Act18: Wild Reputation
[Part 1: Gale and Torrential Rain]
"Little Chili"
[SCK·Cold-Blooded Killer] floated beside the main body, pressed against Xiao Qi's ear, and gently wiped away the cold sweat.
"This guy's tough! Should we run away?"
9527 didn't reply. She leaned against the window, clutching her gun, thinking about a way to escape. The ninth floor wasn't safe; enemies would be searching the room soon. But that bull-headed monster was still controlling seventeen prisoners, manipulating their minds with special psychic power to make them change their minds and affections!
The curse of the Minotaur is truly terrifying.
--It's not like [Hell Highway], where Teacher Victor's mind control stops at neural activity and directs the body and mind through various command symbols.
However, Xiao Qi had just personally experienced the abnormality of her physical body. This vicious spiritual energy, accompanied by a strong hormonal reaction, completely simulated the illusion of "love." If she were to actually come into contact with that pale yellow spiritual phantom, she would immediately fall into the illusion of being moved.
In Xiao Qi's experience, it's even more advanced than the aphrodisiacs circulating on the black market. This transference effect occurs naturally; it's a special drug specifically targeting the reproductive system of amniotes.
This is an extremely terrifying opponent. Without a doubt, once you are hit by the opponent's soul power, it will be very difficult to find a chance to turn the tide!
To defeat [Mind Flayer Conte], one must be prepared to shoot one's beloved, tear one's favorite object to pieces, and possess the great willpower to sever all emotional ties.
"Run, Chili Pepper. I don't think you're a match for him." SCK analyzed logically, "This guy's Soul Power range is around 21 meters, and it won't go more than 35 meters at most."
"You saw it yourself, he could control the cook in the kitchen, but he didn't immediately try to control the cook's family members—these residents were shouting and cursing from the third-floor balcony; that's the limit of his range."
"If you want to finish him off with bullets, you'll have to get over a thick wall of people. You know what it feels like to love someone? Love makes you blind, makes you reckless, and can even make you forget how important life is."
SCK cupped Xiao Qi's face in his hands--
"--Are you willing to risk your life for your family, and to avenge Xiao Ju, to come to Lieyang Fort alone?"
"All of this is because you deeply love this family. You can't live without love; it's the water, and you are the fish."
"Without gunsmiths, you don't know how you would survive. You complement each other and shape each other."
"This man with a strong sense of justice made you start to behave properly, stop committing crimes, and even your petty theft habit disappeared. It's all because of love."
"You can't defeat the Minotaur because you're too deeply in love. Take my advice, pack your bags and run! This monster is beyond our current capabilities."
"Even a 12.7mm riot control warhead might not be able to kill it. To take down a mythical creature instantly is simply a pipe dream for us. I don't have that kind of destructive power."
"Unless that brat Bu Liuxing comes along, gives him a large enough stage, and a chance to execute him, then he can kill this monster."
"Take a look at the elemental composition of the Bull Warrior and analyze it carefully."
"That's a solid body comparable to Flash Butterfly after being nourished by the elixir of immortality. His physical strength should be right between that of an apostle and Flash Butterfly, much stronger than Lisa Krauser."
"Moreover, it possesses such special spiritual abilities that it can drive people crazy for it, making them willing to sacrifice their lives for it."
Right now, at this very moment--
--The arrogant mockery of Harris Conte came from downstairs.
"Gunsmith's wife! Don't be shy!"
The minotaur opened his arms and embraced the innocent people in Wulong Fortress.
"I guarantee it! As long as you cooperate obediently, the whole process will be quick! You'll soon forget about the gunsmith! Dead men are losers, useless trash eliminated by the laws of nature!"
You will not experience any pain, shame, or discomfort.
"My innate psychic powers exist solely to save beauties like you!"
A kind neighbor nearby raised his phone and held up a picture of the gunsmith's wife in front of Harris.
The minotaur flared its nostrils, spewing out hot air, its eyes wide open, and saliva was about to drip onto the head of the morbidly curious captive.
"Oh! She's absolutely stunning! I love this kind of mature woman!"
"If you're still worried about being lonely, believe me! The War King will be here to keep you company soon. Before I hand you over to George Joshua, I'm going to give you a good lesson and work on your minds!"
Joshua's second cruise ship is the largest brothel in Lieyang Fort. It is because of Harris Conte's existence that this Minotaur bull can change people's minds and make girls wholeheartedly sell themselves for wealth.
At that moment, SCK realized that nothing he said mattered.
The Madness Index of 9527 has exceeded the limit. Her wristwatch was made by Jiang Xueming himself. It contains Spirit Calamity concentration and intracranial contraband detection instrument, as well as a mini Madness Index probe. They all slide toward the completely black [outside the specification].
SCK: "Hey! Chili Pepper! Calm down!"
