Night on the Path of Thorns and Poison (7)

"Step aside."

The voice, as cold as iron, was like an order that forcibly overwrote the consciousness of everyone present, yet the girl clearly had not opened her mouth.

A sudden pressure descended upon everyone, causing their breath to hitch in their throats. As if possessed, both the Zerg and the human army—the steel torrent of war machines—parted to create a path, the end of which pointed directly at the lieutenant.

Feeling the girl's hostility and looking at the dazed soldiers, the lieutenant's face contorted.

"What are you still hesitating for? This monster is no longer the little family head! She is a mimic, or perhaps Her Highness herself has been transformed into a monster by the Zerg. Kill her! Kill her quickly!"

No one responded. Behind the girl followed tens of thousands of Zerg, her slender figure appearing eerie against the backdrop of the massive spider-abdomen beneath her. She lightly raised her hand, her fingertips tracing the air, and the Zerg swarm that was currently fighting simultaneously turned their targets, tens of thousands of hungry gazes falling upon the lieutenant.

The lieutenant's expression crumbled, and he squeezed out a hideous smile as he already sensed his end—being torn limb from limb.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and shouted, "Your Highness, I am a member of the Syndicate!"

The scene fell into a dead silence as the soldiers cast bewildered looks. No one could believe that the superior officer they had lived and fought with day and night was a member of the Syndicate, much less that he would reveal his identity in such a ridiculous manner.

Akabane Tsubaki let out a soft sound.

"I know."

Hearing this, the man was first stunned, and then boundless fear and anger surged through him.

Several venomous stingers shot out abruptly, piercing the lieutenant's chest and pinning the man to the wall.

Before he could scream in agony, the lieutenant's upper body began to fester and ooze pus, corroding into a pool of sludge in the blink of an eye.

Akabane Tsubaki lowered her hand and glanced at the soldiers. Facing their terrified gazes, she turned and walked in the opposite direction, surrounded by countless Zerg until she disappeared from their sight.

...................

At the same time, an infantry regiment of the Devil City Army Group named the "Liberation Wings" was approaching the southwest military district. Near the warning zone, the soldiers guarding the outpost discovered this unit, and a sentry stepped forward quickly, offering a military salute.

They had just received the highest-level instructions that the Liberation Wings would enter the warning zone outside Devil City through their specific sector.

Besides them, no other outpost had received this message, indicating that this operation of the Liberation Wings was a special directive.

The confidentiality level was extremely high. Without further questioning, the sentry members allowed the Liberation Wings to pass.

Tanks and artillery rumbled past. Looking at the silver-white Liberation Wings emblem on them, a recruit who had only been transferred there for a few days had a flash of admiration in his eyes. He looked around but found that the weathered faces of the veterans remained unchanged, as if this were just an ordinary occurrence.

"This is the famous hero regiment, the Liberation Wings. Don't you all have any reaction?"

The Liberation Wings was formerly an obscure infantry regiment of the 17th Division, 3rd Combat Brigade of the Mirage City Army Group, named the Eagle. Due to the aggressive command style of the previous commander, a fierce and valiant atmosphere had formed within the regiment.

During a certain defense battle at an outpost, at a critical moment, the soldiers acted with complete disregard for their own lives, turning a collapsing situation around. Since then, they became famous and changed their name to the Liberation Wings.

It was precisely because of their iron-blooded discipline that they later attracted many members with similarly aggressive or even extreme combat styles. Some pointed out that the Liberation Wings had already transformed from a valiant and excellent legion into a gathering place for a group of extreme madmen. Due to personal experiences, these people had an unusually intense hatred for the Zerg. "Unafraid of death" was no longer enough to describe them; they craved for death to add a medal of honor to their combat careers.

"What about the Liberation Wings? Does not being afraid to die really mean they won't die?" an old soldier said with a sideways glance.

Unfortunately, his words were heard by a member of the Liberation Wings who happened to be passing by. The man stepped out of the ranks, came forward with a stoic face, and suddenly slammed his forehead into the bridge of the old soldier's nose.

The old soldier screamed, clutching his broken nose and about to fight for his life with that soldier, but he was pulled back and dissuaded by his companions, preventing the conflict from escalating.

"Pah! That's why I said those people are just a bunch of reckless madmen! Watch, wherever they are, nothing good will happen."

"Why are they coming here?" the young soldier asked.

"Who knows? Why bother with them? As long as it's an order from the higher-ups, even if they are told to aim their guns at the current family head, those dangerous guys will do it without hesitation."

The old soldier cursed loudly toward the direction where the Liberation Wings had gone.

