Chapter 84: Counterattack
“Xiao Li, are you sure you want to do this?” After hearing Li Yingqi’s bold plan, He Jia’an did not immediately question it, but instead made an inquiry before agreeing.
Xin Junmao’s sudden coma, the Gluttonous Daughter’s sudden “ceasefire,” these two must have some connection. Li Yingqi guessed that the current Gluttonous Daughter should have fallen into the same state as Xin Junmao.
If that’s the case, then the Gluttonous Daughter is now like a sleeping lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Although the probability of killing the Gluttonous Daughter is not high, severely injuring an Abnormal God could bring a lot of peace to the entire human world.
“Yeah, I want to go take a look, then give it a try.” Li Yingqi said. She gathered her hair, plucked out a handful of white strands, and watched as the underground wind blew her white hair dancing all over the sky, as if seeing the life slipping away from her fingertips.
Li Yingqi had taken the Death Return Pill, which was constantly overdrawing her limited vitality as a human. That feeling of visibly seeing her death date approaching every day was like the Grim Reaper tormenting her bit by bit with a scythe. She could see the blade absorbing her youth carving wrinkles and angles on her face, the judge’s brush dipping into her jet-black hair color, the hands of time poking roughness and spots on her face one by one… She felt she should do something.
According to estimates, if she suffered no further injuries afterward, she could barely live another ten years, but in those ten years, the time she could act like a normal person would be at most three years. The accelerated aging of her organs and muscles would make her even weaker than an average elderly person. After five years, the remaining time she would spend bedridden for the rest of her life, with conscious time probably less than that of an infant in swaddling clothes. Only, when she woke up, she faced death; when the latter woke up, it welcomed new life.
“But we don’t have a method that can truly harm the Gluttonous Daughter. Even Green Oil’s flames can’t bring Him great harm.” Yu Lianyun couldn’t help but remind.
“Actually, there should be a method.” Li Yingqi said softly. She silently pulled open a zipper on one layer of her tactical vest and slowly drew out a black-edged white feather.
Seeing this, He Jia’an and Yu Lianyun’s facial expressions changed drastically. He Jia’an looked at Li Yingqi in shock and raised his voice, saying, “When did you get this thing? Did you apply to your superior for this as your reward!?”
What was in Li Yingqi’s hand at this moment was precisely an Ushi-Oni feather.
Li Yingqi did not deny it. She smiled. When she gripped the feather, it seemed to resonate with her soul, emitting faint flashing light. “Pretty amazing, right? I don’t know why I’m one of the few people who can resonate with the Ushi-Oni feather, but precisely because of that, I was able to apply to my superior for the right to use the feather.”
With that, Li Yingqi sighed, “Perhaps this is my fate.”
Regarding the Ushi-Oni feather, the Mysterious Group’s anomaly item research department had studied it and discovered that the feather could resonate with a small portion of women. Women who sensed it would often become bewitched by it, eventually comprehending the method to use the feather on some day, ultimately transforming into an Ushi-Oni. After becoming addicted to transformation, they could never turn back into a human.
“If I become an Ushi-Oni and become an anomaly, there should be a chance, though I don’t know how far the Ushi-Oni’s abilities can go.” Li Yingqi said.
He Jia’an fell silent. Using an anomaly against an Abnormal God might indeed have a sliver of possibility, though the probability was not high.
“Have you really made up your mind?” He Jia’an took a deep breath, his tone trembling.
“Yeah.” Li Yingqi nodded firmly.
“Alright then, go do it. Do what you want to do.” He Jia’an responded to Li Yingqi’s determination with a resounding voice. Then he hoisted the comatose Xin Junmao onto his back and said to Yu Lianyun, “Xiao Yu, let’s go first.”
Yu Lianyun hesitated to speak but ultimately nodded and followed He Jia’an’s footsteps.
“Staying alive is the most important. If there’s a chance to get out, don’t hesitate. I remember this feather doesn’t completely transform a person into an anomaly after one use.” After walking a few steps, He Jia’an paused again, slightly turning his body, and said, “Don’t be in such a hurry to die. At least pay back the two thousand bucks you owe me first.”
“I’ve been eyeing the cosmetics in your dormitory for a long time. Before you die, can you promise to give them to me first?” Hearing this, Yu Lianyun also asked seriously right after.
“…Get lost.” Li Yingqi was stunned for a moment, then shyly and angrily scolded away the two teammates who deliberately ruined the atmosphere.
He Jia’an and Yu Lianyun quickly evacuated the scene.
Watching their departing figures, Li Yingqi’s lips curved slightly, her mood no longer so heavy.
