Aberrant Creature

The sudden, violent burst of gunfire caught Yang Jia off guard as well.

Who could immediately shove a gun into the hands of someone who had just woken up and tell him to shoot an innocent homeless man? No one could do that, right?

What she had been preparing to teach Xiao Xiao was that, when living in a foreign land, many things could not be viewed through normal logic. He had to learn to see through his opponent's disguise—and, even more importantly, learn to be ruthless.

When facing these Aberrant Creatures, any hesitation or fear could get him killed.

So, after handing him the gun, if Xiao Xiao had acted long-winded and asked all sorts of questions, she might have found it somewhat annoying, but it would also have given her the chance to teach him.

After all, that was how her teacher had taught her back then.

But Xiao Xiao...

...had done none of that.

He took the gun and, without even asking why he should fire, pulled the trigger without hesitation. He kept firing without pause, looking as though he intended to empty the entire magazine.

"Is it dead?"

At the same time Yang Jia was falling into astonishment, Xiao Xiao was also calmly staring at the homeless man, whose body had erupted in clouds of blood. His nerves were taut.

When he had first taken the gun, he had actually struggled with Yang Jia's command.

He had even wondered whether this beautiful girl was insane. Why else would she want to kill someone at the drop of a hat...?

But while he was hesitating, he suddenly felt his heart thudding heavily. The abrupt, intense sense of danger instantly plunged him into a state of Mind Burst.

Countless thoughts and streams of information exploded through his mind like a volcanic eruption, driving it into overdrive.

"Why kill this homeless man?"

"Was Yang Jia joking with me?... That possibility was almost nonexistent. She wasn't that bored."

"Then was this homeless man really a homeless man?"

"..."

Within time that had nearly come to a halt, Xiao Xiao looked at the homeless man and had enough time to carefully examine his appearance, movements, bedding, and wine bottles.

His eyes were slightly sunken and filled with red veins.

For someone who drank heavily and slept poorly, that seemed normal enough.

Only, this homeless man's eyes were redder than other people's. Because of the lighting, his eye sockets were shrouded in shadow, and Xiao Xiao could see only two dark-red pupils faintly glimmering in the darkness.

It was the sort of feature that could easily be overlooked at a glance, but that sent chills down one's spine when examined closely.

Once he noticed that, Xiao Xiao immediately focused on the homeless man's posture as well. He looked terrified, his body pressed tightly against the wall, his hands and feet trembling.

But on closer inspection, he saw that the man's legs were actually bent slightly, half-supporting his body. His palms rested beside his thighs, and his fingers were clenched tightly, ready to tear something apart at any moment.

The man was slowly adjusting his posture, preparing to spring up and attack.

He was dangerous!

But even after noticing all this, Xiao Xiao still did not think he could immediately shoot the man.

What made up his mind was a dark, indistinct object that had fallen beneath the homeless man's blanket.

It was difficult to identify at a glance, but after examining it carefully, Xiao Xiao saw its size, shape, and barely perceptible color and texture...

...It was a human thumb, already half-chewed away!

So this was no homeless man. It was a monster hiding beneath a tattered blanket in a corner of the subway and eating people.

And the monster had already assumed an attacking stance. At any moment, it could pounce straight at his face.

!!

Yang Jia hadn't been joking with him. She had really brought him to a monster and ordered him to kill it.

What was there to hesitate about?

The conclusion formed in an instant. Xiao Xiao immediately pulled the trigger, wanting only to kill the monster before it transformed into something even more disgusting and lunged at his face.

The bullets' violent impact made the homeless man's body shudder uncontrollably.

But because Xiao Xiao was unfamiliar with a gun's recoil, his aim veered wildly. Even from a distance of just two or three meters, several bullets missed, blasting holes in the wall beside the homeless man and sending fragments flying.

The homeless man suddenly let out a strange cry.

The surface of his body, riddled with bullet holes, suddenly tore open. A slender, blood-red monster crawled out from within, squealing as it charged at Xiao Xiao's face.

"What the hell is that?"

Facing the bright-red monster, Xiao Xiao felt his scalp go numb. A powerful wave of disgust rose within him, nearly making him vomit.

His brain seemed to turn into paste at that moment, but in his highly tense state, he still used Mind Burst to clearly see the thing lunging at him.

It was unmistakably a humanoid rat, as though it had been skinned alive.

