Myriad Realms Gatekeeper
Chapter 39: Chapter 34: Leaving No Tracks over a Thousand Miles

Renjian Wudao Group Building.

Underground basement.

Shen Ye crouched next to a corpse, hand propping up his chin, silently lost in thought.

Recalling how he had requested to see the corpse again, Shen Ye couldn't help but feel there was something off about Qian Rushan's strange tone over the phone.

——For a young man to enjoy spending time with corpses, claiming he was looking for clues,

It seemed somewhat inappropriate no matter how one looked at it.

But there was no other way.

It was already evening.

He had no idea how Xiao Mengyu was faring at the moment.

He had to come and ask.

"There's no one around."

The Skeleton whispered quietly.

Shen Ye nodded and looked towards the assassin's corpse.

"Shall we talk again?"

He spoke.

The corpse opened its eyes, and after a while, it responded, "What do you want to talk about?"

Shen Ye asked,

"Xiao Mengyu of the Luo family is a swordsman. If she faces 'The Skinner,' what are her chances of winning?"

"Xiao Mengyu? I've heard of her; she's a genius of this generation in the Luo family," the corpse pondered and said: "She's adept at using various forces to shape victorious situations, extremely impressive in the realm of combat talent."

"So she can win?" Shen Ye said.

"No, she will lose," the corpse said.

"But you just said she's extremely impressive," Shen Ye said, displeased.

"'The Skinner' is a top-tier assassin, shrouded in mystery with an unknown background. Moreover, everyone who has seen him fight at full strength is dead; not one has survived," the corpse said.

"So Xiao Mengyu definitely can't beat him?" Shen Ye asked.

"When 'The Skinner' first appeared, he killed a grown expert of a prominent family, sending shockwaves around the world. Afterwards, surviving multiple assassinations, he has lived well for decades, unscathed to this day."

"The Xiao Mengyu you're speaking of is just a teenage girl. Though she's exceptionally talented, she's still too young and no match for him," the corpse said seriously.

"He killed members of a prominent family and still survived?" Shen Ye said incredulously.

"To be precise, he was hired for internal strife within a prominent family."

"In such a case, if the family is not united, they wouldn't go all out to kill him —"

"But still, that's quite impressive."

"Indeed impressive," Shen Ye said.

"By the way, 'The Skinner' has never failed a mission," the corpse said.

"One last question," Shen Ye said.

"Speak," the corpse said.

"Do you have any other team members?"

"No, 'The Skinner' is the only one left. We thought it was going to be an easy job... who could have predicted it would turn out like this?" the corpse sighed and said.

Yes indeed.

The original Shen Ye was already dead.

Your mission should have been completed long ago, and you could have left this city to collect your reward.

But I'm here.

"If there is nothing else, rest in peace," Shen Ye said.

The corpse closed its eyes.

Shen Ye slowly stood up and turned to leave.

Xiao Mengyu was in danger.

He had intended to utilize her strength to investigate the truth, but instead, he had put her in harm's way.

Her brother had died trying to help him.

Chen Haoyu was dead.

That witness was probably dead too.

How many more lives would be lost?

She was the only one still putting in all her effort for this case.

...He couldn't let her die.

But how could he aid in the fight with his own strength?

No.

Perhaps fighting wasn't necessary.

All he needed to do was to rescue her.

Firstly, he had a door.

Secondly, he still had the Ghost Fire Motorcycle.

It seemed there might be a chance.

"Hey, it's very dangerous. Don't go getting yourself killed; what would I do if you died?"

The Skeleton warned in a low voice.

"Shut up, do you think you can hide from it all?" Shen Ye said.

Returning to the dormitory.

Shen Ye placed the Ghost Fire Motorcycle inside the ring and strapped the Dusk Shortsword behind him, ready for what was to come.

His cell phone suddenly rang.

Qian Rushan's voice came through the phone:

"Tonight, your entire floor is completely sealed off. Nobody is allowed to leave. We're leaving first thing in the morning," Qian Rushan said.

"Ah? Sealed off completely?" Shen Ye was surprised.

"Right, it's for your safety. Get some good rest. See you tomorrow," Qian Rushan said.

The call ended.

Shen Ye fell into deep thought.

Now he had no way to leave.

What to do?

Could he really watch helplessly as Xiao Mengyu walked to her death?

Suddenly.

The phone rang again.

It was an unfamiliar number.

Shen Ye tensed up and immediately answered.

A strange, young girl's voice came through:

"Excuse me, is this Shen Ye?"

"It's me."

"My mom told me that if I couldn't get in touch with her, I should replace you and call the police together."

"Who are you?"

"My mom is a nurse at City First Hospital. She saw the incident where you encountered a ghost."

It was the witness!

That explained why she knew his phone number.

—— He had registered his contact information at the nurse's station when he went to see Chen Haoyu.

"Where's your mom?" Shen Ye immediately asked.

The sound of sobbing came through the phone: "She told me to go to Maple Forest Hotel in the Western Suburbs, and she would wait for me there, but —"

"I can't reach her now."

"Where are you?" Shen Ye immediately asked.

The voice hesitated and then said, "I'm at Star Fast Food on Changhong Street, just across from Maple Forest Hotel."

"Good, don't go anywhere, wait for me — and you should call the police right now," Shen Ye said.

"Okay."

The call ended.

"It's not worth the risk; watch out for traps," the Skeleton said.

"The corpse said there's only one assassin left, 'The Skinner' — a dead man wouldn't lie to me," Shen Ye said.

