Chapter 770: The Siege and Severe Injury

"Hello?!" Chen Ling heard the voice on the other end and immediately responded.

"Who is this?"

"I'm a friend of Senior Xiao Chunping... She said if I ever encountered a problem I couldn't solve, I could call this number for help," Chen Ling said in a lowered voice.

"...Oh?"

The person on the other end seemed surprised by Chen Ling's answer. After a long moment of contemplation, they slowly asked, "What kind of trouble are you in?"

"I'm being hunted by the 'White Hands' from Bureau 749. Their people are everywhere."

"Bureau 749?" The person exclaimed in surprise. "That 'Ghost Mockery' that the world wants to eradicate... that's you?"

Chen Ling froze. "Could it be that you..."

Chen Ling's heart sank.

He suddenly realized that anyone Xiao Chunping would have on her list was likely a 'White Hand' who attended the Intangible Cultural Heritage forum, and the person also lived in Shanghai... This meant there was a high probability that this person was also involved in the siege against him!

He had gone in a circle, calling someone who was trying to capture him for help?

"Bureau 749 asked for my help, but I didn't go," the voice on the phone paused for a moment. "However, I do know a bit about your situation..."

"Sorry to bother you!" Chen Ling was about to hang up when the voice spoke again.

"Logically, since this involves Bureau 749, I shouldn't help you... However, since it's a request from Old Xiao, I can't just stand by."

Chen Ling was startled. He hadn't expected the other party, a 'White Hand' under Bureau 749's jurisdiction, to offer help... And from their tone, it was clear they held Xiao Chunping in high regard.

The voice didn't hesitate before speaking again: "Where are you located?"

"I'm on Tangjing Street right now..."

"Understood. Hold on a little longer. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

With that, the person hung up.

Fifteen minutes...

Chen Ling glanced at the time on his phone screen. Only fourteen minutes and thirty-two seconds remained until the end of this 'Era Archiving' operation.

In the end, would he still have to rely on himself...?

The unease in his heart grew stronger. Chen Ling could feel danger approaching him within the bustling crowd. Chen Ling hardened his resolve, closed his flip phone, and a flash of aurora flickered in his eyes!

Bang––!

The next moment, the power supply to the entire commercial street was instantly cut. Aside from a few safety indicator lights, all the streetlights and dazzling neon signs plunged into darkness!

Gasps of surprise erupted from the crowd. Shoppers froze, looking around in confusion.

Using the dim environment, Chen Ling changed his appearance again amidst the crowd, then quickly wove through the pedestrians... Not long after darkness fell, people spontaneously turned on their phone flashlights, and a sea of starry lights intertwined.

These phone lights constantly swayed, creating chaotic light and shadow that danced through the crowd. A figure wearing a black bowler hat saw this scene and frowned deeply...

"Did he sense me...?"

The sudden darkness, combined with Chen Ling's instant disguise and escape, made it impossible for him to lock onto his target for a moment. Deciding to drop the pretense, he slowly took off the black bowler hat he was wearing.

"Whore's Chorus," he stated lightly, uttering two words.

An invisible domain instantly spread in all directions!

At the same time, thousands of tourist figures walking on Tangjing Street simultaneously froze in place!

This was not a pause in time, nor any other spatial ability; it was a direct freezing of all human bodies... In that instant, everyone on Tangjing Street became stiff like puppets, with only one exception.

It was a hunched old man, moving slowly and inconspicuously through the crowd. As everyone else around him froze, his figure became particularly conspicuous.

"Found you," the figure holding the black bowler hat smiled faintly.

The hunched old man, who had been in the crowd, frowned deeply, seemingly not expecting such a change around him. A sense of crisis locked onto his figure, and he immediately stepped into the void with agile feet, ascending towards the sky!

"Where do you think you're going?"

The figure holding the black bowler hat was about to raise a hand when, from a building across the street, a booming gunshot echoed like a flash of lightning!

Bang––!!

A purple gun-pattern flared in the void, and a bullet whistled through dozens of kilometers, rapidly expanding in Chen Ling's pupils...

The bullet was too fast and from too far away; even Chen Ling couldn't perceive its arrival beforehand. By the time he noticed it, it was too late to react, and he could only watch as the bullet pierced his chest!

Boom––!

Blood splattered in the air as a large hole was instantly torn open in Chen Ling's chest. He stumbled in the air but wasn't killed, instead crashing into the dark commercial building nearby at an even faster speed!

Dozens of kilometers away, on a signal tower, a woman in leather, holding a sniper rifle, watched the scene with wide, shocked eyes!

"He's not dead even after his heart was shot out?" she muttered in disbelief.

After a brief moment of shock, she quickly composed herself, putting her eye back to the sniper scope. A rope-like, slender domain instantly extended dozens of kilometers along the direction of the scope, passing through all obstacles, and began to try and lock onto Chen Ling again!

With a gaping hole in his chest, Chen Ling left streaks of afterimages inside the commercial building, deliberately avoiding all glass curtain walls that could let light through.

Two people hidden in the shadows... one who could control bodies, and another who could snipe from extreme range?

Chen Ling quickly analyzed the information in his mind. Before he could react, a figure holding a black bowler hat slowly floated up behind the glass curtain wall opposite him...

He raised his hand and pointed at Chen Ling in the air. Chen Ling felt as if his body no longer belonged to him; his limbs were suddenly stretched open, as if he were nailed to an invisible cross, unable to move an inch!

Almost simultaneously, the sniper rifle dozens of kilometers away also locked onto Chen Ling, who was forcibly controlled inside the commercial building!

This time, the domain extending from the muzzle was aimed directly at Chen Ling's glabella.

"I'd like to see... if you can survive having your head blown off," the woman in leather murmured, and the next moment, she firmly pulled the trigger!

Bang––!!

The second bullet sliced through the sky, curving several times through the city's concrete jungle, then smashed through a curtain wall and shot towards Chen Ling's glabella!

Chen Ling roared, activating his Blood Robe rapidly. An endless surge of power flowed from his shattered chest throughout his body, allowing him to forcibly regain some control, and he twisted his head and body!

Boom––!!

The bullet did not hit Chen Ling's head; instead, it was misdirected to his left shoulder, utterly pulverizing his entire arm and shoulder, scattering fragments onto the commercial building's curtain wall!