HAGLTP Chapter 51

The two of them were positioned one in front of the other, separated by the distance of a person. Huo Lin was nearly 1.9 meters tall, towering half a head over him; it was reasonable for him to lean down and rest his head on Huo Lin’s shoulder.

But what if he took another step forward?

Why could Huo Lin’s head still rest on his shoulder without hearing any footsteps?

At this thought, a chill ran up Xiao Lu’s spine. What exactly was resting its head on his shoulder?

Huo Lin’s voice, tinged with amusement, broke the silence: “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to keep walking?”

Xiao Lu tried to keep his tone calm: “I suddenly remembered something; I might need to go back for a bit. Why don’t you go ahead, Teacher?”

“I’ll accompany you.” Huo Lin’s voice was low, accentuating the magnetic quality typical of an adult male.

Xiao Lu replied, “Teacher, I just need to use the restroom.”

“By yourself? How about I help you…” The warm breath brushed against his ear, causing Xiao Lu to shiver involuntarily.

It wasn’t out of fear.

His hanging hand had already clenched into a fist.

What on earth was this thing? Wearing a familiar facade while engaging in such lewd behavior—did it deserve that male model face?!

No response. Xiao Lu tightened his fist and swung a heavy punch at his own shoulder. At the same time, he leaped forward, increasing the distance between them.

Huo Lin remained standing in place.

Still dressed in that outfit reminiscent of a male model’s runway show, his face was still that same face.

But his neck had bizarrely stretched forward by nearly a meter, and patches of black spots began to appear on his face and neck.

It was as if the process of some food decaying was being recorded by a camera and played back at high speed.

In the brief seconds Xiao Lu stared at him, the black spots on Huo Lin’s face spread even larger, almost covering half of it, making him look no better than those decaying zombies.

Seeing that Xiao Lu had noticed him, Huo Lin’s gloomy face split into a grin, the corners of his mouth stretching wide.

Unlike the upward curve of a normal person’s smile, it was a straight, almost knife-like gash.

“My good student… come on… be with your teacher…”

“Get lost.”

Xiao Lu politely refused, even pulling out a steel pipe to show his respect for the teacher.

In modern society, few people use swords; the daggers found are all short, and the steel pipe was just more convenient.

The black spots continued to spread across Huo Lin’s body.

He looked increasingly less human. A pair of pitch-black wings emerged from his back, lacking substance, merely shadows formed of black, resembling the shape of a butterfly.

Butterflies have always been symbols of beauty.

But at this moment, the shadowy wings of the butterfly evoked no sense of beauty whatsoever.

Huo Lin’s body seemed to have become a cocoon, with the butterfly hatching from within him. His shell was growing thinner, his tall frame hunched over, twitching abnormally.

As the shadow gradually detached from Huo Lin’s body, the instinctual fear in Xiao Lu surged once more.

He knew what it was.

Taking advantage of the shadow not having fully emerged yet, Xiao Lu turned and ran forward quickly.

At the same time, his mind was filled with questions.

Why would a person become the host of a shadow? Why Huo Lin? Wasn’t Huo Lin Mr. A? Would Mr. A… also die?

Or had he already died?

At this thought, Xiao Lu’s heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

No, that’s not right.

Xiao Lu recalled the note that had appeared in his pocket.

The time he spent looking for the key was not far from Huo Lin’s disappearance; perhaps the other party had sensed something, knowing he could no longer use this identity, so they informed him of their target in this world in advance.

What had happened after the other party disappeared?

He also wondered if Ai Zhenzhen and Hao Si, who had also vanished, were okay.

Unfortunately, at this moment, no one could help him answer, and the clues he held were too few to analyze.

The dark butterfly shadow behind him was growing larger and larger. From the height of one person to two, three… and it continued to rise, quickly approaching those shadows he had seen before.

When the small butterfly grew enormous, casting a shadow like a small mountain, it became a terrifying presence.

Even more frightening was that this butterfly was particularly persistent. It kept flying toward Xiao Lu.

Xiao Lu deliberately lightened his footsteps, even changing directions several times, yet it still pursued him closely.

This thing appeared to move slowly, but in reality, due to its massive size, its speed was not slow at all.

As the distance between them closed, Xiao Lu quickly flipped open a map, searching for something.

Internet-famous restaurants, escape rooms, cat cafes, foot massages, indescribable small salons… no, not these.

Finally, he found what he was looking for.

…

The enormous butterfly spread its wings and flew across the sky.