"You want me to calm down?" Xiao Qi revealed a terrifying smile, her mouth almost splitting to her ears. She was both excited and furious, her joy tinged with hysterical madness. "This beast is insulting my husband and wants to turn him into a prostitute! It sounds so exciting! This idea is fantastic! It's just that I've only ever dared to think about it in my head!"
These jumbled thoughts raced through Xiao Qi's mind, creating a chaotic mess.
She was never a lawful, kind person to begin with, and as the bloodshot in her eyes spread to her dark pupils, her mind began to race.
"I'm going to tear this cow apart! Then stew it all in one pot, and do you think Xue Ming will become more romantic after eating it? He'll learn to pole dance!? Play the trumpet upside down! And then slide naked down the club's downhill tube?! Hehehehehehehe!"
SCK sticks out his tongue; the catwoman is covered in fur and can only sweat in this way.
It couldn't figure out what was wrong with the main body's head. It seemed to have been subjected to extremely strong external stimulation, and 9527 had completely collapsed or entered a new realm of thought.
Xiao Qi's skin gradually turned red, and the papules and rashes Vita Imprint and fell, appearing and disappearing repeatedly.
"Who in the family understands this?" SCK covered his face, unable to stop his main character's behavior. "This woman seems much crazier than me!"
Before she could finish complaining, Catwoman was pulled out of the room by a tremendous force; it was the range limitation of the spirit that pulled her back to her physical body.
Harris Conte, holding hostages in the concrete courtyard in front of the archway, was fearless, waiting for the gunsmith's wife to come to him.
He remained calm and composed, certain that the Nameless One would not stand idly by. After all, the gunsmith had just died, and if news of the Nameless One's cowardice were to spread, it would be the first horn of disaster sounding— the Madness Butterfly would regain the upper hand.
We must utterly crush these ignorant Homo sapiens! We must expose the gunsmith's widow and Glory for their utter disgrace!
I want people to not only see these women in news reports, but also download them from Pornhub!
Women! Women! Women! Women are their weakness!
No matter how powerful a hero is, if he can't protect a woman, he'll instantly become a clown! This is the most despicable, direct, and effective way to shatter the nameless hero's aura!
"Ho ho! As expected, he didn't run away! Instead, he rushed out in a fit of rage?!" The minotaur's eyes gleamed with excitement as he watched 9527 impatiently burst out of the broken window of the main hall.
"Go eat shit!" Xiao Qi cursed and threw a liquefied gas cylinder at him.
The gas cylinder was seen spinning in mid-air, startling the residents who quickly closed their windows to escape.
Grandpa Dongfang Hao's face turned deathly pale. He had been watching the battle with great concern, but now the nameless matriarch had completely lost her mind! Like a terrorist, she showed absolutely no mercy towards the hostages. Was this woman going to blow up the tenants of Wulong Fortress and the Minotaur together?! Had she gone mad?!
"Damn it! Are you crazy?!" Harris Conte was shocked and horrified, never expecting that a righteous hero would resort to such a desperate measure. In this critical moment, he looked at his gang members and henchmen behind him, and they were all running away faster than the last.
Looking at the seventeen prisoners beside him, controlled by psychic energy, they were terrified. It was the threat of death that had saved them from the spell of love—they were about to die! What was the point of love then?!
The two strong cooks on either side were so frightened that they ran away in terror, struggling to escape from the broad chest of the bull warrior.
The human chairs beneath them scattered like birds and beasts even before the gas cylinder hit the ground.
"Husbands and wives are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly away separately." Harris Conte clung tightly to the two prisoners beside him and sternly threatened 9527, "Don't fucking do anything stupid!"
Xiao Qi stood still with her gun at the ready, her eyes turning extremely terrifying. The chilling killing intent she exuded was almost identical to her husband's. The muzzle of the gun followed Harris's deformed, beastly body as it moved sideways, staring intently at the two thick arms and the two hostages held within them.
The liquefied gas cylinder rolled toward the mythical creature. Harris Conte knew how terrifying this thing was. After all, he was still a carbon-based life form. If he took a direct hit like that, he would be half-dead, if not killed. And if other nameless beings came to finish him off, his chances of survival would be slim.
The Ash12.7 has a limited range, and its huge warhead cannot guarantee shooting accuracy. If Xiao Qi wants to accurately rescue the hostage, she can only keep getting closer to Harris and make sure to send the bullet into the monster's eye!
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Don't get excited! Don't get excited!" Harris watched Xiao Qi walk forward step by step, seemingly believing that the hostage in his hands had really worked and could really intimidate the nameless mistress. "Closer. Closer."
Before the words were even finished, the instant they entered the spirit's range!
A bright yellow bull-headed spirit burst forth from the monster's body and charged towards Xiao Qi.
9527 fired a burst of gunfire, and SCK simultaneously lunged at the enemy's Soul Might!
