The Second One

Outside the experimental area, An Ke ran desperately, pushing her stamina to its limit.

Behind her, hordes of Species chased her like worms gnawing at her bones.

At the very rear, a six-meter-tall, potbellied "Buddha," resembling Maitreya, lumbered toward her.

The ground shook. His enormous, rotting feet slammed down, each step sending tremors through the floor.

"Namo..."

"Namo..."

Buddha opened his mouth, his jaw stretching so far that it dragged at his feet.

Countless white maggots crawled out from the depths of his pitch-black throat.

Listening to those low chants, An Ke clenched her teeth, not daring to look back.

A sonic attack!

Those chants were infrasonic attacks.

Even though she had reacted quickly enough to flee the moment she saw "Buddha," the invisible sound waves had still severely injured her from a hundred meters away!

Blood streamed from her mouth and nose, and even her internal organs vibrated violently with the sound.

An Ke hastily tore a corner off her tank top and struggled to plug her ears.

Seeing a room nearby, she clung to her last shred of strength and scrambled inside.

Bang!

An Ke slammed the alloy door behind her as quickly as she could, then gasped for breath.

With the metal blocking some of the sound, the voice behind her weakened slightly.

Every second mattered. Knowing she had only a few seconds left, An Ke leaned against the door, forced her head up, and began panting rapidly like a puppy.

It looked pathetic, but this was the only way she could recover her strength in the shortest possible time.

A second God...!

When she first saw that tall, thin "man" surrounded by Species, she had still been uncertain.

But after being hunted by Buddha, she finally realized that these things resembling Gods were nothing but monsters wearing divine skins! There were no Gods. There were no Gods here at all. She even suspected that these Gods were the true Species!

Unable to spare even a few more seconds to rest, An Ke forced herself upright. The moment she steadied herself, she vomited a large pool of blood.

Looking at the clots on the floor, her face turned deathly pale.

Her internal organs were already injured. Unless she escaped her pursuer soon, she would die from blood loss and organ failure in no more than half a minute.

Wiping the blood from her lips with the back of her hand, An Ke strained her eyes in the darkness, searching for a possible escape route.

Soon enough.

Overhead, a sign that seemed to mark a maintenance area caught her attention.

It was a round tunnel leading somewhere unknown. The passage twisted away, with gusts of foul, bloody-smelling air blowing out of it.

Although she had no idea where it led, she had no choice but to crawl inside first.

I hope there's still time...

As she crawled and thought, An Ke instinctively glanced at the watch on her wrist.

He Zheng and the others still had not replied. She hardly dared imagine what would happen if He Zheng found a "God."

Even if just one more appeared, that would still be...

Beep, beep.

Her communicator suddenly sounded.

An Ke lowered her head to look.

The next second, her pupils contracted sharply, and her face went utterly white.

He Zheng's message contained only a few short words. Yet those few words filled her with despair.

"They're... already here!"

Thud! Thud!

Thud! Thud!!

The footsteps were slow and heavy, as though they came from hell itself.

On one side of the hall, a tall, thin man dressed in sackcloth staggered forward.

He held a flayed corpse in his hands. Against his enormous frame, it looked like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Fear spread through the air.

Trembling all over, Lin Ya uttered "his" name, her reason seeming to collapse completely at that moment.

"Holy... Holy Lord... Christ..."

He was the God depicted in the murals, and the most widely known God in human history.

She could not believe her eyes. Even less could she believe the hordes of Species following "Christ" with such "devotion."

Species and Gods were the same kind of monster!

An Ke's warning had come too late. Of course, even if they had known, they would have had no other choice.

It was all over. With the appearance of the second "God," all their previous reasoning had become a complete joke.

The "Goddess of War," who had been fighting the Species, also stopped when "Christ" appeared. She turned around and stared blankly at them.

It was as though she were toying with them before killing them.

One sound, the slightest noise, and they would die without even a grave.

"Run!!"

"Split up!!"

As though unable to bear the terror any longer, He Zheng suddenly shouted, mustering his last scrap of courage to run to the right.

Running might have been pointless. With this monster's speed, they would be caught within seconds. But if they did not run, they would not have even the slightest hope!

He could only gamble that the other God would not pursue them once they fled. Otherwise, they were certain to die.

Boom!!

She would never allow insects to escape right before her eyes.

In an instant, the "woman" moved.

Both her legs drove against the floor, launching her into the air in a horrifying leap.

Her gaunt body cast a terrifying shadow, like a spider pouncing on its prey.

There was a wet squelch.

The next second, she landed heavily, crushing Lin Ya, who was closest, into pulp beneath one foot.

Blood slowly seeped out from beneath her foot. A tenth of a second later, those dead-white eyes fixed on Hu Jia.

Her pallid arm shot out. Just as she had devoured the Species, she intended to seize him and eat him.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Hu Jia broke down. Though he could not see behind him, he already felt an icy chill against his back! That pallid arm was about to catch him.

In his sheer terror, he fled screaming like a madman, running so fast that he surpassed his body's limits.

He did not want to die, much less die so horribly, eaten alive!

Hearing Hu Jia's screams, He Zheng did not even dare look back, his heart sinking into utter despair. Beside him, Ye Lin made no sound either, simply sprinting with his head down.

Against these "Gods," they had no way to fight back. All they could do was run as far as possible!

Suddenly.

Just as the "Goddess of War" caught Hu Jia, a furious shout rang out amid a barrage of gunfire!

In the passage on the right, a figure with a buzz cut led two students in firing wildly at the "Goddess of War."

"Run this way!"

"I'll cover you!"

Ye Lin jerked his head up. Seeing that distinctive buzz cut, he recognized the man at once.

It was none other than...

Huang Liang!

Huang Liang, the Security Bureau trainee who had entered with him!