Chapter 33.1 Diary Page 4
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Lin Zhaohe didn’t know how far he had run, but Joseph’s presence had finally vanished from his surroundings. He wanted to catch his breath and take a break when he heard someone calling his name.
“Lin Zhaohe,” a voice came from the bushes nearby.
Lin Zhaohe was alert and asked, “Who is it?”
“It’s me. Don’t you remember me?” An unfamiliar face appeared in his field of view. It turned out to be the other person Jiang Guan had assigned when they first entered, probably named Qin Xu. Lin Zhaohe remembered his identity and felt relieved. “What are you doing here…”
Qin Xu: “I managed to get the password and come in just now.”
Lin Zhaohe: “Oh…”
Qin Xu: “Where are you going?”
Lin Zhaohe: “I don’t know. There are people chasing us from behind. Let’s hide with a few children for now.” The starting point was no longer safe, and he didn’t know when Yun Yuzi would catch up.
“Let’s go towards the direction of the cemetery and see,” Qin Xu suggested. “There might be some clues over there.”
“Cemetery?” Lin Zhaohe was slightly taken aback.
“Yes,” Qin Xu said. “To the west, near the border, there’s a cemetery.”
“How do you know about the cemetery?” Lin Zhaohe wondered. “Weren’t you one of the later ones to come in?”
Qin Xu smiled faintly and took out a map from his pocket. “I have a map of this place.”
Lin Zhaohe widened his eyes in astonishment. “A map? How did you get it?”
Qin Xu remained silent.
He didn’t want to disclose it, and Lin Zhaohe couldn’t continue pressing for answers. Nowadays, talented individuals emerged with unique methods, so it wasn’t surprising. Besides, Qin Xu was affiliated with Jiang Guan, so there was no reason for him to harm them. Lin Zhaohe earnestly studied the map and decided to follow Qin Xu’s suggestion to go and explore that area.
By now, the sky had grown somewhat dark, but everyone dared not rest and could only wearily continue along the road. Qin Xu had a keen sense of direction, even rendering the compass useless, effortlessly determining the most convenient path.
“Why didn’t you go find Jiang Guan?” Lin Zhaohe casually asked.
Qin Xu blinked and replied, “Jiang Guan… It seems like she doesn’t really need me there.”
Lin Zhaohe felt that his tone was peculiar. “Is that so…”
Qin Xu chuckled. “Let her have some quality time with her sister.”
It had been a day and a night since they entered this level of Boundary.
For an ordinary person, staying awake for a day and a night was extremely exhausting and tiring. Not to mention, they had no time to rest and had to continuously deal with the enemies approaching them.
The journey was long and arduous. Everyone dared not speak, fearing it would attract monsters. They could only lower their heads and follow the person in front, step by step, traversing through the dense jungle.
Zhou Ze stumbled and almost fell to the ground, but Lin Zhaohe caught him in time.
“Are you alright?” Lin Zhaohe conveyed through a glance.
“I’m fine,” Zhou Ze whispered. “Brother Lin, aren’t you tired?”
Lin Zhaohe replied, “I’m fine.”
He claimed to be fine, but in reality, he was feeling tired. Moreover, he sensed that he could barely maintain his magical girl transformation any longer. It seemed that this transformation had a time limit. In order to stop Joseph, Lin Zhaohe didn’t dare to revert back. He licked his dry lips and asked Qin Xu how much longer it would take to reach their destination.
“We’re almost there,” Qin Xu replied. “It’s not far ahead.”
This statement lifted the spirits of everyone, and their footsteps quickened. However, before they had gone too far, Qin Xu suddenly halted in place. “Wait.”
“What’s wrong?” Lin Zhaohe asked.
“Shh,” Qin Xu made a quiet gesture. “Lower your voice…”
Lin Zhaohe bent down and looked in the direction Qin Xu was gazing at. As he looked, he sucked in a breath of cold air.
Deep within the jungle, there indeed was a clearing. In the center of the clearing stood a black tombstone, and beside the tombstone were five or six Josephs. They appeared to be patrolling the area, presenting a significant challenge.
“There are five or six of them,” Lin Zhaohe whispered, analyzing the situation. “But their movements are sluggish…”
“The trouble isn’t with these five or six individuals,” Qin Xu said. “Take a closer look.”
Lin Zhaohe, upon hearing this, scrutinized the scene carefully and felt even more distressed. Standing next to these five or six killers were three black-clad bodyguards, all wearing rabbit masks on their faces and holding axes. They had clearly been completely assimilated by Joseph. However, unlike Joseph, the bodyguards were not enveloped in black mist, indicating that they could be confronted.
