Blood Woman

Yu Shihao's face went deathly pale in an instant, as if struck by a bolt from the blue.

He could feel his scalp tightening. Perhaps in the next second, his head would burst like a water balloon, spraying brains everywhere.

What should he do!? Under the threat of death, he frantically searched his mind for a reason Lin An might spare him for the moment.

"You Wei! Right! You Wei was taken upstairs by Director Wang's men!"

"And the Bandaged Girl you brought back! I'm the only one who knows where she is!"

You Wei? The Bandaged Girl?

Lin An stopped himself from crushing Yu Shihao's skull.

Though he had regained consciousness long ago, he had only been able to hear a few sounds in the darkness.

In an instant, he understood what Yu Shihao meant.

Considering that Wang Jianguo's men had not even spared unconscious women, it was not hard to guess why they had taken You Wei upstairs.

Wang Jianguo, you've got some nerve!

"What floor is You Wei on?"

Lin An did not have particularly strong feelings toward You Wei, but she was still Zhang Tie's Sister. He acknowledged Zhang Tie, so You Wei naturally counted as one of his people.

The thought of Wang Jianguo's fat, disgusting body pressing down on the girl made a surge of rage rise in his chest.

Damn scum. You wouldn't even spare a little girl!

The wind howled as Lin An grabbed Yu Shihao, his eyes brimming with Killing Intent.

"The eighth floor!"

Cold sweat drenched Yu Shihao, and he let out a huge sigh of relief inwardly.

You Wei's situation could buy him time, while the Bandaged Girl's whereabouts were the key to keeping himself alive.

As far as he knew, although he had no idea who the Bandaged Girl was, she had been brought back at the cost of their lives.

She had to be important to Lin An!

"Don't kill me! I'll tell you!"

Yet in the very next second, Lin An crushed both of his hands into pulp.

Did he think those two pieces of information were enough to threaten him? How naive.

Lin An acted without hesitation. He was only keeping Yu Shihao alive for now to verify the information.

He had plenty of ways to pry the truth out of Yu Shihao's mouth.

Besides, what the hell was this Bandaged Girl?

Vaguely, he only remembered Zhang Tie bringing back someone covered in bandages.

Forget it. He would deal with that later.

"Buzz!"

"Eye of Judgment!"

Lin An shot forward and rushed out the door. Before leaving, he deliberately activated the Eye of Judgment to check Zhang Tie's condition.

There was nothing seriously wrong with him.

If the tattooed man had not been overcome by greed and touched the Glove during its final charging phase, providing him with external Mental Strength,

Zhang Tie would have awakened even sooner than Lin An.

If nothing unexpected happened, Zhang Tie would wake up in a few minutes.

"Strength Burst!"

Lin An gave a low shout and decisively activated his Talent Skill.

Long-missed pale golden spiritual energy flooded his body.

After awakening, his Mental Strength was abundant. Five consecutive days of unconsciousness had restored him to peak condition.

Without the Glove constantly draining his power, his body had also returned to perfect condition.

He was now incredibly fast. After absorbing the spiritual energy leaking from the Black Dragon Devour Glove, his Agility had reached a staggering 21.4!

Comparable to a Second-Order Awakener!

Boom!

Lin An dragged Yu Shihao, whose hands had been crippled, in his left hand and violently kicked open the fire door to the eighth-floor corridor with his right foot.

The heavy Iron Gate flew away like a cannonball, crashing into the wall at the end of the corridor and smashing it apart.

Room 808. Lin An had already learned Wang Jianguo's room number from Yu Shihao on the way here.

After confirming the direction, he took one step forward like a black Phantom.

The door to Room 808 was half-open, revealing faint candlelight inside.

No sound? Or was no one there?

Lin An frowned slightly.

The instant he reached Room 808's door, he sensed an unusual chill. Yu Shihao, whom he held in his hand, shivered all over from the cold.

Something was strange. He could not sense the aura of any living person.

Instead, the air was thick with the stench of blood.

"Creak."

The door opened. Lin An slowly stepped inside, gripping the Licker's spine in his right hand in a combat stance.

Inside the room, two short, fat legs stood in place. You Wei lay unconscious on the bed.

The upper half of the legs' owner had vanished from the abdomen upward, the cut neat as though something had instantly severed the body.

"Ah!"

With a cry, Yu Shihao recognized Wang Jianguo's legs.

Terrified beyond measure, he could not imagine what had happened.

"Drip. Drip."

The sound of droplets falling.

A drop of water suddenly landed on his face and slid down from his forehead.

Startled by the brutal scene before him, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Before he could react, Lin An instantly threw him aside, his gaze alert as he assumed a combat stance.

The droplets were coming from above!

