The red-haired girl seized the opportunity too, sprinting forward with all her strength.
The distance between them steadily closed.
As if sensing the danger approaching, the two bone whips behind [HeLa Cell] began to lash even faster.
Wounds continued to appear on the red-haired girl's body, but she didn't stop. Instead, she moved faster and faster.
This time, I have to destroy him completely!
The red-haired girl leaped into the air, dodging a strike from a bone whip. Her straight blade erupted in raging flames, fiercer than any she had summoned before.
In the pitch-black night, it was like the sun itself!
"Come on, Yan Ling!" The man gripped his pistol with trembling hands, cheering the red-haired girl on in his heart.
The red-haired girl clenched her teeth and slashed at [HeLa Cell] with unstoppable momentum.
The red-haired girl's gaze was unwavering as her straight blade slowly closed in on [HeLa Cell]'s body.
At that moment, time seemed to have been paused.
Suddenly, the red-haired girl thought she saw an eye grow out of the back of [HeLa Cell]'s head?
Then she felt a pain in her neck. The world began to spin before her eyes, and her field of vision plunged downward.
She thought she also saw a headless corpse that had been severed at the waist.
That corpse looks so much like me...
Then she felt nothing more.
Under the horrified gazes of the man and the captain, [HeLa Cell] jumped backward, then turned his head and caught the upper half of the red-haired girl's corpse in his jaws. He tore off a mouthful and swallowed it.
The eyes on his face regenerated instantly, while the eye on the back of his head remained wide open.
"Yan Ling-!" the captain roared in anguish. Ignoring his grievous injuries, he gripped his blade in one hand and charged at [HeLa Cell] like a madman.
The next moment, countless transparent threads surged toward [HeLa Cell] like a tide.
Chewing on the flesh, [HeLa Cell] swung the two bone whips behind him without even raising his head.
Most of the threads were severed in an instant.
And in that brief opening, the captain reached [HeLa Cell].
[HeLa Cell] raised his eyes, and a bone whip instantly pierced the captain.
A great mouthful of blood sprayed from the captain's mouth, but he kept a tight grip on his blade with his only remaining left hand and drove it down with all his might, pinning [HeLa Cell] firmly to the ground.
"Take Xiaoxiao and run!" the captain shouted, looking at the man.
"Captain..." Looking at the captain desperately buying him time, the man hesitated.
"Quick! Ah..." [HeLa Cell] bit down on the captain's neck, snapping it instantly.
But even though he was dead, his hand still gripped the blade tightly, holding [HeLa Cell] in place.
The man gritted his teeth and hesitated no longer. He turned and ran to Xiaoxiao, scooped her up, and fled in another direction for all he was worth.
He looked back, unwilling to accept it, and saw [HeLa Cell] devouring their corpses.
The man first breathed a quiet sigh of relief, only for his heart to be filled with boundless sorrow the next instant.
Holding Xiaoxiao, the man ran and ran.
He didn't know how long he had run. Only when he lost all feeling in his feet did he stop and sit down against a large tree to rest.
The man parted his slightly pale lips, gasping for breath.
Raindrops slowly fell from the gloomy sky, striking the man's face.
"So you're the vice-captain?! Hehe~ My name is Yan Ling. Please look after me from now on~"
"Huh? What era is this, and you're still using a firearm like a pistol? You're so behind the times."
"Hello, Han Xuan. I'm the captain of Squad 105. Welcome aboard."
"That's right, our squad really is weak. So, Han Xuan, would you be willing to become vice-captain and lend me a hand?"
Memories of the past replayed in his mind like a film.
A tear slid down his cheek and fell onto Xiaoxiao's face along with the rain.
The man reached out and wiped the droplets from her face, unsure whether they were tears or rain.
Then Xiaoxiao's eyelids fluttered slightly, and a moment later, she slowly opened her eyes.
"Xiaoxiao!" The man looked with some excitement at Xiaoxiao, who had awakened in his arms.
Xiaoxiao's lips moved slightly. She was about to say something, but the man stopped her.
"Your neck is injured. Don't speak, or the blood vessels in your neck might rupture again."
After the captain had spent so long stitching them up, the blood vessels in Xiaoxiao's neck had recovered somewhat, but they were still extremely fragile. The slightest carelessness could cause them to rupture again.
Xiaoxiao nodded slightly, then looked around before finally turning to the man with a puzzled expression, as if asking where the captain and Yan Ling had gone.
The man's face darkened, and he said nothing.
Xiaoxiao seemed to have guessed something. Her face filled with disbelief, she tugged at the hem of the man's clothes, seeking confirmation.
"I'm sorry. Yan Ling sacrificed herself, and the captain died holding the xenogene off too..." The man's face was terribly gloomy, and his long hair covered his eyes, making his expression impossible to see.
Xiaoxiao's lips trembled as tears welled in her eyes, then poured out like a tide.
Looking at Xiaoxiao crying silently in his arms, the man was filled with a jumble of emotions.
Suddenly, the hairs on the man's body stood on end. He immediately clutched Xiaoxiao close and leaped forward.
The moment he jumped away, a gaping maw lunged from behind and bit down on the spot where they had been. The large tree, nearly a meter thick, was bitten through in an instant.
The man and Xiaoxiao tumbled onto the grass ahead. The man immediately scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding wildly.
If the man's special ability hadn't helped him, the two of them would surely have died just then.
Xiaoxiao climbed to her feet, unsure what had happened. The moment she raised her head, she was startled.
[HeLa Cell], now over three meters tall and shaped like both a crocodile and a lizard, chewed the tree trunk in his mouth to splinters and swallowed it all.
[HeLa Cell] was puzzled too. He shouldn't have made the slightest sound with his footsteps, and he had taken special care to hide himself on such a dark night. Just how had the man before him dodged?
Still, the two of them couldn't escape. After eating the two strongest humans from before, [HeLa Cell] had evolved into the strongest form at this weight.
Even if he had to fight all four of them alone again while they were in peak condition, [HeLa Cell] would surely win.
[HeLa Cell] raised a massive foot and slowly approached the two. In his eyes, they had become lambs awaiting slaughter and posed no threat at all.
As the man watched [HeLa Cell] slowly draw near, a faint, relieved smile suddenly appeared on his face.
He slowly turned to look at the terrified Xiaoxiao beside him and spoke calmly.
"Xiaoxiao, my bank card is under my pillow. The password is your birthday. Take the money and live well."
Xiaoxiao turned to look at the man, her face blank with confusion.
The man picked up his pistol and activated a hidden switch on it. A transparent pill popped out, and he took it in his hand.
The moment Xiaoxiao saw the pill in the man's hand, she panicked and got up to stop him.
"Run, Xiaoxiao. We can't let our whole squad be wiped out." [HeLa Cell] drew closer one step at a time, while the man stared at the pill in his hand. His tone was so calm that he sounded nothing like a man about to die.
But Xiaoxiao threw her arms around him and buried her head deep in his chest.
"You..." The man tried to push her away, but Xiaoxiao held him in a death grip.
Finally, the man sighed and gently embraced Xiaoxiao in return.