Chapter 50: Kinder than Kind
The speed at which the meteor fell was too fast. By the time Dan Liang and company realized that the meteor would fall near them, there was already no time to escape.
“Hurry, hurry up and put up your Psionic Barriers!” Dan Liang immediately shouted.
Everyone immediately jolted out of their daze. A huge explosion would ensue when the meteor crashed, so they had to put up their Psionic Barriers to survive the explosion.
Subconsciously, everyone produced a Psionic Barrier. Those convicts, who had expended most of their Psionic Power while running, did not dare to hold back as they immediately used up all their Psionic Power.
“Boom!”
The flaming meteor abruptly hit the ground, about a few hundred meters away from the group. A deafening explosion along with a violent wind swept up. Countless rubble and bricks flew up and were blown towards the group, assaulting them in a rain of debris.
A gigantic green shield suddenly appeared in front of all them, blocking all the debris.
Everyone was surprised. The shield was produced by Dan Liang. He got the rest to produce Psionic Barriers, but he had produced a Psionic Shield. Shields were naturally thicker than barriers, but shields could only defend in a single direction, and was unable to protect one’s entire body.
Although Dan Liang’s shield blocked the debris for everyone, he was exposed to the explosive storm. His clothes flared up as though his body was about to be lifted by the wind, but his feet rooted himself firmly to the ground. His stared with widened eyes as his face turned red.
The trembling convicts, who had produced Psionic Barriers, looked at Dan Liang’s back. Other than fear, they had no other expression.
The violent winds from the explosion was temporary, but the disaster had just begun.
Amidst the dust, a massive and terrifying figure slowly crept out of the gigantic crater, revealing its identity. It had a head of a ferocious tiger and a body of a snake that stretched more than a kilometer. The scales on its snake body shimmered with a silver luster, making it look extremely hard. The monster suddenly looked up and gave a deafening roar.
“Roar!”
At the moment the monster roared, it had slithered its body out of the crater. The monster’s snake-like body was dozens of meters in width. As it slithered on the ground, it produced a grinding sound as well as sending debris up. It made one’s hair stand on end and one’s body shudder with fear.
“B Class astral beast, Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake.”
Liang Dan immediately determined the monster’s identity. He knew that they had no way to fight it. Just as he wanted to shout for everyone to flee, he saw that they had already run far into the distance in a sorry state.
The convicts had expended their Psionic Power to survive the explosion, so they were running as slow as a tortoise’s crawl at the moment. And running ahead of them was Delian and Hongmei, running faster than rabbits. They pulled away very quickly.
“No, they won’t be able to run away.”
To survive the crashing of meteor, one needed to first withstand the initial explosion, and then most importantly of all, escape from the astral beast’s aggro range. Although Delian and Hongmei ran quickly, it was still not enough, much less the convicts.
Dan Liang immediately circulated his Psionic Power, and ran towards the two people in front. He was the strongest amongst them, and was much stronger, so he quickly overtook the convicts and began to catch up with Delian and Hongmei.
“Help me. Save us!”
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t abandon us? Liars, all of you are such darn liars!”
“Aren’t you a Hero? Fight the monster!”
“Please, don’t abandon us! No, you are just a demon wearing a coat of kindness. Come back!”
“…”
The convicts looked at Dan Liang’s figure that was slowly distancing itself from them. They were either crying or cursing as they carried their exhausted bodies forward in a panting run. They could feel the mocking and cruel gaze from the monster behind them. Their eyes were filled with despair as their spirits were on the brink of collapse.
Dan Liang heard what they said and his expression turned gloomier, but his eyes were still extremely bright. Very quickly, he caught up to Delian and Hongmei and he shouted, “Save those convicts!”
“Are you mad? How do we save them?”
Hongmei screamed back at Dan Liang’s “joke”. Her made-up face was already extremely pale and her trembling lips expressed her terror.
“Brother Dan, wake up! The three of us can’t even save ourselves, what more them. Let them be bait, at least they will delay the astral beast for a moment. Only then can we escape!”
Delian’s eyes were exuding a cold beam as he said words with no holds barred.
