Interstellar Giants

By Frances Pleines

With a cry of surprise, Toronto's figure disappeared completely into the air. Hiding in the dark, Toronto had completely stopped breathing and turned into a corpse.

  "Whew!" The two men exhaled at the same time, simultaneously crossing onto the roof of the house and looking at the two sides of the fierce battle in th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Talisha Hicks
• Release date: Jan 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869254085

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Interstellar Giants

Interstellar Giants

Copyright © 2024 by Frances Pleines

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Ebook ISBN: 979-8-8692-5408-5

Cover designed by Frances Pleines

Edited by Frances Pleines

Interstellar Giants

a spell of immortality

1. The game of death

Hair like snow, robust cheetah, eyes like electricity, ten fingers like cones.

    The red sun was high in the sky without half a cloud.

    A middle-aged man with disheveled hair and wearing a black high-class suit was sitting on the boss chair, leisurely looking out the window.

    At this time it was the sun shining brightly, the warm sunlight from the window into the room, but the room was cold without any warmth. His eyes were still stuck on the blue sky outside the window, letting the cool day scorch him.

    The middle-aged man took a puff of the cigar in his hand with every word. His voice was a bit strange, like a demon that had been locked in a cage for years. His voice was hoarse and deep, filled with the flavor of bloody destruction.

    Here he was the master, as long as he said a word, even if a god descended to earth, he couldn't escape his clutches, let alone an ordinary human.

    His mouth was tinged with a few contemptuous smiles, as if everything was as he expected.

    Behind the middle-aged man was a tall bookshelf, which was carved from the finest mahogany, quite a bit of the work of a famous carver. Unfortunately, it was not the work of a famous artist after all, and there were more or less some minor flaws. Some of the knife work techniques still need to be improved, especially that weird symbol, the more you look at it, the more you will feel that the carving craftsman is a bit hasty, and even hasty.

    The surface of the bookshelf was filled with black patterns. These patterns were strangely shaped, as if a small tadpole with a wagging head was swimming inside the bookshelf. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be a maniacal devil, tearing each other apart, as if they were a tiny miniature of hell.

    At this time in front of the middle-aged man's boss table, there was another young man wearing a black suit with a robust body. He was shivering and kneeling on the ground, his eyes glanced at the bookshelf behind the middle-aged man from time to time, and he kept wiping his head with his hand with beads of sweat like running water, as if he had seen something he shouldn't have seen. The more he didn't want to see, the more he couldn't suppress the urge in his heart. His head kept turning, and his neck was getting a little sore.

    Because of the back, the young man could only see the middle-aged man's white hair and the chair's high backrest, as if the middle-aged man's head that was just a white flowery bone with two black holes in the head.

    Oh ...... you've been working hard on all the recent missions. How is it, is it still going well? The middle-aged man's voice was very calm, without a trace of emotion.

    It's all going smoothly as the boss ordered ......, the young man wiped the sweat from his forehead before saying.

    Eh? Did something ...... find it?

    Boss ...... something I found.

    Oh?

    The middle-aged man took down an artifact from the shelf and kept admiring it in his hands. Looking at the thing in the middle-aged man's hand, the young man's body trembled even more. The young man knew this thing, even if it turned into ashes he wouldn't forget what it was. Because that was his nightmare and the source of all his fears. Every time he came to this office, he could never stop himself from looking up at that thing.

    Is there really no escape this time? Doomed ......

    The young man didn't dare think any further, he swallowed hard and stumbled:

    But all I ...... looked for were ...... copies. This complete sentence left the young man's words in tatters.

    Inside, none of them are mother nature, there was to be a second sentence, but the young man could no longer continue. For he felt his throat clogged with something, and a sweet, sweet taste went up hard from his throat.

    He's scared!

    Then how dare you come to see me?

    I ......

    Uh ......

    The young man pinched himself hard and a thick mouthful was finally swallowed by him. It was only then that he dared to speak again, knowing that it might be the last thing he would ever say in his life.

    Boss, give me one last chance ...... said the man in black as if he was going to cry with courage.

    The middle-aged man sneered and never spoke again. With a poof sound, a soft thing was pinched. Blood flowed down the young man's fingernails, and then flowed down the young man's face.

    The voice was animated, like the cry of a demonic bird that had just drank blood, low and eerie, with the flirtatious and reddish siren colors of hell.

    Throughout the process, the middle-aged man has never had any reaction, the entire room is only young heartbeat and breathing sound, it seems that the middle-aged man is just a piece of decoration in this room in general, not the slightest bit of life.

    In an instant, the atmosphere of the entire room immediately became incredibly weird ......

    A dozen hours later, in an ordinary household in a high-rise building of an ordinary residential neighborhood in A City of the Central League.

    Ming!

    Come to dinner!

    A pale voice kept echoing in the somewhat empty house. Ten years of calling like a day had made him a little tired.

    It was an old man's heartfelt, loving call. There is a touch of sadness in the voice, but it is underlined.

    Only the voice never managed to reach her grandson Liu Ming's ears.

    It was already past dinner time this morning, but Liu Ming was late in coming downstairs. Liu Ming's grandmother didn't bother either. She still set the table full of food and silently waited for her beloved grandson to come downstairs to eat with her. Today was Liu Ming's grandmother's birthday, and she hoped that her grandson would be able to spend this happy and joyful day with her.

