Chapter 189: 189, The Thanks Coin that passed by

Yang Xiaojin snatched two grenades from a Qingshi soldier in one swift motion, the soldier instinctively trying to evade her, for protecting one’s military ordnance was every soldier’s reflex—yet he felt only a numbness on his hand before the grenades were wrenched away.

Yang Xiaojin resolutely pulled the pins and hurled them into the sewer, where a thunderous boom erupted like an earthquake, sending bricks along the street erupting skyward.

The experimental subjects within the enclosed space could not withstand the simultaneous detonation of two grenades, their bodies shattered as blood gushed from seven orifices, leaving them sprawled and lifeless.

Yet even so, the group discovered that among the dozen or so experimental subjects, a few remained unscathed, prompting Ren Xiaoshu to coldly demand, “Blast again!”

Yang Xiaojin seized two more grenades and tossed them in, and only then did the remaining mobile experimental subjects scatter backward, releasing Ren Xiaoshu’s shadow.

Ren Xiaoshu lay on the ground, his skull buzzing with pain, realizing for the first time the sheer magnitude of a grenade’s destructive force.

The sensation was akin to a thousand blades slicing through his flesh, the shrapnel’s power far exceeding his imagination.

Still, he had allowed Yang Xiaojin to hurl the grenades knowing that while he would endure the agony of the explosion, his shadow would remain unharmed.

But now, Luo Lan had incurred a debt of immense gratitude, hadn’t she?

The shadow emerged from the well, and Luo Lan, tears streaming, clasped its hand, “Thank you, Xu Xianchu, for this.”

Ren Xiaoshu thought, *What the hell does this have to do with Xu Xianchu…*

But he could not explain—

Previously, he had always used the shadow as a scapegoat, yet this time, having performed a benevolent act, Ren Xiaoshu found himself unmoored.

Luo Lan suddenly declared, “We should all thank him. If not for Xu Xianchu, we’d have five brothers lying dead in that sewer.”

“Thank you, Xu Xianchu!”

As a crowd chorused their gratitude to the shadow, Ren Xiaoshu received not a single token of thanks!

His heart clenched—over a hundred gratitude coins, vanished in an instant?!

He needed over eight hundred coins to unlock the next weapon branch, and with Luo Lan leading more acknowledgments, wouldn’t his weapon be unlocked?

A hundred coins had procured the Black Blade, a weapon formidable enough to spare him countless deaths, so Ren Xiaoshu had longed to behold the weapon worth a thousand coins.

Yet he had just squandered over a hundred coins in one fell swoop!

In that moment, Ren Xiaoshu wanted to confess to all his past misdeeds—any bounty, any manhunt, none of it mattered if only he could reclaim those coins!

But then Luo Lan fixed him with a glare: “Xu Xianchu just saved your lives, and you two don’t even thank him?”

Ren Xiaoshu: “……Thank you.”

Yang Xiaojin, hiding a smile, thanked the shadow too, finding the scene peculiarly amusing—though now was not the time to mock Ren Xiaoshu. She said, “The explosions will draw more experimental subjects here. Grab the bombs from the courtyard!”

Kicking open the courtyard gate, Yang Xiaojin froze the crowd—beneath their feet lay a sea of cluster bombs. Ren Xiaoshu mused that she must have spent her nights crafting them instead of sleeping through class.

“I’ve got bombs next door too…”

The Qingshi’s hundred-odd members watched Ren Xiaoshu and Yang Xiaojin, marveling at how these youths wielded such brutality.

Luo Lan bellowed, “What’re you gawking at? Grab the explosives and rig them along the path—let’s blow those freaks to kingdom come!”

With bombs in hand, there was no need for Yang Xiaojin to instruct further; each of Luo Lan’s Qingshi operatives were battle-hardened elites, so adept with explosives they were second nature.

They had smuggled in ample munitions before assaulting the Li clan, but all had been expended in the fray—now replenished, they were eager to unleash havoc.

After being chased by experimental subjects for so long, they craved vengeance, a reckoning through bloodshed.

As expected, the sewer’s four grenades drew over a hundred experimental subjects, and as Luo Lan glanced back, he saw them weaving through the irregular structures with eerie precision.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom erupted behind them, a blinding inferno erupting skyward.

An experimental subject passing too close to the explosives was hurled away by the blast’s force.

The Qingshi soldiers who had set the charges exchanged glances—they had assumed the improvised bombs would lack potency, yet their power surpassed all expectations.

They couldn’t help but eye Yang Xiaojin—this was the work of a girl?!

Several experimental subjects were blown to pieces, yet their comrades grew fiercer, their savagery and ferocity intensified.

Explosions echoed endlessly behind Ren Xiaoshu’s group, but each detonation along their pursuers’ path failed to diminish their numbers.

It was not that the bombs proved ineffective, but that fresh hordes of experimental subjects surged forward relentlessly!

These creatures seemed hellbent on slaughtering them, as though their lives depended on it!

Luo Lan clutched his head, teeth aching, “Though we’ve many bombs, their numbers outstrip ours. Even if we breach the stronghold, we’ll never escape their hunt!”

Though the stronghold’s gate loomed ahead, relief eluded them—these experimental subjects were no mindless fools; fleeing the gate would not halt their pursuit.

Even beyond the threshold, salvation remained uncertain.

Yet at that moment, an armored vehicle burst through the already-shattered gate, its fragments exploding midair. Luo Lan glimpsed the ginkgo leaf emblem atop the hulking vehicle.

The black armored cars surged forward like colossal beasts, one after another, Qingshi armored vehicles roaring into the fray. Ren Xiaoshu estimated there must be dozens—

Had Qingshi deployed an entire battalion?!

Luo Lan halted mid-retreat, standing in the street as the experimental subjects surged toward him, and he laughed wildly, “Brats, your granddaddy’s reinforcements are here—hahaha!”

The once-cringing, head-clutching oaf now swaggered with newfound confidence.

The convoy of armored cars sped past them, interposing themselves between the group and their pursuers. Qingzi descended from one vehicle, followed by a sea of Qingshi operatives.