Chapter Twenty-Three: Do You Dare Kill Me?

When Mu You regained consciousness once more, he found himself being carried on someone’s back, moving swiftly through the corridors.

“Who are you?”

He reached up and clamped his hand around the person’s neck, squeezing hard. A pained whimper came from beneath him.

Had he been captured?

“Boss, let go! Xu Chen is already injured.”

He Jing spat out the blood she had sucked from Mu You’s wound, saw Xu Chen clenching his teeth in agony, and hurried forward to intervene.

As Mu You’s vision gradually focused, he realized they were his own people, and immediately released his grip.

Safe at last.

Mu You forced himself to stay conscious, resisting the dizzy haze threatening to overwhelm him. He’d fallen from such a height—how was he still alive? Only a few meters short, but the ground below had been solid metal; hitting it should have been fatal.

He didn’t believe in coincidences.

What had really happened?

On his forehead, he felt something cold pressed against his skin; it was this icy sensation that had jolted him awake from unconsciousness. He plucked the object away and found it was a sapphire crystal scale—the chill vanished as soon as he removed it.

In the distance, the warning chime of an electronic wristband sounded—freemen and condemned prisoners were too close. The three of them immediately ducked behind an automated vending machine.

The “Ghost Hunt” was highly unpredictable and easily provoked disaster. If their position was exposed and the freemen found them, others would surely converge, hunting down the condemned. In their current state, the three of them would be hard-pressed to survive.

“Mo You, what happened just now? Mo You, can you hear me?”

Receiving no reply, Mu You’s heart sank halfway—had the girl gotten herself into trouble saving him? If so, he would never forgive himself.

“Waaah… Big brother, you scared Mo You so much just now. How could Mo You eat you? Waaah… Big brother is a big dummy, why are you so good to Mo You…”

Hearing Mo You crying but otherwise unharmed, Mu You finally relaxed. Otherwise, even if the death sentence were executed, he would have gone back to slaughter that sharp-chinned brat himself!

“Mo You was about to detonate her spirit body, using the force of the explosion to cushion you. But before she could act, a beautiful mermaid appeared in the lake…”

Mo You recounted everything that had happened, leaving Mu You utterly dumbfounded.

What kind of madness was this? A mermaid, leaping out of an artificial lake, capable of controlling water like a celestial goddess, and then she healed him. My god, something about all this felt off.

“That beautiful sister is human, just modified. She used her best scale to save you, which not only heals but also refracts light, hiding you from the freemen until your companions found you. Only then did she withdraw the aura and sink back into the water. And big brother, there was someone else who wanted to save you—the dangerous female prisoner on the first floor. When she saw the mermaid sister, she thought the mermaid was going to kill you and almost used her superpower. Why are all your saviors beautiful women? Mo You is so unhappy…”

Mo You couldn’t help but get jealous at the end.

Mu You laughed inwardly—what was there to be jealous of? The mermaid who had intervened was an unknown factor, and the glamorous female prisoner on the first floor was clearly trouble. Why had she set her sights on him?

What was her plan?

As Mu You pondered, a stabbing pain shot through his left arm. He turned and saw He Jing bite out the arrowhead lodged between his bones and spit it aside.

After the arrowhead was removed, only a little blood flowed; the wound, which had stubbornly refused to heal, now glowed with a sapphire light, accelerating the regeneration of flesh.

Mu You sighed—somehow, he owed such a huge debt. Was the mermaid also a condemned prisoner?

“Thank you,” Mu You said to He Jing.

He now felt Xu Chen’s body trembling ever more beneath him. At first he thought it was fatigue, but now his neck and back were drenched in sweat, and his grip weakening. Mu You slid down from his back.

He immediately checked Xu Chen’s condition.

He saw a bloody hole at the edge of Xu Chen’s abdomen, almost identical in size to his own wound.

Xu Chen, seeing Mu You safe, finally succumbed, passing out from the anesthetic.

“Was it that sharp-chinned brat who hurt him?”

Mu You asked coldly, his voice dripping with menace.

From He Jing’s hesitant expression, Mu You got his answer.

That sharp-chinned boy—tonight, he had to die.

When Mu You examined Xu Chen’s wound, he also found an arrowhead lodged inside.

“Do you have any coins?” Mu You asked He Jing.

She shook her head.

Without a word, Mu You smashed his fist through the glass of the vending machine, grabbed two bottles of mineral water with his bleeding hand, opened them, and handed one to He Jing.

“In a moment, I’ll reopen his wound and suck out the blood tainted with anesthetic. Once I rinse my mouth, you wash the wound with the mineral water.”

With that, Mu You pressed his mouth to Xu Chen’s wound, sucking and spitting quickly, three times in succession. Then he poured a large amount of water into his mouth, rinsing vigorously.

The anesthetic was potent—within seconds, his tongue lost all sense of blood.

What kind of resolve did Xu Chen possess to carry Mu You so far while injured?

With that thought, Mu You sped up the process, pouring out the last of the mineral water, then placed the sapphire scale into the wound.

The injury began to heal, but Xu Chen showed no signs of waking.

“Are you confused? The anesthetic has been nearly drained by you.”

A cold, mocking voice sounded behind them.

He Jing jumped, turned, and her expression changed drastically.

The sharp-chinned youth stood just a step away, holding two feathered arrows aimed at He Jing and Mu You’s heads. At this range, any movement would mean instant death.

He Jing immediately shielded Mu You behind her, glaring at the boy—if he fired, at least Mu You could escape.

Mu You was not nervous. Though the youth was well-trained, Mu You had already sensed him while tending to Xu Chen’s wound. At such close range, Mu You could easily take him down if he attacked first. But one thing puzzled him: how had he found such a hidden spot so precisely and silently?

He Jing’s risky gesture moved Mu You deeply. He’d always believed that, when faced with life and death, anyone would abandon loyalty. Yet today, every condemned prisoner had made the same astonishing choice when confronted with mortality.

Why?

“Well, well, well, look at you—you’ve raised two loyal dogs.”

The youth’s angelic mask cast beams of light over the three, and a stream of personal data appeared before his eyes.

“Haha, so you’re the one responsible for the Beinan massacre. Not a single classmate survived—the ultimate killer, Mu You. I relish breaking monsters like you, making you kneel and beg, weep and tremble, lick my feet, and believe it’s your greatest honor!”

With each word, Mu You and He Jing’s faces grew colder, until even the composed He Jing nearly snapped.

Mu You sprang from behind He Jing, tackling the youth and pinning his head to the ground.

“Warning, warning. Dangerous prisoner Mu You, resistance against freemen is forbidden. Further action will result in immediate execution!”

The youth hadn’t expected Mu You to move so fast, but wasn’t afraid. Hearing the wristband’s warning, his eyes brimming with ridicule through Mu You’s fingers.

He didn’t struggle; he knew Mu You wouldn’t dare. No condemned prisoner was unafraid of death.

Indeed, Mu You’s grip didn’t increase.

“You installed a locator in the arrowhead. Once it hits the prey, it stays inside, letting you hunt them. Am I right?”

Mu You enunciated each word.

The youth was surprised at first, then laughed even more arrogantly. “I love watching smart prey break down. I’ve marked you. As long as you don’t kill me, you’re doomed to be my slave—no escape. What, not convinced? Want to kill me? Go on, do it!”

At that moment, the sharp-chinned boy was brazen and fearless, trembling with excitement, his greedy, wild gaze peering through Mu You’s fingers.

“You won’t dare, because you’re a condemned prisoner—a prisoner without human rights. Ha! Hahaha!”