Its muscles were knotted and bulging, its bright-red eyes protruded like light bulbs, and a long, slender tail whipped behind it—a tail formed from one jointed bone after another.

Black slime oozed between its interlocking, razor-sharp teeth, and the stench of decay struck him in the face.

"Don't turn your back on it..."

Yang Jia, standing to one side, issued a timely warning. More precisely, she had already spoken before the rat inside tore through the human skin.

She held a black dagger in her slender, pale palm, reversed in her grip.

Yet she still had no intention of making a move. She seemed to want to see how Xiao Xiao would respond to such a sudden transformation.

This old classmate of hers, now a newcomer, had already displayed too many things that surprised her.

So, when facing the Rat-Man's true form at close range as it fought like a cornered beast, could he remain as calm and make judgments as precise as before?

At the same moment Yang Jia's warning rang out, Xiao Xiao widened his eyes and stared at the monster that had lunged before him.

The opponent's malformed joints and bright-red skin, even the strands of slime flung loose as it attacked, were all visible to him. He instantly formed a judgment.

This thing was terrifying. Its body was so powerful that even bullets could not deprive it of its ability to move unless they struck a vital spot.

Its speed and strength far exceeded anything he could comprehend.

At the same time, for some reason, the moment he saw it, he felt fear, disgust, and cowardice well up inside him.

Some instinct deep within his body seemed to urge him to stand still and not move.

It was like how most people reacted when confronted with something terrifying: their first response was not to flee, but to have their legs go weak and lose control of themselves.

However, Xiao Xiao overcame that instinct in an extremely short time.

And in the next moment, he made his own response.

He tightened his grip on the gun, which had only a few bullets left, pressed his lips together, and quickly retreated one step, widening the distance between himself and the monster.

Then he crossed one step to the side and hid behind Yang Jia.

"??"

Yang Jia had been calmly observing Xiao Xiao's reaction and preparing to rescue him at any moment. Her expression instantly turned astonished.

This kid is using me as a shield?

While she was still stunned, the Rat-Man pounced to her side and viciously bit down with its sharp fangs. She could even smell the stench of decay wafting from its body.

Somewhat helplessly, Yang Jia raised a hand.

The air twisted beneath some invisible force, forming an intangible ripple resembling a doorframe. It flickered faintly beside her, directly in the Rat-Man's path.

In the next instant, the lightning-fast Rat-Man passed through the phantom doorframe.

Its movements remained the same as before, but its speed seemed to slow by half, as though some kind of kinetic force had been stripped away the moment it passed through the frame—without the creature realizing it.

Holding her black dagger reversed in her grip, Yang Jia thrust backward. With a pfft, she drove it into the Rat-Man's head and slammed it into the ground in one smooth motion.

Throughout the entire process, she did not even turn her head.

She merely narrowed her eyes and looked at Xiao Xiao, who was hiding behind her. There was a hint of scrutiny in her gaze.

Meeting Yang Jia's questioning look, Xiao Xiao paused slightly. With no time to explain, he simply stepped around her, aimed at the struggling monster, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The monster was not completely dead yet. Better to put another bullet in it first.

Only after finishing did he retreat again, let out a small sigh of relief, and say uneasily, "What kind of thing is this? Why is it so terrifying?"

"Rat-Man."

Yang Jia watched Xiao Xiao silently for several seconds before slowly speaking:

"A mutated monster that spawned on the Forgotten City Edge. It specializes in parasitizing human bodies, then continuing to live while wearing the victim's exterior and identity."

"It's one of the most common monsters in our city. Its danger level isn't particularly high, but it's extremely troublesome."

"Once discovered, it must be cleared out immediately. Otherwise, within just a few days, it could multiply into a group ten or even twenty times its original size, causing a large-scale disaster."

"It possesses a mental attack that instantly assaults people with disgust and fear!"

"Normally, when people encounter them, the sudden disgust and terror make them turn and run. The Rat-Man then takes the opportunity to attack from behind..."

"You understand. Through that opening... it crawls into a person's body."

"Then it hollows out their organs and flesh, parasitizes the body, controls its outer shell, and connects to its memories. From then on, there's no outward change, but in essence, the person has become one of the rats."

"..."

Xiao Xiao listened, an astonished expression already appearing on his face.

After Yang Jia finished speaking, she paused briefly before continuing, "I've already explained all that. Now, shouldn't you explain..."

"...why you hid behind me?"