    Liu Ming is an orphan, did not go to school for a day, and has been dependent on his grandmother since he was a child.

    Liu Ming's grandmother is a retired schoolteacher, and his grandfather died tragically in a nuclear war. Before the nuclear war, Liu Ming's father was an employee of a foreign company. Since the nuclear war he also lost contact with his family, and until Liu Ming was sent to Liu Ming's grandmother's residence, Liu Ming's grandmother had not seen her daughter-in-law once. After so many years, Liu Ming's parents had only left one photo for Liu Ming. They let him look at the yellowed photo, silently, and sent a teenager's heart that could not resolve the feelings of longing.

    Other than that, the only item that Liu Ming's parents had left Liu Ming was a world-class shooting game. It was said that there were only one hundred copies of this game in the world, and each copy was worth a lot of money, of which only ten people were able to pass the game in the end. Now Liu Ming had become the eleventh expert to pass the game, but unfortunately the game brought him nothing but great disappointment and impending death, without any surprise.

    Bang! Just when Liu Ming was still immersed in tears of disappointment and unable to extricate himself, a muffled gunshot came from downstairs, followed by a panicked old lady falling into a pool of blood.

    Grandma? Grandma! Liu Ming had an ominous premonition welling up in his heart. He called out twice in a row and did not see a single answer from downstairs, he knew that something had happened to his grandmother. Unfortunately, it was too late for all regrets.

    Search them all! A one-eyed dragon appeared in Liu Ming's house with eight professional killers also dressed in black suits.

    If you can't find the cassette, all of you will die! The one-eyed dragon screamed, his screams were like killing pigs. His voice was mute, but he didn't even notice, still dryly roaring, as if he had to roar blood to be satisfied.

    Then, noisy sounds of rummaging through the closet came from the room on the ground floor of Liu Ming's house. The sounds downstairs didn't stop, and soon a few more people came upstairs. One of them had already entered Liu Ming's room, holding a gun in his hand. From the cold expression on his face, he was able to tell that this killer had no defense against the child in the room.

    Unfortunately, this carelessness won't make his life easier, it will only kill him.

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2. The confusion of immortality

Liu Ming stood in the room after hearing the gunshots and had already sensed that things were bad, but he didn't know that it was his favorite game that had led to the killing.

    With the noisy footsteps, a skilled killer had already darted to the door of the study. Although the door of the study had been unlocked by Liu Ming inside, this did not stop the killer's attack. Seeing that his center of gravity sank, his left foot supported his body, and his right foot, driven by his waist muscles, viciously kicked at the door of the study. With a Bang! The door of the study was kicked open by the assassin.

    The door to the study was kicked in, and the entire interior of the study was visible to the Slayer's eyes.

    Without the huge game console, the entire study looked very empty, with only a desk placed alone in the study. On the desk there was also a desk lamp and a fruit plate that held fruit as well as a photo of Liu Ming's parents. These were all of Liu Ming's memories of his childhood.

    The study was still filled with the dreamy colors left over from the melting of the large game console. That was the harmless gas formed after the dissolution of the most popular contemporary super solids. This gas was scattered in almost every corner of the house, as if one was in a dreamy otherworldly space.

    As soon as the killer's swift body entered the study, he was stunned by the strange sight. Originally this mission in his view is unthinkable things, now see this scene in front of him let him more sure of his mind. He just wanted to withdraw from the study, then he felt a steel pipe smashed on his calf, and instantly there was a piercing skin pain from his thigh to the brain. Before the assassin's mind could shake off the shock of the sight before him, blood quickly soaked through one of his pant legs.

    He tore his gaze away from the dreamy colors. He looked down and saw a boy in his line of sight. The fruit knife held in the boy's hand was the murder weapon that had stabbed him. The boy's gaze was determined, as ferocious as a cougar out foraging for food in the middle of the night, with a beastly grunt.

    Ah! The intense pain finally shielded everything, and the killer began to scream frantically, as if he wanted to completely release all the fear and shock in his mind.

    The moment he stabbed the killer, Liu Ming also felt inexplicably nervous, after all, he had never killed anyone in reality, and he didn't know exactly how big the gap was between reality and the game. He just went along with the experience and intuition he had accumulated from countless killings.

    Just like that, Liu Ming lightly rolled out from behind the door. He struck a sweeping kick that landed on the killer's calf. Because he had just come out of the game, he wasn't not able to fully adapt to the sensations in reality. The force he used for this leg was too small, and the man in black didn't fall down, still looking straight at the fantastic colors in front of him.

    Looking at the gun in the killer's hand, Liu Ming's heartbeat skyrocketed. If he couldn't think of a way out, it was estimated that he would hang himself in less than five seconds.

    Ah! Liu Ming ruthlessly stabbed the fruit knife on the killer's thigh. This time, Liu Ming however, because of the excessive force all of a sudden broke the killer's aorta. Probably because it was the first time he saw real blood raging out of the killer's leg like a fountain, Liu Ming unexpectedly screamed out like a wild beast. It was an inexplicable feeling of excitement, like a dulcimer stabbed into the blood of Liu Ming's body.

    The killer covered his thigh and fell to the floor at once, his entire facial expression extremely painful. However, Liu Ming did not give him any chance to catch his breath at all, and with a smooth hand, he ended the killer's life with a knife. This knife accurately stabbed into the killer's chest, piercing through the heart. When Liu Ming pulled out the knife, the killer's blood had already dripped all over the floor and splattered all over Liu Ming.

