A desperate fight

Whoosh-

A fierce, dazzling flash of steel swept past Wu Dahai's eyes. The three "flesh vines" shooting toward him were severed at once, spraying a mist of blood that spread into an eerie golden red beneath the streetlight. A tall girl in a high school uniform stood between Wu Dahai and "Uncle Zhang," her blade held in a reverse grip, her long hair flying, her legs slender, like a warrior descended from heaven.

Wu Dahai stared, dumbstruck, momentarily forgetting his fear. For the first time in his life, his heart fluttered.

"Go."

Qingling did not look back, her attention fixed entirely on the enemy.

"Oh... okay." Wu Dahai snapped out of his daze. He scrambled to his feet and ran, but still remembered to call out, "Pretty girl... be careful..."

Uncle Zhang had now become a Beast somewhere between a plant and an animal. The facial features on his "Flower Bud" bubbled with pus and bloody blisters, constantly making sounds of hunger and rage. "Human! Human! Human..."

The vines beneath his feet no longer rushed to attack. Instead, they wrapped around his body, tightening inch by inch like a meat grinder.

Gaoyang could not describe the nauseating sight. In less than ten seconds, a pungent, bloody stench filled the air. Fighting the urge to vomit, he stepped forward to steady Wu Dahai as he ran back. "Why didn't you fight just now?"

"What fucking combat ability do I have?" Wu Dahai said, utterly unapologetic.

"Wasn't that move you used pretty impressive?" Gaoyang asked in confusion. "One snap of your fingers, and all the arcade machines shut off."

"That's just a special sound-activated master switch. You could shut them off by snapping your fingers too," Wu Dahai said.

Gaoyang was utterly speechless. Dude, after all that, you're even more useless than me? How did you get into the organization? Through the back door? Or did you open the back door yourself? Is this organization really worth joining?

Forget it. Better to rely on myself than beg someone else.

"Any other weapons?" Gaoyang shouted to Officer Huang.

"There's a golf club in my trunk." Holding his gun in one hand, Officer Huang pulled his car keys from his trouser pocket with the other and tossed them to Gaoyang.

Gaoyang caught the keys, quickly opened the trunk, and took out a silver-white golf club.

Not far away, Uncle Zhang's body had been completely ground apart. Aside from the fleshy ball covered in facial features, which could still loosely be called his "brain," every other part had become "vines"-or, more precisely, tentacles.

These tentacles were pieced together from Uncle Zhang's large intestine, internal organs, muscle tissue, and cartilage. A rough count put them at over twenty.

Uncle Zhang now resembled a mutated octopus overturned on the ground.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Three tentacles shot toward Qingling.

Qingling raised her blade and swiftly cut them off.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh- Another four tentacles descended from above, lashing down at Qingling.

Qingling darted aside and rolled, dodging the whipping tentacles. Meanwhile, several more had crawled silently along the ground through the darkness and reached her feet.

Startled, Qingling quickly jumped backward.

Like cobras, the tentacles sprang into the air after her with a hiss. One coiled tightly around her pale ankle and yanked her back toward the ground.

Bang! A bullet severed the tentacle.

Ignoring the pain, Qingling twisted and flipped herself upright, then slashed backhanded, cutting off the other three tentacles closing in on her.

She dared not linger. Long blade in hand, she ran sideways. In those few evasive moves, she had keenly noticed that the tentacles shot fastest in straight lines radiating from Uncle Zhang. Once extended, they moved much more slowly when shifting sideways to grab someone.

Qingling decided to circle Uncle Zhang, reducing the chance of being caught by his tentacles.

Bang- Officer Huang seized his opening and fired three shots at the target's "brain" within a single second.

"Aaah... human! Human! Human, human, human..."

Uncle Zhang trembled all over in agony and let out a piercing scream. Several tentacles retracted to shield his brain.

"His head is the weak point!" Officer Huang shouted to Qingling, pulling out a fresh magazine and quickly reloading.

Qingling had noticed it too, but she dared not approach recklessly.

Uncle Zhang had over twenty tentacles, each supple and powerful. No weapon other than the Tang Dao in her hand could possibly cut through them. Even if she severed them, he could quickly repair the damage and regrow them.

Qingling, on the other hand, needed to make only one mistake to be ensnared by countless tentacles and dragged toward Uncle Zhang. Then those tentacles would likely gather around his main body and turn into a "meat grinder" again. She would be ground into paste in excruciating agony and become part of Uncle Zhang. Her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears would probably merge into that disgusting fleshy mass too, endlessly chanting "Human, human, human..." along with him. The rest of her body would become new tentacles, used to capture even more humans...

Even someone as cold as Qingling felt her scalp prickle at the thought of dying that way.

There's only one chance.

Failure means hell.

Qingling drew a deep breath, then suddenly broke into a full sprint, circling the target at a hundred-meter dash pace. Naturally, Uncle Zhang's tentacles followed her around, making him look like a miniature swing carousel.

After two minutes of high-speed maneuvering, Qingling began to slow. Both the sprinting she practiced regularly and her Blade God Talent relied on brief bursts of explosive power. Neither could last long; she needed to end the fight quickly.

She still had not found the perfect opening, but she had to strike before her stamina dropped significantly.

"Cover me!" Qingling seized her chance, circling to the side of Uncle Zhang with the fewest tentacles before charging in with her blade. Seven or eight of his tentacles immediately pulled back, while another dozen or so converged on her from every direction.

Qingling closed in at high speed, constantly adjusting her footwork to evade attacks and cut through tentacles.

Thick blood mist filled the gaps. Amid the flashing steel, Qingling danced through the countless tentacles like a bloodstained white butterfly.

Officer Huang was not idle either.

He activated his gun god talent, covering Qingling at a rate of one bullet per second. Any tentacle that escaped her blade was severed by the bullet following right behind it.

It all happened within a few short seconds.

Officer Huang quickly emptied his gun, and Qingling had drawn close enough to Uncle Zhang. With a nimble sidestep, she dodged the final two tentacles, raised her blade high in both hands, and brought it down toward his "brain."

At that moment, everyone was certain that Uncle Zhang's brain would split in half like a fragile watermelon. But everyone had overlooked the severed tentacles on the ground.

The instant they landed, they hugged the ground and slithered back toward the main body at incredible speed.

Just as Qingling was about to put her strength into the strike, pain shot through her heels. Countless severed tentacles heading back struck them one after another. Her foot slipped. Although she quickly corrected her stance, she failed to properly unleash the power in her waist, costing her arms more than half their strength.

A second later, she delivered a greatly weakened slash.

The stroke was still powerful, the blade still sharp, but it cut less than a third of the way into its target. Uncle Zhang did not die. Howling in pain, he swung several newly regrown tentacles, whipping them hard into Qingling's waist.

"Ugh..." Qingling lost her grip on her weapon and flew several meters, rolling twice across the ground. She had not given up yet. Reaching her right hand toward Uncle Zhang several meters away, she flung her fingers open. "Metal!"