The shadow that blocked the light dyed the vast white mist a layer of black, making everything below appear incredibly dim.

The butterfly circled in the air several times, as if searching for something.

But after flying around and around, it ultimately did not land. After a slow final spiral, the butterfly shadow gradually drifted away.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

Xiao Lu suddenly sat up from the fountain pool at the hotel entrance, gasping for the long-lost fresh air, his lungs aching slightly from the cold air rushing in.

That damned butterfly had chased him too closely; whether he held his breath or stopped moving, it made no difference to its persistence.

With no other choice, Xiao Lu could only choose to submerge himself in the water.

Fortunately, the original owner was a rebellious and athletic teenager, with quite a good lung capacity, so he wouldn’t drown in the pool.

·

The Miles Building was a skyscraper with 120 floors, one of the most well-known high-rises in the world. Even on a normal day, it was enough to make one feel small, and shrouded in fog, it resembled a monster that seemed to grow endlessly upward.

Following the plot’s description, Xiao Lu found the elevator going down.

At this moment, the entire city had lost power, and the elevator was naturally unusable. Xiao Lu skillfully pried open the elevator doors and climbed directly into the shaft, heading down.

The elevator shaft was also filled with white mist, visibility was slightly better than on the street, but unlike in the school, where the mist was completely invisible.

This indicated that the power of another world had already invaded here.

Xiao Lu thought he needed to speed up a bit to avoid any accidents.

The elevator reached the bottom floor.

Prying open the door, Xiao Lu found the corridor was also shrouded in a hazy white mist; the world was very quiet, with only the sound of his footsteps echoing hollowly.

Surprisingly, there was still electricity on the bottom floor, the pale lights hanging overhead felt particularly devoid of warmth, giving off a very mad scientist vibe.

The temperature on the bottom floor was very low, and soon, Xiao Lu felt goosebumps rising on his skin.

Perhaps for the sake of the plot, Boss Zhou Gu had set up his mysterious laboratory like a maze. The original plot did not detail the route taken, and his cheating assistant Ivan was not around, so Xiao Lu could only try to navigate slowly on his own.

This was not easy, as the mist obscured part of his vision, making it difficult to discern which way he had already walked.

Xiao Lu could only take out a dagger and mark the walls.

…

His luck was not great; he had already seen the marks he made three times in a row.

This indicated he had been going in circles on the same path.

“I need a lucky teammate.” Xiao Lu sighed, putting away the dagger and looking at his shadow elongated by the light.

Wait, an elongated shadow?

Xiao Lu looked up at the light above him.

The light was not far from the center of his forehead; at this angle, the shadow should only appear at his feet. A distant light source would cast a shadow that stretched out.

Xiao Lu directed his gaze toward “his shadow,” and the more he looked, the colder his back felt.

Was this really his shadow?

Xiao Lu stared at the shadow and gently moved his fingers.

The shadow’s fingers moved in response.

Xiao Lu clearly observed that the shadow’s movement occurred about half a second after he moved his fingers, not in sync with him.

It was more like it was mimicking his actions.

Realizing this, Xiao Lu immediately took off running.

The slender youth, with long legs and wearing shoes suitable for movement, quickly dashed away.

At that moment, his shadow remained in its previous position, as if it hadn’t reacted yet, wondering why this big guy suddenly made such a big move.

Xiao Lu didn’t wait for it to react and quickly chose a direction to sprint toward.

What on earth were these shadows? They appeared to lack substance, but without a doubt, they were capable of attacking, yet Xiao Lu had no idea what their weaknesses were.

He knew nothing about the other world, like a first grader who had mistakenly entered the wrong exam room, staring blankly at a calculus test.

But even without knowing anything, Xiao Lu’s brute-force approach was proving effective.

The shadow’s speed was not fast; it tried to catch up to Xiao Lu but gradually fell behind due to his rabbit-like agility.

The distance between them widened, the shadow resembling a dog trying to chase a motorcycle, exerting all its effort to run but ultimately succumbing to human strength.

Xiao Lu’s figure vanished into the mist.

After lingering in place for a moment, the shadow disappeared into the fog.

·

Having confirmed he had completely shaken off the shadow, Xiao Lu found a corner to squat down and rest for a while.

He also took out a piece of chocolate from his pocket to replenish his energy; the good thing about modern society was that high-calorie snacks were everywhere.

After escaping from the shadow twice, he had gained some insights.

First, the shadow seemed to need to stay close to a human for a while before it could launch an attack.

