Yan Zhi pointed her finger deep into the ruins.
The conveyor pipe was broken, its rusted metal protruding from the half-collapsed wall like the withered ribs of a giant beast.
Behind it was originally a patch of dead blackness, but now that darkness was shifting slightly.
It sounded like something was being dragged across the ground one heavy pull at a time, a dull thud with every movement, like someone slamming a wet quilt onto concrete.
Luo Yang used Night Owl to prop himself up, leaning against the hilt to stand straight. The corrosive wound on his waist had just formed a thin scab, but it tore open again as he moved. Blood trickled down his waistband, feeling cold as it smeared against his inner thigh.
Tang Xuan didn’t get up, remaining sprawled on the broken bricks. She reached into her empty waist pocket, her fingers searching for a moment. She muttered a curse under her breath and closed the pocket flap.
Qiu Shubai didn’t speak. Bloodfall was gripped firmly in her palm, its tip lightly touching the ground.
The creature finally emerged from the wreckage of the pipe.
Two arms appeared first.
Calling them arms wasn't entirely accurate; they were two masses of flesh longer than the torso, hanging from either side of the main body, their ends branching into seven or eight finger-like appendages.
Even thinner and shorter granulation tissue grew densely over these fingers—a sight that would have made anyone with trypophobia pass out on the spot.
It used these two masses of flesh to brace against the ground, dragging its entire torso forward.
Next came the head, or where a head should have been.
There were no facial features. A pale expanse of meat encased a protrusion, which was covered in granulation tissue of varying lengths. Some were as short as knuckles, others as long as fingers, each one quivering individually.
The ones near the neck were especially long, trailing and scraping against the ground.
Further down was the torso.
It was completely different from the aberrations they had seen before. Those had been rotten, blurry messes of slime and fascia writhing together. This one was different; its flesh was solid, its entire body a pale white like cooked egg whites. Its skin was taut, the outlines of the muscles beneath clearly visible, bulging with every movement.
It was covered in granulation tissue from head to toe.
On its shoulders, back, waist, and thighs, there were growths—long, short, thick, and thin. Some looked like warts, some like fingers, and some even had a slit at the tip.
Those slits had no eyeballs or teeth; they simply opened and closed slowly, as if breathing.
Luo Yang swept his gaze over it and clicked his tongue.
“Disgusting,” he remarked.
“Truly,” Tang Xuan agreed.
“Way more disgusting than the ones before,” Li Qiang added.
Qiu Shubai said nothing, her eyes fixed on the creature’s movements.
It didn’t crawl fast, but it was steady. The rhythm of it swinging its fleshy arms forward and dragging its torso was uniform, calm and unhurried.
It didn't even emit an aggressive roar; instead, a thick, wheezing sound leaked out from the slits of the granulation tissue covering its body.
“We can’t let it get close,” Qiu Shubai’s voice drifted back from in front of Luo Yang. “Those things on its outer layer... I’m not sure if they’re camouflage or weapons.”
“They’re mostly weapons,” Yan Zhi said softly from behind Luo Yang.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Yan Zhi was crouching there, her fingers unconsciously playing with a torn strip of fabric on Luo Yang’s pant leg.
“Those buds... are its mouths.”
Luo Yang was silent for half a second.
“...Every single one of them?”
“Every single one,” Yan Zhi nodded. “When it gets close, they all open.”
“Then we have to skewer it before it gets close.” Luo Yang pulled Night Owl from the ground, flicking his wrist to send a few drops of blood flying.
He tilted his chin toward Qiu Shubai. “Miss Chief, you take the front and hit its core. I’ll clear the way for you. Tang Xuan—”
“I know.”
Tang Xuan gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, using Li Qiang’s shoulder to stand straight. “I’m hanging on by my last breath to watch your backs. If anyone lets that thing get near me, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your lives.”
“Li Qiang, get the last buff ready.”
“Understood.”
None of them had ever seen an aberration of this form; it wasn't in any textbook.
When facing an unknown enemy, the best approach was to unleash all available means at once. It was either victory or death; they couldn't leave even a sliver of a chance for things to go wrong.
“Let’s begin.”
He raised his hand, and all the remaining Grantee Longswords in his space ring floated out.
There were seven or eight left—not many, but enough.
The sword tips pointed forward simultaneously.
The creature sensed it.
The granulation tissue all over its body opened at the same moment.
Luo Yang saw it clearly now. They weren't just mouths. Or rather, they weren't only mouths.
From the slits at the tip of each granulation bud, a thinner, needle-like object extended, its tip gleaming with a pale white point.
It was bone.
Every bud on its body was an organ that could fire bone spikes.
“Holy shit!” Before Luo Yang could even finish cursing, the first wave of bone spikes shot toward them.
They were dense, like a rain falling in the wrong direction.