“I’ll delay the astral beast!”
Dan Liang loudly declared his intentions. “My superpower can be used to keep the Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake occupied for a period of time. All of you should take advantage of this period of time to escape. Those convicts are unable to identify the correct direction to head in, so they need your guidance!”
“Delian, Hongmei! I’ll save everyone, you save them!”
The roaring wind that came from running could not disperse the fiery words he said. Delian and Hongmei looked Dan Liang in the eye and were stunned. They actually could not understand why Dan Liang, who had the best chance of escaping, would make such a foolish decision!
“We are Heroes. Saving people in danger is our responsibility, isn’t it?”
Dan Liang smiled slightly in a very foolish and naive manner.
“Save them, please!”
Without any time to earnestly persuade the duo, Dan Liang stopped in his footsteps, and after bowing deeply at them, he turned around and charged right at the criminals and the slithering snake monster.
As Dan Liang ran, his eyes were filled with resolute courage.
Delian and Hongmei turned their heads to look at the quickly disappearing Dan Liang. Their expressions were slightly stiff, but they did not slow down their footsteps, as they carried on running.
“Hey, will you save them?” Hongmei turned to Delian and gave him a slight smile.
“Them” referred to the convicts, and the so-called “save” actually meant the simple task of guiding them in the correct direction.
“What about you?” Delian similarly cocked his head and smiled at Hongmei.
“Of course…not.” Hongmei stuck her tongue out.
“I wish so much that they would die cleanly.” Delian shrugged his shoulders.
The duo turned their heads to look forward as the corner of their lips suffused a cold smile. They accelerated and suddenly split off in two different directions at the crossroad ahead. Running along different paths, they disappeared into the darkness.
…
After the Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake landed on the ground, it took slightly more than ten seconds to adjust its body. This was a necessary period of adaption whenever an astral beast landed on Earth. It was also the only chance for humans to escape. However, the more powerful the astral beast, the shorter the adaption period. B Class astral beasts only needed about ten seconds.
Those convicts, who had nearly expended all their Psionic Power, naturally could not escape the Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake’s aggro range in such a short period of time. Knowing that, they felt a deep sense of despair. However, humans were such pathetic creatures at times. The more they felt despair, the more they struggled. And these convicts were such people. Their desire for survival had reached its peak.
Despite feeling as though their lungs were burning and how their legs were cramping, they still ran frantically forward. Some of the convicts would even chase up to the person in front of them and forcefully pull them down to the ground. In their opinion, having a corpse behind them would buy them a little bit more time for their escape.
This process of escaping while pulling at each other happened. Even though they were being chased by Death, they were competing for their lives with others.
The hideous and ugly nature of humans was perfectly showcased by these convicts.
The Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake was extremely fast. As its body slithered on the ground, it instantly arrived at the convict who lined the back. The tiger head lowered as its sharp and dense teeth chomped away, swallowing the convict and his tragic screams whole.
The Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake did not stop as it continued hunting. These puny humans were naturally not food in its eyes, but “ants” that were eyesores. Destroying all the “ants” was its nature.
Fear, despair and a desperate desire to survive intertwined in the convicts’ heart. They hated those prison wardens who had abandoned them. They hated Delian and Hongmei, and hated the self-proclaimed Hero, Dan Liang, who had abandoned them.
This hate gave them the power to hang on.
“Run! I’ll delay it!”
Suddenly, a desperate voice came from the front. A figure rushed past everyone at an extremely fast speed, heading straight at the menacing Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake.
The person, Hero Dan Liang!
The convicts were stunned, but immediately pressed forward with more energy. The self-proclaimed hero of a fool had saved them, which meant—they had a chance of survival.
As long as they survived, everything would be fine.
As for whether Dan Liang would be in danger as he held the Silver Scaled Tigerhead Snake back? Heh heh, was that important?
The convicts did not waste any efforts to pull the person in front of them, as they knew that this was the most potent bait that could buy them time. To survive, what they needed to do now was to run with all their energy.
At that moment, no convict looked back at the Hero. No one took a look at that Dan Liang who was kinder than kind.