“Damn,” Zhou Ze cursed. “These few people seem quite formidable…”
“They’re formidable,” Qin Xu said. “I can distract at most three of them… You’ll have to deal with the remaining one.” He looked at Lin Zhaohe.
Lin Zhaohe replied in agony, “I’ll do my best.”
He began to feel uncomfortable now, unsure if it was the lingering effects of staying in his transformed state for too long. His vision underwent subtle changes, and even the faces around him started to distort… However, the current situation didn’t allow any room for error. He had to grit his teeth and endure.
“We’ll distract them while you search for the page in the same spot,” Lin Zhaohe instructed the few children accompanying him in a low voice. “As quickly as possible…”
“Got it, Brother Lin,” Zhou Ze became tense as well. “We’ll find it quickly, for sure.”
Qin Xu nodded at Lin Zhaohe and walked out calmly.
As soon as he stood up, the Josephs noticed him and began to converge towards his position.
Qin Xu picked up his gun and fired several shots at the distant men in black suits, shouting, “Jiang Guan is a foolish dog—”
Those men in black suits turned their heads to look at him.
It didn’t work? Qin Xu muttered to himself internally, immediately changing his strategy. “I’ll marry Jiang Nan home—”
Just as he finished shouting, those men almost instantaneously appeared in front of him like a gust of wind, startling Lin Zhaohe, who was crouching in the distance.
Qin Xu cursed, “Jiang Guan, you rotten siscon—” When he cursed herself, no one was reacting, but when he mentioned her sister, he was about to die.
With this thought in his mind, he swiftly turned around and ran, narrowly avoiding a heavy axe swinging towards him.
“Keep going!” Qin Xu shouted loudly, running towards a distant direction.
Lin Zhaohe clenched his teeth and crawled out of the bushes. As Qin Xu had said, he successfully diverted the attention of three people, leaving only five Josephs and one of Jiang Guan’s bodyguards in the cemetery.
Knowing that the bodyguard was the most troublesome, Lin Zhaohe’s first action was to unleash an icy beam, freezing him in place. Then he focused on the surrounding Josephs—
The number of these creatures was too overwhelming. Lin Zhaohe couldn’t possibly handle them all on his own in a short amount of time. He gritted his teeth and shouted, “You all go and kill that bodyguard first—quickly, while he’s immobilized—Zhou Ze—”
Zhou Ze let out a startled sound upon hearing Lin Zhaohe’s command and rushed towards the bodyguard with his knife. However, being a regular person, Zhou Ze hesitated when it came time to strike, saying, “I’m about to kill someone…”
Lin Zhaohe angrily retorted, “If you don’t finish him off, I’ll finish you off, damn it!”
The power of idol threats was significant. Zhou Ze closed his eyes and fiercely stabbed downward, saying, “Don’t blame me, Brother!”
With a knife plunged into the chest, the bodyguard, who should have fallen, opened his eyes and stared coldly at Zhou Ze.
Zhou Ze was frightened by his gaze and cried, “Brother Lin, why didn’t he die? He’s still staring at me…”
Lin Zhaohe was exasperated, dealing with the children and Zhou Ze. “I already told you his weak point is the back of his neck. Why did you stab him?!” Another icy beam was unleashed in anger. “Cut his neck!!”
Zhou Ze exclaimed, “Oh shit—” gripping the knife, he prepared to strike at the bodyguard’s neck again.
Whether it was because the bodyguard was awoken by being stabbed or not, he unexpectedly moved, raising his axe and swinging it towards Zhou Ze. Fortunately, Zhou Ze reacted quickly and managed to dodge the attack.
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He dodged the first strike, but couldn’t avoid the second. Zhou Ze could only raise his arm with all his might, using the knife in his hand to block the axe. Even though he managed to block the axe, the force still slammed into his body. Zhou Ze felt his arm as if it had been torn apart, tears welling up in his eyes. “Help!!”
Seeing this scene, Lin Zhaohe didn’t care about the nearby killer and urgently fired another icy beam at the bodyguard, freezing him once again. “Quickly—”
This time, Zhou Ze seized the opportunity. Disregarding the pain in his arm, struck at the back of the bodyguard’s neck. Blood splattered as the massive body of the bodyguard collapsed with a loud thud.
Lin Zhaohe let out a sigh of relief, but before the sigh subsided, he heard Zhou Ze’s cry of alarm from his side. “Brother Lin, be careful!”
Lin Zhaohe couldn’t react in time as a sharp and intense pain suddenly shot through his shoulder. Caught off guard, he let out a agonizing scream and fell to the ground.