A woman was crawling upside down across the ceiling, her back facing the floor.

Her long hair covered her face, and her entire body was deathly pale, like a corpse that had been left out for far too long.

"Beep. First Order Mutant Blood Woman detected!"

"A corpse that gathered resentment and a desire for revenge before death, then fused with a Zombie."

"Danger level: Low."

Information from the Eye of Judgment instantly sounded in his mind.

Lin An was slightly stunned. What was a Blood Woman?

In his Previous Life, he had never heard of a similar Mutant appearing here.

But it did not matter.

The Chat Channel that appeared half a year later was not omniscient. Missing information was perfectly normal.

Since he had found it, he would kill it!

Lin An narrowed his eyes slightly and bent his knees.

"Step Forward Slash!"

He moved as fast as lightning, locking onto the Blood Woman crawling upside down on the ceiling in an instant.

The Bone Spike tore through the air, faintly piercing the air before it with a sharp howl.

"Slash!"

Boom!

With Lin An's current speed and strength, the Blood Woman, a First Order Mutant, had no room to dodge at all.

The Bone Spike instantly pierced through the head hidden beneath its black hair. Its remaining force slammed into the ceiling, destroying the internal structure.

The ceiling shook violently as dust and broken chunks of wall rained down. The power of that strike was comparable to an explosion.

The expected kill notification did not appear.

The Bone Spike embedded in its skull seemed to have no effect on it whatsoever.

"Creak."

The spine twisted around, and Lin An's pupils abruptly contracted.

The woman hanging upside down from the ceiling suddenly turned her face toward him and stared directly at Lin An.

Her dead-white face was filled with venomous resentment. Her features could no longer be recognized after being gnawed apart by Zombies.

"Ah!"

The Blood Woman's head split open in an instant, and a piercing shriek powerful enough to rupture eardrums shattered the room's windows.

"Slash!"

Before Lin An could react, the Blood Woman, its skull pierced through, lunged at him in a frenzy.

"Side-Step Downward Slash!"

Lin An's expression turned grim. He swiftly pulled the Bone Spike from its skull, drawing out a string of blood droplets.

Holding the Bone Spike in a reverse grip, he slashed downward directly along the monster's path.

There was no time to think about why the monster had not died after its head was pierced. The Blood Woman's attack was already upon him.

Boom!

Lin An tasted blood in his mouth as his chest caved in from the monster's impact. Yet the Bone Spike in his hand did not stop, instantly cutting through the point where the monster's head connected to its body.

Thud.

The head fell to the ground, but the headless body continued moving swiftly as though nothing had happened.

A large amount of blood suddenly sprayed from the severed neck. The icy blood dropped the room's temperature below zero in an instant.

Frost spread throughout the entire room in the blink of an eye, turning it into an ice cellar.

Ice Attribute!?

Lin An's heart tightened. He explosively retreated, not daring to let the blood touch him.

He was the typical case of high attack and low defense. Before gaining attribute resistance, he needed to avoid any attribute attack from a Mutant whenever possible.

But why had his attacks been ineffective!?

Lin An was puzzled.

The Blood Woman was at most First Order. In terms of destructive power, it was not even comparable to a Licker.

It had been famous in his Previous Life only because it targeted ordinary Awakeners and regular Players every time it attacked.

With his current strength, he should have been able to kill it easily.

As the cold spread, Lin An felt his movements becoming noticeably sluggish.

"Eye of Judgment!"

Pale blue mist rose as Stardust swirled.

Lin An activated his enhanced vision again and looked at the Blood Woman.

"First Order Mutant: Blood Woman"

He scanned all the status information to the final entry and quickly found a line of explanation.

"Current status: Blood Grudge (ignores physical attacks; this status disappears once revenge is complete)."

Revenge?

Lin An was puzzled, with no time to think.

On the other side, the decapitated Blood Woman swiftly picked up its own head and fumbled it back into place.

Let's try again!

Taking advantage of Strength Burst before it ended, Lin An took a deep breath and violently twisted at the waist.

"Downward Severing Slash!"

A mechanical smile suddenly appeared on the woman's face, as though she had seen something.

Ignoring Lin An's blow that could split her body apart, she merely opened her arms and rushed toward Yu Shihao, who was hiding in the corner.

"No!!"

Yu Shihao frantically kicked his feet backward, trying to escape.

But the wall was behind him. There was nowhere left to retreat.

Fear. Collapse.

Though that face had been gnawed into a grotesque shape, he could never forget those eyes from his nightmares.

They were Wang Fang's eyes.

Lin An stared in astonishment. The Blood Woman clung tightly to Yu Shihao, as though embracing her lover.

Their bodies pressed tightly together, the woman holding him so firmly that it was as though she wanted to knead him into her own body.