The flashlight beam bounced wildly through the tunnel, illuminating the tracks, sleepers, rock walls, and the shadows drawing ever closer in flickering flashes. His footsteps exploded through the empty tunnel, mingling with the buzzing and shrieking of wings. It was utter chaos.
"Senior Brother!" he shouted as he ran, his voice broken by the jolting. "What are those things?"
"Some little pets Fenrir kept! You know Kamaitachi?"
"Caesar's Spirit Word is that!" Lu Mingfei answered without thinking.
"Right! Ghost Cart Birds, also called Kamaitachi! Those things—" He Xiaomeng said, "like to suck blood, especially Hybrid blood!"
A Ghost Cart Bird swooped down.
Lu Mingfei did not get a clear look at it. He only saw a black blur sweep over his head, its wings brushing past his ears and stirring up a gust of foul-smelling wind. Without thinking, he drew the military knife in his right hand and slashed backward—
The blade struck something hard, like a bundle of dry kindling. The Ghost Cart Bird let out a piercing shriek, crashed to the ground, and shattered into several pieces. Lu Mingfei caught a glimpse of it in the passing flashlight beam—bone fragments littered the floor, dark gold in color, with barely any flesh on them. It looked like a long-desiccated corpse wrapped in a layer of skin.
"Is there any way to deal with them?" Lu Mingfei panted without slowing down. "They're your pets too, aren't they?"
There was a trace of uncertainty in He Xiaomeng's voice. "If it were before, all I'd have to do was tell them to get lost, and they'd run far away. I don't know whether that'll still work now."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Lu Mingfei said urgently, his voice already hoarse. "Try it already!"
More Ghost Cart Birds caught up to them.