She tightly gripped the Ushi-Oni feather and turned back toward the royal palace inside the stone gate…
He Jia’an and Yu Lianyun were accelerating their evacuation through the ruins of the underground city. The two were silent; they were actually far from as optimistic as they had just appeared.
Uh—
Yu Lianyun suddenly felt a chill underfoot. That familiar cracking sound jolted her spirit, and she immediately stopped running, alertly looking around her surroundings.
“What’s wrong?” He Jia’an also halted his movement, looking at the somewhat neurotic Yu Lianyun. His brows raised as if sensing something. “Did you sense something again?”
Yu Lianyun nodded, a hint of excited excitement in her eyes. “It’s Yao Zhenzhen. I sensed Yao Zhenzhen.”
“Yao Zhenzhen?” He Jia’an frowned tightly. Of course he knew Yu Lianyun was a lucky one haunted by “blessing.” However, that “blessing” seemed to be directly visible only to Yu Lianyun now. He had also heard from Yu Lianyun that Yao Zhenzhen had been swatted away by Kuthuen’s claw in the previous Huo Gu incident, yet he hadn’t expected the “blessing” to be such tenacious filth that it had regenerated.
Immediately after, Yu Lianyun finally saw a black shadow mass slinking on the ground, moving rapidly across the surface of the ruins.
Yu Lianyun knew well that the Incarnation of Blessing was particularly interested in corpses, as if some remnant on fresh corpses was a source of food for them, which they particularly liked.
But they were currently on their way out of the underground city. Yu Lianyun hesitated, unsure whether she should chase after it again.
“Let’s chase after it and take a look.” He Jia’an saw through Yu Lianyun’s thoughts and said, “I’m interested too.”
Yu Lianyun nodded, then ran ahead, leading He Jia’an to catch up to the rapidly moving shadow mass.
When Yu Lianyun saw the shadow mass burrow under a pile of ruins built from ruined walls, she stopped. Her gaze was fixed on a twisted arm exposed beyond the rubble.
“Is there something wrong with this corpse?” Yu Lianyun wondered. Then she moved the building fragments burying the corpse.
After settling Xin Junmao, He Jia’an also helped Yu Lianyun move the stones. Moments later, they clearly saw the corpse buried under the ruins—it was a headless corpse, still wearing the gray uniform of the Evolution Paradise Organization.
“How could there be such a method of death?” Both Yu Lianyun and He Jia’an felt puzzled. Yu Lianyun judged from the corpse’s physical features that it had died not long ago—no more than four hours, meaning after the Mysterious Group had arrived in the underground city. But none of the Tiger Group or Snake Group members would use such a slaughter method.
Yu Lianyun then spotted the shadow mass brushing past the headless corpse and slipping deeper into the ruin crevices. She forcibly pried open a stone slab, revealing a crevice leading to a hollow space where she could see things buried under the ruins: a headless body lying in a pool of blood, staring at her with eyes wide open in death. The shadow mass merged into the shadow under the head, emitting satisfied devouring and chewing sounds.
“Huang Zichao?!” Seeing the human head, both Yu Lianyun and He Jia’an felt a chill in their hearts. They clearly remembered Huang Zichao was still alive and had already evacuated underground with the Snake Group.
But why was his head here?
The answer was self-evident. The Huang Zichao they had seen before was not the real person. He had unknowingly been parasitized by an anomaly and successfully deceived everyone with his performance.
“It must have been when Green Oil ignited and everyone was forced to scatter. He was probably accidentally replaced by that thing during that time,” He Jia’an guessed. This was the greatest possibility that made sense.
After a bout of chewing sounds from the shadow mass on the head’s shadow, the headless head’s skin grew even paler, finally drying up like a crumbling stone statue. When the shadow mass left with a satisfied burp, the head instantly shattered into powder on the ground.
Swoosh!
A whip-like whoosh cut through the air from high-speed swinging. Before He Jia’an and Yu Lianyun could react, He Jia’an was sent flying, crashing under a mess of rubble and dirt. Yu Lianyun instinctively shrank back and closed her eyes.
Realizing no pain had come, Yu Lianyun slowly opened her eyes and saw a pair of black arms extending from behind her shoulders tightly gripping the tentacles that had suddenly lunged at her.
Yao Zhenzhen tilted her head, her body emitting eerie bone-cracking sounds as she slowly materialized from behind Yu Lianyun. Her mouth was still emitting scalp-numbing low growls.
Yu Lianyun felt slightly relieved. Her gaze turned to the eerie creature wielding tentacles. It wore a Mystic Investigator’s armed outfit, but everything above the neck was a deformed head. Several tentacles protruded from the deformed head’s eye sockets and mouth, its body uncontrollably twisting in its walking posture.
