Laughter Rises Amid Green Fire in the Nest

The scorched wheel grazed Lu Feng's face and sped past, blasting out a gale.

In an instant, the roaring truck had crushed head-on into that stunned face, lifting the mutated body with it and ramming it with all its might into the wall on the other side!

A terrifying upheaval like an earthquake swept through the entire Underground Parking Lot, and countless specks of Dust rustled down. But this was still not the end. The truck, with most of its front end embedded in the wall, suddenly reversed, dragging that Bloody and mangled mass along with it.

Zhu Hong fell to the ground and tried to prop herself up, but her shattered face was illuminated by the headlights once more.

The truck spun in place in a tire-burning drift. Its enormous body was as nimble as a cat's, and the cargo bed slammed heavily into the wall. Facing her were only two rows of thick wheels, large enough to cast horrifying shadows.

The wheels spun, sped forward, and crushed.

One scalp-numbing sound after another Sounded, drowned out by the shriek of rubber scraping against the anti-slip coating. Like a wood chipper running at full speed.

Blood Splattered from between the wheels, along with fragments of bone and internal organs.

Repeating everything they had done to the dead in that basement!

Inch by inch, minute by minute, they completely dismembered the man-eating monster!

Until the burst tire finally came loose from the driveshaft.

The lit headlights slowly went dark.

The cheerful Holy Hymn came to an end.

[Reserve Spiritual Substance depleted—protocol ended—duration: 4 seconds.]

In the dimness, Ji Jue was about to be swallowed by darkness, struggling to breathe.

He had nearly been done for at the one-second mark, but he had not expected that, just as his Spiritual Substance was about to be drained dry, the Wristwatch would remind him that the remains of the giant snake on the ground still contained active Aberrant Spirit Essence.

He had almost been moved to tears.

One draw hadn't been enough, and he could draw for this long again... What brand of Power Bank was this?

How was its quality so good?

Yet In the deathly stillness, groaning sounded from beneath the truck's front end, along with the piercing shriek of steel being torn apart... Beneath the shattered brake discs and wheel hubs, within that Bloody and mangled mass, a twisted, broken limb slowly rose.

Beneath the remaining hair, that ground-up face no longer held any of its former charm or beauty. All that remained was nauseating savagery and hideousness.

Ji Jue was utterly suffocated.

She was actually still alive!

"Smells so good, smells so good, I can't take it anymore. Your scent, so good, so good—"

Things like eyeballs trembled as they stared fixedly in Ji Jue's direction. One Tentacle after another Wriggled out from her internal organs amid hysterical screams and shouts.

Lips with only half their bones left opened and closed, letting out shrill, crazed laughter. "Haha, ha, Hahaha, hahahaha, you motherfuckers are all going to..."

The scalp-numbing healing began once more. No, rather than recovery, it was more like a haphazard patchwork and gluing. Amid strange sounds that seemed to mix crying and laughter, Zhu Hong's arms Wriggled one after another, tearing through steel and Crawled out bit by bit...

Only a crisp sound came Head-on.

From Lu Feng's hand.

That round thing, after its pin was pulled, bounced nimbly across the ground and rolled playfully. Finally, it landed on her face, proudly displaying the pineapple-like grid across its body.

The crazed, ugly expression froze abruptly.

And just like that, it offered up its final fireworks.

Flames and explosions swallowed everything.

After the Loud explosion, the shattered front end was shrouded in flames. Within the flesh Burned to ashes, there was no further sound.

Lu Feng still held up his pistol warily, aiming in That direction.

Not until a long while later, when no other sound came from within.

"Dead?"

He Looked towards Ji Jue suspiciously. Ji Jue squirmed as he Crawled out from the ground, braced himself against the wall, and first used his watch to siphon the Aberrant Spirit Essence from the two ghostly things, replenishing his reserves a little. Only then did he cautiously Approach bit by bit, until the watch finally gave its prompt—external active Aberrant Spirit Essence detected. Absorb?

He finally Sighed in Relief, drenched in cold sweat.

Dead.

Dead as dead could be.

If she hadn't died, they would have. Ji Jue truly had nothing left. If she still had even one breath in her and could move, he could only lift his neck and treat her to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

What a pity. He would never again see such luxurious headlights that gave extra portions without raising the price.

"Wait!"

Thinking of this, Ji Jue's expression suddenly turned serious. "If this gets out, will people say our repair shop murdered a customer for money?"

Lu Feng wanted nothing more than to kick this bastard to death. "Get the fuck out of here! If someone comes and sees this scene, we're really finished!"

The two supported each other as they headed out, but Ji Jue's laughter made Lu Feng's scalp tingle.

"Stop laughing, Feng Ge."

Ji Jue Couldn't help but sigh. "Your laughter's making my legs shake."

Lu Feng glared furiously. "Wasn't that you laughing?"

"I..."

Ji Jue had just wanted to argue, but when the two looked at each other, they realized there was not the Slightest smile on either face—only a growing pallor.

