Born from Death

"Warning: Self-destruct sequence activated! Ten minutes remain until the central facility explodes! All personnel, evacuate immediately!"

The glaring red alarm lights spun wildly overhead, while the cold electronic countdown struck at everyone's hearts like Death's summons.

The Shrek Seven Monsters stood on a massive circular elevator platform, the only route to the underground train. All around them lay a bottomless black abyss, and the steel plates beneath their feet trembled faintly from the facility's vibrations.

"Just one last step..." Bei Bei said, bracing himself on his knees as he gasped for breath.

His police uniform had long since been torn to shreds, and his shoulders were covered in blood. He turned to look at his teammates behind him.

Xu Sanshi limped on one leg, his face green from the herbs he had eaten in the sewers to counter the poison. Dai Huabin's left arm was bandaged, but he still dared not exert any force with it and could only hold his gun one-handed.

Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao supported each other. Both their magazines were empty, and they held only small knives for self-defense.

The team's sole heavy weapon was the flamethrower on Huo Yuhao's back, with just fifty units of fuel remaining.

"Hang in there, everyone." Though Huo Yuhao's voice was hoarse, his eyes remained astonishingly bright. "As long as we activate this platform, we can..."

Before he could finish.

A gigantic black shadow crashed down from dozens of meters overhead with overwhelming force!

Boom! The entire platform shook violently, nearly knocking everyone off their feet. As the dust settled, a monster that left them all breathless slowly rose to its feet.

It stood over four meters tall, its body covered in thick black chitin armor. All traces of humanity had vanished, replaced by a fanged maw in its chest that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

In addition to its original clawed arms, two even larger wing-like arms had sprouted from its back. They whipped through the air, creating terrifying pressure waves. Huge eyeballs emitting a faint yellow glow grew from its thighs, back, and the center of its chest.

"ROAR—!!!"

G3 roared at the sky. The sound wave was like a tangible shockwave, making everyone's eardrums ache. Nearby oil drums were blown into the air and clattered into the abyss.

"Th-this is the final boss?" Xu Sanshi stared at the mountain-like monster bearing down on them. The knife in his hand fell to the ground with a clang. "We can't fight it... We just can't... We're out of bullets!!"

This was true despair! Facing a monster of this level, they had no Gatling gun, no rocket launcher, not even more than a handful of pistol rounds. What were they supposed to fight with? Their lives?

G3 gave them no time to think. Its massive claws grabbed a large fuel tank beside it and hurled it at them like a stone!

"Scatter!!" Huo Yuhao roared, throwing himself over Wang Dong.

Boom! The fuel tank exploded, and the blast wave hurled everyone to the ground.

"Don't give up!!" Huo Yuhao climbed to his feet. At that moment, a mad flame burned in his Spirit Eyes. "We're not dead yet! As long as we're alive, we can figure out a way to kill it!!"

"Look at its eyes! Those glowing eyes are still its weak points!!" Huo Yuhao raised the flamethrower, but he did not fire. He was waiting.

"Bei Bei! Dai Huabin! How many bullets do you have left?"

"Two!" Bei Bei shouted.

"One Magnum round!" Dai Huabin gritted out.

"That's enough!" Huo Yuhao's mind raced as he devised a nearly suicidal strategy. "Xu Sanshi! Go bait it again! Make it expose the eyes on its back!"

"Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao! Pick up bricks, chunks of iron, anything you can find! Throw them at it! Distract it! Save your last bullets for those eyeballs!!"

"Damn it! Let's do this!" Xu Sanshi was driven to fierce resolve. Dead either way—better to die like a man!

He picked up the knife he had dropped and limped toward G3, letting out a shrill battle cry. "Come on! You four-armed freak! Watch Grandpa Xu's invincible flaming windmill!"

G3 was enraged by this tiny insect. Roaring, it charged at Xu Sanshi, all four arms smashing down wildly. Xu Sanshi rolled desperately through the gaps between its claws, several bloody gashes appearing on his body in an instant, but he succeeded in making G3 turn around!

