Light Fortress
Chapter 95 - 87 Ostrich

Chapter 95: Chapter 87 Ostrich

"Stop right there!"

Just as Gu Shen leaned against the wall of the alleyway and breathed a sigh of relief, ready to straighten out his clothes and leave, a fierce shout suddenly came from behind him, followed by the sound of fast and urgent footsteps coming from outside the alley.

Was that shout directed at me?!

The moment the voice rang out, Gu Shen’s heart suddenly tensed.

With a guilty conscience and the notion that there was no point in not running, he twisted his hips and picked up speed as soon as the voice sounded.

He had just bamboozled Cui Zhongcheng, and who knew if Mr. Xiao Cui might have a change of heart and send men to chase him down and then take back that E-tier hour hand with a mysterious secret within.

Glancing back hurriedly, he caught sight of shadows darting out of the gloom—each one a towering figure, clad in black suits, faces stern, each sporting a pair of sunglasses... But most importantly, each of them had a black flag ironed onto the collar of their jackets.

That was the emblem of the Huazhi Group.

These people really were from the Zhao Family!

As he ran, the voices behind him grew angrier.

Someone roared, "Don’t run!"

Gu Shen ran even faster.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he’d used the Truth Ruler twice in a row, Gu Shen would have even considered using the Ruler to escape... In fact, it was entirely a biological instinctive reaction.

No matter what happens, if someone chases you, you can’t help but run.

The faster they chase, the faster you run.

This alleyway was not spacious, littered with unattended baskets of sundries, so as he sprinted, obstacles were everywhere, causing him to stumble and stagger.

What was even worse was that this seemingly secluded alley turned out to be a dead end that led straight to darkness. After running for about ten seconds and rounding a corner, Gu Shen saw the wall at the end of his line of sight and felt utterly hopeless.

"Step on the basket... and climb over!"

At that moment, a slightly anxious reminder came from behind.

"???"

Only then did Gu Shen realize that there was a figure still closely following him, a person neither tall nor stocky, easy to miss in the peripheral vision. But upon closer inspection, it was jarring.

The guy was wearing a thin floral shirt in chilling cold, with a buzz cut, and wore a pair of flip-flops, running urgently and quickly. Unfortunately, the alley was too narrow, and no matter how anxious he was, he could only be blocked by Gu Shen’s backside.

There was no time to think about who the other person was, or even to start questioning.

Almost instinctively following the other person’s advice, Gu Shen stepped on a basket and leaped up, pushing off the wall to spring back. Luckily, his physical condition had always been decent. It was just that this was his first time climbing a high wall in such a manner...

"Snap!"

Five fingers slapped down hard, barely grabbing hold of the upper edge of the wall, but at least he gripped on. Swinging to the side and exerting force again, Gu Shen felt like he was a gymnast on the parallel bars, managing to brace himself with a mix of fright and relief.

Then, Gu Shen glanced back slightly and saw something that made his eyes pop.

The buzz-cut man in the flimsy floral shirt hadn’t bothered to step on a basket or any such booster. With impressive ferocity, he took a run-up of four to five meters, and the last two meters were like a launch; he seemed to suspend in mid-air inconceivably, the whole figure like a great bird spreading its wings, gliding with a graceful and gentle arc.

Gu Shen had estimated earlier that the wall was at least four meters high.

With just a short run-up, he had managed to easily land on top of the wall.

Is this guy even human?

The buzz-cut man didn’t hesitate; after leaping to the top of the wall, he immediately dived down, his posture more like that of a large bird... Gu Shen suspected that the man had grown a pair of wings; he could even see the trajectory of the gliding wings in the air.

"What are you staring at?"

The buzz-cut man landed on the ground, looked back, and said, "Aren’t you running anymore?"

Gu Shen was taken aback. The pursuers had already caught up with murderous intent. The burly men had an efficient team dynamic; some were already running up, while others consciously crouched by the wall, using their backs to construct a human bridge.

"Damn..."

Returning to his senses, Gu Shen hastily jumped down from the top of the wall. The buzz-cut man was sportingly there to help him land. Both men ran through the alley, one after the other, like two ostriches charging headlong through a sandstorm, scrambling and lunging. After they flipped over the wall, the alleyway was no longer a straight line but connected to a network of crisscrossing lanes. The buzz-cut man led the way, charging ahead, this guy not only jumped high but also ran incredibly fast, which explained why he had seemed so anxious when Gu Shen had been blocking his path earlier.

It turned out that East Continent’s economy still needed improvement. Even in Da Du, Jiangnan’s most bustling city, there were run-down ancient alleys crisscrossing the old town district. After being led by the buzz-cut man in a complex series of turns, what was once a straightforward path became a tangled web of branches... those behind them would find it extremely difficult to chase.

Only when the shouts from behind could no longer be heard did the buzz-cut man begin to slow down.

"Huff... Huff..."

Gu Shen, hands on his knees, asked with difficulty, "Did we shake them off?"

"Lost them by miles," the buzz-cut man snorted disdainfully. "With their smarts, catching this young master would take another eight hundred years."

