I'm no longer pure

"No, I'm not. I didn't."

"Xu Ye, don't just listen to your heart. It's only a heart. Listen to your brain. Think things through."

Alice covered its mouth, laughing so hard its whiskers bobbed up and down.

Damn cat!

It really is after my body.

Xu Ye grew wary. He didn't want anyone he knew to see him wandering around in women's clothes.

But...

Xu Ye narrowed his eyes at Li Kang's back as the man reached for the door, and his heart suddenly sank.

He carefully drew [Final Sigh], holding the gun in his right hand behind his white coat, its muzzle pointed at Li Kang.

"Doctor, I think I left my phone on the desk."

Just then, Li Kang suddenly turned around and glanced at the phone on the desk.

Xu Ye took half a step back. Unless something changed, the man would attack him in three seconds. This ambush was the reason he would be gravely injured.

What should I do?

Hesitate, and you're dead!

Strike first!

Bang!

Xu Ye decisively took another step back, pressing himself against the wall, then fired at Li Kang.

Clang!

The bullet burned a hole through his white coat and tore through the air, striking the metal cabinet beside the door with lightning speed and throwing off a few sparks.

I... I missed...

Xu Ye's mouth twitched.

"Shit, Xu Ye, what kind of marksmanship is that? He practically handed you his head, and you still missed! Let me do it!" Alice was dumbfounded.

"Heh, heh, heh..."

Li Kang let out a heavy, wretched laugh. His neck suddenly stretched out like a snake, his head swaying in midair.

"Doctor, you want to kill me?"

"Kill me!"

"Kill me!"

Labored breathing and shrill cries first alternated, then overlapped, setting Xu Ye's nerves on edge, as though a demon were murmuring inside his mind.

"Xu Ye, snap out of it!"

Duang!

Alice knocked him on the head, bringing him back to normal.

In that thousandth of a second, the newly recovered Xu Ye fired several shots at Li Kang in succession.

Bang, bang, bang!

The bullets in [Final Sigh] poured out. No matter how terrible Xu Ye's aim was, surely he couldn't miss with a whole volley in such a tiny room.

Li Kang had no time to dodge and let out a howl.

His body slammed backward, embedding itself in the metal cabinet. A charred arm shielded him, having blocked every bullet Xu Ye had just fired.

But clearly, that arm was ruined.

Crack, crack!

Without a word, Li Kang grabbed his right arm with his left hand and twisted hard at the joint, wrenching the entire arm off and tossing it onto the floor.

Xu Ye looked closely and discovered that the blood inside the arm had turned into cockroaches. They flowed out like water, then burst one after another with a series of pops.

Meanwhile, Li Kang crouched and pushed down hard, as if springs were fitted beneath his feet, then shot toward the window.

As he fled, he cast a venomous glance at Xu Ye.

"Trying to run?"

Xu Ye reached out. The skin on his right forearm writhed, and a slick black tentacle shot up, swiftly wrapping around the man's ankle and yanking him back.

Thud!

Li Kang was dragged straight back and slammed hard onto the floor.

In the jeep, Meng Chengfei also realized something was wrong. Watching the perilous scene, he restrained his urge to rush inside.

"Xu Ye, this is your first time fighting with your second personality. Remember, don't let it take control of your mind. Treat it as a tool, and yourself as the person using that tool."

"For example, if you're an adult, using a kitchen knife is no problem. But if you're a child, that knife could easily hurt you."

"Your willpower is your best defense against your second personality's intrusion."

"And fight without worrying. I've already had someone set up [Silent Forest] nearby. It can isolate everything, so no one will notice."

As he spoke, he looked at the information transmitted from the Ninth Squad Operations Room to his computer.

"Contamination incident information updated..."

"Li Kang: suspected contamination source."

"Threat level downgraded from nightmare to terrifying."

The energy fluctuations coming from Li Kang weren't particularly strong. If he really was the contamination source, then dealing with him would be enough to resolve this incident.

Listening to the words through his earpiece, Xu Ye smiled in relief.

He hadn't used Alice's abilities at all.

Still...

Xu Ye's tentacle wrapped around Li Kang's body, and he aimed the gun at Li Kang's head.

If the man wasn't the contamination source, then now that he had mutated, he would no longer be the true source's primary target for revenge. His presence in the chain of cause and effect would be insignificant.

"Doctor, don't kill me. I'll tell you a sec-"

Bang!

Xu Ye fired straight into his head.

Blood splattered.

Like a pressure cooker exploding, it covered the entire consulting room in dark red in an instant-the floor, the ceiling, the desk, the cabinet, the chairs...

It was blood!

Blood everywhere!

Dots, streaks, twisted shapes, ovals... Blood in every shape filled Xu Ye's vision, assaulting his eyes before turning into tiny cockroaches and exploding again.

The scene was horrifying.

"Fuck, you have no... honor..."

Strangely, after Li Kang's head shattered, his clothes flipped up on their own. A human face emerged on his belly, smiling darkly at Xu Ye.

"Hiss-"

Xu Ye sucked in a cold breath.

"Young man, scared now, aren't you? Just be good and let me eat you..." Li Kang said with a sinister chuckle.

"How did you do that? Can you grow a face on your ass, too?" Xu Ye asked curiously.

Li Kang: "￥%@#%"

While the man was busy swearing, Xu Ye fired again, blasting Li Kang's belly with a bullet.

Gurgle, gurgle-

Blood gushed out like a fountain, finally turning into a dense carpet of dead cockroaches that covered more than half the consulting room.

Xu Ye watched warily, keeping his gun drawn in case the man suddenly sprang up.

"He should be dead..."

"Captain, the target has been eliminated."

Meng Chengfei's soft chuckle came through his earpiece. "Nicely done. He possessed extremely high intelligence and was a suspected contamination source. Go investigate where he dumped the body later. If there's nothing unusual there, this case will be closed."

"Wait, Xu Ye. Let me use [Soul-Seizing]."

As Alice spoke, it gracefully emerged from between Xu Ye's brows and padded toward Li Kang's corpse.

"Every soul I devour increases my strength, much like an Awakened's cultivation. I can also see a few brief memories from just before their death."

"But I have to devour it quickly, or the soul will gradually dissipate."

Xu Ye nodded, deeply curious.

This 9-003, supposedly part of the divine sequence, actually possessed such a miraculous ability.

He had a feeling he could use [Soul-Seizing] himself, but since Alice was willing to do it, that was at least more convenient than doing it himself. No one would notice.

Alice's pupils became dreamlike and ethereal. It licked the corner of its mouth with its pink tongue, seemingly spotting something, then sucked in sharply. A shimmering stream of air rushed into its eyes.

Immediately afterward, its whole body trembled as though it had been sniffing catnip.

Several dozen seconds later, Alice burst into aggrieved tears, meowing over and over.

"What's wrong?" Xu Ye pretended to examine the corpse while speaking to Alice in his mind.

"Xu Ye... I'm no longer pure... I'm not a virgin kitty anymore..."

"Meow, boo-hoo-hoo..."

"And this person isn't Li Kang."

???