"Now! The eyes on its back! Dai Huabin!!"

Dai Huabin raised the heavy Lightning Eagle with one hand. This was the strongest shot their team had.

And their last shot.

He held his breath. The killing intent inherited from the White Tiger bloodline condensed in that instant. "Die!!"

Bang!!

The deafening gunshot rang out, and the bullet accurately blew apart the eyeball on G3's back.

"Aoo—!!" G3 screamed, its massive body stiffening.

"Bei Bei! The eye on its leg!"

"Got it!" Bei Bei did not even aim. He rushed in close, pressed the shotgun against G3's thigh, and pulled the trigger one last time.

Bang! Another eyeball burst.

G3 dropped to its knees in agony, exposing the largest core eye in its chest.

"Huo Yuhao! It's up to you!!" everyone shouted in unison.

Huo Yuhao rushed out from behind cover. Without the slightest hesitation, he charged straight into G3's attack range and ran up to the wildly writhing chest.

Though G3 had fallen to its knees, it had not completely lost its ability to fight. One of its enormous claws suddenly swung up, ready to crush the approaching insect.

Huo Yuhao neither dodged nor flinched. He watched the descending claw, his gaze terrifyingly calm.

He was gambling—gambling that his fire was faster than the monster's claw.

Huo Yuhao clenched the trigger.

Whoosh—!!!

The last fifty units of fuel transformed into a savage orange-red fire dragon, pouring without restraint into the gaping maw in G3's chest!

"ROAR ROAR ROAR ROAR!!!" G3 let out an earth-shaking scream. The claw that was about to crush Huo Yuhao froze just centimeters above his head, then began to convulse in agony.

The blazing flames raged inside its body, burning away its organs and scorching its core.

Hiss, hiss, hiss— The flamethrower ran out of fuel and spewed white smoke with an empty sputter. Huo Yuhao threw aside the scorching weapon and collapsed backward.

By then, G3's chest had become a charred black hole. Its enormous body swayed several times, as if it still wanted to struggle.

"It's not dead yet?!" Wang Dong stared at the still-moving monster in despair.

Then G3 gave one last unwilling whimper. Its body finally lost all support and crashed heavily to the ground, never moving again.

A large amount of black blood flowed from beneath it, gathering into a river.

"We... we won?" Xu Sanshi lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling as tears streamed down his face. "Did we really kill it?"

"It's not over yet!" Huo Yuhao struggled to his feet. His face was blackened by smoke, but his eyes had never been brighter.

"The elevator's here!"

Ding! A clear chime rang out.

To them, it was the sound of heaven itself. The massive elevator platform slowly descended and stopped before them.

"Go! Get on!" Bei Bei pulled Dai Huabin up, Wang Dong helped Xiao Xiao to her feet, and Xu Sanshi scrambled forward on hands and knees.

Supporting one another, they staggered into the elevator like demons crawling out of hell.

Huo Yuhao pressed the descent button. The elevator doors slowly shut, blocking G3's enormous corpse from view.

"Phew..." Inside the sealed elevator car, everyone finally went limp.

Dai Huabin leaned against a corner, looking at his still-bleeding arm. Suddenly, he laughed softly.

"Heh... We actually survived." He looked at Huo Yuhao, and the arrogance and hostility in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a complicated emotion: recognition of a strong opponent.

"Huo Yuhao." Dai Huabin suddenly spoke. "That burst of fire just now... was pretty cool."

Huo Yuhao froze for a moment, then gave a weary smile. "Your shooting wasn't bad either."

At that moment, the grudges within Shrek Academy seemed far less important on this virtual battlefield of life and death.

They were comrades—comrades who had faced death together.

Just as the atmosphere began to ease.

A dull impact suddenly sounded from above the elevator shaft, followed by hurried, heavy footsteps rapidly closing in along the shaft wall.

Huo Yuhao's expression instantly changed. He looked up at the elevator ceiling.

"It's the one in the trench coat!!"