    Whew! Liu Ming took a deep breath. This was the first time he had killed someone in reality, and the blood almost made him forget.

    Hearing that their companions had been killed, the other assassins became even more agitated. If this operation was pre-empted by someone else, they were afraid that they would not be able to get rid of that nightmarish pursuit even if they wandered all over the world in their lifetime.

    Just then, a few killers who were on the second floor came to the place of the incident in unison. Each of these killers was well-trained, and they stood in three different positions at the entrance in unison.

    Beep beep beep! Before a couple of the men could get through the door, they took a wild swipe towards all corners of the house, but there just wasn't a single figure in sight. When the gunfire stopped and one of the assassins looked towards the roof of the shed out of habit, he let out a nervous yelp. But this cry didn't wait for him to fully scream out, as three low gunshots rang out, his head had already been blown off by someone with a gun. Three men fell in response, killed at almost the same time.

    Liu Ming released his grip on the rickety chandelier and dropped down from the shed roof.

    He was still relatively satisfied with his stance. This time, Liu Ming shot a total of three shots within a second, and the shots exploded his head. In just a few minutes, Liu Ming had killed four people, and he was not satisfied. Because he knew that his grandmother's murderer was still downstairs.

    The assassins upstairs were all dead, and the entire second floor of the duplex seemed incredibly quiet.

    It's a hot summer day, and the sky is still clear outside the window, with a lone white cloud in the sky. The sunlight shot into the family room and shone on the body of an old woman. Everything in the room was functioning as it should, except for a large spread of blood on the floor. The fan from the refrigerator on the first floor, in particular, was making a lot of noise.

    It's old-fashioned, but Grandma, who was always thrifty, never bothered to replace it. She was a thrifty person, and could even be said to be a bit overly conservative. The furnishings of the entire house were of the early twentieth century style, making the entire home look very old. While an old house had the characteristics of an old house, this house was hung with five elements and eight trigrams incantations, as well as some ancient artifacts to ward off evil spirits. For example, the peach wood sword, at first glance is some years of antiques. Even the bathroom was hung with a demon mirror.

    At this moment, Cyclops was standing in the living room quietly focusing on the movements upstairs. He was a bit scared. He was not afraid of the people upstairs, but he was afraid that he was not dead yet. Because he had not died he might have to suffer the torture that was more painful than death and was scared to death.

    The old quartz clock hanging on the wall of the living room was still ticking away, and the time was exactly twelve noon. For some reason, Cyclops involuntarily winced as he began to turn his gaze to the corpse of an old woman who was already a little white.

    He opened the door with his key, and as soon as he did so he saw the old lady standing in the doorway in some surprise. He covered the old lady's mouth with his hand so that he could not make a sound. He then let go of the hand covering the old lady's mouth and pushed her out, followed by the fatal shot. That shot was fired by him and hit the old man right in the center of both eyebrows on his forehead.

    Each time he was able to precisely grasp the amount of time. That is to say, he was able to shoot the fatal shot when the victim's fear was at its peak, while not allowing the victim to send out any signals for help.

    This method of killing was a fetish of his. Every killer has a fetish, and he used to gloat about it. It was a killer's art for him.

    But apparently, today he missed the mark.

    The old lady's chest was still rising and falling regularly. Although the amplitude was small, it proved that the old lady was not dead. The bullet had hit her right in the head, perhaps because of some deviation, allowing the old lady to still retain a trace of sanity.

    Cyclops looked at the artifacts on the wall, which suddenly reminded him of a certain kind of spell, one that could bring people back from the dead, and one that made life worse than death.

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3. Right-hand men

Twelve o'clock.

    The clock strikes over and over.

    Twelve o'clock.

    The second hand went round and round.

    Twelve o'clock!

    Breath after breath continued.

    Twelve o'clock!

    That horrible thought is still playing out.

    Twelve o'clock ......

    The clock hanging on the wall was still striking.

    The sound of a clock turning, like the death knell of the God of Death kept echoing in Cyclops' heart. Although everything in front of them was still traveling on their trajectory, the clock on the wall did not change at all, as if time really stayed at this moment without traveling.

    Just as Cyclops' mind was still stuck on that painful memory, the old lady suddenly rolled over on the ground. This roll over caused Cyclops' nerves to tense up violently.

    He watched as the old man desperately tried to stay on his back as she moved her body towards her bedroom.

    His face also changed from white to red and then from red to black, and his entire person looked gloomy. He swallowed a mouthful of spit hard, his entire heart hanging in his throat.

    The bedroom on the first floor had been rummaged through, everything was on the floor, even the bed in the bedroom had been turned over. What exactly was she looking for?

    The one-eyed dragon's gaze remained fixed on the old man's body, his face already twisted and distorted. Deep fear was tormenting him, was there really a legend of immortality in this world?

    Brother, if it weren't for me, wouldn't you have gotten up so early in life?

    Cyclops had an older brother who was a few years older than him. Cyclops was raised by his brother from a young age. His brother used to be a gold medal killer under the boss, but a year ago, because of a major mistake let the boss put to death. The killer's boss kills people every day, and in a business like this, either you kill someone else, or someone else kills you. In this line of work, death is a matter of time.