His physical condition was excellent, and after a bout of frantic running, it only took a few deep breaths for him to calm down.

Song Ci brushed off the dirt from his floral shirt. He was a person who liked to be clean, but the breakneck run in the narrow alley had left some stains on his clothing. After dusting himself off, he realized... something about the situation seemed a bit off.

"Wait a minute... why are you running?"

He looked at the fellow in front of him with a puzzled expression. The young man looked quite young, seventeen or eighteen. Although he appeared a bit disheveled now, the fact that he had managed to keep up meant that the kid had quite the stamina.

Gu Shen’s expression was equally bewildered.

Because the lines he intended to say were already taken by the buzz-cut man in front of him...

The bodyguards from the Zhao Family were supposed to be chasing him, so why was this guy running?

Could it be possible that the gang of burly men, each around six-foot-three, weren’t after him?

But rather... him?

"You know those guys just now, why would you run if you haven’t done anything wrong?"

Song Ci furrowed his brow and said, "Did you steal something? Or do you owe money? Why did you run so fast?"

"Nonsense... I am a model citizen!" Gu Shen quickly denied, "With those burly guys being so large and in charge, of course I had to run, and just now, the insignias on them were so noticeable, they were from the Huazhi Group... Who knows what they would do to me if they caught me!"

The buzz-cut man rubbed his chin, somewhat amused as he listened to Gu Shen’s defense.

Gu Shen said angrily, "It’s a normal reaction for me to run! But what about you, why were you running?"

The sudden counter-question left the buzz-cut man speechless, his fingers holding a cigarette frozen mid-air.

"Just like you said, isn’t it quite normal to run when being chased?" He put a cigarette in his mouth, calmed down for two seconds, and argued with a somewhat forceful tone, "One look and you can tell, I... I’m also a model citizen."

Gu Shen cast a doubtful look.

Buzz-cut, floral shirt... That get-up didn’t look like a model citizen at all, did it?

"Hey, hey, don’t judge a book by its cover." The buzz-cut man reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a flint wheel lighter, tried to light it and failed, then grumbled with frustration, his voice muffled, "Do you think I can’t understand the meaning in your eyes?"

Just as Gu Shen was about to say something.

"Found them... over here!"

A familiar voice rang out from the end of the alley.

The persistent silhouettes of several tall figures appeared again.

The buzz-cut man’s face changed; he knitted his brows, focused on the flint wheel lighter, then with a flick of his finger, he broke the base of the lighter, revealing a chip the size of a fingernail attached inside.

"Is this... a tracking chip?" Gu Shen’s eyes sharpened.

"Yo... Young boss, you recognize good stuff," the buzz-cut man said surprisingly as he looked up and smiled, his face expressionless as he pressed his thumb against the base, crushing the chip into dust.

Clean and neat.

"Now..."

He let out a low chuckle, extending his hand to Gu Shen, "Whether you are a model citizen or not... you have to run with me now."

"???"

Gu Shen viciously slapped away the buzz-cut man’s hand, "I can run all right!"

He gritted his teeth and looked back at the suit-clad burly men.

To run was the only option.

The scene of the two of them running away together had been witnessed, and he would definitely be considered an old acquaintance. If they caught him, no one would believe he had only exchanged a few words with this guy.

And so the two ostriches continued to race ahead with their heads down.

Thirty minutes into the full-speed run.

"Can’t do this anymore...can’t do this..." Gu Shen leaned against the wall to catch his breath, "I can’t keep running... let me rest a moment..."

The buzz-cut man, who had been running as swiftly as wheels on fire in his flip-flops, finally slowed down. He crossed his arms with interest, looking quite composed as he said, "Actually, we shook them off twenty minutes ago. I just wanted to see how long you could keep running."

Gu Shen: "???"

If he weren’t going to lose the fight, he really wanted to give this guy a thrashing.

Taking a closer look, the buzz-cut man had a strong physique; underneath the thin shirt, the outlines of his well-developed pectorals and abs were faintly visible. Judging from his performance jumping walls just now, his agile body contained a tremendous burst of strength.

"Good brother, you are loyal, not betraying me." Seeing Gu Shen’s expression, the buzz-cut man touched his nose and laughed heartily, "There’s a noodle shop nearby that makes delicious noodles. I’ll treat you to noodles in a bit."

Gu Shen’s face twitched a little.

He did want to betray the buzz-cut man, but he didn’t even know the guy’s name; if he got caught, it really would be hard to explain himself.

"Right..."

The man stretched out a hand with a carefree demeanor and said, "My last name is Song, Song Ci, ’Ci’ as in mercy."

Song Ci... that was a unique name.

Gu Shen silently repeated this name. As a breeze blew through the alley, lifting the thin shirt, he unexpectedly glimpsed a part of a black pattern visible on Song Ci’s chest.

A demonic black pattern formed a shattered heart, with hibiscus flowers blooming amidst thorns, revealing just enough for one to ascertain the full image of the tattoo... the sign of the Sincere Heart Association.

Gu Shen averted his gaze.

He extended his hand to shake with Song Ci, slowly saying, "Gu Shen, ’Shen’ as in circumspect."