Under the flickering lights, in the parking lot strewn with corpses and blood, the cold wind echoed, carrying a hoarse laugh that made both men shudder.

Filled with praise and appreciation.

As though, after watching an animal performance, someone were offering admiration and applause to the playthings in the cage.

Slap!

It was as though invisible rain were falling into the bloody water, Stirring up layer after layer of ripples. Formless rain covered everything, until at last, the crimson Before one's eyes was filled with strange waves Rising and falling.

Within the ripples, one eye slowly Opened. Then came a second, a third, a fourth.

Countless eyes Opened in the bloody water and looked at the final survivors of the struggle with curiosity and delight—as though looking at new toys.

The two froze stiffly in place.

Lu Feng swallowed. "Little Ji..."

"Yeah?"

"That move just now, can you... do it again..."

"It's gone. It's all gone."

Ji Jue's expression twitched. "Even if I find something to kill myself with again, the truck's gone!"

Their only truck had been wrecked by him. Even if he activated the Survival Protocol, what could he do? Wiggle a finger and summon a Cybertron Autobot?

At that moment, countless pop-up windows covered his vision again.

[External active Aberrant Spirit Essence detected. Fiendification Signs appearing.]

[Warning: External Aberrant Spirit Essence activity index rising. Pollution Threshold reached.]

[Warning: Pollution source rapidly approaching. Fiendification Pollution Protection activated. Activation failed. Error, error, error—]

[Error]

Ji Jue was about to explode with anger. He only wanted to pull out that Husky-pointing expression and ask this broken watch, what else could you do besides report errors?!

He had completely forgotten who had relied on Cousin's Spiritual Substance extraction and emergency Survival Protocol to barely survive until now.

Sadly, calling it Cousin or Grandpa Watch now would be useless.

From within the hoarse laughter, a hunched figure gradually emerged from the bloody water.

Thin and small, it was practically a skin-and-bones Mummy. Yet when those pitch-black eyes swept over them, a soul-deep chill seized them.

The blurry figure strolled through the bloody water, bent down, picked up the remaining head from Zhu Hong's wreckage, and examined the expression frozen at its final moment. A finger slowly Scratched across the fissures steeped in savagery and despair.

Then it gave a Soft smile.

"Speaking in terms of a [Vessel], your aptitude is truly barely passable. Though given time, with this greed and viciousness of yours, you might yet bear some poisonous fruit of evil.

"Unfortunately, at most, this is all you could ever amount to.

"I had already given up hope, yet I did not expect such an unexpected delight today—"

Those pitch-black eyes turned toward the two Intruders who were tiptoeing backward. Looking at Ji Jue, the blurred face seemed to curl into a smile, filled with joy and appreciation.

"What Good material and fine jade."

A hungry gaze that was almost drooling with desire.

Just being watched by those eyes made Ji Jue start shaking uncontrollably.

Fuck, there was a pervert here!

When other villains appeared, they threw back their heads and laughed Hahaha, then casually crushed every opponent who dared kill their subordinates. But you—when you saw this rather handsome little boy, your eyes started shining, your face flushed, your heart raced, all love and adoration...

That was fucking terrifying!

At that moment, the surging bloody water suddenly rose, weaving into the bizarre Nine-Fingered Giant Hand, which abruptly reached for Ji Jue and Lu Feng, frightening Ji Jue pale.

"Eldest Brother, I don't sell hooks! You've got the wrong person!"

The Blood Hand paused.

The smile on that mummy-like face seemed to stiffen for a moment, making Ji Jue even more certain. Fuck, you really were after my hook!

Unfortunately, that was not it—

It had not even noticed what Ji Jue was saying.

Amid the opening and closing of countless eyes, it was looking at a glimmer of crystal light gradually appearing in the spreading pool of blood beneath Ji Jue's feet... growing like a seed sprouting.

A translucent Crystal Flower grew from the cement, iron, and stone.

Like a nail, it embedded itself in the pool of blood, preventing it from stretching forward another inch.

For one moment, time itself seemed to freeze there.

Everything froze amid this sudden change.

Only a distant long sigh echoed through the air.

"I've finally... caught you!"

Aboveground, before the noisy, chaotic Nightclub, the figure leaning against a motorcycle and smoking sighed, flicked away the ash in her hand, and turned. Her long hair flew in the wind.

Flashing neon illuminated her cheeks and the cruel smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

She raised her hand, and across the vast distance and layers of floorboards, vaguely covered the hunched figure in the bloody water. Then—her five fingers clenched!

Boom!!!

The ground shook, and the building groaned with a Loud explosion. Within the sealed, foul-smelling parking lot, countless blade-like crystals suddenly grew Out of Thin Air, extending and converging, as though Turned into a Giant Tree that grew upward and stretched downward.

Penetration!

They effortlessly tore through material resistance and bloody counterattacks, grinding the countless giant eyes and their bloody water into powder. Then came the sound of floorboards shattering, followed by one Loud explosion after another. That tall, slender figure fell from where she stood, downward.