    Originally, being killed by the boss is not an uncommon thing. However, he did not know that after his brother's death, his ghost was haunting him, making him nervous day after day, as if he was being haunted by an evil spirit every day. It was a night of pain that he would never forget.

    In his dreams, his brother always cried about his pain. It wasn't the pain of dying, but a pain of living.

    Could his brother still be alive in this world, but where exactly is he?

    The old man's body had crawled into the bedroom. Cyclops' hand holding the gun was already shaking a little. He wanted to shoot, but hesitated to do so. He didn't have that courage, he was afraid. He knew that since the first time he dreamt of his brother's unjust soul, he had lost the most basic ability as a killer, to kill. Unfortunately, these were all pains that he couldn't tell others about.

    Don't know which one-eyed dragon side of the little brother, see the old man did not die, crazy like towards the old man's body fierce shot a few shots. Blood gushed out of the old man's body, penetrated the old man's clothes and stayed on the ground, flowing through every inch of the floor where the old man had crawled. The blood left an indelible mark on the floor, where the old man had crawled. Until the old man, the body completely crawled into the bedroom, she died.

    At this moment, beads of sweat were already covering Cyclops' forehead, and he was no longer able to suppress the fear in his heart. Although he tried his best to suppress the agitation and uneasiness within his heart, his expression had already betrayed him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead before realizing that all the killers were looking at him, waiting for his instructions. They knew that Cyclops was out of his element today. It wasn't just because he had just lost an eyeball, but more importantly there was an inexplicable fear that had been planted deep into his soul.

    Beside the one-eyed dragon stood his most trusted henchman, and the right-hand man he had cultivated so vigorously over the past few years. Ever since his brother's death, the sense of crisis in his heart had become even stronger, which was why he had brought this right-hand man with him every day. Today was the time to let him play.

    One-Eyed Dragon waved his hand, and his assistant grasped the meaning. Cyclops' assistant, made a wink towards the two assassins. The two men had to walk towards the stairs under the orders of Cyclops' assistant. They were both holding guns in their hands, although they were both very sure of their shooting skills, but because their four companions had just been killed they had all lost their confidence in killing Liu Ming.

    The buildings in the neighborhood were built according to a duplex structure, with the top and bottom divided into two floors. The one Liu Ming lived in was the most common building pattern in the neighborhood. The upper and lower floors are more than one hundred square feet, with a total of seven rooms. The first floor has four rooms, respectively, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, the largest in the center is the living room. The second floor has three rooms, respectively, the study, storage room, bedroom.

    Liu Ming had lived and grown up here for more than a decade, so he couldn't be more familiar with the entire structure of the house. He was convinced that no one would be able to dodge his bullets here.

    The gun in his hand was a newer, smaller Val pistol. With a black body, the gun was about nineteen centimeters long, weighed about a pound, and could hold ten rounds of ammunition, it was a super plastic body with good performance. Even without the use of a silencer, the sound of this pistol would not be transmitted out of the house, it was a pistol commonly used by killers.

    Just as he was descending the stairs, there were sudden footsteps on the stairs. He held his breath and carefully observed the surrounding movements. With the sound of thumping from the stairs, the two killers were getting closer and closer to him.

    Liu Ming stood in his bedroom's, his shadow appearing on the floor under the reflection of the sunlight. The two killers had just run up to the second floor when the crackling bullets shot over. As soon as the bullets stopped, Liu Ming put his hand out, aiming at the position where someone might be standing and fired four shots in a row. Sure enough there was a thud, one killer fell down with a shot to the abdomen and chest, and another killer was shot in the leg, painfully covering his thigh*.

    Bang! Liu Ming changed the magazine and then added a shot to the fallen killer along the floor. Liu Ming quietly listened for a while to make sure no one was there before he walked out from behind the door. He took a look at the dead body on the floor and smiled. Although there was some deviation from where he had hit, Liu Ming still felt satisfied. After all, hitting a person and hitting a target were different, and there was also a difference between the game and reality.

    He was more or less complacent, but he didn't notice the danger approaching step by step. Cyclops' assistant was not an ordinary character. The two minions that had just come up were merely an appetizer for Liu Ming, the big dish was still waiting for him at the back!

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4. Vipers in the dark war (above)

    The entire corridor was not half-lit, and the two dead bodies lay sprawled on the floor in darkness.

    There's always a crisis lurking in the darkness, and that's where the vipers are.

    Vipers always like to lurk in the shadows, waiting for the enemy to gradually lose their vigilance before waiting for an opportunity to strike. They are always so careful and so full of aggression. An unconscious move can cost you your life in front of it.

    The door to the bedroom on the second floor was open, and an unholy ray of sunlight shot through the window in the bedroom onto the dark corridor wall. It was this ray of sunlight that allowed Liu Ming to see the dead body. However, Liu Ming did not find any valuable clues on the body of the dead body, he was a little disappointed. Anger burned in his heart, it was hard for him to imagine why the killers would come to his house, what exactly were they looking for?

    Hiss, Hiss!

    Just as Liu Ming was about to stand up, some extremely faint sounds came from the hallway. This sound was like a viper that was moving forward. It was a venomous snake whose scales scraped the ground and was rapidly approaching its prey. He opened his bloody mouth, revealing eerie fangs. A ravenous snake spitting out letters was the term used to describe him.

