Esper

"Ah!"

Lin Xian roared. Blood rushed to his head, and he drove straight through the hail of bullets!

Boom!

Against a 200-ton Gas Turbine Locomotive charging at high speed, the flimsy sedan blocking the tracks was crushed in half in an instant. Sparks flew and wreckage scattered. Inside the Cockpit, Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan felt only a slight jolt before they burst through.

It was as easy as driving over an empty cardboard box.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullets rained against the all-metal body, leaving only a few pale marks. One ricochet punched straight through the thigh of one of Liu Wei's men.

"Ah!"

The man clutched his leg in agony.

In the blink of an eye, the train sped away. Liu Wei felt humiliated, and rage flared. Green light flashed in his eyes. His shirt burst apart, and four ghostly green tentacles unfurled from his back. They scrambled along the ground, carrying him down the tracks as swiftly as a spider.

Those four tentacles could move objects weighing over a ton and were remarkably agile. With training, Liu Wei had even found that their strength and speed kept improving, so he had smugly dubbed himself the "Four-Winged Heavenly King."

Thump!

Just as Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan thought they had broken through the blockade, a strange sound came from the train roof.

Lin Xian's expression tightened. He immediately slowed the train and picked up the short knife he carried.

He had to slow down. Otherwise, he would have too little attention left to handle an emergency.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Something seemed to be clinging to the roof. Chen Sixuan curled into a ball in fright. Lin Xian heard the noise and jerked back. At that moment, a middle-aged man with tentacles appeared outside the windshield.

"You've got guts, kid, charging through my roadblock!"

Liu Wei saw that the driver was only a young man and immediately cursed at him. Then his gaze swept past Lin Xian to Chen Sixuan, curled up in the aisle, and his eyes lit up.

"Well, there's a pretty girl too."

Chen Sixuan stared at Liu Wei's outstretched tentacles, her face drained of color. With his eerie green eyes and four writhing, revolting tentacles, he looked almost exactly like a monster from a movie.

An Esper!?

Lin Xian's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected an Esper among the ambushers.

This was his first time encountering one, and the reality was nothing like he had imagined.

People could grow tentacles? Was that a power, or was it nuclear radiation?

Thud!

Without another word, Liu Wei slammed a tentacle into the windshield. Spiderweb cracks spread across the glass.

Lin Xian was stunned. The train's windshield was made of high-strength glass at least ten to fifteen millimeters thick. Rifle rounds had barely scuffed it, yet this man had cracked it with one blow. What kind of monstrous force was that?!

Liu Wei was just as shocked. He knew exactly how strong his tentacles were, yet that strike had failed to punch through the glass. The train's defenses were clearly formidable.

"Damn it!"

Lin Xian's expression hardened, and he slammed on the brakes.

When Liu Wei saw Lin Xian leave the controls, he never imagined the train would suddenly stop. Caught off guard, he was hurled forward by the momentum.

"Keep the door shut!"

Lin Xian stepped around Chen Sixuan and opened the cab door behind the passageway, short knife in hand.

Seeing him stop the train, Chen Sixuan asked in shock, "What are you doing?"

"Kill him!"

Bang!

Lin Xian leaped out and shut the metal door behind him.

He knew that an Esper like Liu Wei could catch the train and break through its defenses. Hiding inside would only mean waiting to die. Better to deal with him now than let him smash the windshield.

If the windshield shattered, repairing it would take him at least several hours. Once the Black Night fell, his presence would be exposed. If he encountered that Strange Bug from last night, he might die an even worse death.

Liu Wei tumbled through the dirt and sprang up in a fury. When he saw the young man climb down from the cab with a steel knife, he couldn't help laughing.

"What, playing the hero for the lady, brother? Ha!" he sneered. The tentacles behind him spread wide, making him look enormous. He loomed over Lin Xian. "Sorry, but I'm taking your life today. I'm taking your train too. And I'll make sure your woman is well looked after."

Lin Xian's eyes narrowed. Without wasting a word, he raised his hand toward Liu Wei's face and unleashed a charged Wind Cannon!

Whoosh!

A razor-sharp Wind Gun shot out. Liu Wei saw Lin Xian raise his hand and was about to react when something struck his forehead like a sledgehammer, sending him flying backward.

Shit! An Esper!

Liu Wei was horrified. His opponent was an Esper, just like him. He had only awakened his power recently and had almost no combat experience. He had let his guard down, and Lin Xian had caught him with a surprise attack. Cold sweat broke out across his body.

But his awakening had greatly enhanced his physique and reflexes. Though he was flying through the air, a tentacle shot out at his command and wrapped around Lin Xian's ankle.

A steep slope dropped into a deep ravine beside the tracks. Liu Wei tried to steady himself with his other tentacles, but they tore through the wire fence lining the railway. He and Lin Xian went tumbling down the slope together.

Lin Xian hadn't expected those thick, ungainly tentacles to move so fast. Worse, his Wind Cannon at such close range had only knocked Liu Wei back and left a shallow dent in his forehead. An Esper's durability was terrifying.

With the tentacle cinched around his ankle, a crushing pressure bore down on it. Lin Xian hissed through his teeth.

If his strength and defense attributes hadn't improved, that grip alone would have snapped his ankle.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

The world spun. Liu Wei's tentacles snapped several shrubs on the way down, but they did nothing to slow their fall. Lin Xian dropped his short knife and covered his head with both hands as Liu Wei dragged him all the way to the riverbank at the bottom of the slope.

Agony tore through him!

When Lin Xian struggled to open his eyes, searing pain came from every part of his body. He immediately searched the area and soon spotted Liu Wei nearby, staggering to his feet with his tentacles spread.

Liu Wei had gone down first, his huge, tentacled body taking the brunt of the sharp rocks and vegetation along the way. Blood now ran all over him, and he looked utterly battered.

"Ugh! Son of a bitch!"

Even with his improved defenses, the skin on Liu Wei's back had been torn open and one of his leg joints had been wrenched out of place. The pain made him clench his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.

Burning with rage, Liu Wei looked toward Lin Xian, whom he had dragged down with him. He no longer dared underestimate the young man. Lin Xian had sent him flying empty-handed, and Liu Wei had no idea what kind of power could do that.

He had to fight for his life and strike first!

But when he focused on Lin Xian lying on the ground, he saw that the young man's eyes were open—and one finger was pointed straight at his forehead.

Shit, not again!

After being caught once, Liu Wei's heart lurched. All four tentacles shot up to shield his face.

But the attack he expected never came. Instead, the movement tore open the deep wounds on his back again. Blood poured out, and the pain nearly made him pass out.

A feint?

Liu Wei had no time to cry out. He opened his tentacles and saw the young man pushing off the ground with both hands, darting toward him like a hunting dog. The moment Liu Wei's face was exposed, Lin Xian threw a desperate punch.

Bang!

Lin Xian's punch nearly crushed Liu Wei's entire nose. His vision went black, and his tentacles lashed wildly ahead of him on instinct, striking nothing.

He had never expected someone so young to attack with such ruthless precision, much less use a feint. Liu Wei, a middle-aged man who had spent years running a stall at the vegetable market, couldn't keep up.

After being caught off guard twice in a row, Liu Wei began to feel afraid.

His convoy had been on the road for only a day, and already Liu Wei could feel the Aura of Death bearing down on him.

Please keep reading the new book!