He could barely see the trajectory of each one, but his mental power instinctively assigned paths for the eight swords.
Eight streaks of silver light wove a loose net in front of him. Most of the bone spikes were knocked away, but a few still slipped through.
One grazed his cheek, creating a new cut.
Another nailed itself into the old wound on his left shoulder.
Qiu Shubai was at the very front. She didn't defend; she charged.
The white light of Bloodfall sliced through all the bone spikes in her path. For those she couldn't cut, she used the back of her hand to block.
A bone spike pierced the outer side of her left arm, sinking halfway in. She furrowed her brows but didn't stop.
Li Qiang’s silver mist trailed behind her, chasing her as she ran.
“Don’t hit it head-on! Find an angle!” Luo Yang’s voice came from behind.
“It has no sides!” Qiu Shubai’s reply was short and urgent. “There are needles in every direction!”
The creature continued to crawl forward while firing bone spikes in a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree arc. It treated the action as a pure, mechanical breathing motion.
Tang Xuan was about to curse when a bone spike flew past her ear, shearing off half of her ponytail. Her entire body stiffened.
“Fuck—!”
She dropped into a crouch, shielding her face with her forearms. The last of her white Light Flame leaked out from between her fingers.
Yan Zhi stood up.
She didn't speak or move forward; she simply raised her hand.
The air warped slightly.
The bone spikes closest to her suddenly shifted direction in mid-air, making an illogical turn and burying themselves into the half-collapsed wall nearby.
Yan Zhi lowered her hand and sat back down, her gaze shifting to Tang Xuan.
“I can only protect those nearby,” she said. “That thing’s bones have no attraction for me, and I cannot eat them.”
“...”
It took Tang Xuan half a second to realize she had just been saved.
The curse she was about to spit out was swallowed back down, replaced by: “Fine, I’ll look out for you from now on.”
Yan Zhi blinked but didn't respond.
Qiu Shubai had already reached the creature.
As the distance closed to within five meters, the long granulation buds began to extend.
They stopped firing bone spikes and instead became the spikes themselves.
The long buds that had been trailing on the ground suddenly snapped straight as if receiving a command, thrusting toward Qiu Shubai from six different angles.
Each one was impossibly fast.
Qiu Shubai stepped back with her left foot and dipped her body to the right, holding Bloodfall across her chest.
She could block two.
That left four.
“Go!”
At Luo Yang’s command, the eight Grantee Longswords struck simultaneously.
They didn't hit the four granulation buds.
They hit Qiu Shubai.
The eight swords positioned themselves at four angles along the paths of the four long buds. The blades brushed against Qiu Shubai’s skin, parrying the four granulation buds just half an inch away from her body.
The effect of Weapon's End, Ember's Birth was almost absolute. Within those thirty seconds, the indestructible blades locked in a struggle against the granulation tissue, freezing them in that half-inch gap.
Qiu Shubai’s peripheral vision caught her own chest.
The eight blades were only a clothing-layer’s thickness away from her collarbone, ribs, and waist...
She didn't say a word. Using the split-second opening, her sword lunged forward.
The white light of Bloodfall exploded in the center of the creature’s torso.
There was no scream, for it had no mouth.
At least, it had no organ capable of screaming.
The small slits on every granulation bud across its body opened to their widest extent simultaneously, emitting a dense, collective hissing sound.
“Find the core!” Luo Yang shouted.
“I didn’t hit it!” Qiu Shubai didn't pull her sword out; she kept it thrust inside. “It’s likely in the center of the torso, about three or four centimeters to the lower left of Bloodfall!”
“What?!”
“Bloodfall told me!”
Luo Yang didn't ask further. He raised his hand and pulled two Armor-piercing Daggers from his space ring.
In an instant, two silver streaks nailed themselves diagonally into the area below Bloodfall.
Down and to the left.
The creature shuddered violently.
The vibration started from the core and traveled through its solid muscle all the way to the tip of every granulation bud.
All the open slits snapped shut, the extended buds collapsed, and the entire body sank half an inch like a bag of wet sand that had been stepped on.
But it wasn't dead. Bracing itself with its two fleshy arms, it dragged itself another half-meter.
“It’s still moving?!” Tang Xuan’s voice cracked.
“It’s not enough!” Yan Zhi said. “There’s a bone shell around its core. Your two daggers are stuck on the shell!”
Qiu Shubai clenched her teeth.
“One more strike will do it,” she said. “Give me a second.”
“A second isn't enough!”
Luo Yang tucked Night Owl into his belt, freeing both hands.
In his Sea of Consciousness, the leaves of the golden tree were already as thin as paper, yet he gave it another shake.
There were over twenty weapons left in his space ring, and he dragged every single one of them out.
“I’ll give you... five seconds!”
Over twenty sharp weapons appeared. They had a formation, but no pre-designed trajectory.