    Because of the light, when Ah Fei appeared behind Liu Ming, Liu Ming only saw Ah Fei's shadow on the wall. By the time Liu Ming reacted, Ah Fei's bullet had already shot out of the muzzle.

    This son of this bullet carried a powerful impact and rushed towards where Liu Ming was. Fei behind Liu Ming brought him endless pressure. At this moment, Liu Ming seemed to have felt the sensation of that bullet shooting into his body.

    With the soft thud of the bullet hitting the wall, Liu Ming realized that he was surprisingly still intact. The blood did not flow out of his body, but only narrowly grazed past the top of his own head.

    The first time the two exchanged blows, Fei had the upper hand. Only Fei didn't get any advantage from it, instead, he nearly got into trouble because of the mistakes brought about by his first misjudgment.

    Liu Ming didn't have time to hesitate, the next moment he turned around and flung his hand, the gun was aimed right at Fei behind him. The bullet shot out towards Fei's head without hesitation.

    Fei, who had jumped from the staircase handle to mid-air, had obviously reserved a way back for himself after firing that shot. Fei stomped his feet on the wall, and his entire body straddled the corridor.

    Unfortunately, that would have been a perfect shot, but because of his own wrong estimation, he lost the best chance to shoot. What he hadn't expected was that his opponent was still just a child the size of an elementary school student. The shot that he originally wanted to shoot on the enemy's heart just grazed Liu Ming's head and fired on the wall.

    After dodging Fei's shot, Liu Ming shot three more shots in succession.

    The bullets shot by Liu Ming flew past Fei's waist and shot inside the wall. Fei ignored the three bullets that nearly killed him. He held the stairs with one hand and held the gun in the other, like a fierce snake frantically spitting out its mail, bullets shot out of the pistol one by one. The bullets completely shot on the wall outside the bedroom, Liu Ming had already used the cover of those three bullets just now to hide inside the bedroom.

    Ah Fei had killed countless people, but he had never thought that he would one day be in danger because of a teenager. After seeing Liu Ming's skill, Ah Fei became more and more interested in that mysterious game. What kind of game was it that could turn a child into a killing machine? Could that game really be so powerful that it was able to train an uninitiated child into a super killer who could kill without blinking an eye?

    It looked like the boss's thoughts were not redundant at all. If one could obtain this game, the entire world would be under the boss's control in the future. Then one's future would be brighter if one followed the boss.

    It's just that the master copy of the game hasn't been found yet. It looks like the master copy of the game must have been hidden very secretly by this family. The old lady is dead, and this child is all that's left. There can't be any more mistakes.

    Uh-huh! It's got to be a live one.

    In such a daze, Fei thought about a lot of things.

    Darkness was Fei's safest place of refuge, and he could always find his place in the black seed. This was the killer's instinct, and also an extraordinary skill of the killer. Just in the blink of an eye when Liu Ming had just ducked into the bedroom, Fei had completely disappeared into the darkness, vanishing without a trace.

    There was still no movement from Fei in the corridor. Liu Ming, who was hiding inside the bedroom, was a bit pressed. The quieter it was, the more nervous he felt. It made it impossible for him to judge Fei's exact location, and he couldn't even be sure now if Fei was still upstairs. Because everything seemed so quiet, as quiet as if it was the streets of that nameless village in the Midnight Game, eerie and deadly, unable to reach out in the darkness. You can never tell what dangerous thing will appear in front of you in the next moment.

    In this situation, all Liu Ming had to do was to face it bravely. Face the darkness, face the fear, face the death, face everything that could happen, even the unacceptable results.

    Liu Ming stepped out from within the bedroom, and he carefully walked into the hallway on the second floor. His gun was aimed at where Fei had just been. Unfortunately, he found nothing in the darkness. There was only endless darkness and the shadows left behind by the ray of sunlight shining behind Liu Ming.

    Liu Ming didn't stop at the door of the bedroom and walked straight towards the stairway of the corridor. At this time, he would not be angry, nor did he complain as usual about why his grandmother did not turn on the lights in the hallway, and even less about why she was so late in calling him for dinner. He only wanted to hear his grandmother's safe voice, even if it was to scold him severely. Unfortunately, everything was so quiet, so quiet that he wanted to cry.

    His footsteps were a bit low, Liu Ming's pace was a bit slow, and he himself began to blend into the darkness. In the darkness, Liu Ming felt a pair of eyes staring at him from somewhere in the corridor. This pair of eyes could be the one that killed Grandma's murderer. He wasn't dead yet, and was still alive in one of the corners of the corridor.

    Liu Ming thought about the danger his grandmother might face, and he began to get angry. His heart could no longer restrain itself from complaining about the walls in the corridor, he began to complain about the designers of the building, and he began to complain about all the construction workers related to the corridor. Why were there no windows in the walls of the corridor, or else he himself wouldn't have been so still, not to mention that the thugs who had broken into his house would still be living so leisurely in this world. They all deserved to go to hell and die!

    Liu Ming was angry, he didn't like having someone point a gun at him in the dark, as if he was looking at a prey that had walked into the ambush circle of a viper. He was not a plaything to be toyed with. He was and is an assassin, someone who can be called the king of assassins.