"How safe it is to hide here, why bother looking for trouble?" the Skeleton persuaded again.

"Don't talk anymore," Shen Ye said calmly, "Someone else wants to kill me, do you understand?"

"—Do I have to be a coward for my whole life? Not even daring to replace out who wants to kill me?"

The Great Skeleton fell silent.

A resolute glint flickered in Shen Ye's eyes.

Human Martial Arts Group had given him everything it could already.

Before he showed more value, they wouldn't stir up trouble for his sake, let alone specially pursue the assassin from the Assassins Alliance.

After all, assassins would rather die than spill their secrets.

If it weren't for his Necromantic Talent from the Nightmare World, he wouldn't be able to uncover the truth.

In other words—

If he wanted to pursue the truth, he could only rely on himself!

—Of course, it would be better with help.

Shen Ye softened his tone and said, "Help me check if there's anyone outside."

"I sense two Life Flames in the hallway, clearly someone is on patrol, you'll be discovered the moment you go out,"

the Great Skeleton said.

—Can't go out through the hallway then.

Whether for safety or danger, it's best if everyone thinks he's staying in the dormitory of the Martial Arts Tower.

Shen Ye looked out the window.

This was over a hundred floors up in the Renjian Wudo Group Building.

Although Qian Rushan had taken away a large number of people, seemingly to carry out some mission, there were still many people left on guard.

"There are no traces of Life Flames outside the window, but if you plan to fly with the motorcycle, the noise will immediately be noticed,"

the Great Skeleton remarked.

"Seems I can't use the motorcycle," Shen Ye mused.

"That's right, you can't fly, so just stay in the room honestly. That way, we're both safe," the Great Skeleton took the opportunity to advise again.

Shen Ye walked back and forth in the room and then suddenly muttered to himself:

"Escape lane..."

"What?" the Great Skeleton asked.

Shen Ye ignored it and stretched out his hand to press on the air.

A door instantly appeared.

He opened the door.

Inside was still that secret tunnel from the battlefield.

"Dismiss."

The door disappeared.

Shen Ye once again stretched out his palm, tilting his fingers toward himself, and pressed on the air.

The door reappeared.

Only this time, there was an angle between the door and the ground.

Opening the door still revealed the tunnel.

But because the door was angled from the ground, the tunnel behind it was like an uphill path.

"It worked," Shen Ye said.

"Worked? Worked what?" the Great Skeleton was clueless.

Shen Ye didn't bother with it and directly jumped onto the windowsill, surveying the sky outside.

The sky was darkening.

It seemed likely to rain tonight; even though the wind was strong, it couldn't disperse the gathering dark clouds.

The dense clouds in the sky were a good thing.

At least shrouded in fog, no one could see what might appear outside of the building.

Shen Ye looked down.

The city was like a miniature model, very far from him.

—To descend to the ground from this height?

Shen Ye bit his lip and allocated all 7 points of his Attribute into Agility.

Now his Agility reached 10.1.

Shen Ye felt as light as a feather, as if he could ride the wind away at any moment, or like a fish that could freely swim through space.

He shook his head slightly.

It was an illusion from the sudden increase in his Attribute.

Nevertheless—

He was now even able to perform "Misplace" from "Moonlight Deer Step"!

"You're not planning to jump off the building, are you?"

the Great Skeleton quickly said:

"I'm telling you, from this height, even if your Agility reached 30 it would be useless, you'd still fall to your death!"

Shen Ye stared at the distant ground and said, "There's no time to explain, Skeleton Shrimp, let's go!"

"You—damn it!" the Great Skeleton cried out in shock.

Because Shen Ye had already leapt out of the window.

The wind whistled past his ears.

Shen Ye plummeted from the skies, his speed increasing rapidly.

At a certain moment.

He suddenly stretched out his palm, fingers slightly curved backward, and yelled,

"Door!"

The door tilted into existence.

Shen Ye kicked open the door and sprinted up the sloping tunnel behind it.

Due to the uphill's buffer, his speed slowed down significantly.

At the end of the tunnel—

"Door!"

Another door appeared.

Shen Ye rammed through the door, which slowed his descent even more.

He reemerged in the air, continuing to fall.

Then he immediately raised his hand to release another door.

Thus, he charged up the incline again.

—This was like an escape lane on a high-speed highway in mountainous areas.

A truck, losing control of speed, could slow down through the steep escape lane to avert a disaster that could destroy the vehicle and take lives.

After charging up three times, Shen Ye's speed had completely reduced.

He continued his descent.

Whenever his speed neared a dangerous limit, he would again open a door to rush up the steep incline a few times.

His falling speed quickly diminished.

So he kept descending until—

Thud.

Shen Ye bent his knees slightly to absorb the mild impact and stood on the building's side in a green belt.

He jumped out of the green space and slipped into the big trees across the road.

The cold wind howled.

A night rain was coming.

—All thanks to the broad expanse of dark clouds and lightning.

No one noticed what he had just done.

"Madman! I almost thought I was going to die in your barren world!"

the Great Skeleton yelled angrily.

"Quit the chatter, bring out the motorcycle—we've got a busy night," Shen Ye said as he scanned his surroundings.

In a moment.

The motorcycle unfolded before him.

Shen Ye intoned,

"Kill a man every ten steps, leave no trace for a thousand miles."

The motorcycle immediately roared lowly.

A streak of flame blazed through the night, speeding towards the Western Suburbs.