“Huang Zichao was indeed parasitized.” Cold sweat beaded on Yu Lianyun’s forehead. She glanced at He Jia’an, whose upper body was trapped in the ruins, worrying about his safety and feeling extremely anxious.
Yao Zhenzhen let out a hoarse screech at “Huang Zichao,” as if declaring ownership over Yu Lianyun. Yu Lianyun’s flesh was her reserved delicacy; it absolutely could not suffer even the slightest harm that might affect the taste.
“Huang Zichao” seemed not to understand Yao Zhenzhen’s warning. Tentacles flew out again toward Yu Lianyun. Yao Zhenzhen’s expression instantly turned ferocious and terrifying. She charged at high speed, opening her pitch-black mouth and viciously biting down on “Huang Zichao’s” neck.
Because she saw it with her own eyes, when she noticed signs of “Huang Zichao” attacking, Yu Lianyun rolled away without hesitation. Though she dodged awkwardly, she avoided ending up like He Jia’an.
“Urgh!” Yao Zhenzhen let out a strange cry, increasing the force of her bite on the neck.
With a tooth-grinding tearing sound, Yao Zhenzhen used her mouth and brute force to rip off “Huang Zichao’s” neck, separating the head from the body. She squeezed hard with her slender arms, flattening the head into a lump, then stuffed it into her mouth and gnawed on it frantically.
She was like eating a raw octopus ball. Yu Lianyun watched with a face full of disgust.
After confirming the surroundings were safe, Yu Lianyun hurried to the fallen He Jia’an’s side. She discovered his face was deformed, with blood gushing from the corner of his right eye and his nostrils. Sensing something wrong, she quickly checked his vital signs to assess the severity of his injuries.
In the end, Yu Lianyun breathed a sigh of relief, her heart settling. Fortunately, their Tiger Group captain had thick facial skin. His heartbeat was intense but still within normal range. His right cheekbone was shattered, and his nose bridge broken, but nothing serious.
Human skulls were still fairly sturdy after all.
She pulled a syringe from her pocket and jabbed it into He Jia’an’s thigh. After the liquid injected, the comatose He Jia’an instantly woke, sitting up in shock. Before he could curse, the intense pain from his facial injuries left him speechless, nearly passing out again from the pain.
Fortunately, the stamina potion had some invigorating effect. He Jia’an endured the agony. After a while, he widened his eyes, glanced at Huang Zichao’s headless corpse, then at Yu Lianyun, making “mmm mmm mmm” sounds to inquire.
“Yao Zhenzhen did it.” Yu Lianyun didn’t hide it. She helped He Jia’an up and said, “We should hurry out now.”
He Jia’an nodded, suppressing the pain from his shattered right cheekbone, hoisted Xin Junmao—who was set aside—onto his back again, and left.
Yu Lianyun looked back toward the stone gate, a hint of worry and hope in her eyes. She thought, “The anomaly blocked a parasitized ‘Huang Zichao’ for you, but I also hope you can stay alive.”
……
At this moment, the Gluttonous Daughter was deeply trapped in a repeatedly looping dream. No matter how He killed Haimofen, Haimofen would pop up from elsewhere, consistently playing the violin, making His slaughter meaningless.
In repeated meaningless slaughters, He gradually grew fatigued, while Haimofen became increasingly spirited. His violin string movements grew more exaggerated, and the music louder accordingly.
Haimofen played music while saying, “Final reminder: leave or death.”
Faced with Haimofen’s threat, the Gluttonous Daughter’s deformed body suddenly paused. He seemed startled.
However, Haimofen suddenly sensed something unusual. The violent emotions emanating from the Gluttonous Daughter were slowly receding, and an eerie atmosphere was quietly spreading.
The next moment, the Gluttonous Daughter’s lump-like massive body suddenly tightened, becoming relatively slender. The blood flowing irregularly on the ground took on form and edges, turning into plant root-like shapes. The various male and female limbs clustered tightly together into an inverted umbrella shape. Finally, the indescribable Gluttonous Daughter transformed into a blooming flower of human flesh.
At the giant flower’s core, several male and female limbs densely intertwined and fused together, ultimately becoming a beautiful mermaid with scales covering half her body and fin-like ears. Her hands interlocked fingers as if praying to the sky and distant sea, her expression sorrowful and tranquil. She opened her throat toward the sky.
The mermaid’s ethereal and beautiful song intertwined with Haimofen’s violin strings, like lingering affection or inseparably close.
Haimofen frowned gravely. This was different from his previous clash with the dimensional musician, who had directly and domineeringly confronted him head-on. But the Gluttonous Daughter took a completely different approach—He chose not to confront but to blend His song into Haimofen’s music melody.
He was using the power in my music!
Begging for votes, subscriptions, etc.
