Keep Killing

Chapter 31: Keep Killing

Zhou Diao's eyes were blurry from the intense white light.

In a daze, he saw a figure emerge amidst the blazing radiance.

The light was too blinding for him to make out clearly; the scene felt too sacred, and he couldn't help wondering if he was hallucinating before death.

Hearing Feng Ling's voice must be an illusion too, right? He was surely too helpless, too desperate to change the situation, so his brain conjured up such an exaggerated and absurd reaction—how could Feng Ling possibly appear wrapped in holy white light...

Just then, Cao Hongyi shouted ahead, nearly losing his composure: "Feng Ling! Save Xiao Li!!!"

The sound rattled Zhou Diao's ears with a buzz.

He finally began to accept a fact: Feng Ling had really come.

Zhou Diao coughed up blood, muttering weakly on Cao Hongyi's back: "Fucking hell, like a saint descending..."

Feng Ling's body hugged the slope all the way down to the pit floor as she shouted, "Keep the light steady!"

Above, Huangfu Miaomiao held the large lamp high, a thick power cord trailing behind her, and replied with effort, "B-b-but it's really hot..."

Feng Ling couldn't hear her. As soon as she reached the pit bottom, she switched on the portable speaker, and ear-splitting music instantly flooded the entire pit!

—This was something Su Yuqing had requisitioned from a nearby resident's home, usually used for square dancing, with loud volume and long battery life, now perfect for dealing with the Contaminants here.

The lively rhythm vibrated across the pit floor, and the powerful incandescent light illuminated every single Contaminant!

They relied on sound to discern direction, so they froze momentarily in confusion. By the time they realized they should flee, Feng Ling's Bone Blade had already unfurled!

Shua!

A stretched neck was cleaved in two!

Shua!

A row of black lateral legs was neatly sliced off!

The female vocalist pushed the chorus into a high C, and Feng Ling swung her battle axe to smash the palpal jaws!

Her figure was agile, her movements decisive, as she nimbly leaped onto a Contaminant's carapace. The scythe-like Bone Blade traced a beautiful arc through the air, reaping the ever-extending necks.

The music masked her movements, the light illuminated her field of vision. Even with only one Bone Blade at her disposal, in an open enough space, she could unleash a massacre!

This was a massacre.

A massacre belonging to her alone!

In the distance, Qin Liang and the others were already stunned, watching Feng Ling butcher over a dozen Contaminants, momentarily unsure who the real monster in this nest was.

And was this even killing?

Smashing palpal jaws, cleaving necks, severing appendages, leaving the massive insect bodies to roll and struggle clumsily in place—wasn't this torture?

No one could comment; they could only stare dumbfounded as it all unfolded before their eyes.

Among the Contaminants, one was especially large, lying quietly in a corner.

Its palpal jaws were worn and aged, its neck muscles slack, and even the lateral legs on its sides were shorter than those of other Contaminants. From its carapace to its abdomen, a thick, heavy layer of viscous sludge clung to it, like a pile of bloated, sagging seaweed mud.

Wrapped inside the "seaweed mud" was a corpse, with something faintly visible squirming within.

Feng Ling walked over, axe in hand.

Huangfu Miaomiao called out from above, "Be careful!"

Right before Feng Ling's eyes, the corpse in the "seaweed mud" had its chest cavity torn open, its skin ripped apart, and a Contaminant covered in blood and mucus crawled out from inside—

It was in a daze, newly born, its two palpal jaws groping around blindly. They touched the disheveled, wet head of the dead body, clamped down, and tore the head clean off the corpse.

The human head connected to the Contaminant's neck, its mouth opening and closing as if trying to speak. It had just uttered one syllable when Feng Ling's axe came down, and the young Contaminant went limp.

Feng Ling kept walking forward.

Until she was a single step away from this special, massive creature.

She was so close that a mere raise of her hand could touch the culprit.

Everyone instinctively held their breath, not daring to blink as they stared at Feng Ling's back, ready to welcome the finale of this operation—

Feng Ling stood still for a moment, thinking.

Then she did nothing, turned around, and walked away.

Everyone: "???"

They watched as she dragged the dead Contaminant off the ground, shoved it back into the "seaweed mud," and even patted it down without a hint of disgust, making sure it wouldn't fall out.

Everyone: "???????????"

Feng Ling waved at Huangfu Miaomiao: "Come down here."

Huangfu Miaomiao quickly set down the large lamp and ran down the pit's slope.

In her nervousness, she tripped and fell, practically rolling to Feng Ling's feet, her face smeared with dirt.

Feng Ling pointed at the Contaminants with smashed palpal jaws and severed limbs and said to Huangfu Miaomiao, "Kill them all."

"Ah... oh, oh..." Huangfu Miaomiao picked up the hammer, hesitantly glancing around. "Uh... hmm..."

Every single one was an A-rank Contaminant—beings she wouldn't have dared to even imagine facing. Yet now they all lay before her, utterly defenseless, at her mercy.

Huangfu Miaomiao gripped the hammer tightly, her tongue dry. She licked her lips, feeling as though none of this was real.

"You could go even slower," Feng Ling said. "Wait until Deputy Captain Zhou breathes his last before killing the Contaminants for Points. The Supervision Bureau's people are magnanimous—they definitely won't hold it against you."

Huangfu Miaomiao: "!!!"

The iron hammer in her hand swung out in a flurry, terrified that a single blow wouldn't finish the target. In a panic, she smashed down several times!

[You killed an A-rank Contaminant (Fake). Points reward: 200.]

"200!" Huangfu Miaomiao spun around in delight to look at Feng Ling. "I've got 200 Points!"

Feng Ling's expression remained calm. "Exchange for the syringes and take them over."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Huangfu Miaomiao nodded excitedly.

She immediately exchanged for three Recovery Potions, ran over to inject two into Zhou Diao, and one into Xiao Li. Xiao Li had also been injured while rescuing Zhou Diao.

"If the injuries are too severe, recovery will take a bit longer than before." Huangfu Miaomiao gave them a quick reminder before rushing back to the pit bottom to keep pounding the Contaminants.

[You killed an A-rank Contaminant (Fake). Points reward: 210.]

[You killed an A-rank Contaminant (Fake). Points reward: 220.]

[You killed an A-rank Contaminant (Fake). Points reward: 180.]

One message after another popped up, and Huangfu Miaomiao was busily having the time of her life.

Feng Ling wasn't idle either. She dragged the Contaminants Huangfu Miaomiao had killed, one after another, back into that sticky mass that looked like seaweed mud. Before long, the goo was packed with corpses.

The Special Forces team members watched the two of them work, their moods complicated.

Qin Liang thought to himself: If the higher-ups saw this scene, who knows what kind of storm it would stir up.

He subconsciously touched his forehead and found it bare.

Only then did he remember that his headlamp and the attached micro-camera had been bitten to pieces by the bugs as soon as they entered the cave.

For some reason, he felt a wave of relief.

He turned to look at Zhou Diao and asked, "Deputy Captain, what's our next move?"

"Wrap it up. Head back and report." Zhou Diao coughed up blood as he cursed, "Damn it. Two freaks."

The team members all knew who he was talking about.

They exchanged glances, inexplicably wanting to laugh, but all held it back in silent agreement.

They helped Zhou Diao out of the cave.

Deep in the pit—

Just as Feng Ling had guessed, the corpses in the sticky mass had hatched new Contaminants.

She manipulated her Bone Blade to clack off the Contaminants' mandibles, then turned to Huangfu Miaomiao and said, "Keep killing."