His attention had been completely focused on Zhou Ze just now, unaware that there was a stray fish slipping through the net beside him. A mighty axe struck his shoulder.
“Brother Lin!!” With a surge of courage and strength from an unknown source, Zhou Ze charged forward as if driven to madness. Shouting loudly, he collided with Joseph’s chest, sending Joseph flying through the air.
Lin Zhaohe, struck by the axe, was in excruciating pain and his vision darkened. When Zhou Ze helped him up, he trembled and said, “Quickly, don’t worry about me, go find the diary.”
“I’m fine!” Zhou Ze replied. “They’re searching for it. Brother Lin, let me take you away from here first…”
Lin Zhaohe said, “I’m not seriously injured! Go find the diary first…”
Tears streamed down Zhou Ze’s face. He believed that Lin Zhaohe must be putting on a brave front by saying he was okay after taking such a blow. He tried to lift Lin Zhaohe, attempting twice, but realized that Lin Zhaohe was as heavy as a boulder and couldn’t be lifted… So with tearful eyes, he asked, “Brother Lin, how much do you weigh? Why can’t I lift you?”
Lin Zhaohe instantly became furious. “Can’t you do it? I’m only a hundred and forty pounds, damn it—”
Zhou Ze replied, “Um…” Lin Zhaohe’s forceful voice brought Zhou Ze back to his senses to some extent. He looked at Lin Zhaohe’s wound and said, “Brother Lin, it seems like you’re not seriously injured!” There wasn’t even any blood.
“Everyone’s constitution is different!” Lin Zhaohe said, his voice trembling.
Zhou Ze: “…” Is it because of his constitution??? After taking such a heavy blow!
Well, considering the intensity of injuries suffered by magical girls, if one had a delicate constitution, the grass on the grave might have grown five meters high. Having been struck by an axe, although it was painful, no blood was seen. However, the radiance on his body had dimmed significantly, indicating that his transformation was about to give way soon.
“Don’t worry about me,” Lin Zhaohe said. “The diary…”
“Found it!” While they were distracting the monsters’ attention, the other children finally made a discovery. Behind the tombstone, they found the missing page of the diary.
Joseph’s Diary, Page Four.
With his mother, Joseph was invincible. With his mother, Joseph was invincible. With his mother, Joseph was invincible…
The same words were densely written all over the entire page of the diary. The moment they obtained the diary, the sound of tearing paper echoed again. Simultaneously, the black radiance emanating from the Josephs attacking them transformed into an eerie red glow, as if they had turned into berserk boss-like creatures.
“Joseph is invincible—” one of the children who obtained the diary exclaimed in terror. “It says so in the diary, Joseph is invincible!”
“Run!” Lin Zhaohe went mad, shouting, “Run quickly—”
Everyone scattered like frightened birds and animals. Zhou Ze helped Lin Zhaohe up, and the two of them stumbled into the woods, not daring to look back.
Lin Zhaohe felt weak all over, his vision blurred. He cursed, “Damn it, if only I hadn’t picked it up.”
Zhou Ze asked, “What should we do now?”
“Go… go to the starting point,” Lin Zhaohe said weakly. “First, check if Yun Yuzi has left… Zhuang Lao and I agreed to meet there.” He knew he might not be able to make it alone, so he had to rely on others to search for the remaining diary.
Zhou Ze quickly agreed.
The sky had turned completely dark, and darkness surrounded them. Lin Zhaohe and Zhou Ze cautiously moved forward, not daring to make any sound. Fortunately, they were lucky. Although they encountered several Josephs along the way, none of them noticed the two of them.
Lin Zhaohe was injured, his face unnaturally pale. Zhou Ze was deeply concerned but had no other option but to support him as best he could.
“Brother Lin, we’re almost there,” Zhou Ze whispered as a reminder.
Lin Zhaohe’s consciousness was becoming fuzzy, and he muttered, “Are we almost there? Home?”
Zhou Ze said, “The starting point… Are you okay?”
Lin Zhaohe replied, “I’m fine.”
Zhou Ze thought that Lin Zhaohe didn’t look fine at all, but before he could say anything else, he suddenly fell silent. His grip on Lin Zhaohe’s hand tightened slightly. “Brother Lin, i-is that your friend?”
Lin Zhaohe asked, “Who?” He raised his head and saw a figure standing not far from the starting point, facing away from them. From the back, it was unmistakably Zhuang Lao.
“Boss…” At the moment Lin Zhaohe saw Zhuang Lao, he instantly let go of his guard. For some reason, the sight of his boss made him feel safe.
However, Zhuang Lao remained motionless.
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