"Little Chili! I've told you! I don't have that much strength!"
The pale pink cat-shaped spirit flashed by, its fierce straight punch striking the bull-headed, human-bodied deity but unable to advance an inch.
It was no match for the Minotaur. In terms of destructive power and speed, it was no match for this mythical creature. In the blink of an eye, Ash's bullets and SCK attacked in unison, striking the bright yellow minotaur spirit, but they could not stop it at all!
It broke through SCK's defense and arrived in front of Xiao Qi with the posture of a victor standing tall and proud!
Harris Conte was overjoyed and whispered a shout.
"I won! I won!"
He freed one hand, discarding the useless captive on his right arm, and prepared to control the spirit to perform a precise operation, choking Xiao Qi by the neck and casting a spell of love!
No matter how SCK tried to kick, parry, or intercept, it was all in vain. Xiao Qi was made of flesh and blood and was simply unable to fight back in this high-speed spiritual duel—this minotaur was too fast!
[Part ② - The Inevitable Strike]
The Minotaur's strong four fingers gripped 9527's hair tightly, followed by a fierce punch to Xiao Qi's face!
At that moment, her heart stopped, and she was almost driven to Gate of Death by the feeling of "heart pounding".
"Pneumatic injection! SCK!"
"Oh!" The pink cat, like a serpent entering its hole, darted to the main body, took out the Universal Elixir from its carrying device, pulled out a ring-shaped dental needle, and stabbed it into the ventricle of 9527.
Her body was rapidly metabolizing the useless hormones secreted in her brain, and the excessively high Madness Index seemed to make her ignore some of the pain.
Harris Conte felt Hot Wind on his face, focusing all his mental energy on the enemy before him, as if he had overlooked something!
Why does this woman look so young?
Is she really a woman who has given birth to four children?
She looks different from the photo! Different! No, no, no!
Why? Why did my psychic powers fail? She should have given up struggling, obeyed, and already fallen in love with me!
Why is it so hot?!
"I'm not even in heat yet!" 9527 pressed her chin against Ash's handrail, her body age having reverted to eleven, an age before her period even started. Meanwhile, SCK's special psychic abilities were constantly influencing another crucial item.
On the valve of the liquefied gas cylinder, at the constriction point of the one-piece cast top, there is a round rust hole!
Propane gas, attacked by Ash's bullets, was spewing out scorching flames! It was like a knife, a blade made of flames! Manipulated by an unusually precise force, the flame blade was directed at Harris's torso and arms. In the instant that the spirits clashed, the minotaur had no time to worry about the bomb that had already exploded beside it!
"Bang!--"
How well-done do you like it?
Xiao Qi pulled the trigger, and the bullet darted out from under the armpit of the Minotaur's spirit body!
It smashed open the rusted hole in the gas canister, and the original column of flame turned into a flat blade of fire! It swept down Harris's spine to his eyes, scorching the minotaur's face!
"Seven-tenths cooked? Five-tenths cooked?!"
The sound of bullets exploding was incessant. Some gang members wanted to come back and help the new leader. As soon as they stepped into Xiao Qi's shooting range, they poked their heads out from behind the fence, and their heads immediately became berry garnishes for steaks.
Ash's immense bullet kinetic energy almost never leaves any intact skull; usually, all that's left is a bleeding chin.
Xiao Qi's body grew smaller and smaller, younger and younger, her heart enduring the immense pressure from her Madness Index frenzy, as well as the mental attacks from the Minotaur bulls—
"--SCK! Next injection! The medication can't be stopped!"
The pneumatic needle forcefully injected another 25 milliliters of the Universal Elixir into Xiao Qi's body. She was bloodthirsty, and at the moment when the enemy lost his sight, she had to avoid the bull-headed spirit in front of her and finish cooking.
With a crash, the valve of the liquefied gas tank shattered completely, and the fireball engulfed Harris Conte, scorching the prisoners around him as well!
Xiao Qi didn't care about anything else, reloaded, picked up his gun, and fired again. But a burning pain shot through his torso!
Harris's vitality was extremely tenacious. Even after losing his sight, he struggled to pick up his gun and fight back. He calculated the time when he was reloading and opened fire on Xiao Qi at the source of the gunfire and the location of Soul Power!
The pistol bullets made Xiao Qi's body tremble, almost losing most of her fighting spirit. Her weak body couldn't wear the Flash Butterfly Armor and didn't have much armor, so she was bleeding profusely in no time.
Harris abandoned the half-dead prisoner. Terrified, he crawled toward the door, trying to escape this Human Hell. He never expected that the gunsmith's wife would actually kill the prisoner. After losing his sight, he scrambled toward the low slope along the riverside scenic area and fled toward the Old Pipe Alley!
"SCK! We can't let this beast escape!" 9527 knew all too well the dangers of letting a tiger return to the mountains.
