Retreat

The wall between the vampire bar and the machine room was smashed open. Pearl, in his Fang Vampire form, slowly walked out through the breach. His obesity had kept him confined to that cramped room for years. After being injected with Amazon Cells, his physical fitness improved and he regained the ability to move, but he still hadn't been very active. His limbs had almost forgotten how to coordinate, and his cerebellum had functionally forgotten how to walk. Now he was practically like a child who had only just learned to walk, moving with extreme care and slowness.

A huge, moving target like this was an obvious target. The action team members were first shocked by his monstrous appearance, then the squad leader was the first to recover and make them understand their predicament.

The squad leader pressed a hand to his earpiece and bellowed, "Concentrate your fire! Don't stop until your magazines are empty! Maximum firepower!"

Since they had to fight in an enclosed space, the gunfire was bound to damage their eardrums. The team members had all been issued earplugs, so the squad leader instinctively raised his voice.

"Roger!"

The team members immediately spread out into a tactical formation, aimed at the Fang Vampire, and pulled their triggers. Gunfire erupted, and a dense hail of bullets struck the Fang Vampire's body, only to bounce off his hard outer shell. The only apparent effect was that the bullets' impact further slowed his already sluggish steps, even forcing him to start backing away.

The effect was negligible, but the team members didn't dare stop. When their magazines ran dry, they replaced them with fresh ones. Every so often, they even pulled out ultraviolet grenades and threw them at the Fang Vampire, hoping that weapons developed to counter vampires might also work against a member of this other species.

Once all their ammunition was spent, except for the handguns they carried for self-defense, the gunfire finally stopped. Even though they had taken turns shooting to give each other time to reload, barely two minutes had passed since the first shot.

Fang Vampire Pearl was now lying on the ground. He seemed to have been injured.

Even the Interceptor body armor currently used by the U.S. military, with ceramic armor plates front and back, was considered the highest level of individual protection. One soldier wearing an Interceptor vest with ceramic plates had been hit by an AK-47 on the battlefield and was left with only a few bruises. He'd even been able to take a commemorative photo after leaving the battlefield.

Body armor didn't completely prevent injury. It only stopped the bullet, while the impact still caused damage; broken bones were common. It merely reduced the tearing injuries caused by the cavity effect when a bullet entered the body.

But that soldier had only taken a few shots, each hitting a different part of the vest. Under this level of concentrated fire, no one could expect to escape unscathed. Even the highest-grade boron carbide ceramic plates would probably have shattered into tiny fragments in less than a second.

Whistler had been huddled in a corner with Blade the whole time, his head buried between his knees as he covered Blade's ears to protect him from stray bullets and the noise. Once the gunfire stopped, he dragged the unconscious Blade out.

Seeing this, the squad leader immediately motioned for two team members to help. With his hands free, Whistler went over to Wei Xiuming and said anxiously, "We need to get out of here. This monster isn't something you can take down with the firepower you have. You'd need at least an RPG to hurt it."

Whistler had his own idea of who among them had the most authority, so instead of going to the squad leader, he approached Wei Xiuming.

Wei Xiuming wasn't some brainless commander from a movie. He turned to the squad leader and asked, "You got all that on camera, right? Its terrifying defense and powerful Life Force—did you capture them? If you did, get out of here. You're no longer in any position to take part in the fight ahead."

As they spoke, the Fang Vampire, who had been lying on the ground, began struggling to his feet. Aside from a few faint marks, there was no sign he'd been subjected to concentrated fire.

The squad leader pressed his earpiece and asked a few questions over the communications channel, then gave Wei Xiuming an OK sign. Their body cameras were the latest models, and the footage remained clear even in this poorly lit place. After Wei Xiuming nodded, the squad leader led his team away at once.

According to the orders he'd received before coming here, his mission was more or less complete. Besides, the person with the highest authority on the scene had given the order, so there was no reason for him to stay.

As for what the broad-shouldered scientist would do next, that was no longer under his jurisdiction. Even if the Fang Vampire beat him to death, he wouldn't be held responsible.

Wei Xiuming looked at the Fang Vampire, who had fallen over and simply stayed down, on all fours like a beast. He shook his head and sighed. "What a pitiful, pathetic creature!"

Then he released the power of Magnetic Field Rotation, destroying every electronic device nearby to prevent any cameras or other equipment from recording him.

Unhurriedly, Wei Xiuming took a pair of tactical fingerless gloves from his lab coat pocket and put them on. His hair stirred as if blown by a wind, and his entire presence grew even more intimidating. "My research was designed to screw people over, but using it on a lowly thing like you is an insult to me."

Fang Vampire Pearl didn't care about any of that. On all fours, he could use his strength better than he could standing upright. After his first step, his speed rapidly increased, and he charged straight at Wei Xiuming.

Wei Xiuming stepped into a lunge and lowered his center of gravity, bringing every muscle in his body to its peak. The power of Magnetic Field Rotation gathered, and as the Fang Vampire rushed within range, he threw a punch. "Electric Current Propulsion, Whale Slaying Hegemon Fist!"

Unlike the inward-to-outward force of Sea Tiger Blast Punch, Whale Slaying Hegemon Fist was a fierce, direct style of boxing, carrying the momentum of a whale swallowing the world. Even though Wei Xiuming was suppressing his power to keep others from becoming wary, he remained unmatched—especially in a head-on fight.

The strongest muscle in the human body is the heart, and the hardest bone is the skull—don't argue with me about tooth enamel, because this is the original line from Sea Tiger.

After becoming a Fang Vampire, Pearl had retained this same trait. The fierce punch struck him squarely in the face, sending him tumbling backward through a wall and into the machine room. He crashed into a large bank of computer racks, smashing them, but he wasn't seriously hurt. Even the cracks in his skull began to heal rapidly.

He sprang back to his feet, shook himself, and let out a wild boar's squeal. Then he snarled angrily, "Human, you hurt me! How dare such an inferior, despicable creature hurt me!"

As an administrative worker, Pearl had never needed to hunt for food himself, and he'd never been the one to fight vampire hunters. His combat instincts were weak, and he had little tolerance for pain.

Pearl's combat ability exceeded Wei Xiuming's expectations, but with his current strength, he could still keep it under control—especially since Pearl was all strength and no fighting experience.

"You should feel honored. I had to come in person to deal with an inferior creation like you. Even if your God showed up today, he couldn't save you. That's what I say!"

As his words fell, the air in the bar began to churn violently as Wei Xiuming unleashed the power of Magnetic Field Rotation. It swept up the debris and dust on the floor, and when it struck the walls, the air began to swirl into a tornado. The tiny particles inevitably rubbed against one another, and their exchange of electric charges created streaks of lightning. At the heart of the storm, Wei Xiuming's lab coat billowed around him, making him look like a terrifying demon god.