From the very beginning, he had been lurking in the darkness.

Drawn by an unbelievable succession of loud bangs, he witnessed an incredibly inconceivable and violent scene. His heart was immersed in shock and trembling, and even... a long-missed excitement began to surge.

He cautiously concealed himself, masking his aura like a black cat prowling beneath the night sky, waiting with bated breath. He gathered all his Source Substance, even becoming as inert as Iron Stone, as he lurked, peered, and waited.

At last, he found this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In that instant, the former Pharaoh's Guard, now a bounty hunter known as 'Million Gold,' Bruce, took action, firing a 'Golden Bullet' worth its weight in a million gold from the muzzle of his gun.

A lethal strike!

Even the sharpest intuition couldn't sense this crystallized intent to kill before laying eyes on it.

The moment the gun sounded, the outcome was already sealed.

The bullet was closing in.

Huai Shi's Sword Blade descended.

Then, an all-engulfing roar consumed everything.

A flash of electric light from the storm's Thrust Attack swallowed the gaunt figure. The terrifying thunderclap from the Berserk Brothers enveloped everything.

Dust rose and the gale spread, sweeping in all directions. Then came the incessant, piercing sound of twisting metal. It was as if some heavy object was rolling continuously on the ground before finally... crashing into the square's pond.

Those were two distorted motorcycles and a hunched silhouette.

World Blood Night Worry Ghost.

He was already battered from the collision, his bones broken in countless places, with innumerable wounds on his chest and back. Yet, he still clutched his brother—holding the unconscious Explosive ZhuWei in his embrace. He never let go, not even when he himself passed out.

Bruce stood frozen in place, unable to comprehend why such an outcome had occurred.

Then, the dust-filled gale was cleaved apart... by the cold slash of a sharp blade.

From the heart of the collision, a slender figure strolled out, her long hair flying in the wind like flames.

Across the long distance, her dark eyes lifted. They stared at the distant attacker like an unfathomable abyss, making Bruce's expression freeze and his mouth twitch.

Unbelievably… unharmed!

Her cold gaze penetrated layers of disguise, revealing the dark-skinned, middle-aged man and the shotgun in his hands.

In the shadows, countless mews of cats seemed to ring out, fleeting black cat silhouettes encircling him—on his shoulders, at his feet, even on his arms.

This was proof of being blessed by the Cat God.

"Ah, have I been spotted?" The Black man with a felt hat grinned, revealing a row of striking, resplendent gold teeth, and upon those teeth, an indelicate greeting was etched.

"This is… a miscalculation, huh."

Even though the assassination had failed, he wasn't panicking. With such composure, he worked the bolt action and reloaded. Once more, he chambered a bullet cast from gold. Then, resting the shotgun on his shoulder, he gestured towards Miss Huaizhi.

"Come now, lady. Let me see your abilities—how much bounty can your head fetch?"

Beneath his feet, the cats vanished into the air, one by one. In their place, a solemn and austere spectral shadow rose behind him. It looked down upon the world like something from the Underworld itself, cold and fierce.

Once stripped of the feline's delicate exterior, the savage nature of a predator was laid bare.

In the dead silence, Huai Shi said nothing, taking one step forward, then two, then three, moving towards the darkness where he lurked.

This caused Bruce's smirk to turn more mocking and gruesome.

She's coming!

In the shadows at his feet, countless sharp outlines, visible only to him, began to emerge. During this prolonged period of lurking, the patch of darkness he occupied had been transformed into a deadly zone riddled with traps—a Hunter's fortress.

From the start, he was in an invincible position!

In that instant, he heard Huai Shi's sigh.

"Fool."

Then, the sound of a Space Break… vanished in a flash.

It erupted from Huai Shi's hand, ending just behind his ear.

It was so swift, so exaggerated, that he couldn't believe what he witnessed. In Huai Shi's hand, the curved Divine Sword, with a casual swing, seemed to unbelievably lengthen?

CLANG!

The Blade of Resent, already an exaggerated four feet in length, emitted a steely roar—the sharp sound of countless Iron Crystals proliferating.

It extended rapidly, as fast as light itself.

It bypassed Bruce's carefully laid death zone, plunged into the muzzle of the shotgun, effortlessly tore through the barrel, slanted upwards, pierced his lower jaw, entered his mouth, and cruelly continued upwards... all the way, emerging from the back of his head beneath the felt hat.

...Why is it... so long?

Bruce's last thought dissipated into the darkness.

All was over.

The crimson Curse of Grudge and an endless, ravenous hunger spread out, instantly ending all struggle.

Then, the sharp blade retracted slightly, by two inches. As Huai Shi stepped forward, it swept across... cleanly completing the ultra-long-distance beheading. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The Steel Crows excitedly leaped down from their perches. Sweeping over with the darkness of the Buried Sacred Place, Million Gold Bruce vanished from the world.