Luo Yang hurled every weapon like a stone, aiming them all behind Qiu Shubai’s sword tip.
They pressed against the pommel of Bloodfall, pushing inward along with her strike.
More than twenty times the kinetic energy was applied to the blade that was already stuck, only three or four centimeters away from its mark.
“Hah—!”
The sound of the bone shell cracking was both crisp and muffled. The tip of Bloodfall finally touched the core.
A blinding white light surged along the blade, piercing inward at a speed imperceptible to the human eye.
Like an armor-piercing shell penetrating a tank, but far sharper and more violent, it triggered a brilliant, pale white firework right inside the creature’s body.
This time, the aberration completely collapsed.
The pale body seemed to have its support stripped away, crumbling layer by layer from the inside out.
First the granulation tissue, then the torso, and finally the two fleshy arms trailing on the ground.
The entire thing slumped down, flattening against the ground until it became a sprawling, pale, slightly twitching meat carpet.
There was no violent explosion like when a normal aberration’s core was hit.
The Flowing Cloud Stardust in Li Qiang’s hands gradually faded.
Qiu Shubai pulled her sword from the mass of flesh.
She turned around to see Luo Yang already slumped back against the wall.
This time, he couldn't even hold Night Owl; the blade slipped from his hand and lay across his legs.
His eyes were bloodshot, his lips were devoid of color, but a look of relief hung on his face.
“We won,” he said.
“Yes,” Qiu Shubai responded.
She walked over and crouched before him, pushing his sliding spectacles back up the bridge of his nose.
She only realized what she was doing after the action was complete.
Both were silent for half a second.
Luo Yang looked at her sideways, his eyes filled with confusion and surprise.
Qiu Shubai also seemed to realize something. She looked away and withdrew her hand, resting it on her knee.
“...Thank you,” she said.
“We’re classmates... and I suppose we can be called comrades-in-arms now. It’s only right.” Luo Yang closed his eyes. “Don’t charge so fast next time.”
“And don’t block so tightly next time.”
“Oh.”
Neither of them continued the conversation.
Tang Xuan was sprawled three meters away. She pulled out her last piece of bubble gum, unwrapped it, and tossed it into her mouth.
She chewed twice, but the flavor didn't come out. She just kept it in her mouth, staring at the pale meat carpet.
“What on earth... was that thing?” she asked hoarsely.
“No idea.” Luo Yang kept his eyes closed. “I’ve never seen it before. I bet even that old geezer Zhang Xian hasn't seen one.”
Li Qiang leaned against the wall, resting with his eyes half-closed.
Yan Zhi walked over and crouched on Luo Yang’s other side, reaching out to poke his cheek.
“You cannot sleep yet,” she said.
“I’m not sleeping.”
“Your eyes are closed.”
“It’s called resting my eyes.”
“Oh.” Yan Zhi withdrew her hand and thought for a moment. “Then rest them.”
Just then, the sound of an engine drifted from the distance.
It wasn't the low hum of an ambulance, but the heavier, muffled sound of treads grinding against the road, mixed with the distinct, rugged roar of a diesel engine.
A dark green armored personnel carrier rounded the access road on the west side of the ruins.
The searchlight on the front swept in, passing over the pale meat carpet and the four slumped figures before finally stopping on Luo Yang’s face.
Before the vehicle even came to a halt, the passenger door opened.
A man jumped out.
He looked to be in his thirties, wearing a service uniform without rank insignia, his sleeves rolled up to his forearms to reveal an old scar running from his wrist to his elbow.
His hair was cropped very short, his face tanned a reddish-black, and a ring of unshaven stubble clung to his chin.
He squinted at the carnage around him, a complex expression crossing his face.
Then he reached back into the passenger seat, pulled out an unopened bottle of mineral water, and walked toward Luo Yang while swinging the bottle.
“Are you Luo Yang?”
“...Who’s asking?” Luo Yang opened one eye.
“Old Li asked me to pick you guys up.” The man shoved the water bottle into Luo Yang’s arms.
“Li Xin, the one from the medical team. He ran into me while sending the wounded to the rear and begged me to make this trip.”
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the field of aberration corpses ahead, and his mouth twitched.
“You guys won this yourselves?”
“That’s right,” Tang Xuan called out from over there. “What do you think, Uncle? Pretty impressive, right?”
“Impressive.” The soldier glanced at her. “I’m truly impressed.”
He turned and pointed at the APC.
“Get in. Those who can walk, get in yourselves. For those who can’t, I’ll carry you.”
His tone lightened slightly, carrying a half-joking, half-serious cadence.
“But let’s get one thing straight: I didn't report this trip to my superiors. By the rules, this is unauthorized use of a military vehicle. I might get slapped with a neglect of duty charge.”
“If you guys get pulled in for statements, remember not to let my name slip out.”