"Every member of the Liberation Wings should sacrifice themselves on the battlefield. Who knows what dangerous things these people will do if they are allowed to retire!"

His response was a shell that exploded in the forest behind him. The old soldier was scared into jumping and shouting. After he regained his composure, his nose was crooked with rage, and he could only take out his anger on the young soldier's rear, telling him to get some ice.

"It's not a peaceful night," the young soldier sighed, hearing the continuous artillery fire in the distance, and continued to stand at his post.

"I wonder how many people won't be able to return home."

...................

Surrounded by Zerg that were hunting and blocking her path, a fleeing woman had nowhere to retreat. She was pierced by red stingers that were shot at her and fell to the ground. Looking back at the eerie figure walking toward her, her eyes were filled with terror.

"Let me go, let me go!"

"I'm so hungry..." Akabane Tsubaki murmured.

The tail at the end of her massive spider-abdomen suddenly struck out, piercing the woman's chest and forcibly ripping the red, beating heart from the cavity, slowly placing it into her hand.

The swarm of insects swarmed forward, instantly devouring the woman's body until not even a bone fragment remained. The woman was also a Syndicate member.

As for exactly which one she was, she couldn't remember clearly. She had killed so many, many Syndicate members tonight.

This hunt would continue until she had killed every last member of the Syndicate.

Attracted by that alluring scent, Akabane Tsubaki slowly raised that crimson heart to her mouth. The sweet fragrance emanating from it stimulated her taste buds and senses. Her pupils began to tremble, and her vision was completely occupied by that splash of crimson.

...................

A gunshot rang out, and a bullet precisely blew off her right arm.

"Urgh..." Akabane Tsubaki clutched her arm tightly, her massive body beginning to retreat. "It hurts, it hurts!"

Anger forced her to look back. A small special operations unit had appeared at some point, always maintaining a certain distance from her.

Several members lined up not far from her, solemn and orderly; their full name was the Rosetta Mobile Task Force. They were only sent out to handle incidents of the highest confidentiality level.

And this encirclement seemed to have become her cage. Before long, the execution targeting her would begin.

This shot was fired by Snow Crow Ji. If the woman had made up her mind, she could have quickly dealt with Akabane Tsubaki in this state, but she didn't do so. The directive from the decision-making level had already been issued: she needed to prove before dawn that Akabane Tsubaki still possessed reason and could control her behavior. Otherwise, she would personally become the girl's executioner.

Of course, the decision-making level also included the intentions of Chi Qiu himself.

Perhaps the youth had already thought of this day. If his younger sister really lost control, as her older brother and the family head of the Akabane family, he had to make a rational choice.

The pain caused the crimson in Akabane Tsubaki's vision to fade slightly. She bowed her head, gasping for breath, as her severed arm quickly regenerated.

This was a choice she had made herself. No matter the outcome, she would bear the price herself.

This was not an impromptu decision.

In the span of half a year, she had been by that woman's side and had many close encounters with the Zerg. She had studied these creatures alongside the research scholar. Even to master their language, she had specifically consulted countless related scriptures and tried to communicate with them in private.

She had known long ago that the blood flowing in her veins shared a certain commonality with the Zerg. Not just her, but many people in the Main House, including Akabane Chi-hong, were like this. Her bloodline was much more noble than that of ordinary Zerg. The blood shed by those inferior Zerg would even be attracted by her aura and gather toward her of its own accord.

The Zerg interior was a massive swarm network with shared will. Did this mean that there was also some possibility for her to join this swarm?

As long as she could share the swarm's vision, she could find all the Syndicate members hidden among the people and grasp the movements of the Zerg as quickly as possible, which could reduce many unnecessary sacrifices and save more people...

And just a short while ago, a person named Chun Sanyue had taken the initiative to contact her. The other party didn't explain their intentions, and it was just casual conversation at first. It wasn't until once, after learning that she was studying the Zerg language, that the other party said they were very familiar with it and began to guide her step by step, correcting her past mistakes, and letting Akabane Tsubaki thoroughly learn how to communicate with the Zerg.

The other party also knew her very well, as if they knew what she wanted to do, and spoke about things related to the 'Chang'...

Only then did she learn.

Inside Akabane Chi-hong's body, there was also a Chang.

She had witnessed the woman's powerful stance during battle and had once yearned for the title of the Red Rose of the Battlefield.

Thinking about it now, Chun Sanyue's words must have contained some kind of ability to delude the mind. She had suspected the other party's identity, but this suspicion and vigilance relaxed with every sentence spoken. In the end, she subconsciously stopped questioning the rationality of the other party's words.

The other party hadn't lied either.