In the blink of an eye, she Fell into the lowest level of the parking lot.

In the flickering dim light and the spreading smoke and dust, an unkind smiling face appeared, looking down at the Mummy in the bloody water. "These days, you pieces of shit from the Dragon Worship Cult still dare show your faces in Yacheng?"

"Transcendent Rank—"

At that moment, all mockery and excitement vanished from the Mummy's blurred face, as though it faced a formidable enemy.

The vast parking lot was now filled with spurting, spreading blood and countless magnificent Crystal Trees. Dazzling crystal light collided with crimson, tearing at each other.

The gale alone sent Ji Jue and Lu Feng, who had tucked in their heads to save their lives, flying.

Amid the gale and flying fragments, the horrified pair lay prone on the ground. After exchanging a glance, they tacitly... Looked towards the exit.

Lu Feng crawled forward, while Ji Jue squirmed along behind him.

Though they had no idea what was happening, if they didn't run now, were they supposed to stay and applaud, waiting for the immortals' fight to casually crush them too?

But there was none of the expected three hundred rounds of battle.

Rather, it had ended the moment it began.

The instant endless blood erupted, the Mummy suddenly scattered and vanished without a trace. It ran even fucking faster than Ji Jue and Lu Feng!

It truly had none of a powerhouse's bearing or style.

Shameful!

As Ji Jue grumbled inwardly, he stopped squirming. The brothers looked at the black leather boots before them, slowly raised their heads, and saw Wen Wen's face.

She tilted her head, lit another White Star, and lightly exhaled smoke before asking with a Half-smile, "Oh? You two, where are you planning to go?"

It was truly unexpected.

Faced with a spreading threat like Blood Thirst Syndrome, the Security Bureau itself monitored emergency call records in every region. Whenever abnormal situations or cases arose, they would investigate and deploy at any time.

After Tong Hua had tracked down the attacker's destination, Wen Wen had rushed over, thinking she was already too late and might have made a wasted trip.

She had not expected to witness such a spectacle.

All she could say was that the world was truly wonderful.

Faced with such a peaceful smile, Lu Feng's expression twitched. His Other Hand quietly shoved the piece of... Black Soft Gel he had just pulled from his bag back inside, pushing it deeper.

Unfortunately, Lu Feng was not good with words. He could only nudge Ji Jue beside him, urging him to hurry up and say something flirty to ease the awkward atmosphere.

After hemming and hawing for ages, Ji Jue finally forced out an enthusiastic business smile. "Big Sister, when did you arrive?"

"Hmm, let me think."

Wen Wen pinched her chin as if pondering it. Soon, she Couldn't help but laugh. "From when you said you'd spent your whole life desperately being a Roll Dog, not to become that sort of thing..."

"Don't, don't say it, please!"

Ji Jue felt his whole body tense. Even though he had said that bullshit himself only moments ago, his toes instinctively curled against the floor. He only felt that this shitty parking lot owed him a three-bedroom apartment.

"Thank you, Big Sister, for saving us from suffering!"

After coughing for a long time, he finally Crawled out from the ground and clasped his hands in salute. "Rest assured, my brother and I will absolutely not tell anyone about what happened today and cause you trouble.

"The mountains may not turn, but the waters do; mountains and waters will meet again. Another day, we'll—"

Before he could finish, he grabbed Lu Feng and prepared to run.

Sadly, they still failed to get away.

An ID card unfolded before him.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Wen Wen, North Mountain Supervisor of the Yacheng Security Bureau's Action Department. Simply put, I'm the local cop responsible for the North Mountain District."

As she spoke, she pressed down on their shoulders and warmly invited them.

"How about we find somewhere to have a chat?"

.

.

Half an hour later, the motorcycle and Ji Jue's Little Lamb had both been left by the roadside.

Yacheng's night market was a bustling, noisy row of street stalls, crowded with people and buzzing with activity.

Slap!

A pitcher of Ice Beer and a mountain of East City Grilled Skewers were slapped down in front of the two of them.

"Come on, cheers—"

Wen Wen was the first to raise her beer glass. Tilting her head back, she began gulping it down, drained it in one go, let out a satisfied beer burp, then started gnawing on edamame.

There was no interrogation room, no "confession earns leniency" slogan, and no good-cop-bad-cop routine.

Still dazed, Ji Jue and Lu Feng stared at each other.

"Uh..." Ji Jue began, "Didn't you say you wanted to ask..."

Before he could finish, a glass of beer was stuffed into his hand. With a clink, Wen Wen touched glasses with him and shook her head without a care. "It's already quitting time. Why rush to work overtime? Drink!"

Ji Jue hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

At this point, the fact that he couldn't drink at all was completely impossible to say aloud!

In a daze, beer somehow became red wine, red wine became baijiu, and after draining Don't know how many glasses, Ji Jue collapsed facedown on the table. All he could think was that this Big Sister's capacity for liquor was truly as unfathomable as her bosom.

Then there was no then.

He had drunk himself unconscious.