the thin snakes with his sword, he told himself that this was merely an illusion and that he still held the indestructible steel sword in his hand... He gripped the end of the wooden stick firmly and swung it with a whistle!

Snap—!

The wooden stick broke instantly.

Xi Renjie froze.

He held the broken, charred stick, a look of bewilderment flashing in his eyes. He saw that Chen Ling had used the very steel sword he had originally held to block his strike... Like the other law enforcer, his brain instantly crashed.

Wait, what?!

All those red butterflies and thin snakes just now, weren’t they supposed to be illusions??

Just when Xi Renjie thought everything was real, reality turned into falsehood. And when he believed them to be false, the falsehood became real again... For a moment, he couldn’t distinguish between what was real and what was fake.

The only constant was the eerie and chilling smile on the face of the red-robed figure in front of him.

The steel sword whistled down, and Xi Renjie narrowly avoided it. He gritted his teeth, pulled out a gun from his pocket, aimed at Chen Ling, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger!

No gunshot rang out.

A smooth sensation met his fingertips.

Xi Renjie opened his eyes in confusion. At some point, the gun in his hand had turned into a banana...

“This is impossible,” Xi Renjie said, his mind blank. “This is clearly real... No... Is it fake?”

Meanwhile, he saw Chen Ling opposite him slowly raise a banana towards him...

Bang, bang, bang—!!

Three consecutive bullets struck Xi Renjie’s body. Although the black iron armor deflected their force, at that moment, Xi Renjie felt his mind was utterly defeated... This was unwinnable.

He couldn’t comprehend the principle behind this absurd battle. In his mind, other than an endless scarlet haze, only Chen Ling’s eerie face remained.

When the false is taken for true, the true becomes false; when the true is taken for false, the false becomes true.

It was as if everything had been born from the wave of that opera robe...

Crimson Theatrics.