He Suowei immediately used his J1 ability, Total Lunar Eclipse, to block the vision of the three of them. The downward staircase was blocked by the corpses of the Empire Awakening Team, while the path behind them was cut off by Du Mo’s corpse. For the moment, the only option was to go up. But they were in Building B, and the true body of the Serpent Maiden Eye was wandering on the nineteenth floor. There was no telling which floor it had reached by now. These corpses controlled by the Serpent Maiden Eye were clearly herding them upward, driving them toward the main body so they would become her next targets.
The four corpses of the Empire Awakening Team were twisted and entangled together, coiled into a single rigid heap of flesh, impossible to distinguish which arm or leg belonged to whom.
He Suowei did not dare raise his head, nor even keep his eyes open for long. At least ten floating eyes surrounded the three of them, their gazes locked on them like predators.
Rigid corpse-hands clamped tightly around their ankles and arms. He Suowei drew his tactical dagger, but he could not sever the stone-hardened claws. They had already been locked onto by the floating eyes. Soon, the Serpent Maiden Eye would charge down to confront them directly. With the monster’s overwhelming offensive power, they likely would not stand the slightest chance of fighting back.
“Gu Wulü, take the omega and go.” He Suowei shoved the barely conscious Mo Chan into the arms of the husky alpha. “Find a chance to get downstairs and rendezvous with the others.”
Gu Wulü’s limbs were also tightly entangled by corpse-hands. Cradling Mo Chan, he flashed a cheeky grin over his shoulder at his captain. “If you cannot hold out, brother, shoot yourself. Do not turn into something like this and scare me.”
“Stop talking nonsense. Go.”
In less than a breath, all the corpse-hands wrapped around them were torn apart by a sudden burst of force. Gu Wulü and Mo Chan instantly vanished from the spot, their figures disappearing down the junction between Building B’s corridor and Building C.
Husky gland J1 differentiation ability: Let Go—A disengagement-type ability that, for a limited time, allows the user to break free from all restraints and smash through obstacles.
Keeping his eyes closed, He Suowei injected himself with a recovery shot, sidestepped the sluggish corpse heap, and pressed his back to the wall. He tapped his communicator. “Bai, I sent my teammate to take that little omega away. The rest is up to you.”
Static crackled in the earpiece. Bai Chunian actually responded.
“Where are you?”
He Suowei’s breathing was uneven. “Building B, tenth floor, left stairwell.”
“Get down.”
“What?” He Suowei froze for a split second, but instinct under pressure drove him to obey. He dropped flat to the ground.
A muted scraping of elevator cables followed. Elevator B1 shot up to the tenth floor. The doors slid open slowly to either side. Two adhesive bombs stuck to the inner wall emitted a musical warning tone—and then detonated.
The explosion, mixed with fire, blasted apart the entire wall opposite Elevator B1. With its support gone, the heavy structure began collapsing. The four corpses of the Empire Awakening Team were hurled out of the building by the shockwave. Wall tiles shattered and were flung outward; razor-sharp fragments sprayed in every direction. Several floating eyes were sliced apart by the shards, losing their connection to the main body. They gradually stiffened into round stone lumps and fell onto the wreckage below.
Using his J1 ability, Total Lunar Eclipse, He Suowei shielded himself from the brunt of the blast. Amid the chaos, he sprinted toward Building A.
On the third floor of Building A, Lu Yan and Bi Lanxing, who had been guarding the two elevators, could no longer remain in place. Lu Yan activated his J1 ability, Rabbit’s Burrow, traversing floors as he rapidly climbed toward the tenth floor where Bai Chunian was. Bi Lanxing cleared the stairwells of Building A, sealing each landing with vines as he ascended.
A massive gap had been blasted through the center of the three Research Institute buildings. Starting from the tenth floor of Building B, a gaping hole tore through the structure. Upper and lower floors, stripped of support, slowly shed bricks and tiles, exposing the steel reinforcement within the beams and columns. Morning light streamed through the rupture. Beyond it lay the roaring Back Sea and reefs battered by waves.
Pale sunlight slanted into the tenth-floor hall. Bai Chunian stood with an SA80 rifle hanging loosely at his side. His pure black team uniform caught the light, streaked with a band of honey-colored glow.
Lan Bo’s tail tip coiled around exposed rebar jutting from the blast-damaged wall. An M25 sniper rifle was slung across his back, and a Desert Eagle hung from his fingertips. He and Bai Chunian formed an angled position, their lines of fire crossing.
