Cleaving Sinews and Breaking Bones (Part 2)

"The Vigilante Squad has gone missing."

Anna Assistant Physician said gravely, "The life signals of the A-12 and C-03 security teams have also vanished. Even the military-equipped Vigilante Squad was defeated, which is enough to show how formidable the enemy is. Professor, they've clearly made up their minds to uproot the weeds and eliminate the roots of our Nethermark Humanity... Should we continue? If we evacuate now—"

"No! We can't relocate. Many patients are still bedridden. If they have to go through another transfer, they'll die on the way."

The professor shook her head. "How is Head Nurse Nordly doing?"

"The White Fang Gang has a special Level 4 Infected. Its Shadow Impact destroyed all nearby electronic equipment... We currently have no way of knowing the exact situation."

"This is deeply unsettling... Anna, do we have any combat power to spare? Without calling on the Third Floor..."

"Hardly any remains." Anna Assistant Physician reviewed the information and gave a pessimistic conclusion. "There are too many White Fang Gang members. If they weren't wary of damaging the shelter's facilities and refraining from using heavy weapons and firearms, we should have fallen twenty minutes ago in theory."

As they spoke, hurried knocking sounded outside the office again.

"Professor, the First Floor is about to fall! Please evacuate at once—Urgh! Agh—"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh abruptly cut off the frantic voice. Then came the dull thuds of blunt impacts and shattering bones, followed by cursing and mad laughter that lingered like a nightmare.

The office fell silent at once.

Though the enemy had already reached their doorstep, Anna Assistant Physician could not see even the slightest trace of panic on the professor's ageless face.

"Pfft... How pathetic."

After a moment of silence, the professor could not help but laugh. "I thought they would be the ones coming to take my life. The people sent to kill me should at least have had an undergraduate degree, shouldn't they? Yet here we are, Anna. It seems I'm going to die at the hands of a pack of illiterates and scum."

"Professor, we still have time to leave, and the Third Floor can—"

"I won't leave, nor will I activate anything on the Third Floor. That is... humanity's greatest treasure. I absolutely cannot let it be desecrated by a group of filthy, damp-ridden cockroaches from the bottom rung. If I am to die, then it means those so-called gods in the dark have permitted these secrets to be buried with me forever."

The professor opened a drawer and took out a pistol. She removed the magazine, loaded two bullets into it before Anna Assistant Physician, then handed her the grip. "I don't have the courage to end my own life... Anna, if they break in, I'm counting on you."

Anna Assistant Physician's expression was complicated. Only when she instinctively accepted the gun did she realize how heavy the cold weapon was.

To a person's wrist, it was a pound of solid iron. Yet compared to a life, it seemed far too light—because it was only a pound of solid iron.

"I can't pull the trigger... Professor." Anna had not even realized that her voice was trembling, nor that her vision had become blurred. "Especially not at you... How could I possibly do it? I... I'm just a doctor."

"Anna. Do you remember what I taught you during your training?"

The professor's gaze softened. She placed a hand over Anna's tear-bright hand and said gently, "This world contains more than just human life. Viruses, bacteria, parasites, beasts carrying pathogens, Patient Zero... Sometimes, you have no choice. To stop a disaster from spreading, just like treating a tumor or performing cranial surgery, you must inflict immense pain upon the patient. Even if it exceeds the limits of what they can endure, you still have to remove the disease."

"If you want to save one life, you must be mentally prepared to take another."

Bang! The door was struck violently. The White Fang Gang bandits outside were trying to breach this final line of defense.

Anna Assistant Physician trembled violently. At that moment, she could no longer maintain her usual composure. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at the professor like a child, parting her lips as they quivered.

"Will you always remember me, Professor?"

Thud! A White Fang Gang bandit shouted from outside, "Use the compound explosives! Fucking blow the door open!"

Like a startled young animal, Anna tightly gripped the professor's warm hand.

"I will."

The professor brushed aside the hair on Anna's forehead and said tenderly, "Civilization will remember the names of those who devote themselves to humanitarianism."

A bandit outside shouted, "Prepare to breach! Get back—Three!"

