Tang Dingbo's objective was to make them kill each other, so of course, he didn't hide the antidotes too securely. They were easily found, one after another. As a result, conflicts ignited and broke out everywhere. A series of chaotic brawls and robberies erupted, spilling blood all over the building.
Those who managed to grab an antidote first were too afraid to swallow it imdiately. They kept it on their person, but the strange, continuous scent it released made it easy for others to find them. Find a place to hide it? The others could sll it all the sa. In the end, only fists could do the talking.
"It's mine! This is mine!"
"Get lost!"
CLANG!
During a frantic scramble, a vial containing an antidote flew from soone's grasp and rolled right to Ge Shijian's feet.
Ge Shijian froze. He hadn't actively tried to snatch one from anyone else, but he couldn't resist the one that had been delivered right to him. He picked it up and ran.
"Stop!"
"You old goat!"
"You're courting death!"
A group of people gave chase. Although Ge Shijian was well-preserved for his age, he was still an old man. How could he possibly outrun the youth? He was quickly kicked to the ground and then brutally stomped on.
"AH!" he cried out while covering his head. "I don't want it! I don't want it anymore! You can have it back!"
"Hmph! So now you realize you shouldn't have taken it? A little late for that, don't you think?"
"I rember this old man. That jinx, Lin Tang, calls him Master."
"Oh—"
The n exchanged glances, and vicious smiles spread across their faces. They already loathed Lin Tang for dragging them into this ss. Amidst the madness, they felt a murderous urge toward his master as well. They might as well go all the way…
"Quick, help!" Shen Qiushi yelled, charging over while panting heavily.
Behind him, the portly Lu Zizheng and the skinny Shen Xin followed side-by-side, creating a rather comical sight. The mont they saw that their opponents vastly outnumbered them, they imdiately lost their nerve.
"Dad, wait a second!"
"Grandpa, maybe we shouldn't get involved in this!"
"You two—" Shen Qiushi was furious. Doctor Ge had practically saved his life. How could he stand by and do nothing? Heedless of the danger, he charged in and began grappling with the attackers.
"Another old man looking to die? Hey, isn't this the grandfather of Lin Tang's wife?"
"Good, good, good! So everyone truly connected to that bastard Lin Tang is here, right? Let's kill them!"
"Get them!"
They rained their fists down on Shen Qiushi. Shen Xin and Lu Zizheng, who had intended to flee, were surrounded and beaten rcilessly.
"AH!"
Dong Mingfeng and Shen Jiayue scread as they were dragged by their hair, squealing like stuck pigs. Just as they were about to be beaten to death, a voice rang out.
"Stop!"
Several mbers of the Li Family suddenly appeared. Their fighting skills were considerably greater than those of ordinary people, and they quickly drove the attackers away.
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH…" Shen Qiushi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and struggled to his feet to bow. "Thank you!"
"You all… Sigh! Take care of yourselves," one of the Li Family mbers said with a complex expression. If Lin Tang hadn't saved their entire family before, they would have wanted to beat up the Shen Family themselves. Moreover, in the current situation, the closer one was to the Shen Family, the higher the chance of death.
Thus, they only helped Ge Shijian up before leaving, refusing to let the Shen Family join their group for safety.
"Damn it!" Lu Zizheng cursed.
Dong Mingfeng also muttered resentfully, saying the Li Family had no conscience, especially after Lin Tang had saved Li Weihai.
"Will you please stop being crazy? We can barely protect ourselves, and you're rushing off to save others? Have you counted how many tis you've endangered us? I'm truly ashad to be your granddaughter!" Shen Jiayue suddenly yelled in Shen Qiushi's face.
"You… you…" Shen Qiushi was stunned that she would be so insolent.
"What about ? We're all going to die anyway! You still think you can use your status as my grandfather to boss around? Dream on!" Shen Jiayue retorted without a hint of fear.
Shen Qiushi trembled with rage, but he was powerless against her. To his horror, the group that the Li Family had just driven off returned and surrounded them once more.
"...You guys run!" Shen Qiushi roared at Shen Jiayue, acting like a madman as he leaped onto one of the assailants, scratching and biting wildly.
Shen Jiayue didn't hesitate. She turned and fled without a second glance. Dong Mingfeng and Lu Zizheng did the sa; when disaster strikes, it's every man for himself. Only Shen Xin remained, staying out of filial piety to help his father hold back the attackers. They were once again beaten to a pulp.
***
The threat of death caused human nature to be replaced by animal instinct. Forget strangers—even family mbers turned on one another, fighting to the death for a single antidote. The situation descended into chaos. Civilization vanished, replaced by the bloody law of the jungle where only the strong survived.
Ti ticked by. As dawn approached, the thick clouds began to thin. The people trapped in the building were consud by a final, desperate frenzy. They were like mindless zombies, devoid of all humanity, slaughtering each other in a brutal lee.
"ARGH! If I can't have it, none of you will!" soone scread, having completely lost their mind. Seeing that the antidote was about to be snatched away, he stuffed it into his bloody mouth and hastily gulped it down.
"You son of a—"
The others, frantic, tried to pry it out of his throat, but they were too late. A mont later, the man's neck began to swell rapidly. As he clawed at his skin uncontrollably, a foul yellow fluid spurted from the wounds.
