It's Her!

The instant Dukavi approached the mutant corpse leader, it suddenly sprang up. A hand covered in fleshy scales, like a massive meat fan, slammed viciously toward Dukavi's head.

Mutant corpses possessed powerful bodies and explosive strength. Humans of the same level were no match for them, much less a mutant corpse leader. If that slap landed, even an iron ball would be flattened, let alone a human head!

"Damn it!"

Dukavi hurriedly leaped backward and dodged the fatal strike. Fortunately, he had been on guard against the mutant corpse making one final counterattack before death. Sure enough, this beast was indeed highly intelligent.

That attack had exhausted all the mutant corpse leader's strength. After launching it, it had completely lost its ability to resist. Dukavi quickly pulled a yellowed card from his chest, bit his finger, and began chanting under his breath. Then something strange happened. The card actually ignited on its own, forming a ball of ghostly blue flame in Dukavi's hand. He pressed that blue flame against the mutant corpse leader's brow.

Dukavi then closed his eyes, his face occasionally revealing an expression of pain.

Dukavi himself was no weakling. His gene count had already surpassed 100, making him an awakened Force warrior. For pain to show on his face, one could only imagine how unbearable it was.

"A soul imprint... What a lavish move..."

Watching Dukavi's movements, the woman standing above showed no expression as she murmured to herself.

Just then, Tang Yu came down through the passageway's escalator. The woman standing at another passage entrance saw Tang Yu emerge and a frightened expression appeared on her face. She quietly took a few steps back and hid herself within the passageway.

The deep pit was splattered with blood, and two corpses lay dead on the spot, a nauseating sight. They were the bearded man Tang Yu had seen before and the other tall, thin man. In the middle, a Westerner was crouched on the ground, one hand pressed against a mutant corpse's forehead as though conducting some sort of ritual.

There was no need to guess. This man was undoubtedly Dukavi. Tang Yu did not know what he was doing, but he knew this was the perfect chance to kill him and avenge A-Long and A-Qiang.

Too lazy to use the miniature laser pistol Meng Xuanxuan had given him, Tang Yu directly drew the serrated sword strapped to his back. The sharp blade reflected the light bouncing off the water, gleaming with a chilling radiance. Holding the serrated sword, Tang Yu leaped down from the passage entrance. With this strike, whoever it was would die on the spot!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Almost instinctively, Tang Yu raised the serrated sword to his side. The bullets struck the blade with a series of clinks. With no other choice, Tang Yu rolled after landing and tumbled to the edge of the pit, his gaze immediately sweeping toward where the bullets had come from.

"Who is it? Come out!" Tang Yu shouted coldly. He did not believe that person would refuse to show themselves. Dukavi was right here, after all. If they did not come out, then he would kill him himself!

When he saw the person in the passageway leap down, Tang Yu's face filled with shock. How could it be her?

"Leave this place!" Xia Linlin frowned slightly, her tone cold, utterly different from the girl Tang Yu remembered!

Her? It was her! How could it be her?

Xia Linlin had always seemed to Tang Yu like the girl next door. She would get shy, she would blush, and her voice was gentle as water. When had she ever acted like this?

But the next instant, A-Long and A-Qiang's miserable deaths surfaced in Tang Yu's mind. In the end, A-Qiang had not even left behind an intact corpse. How could Tang Yu accept that? How could he not be furious? Since Xia Linlin was here as well, it meant that A-Long and A-Qiang's deaths were inseparable from her. What he felt could no longer be described by anger alone!

Crack! Crack!

The hand gripping the serrated sword cracked loudly, veins bulging across the back of his hand. Never before had Tang Yu been this furious.

"I said, leave this place!" Xia Linlin spoke again, her tone still as cold as ever. Yet there was a trace of complexity in her eyes. But Tang Yu's heart had long been consumed by rage. How could he notice that?

"Why?!"

Why?! Tang Yu only wanted to ask why. Why did it have to be her? His best friend had killed his former comrades, his brothers-in-arms!

"Ah!" Like an enraged lion, Tang Yu swung the serrated sword at the half-kneeling Dukavi once more.

Dukavi had noticed Tang Yu the moment he entered. When Tang Yu leaped forward and brought down his sword, Dukavi had already prepared to withdraw at any moment. Even if it meant wasting a soul imprint, even if it damaged his spirit, it was still better than being killed. But at the very instant he was about to flee, Xia Linlin finally made her move.

"Stop!"

The instant Tang Yu attacked, Xia Linlin attacked as well. The moment she moved, her strength became apparent. By all rights, her gene count had not yet surpassed 100, so neither her strength nor speed should have been able to match Tang Yu's. Moreover, Tang Yu's body had been nourished by that mysterious black crystal, making him far stronger than Force warriors with the same gene count. Yet when Xia Linlin's delicate hand grabbed Tang Yu's wrist, he was stunned. How could someone whose gene count had not surpassed 100 possess such strength?

