A Newcomer's First Slaughter

"Aberration!"

Wu Pifu's furious roar jolted the three terrified newcomers out of their daze. Seeing the tentacles about to wrap around them again, he charged straight at them with a shout.

The tentacles were pitch-black, resembling rubber tires in texture. Their outer surfaces were covered in barbs, while their inner surfaces were packed with sharp teeth. If one so much as scraped or coiled around someone, it would probably tear away a huge chunk of flesh.

This was Wu Pifu's first encounter with an aberration, though he had heard veterans mention them before.

All aberrations were mutated entities unrelated to supernatural contamination.

They were considered the easiest type of monster to deal with. Compared to the Nightmares he had encountered before, if not for the Dream World being lowered by one level, a Level 2 Nightmare could easily slaughter an entire legion of tens of thousands in less than a minute.

Even so, though it was supposedly the easiest kind of anomaly to handle, these tentacles were as thick as a palm and at least five or six meters long. Dozens of them writhed about, and even Wu Pifu felt a chill in his heart at the sight.

But the other three were complete newcomers. Forget strength—they were mentally still stuck in the moment they had entered the Stasis Pods. Although they connected to the Dream Network every fifty years while inside the pods, they were not citizens. They were merely kept asleep within the Dream Network to prevent them from falling into the terror of the Void. In truth, they knew nothing.

Wu Pifu met the tentacles head-on. Jiujiu fluttered anxiously in the air, chirping, while the four newcomers scrambled and rolled out of the tentacles' reach. They watched in shock as Wu Pifu leaped and twisted at a speed no ordinary person could attain, dodging dozens of tentacles. From time to time, he struck them with claw, fist, or palm. Every blow tore open wounds in the tentacles, causing black blood to spurt forth.

"Is he a citizen?"

Even now, the gentle-looking young man spoke in an unhurried tone.

The middle-aged man sneered. "How could a citizen possibly come to a place like this? Besides, he doesn't have an auxiliary interface, so he isn't a citizen."

The voluptuous woman nodded in agreement. "He can't be a citizen. Citizens wouldn't fight in close combat either... But don't you two think your priorities are strange? Shouldn't we be talking about what that thing is?"

The middle-aged man seemed to have recovered from his fright. He began looking around for a weapon as he said, "What else could it be? A bioengineered monster. During the Third War... I saw plenty of them!"

The other two clearly disagreed. They had climbed up from the ground by now. The gentle young man hugged his chest and looked at Wu Pifu with a soft expression, while the voluptuous woman followed the middle-aged man in search of weapons.

Just then, a tentacle finally slashed across Wu Pifu's back. With one tear, a huge slab of muscle was ripped from him. Yet after taking the blow, Wu Pifu did not pause in the slightest. He rolled on the ground, pushed off hard with both feet, pressed down with his single arm, and tumbled more than ten meters away, escaping the tentacles' attack range.

Dozens of tentacles flailed about. Their reach had extended to its limit, roughly eight meters, and they could stretch no farther.

Everyone sighed in relief, but the next second, all the tentacles retracted toward the Stasis Pod and began tearing and pulling at its underside.

No one knew what the tentacled monster's true body was, but it clearly could not leave the Stasis Pod. It also seemed to possess some intelligence, knowing to attack the bottom of the pod. Its strength was enormous. Black blood splattered everywhere as it tore at the pod, sending electrical sparks flashing wildly from its base.

At that moment, the middle-aged man ran to Wu Pifu's side and said in a low voice, "Do you have any weapons? Even if there are no guns, what about melee weapons? There have to be wrenches or something, right?"

The middle-aged man was broad and burly, nearly two meters tall. His upper body was bare, covered in muscles and countless scars. He looked like a vicious sort.

Wu Pifu said, "Head into the passageway. There are things in there that can be used as weapons!"

With that, Wu Pifu took the lead and ran toward the maintenance station.

The three newcomers followed the middle-aged man and ran toward the maintenance station as well. Jiujiu flew behind Wu Pifu, still following closely, but carefully avoided the gentle young man.

Four people and one bird rushed toward the maintenance station. Behind them, the tentacles had completely torn open the underside of the Stasis Pod. Dozens of tentacles scrabbled across the ground, moving almost as fast as they could run.

When they reached the maintenance station, the three newcomers froze. The middle-aged man immediately shouted, "You've got to be kidding! This is a maintenance station, not an exhibit of ancient Earth relics or a garbage dump!"

Aside from some tools and fixed maintenance equipment, the maintenance station contained stone statues, wooden carvings, fishing nets, broken wooden tables, several leather shields, and even a broken tank cannon barrel.

Wu Pifu said, "The veterans randomly drew all this stuff from the Dream World. It was useless, so they piled it all here."

There was far too much information in those words, and the three newcomers were full of questions. But the sound of the Stasis Pod slamming against the metal walls of the passageway kept coming from behind them, so they had no time to ask. The voluptuous woman picked up a broken plank from the ground. The gentle young man took a leather shield. Only the middle-aged man directly lifted the broken tank cannon barrel and used it as a club. He could barely wield it, but he could wield it nonetheless.

The middle-aged man shouted at Wu Pifu, "How do we fight it!?"

Wu Pifu said, "Wait a moment!"

After saying that, he took Buddha Mud from the pile of clutter and pressed it directly against his severed arm. The black sphere turned into mud and merged into the stump. Immediately afterward, a pitch-black arm rapidly extended from the severed limb. In less than a breath, the new arm had turned flesh-colored.