    Vipers always like to lurk in the shadows, using all sorts of clever disguises to hide themselves, and darkness is their best friend. They are never afraid of the darkness, in the darkness they can still feel the changes in the outside world. Because they have a keen sense of smell, and a very sensitive infrared sensing system.

    Hiss.

    This sound made Liu Ming very disgusted. It was clearly coming from within earshot, but there was no way to tell where it was coming from. The sound was like a viper's abdomen rubbing against the ground, but Liu Ming wasn't certain that it must be the sound of a viper, perhaps it was the sound of Fei's clothes rubbing against the wall, or something else.

    Because he had already sensed the enemy in the darkness, Liu Ming stopped again less than halfway. In the darkness, he closed his eyes. He couldn't tolerate himself becoming someone else's prey while the predator was still spreading the fear he brought to him with impunity in the darkness.

    Liu Ming, who had quietened his mind, felt as if the entire corridor had turned into a huge container. A container filled with air, there was no wind, and the air within the entire container was static. The wall's were cold, and the only thing that represented a heat source was the humans. The heat source inside Liu Ming's body was separated by his undershirt, and part of the heat was retained within his body. He was feeling it, feeling the orientation of the other heat sources.

    When Fei's body moved, it would drive the air, creating an airflow, and eventually this airflow would turn into wind, blowing in the heat from Fei's body. Liu Ming was able to sense this faint heat, and he was certain that he could capture some of Fei's inadvertent omissions with this faint heat. As a duel between true experts, having these faint senses was already enough.

    Liu Ming was fully concentrated on his senses, his spirit had penetrated every hair on all the pores in his body, even his short hairs had all stood up in the air. They were like air sensors, constantly feeling the air around them.

    Now as long as Ah Fei moved a finger Liu Ming was able to sense his orientation. As long as Fei didn't reflect in time, he would immediately be shot by the gun in Liu Ming's hand, turning into a sieve, bleeding out blood, and finally dying in fear.

    This is a contest between life and death, a contest of strength, not luck.

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5. Vipers in the dark war (below)

Liu Ming's finger was already hooked on the gun.

    The gun was held in front of Liu Ming's chest. As long as he hooked his finger, the bullet would shoot into the enemy's body and go through his head, leaving only a finger-sized black hole.

    The gun in Liu Ming's hand was already a little warm, and the surroundings were still silent. The killers lurking in the shadows still hadn't made any movements.

    Could it be a lapse in judgment?

    Liu Ming didn't think too much, nowadays every minute in Liu Ming's heart seemed like a year so long. The slightest negligence would cause him to fall into a bottomless abyss.

    After about a minute had passed in the blink of an eye, a sudden stream of air with a faint temperature difference came from in front of Liu Ming. Liu Ming felt his hair, in this air current, begin to tremble slightly.

    The hissing sound in the darkness rang in his ears again. It was low and slow, and not very fast.

    Is that killer up to something again?

    A sudden gust of air came from the top of his head in the darkness, and Liu Ming screamed that it was not good. He fiercely bowed back and a bullet flew past his body. That bullet was about to shoot where Liu Ming's right shoulder was, in the arm where he was holding the gun. Liu Ming suddenly raised his head and was just about to raise his pistol. A person had already jumped down from the roof of the shed in front of him, and this person's foot kicked at Liu Ming's hand, and in the blink of an eye, the gun in Liu Ming's hand flew away.

    Seeing that the blow missed, Fei's entire body disappeared into the darkness again. Liu Ming dodged the bullet and resumed his previous standing position.

    Having just been sneak attacked, Liu Ming dared not be careless even more. Now he couldn't act rashly anymore. From where that killer had just shot, it was clear that he didn't want to kill himself. He must have wanted to stay alive for something.

    Is it that game?

    Other than that it's the only game in his house right now that's still kind of appealing to the outside world!

    Liu Ming felt that this killer had a cat-and-mouse interest, as if he was deliberately trying to test his own skills. Although the killer was playing with great interest, Liu Ming did not have this mindset. Although the killer had just kicked the gun out of his hand, he had memorized the location where the gun had fallen. Since he already knew the killer's purpose and intention, he had a way to put this killer in his place and end up dying from his own ignorance.

    Liu Ming adjusted himself and trembled as he said to Fei in the hallway:

    Who are you guys? Did you guys come for that game?

    Just after Liu Ming finished his words, there was some reaction in the darkness. The killer's breathing was a little sharp, and he gave a muffled hum, appearing to be very disdainful of Liu Ming's words. From this point Liu Ming identified certain characteristics of this killer. First of all, he must be full of confidence in himself, and somewhat arrogant in his confidence. Secondly, he must be very fond of and good at hiding in the darkness. As long as he remained in the darkness, he would feel quite secure. Thirdly, this assassin didn't want to kill himself just yet, and there was still some value in keeping him. At least what he was looking for was still in his hands.

    Since this killer loves to play games, I'm going to play a game of sound and fury with you.

    Liu Ming touched the corpse at his feet with his foot and suddenly had an idea.

    Thinking of this, Liu Ming said to the shed roof of the corridor:

    Please don't kill me! I have something you want, why don't we make a deal.

    Liu Ming said as he pretended to retreat to the bedroom's doorway. He stepped hard on the dead bodies on the ground, looking a little uncomfortable. The opponent he had to deal with this time wasn't the few killers who only had three-legged kung fu just now, but a real specially trained killer, or even an alien.