Slash!

Dukavi had miscalculated. Xia Linlin had miscalculated. Tang Yu had miscalculated.

Dukavi thought Xia Linlin would block the attack for him, because he only needed a few more seconds to succeed. Xia Linlin believed that her specially modified genes made her no weaker than a Force warrior, but she had not expected Tang Yu's strength to far exceed her imagination.

And Tang Yu had believed that this strike would be enough to run Dukavi through, but he had not expected Xia Linlin to stop him.

"Miss Xia! Who is he? Please give me an explanation!" At this moment, Dukavi rose from the ground, while the mutant corpse leader stood respectfully behind him. If Tang Yu's sword had gone even half an inch deeper, his life might not have been saved. Even so, Dukavi was now extremely weak, both physically and mentally. He did not look like someone with a gene count of 150 at all!

When Xia Linlin remained silent, the anger in Dukavi's heart intensified. As a genius student of the Americas Military Academy, with an uncle who was the commander of one of Earth's three great military districts, the Americas Military District, he had been fawned over everywhere since childhood. Dukavi had never suffered such humiliation. If he did not kill the person before him, how could he wash away this disgrace?

"Go!"

At Dukavi's command, the already battered mutant corpse leader charged at Tang Yu without the slightest hesitation.

Its fan-sized palm was covered in fleshy scales like tough ox sinews. Even Tang Yu did not dare take that slap lightly. Without time to think, he rolled backward and narrowly avoided it. But the mutant corpse leader pushed off with its feet and leaped with all its strength, arriving before Tang Yu in the next instant!

Bang!

The serrated sword slashed against the mutant corpse leader's thick arm, but it felt as though he had struck a high-fiber haystack. The fleshy scales completely dispersed the force, and the blow could not harm it at all. Taking advantage of this, Dukavi treated the wound on his shoulder, then leaped onto the upper passage entrance. Like a spectator watching warriors battle in a Roman gladiatorial arena, he watched Tang Yu struggle against the mutant corpse.

"Stop this! You've already gotten what you wanted!" Xia Linlin frowned and said coldly to Dukavi.

"What, do you like him?" Seeing Xia Linlin's expression, an inscrutable smile appeared on Dukavi's face, and even his tone became strange and mocking.

At Dukavi's words, Xia Linlin's expression turned frighteningly cold. Though it was mid-June, she made everyone feel as though they had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Don't think I won't dare kill you just because your uncle is a Federal general!"

Dukavi's face became extremely ugly at Xia Linlin's words, but he did not offer a single rebuttal.

"Come back!" he shouted at the mutant corpse leader. Sure enough, it obediently leaped onto the platform and respectfully walked to Dukavi's side.

Just then, Meng Xuanxuan, who had been on the lift platform, climbed down as well. When she saw Xia Linlin, Dukavi, and an adult mutant corpse, she was startled. Why was Xia Linlin here? And together with this Westerner? She even forgot to consider how they had subdued the mutant corpse.

Meng Xuanxuan swept her eyes around and then spotted Tang Yu lying in the pit. He was barely breathing, and a savage claw wound crossed his chest, exposing torn flesh.

"Tang Yu, what happened to you?" Almost without thinking, Meng Xuanxuan jumped down from above and rushed to Tang Yu's side, asking anxiously with a face full of heartache. Unfortunately, ever since the black crystal had hidden deep in his brow, Tang Yu could no longer hold it in his mouth and use his essence blood to activate it, increasing his combat power. Otherwise, he would still have had the strength to fight the mutant corpse leader.

Xia Linlin, standing at the passage entrance, had intended to go down and give Tang Yu a trauma medicine injection. But when she saw this scene, she held herself back.

"Let's go!" With that, she left together with Dukavi and the mutant corpse leader.

June 25. Today was the day the results were announced, but Meng Xuanxuan had no interest at all in checking her score.

In a high-end VIP ward at Suhang First People's Hospital, Tang Yu lay quietly on the bed. The injury on his chest had been brought under control to prevent infection. He had awakened a day earlier, but he had not said a word since. He only stared blankly at the white ceiling, leaving Meng Xuanxuan heartbroken.

"Tang Yu, say something! Don't be like this! What's so great about that Xia Linlin woman? It's not like she's any prettier than me. You don't need to do this over her!"

Sitting beside the bed, Meng Xuanxuan pouted as she muttered to herself. Seeing that Tang Yu still did not react, she became annoyed too.

"Honestly! Fine, I'll give you a chance! How about you chase me?"