Bai Xing's pupils shook. Swept by his emotion, he grabbed a nearby rock and smashed it to the virus's head.

"Haa…Haa…"

He panted with cold sweat and dropped the rock. His hand trembled as he looked at the virus bleeding out cold. He checked her breathing and sighed in relief.

He unbuttoned her collar and found the locket. He snatched it off.

"Please don't let her get away. She's a bad person." Bai Xing told the horses.

He left after getting the horses' affirmation.

Arriving at Beauty's house, he found Jean coming out with a painting in his hands.

"White, I found it. This should be it, right?" Jean put it down.

Bai Xing looked at it and it was indeed the painting of the house although it was in a different environment.

Jean took it out of its frame and lit up a match, "Burn it?"

Bai Xing nodded. Since it hasn't been corrupted yet, normal fire should work.

As the painting burned, he showed Jean the locket, "How can I destroy this?"

If he has the hammer he could do it right now, but it has been used already. He should've asked M to renew the weapons. Since he has already become stronger, he could definitely remake those and maybe made them reusable. It slipped his mind.

"What about melting it at the blacksmith?"

"Do you know how?"

"I helped there once in a while. I can work things out," Jean took the locket, "In return, can you find where my family went? Take them to the chapel. It's about to get dark."

Bai Xing nodded, and Jean promptly left.

He stared at the house. Should he bomb this? What if he was wrong and he would need the bomb for something else?

His eyebrows tightened and finally decided to bomb it. He has just taken out his phone when the ground suddenly rumbled.

What is it this time??

"RROOAARR!!"

Bai Xing whipped his head towards the roaring and saw several houses start breaking and crumbling down. A raging black aura came from it and was heading towards him. It was undoubtedly the virus.

He quickly summoned out the bomb and stuck it on the house's wall. He didn't immediately blow it and hid inside a random house nearby to wait for the virus to come.

Once the virus came in sight, Bai Xing was hit by a wave of fear.

Coming towards the house was a pitch-black humanoid with hollow eyes. It seemed as if it was completely made out of the darkness from the deep abyss without having a physical body.

Did Belle die? But his strength when he hit her wasn't enough to kill a normal person.

Bai Xing immediately pressed the detonator from his phone. The bomb exploded magnificently. Fire and air pressure surged, causing nearby buildings to rumble and crack.

Once the explosion finished, Bai Xing dashed out of the house. He checked the directory to find Jean's family. There were still quite a lot of survivors. Some were still safe inside their house or shop. But most of them has gathered to either the chapel or the town's gate.

By how it looked, the virus did something to block the exit route.

Bai Xing headed to the closest blue dot and found it was the fruit seller's old lady who helped him yesterday. She was buried under a pile of wood rubble.

"Ma'am, are you okay? Can you walk?" Bai Xing quickly freed her.

The elder was unconscious. Bai Xing looked around and found a cart with a restless horse attached to it.

He calmed the horse down before putting the elder inside the cart. He hopped on the coach seat and hurried to the next location.

He found Jean's mother and picked her up.

"Mr. White, where is Jean?"

"He's in the blacksmith. He told me to get all of you to the chapel," Bai Xing answered, "Is the chapel a safe place?"

"We are taught to go to the chapel when a dangerous event happened. It must be safe!"

Bai Xing felt doubtful, but they didn't have any other choice right now. He could only hope the building is sturdy enough at the very least.

He picked up several others and checked where the virus was currently at. It was still searching for him, but it seemed like it was searching blindly.

He successfully found Vivienne who was with the girl he saved, but he couldn't find Jean's father. Worse, the sky has gone completely dark. Even the moon was being covered by the clouds.

He could only go to the chapel first and dropped off the people he picked up.

"Vivienne! Rosette!!"

Jean's father appeared along with the people who tried to open the gate. He embraced his wife and daughter in relief.

"Where is Jean?" he asked Bai Xing.

"I'll go to him now." Bai Xing said as he separated the horse from the cart.

Jean's father gave him his oil lamp, "Here, use this."

Bai Xing sat on the horse and rejected the lamp. It would be hard for him to do anything if one of his hands must carry it.

He could just use his phone's flashlight. He could also turn it off easily in case he needed to hide.

He set off and checked the directory to map out the best direction to go. He went full speed ahead.

To be honest, his stamina was already near his limit. But he couldn't rest now.

"Jean!" Bai Xing jumped off the horse and called out.

"White, over here."

Bai Xing followed the voice and found Jean next to a smoldering furnace. Jean showed Bai Xing the out-of-shape locket.

"There's not enough time to melt it. Is deforming it like this enough?"

"Yes, I hope so. Thank you, Jean," Bai Xing pointed out, "Your family is looking for you. The…devil has shown his true form, so I'm picking you up. Let's go."

Jean nodded. They have just stepped out of the building when Bai Xing felt his back turn cold.

Strong pressure smashed the blacksmith to pieces. Bai Xing and Jean got blown away and hit the ground. The horse got startled and ran off.

"She's here." Bai Xing strugglingly raised his upper body.

"What is that? What happened to Belle?"

"She's…probably dead. The devil has took over completely."

"AHAHAHAHA!!! Fools!!" the virus's laughter pierced the air, "I should thank you for destroying her treasures. M must've told you how I don't want them destroyed before it became my power source. He is as naive as he can get."

"What do you mean?" Bai Xing frowned.

"What else? I can use them as my power source because it's already a power source in the first place. For the protagonists that is. Kakakaka!! If it got destroyed, it'll affect them the same way as it affects me when you destroy my power source."

Black tentacles whipped and wrapped both of Bai Xing's legs.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure your boyfriend gets the front seat to watch your death." The virus laughed mockingly.

Jean timely caught Bai Xing's arm when he was about to be dragged away. He took out his dagger to cut off the tentacles, but it went past through.

"Damn it! Hold on to me white."

"Useless."

The virus yanked Bai Xing off of Jean's hold. Jean swiftly gripped Bai Xing's hand before it slipped away.

"Ugh…I got you."

Bai Xing felt as if his hand was getting crushed by Jean's grip. He was honestly touched by Jean's effort to save him.

"Give me your dagger."

Jean gave it to Bai Xing.

Instead to the tentacles below his feet, Bai Xing stabbed it down between his thighs. Unlike before, the tentacles got ripped off. He dragged it down and ripped the whole cocoon.

Seeing that, Jean immediately pulled Bai Xing free and hauled him up to his shoulder before running away.

Bai Xing's eyes widened when he saw Jean was running straight to a wall.

"!!??"

He ducked down and covered his head in panic. Jean didn't slow down and unhesitantly smashed into the window and entered the building.

"Shortcut. This is the straightest and fastest route to the chapel. Just cover down your head." He slammed open the front door and continued running.

"…"

Truly opening a new route with brute force…

How high was Jean's familiarity with the town that he could determine something like that and run in the darkness without any light??

But Jean wasn't wrong. The time it took to reach the chapel was the same as when Bai Xing rode a horse in full speed using a roundabout route.

"Almost the–"

Boom!!

A creature suddenly dropped down from the sky right in front of Jean's path. Jean tripped his footing and tumbled down with Bai Xing.