From the shadowed corner opposite, a man slowly stepped out.
The alpha’s long, silky hair draped down. Medical gauze was wrapped around his eyes. His jawline was clean and striking, his appearance no different from a man in his early twenties.
Tilting his head slightly, he listened for the positions of the two across from him, sensing the taut, hostile pheromones in the air. A muffled chuckle escaped him. “I sense a familiar vicious aura.”
Lan Bo lowered his gaze to inspect his nails, his expression openly disdainful.
The Serpent Maiden Eye turned toward Bai Chunian, a hostile smirk tugging at his lips. “You have grown so much taller since then, little one. I still remember you curled at my feet like a pitiful kitten, clutching your broken arm and howling in pain, refusing to beg for mercy.”
“Now you look much higher-ranked… I must say, I am impressed.”
Even the strongest person might feel shame when reminded of their childhood humiliation. Bai Chunian, however, remained unmoved. He was neither provoked nor stirred; cold composure was his only expression.
Bai Chunian might ignore the mockery, but Lan Bo was not so magnanimous. His body, which had been hanging loosely from the rebar, arched in fury. The crimson spines along his back flared upright. He bared his sharp teeth at the Serpent Maiden Eye, a low growl rumbling from his throat.
Releasing the rebar, he propelled himself forward with powerful electromagnetic force. Razor-sharp claws extended from his fingertips in an instant, carving a lightning-laced arc across the air before the Serpent Maiden Eye’s face.
The alpha stepped back lightly. His serpentine lower body hooked around the stair railing, pulling himself out of range.
Bai Chunian silently assessed the battle. When an alpha displayed overt biological traits, there were only two possibilities: either his gland had evolved to A3 level, the excess energy causing overflow and hyperproliferation of gland cells—or he had successfully undergone graft transplantation with a compatible organism in experimentation.
Given the circumstances, Bai Chunian leaned toward the latter. A3 evolution was exceedingly rare, the conditions harsh and the probability minuscule.
“Why are you still in the cultivation stage? Does he not give you any soothing pheromones?” The serpent alpha counterattacked toward Lan Bo. His palm, covered in writhing scales, effortlessly sliced off a strand of golden hair beside Lan Bo’s ear.
The suppression exerted by a mature-stage experimental subject over one still in cultivation was far stronger than expected. Bai Chunian raised his rifle and fired. Several shots forced the serpent’s hands away just before they could touch Lan Bo.
“Lan Bo, come back.” The probing exchange was over. Bai Chunian intended to switch to a more conservative strategy.
But the serpent clearly had no intention of letting the omega off so easily. He flicked the tip of his tail slightly, producing the distinctive rattling hum of a rattlesnake. Bai Chunian assumed he was about to use his second companion ability, Rattle, to randomly resonate with a target. Prepared to counter it, Bai Chunian steadied himself—
Yet the serpent stopped rattling. In the next instant, more than a dozen spinning floating eyes rose behind him, their gazes snapping simultaneously toward Bai Chunian.
The rattle had merely been a feint. His true objective was to recall the floating eyes scattered throughout the building.
Bai Chuyuan lowered his gaze, refusing to meet the stare of any of the floating eyeballs. But in this situation, he could no longer accurately judge Lan Bo’s position or the snake’s. Aiming became extremely difficult.
He covered his eyes with his right hand and fired with his left. The bullets seemed to follow a preset trajectory, each round narrowly avoiding Lan Bo’s body. Seizing the chance, Lan Bo shrugged off the heavy sniper rifle from his back, braced it against the snake’s left chest, and fired.
A cloud of blood exploded from the snake’s chest. It staggered backward, yet the gaping wound blasted open by the sniper round began to heal at a visible speed.
The sniper rifle could not fire continuously. During the brief interval while reloading, the snake lunged forward, pinning Lan Bo firmly beneath its body. Its immense tail coiled around Lan Bo’s neck and waist, scales tightening as it constricted, squeezing the air from him.
Struggling, Lan Bo reached toward the Desert Eagle pistol that had fallen not far away. But a golden eyeball suddenly drifted beside the gun, fixing its gaze on him.