    Liu Ming was scared! If he made the slightest mistake this time, he would be just like these zombies, cold and unconscious. He thought of that game, would he also turn into a soulless zombie just like the characters in the game?

    You're not a hero in this game, you're just the son of a cursed man.

    Thinking of this sentence, Liu Ming's heart involuntarily pounded.

    Suddenly Liu Ming stepped on a killer's arm and stumbled and fell to the ground. He pulled out a magazine from his pocket and lost his voice:

    No good, the game's falling. It's gonna break!

    Liu Ming obediently threw the magazine towards the wall on his right hand side. The clip made a crisp sound when it touched the wall, which seemed so clear in this incredibly quiet corridor.

    Bang Bang, Fei stepped out from the wall, he fired three shots violently towards where Liu Ming's body was, all three shots were fired at parts of Liu Ming's body that were not vital, he was sure that he heard Liu Ming's two screams of misery after being shot. He held the gun in one hand, and with the other hand he calmly caught the clip that had just bounced off the wall.

    Fei received the magazines and frowned. Although he had never seen the master copy of this game, he had seen several copies of the game. Just why was there such a big difference in the feel between the two, could there be a trick in it?

    Fei's entire being immediately tensed up as he once again touched the magazine held in his hand with his right hand.

    Not good! Fei's grip on the clip tightened, and he knew this wasn't the mother of all games at all. He had fallen for that kid's drop-ship scheme. Just in the moment Fei hesitated, a body under his feet suddenly moved.

    The corpse's hand suddenly grabbed Fei's ankle and held Fei's foot hard. Fei was so shocked that he raised his gun and shot. A few bullets were perfectly capable of shooting a person's arm, the hand bone that was attached to the palm, into pieces. But this pain did not go away on Fei's ankle.

    Is that child a monster?

    Fei couldn't hesitate in time, his entire body was stuck to the wall, before his entire body completely melted within the wall, a bullet suddenly nailed him in the leg, followed by another bullet that shot empty next to his left arm. Although Liu Ming could shoot three bullets in one second, there was still a time difference between these three bullets. Before the third bullet could be fired into Fei's body, Fei had already completely merged into the darkness and disappeared without a trace on the wall.

    After Fei disappeared, Liu Ming stood up from underneath the dead body. Although the bullets were blocked by the dead body, one had still been shot into Liu Ming's left shoulder. Although it wasn't very deep, blood still flowed out from the wound. This time Liu Ming had similarly fired three shots, and he didn't know if he had hit the killer or not.

    Liu Ming walked to the wall and crouched down, beside touching the blood on the wall. He determined where he had shot the killer on his body.

    This killer could just disappear without a trace all at once against the wall, as if his entire being had melted into the wall. Could it be that he was a psychic, and his psychic ability was to become one with the wall?

    But why didn't he enter the corridor on the second floor directly from the wall in the hallway the first time, but instead stepped on the handle of the staircase to rise up in the air, shooting that almost fatal shot in the air before disappearing into the darkness. Could it be that his powers also had a fatal weakness?

    Liu Ming suddenly remembered that this killer fell from the roof of the shed for the second time, and before he fell before he heard a hissing sound. Could it be that ......

    Could this hissing sound be the fatal wound that the killer's powers can't possibly get rid of?

    Liu Ming's hand had left the wall and he stood up from the ground. But blood was still flowing down the wall, Fei did not disappear from this wall in front of Liu Ming. Because he had to wait for the right time, a time that would not allow Liu Ming to notice him. This time he will not give this kid any more chances, he must kill him with one shot.

    Hiss, this sound that made Liu Ming very disgusted resounded once again.

    The pores of Liu Ming's entire body were opening up, and he had gripped the gun in his hand tightly.

    Foreseeing that this was the final showdown between life and death, he had to seize this last chance now.

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6. Late Night Returns

There was a gun battle upstairs, but the atmosphere downstairs seemed to seem even more tense.

    The sound of the gunshot was still echoing in Cyclops' ears. But the old lady had completely gagged, and blood kept flowing out of her body. It stained the bedroom floor red.

    Is she really dead?

    The one-eyed dragon could not believe his eyes a little, his gaze still lingering on her body as if he was trying to remember something?

    His eyes were filled with fear. This scenario had already appeared more than once in his dreams. He was able to recall every detail of it clearly, as if it wasn't a dream at all, but a recreation of a real scene. He felt that he would one day be just like him, caught in a cycle of mistakes that he couldn't stop.

    Cyclops couldn't help but shiver at the thought. He signaled one of the assassins beside him to stay put and guard the stairway. After that, he himself turned around and walked into the restroom.

    In the restroom, he kept pounding his head with cold water. His hair had been completely drenched by whoever was there, and the cold water kept running down his face. The water wasn't cold, but he still couldn't stop shivering all over.

    What exactly was he afraid of? Could he be afraid of an illusory dream, or the mysterious container in his boss's hands? Maybe none of it mattered, he was tired of living in this world. People were always going to die, he had killed too many people, and had long since gotten used to death Stone. It wasn't that he was afraid of dying, but he was afraid that once he got in there he would never get out.

    The water was still running in the pool, and Cyclops stuck his head into it. The water pounded on his hair, but he still couldn't get rid of that horrible thought. The more he tried to escape, the more that horrible thought ate away at him. Cyclops suddenly began to gasp for air, sensing that he was a bit overstimulated.

