Chapter 63: Chapter 63—Hungry Dog Gang
Chapter 63—Hungry Dog Gang
Lei Cheng caught the falling bag before it hit the ground. Zhu Lin stood upright as Lei Cheng handed it over. Lei Cheng closed his eyes, then glanced skyward—the crow had already dissolved into black mist, long gone.
The message had been delivered exactly as the Shadow intended.
"What’s wrong?" the constable asked, noticing the flicker of sorrow crossing Lei Cheng’s face.
"See for yourself," Lei Cheng said quietly. ’There’s a remnant of Life Essence inside it.’
Zhu Lin opened the sack. Inside lay the skeleton of a four-year-old child—flesh, organs, even most of the bones stripped away, gnawed down to fragments.
The sack slipped from his hands. He roared at the sky. "Damn you, Bizarre Creature! If you have the guts, come at me!"
Lei Cheng stood silently as Zhu Lin cursed for several minutes straight. Anger wouldn’t save the remaining children. Every second spent grieving was another second the Shadow gained.
’How do I search more efficiently?’ he thought. The dead couldn’t be revived—not with the power he currently had access to. He could only focus on what remained ahead.
"Wait." Constable Zhu suddenly hissed, pulling something else from the sack. "There’s a paper in here."
Lei Cheng took the clean white sheet—strikingly out of place against the skeleton it had come from—and unfolded it. It was written in the language of Henia.
’This is the master of the Bizarre Domain you currently stand in.’ They read. ’You are the strongest human within my domain right now. Let’s play a game.’
"What game?" Zhu Lin muttered furiously, reading over Lei Cheng’s shoulder.
’I know you’ve already pieced together part of my Bizarre Rule,’ the letter continued. ’I’ve taken every child the snaky gang something had kidnapped. You now have seven hours to find me. If you fail, they all die—I’ll devour them at once...’
Lei Cheng moved to the next line.
’Now here’s the game: for every half an hour, I’ll keep stealing a kid until you find me.’ The Shadow wasn’t merely setting a deadline—it was ensuring every delay carried another life.
"Damn it, damn it," Zhu growled, fists clenched.
Lei Cheng kept reading. ’Yes, you have doubts, don’t you? No Bizarre Creature reveals its own Bizarre Rule willingly...’
"Yes, what is it?" the fat constable hissed.
’Find it yourself.’ Was the last line on the page.
’As expected,’ Lei Cheng thought, raising a brow. ’He’s hiding something else.’ A creature clever enough to write this letter wouldn’t reveal every rule so easily.
He flipped the paper over. Nothing on the back.
He crushed it in his fist, and white-gold flame burned it to nothing.
"What now?" Zhu Lin asked, eyes still holding onto hope.
Lei Cheng glanced around—the city guards nearby still stood still like puppets, oblivious to everything happening a few meters from them.
"We search the hard way."
"The hard way?" Constable balked. "Our entire constabulary searched all of Azure Cloud City and found nothing. How are we supposed to find it now?"
"It was harder then," Lei Cheng explained. "That search covered the whole city. Now it’s confined to a portion of the outer city and the slums—and—" He paused.
"And what?" Zhu pressed, unable to wait.
Lei Cheng gave a bitter smile. "He has many children with him now, not just a few."
Zhu caught on. "Before, he only took a few at a time—that’s why we only ever found two or three bodies maximum a day."
Lei Cheng nodded. "Now the children’s cries can help us find them."
Zhu Lin nodded. The Shadow bizarre’s own confidence had created a weakness that could be exploited.
’He completed the Bizarre Rule and yet is kidnapping more.’ Lei Cheng mused, expression darkening.
"He’s trying to expand the power and range of his domain." The answer suddenly clicked into place. He was already moving. "Let’s find the children and kill him."
Xiao Ming had explained to him that she could grow her domain, and even Hua Mingyue had informed him that after forming a domain, Bizarre Creatures could still keep growing by completing their Bizarre Rule multiple times more.
Lei Cheng raised his voice, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. "I need your help. Many children are missing." He pointed out. "Everyone, gather there in Luminous Street 191. I’ll bring everyone together."
Some nodded immediately. Others hesitated. One man scoffed. "It’s not my child who’s missing. Why should I bother?"
Lei Cheng’s eyes flashed with white-silver light.
"Yes... I need to go," the man said suddenly, nodding.
