Sprinting down the street, Lin Songmei took a few glances backward as the mayor and Avarice began to chase. Wang Taigang was sprinting up ahead, Wrath slung over his shoulder as his legs glowed golden. Behind Wang Taigang was Yan Mingqing, having booked it after Wrath was picked up. Behind Songmei herself were the other two: Han Youhong and Zhao Liying.

“I never knew Taigang had it in him to run this fast,” Songmei murmured to herself as she accelerated to close the gap between her and Mingqing. With the gap between everyone closing, Songmei tapped Mingqing on the shoulder to motion for her to speed up as Youhong and Liying closed in from behind.

Snapping an arrow into existence, Songmei took a glance over her shoulder.

A new problem had arisen.

How was she supposed to fire an arrow while sprinting at full tilt?

Channeling more Qi through her legs, Songmei decided to use a bit more of an... advanced solution if anyone could catch her drift. It was as they said, unfair problems required unfair solutions. She just had to use her body enhancement technique to the fullest. Because it prioritized speed far more than strength, Songmei was sure she could outrun the rest of the party if Qi was allowed.

Overtaking Mingqing, then Taigang, Songmei continued on, running ahead, snapping a few more arrows into existence as she ran. Glancing over her shoulders to find the mayor and Avarice, who were also doing a mad-dash towards them, Songmei came to a skidding stop.

With everyone else in the party realizing her intentions, they all swerved to the side as Songmei let loose her handful of arrows.

Firing as many arrows as she could, with a couple being normal penetrating arrows and others being explode-into-bunches-of-crystal-upon-impact arrows, Songmei stored her bow in her spatial storage ring once more as Taigang and Mingqing ran by her. She had slowed the two down just a little more, and every bit counted.

Pushing herself back into a run, Songmei sprinted beside Taigang and Mingqing as Youhong and Liying caught up bit by bit.

“Alright, Taigang, want me to take her?” Songmei asked, extending her arms out as Taigang clutched his side with a cramp.

“No... it’s fine.” Taigang nodded with labored breaths. “I need the training. And she’s really heavy. I’m the only one who can’t fight at range so you all need to be free.”

Taigang had a fair point. Everyone would slow down because of how heavy Wrath, her plate armor, and new appendage weighed. Giving a thumbs-up, Songmei looked up ahead. “We just need to make it to inhabited areas.”

“Yeah...” Mingqing murmured as she turned back with a squint. “It looks like they’re already beginning to slow, they must really not want to be seen...”

“Something’s up,” Youhong mused, having caught up. “Let’s walk once we get to the intersection up ahead.”

“O...kay...” Taigang labored, putting his head down and accelerating just a little more. After two runs full of suffering, Taigang swore to himself, more than ever before, to strap himself to the treadmill and run like crazy once their current situation resolved itself.

A couple minutes later—well, closer to one minute later—everyone slowed down as Avarice and the mayor disappeared from view. Songmei, doing fine, spun on her heel, taking a quick look around as Taigang passed Wrath to Mingqing before clinging to the wall like a brand new lover.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With sweat pouring down Taigang’s face, Songmei made eye contact with the others, making a tacit agreement to give Taigang some time to recover before continuing.

“So... what’s the plan? I know we’ve been doing some quick thinking,” Liying took over, stepping up as the vice-leader while Taigang tried to relearn how to breathe. “We can drop Wrath off at the hospital, she’ll be safe there. She’s unconscious right now, right Mingqing?”

“Yep, out cold.” Mingqing nodded, taking a moment to check once more. “She was barely awake earlier, thanking Taigang and stuff, but right now, yeah, out like a light.”

“Alright, so we drop Wrath off at the hospital. She’s set since it’s a third-party organization, so we can’t interfere, but, more importantly, the mayor and whoever else is aligned with him can’t either.” Liying proposed, getting a murmur of agreement from Songmei, Mingqing, and Youhong and a thumbs-up from Taigang. “Taigang, can you walk?”

“Yes...” Taigang answered, pushing himself up and putting his hands on top of his head, “Let’s... yeah, let’s get going... we can talk more about what we should do while moving...”

Walking along the deserted sidewalks, the five cultivators made their way towards the hospital with a mix of caution and worry.

What... had happened?

All they could do was count their lucky stars now with the absolute scarcity of information they had. At least it had happened during the middle of the working day. Carrying a bloodied body down the street wasn’t... great... by many metrics. So, the fewer the amount of people seeing them the better—less rumors after all.

Well, whatever the mayor did would be made public soon enough. Songmei guessed it’d be around dinner when no one got a reward for the work done earlier in the day.

“So, obviously, a betrayal happened,” Liying pondered, a rare serious expression on her face as she delved into thought. “But on what scale?”

“Wrath whispered revolution before she passed out,” Taigang answered, still a little out of breath as he walked along. “So, I’d assume something on that scale...”

“That... does not sound fun.” Youhong groaned as the hospital came into view. “Sounds like we’re going to have a lot of work to do. I don’t think it’s going to be safe for us to be alone, so... let’s all group up?”

“Probably the safest idea...” Liying agreed, drumming her fingers against her thigh. “Okay, Mingqing and Songmei have the biggest place, so we crash there, you two? Can we swing by? You’re also the closest to the hospital.”

Getting a double thumbs-up from Songmei and a stoic nod from Mingqing, Liying thanked them with a heartfelt nod. “So, we’re good to go in that area. Again, thank you. Taigang and Youhong, you two swing by your place and pick up everything you need. I’ll run to my place after we put down Wrath.”

“Sounds good...” Songmei murmured, nodding as she looked off into the distance. Frowning, she shook her head. Songmei could feel it.

A long couple of days were in her future...

Focusing back on the task at hand as they walked in through the front doors of the hospital, Songmei tapped Mingqing on the shoulder, thinking of how helpful Liu Xueli was last time. “We should call Xueli, don’t you think?”

“No doubt about it,” Mingqing nodded back, still carrying Wrath as Youhong and Taigang walked over to the front desk to ask them to take Wrath from them.

With Mingqing’s agreement, Songmei slid back over to Liying, tapping her on the shoulder as well. “Mingqing and I, once we get back to our apartment, are going to call our master Xueli. We won’t be discussing super secret sect stuff, so feel free to just ring the doorbell then walk in. We’ll update her on the situation and ask her to update the others.”

“Mkay, sounds good,” Liying agreed, her eyebrows furrowed as she sank into her thoughts, trying to mull over the situation from as many angles as she could. “How abou-”

“Alright, thank you for bringing us the patient. We’ll take it from here.” A nurse thanked with a bow, interrupting the conversation with a loud voice, Wrath now slung over his shoulder. “If possible, could the crystal be removed? Or was it caused by an enemy?”

“No, no, I can get rid of it,” Songmei rushed over, swiping her hand across the crystal, melting it back into Qi. “Thank you!”

“Mhm,” The nurse nodded, a disinterested look clear on his face. “You all are free to go now.”

Shaking her head in surprise, Songmei took a few steps back. The nurses from the last time had been a lot nicer...

Who pissed off this man...