"ARGHHH—" he let out a howl of pure agony, rolling back and forth on the ground until his entire body was swollen. He was in a state worse than death.
The horrifying scene terrified everyone who witnessed it.
"Why? Why? What is all this for?!"
"SOB, SOB…"
***
Gasping, Shen Qiushi suddenly sat bolt upright from his near-death state. "I'm… still alive?"
He looked closely and saw Ge Shijian, drenched in sweat, having just finished performing acupuncture on him. Shen Qiushi noticed the pale light of dawn outside the window and smiled bitterly. "We're all going to be poisoned to death soon anyway. You shouldn't have wasted your effort saving ."
"Hmph!" Ge Shijian's face was stern. When Shen Qiushi's group had been attacked the second ti, it was he who had persuaded the Li Family to intervene again. He had then exhausted his strength to bring Shen Qiushi back from the brink of death. For this old fool to be so ungrateful was truly infuriating.
"Let ask you," Ge Shijian said out of the blue. "The new dicine your Shen Family launched—was the formula stolen from the dicine packet I gave you?"
"Ah, this…" Shen Qiushi was overco with sha and stamred, "They kept in the dark at first. By the ti I found out, it was already in mass production. I'm so sorry!"
"Shaless!" Ge Shijian was furious, but he also blad himself. If only he hadn't been so lazy. If he had ground all the herbs into a fine powder, Shen Xin would never have been able to steal the formula.
"Hey, are you out of your mind? We're about to die! What's the point of arguing about this now?" Shen Jiayue snapped, rolling her eyes.
Dong Mingfeng was even more shaless. She declared that since Lin Tang was already dead, his inheritance naturally belonged to the Shen Family. If they survived this ordeal, they would push the new dicine globally and make a fortune. No one had the right to say otherwise.
"Trouble! There's trouble! They're pumping poison gas in!"
"What? The sun isn't even fully up yet! Why are they starting early?"
"The antidote! My antidote!"
"Run!"
As mbers of the Tang Sect began funneling massive amounts of poison gas into the building from various points, the people inside panicked. So continued to fight over the remaining antidotes, while others scurried about like headless chickens with nowhere to go.
"Where's your Divine Brother? Why hasn't he co to save us yet?" the little boy asked Wu Xinyu, tugging on her sleeve with his childlike voice. His grandmother was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Wu Xinyu pressed her small face against the glass window, looking down for what felt like the hundredth ti. There was still no sign of Lin Tang. Her once-bright eyes finally dimd.
Divine Brother…
***
As the poison gas grew thicker, everyone collapsed, coughing in agony. Those who had managed to secure an antidote were ecstatic, finally swallowing them with a sense of relief.
The few remaining mbers of the Li Family had also obtained one.
"Quick, take it!"
"No, you eat it."
"Give it to Enjun! He's the youngest!"
"I don't want it!"
They pushed it back and forth between them. Nearby, Shen Jiayue and Lu Zizheng's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"If you're not going to eat it, then give it to !" Shen Jiayue shrieked.
"Get away! If anyone gets it, it should be !" Lu Zizheng shoved her.
"Wow, what kind of man are you, fighting a woman for it? Are you fit to be my husband?"
"To hell with you! I was done being your cuckolded husband a long ti ago!"
They grabbed each other by the throat, but their strength quickly failed them. Their faces contorted in pain as they collapsed to the ground. Their vision swam with double images, and their bodies grew numb. Ninety-nine percent of the people in the building suffered the sa fate, slowly succumbing to death in utter despair.
"I'm fine! I survived! Hahaha—"
The handful of people who had taken an antidote were initially terrified. But even after being enveloped by the poison gas, they felt no ill effects. Finally relieved, they ran joyfully toward the exit.
"Please, let us out now!"
"Yes, yes! It's ti to keep your promise!"
"Heh." Tang Dingbo rose leisurely and stretched. The chorus of wails from within the building was like heavenly music to his ears. It was so pleasant, so satisfying. At last, he had vented his pent-up rage.
Lin Tang, oh, Lin Tang, with so many to accompany you in death, you won't be lonely in the underworld… he thought. As for the mbers of the Tang Sect that Lin Tang had killed, he certainly didn't believe they would go to hell. They, of course, belonged in heaven.
Tang Dingbo smirked and motioned for his n to open the doors and release the lucky few.
But just then, his expression froze. He whipped his head around and rubbed his eyes forcefully. The other mbers of the Tang Sect stared in astonishnt, instinctively taking several steps back. The survivors who had taken the antidote were equally dumbfounded.
"Didn't they say he was already dead?"
"How can this be…"
Zhu Yingning, who had been eager to leave for so ti, blinked. Before her was a stunning scene. The sun rose in the east, its light piercing through the lazily drifting clouds. With his back to the blazing star, Lin Tang approached step by step, holding his divine sword with a serene expression. In that mont, his silhouette seed to rge with the sun itself. He was the light, and the light was him.
"Divine Brother! That's my Divine Brother!" Wu Xinyu whispered, her voice trembling.
Crystalline tears stread down her cheeks, and her once-dull eyes ignited with the brilliance of a shooting star.
It was the light of hope.
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