Xiao Ya unleashed! The Weird-Thing Symbiote!

Silence. Deathly silence.

Only everyone's heavy breathing remained.

"Creak..."

A faint sound of plastic scraping against the floor reached them.

"Creak, creak..."

"Creak, creak, creak..."

After that first sound, the creaking grew more and more frequent, finally forming waves of noise that poured endlessly out of the darkness.

The sounds drew closer, faster and faster.

It was as though countless people were sprinting toward them.

"Fuck, what the hell is that?"

Brother Dao gripped the Mountain-Cleaving Blade tightly, sweeping his flashlight beam back and forth through the darkness.

He searched for the source of the noise.

In the darkness, a white head suddenly poked out of a store.

There were no features on the head, only vaguely shaped indentations.

Then another appeared, and another.

Soon, densely packed white heads filled every spot the flashlight illuminated.

All the White Mannequins sprang into motion, running toward them with a chorus of creaks.

"Fuck!"

Big Niu stepped out to shield everyone and threw a punch into a mannequin's head. Plastic fragments burst apart, exploding into powder in the air.

They were coming from behind, too!

Chen Mo slashed, and a mannequin's head slowly slid off.

He brought the silver Surgical Knife's properties to their fullest potential.

Every slash sliced precisely through a mannequin's neck joint.

One slash, one head rolling to the floor.

"Whoosh!"

The Barbie Doll in Xiao Ya's arms became a pink blur and hurtled straight into the mass of mannequins.

It knocked a whole swath of them down.

But there were too many mannequins.

They packed the entire passage shoulder to shoulder.

"Help if you don't want to die!"

Brother Dao shouted, dropped the Mountain-Cleaving Blade, and drew a steel pipe from his waist. One blow smashed a mannequin to pieces.

The survivors snapped out of their daze and sheltered behind the Transcendents, using their weapons to clear away the mannequins that came within reach.

More and more mannequins broke through the Transcendents' defensive line and charged at the ordinary people.

Red Hare crushed a mannequin's head under one hoof.

His donkey eyes stayed fixed on a spot in the darkness.

One of Brother Dao's men had just smashed a mannequin's head with his steel pipe when another mannequin beside him seized his arm.

"Ah! Save me! Brother Dao!"

He let out an agonized scream and reached toward Brother Dao.

A force dragged him bodily into the white tide.

The next second, dozens of mannequins swarmed him, engulfing him instantly.

The sharp cracking of bones and his agonized screams rang out again and again.

Several bloodstained mannequins rose and charged at the group once more.

A mass of red and white remained where he had been, with shattered bones and entrails strewn across the floor.

After an unknown stretch of time, Big Niu shattered the last mannequin with a punch.

Silence returned to the second floor, leaving only the thick stench of blood and everyone's panting.

Donkey's shrill, raspy voice rang out in Chen Mo's mind.

"Kid, the appetizer's over. The main course is here."

"There's something strange about this thing. Your old man can't make out its level. The rules in this damned place are strong. They block all attempts to probe."

"But I'd guess it's at least at the peak of level two. It might even be level three."

Level three?

Chen Mo glanced at Red Hare. His meaning was obvious: it was time for him to act.

Donkey shook his head and spoke telepathically to Chen Mo.

"I didn't sense it back on the first floor, but there seems to be an even higher-level Weird sleeping on the third floor."

"The moment I act, the fluctuations of Variant energy will definitely wake it. Then we'll all die here."

Chen Mo's heart sank.

A small hand tugged at Chen Mo's clothes. It was Xiao Ya.

She pointed into the depths of the darkness. Her lips moved, but she said nothing.

At the far end of the darkness, an enormous figure slowly emerged.

It was a monster made from countless twisted shelves, shopping carts, and pieces of metal.

The monster was humanoid and skeletal, but it had six arms of varying lengths.

Atop it sat a head half the size of its body, vaguely recognizable as a woman's.

Its head hung low, with disheveled hair spilling over it.

"Buy... buy... buy..."

It walked on legs made of mechanical supports, repeating that word with every step.

The sight made Chen Mo's scalp prickle.

But their retreat had been cut off. He had no choice but to steel himself and fight!

Big Niu could no longer stand the eerie atmosphere.

With a roar, he clenched both fists and charged at it.

"Don't go!"

"Don't!"

Chen Mo and Xiao Ya cried out together, but it was already too late.

The Weird casually raised one of its six arms and caught Big Niu by the wrist.

Big Niu trembled all over. He strained with every ounce of strength he had, but couldn't budge it.

The Weird's arm jerked upward, then slammed Big Niu heavily into the floor.

Boom!

Cracks spread across the floor. The impact left Big Niu so dazed that he couldn't get up.

It raised a foot, ready to stamp down on Big Niu's bald head!

Chen Mo sprang forward. The silver Surgical Knife traced a fine line straight toward the monster's head.

Clink!

Another of the Weird's hands moved like lightning, pinching the spine of the Surgical Knife between two fingers.

A tremendous force flung Chen Mo away, sending him crashing into a wall more than ten meters away.

Agony shot through the web of his hand. He could barely hold on to the knife.

At the same time, the Weird raised its foot and kicked Big Niu. He rolled several times across the floor and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Brother Niu!"

Xiao Ya cried out from nearby.

Her expression turned utterly grave as she slowly raised the Barbie Doll in her arms to her chest.

"Merge."

As Xiao Ya's voice fell silent,

her body and the Barbie Doll slowly melted into a puddle of flesh-colored and pink liquid, rapidly blending together.

Once the liquids had merged, they slowly rose from the floor again.

Xiao Ya's body had undergone an enormous change. She had grown taller, her body taking on a Barbie Doll's exaggerated proportions, with her legs accounting for seventy percent of her height.

Her once-childish face now looked like the Barbie Doll's, and wavy blond hair spilled loosely down her back.

Her clothes had also become a combination of tall boots and a skirt, exposing her deathly pale, slender thighs.

Except for one eye, her entire body had become an enlarged Barbie Doll.

Sequence two, Weird-Thing Symbiote!

Xiao Ya's left eye still retained its human features, its black pupil clear and innocent.

Her right eye, however, had become a lifeless blue glass eyeball that flickered with an eerie red glow.

Xiao Ya vanished instantly and appeared behind the monster.

One sickly pale plastic hand formed a knife edge.

She chopped viciously at the Weird's head.

Caught off guard, the Six-Armed Weird turned and hurriedly raised an arm to block.

Bang!

The arm was deformed by the blow, bending backward.

Having landed her strike, Xiao Ya flickered through the air again and appeared above the monster's head.

Her long, straight leg chopped down with a thunderous crack through the air, carrying enough force to cleave a mountain!

This time, the Six-Armed Weird reacted extremely quickly, raising four arms to block.

Bang!

Dust flew, and the floor cracked.

The Six-Armed Weird's other two hands lashed out.

They struck Xiao Ya's shoulder, forcing her back with tremendous strength. She flipped through the air and landed steadily on her feet.

"Kid, there's something wrong with this Weird's six hands!"