Read Novels Online For Free - Web Novel Reader

Xu Huo already knew that Hanhai Province had a wide variety of food. But he had still underestimated a major tourist province. A single glance around at night revealed that no two food stalls sold the exact same thing! Street food, roadside restaurants, and free performances on the streets—the dazzling variety was almost overwhelming. WHOOSH! A jet of flame shot out from a person’s mouth, drawing applause and cheers from the surrounding crowd. In the distance, a vendor selling leftover lanterns from the Mid-Autumn Festival was aggressively hawking his wares—a collection of varied and vividly lifelike lanterns. Even the three people he had seen sitting solemnly on stools that afternoon were now gradually getting ready. "It’s pretty lively." Xu Huo smiled. He and Chu Xi sat at a roadside stall, eating and watching the sights. The air buzzed with a noisy mishmash of accents from people from all corners of the country. "Hey, you little punk, back in my day...!" "Dongshu Province? I’ve been there. Man, the girls there are seriously gorgeous..." "Listen to me, just go for it! Go for it! Confess your feelings directly!" "Okay... Hahaha, she said yes! Thank you!" "She said yes? What the fuck..." Everyone was immersed in their own little world, oblivious to those around them, either beaming with smiles or shouting at the top of their lungs. Xu Huo listened to one piece of gossip, then another. Until... "Jiangsan City?" "Don’t even get me started on Jiangsan City. Seriously, I barely escaped with my life! I’m telling you, it was a near-death experience!" "The people there are all nuts..." Suddenly, Xu Huo froze. The hand raising a skewer to his mouth stopped in mid-air as a familiar voice reached his ears. ’This is...’ ’No, this guy is supposed to be up in the far north!’ Xu Huo forced himself to continue eating his skewer, but the voice started up again. "Do you guys have any idea what it’s like to be eating breakfast in the morning, only to have four corpses fall on your face as dinner theater?" "Do you know what it’s like to have your doorway blocked by a corpse?" "Ever met a crazy old man?" "Have you ever experienced the ultimate horror of a dead person asking you to call the police in the middle of the night?!" "You don’t get it. None of you get it..." "I can’t even find a job!" Xu Huo fell completely silent. That voice, that tone, those bizarre experiences... He put down his food, turned, and looked behind him. His eyes fell on a young man sitting at a barbecue stall with his back to him. The man’s face was buried in his hands, snot and tears streaming down as he lamented to a crowd of concerned-looking middle-aged women. "Ai, I’m telling you, Wang Chao, you’ve been gone for a month. You haven’t learned anything else, but you’ve gotten so good at telling tall tales?" "Exactly. If you can’t find a job, you can’t find a job. What’s all this about corpses... Even if you want to fool your auntie, you could at least come up with a better reason, right?" The women chimed in one after another. Wang Chao was on the verge of tears from frustration. Usually, whenever he made up stories, they believed every word; no one ever thought he was lying. But now that he was telling the truth, why was everyone ganging up on him? "It’s true! Auntie, I’m really not lying to you! You can go ask my second uncle, he can vouch for me!" Wang Chao felt like he was about to fall apart as he desperately tried to explain. Unexpectedly, one of the women said again: "You must have learned this from your cousin. Just wait, I’ll go give him a beating!" This time, Wang Chao really was about to break. Until... "I believe you." A voice spoke up. ’Believe... Someone actually believes me?!’ Wang Chao froze, his face lit up with pleasant surprise. It was like a sudden ray of hope in the darkness, a lifeline in a desperate situation! Chao Zi whipped his head around, looking everywhere in delight. And when he finally turned around... In an instant, Wang Chao froze on the spot. "I believe you." Xu Huo placed a small stool next to him and sat down, a gentle smile on his face as he watched him quietly. Wang Chao: ? "Holy fuck!" The hair on Chao Zi’s body stood on end. As if he’d been electrocuted, he instinctively shot to his feet. "Hey, Chao, is that any way to talk to someone!" Wang Chao’s parents, sitting on their stools, said with great displeasure. Wang Chao completely fell apart. ’But... I’m already back in my hometown!!!’ His lips moved for a moment, but no words came out. He just sighed, exchanged a few words with his parents, and walked over to Xu Huo’s table. Chu Xi, who was eating, glanced at Wang Chao, then at Xu Huo, and went back to her food. "Didn’t you head to the far north, kid?" Xu Huo asked calmly, eating his barbecue. Chao Zi’s face was beet red. After a long moment, he said awkwardly, "Actually, I went... and then I came back. Would you believe me?" "I believe you." Xu Huo nodded. "Then how come you’re in Hanhai Province?" Wang Chao thought for a moment before asking. "Someone’s trying to hunt me down. Do you believe me?" Xu Huo asked in return. "That, I totally believe." Chao Zi said, his face full of agreement. "Heh, you kid." Xu Huo chuckled. He found the kid in front of him amusing. He opened another bottle of beer and handed it to him. "Have some food. You haven’t treated me yet... but that doesn’t stop me from treating you first." Wang Chao looked conflicted. "Brother Xu, honestly, I get the feeling we’re bad luck for each other..." Before Xu Huo could say anything, Wang Chao’s mother’s ears perked up, and her mouth opened. "Bad luck? I’m telling you, Chao, is that any way to talk to your friend?!" "Did I raise you to speak like that?" She started nagging again, and Wang Chao felt a headache coming on. He could only sigh, sit down, and chug a mouthful of beer. To be honest, Wang Chao had actually made a killing in Jiangsan City. In less than a month, he had a whopping twenty-three thousand in his pocket! Good heavens, twenty-three thousand! His second uncle would have to gut fish for a year to earn that, and his other uncle would have to work at the radio station for over half a year! He had earned it in less than a month, tax-free. It wasn’t even tiring work; he could do whatever he wanted. He was completely free. In a sense, it could be considered... [A high-paying job!] ’Dammit, I’m already home. I was scared before I came home, and I’m still scared after I’m back. Didn’t I fucking come back for nothing then?’ Wang Chao viciously tore a mouthful of meat off a skewer, thinking to himself. The feng shui in Jiangsan City was terrible. When Wang Chao was there, he often wondered how the residents could live such happy and peaceful lives day in and day out. Weren’t they afraid of finding a corpse while eating, or running into a thug while walking down the street?! He felt that the people of Jiangsan City all had nerves of steel and he admired them for it. His own nerves weren’t so steely, so he had run back to Hanhai Province. Hanhai Province was a province with a thriving tourism industry. If nothing else, the public security was bound to be good. Looking at it that way, sharing a couple of meals was no big deal. There was nothing to be afraid of! "Brother Xu, don’t worry. Hanhai Province isn’t like Jiangsan City." Wang Chao puffed out his chest. He no longer felt that the guy across from him was a jinx. Instead, he saw him as a fellow sufferer, and he comforted both Xu Huo and himself. "Hanhai Province is sa—" He didn’t even get the last word out. BOOM!!! The sound of an earth-shattering explosion, like a clap of muffled thunder, suddenly erupted in everyone’s ears. A scorching blast wave, like the heat from a furnace, washed over everyone’s faces, overturning all the metal racks of the barbecue stall. Everyone looked over in unison. A car was engulfed in roaring flames, the towering inferno reflecting on every face. Horror, confusion, fear, shock, terror... In that moment, the firelight illuminated a whole encyclopedia of expressions on their faces. "What’s going on?!" "Someone’s dead! Someone got blown up!" "What exploded? A car... a car exploded!" "Fire! Put out the fire!" BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!!! The clamor of the crowd, unintelligible sounds, and the blaring of car horns merged with the oppressive heat, overwhelming everyone’s senses. Wang Chao, who had been knocked to the ground, paused and stared at the towering flames before him. A dazed expression appeared on his face, which was flushed red from the intense heat. CREAK! Xu Huo shot to his feet. His eyes were grim. He looked at the chaotic scene, his gaze fixed on the burning car through a gap in the crowd. After a long moment. A piercing voice suddenly rang in his mind. [Congratulations, Host. You have triggered a mission: Write the Story...] [The rewards are divided into four tiers, corresponding to 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% Immersion.] [Writing Time: Twelve days.] Xu Huo ignored the voice. He stared intently at the fiercely burning flames before him. ’This wasn’t a car fire...’ ’It was a bomb!’ ’This is definitely the kind of destruction only a bomb could cause!!!’ Xu Huo watched the scene unfold, his pupils constricting to pinpricks and the muscles all over his body tensing. The firelight failed to dispel the chill at his fingertips; instead, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end! ’In the Eastern Country, in a major tourist province...’ ’In a densely populated area!’ ’Someone dared to use... a bomb!!!’ ’A maniac. An absolute maniac!!!’ "What the fuck..." "What the hell is going on?!" [The name of this mission is...] [’Hell on Earth!’] October 4th, 9:00 PM. Summer. Weather: Overcast A bomb exploded in Hanhai Province. And it flushed out all the top brass of Hanhai Province!!!