If Harris Conte returns to the White Shark Association and heals his injuries, then next time, this minotaur might resort to underhanded tactics, manipulating the garrison around the stronghold to slowly infiltrate, and then things will be unpredictable!
This beast cannot be allowed to live! So many women! So many families! Destroyed by this monster!
"Little Chili! I can't catch it! You can't move!"
Xiao Qi, panting heavily, her eyes glazed over, finally realized with a start that she was severely injured. The Universal Elixir was still working, but the ribs in her lungs, and shrapnel lodged in her diaphragm and intestines, held her back tightly. Her legs felt like lead, and she couldn't take a single step. She could only awkwardly point her gun at the other gang members. These reckless thugs still wanted to take advantage of the situation. If they dared to step into Wulong Fortress, they would either be lucky enough to lose an arm or a leg, or unlucky enough to lose their heads.
"Escape! Escape! As long as we can escape back! As long as we can escape back!"
Harris Conte had completely lost his will to fight. Just a few days ago, he was laughing at that Ghost Arm Ron for being a coward. He thought that the small Wulong Fortress, by taking a dozen civilians hostage as human shields, would surely make sure that the Nameless One never returned.
Now that Ron has lost his life, Harris is also on the verge of death. Next time they want to conquer the stronghold, they'll definitely need to bring more men and more powerful weapons!
He waved his arms wildly, ignoring the shouts of his followers, only wanting to escape. After losing his sight, he went completely insane.
No one can resist the power of the Minotaur! No one can escape the spell of love!
But today! The nameless matriarch has actually broken through this divine power!
Does love not exist in a child's world? Is that so?
Could these human infants possibly resist such domineering psychic energy?
This falls into Harris Conte's blind spot, because he never cared about the feelings of Homo sapiens cubs, and there were no children on his hunting list.
9527 used SCK to revert her physical age back to eleven years old and used Universal Elixir to accelerate her metabolism and eliminate excess hormones in her body. This action, under the influence of the Minotaur, gave her some mobility.
It was this meager ability to move, this brief moment, that allowed the gushing propane flames to blind the mythical creature, giving her a chance to retaliate.
"Boss! Don't run away! Boss!"
"That woman didn't chase after us! Boss! Stop running!"
No matter how much his followers shouted, fear had completely taken control of Harris, this beast.
He felt that the streets and alleys were so unfamiliar and so long. He couldn't see anything! The ancient bloodline of the Minotaur in his body repeatedly defeated his reason; it was the animal's survival instinct.
A robust young man, about six feet tall, holstered his pistol and put the insignificant Pst steel-core bullet back into his carrying gear.
Shao Jinghao's eyes blazed with fury. He kicked over the bamboo shed of the fruit stall facing the street, urging the nosy bystanders to squeeze inside to avoid being accidentally injured by this minotaur with a fiery face and body.
He stopped the curious toddlers, slapped the children on their way home from school with his large hands, grabbed them one by one, and threw them into the arms of passersby. Then he followed Harris's escape route, walking briskly and swiftly.
He grabbed a large cleaver from the fresh meat stall, but then felt it wasn't right for him, so he immediately threw it away and switched to a tiger-head guillotine. Finally, he calmed down, and his heart stopped pounding like a drum.
Then I recalled Assistant Coach Meteor's charging steps; this long and steep low slope was the perfect environment for leaping and slashing attacks.
Once the thought arises, it's too late to hesitate; and if you're afraid, there's no turning back!
A Hao had already taken a step, and the four-foot-long, two-inch-wide guillotine blade whistled and howled in the wind.
Then, Harrison Conte, standing at the bottom of the low slope, suddenly tilted to one side!
The guillotine's downward strike resembled a meteor falling to earth!
The black, sticky, oiled blade cleaved through the golden bull horns, pierced the skull, severed the spine, cut into the chest cavity, dissected the intestines, and slid out from the hips!
Scalding blood gushed out like a waterfall! A Hao slid down the low slope for three or four meters, stepping on Harris's broken beast body, before finally coming to a stop!
He pulled out the knife, his eyes stained with blood so he couldn't see anything!
The gang members who followed were terrified. Some of the bolder ones wanted to use A Hao's head to gain merit and were about to launch a sneak attack when they heard a burly man from the neighborhood carrying an oil cake walk out of the oil press and shout angrily.
"You still want to harm people!"
The members of the Zhan Gang immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
Before A Hao could even wipe the blood from his eyes, he felt his heart pounding in his throat. The dull pain in his chest was due to the spiritual pressure. His body finally reacted and began to feel fear—fear of the spiritual pressure of this ancient mythical creature.
Look at Harris Conte's bull head split in two, its eyes reflecting the chipped, gleaming blade of a guillotine, gradually losing their luster, finally taking its last breath.
He's dead!