Second, their speed was not fast.

Third, these things relied on sound and breath to identify their targets, and their perception was not particularly sensitive.

Another point was his speculation: the shadow’s ability seemed to be related to its size; those giant ones on the street clearly exerted a much stronger sense of oppression than the humanoid one that had just followed him.

Unfortunately, he still didn’t know how to eliminate this thing; the two worlds’ perspectives were too different.

At that moment, the sound of dress shoes echoed once more in the mist.

With previous experience, Xiao Lu instinctively drew his weapon, ready to respond.

“Is it you? You really know where Ziyan is! Tell me quickly, and I’ll give you 5 million!”

From this idiotic statement, it was clear who it was.

Xiao Lu looked at the domineering CEO walking out of the mist with a strange expression: “Why is it you?”

The CEO crossed his arms, a wicked smile on his face: “Of course, I’m here to find my Ziyan.”

“I knew you guys were suspicious. Hmph, otherwise, why would I always run into you when looking for Ziyan? Tell me, where have you hidden her? Don’t test my patience.”

Xiao Lu looked him up and down; he still had that handsome yet awkward demeanor. His lines were as cringeworthy as ever, but he seemed to show no signs of being tainted by the shadow.

A remarkable fellow.

Xiao Lu spread his hands: “I’m just an ordinary student; I really don’t know any Ziyan, nor do I know Dream Butterfly, Heart Rain, or Ice Glass.”

“Dream Butterfly, Heart Rain, Ice Glass… what kind of nonsense women are those? My heart only has Ziyan.” The CEO scoffed.

Then he asked Xiao Lu: “If you don’t know Ziyan, why are you here?”

Xiao Lu shrugged: “Came to fight; I’m not happy with the boss here.”

“Oh, quite spirited.” The CEO nodded.

He raised his hand, pulling out his custom-made golden dragon-patterned pen, opened a leather checkbook made from the first layer of cowhide, and wrote out a check for 500,000, handing it over.

“Your courage deserves encouragement.”

The check bore the flamboyant name “Lu Erwen,” the handwriting arrogant and domineering, filled with the aura of a CEO.

Xiao Lu accepted this check, which probably wouldn’t be cashed, and out of politeness, he thanked him.

Xiao Lu was curious about his thought process: “Why did you come here to find your Ziyan?”

Lu Erwen gazed into the distance, his expression infinitely desolate: “I have many enemies in this world. Ziyan is the woman I love; they will surely do everything they can to take her away from me, making me yearn for her day and night, and perhaps Ziyan has already been captured.”

“Among your enemies, is there a mad scientist named Zhou Gu?”

“No.”

“Then you can leave; this is his territory, and he shouldn’t be interested in your Ziyan.”

“No, Ziyan is the most perfect woman in this world; no man can resist her charm. Her hair is as black as night, her lips as red as roses, her skin as white as milk, and her eyes sparkle with seven colors…”

“…Alright.” Xiao Lu didn’t want to hear any more about Ziyan, so he changed the subject: “How did you get here? This journey isn’t safe.”

Lu Erwen crossed his arms, a confident smirk on his face: “I am a martial arts champion, a black belt in Taekwondo, a ninth dan in Karate, skilled in horseback riding, shooting, racing, and piloting submarines, able to fly a plane with my bare hands, single-handedly fend off pirates on the high seas, and have been honored by over sixty countries worldwide.”

“Heh, kid, you’re still far from it.”

Xiao Lu: “…”

Why did that sound so familiar? Wasn’t the latter half of that the legendary tale of the “super invincible cool and awesome Lu Aotian” that circulated in school?

Who would have thought he would meet a real-life version plus.

Although the domineering CEO was awkward and cheesy, one should never underestimate this seemingly crazy fellow.

Perhaps in Lu Erwen’s original world, due to these outrageous settings, all the luck of the world had gathered around him, allowing him to bounce around in the dangerous other world without a care.

The protagonist’s halo, CEO special edition, was really effective; Xiao Lu wanted one too.

But then he thought about the accompanying intelligence-reducing buff…

Forget it; he didn’t want to run around the world, spouting cheesy lines while searching for the probably nonexistent Ziyan.

【Author’s Note】

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me with a霸王票 or watered my nutrient solution between 2022-01-04 18:53:13 and 2022-01-05 18:12:05!

Thanks to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Li Ming Lie Yan 1 bottle;

Thank you all for your support; I will continue to work hard!