Cudgel Down the Throat, Kill!

Yet, the thing they feared most came to pass.

Just ten meters after they had left the restroom entrance.

"ROAR!!!"

A roar filled with violence and hunger exploded from the corner ahead, and a massive, dark green figure lunged out!

Following closely behind were two more.

Three pairs of blood-red wolf eyes locked onto the group. Their bared, hideous fangs and massive bodies covered in dark green scales brought an overwhelming sense of oppression.

They were Corrosive Abyssal Wolves!

They had clearly slaughtered all the living people downstairs and were subsequently drawn up by the sounds and movements from the upper floor.

Seeing living prey, the lead Corrosive Abyssal Wolf kicked its thick hind legs against the ground, lunging straight at Lin Yi, who was blocking the front of the group, accompanied by a foul stench.

Its claws, glinting with cold light, whistled through the air as they slashed fiercely toward Lin Yi's chest. At the same time, its scorpion-like bony tail whipped out in a sudden strike.

Splat!

A glob of dark green corrosive liquid, emitting a pungent, acidic odor, shot directly at the female office worker screaming behind Lin Yi.

"Watch out!"

Lin Yi's expression changed; he seemed flustered by the sudden double attack.

Almost instinctively, he took a slightly clumsy step to the right, while simultaneously using all his strength to kick the side of the terrified woman's hip.

"Ouch!"

The woman let out a cry as she was kicked, falling to the side and narrowly avoiding the corrosive liquid.

The liquid splattered onto the carpet where she had just been standing, instantly sizzling and corroding a charred hole into the floor.

However, this step and kick left Lin Yi completely exposed to the first Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's attack.

The ghastly white fangs and scaled claws were already inches away; it was too late for him to dodge or block.

"Urgh!"

Lin Yi acted as if he were terrified, managing only a short, startled gasp before subconsciously raising his armored left arm to defend, while stumbling back a step in an attempt to create distance.

Screech!

A harsh sound of tearing metal rang out as the wolf's sharp claws raked across Lin Yi's left arm and chest armor, instantly shredding the sturdy titanium alloy into several hideous gouges.

The massive impact made Lin Yi grunt, his body staggering back several steps, nearly falling over.

Had it not been for the armor, that strike would have disemboweled him.

"Ah! Go to hell!"

A flash of ferocity sparked in Lin Yi's eyes, as if he had been "enraged."

Using the momentum of his retreat to steady himself, he gripped his long staff with both hands. Without any technique, relying purely on the brute force of his waist and stance, he swung upward in a heavy, horizontal strike toward the wolf's relatively soft flank as it landed and prepared to pounce again.

Bang!

The staff slammed solidly into the wolf's ribs, accompanied by the dull thud of shattering scales and the clear sound of cracking bone.

"Awoo!"

The Corrosive Abyssal Wolf let out a pained howl and was sent flying by the heavy blow.

It slammed hard into the wall before sliding down limply, clearly dead.

Lin Yi panted heavily, a wave of stinging pain and numbness radiating from his left arm, the claw marks on his armor looking shocking.

His hands gripped the staff, trembling slightly, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the thrill of the encounter.

However, the crisis followed in quick succession!

The second Corrosive Abyssal Wolf gave him no chance to catch his breath. Taking advantage of the moment Lin Yi's previous momentum had faded and his footing was unstable, it pounced from the flank like a phantom. Its blood-filled maw, reeking of rot, snapped fiercely toward the junction of Lin Yi's right shoulder and neck—the area left exposed and unarmored by his swing.

"Big Brother!"

Zhou Mengmeng couldn't help but let out a terrified scream.

As the shadow of death loomed once more, Lin Yi's pupils constricted, his face filled with "horror."

He seemed to have no time to dodge or block.

Yet, at the critical moment, he seemed to unleash the ruthless grit of a youth facing a desperate situation.

Lin Yi didn't retreat; instead, he gritted his teeth and made a crazy move.

He advanced instead of retreating!

He jerked his upper body to the left while gripping the middle of his staff with both hands. No longer swinging it, he used it like a massive short spear, putting every ounce of his strength into a fierce, upward thrust directly into the gaping, fang-filled maw of the second wolf!

"Get lost and die!!"

Splat-crunch!

The tip of the staff, carrying all of Lin Yi's power, drove into the depths of the wolf's mouth like a battering ram.

It shattered the fangs, pierced the palate, and drove straight into its brain.

"Woooo-huh-huh."

The second Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's pouncing motion froze mid-air, its blood-red eyes bulging wide.

Viscous blood mixed with shattered bone fragments gushed from its maw, and its massive body, as if struck by a binding spell, crashed heavily to the ground, collapsing right at Lin Yi's feet.

Immediately after, a strange phenomenon occurred.

The two Corrosive Abyssal Wolf corpses lying on the ground suddenly began to disintegrate, as if they were paper dolls tossed into an invisible flame; they crumbled and dissolved at a speed visible to the naked eye, silently turning into countless fine, dark-gray dust particles.

Swish. Swish-swish.

The ashes drifted slowly onto the carpet with an eerie sense of stillness, as if the physical vessels of these monsters that had brought the terror of death were being rapidly erased by some unseen rule.

Amidst this silent dance of ash, at the very center where the two Corrosive Abyssal Wolf corpses had vanished, a faint light emerged without a sound.

It was not a dazzling radiance, but rather a grayish speck of light, as if the embers of death had condensed into a single point!

It hovered a few dozen centimeters above the ground, roughly the size of a fingertip, resembling a highly concentrated crystal core from another world. It pulsed slowly and irregularly with a dim glow, each flicker seemingly a silent proclamation of energy coalescing and the laws of reality shifting.

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat.

A gray Spirit Radiance Crystal!

However, even though the very thing he needed most in these early stages was within arm's reach, Lin Yi could not afford to grab it just yet.

He gasped for air, gripping his staff with both hands, his gaze locked unblinkingly onto the final Corrosive Abyssal Wolf.

Because the first two had died so quickly in the blink of an eye, the third one, which had been lagging slightly behind, had only just reached him.

But instead of launching a direct attack, it slammed on the brakes, coming to a halt a few meters in front of Lin Yi.

The Corrosive Abyssal Wolf stared fixedly at Lin Yi with its blood-red eyes, then swept its gaze over the claw marks on his armor, and finally landed on the ashes of its kin, a low, wary whimper rumbling in its throat.

It then lowered its body and began to retreat slowly.

Not until it reached the corner of the stairs did it cast one last look of venomous hatred at the panting Lin Yi before abruptly turning and vanishing into the darkness.

Immediately after.

"Awoooo... wooo..."

A shrill, long-drawn-out wolf howl suddenly erupted from downstairs.

Since I previously wrote historical fiction, I'm not entirely confident in this transition to sci-fi, so I hope you readers will offer plenty of suggestions and point out anything that feels like a "poison point." Also, please toss some votes my way during this seedling stage to help it grow!