Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 264: Nightfall Gunshots

The crisis began when the boss of ‘Daybreak’ twice used ‘Little Duck’ and “Liu Dezhu” to act in He Xiaoxiao’s group chat, drawing immense hatred towards Huan Yu, the Demon Stamp holder.

This ultimately led to Huan Yu’s ID being exposed, and everyone becoming more wary of him.

While the outside world didn’t yet know the name ‘Daybreak,’ it was clear that it was an organization.

Qing Chen repeatedly wondered what he would do if he were Huan Yu.

Of course, he would kidnap Daybreak members and interrogate them to get information about the Daybreak “boss.”

For Huan Yu, directly crippling Daybreak didn’t align with his rules of engagement and modus operandi. Finding this Daybreak boss and making them his slave was the most pressing matter.

Qing Chen calmly scaled the wall and left the school.

Unsurprisingly, two minutes after leaving school, he spotted the middle-aged man.

This was the fourth time the man had inexplicably appeared.

In the fading sunlight, Qing Chen walked ahead in his school uniform, while the middle-aged man silently followed, maintaining a distance of over a hundred meters.

The middle-aged man wore a Bluetooth earpiece in his right ear. He tracked Qing Chen while reporting his movements.

When Qing Chen entered his home at No. 4, Xingshu Road, the middle-aged man whispered outside, “The target is home. His apartment is on the ground floor, with security bars on the front and back windows. He can only exit through the main door. The residential area is relatively quiet; I’ll definitely hear any noise if someone tries to remove the security bars.”

“Stand by nearby,” a voice came from the Bluetooth earpiece.

“Understood,” the middle-aged man replied.

At that moment, Qing Chen calmly changed into a set of clothes he had bought but never worn.

When the last rays of the sun disappeared in the distant west, he gently opened the door. The moment his right foot stepped outside, his Face^[-] had changed.

Qing Chen walked out, passing the middle-aged man who remained completely unaware and unsuspecting.

The middle-aged man’s attention was entirely focused on the narrow exit of the building.

The moment their figures crossed, as the sky shifted from dusky yellow to gray, Qing Chen suddenly reached out, precisely removing the earpiece from the man’s ear and covering the microphone with his thumb.

His left hand, like a thunderbolt, struck the middle-aged man’s carotid artery.

The middle-aged man slowly slumped, but Qing Chen gently supported him as he fell, guiding him back into his apartment.

Qing Chen cautiously closed the door, keeping an eye on his surroundings.

No one noticed what had happened. Even if passersby had been present, Qing Chen’s swift movements made it impossible to detect anything unusual.

Qing Chen stood silently in the darkness, looking at the Bluetooth earpiece, which was now disconnected.

He needed to know the middle-aged man’s name.

At that moment, Yi’s voice came from his phone, “You didn’t kill him. Are you going to use Marionette on him?”

“Yes,” Qing Chen replied.

“But getting his name so quickly might be difficult,” Yi said.

“I might not need to interrogate him,” Qing Chen said, beginning to search the middle-aged man. He found an ID card…

Just like identity IDs in the Inner World, an ID card was essential for navigating the Outer World – necessary for long-distance travel and hotel stays. Qing Chen suspected the middle-aged man wasn’t from Luo City and wasn’t a professional assassin.

The man had no firearms, only knives. Qing Chen figured he was just an ordinary Time Traveler controlled by Huan Yu.

Therefore, there was a high probability that he carried his ID card.

Of course, if he couldn’t find an ID card, he would have to resort to interrogation.

The prerequisite for Marionette was knowing the person’s name. Qing Chen rummaged through the middle-aged man’s other pockets, muttering, “Yi, is there any Forbidden Artifact that can directly reveal someone’s name?”

“No, you’re overthinking it,” Yi responded.

Qing Chen examined the ID card: Chen Siheng, 37 years old, registered address: Rongcheng Community, Wenyi South Road, Xian City.

He had indeed come from out of town.

Qing Chen silently guessed that Huan Yu was most likely not a Luo City resident. His influence in Luo City wasn’t strong, which is why he needed to bring in people from elsewhere.

He wondered how many more people there were.

He gently flicked his wrist, and the transparent threads of Marionette shot out, wrapping tightly around Chen Siheng’s left wrist.

In the darkness, the middle-aged man slowly stood up, his eyes unfocused.

Qing Chen put the earpiece back on him and controlled him to leave the apartment and stand where he had been watching Qing Chen.

Thirty minutes later, a voice came from the earpiece, “Chen Siheng, report.”

The middle-aged man said, “Nothing unusual, the target is still home.”

“Continue to stand by.”

Qing Chen used Marionette to distinguish the voice on the phone.

Yes, it was the voice he had heard on Laojun Mountain.

It belonged to a young man with a somewhat effeminate and weak voice.

Huan Yu had appeared.

This time, he remained hidden, remotely controlling everything.

However, Qing Chen didn’t rush to find him; he needed to wait patiently.

…

…

Luo City Foreign Language School, 9:40 pm, after school.