The Chang could not dominate her consciousness. Contacting the Chang could indeed link her with the lingering thoughts of the Eight-Spider Hive Mother and induce the awakening of her own bloodline.

But Chun Sanyue also hadn't told the whole truth.

The Chang would constantly delude and erode her sanity. Accepting this inferior bloodline would also induce her body to undergo incomplete evolution, placing her on the edge of losing control just like she was now.

Akabane Tsubaki shook her head, no longer letting her thoughts wander, and instead concentrated her attention on the search for the Syndicate in the vicinity.

With a slight push from her several pairs of blackish-green spider legs, she leaped hundreds of meters, disappearing into the boundary of the mountains and fields.

"Follow her. Ensure she stays within our control range." Seeing the girl leave, Snow Crow Ji breathed a slight sigh of relief and decisively continued to issue orders.

The members of Rosetta were all elites. Beneath those combat suits was the liberated divine endowment. Everyone nodded, leaped up, and their figures blurred as they quickly chased after the girl.

During the pursuit, Akabane Tsubaki intentionally guided the Zerg army to lift the siege for the troops trapped along the way, striking decisively whenever she found a Syndicate member.

Somewhere on the battlefield, the soldiers only saw a massive insect shadow descend from the sky. A moving tank was suddenly stepped on and crushed into scrap metal. Sharp claws tore through the outer armor, and the terrified driver inside was eviscerated as long claws burst through their chest.

Akabane Tsubaki held this Syndicate member high in the air and gave a powerful flick, throwing him to the side. A low roar echoed under the blood-stained sky.

"Don't fire, she's the little family head!" a nearby soldier shouted to stop his companions.

"But she killed our man! She's a mindless monster now!"

Akabane Tsubaki was hit by a flying shell. Fire exploded on her shoulder. The intense pain prompted her to turn back and roar with a contorted face. With a casual swipe, several moving armored vehicles were overturned. This tyrannical scene stunned all the soldiers, and no one dared to act again.

She also let out a few deep, low growls and leaped into the Zerg swarm, swinging her sharp blades with force. A cold light extended from her arm, and the end was tucked behind her elbow. From a distance, it looked like a giant scythe, and wherever it passed, the Zerg were cut into two.

The Zerg corpses piled higher and higher under her feet until a small mountain of remains was formed. Dark green blood soaked the soil, but that blood-bathed figure continued to slaughter tirelessly in the swarm. Blood splashed into Akabane Tsubaki's eyes again and again. She gave two low growls, stepped heavily on a Toxic Ravager Chariot, and knocked down another Predator. The giant scythe swung down from above, carrying a large swath of red light.

Every swing could harvest a field of Zerg corpses. The long period of killing didn't numb her senses. On the contrary, she increasingly felt that cold body within her was yearning and pulsing, longing to break through the massive spider-abdomen that imprisoned it.

The taste of rust filled her throat and then spread to her vision. The scene before her became like a fragmented painting, with crimson dripping from one corner, stained by red. That splash of red then spread from the corner until the entire scene was filled with blood and fire.

Waves of Zerg leaped forward, only to be annihilated under the dark red scythe shadows.

Akabane Tsubaki stood on the ruins of iron and fire, roaring loudly. Beneath the pure black sky, the girl was venting her long-held suppression. She didn't know if she had really lost control, nor did she know if she was truly imprisoned in this insect body or if this monster's body had finally torn through her skin and crawled out from the depths of her heart.

The storm washed over her incomplete body. She was roaring and killing, then roaring again and killing again, fully embracing this clamor and the intense drive before completely losing control. The girl opened her arms. The giant stones of order and rules shattered before her, and a wind carrying sand poured out from within. She had finally found a wild cave in this steel desert.

At least at this moment, it was quiet inside the cave, and no one would come to disturb her again...

After an unknown amount of time, Akabane Tsubaki gasped for breath, standing atop the mountain of Zerg corpses and laughing wildly. She had never felt so free.

A deep wound had appeared on her spider-abdomen—a hole blasted open by a shell. The prolonged battle had reduced her self-healing ability to its lowest point, and new granulation moved slowly.

Akabane Tsubaki couldn't tell if the blood on her body was her own, that of the Zerg, or from the Syndicate. In the rain and fire, on the scorched earth where the war raged, the war machines burned quietly. The wailing, grieving, and crying of the people echoed under the lead-gray sky, adding the final notes to this sorrowful painting.

Seeing the wary, complex, and regretful gazes, Akabane Tsubaki's clouded eyes gradually regained clarity.

She was going to disappoint many people.

She wasn't able to maintain her sanity in this state like the protagonist of an anime.

On the contrary, she had completely and utterly lost control.