The three of them did not find this particularly surprising.

They assumed the black sphere was a battlefield-grade or rapid-use carbon-based nanomaterial. They had all seen such things before, so it was hardly unusual.

Wu Pifu felt intense numbness and itching radiating from his new arm, but the pain was rapidly fading. Along with it came a current of heat that surged wildly through his body. Every muscle the heat passed through felt swollen and full, as though strength was increasing throughout his entire body.

Wu Pifu had expected something like this, but he had not expected Buddha Mud to work so immediately. Although the aberration was about to arrive, he still had to use Still Tiger Crouch at once and circulate his blood and qi with all his effort, spreading that heat through every part of his body.

Faintly, Wu Pifu seemed to hear enraged howls, moans, agonized screams, and the sound of Buddhist sutras being chanted through those noises.

How could howls, moans, and screams possibly chant Buddhist sutras?

Yet he truly heard them. When he listened more closely, however, there was nothing at all—only the sound of blood and qi flowing through his body.

The three newcomers watched Wu Pifu wave his arms and limbs about. His breathing was as loud as a bellows. The tentacled monster was about to charge out of the passageway, yet Wu Pifu showed no sign of attacking. The middle-aged man roared and charged at the creature with the tank cannon barrel on his shoulder.

The tank cannon barrel was about a meter and a half long and tremendously heavy, yet the middle-aged man could actually carry it. He swung it down hard at the incoming tentacles. With a muffled bang, several tentacles slammed brutally into the barrel, denting and bending it slightly. The immense force burst open the middle-aged man's hands, and the remaining tentacles coiled directly toward him.

At that critical instant, a figure shot to the middle-aged man's side. One hand pressed against his shoulder. It looked like a light touch, yet a soft and enormous force wrapped around him and flung him diagonally backward. He flew seven or eight meters before coming to a stop.

The figure's other arm formed a claw and tore relentlessly at the incoming tentacles. Segments of tentacle were actually ripped apart by that flesh-and-blood claw.

It was Wu Pifu, who had saved the middle-aged man at the last possible moment.

He did not stop. His feet stamped hard against the ground, and in the shortest possible time, he nearly unleashed all of his strength and blood and qi. His body turned crimson, white steam rising from his skin. He moved so quickly that he nearly surpassed the retina's ability to register him. In the blink of an eye, he tore through the gaps between dozens of tentacles, bent forward, and leaped with the force of a fierce tiger.

In an instant, Wu Pifu crashed into the Stasis Pod. Inside was a massive human face, with all the tentacles spewing from its mouth. The back half of the face lay flat against the pod's interior. The force of Wu Pifu's impact turned his hands, feet, and body into weapons as he slammed brutally through the giant face's nose, eyes, and mouth. A tremendous crash erupted. The Stasis Pod was sent flying more than ten meters away, rolled several times along the ground, and finally stopped moving completely. The tentacles went limp as well, collapsing to the floor and turning into foul blood in an instant.

Everything happened far too quickly. From the middle-aged man charging forward with the tank cannon barrel, to nearly dying, to Wu Pifu rushing in to save him, then crashing into the Stasis Pod, barely more than a second had passed. Only then did the three newcomers come back to their senses. They hurriedly peered into the damaged Stasis Pod and saw the tentacles turning into blood.

"Amazing, truly amazing!" the middle-aged man praised loudly as he jogged toward Wu Pifu.

The other two newcomers ran over as well. Wu Pifu smiled, then suddenly shouted, "Everyone, close your eyes!!"

The sudden shout, coupled with the intimidating presence he had gained from killing the tentacled monster, made the three newcomers instinctively close their eyes. Then, in the next instant, Wu Pifu flashed to the gentle young man's side. He punched him in the chest and tore open his throat with a claw.

With a tearing sound, the middle-aged man and the voluptuous woman were about to open their eyes. But in the next moment, they both let out agonized screams. Not only did they not dare open their eyes, they even covered their ears.

A cold, slick voice said, "How strange. How did you discover me?"

As the voice spoke, the middle-aged man and the voluptuous woman screamed at the same time. Patches resembling snake scales appeared on their skin and grew increasingly distinct.

"...Your smell was too foul!"

Wu Pifu did not stop moving as he spoke. From the gentle young man's torn neck emerged a human-faced snake head. Wu Pifu exploded with nearly all his strength. His two arms combined possessed at least a thousand jin of force. His clawed hands moved like scissors, tearing hard at once and ripping the snake head apart.

The still-wriggling, half-formed snake head showed no expression of pain. It was gradually turning into a human face, and that face wore an expression of keen interest. Its mouth continued to wriggle, and Wu Pifu's dynamic vision allowed him to see it clearly.

"Interesting. I'll remember you, little thing..."

The snake head rose into the air, turning into a wisp of pink smoke before vanishing.

The two surviving newcomers were still screaming, but the scale-like marks on their skin gradually faded. Several minutes later, both of them stopped screaming from exhaustion. The woman fainted outright, while the middle-aged man stubbornly forced himself into a half-kneeling position and asked in a low voice, "What was that!? What the hell was that just now?"

"Contamination. No, it should have been a parasite of the contamination source—the culprit behind the destruction of 6120 through 6122... the Pink Serpent," Wu Pifu said indifferently.

He looked at the miserable scene. Of the five newcomers, only two remained. He sighed and said, "Newcomers... welcome to awakening. Welcome..."

"To this nightmare."