Liu Dezhu bid farewell to his classmates and rode his old bicycle into the night.

He rode slowly, constantly scanning his surroundings, as if searching for or wary of something.

A taxi followed him from a distance.

Little Eagle watched from the car, saying into the communication channel, “Strange, Liu Dezhu seems to have noticed something, he keeps looking around. What is he looking for?”

“Could it be related to the dangerous event He Xiaoxiao mentioned?” someone responded.

Lu Yuan’s voice came through the earpiece, “Most likely.”

“But,” Little Eagle questioned, “Didn’t He Xiaoxiao warn about tomorrow? Their plan is for tomorrow, and it’s not certain who the target is.”

“Plans change, especially those already known,” Lu Yuan stated, “Perhaps Liu Dezhu already knows something, or his boss does. Little Eagle, keep a close watch on Liu Dezhu, tonight might yield something.”

“Understood,” Little Eagle responded.

However, at that moment, Little Eagle saw Liu Dezhu stop his bicycle and look at his phone.

Then, he turned and rode towards the taxi.

Little Eagle slammed on the brakes, seeing Liu Dezhu stop beside the car and look inside, “You’re from Kunlun, right? We’ve met several times.”

“Ah? What? What Kunlun,” Little Eagle pretended to be nonchalant after his cover was blown.

“Cut the crap, come with me, call for backup!” Liu Dezhu sped off on his bicycle, dashing into the night of Luo City.

“Team Leader, Team Leader,” Little Eagle said as he shifted gears, “Liu Dezhu has a situation, the target isn’t him! It’s someone else! Requesting backup!”

Indeed, from the beginning, the Demon Stamp holder never intended to target Liu Dezhu.

Although Huan Yu didn’t know that Liu Dezhu had been promoted to Class C, the point is that Liu Dezhu’s organization had more members than just him. Why attack a Liu Dezhu under Kunlun’s constant protection?

He had a better target.

At that moment, beside Xingshu Road, Nangeng Chen was carrying his backpack and about to cross the road home.

He was going home alone tonight, feeling particularly lonely.

Fortunately, his apartment was close to school. Crossing Xingshu Road would lead him to the residential area.

Nangeng Chen looked at his phone; Qing Chen hadn’t sent any messages all night, and Qing Chen hadn’t replied to his messages.

Something dangerous must be about to happen; otherwise, why would he be so abnormal?

The next moment, a black business vehicle recklessly sped up and stopped beside Nangeng Chen.

Everyone on Xingshu Road could hear the screech of tires, harsh and oppressive.

With a thud, the rear door opened, revealing two masked thugs staring coldly at him.

Nangeng Chen stared at the two, turning to run back towards the school.

However, after only a few days of exercise, how could he outrun these well-trained thugs?

“Damn it,” Nangeng Chen shouted, calling to classmates leaving school nearby, “Help me call the police!”

As soon as he finished speaking, his arms were grabbed firmly by the thugs.

Nangeng Chen’s heart sank. He thought it was over. Where was Chen Ge? Why wasn’t he around at this crucial moment?

No, no!

Nangeng Chen suddenly felt a sense of confidence. At this critical moment, Qing Chen couldn’t possibly not be here!

These thugs were going to die.

It was an inexplicable intuition.

In an instant, Nangeng Chen saw a burst of blood spray from behind his left side. The blood splattered on his Face^[-], staining his cheeks red.

He stood there dumbfounded, as a tremendous roar came from afar.

The gunshot followed the bullet, indicating that the sniper was several hundred meters away.

This sensation of the bullet arriving before the gunshot created a strange sense of dissonance.

The driver in the black business vehicle roared, “Sniper! Damn it, get him in the car, it’s a snip…”

The thug’s voice stopped abruptly, along with the shattering of the car window.

Nangeng Chen looked over and saw the driver dead in the car, also hit by a sniper shot.

After just two shots, only one of the three thugs who had kidnapped Nangeng Chen remained.

The crowd on Xingshu Road began to scream and scatter.

The last thug reached for his weapon, using Nangeng Chen as a human shield to block the sniper’s line of fire.

He couldn’t understand why there would be a sniper waiting for them in a place like Luo City.

Moreover, the distant sniper shots sounded like cannons!

But before he could think further, the thug saw something pierce through Nangeng Chen’s legs, hitting his calf.

His sturdy calf bone snapped, and he fell to his left side.

The next sniper bullet arrived as expected, piercing his chest, no longer shielded by Nangeng Chen!

The sniper bullet, with its powerful deflection and inertia, sent the thug flying.

These two shots were extremely risky, at a distance of hundreds of meters. Any slight deviation would have hit Nangeng Chen directly, but the sniper seemed to have absolute confidence, not believing the bullet would deviate even a centimeter!

Nangeng Chen was a little dazed, but remembering Qing Chen’s instructions, he didn’t hesitate to find cover and wait for rescue.

In the night, he noticed that some people in the crowd on Xingshu Road were moving, heading towards where the sniper shots had come from…

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