Luo Yang twisted the cap off the bottle and took a large gulp. Water leaked from the corner of his mouth, running down his chin and onto his neck.
He swallowed and wiped his mouth.
Hearing the man’s words, he let out a laugh, his voice raspy beyond belief. “If things really go south, you can come find me.”
“And what could you help with?”
“Deputy Commander Cao of the A74 Army Group... I have some history with him.” Luo Yang screwed the cap back on. “If you get disciplined, I’ll just go have tea with him. While we’re drinking, I’ll happen to mention your situation.”
The soldier stared at him for two seconds.
Then he laughed.
“Alright then, kid.” He leaned down to hoist Luo Yang up, draping one arm over his own shoulder. “Then this trip won't be a loss for me.”
His movements were steady. As he supported Luo Yang, he carefully avoided the wounds on his shoulder and waist.
Luo Yang’s legs buckled, and he couldn't quite stand. Almost his entire weight pressed against the man, who didn't say a word and simply held him up.
“Can the lady on the left walk on her own?” He tilted his chin toward Qiu Shubai.
“I can.” Qiu Shubai stood up.
Tang Xuan was helped up by Li Qiang, and the two supported each other as they walked toward the APC. Yan Zhi followed behind, her obedient appearance enough to evoke pity from anyone.
The interior of the APC was spacious, with several restraint straps hanging from the metal walls.
The soldier helped Luo Yang sit on the rear bench before heading back to help Li Qiang get Tang Xuan into the vehicle.
Luo Yang leaned against the cold metal, closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again.
“Uncle, what’s your name?”
“Don’t call me Uncle,” the man replied from outside. “I’m only thirty-four.”
“Then what’s your name?”
“Cheng Yuan.”
“Cheng Yuan.” Luo Yang repeated the name in his mind and nodded. “I’ve got it.”
When Cheng Yuan started the vehicle, no one in the compartment spoke.
The APC drove south along the access road on the perimeter of the factory district, its treads grinding over broken bricks and shell casings with a continuous crunching sound.
Luo Yang sat in the back row with Yan Zhi squeezed beside him. Qiu Shubai was opposite him, separated by a narrow aisle.
Tang Xuan had already closed her eyes, seemingly having fallen asleep. Unconsciously, her head tilted onto Li Qiang’s shoulder.
Li Qiang’s eyes were also closed. Although he hadn't directly joined the fray, the intensity of blood energy output for a medical auxiliary-type ability usually far exceeded other types. His exhaustion was no less than theirs.
Luo Yang stared at the metal ceiling for a while before suddenly speaking: “Miss Chief.”
Qiu Shubai opened her eyes. “Yes?”
“That strike just now,” he said, “it was remarkably accurate.”
Qiu Shubai looked at him for a moment.
“Your eight swords were quite timely,” she said.
“Yeah.”
The two fell silent again.
After a short while, Qiu Shubai lowered her eyes, her fingers rubbing against her knee.
“Next time, I’ll dodge on my own,” she said.
“That’s hard to say.” Luo Yang also closed his eyes. “No one’s ever seen these things before. They might have some special skills.”
Qiu Shubai didn't respond.
The compartment grew quiet, leaving only the sound of the treads pressing against the ground.
The APC drove for about half an hour before stopping at a gathering point under the South Viaduct.
Cheng Yuan jumped out and pulled open the rear door.
The light outside was brighter than inside, making them all squint.
Several sandbags were piled near the gathering point, and a temporary road sign was stuck into the pile, bearing the words: South Viaduct C-Zone Gathering Point.
There were some civilians scattered around, but the vast majority were soldiers and Punishers stationed there.
Many wounded were also waiting for transport. Some wore school uniforms and were likely students from a Punisher Academy. No one was surprised by the sudden appearance of these young faces.
“We’re here,” Cheng Yuan said. “Get out.”
He helped Luo Yang down and went back for Li Qiang and Tang Xuan. Yan Zhi woke up on her own, rubbed her eyes, and jumped down.
Qiu Shubai was the last to leave the vehicle.
Cheng Yuan waited until they were all out before slapping the vehicle door.
“This is as far as I go,” he said. “Li Xin just called. He’ll be here to pick you up as soon as he finishes delivering his current group. Wait here and don't wander off.”
Luo Yang leaned against the sandbags and nodded.
Cheng Yuan looked at the group, something unidentifiable in his gaze—perhaps pity, or perhaps something else.
In the end, he simply waved his hand.
“You survived,” he said. “That’s good enough.”
With that, he climbed back into the APC.
The treads began to turn again. The dark green vehicle turned into the night, trailing a long plume of exhaust as it disappeared down the road at the edge of the ruins.
Luo Yang watched that direction for a while.
Then, slowly, very slowly, he slid down from the sandbags and sat on the ground.
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