“Mm—” Although Lan Bo shut his eyes at once, those few seconds of eye contact still inflicted damage. Before long, every muscle in his body stiffened beyond his control. A piercing agony rose from the marrow of his bones. Lan Bo let out a cry like the long call of a whale, the anguished roar echoing down the corridor.
The snake laughed, shoulders shaking. “No matter how invincible you were in the incubation phase, you are just as fragile in front of a mature phase. You can only blame your alpha for not treating you well enough.”
It turned to Bai Chuyuan. “Well? I am about to bite through his throat. Will you not show me your higher differentiation ability?”
With his eyes still closed, Bai Chuyuan fired a shot. The bullet pierced straight through the snake’s throat. Clutching its neck, it coughed hoarsely, blood spilling out, unable to speak until the wound regenerated.
Behind Bai Chuyuan, a faint scraping sound came from the stairwell. Five pitch-black vines shot along the railing at high speed, whipping past his ears and wrapping around Lan Bo. At the same time, a circular black hole suddenly opened in the ceiling above the snake-woman’s head. Lu Yan dropped through it with his eyes closed, clutching a flamethrower and spraying wildly.
Burned by the flames, the snake reflexively loosened its hold on Lan Bo. Bi Lanxing controlled the black vines to drag Lan Bo back to his side. Another vine hooked around Lu Yan’s waist, ready to yank him to safety at any moment. In the shortest time possible, Bi Lanxing wrapped Lu Yan in a layer of poisonous vine armor capable of negating one instance of pure damage, then immediately activated his ability again to shield Lan Bo.
Bai Chuyuan paused, stunned, and glanced back at Bi Lanxing. “What are you doing?”
“I am sorry.” Bi Lanxing sucked in a breath of cold air. He had realized his severe tactical mistake—his J1 ability, Poison Vine Armor, was a single-target instant skill. When activated, it would wrap around the protected target in sequence.
In the urgency of the moment, he had instinctively chosen to armor Lu Yan—who was relatively safer behind enemy lines—instead of Lan Bo, who stood closest to the snake’s attack range.
“No sense of the bigger picture.” After tossing out that judgment, Bai Chuyuan vaulted over twisted steel bars and charged toward Lan Bo. The snake’s claws were already about to pierce into Lan Bo’s completely unguarded back. In that instant, Bai Chuyuan grabbed Lan Bo and turned, exposing his own back to the oncoming claws.
Bi Lanxing corrected his mistake in time, wrapping the Poison Vine Armor around Bai Chuyuan. The snake’s claws struck the hardened armor and were deflected; the vine armor burst apart in fragments, knocking both of the snake’s hands away.
But it was still too late. The snake shifted direction. Its long tail swept violently across Bai Chuyuan’s side, the brutal force driving his body straight onto the exposed steel rebars in the wall. The health bar across the chest of Bai Chuyuan’s team uniform plummeted to zero.
Lan Bo’s eyes flew wide open. Even his blue irises turned blood-red, lightning flickering within his pupils.
An announcement echoed from the sky broadcast in regret:
Experiment Subject 1513 has eliminated [Just Messing Around] Bai Chuyuan.
The snake smugly wiped the corner of its mouth. “He also lacks the bigger picture. A tactical commander should ensure his own safety first. He did not. He was even arrogant enough to disdain using his J1 ability. But that is your fault as well.”
“Hey, brother!” A brisk shout rang out behind the snake. It frowned and turned toward the source of the sound. Amid the shattered skybridge and broken floors of Building B, the snake spotted someone in the ruins of a lower-level corridor.
The Husky alpha was hopping around in the debris, gripping a Floating Eye. He tossed it up and struck it with a flashlight—piu—smacking it straight into the snake’s forehead.
The snake was instantly enraged. All the Floating Eyes swiveled toward the Husky at once.
With every Floating Eye’s gaze drawn away, the snake-woman’s field of vision held only the Husky.
He Suowei suddenly popped out from the explosion wreckage on the eleventh floor. In his hands was a crossbow found in a fixed ammunition crate, its bolt tip replaced with a rapid-recovery syringe. The taut bowstring snapped, firing through the air and injecting the only rapid-recovery dose placed in the entire testing grounds into Bai Chuyuan’s body.
The health bar that had already been emptied surged backward. Bai Chuyuan’s eyes snapped open. He snatched the injector gun filled with pink Aelerant serum from Lu Yan’s pocket and drove it into the gland at the back of Lan Bo’s neck.
“Finish him.”