Anna murmured, "...Forever."

The professor pressed Anna's head against her chest. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes slowly eased as she closed them and gently stroked her student's beautiful hair.

"Two!"

"Who! Who's there?"

As though she had finally made up her mind, Anna straightened up, flicked off the safety, racked the slide, and aimed the pistol at the professor's forehead. Her finger slowly settled on the trigger. The professor wore an expression of boundless compassion as she quietly awaited what came next.

"One! Aargh—Fuck, what is this?! I can't stand up!"

The instant the detonation button was pressed, the bandits suffered an unprecedented shock.

Beep beep beep—Boom!

The electric detonator ignited the explosives. The plastic-wrapped compound rapidly expanded and released in an instant, erupting into a Blast Wave and heat current that swept through everything. Its immense kinetic force tore apart the door's structure in a moment, then melted and twisted it in the searing heat.

At that instant, time seemed to slow countless times over. Before the bandits could react, a figure descended together with the roar of the explosion. Flying wood splinters, iron fragments, and human bodies instantly gained a uniform direction—falling upward! Gravity!

Golden rings lit up within gray eyes as Li Aoz landed heavily. Without warning, he unleashed an inverted Gravity Field. Concealed by the explosion's thunderous roar, all the White Fang Bandits were caught off guard and hurled into the ceiling. Their heads smashed directly into the steel dome overhead, their cervical vertebrae piercing into their skulls like sharp blades—or snapping cleanly in two.

Many lost their combat power from that single blow, but Li Aoz had no intention of passing up these experience packs delivered right to his door.

His Aura Value was insufficient to finish harvesting the rest. He raised a hand and threw three blades, then dismissed the Gravity Field. Twelve bandits instantly fell. He had precisely predicted the paths of three of them, and the blades slit open their carotid arteries, blood splashing across the entire wall like a broken faucet.

"Urgh—What the fuck... what kind of monster are you?!"

The White Fang Bandits had barely hit the ground and were still dazed from the fall as they stared at Li Aoz in horror.

Li Aoz could not be bothered to answer. The weak did not deserve the right to converse. He used his remaining Aura Value to release the Gravity Field again. The bandits who had just struggled to their feet lost their balance once more, and the corridor behind them became like an abyss, instantly swallowing them all.

Gravity.

Li Aoz stood calmly on the ground, watching as every bandit before him desperately grabbed at railings, walls, and metal cabinets around them, yet still failed to stop their bodies from rapidly falling toward the end of the corridor.

The corridor was not long, only about thirty meters.

"Mom!"

"Help!"

Their screams had only just begun when they crashed into the wall and door at the far end. Thanks to their high levels and ample health, many of them did not die on the spot.

"Ha... I survived?"

A White Fang Bandit leaned against the wall. The constantly shifting gravity had left him unable to find his balance. Both his arms were fractured in several places, and his entire body was covered in severe bruises and injuries. Grimacing in pain, he clutched the doorknob as his legs gave out beneath him. Dizzy and nauseated, he felt sick to his stomach.

Seeing that Li Aoz was no longer pursuing them and was merely watching from afar, he was overjoyed. He shouted to the companions beside him who still had the strength to move:

"He's got nothing left, haha! Now's our chance, get him—"

Bang! "Hahahahaha! Let's see who can stop Nomi now!"

Before he could finish, the door behind him was kicked open. Nomi brandished her wrench with a savage grin, sweeping the obstructing bandits in front of her to the ground. She kicked one bandit down, then mercilessly smashed his skull apart with her wrench. Pale matter mixed with crimson blood sprayed everywhere like tofu pudding drenched in chili oil.

Clang!

"Come on—whether you're beasts from the Nethertrace or bandits from the Outland, I'll trample you all, smash you to pieces, and grind you into dust!"

Scarlet filth stained her hospital gown, while even the bandages could not conceal the girl's crazed, deranged smile. She raised her wrench, slick with brain matter, from amid the shattered skulls. In an instant, her purple eye was consumed by red and black.

Just like the Malefic Calamity that filled the sky.