Lei Cheng repeated the same method on several others until the crowd complied. Some who agreed on their own felt a chill down their spine watching him do it, but said nothing, sensing it was still the right cause. Even those frightened by his methods understood that refusing now would only doom more children.
A grieving man stepped forward, tears streaming. "If you’d come sooner, my daughter would still be alive." Another nodded through his own tears. "You’re too late. Both my girls are already gone." They felt it was unfair after noticing Lei Cheng’s power.
"I can kill that kidnapper, but it’s hidden. You just need to find it for me." Lei Cheng sighed. "If you want vengeance for your children, come with me." This time, he used no Illusion Intent—these were people who had already lived the pain firsthand, and he trusted they’d choose it themselves.
A middle-aged woman, with an average appearance, screamed through her tears. "If you had taken precaution in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened?"
Lei Cheng’s expression didn’t change. "So it’s my fault for arriving late?"
No one answered—yet in their hearts, many silently agreed: a man this powerful should have saved them sooner. Grief rarely searched for fairness. It only searched for someone to blame.
"I’m sorry to say this," Lei Cheng said evenly, "but no one else was ever going to help you."
"Why? You have so much power—"
"Before me," Lei Cheng said, "there were three Bizarre Cultivators already in this city. Did any of them spare you so much as a glance?"
The crowd froze. Several collapsed where they stood. For the first time, many realized they had been abandoned long before Lei Cheng ever arrived.
"Be grateful Young Master Lei is even bothering to help you," Zhu Lin barked at them.
He turned toward the grieving woman. "It’s your own weakness that let this happen. And screaming now just proves how weak you still are."
The woman rose slowly after a few moments, wiping her tears. "You’re right. We were wrong to blame him." She clenched her fists. "We’ll avenge our children ourselves by helping you kill it."
"Good," Lei Cheng smiled lightly.
One by one, everyone agreed.
Following the same method, they gathered everyone at Luminous Street 191.
"Is everyone here?" Lei Cheng surveyed the packed street—easily over two million people crammed into the space. Azure Cloud City held over ten million residents, and the Shadow’s domain had swallowed roughly forty percent of the outer city’s residential zones and slums. The Shadow bizarre’s domain had already covered a huge distance. If it grew even more, it would be a disaster.
From rooftops to narrow alleys, people continued arriving in endless waves. Parents held lanterns, elders carried walking sticks, and even children old enough to understand stood silently beside the adults. For the first time, the Shadow faced not a single cultivator, but an entire city refusing to remain passive.
Only those who were severely ill or had problems stayed away.
’A domain this huge,’ Lei Cheng thought grimly. ’If it ever expanded to cover the entire city, it could feast on children endlessly.’
Just as he prepared to lay out his plan, Fat Constable called out, biting his lower lip. "Young Master Lei—the Bamboo Snake Gang is dead, but the Hungry Dog Gang is still active and refuses to answer my summons."
The two split up to move faster. Lei Cheng’s authority had compelled ordinary citizens easily enough, but Zhu’s words held no weight against an armed gang—they’d simply shoved him aside, while civilians obeyed him once he convinced their help would avenge the fallen children.
"Where do they live?" Lei Cheng asked, clenching his fists.
"Follow me," Zhu said, leading him to Luminous Street 3.
Lei Cheng glanced at the courtyard in the center of the street.
The Hungry Dog Gang’s courtyard rivaled the Bamboo Snake Gang’s in scale—well over two hundred meters, guarded by spear-wielding thugs standing in front of stone lion statues at the corners of the courtyard’s huge gates, with a plaque overhead reading:
Hungry Dog Gang.
Lei Cheng frowned, glancing at the way. "Isn’t the Bamboo Snake Gang’s territory only two streets away?"
"It does," Zhu nodded. "You’re probably wondering why they never fought each other."
"Yes."
"After I learned the Bamboo Snake Gang held more real power than the government itself," Lei Cheng muttered, "why would either gang bother obeying constabulary and law at all?"
Zhu Lin sighed. "They don’t fight because there’s no profit in it. Why would they throw away their lives for nothing?"
’Profit.’ Lei Cheng closed his eyes bitterly. ’While people here are losing their children, these gangs only care about their own interests.’ To them, human lives had always been worth less than business.
He walked to the street, raising his voice, "So, Constable, what do you think would be best?"
"What?" the fat constable raised his brows.
"Kill them or make them submit?" Lei Cheng clarified, his voice cold and sharp.
The air itself moved away from him, as white golden flames flashed on his palms.