    Just then, I don't know who plugged the leak in the pool. The water, inside the pool, kept rising, gradually spreading over the Cyclops' face and began to slowly overflow from the pool.

    After taking a few sips of water, Cyclops began to enter a state of extreme suffocation, which took Cyclops back to one of those agonizing and frightening nights.

    Brother is dead?

    It was another sleepless night for Cyclops.

    He lit a cigarette, took a chair and sat in the window.

    The smoke drew circle after circle in front of his eyes. The circles had just taken on some shape in the air before they disappeared again, turning into a thick gray gas that was like a thin mist in front of Cyclops' eyes.

    Cyclops coughed and the thin mist blew away.

    Cyclops looked up toward the window.

    It was already nightfall outside, and a little bit of starlight appeared in the sky. The stars, one by one, were set in the sky and were very dazzling.

    Cyclops loved nights like this, beautiful and full of fantasy.

    Just because he's a cold-hearted killer doesn't make a killer necessarily ruthless.

    The one-eyed dragon has a name called Shui. He was originally an orphan, living in the world with no one to turn to.

    He was born in the middle of a small town and later adopted by his boss. All of them who were orphaned by their bosses grew up in a concentration camp. When they grew up to a certain level, they were brought together by some adult assassins to the camp for special training before they became assassins. He and his brother is he met during the special training for assassins. Since then, his brother has been protecting him.

    In this special training camp, hundreds of teenagers would undergo a cruel and bloody special training together every year. In the training topics of this special training, death was an essential item. The trainees were allowed to kill their peers by any means necessary, and the more they killed, the greater the reward. In such a brutal elimination, at the end of each year, less than one in ten would end up surviving. Among those who survived, only a few were able to successfully complete a few decisive missions later to become the ultimate elite assassins. And he was one of those elite killers who passed the final test and survived.

    Cyclops admitted that he was a person who was greedy and afraid of death, he didn't have a superb body like his brother, and he was even less of a person who could be the best candidate to become a professional assassin. But because of his brother, he eventually survived one life and death test after another.

    He was originally a kind child. When he met his brother for the first time, he didn't know what he was getting into. At that time, his brother asked him a question:

    Kid, what do you want to do following me? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?

    The one-eyed dragon looked somewhat childishly at the teenager in front of him, who was holding a dagger and looked a little older than himself, and said, Fear not, because you are older than me. You are my older brother! An older brother never kills his younger brother.

    That's how the two teenagers became brothers, and since then they've been together through thick and thin. They have never missed a beat in the ten years since their debut. The older brother had strength, while the younger brother had luck. They have always been the famous life-taking double eagles in the assassin world, but unfortunately now this eagle has broken a wing and can no longer fly high.

    When the older brother died he left his younger brother a sum of money which was enough to clothe and feed him for the rest of his life. The younger brother wanted to call it quits because he was simply not cut out for the killer business. He wasn't ruthless enough, his reflexes weren't fast enough, and his only advantage was his luck. It's just that the business of assassins is different from gambling, you can't rely on luck to make a living. Once he misses once, he will fall into a bottomless abyss. His brother was like that, even with the best body, he couldn't be invincible forever.

    But it's not that easy to stop, not everything can be settled with money. At least the boss's side wouldn't let himself off that easily. Besides, being an assassin is a profession with many enemies. Your enemies don't care if you have retired or not. As long as you are still alive, they will hunt you down forever until your entire family is dead along with you. This is a horrible profession, and the final end is extremely tragic.

    At that thought, Cyclops sighed.

    He pulled another pack of cigarettes out of his shirt.

    For some reason, he especially wanted to smoke today.

    Perhaps he had smoked too many cigarettes, and when he was lighting the cigarette he realized that his hand began to inexplicably tremble. The hand that was originally holding the lighter was surprisingly no longer able to control the direction of the flame.

    "The lighter fell to the ground with a pop. Cyclops bent down to pick up the lighter.

    It was already dark by this time, and countless stars could be seen in the sky. These stars were accompanying the side of a curved moon. The moonlight shot through the glass into the room, which allowed Cyclops to see everything in the room even if he didn't turn on the lights, he was able to see everything clearly.

    The moonlight in front of him happened to be blocked by his own body, so when he bent down he didn't immediately locate the lighter, but fumbled on the ground for a moment.

    Cyclops cocked his head as he saw a dark shadow.

    At some point, the Cyclops suddenly grew a head, a twisted head to be exact, out of its shadow reflected by the moonlight. That thing had, surprisingly, burrowed out of the one-eyed dragon's body without a sound.

    Whose head would that be?

    Before Cyclops could raise his bent upper body, there was a sudden banging on the window outside the house.

    Bang, bang, bang.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    A sound that was more urgent than a knock, a sound that was more violent than a knock. The sound struck at Cyclops' heartstrings, making him shudder uncontrollably.

    It's not possible, is it?

    He remembered that his family lived in a unit on the twentieth floor ah!

    That was his first reaction?

    How could someone knock on a window this high up?

    Before he could get to his feet, a wave of cool air had traveled from the soles of his feet all the way up to his throat.

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7. Midnight chimes

Who else but his brother?

    Who else but his brother would know about this place?

    Did brother not die?

    It