Chapter 312: Someone Followed Instructions
The next set of vehicles rounded the corner before the first group could even finish dying.
Lingyun stood beside Rouxi on the porch and watched as three trucks force their way through the abandoned cars blocking the road. Men clung to the sides, their weapons already raised, while several more ran behind them as though they were afraid the fighting would end before they arrived.
Given the current circumstances, that seemed unlikely.
The plants had dragged most of the first group into the open space between the mansion and the road, leaving the blood, discarded weapons, and half-chewed bodies where the newcomers could see them. They also kept the view clear between the porch and the houses across the street.
After all, Gu Han’s men were still watching.
One of them had moved closer to the window with his binoculars pressed against his face, apparently worried that he might miss something important.
Lingyun smiled as the flames along his hands climbed toward his elbows.
He would hate to disappoint him.
Yuche stepped off the porch first. He carried the metal bat loosely in one hand, dragging the end across the stone steps with a slow scraping sound that made several of the surviving attackers turn toward him.
Zhou Chenghai followed without a weapon, although his torn shirt and the bullet marks across his chest made it obvious that bringing one wouldn’t have changed anything.
For a brief moment, Lingyun looked over his shoulder at Rouxi.
She remained near the porch railing with her baby curled around her wrist. Her expression hadn’t changed since the engines appeared, but the plants surrounding the property had shifted closer to the road, waiting for her to decide what they were allowed to eat.
"You’re staying here?" Lingyun asked, a bright smile on his face. "Because if you want, I can bring you people to kill... or stab. It’s really up to you. Or, if you want, I can just place their heads, hearts, and/or hands at your feet like the Goddess you are."
Was he going overboard? Sure. But that didn’t mean he was wrong. If it would make her happy, he could do a lot more than just give her dead bodies. Giving her the entire world was within reason. She just had to ask.
Rouxi rested one elbow against the railing as she smiled down at him. He loved that look on her face. "I have a good view," she murmured softly. "And I don’t want to have to clean up blood from my porch."
"That wasn’t what I meant," Lingyun replied, taking half a step toward the center of his universe.
"I know," she agreed. She didn’t say anything more, but she didn’t have to. Lingyun understood.
Laughing quietly, he turned back toward the road. There wasn’t any point asking whether she wanted protection. Yuche had already positioned himself between her and the largest concentration of weapons, while Zhou Chenghai’s body blocked the most direct path to the porch.
Rouxi was safe, she was happy staying there, and she didn’t mind him slipping his leash just a bit.
That meant Lingyun could really enjoy himself without worrying about going too far.
The lead truck stopped hard enough to make the men riding on the sides jump down before it had completely settled. A woman with a shaved head climbed out of the passenger side and stared at the remains of the first group.
Her attention moved from the bodies to the four people waiting near the mansion.
"What happened here?" she demanded like she had every right to demand something from Lingyun and the others.
Lingyun glanced around the road as though he hadn’t noticed the blood until she mentioned it. "Isn’t it obvious?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as he studied the woman. "They made poor choices, and then made a mess. It is really inconsiderate of them if you think about it."
The woman looked toward the man in the white coat, who was still kneeling between two vines with his arms stretched painfully apart.
"You called for everyone," she snapped.
"They’re stronger than the report said," the man gasped. "The plants move when she tells them to, and the men—"
Yuche swung the heavy metal bat like he was hoping for a home run before the other man could finish.
Metal connected with the side of the man’s head with a sound that carried across the road. His body went limp between the vines, which released his wrists and allowed him to collapse onto the pavement.
"It’s outta here!" shouted Lingyun, his eyes going wide as the man’s skull cracked like a watermelon.
The woman’s face hardened. "He was talking," she hissed at Lingyun and Yuche like they were her people. Man, she really was crazy. There was no way Lingyun would care about what she wanted.
After all, she wasn’t Rouxi.
"I was tired of listening," Yuche replied with a casual shrug. His silver bat was dripping with blood as he rested the bat against his shoulder again. He definitely didn’t care about cracking open that skull. In fact, Lingyun knew that smile well. Yuche was almost giddy being able to make people bleed again.
"The dragon head is back," purred Lingyun. "I was getting worried that you weren’t going to have fun anymore."
Yuche raised a single eyebrow to Lingyun. "The plants need some bonemeal to grow better. Happy plants, happy Rouxi."
Lingyun hummed and nodded his head frantically even as the newcomers raised their rifles, their focus completely on the two men in front of them.
Lingyun stepped forward, letting heat roll outward from his body, making the air above the pavement twist. The armed men hesitated when the magazines inside their rifles began to click and shift beneath Yuche’s control, but their leader shouted at them before common sense could take over.
"Fire!"
In their defense, they did try to obey the order, but Lingyun moved before the first bullet left its barrel.
He swept one hand across the road, and a wall of flame rose between the men and the mansion. The gunfire continued through it, but Yuche caught the bullets before they reached the porch and scattered them harmlessly into the ground.
The fire wasn’t meant to protect them.
It was meant to separate the newcomers from their vehicles.
Lingyun curled his fingers, and the flames shifted behind the armed men, forcing them forward as the heat pressed against their backs. Several tried to retreat anyway, only to find the truck doors too hot to touch.
One man screamed when the fabric of his jacket caught fire. He threw himself onto the road and rolled frantically across the pavement.
A vine caught him around the waist.
"See?" Lingyun called as the plant dragged the burning man away. "Someone finally followed instructions."
