Chapter 126: Demon God Descends! p1
“Whirr—”
A giant ladybug with a blood-red carapace sped through the night sky.
Anyone with night vision, looking up, would have seen the massive mushroom, connected by countless tendrils, on the insect’s back and the car dangling beneath it.
This bizarre, monstrous insect had been flying for almost six hours. A dark city appeared on the horizon.
The once-great city, its outer buildings collapsed, seemed deserted.
But amidst the desolation, a single area glowed with light, even a few factories were still operating, their tall chimneys spewing black smoke.
If you ignored the surrounding ruins, it looked like a pre-apocalypse nightscape, factories working overtime.
The insect’s loud buzzing drew attention from below.
In a nearby factory courtyard, a drug-fueled party was in full swing.
Pleasure and indulgence were their only goals.
But now, even the loud music couldn’t drown out the insect’s buzzing wings. Almost everyone looked up.
“B-Boss… is back…?” a shirtless Voodoo Cult member slurred, swaying unsteadily, then collapsed, passing out.
But not everyone was this intoxicated.
A C-rank Awakened, his eyes glowing with a blood-red light, squinted at the approaching insect, then his eyes widened.
“That’s not the Boss’s plane! It’s that giant insect from before!!!” He scrambled towards the nearest alarm, smashed the protective glass cover, and pressed the red button.
“Wooo—”
The air raid siren blared, jolting everyone to attention.
The insect in the sky was hostile.
They all remembered the destruction and terror it had caused… it had even… even… what had it done again?
Those who had been… re-educated… seemed to have selectively forgotten certain memories, like how even their B-rank Boss hadn’t been able to defeat that zombie…
A C-rank Awakened, designated as the temporary commander, rushed into the broadcasting room and issued orders.
“Enemy attack! Everyone, don’t bunch up, maintain a safe distance, put on your masks, grab your weapons…”
As the Voodoo Cult members scrambled to prepare, the giant insect began to circle above.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Huayibai paced inside the insect’s abdomen, glancing at the two figures near the back.
It could sense that the two figures were rapidly evolving, nearing completion.
According to Mommy, once they were done, they would return to Guangdong Province, and it wouldn’t be able to stop them…
What should I do? Should I crash the flying car into them like last time, to provoke them?
But they weren’t grouped together like last time… they had learned their lesson.
Huayibai frantically scanned the area, hoping to see that… sparkly woman, so she could… spit on her.
The best insult it could think of.
As the insect circled, it released a large number of spores.
It had been completely infected by the fungus, its fruiting body fully matured; spreading spores was effortless.
It had used this tactic before, to lure out that woman and force her to attack.
But no matter how many spores it released, that sparkly woman didn’t appear, no other powerful presence…
What do I do? If no one attacks, my two Mommies will finish evolving and leave…
It looked at the two “strange-looking” Mommies.
“Crack, crack—”
The Mommy covered in white bone spikes, the hard cocoon around her cracking, a terrifying aura emanating from within.
Even without seeing it, they knew something monstrous was about to emerge.
And the other Mommy… even more… dramatic.
The blonde Mommy’s body was now a mass of writhing, intertwining blood-red tendrils, a mixture of blood crystal fluid and glowing green liquid flowing within.
Like a tangled ball of yarn, dyed crimson and emerald, its energy more contained than the bone-covered Mommy.
“Drip—”
But even so, the red fluid dripping from her body instantly dissolved anything it touched.
But perhaps because of Huayibai, whenever the red fluid landed on its “flying car” and began to corrode it, a drop of green fluid would appear and repair the damage.
And thankfully, the red fluid didn’t harm Huayibai’s tendrils, so it remained unharmed.
Just as Huayibai was racking its brains, a rocket, trailing flames, suddenly shot towards them.
“Whoosh—”
Due to the insect’s speed, the rocket missed, exploding behind them.
“Hmm…”
Seeing the relatively powerful rocket, Huayibai had an idea.
Perhaps… it could use these rockets…?
According to Mommy, she just had to injure the two Mommies without directly attacking them herself.
How about missiles?
Huayibai quickly reduced the insect’s speed and altitude, circling a tall building.
At this speed and distance, they should be able to hit, right?
Two more RPGs, trailing orange flames and smoke, were fired from different directions.
“Whoosh—”
Feeling the approaching rockets, Huayibai, inside the insect’s abdomen, pursed its lips.
Sorry, Mommy!
“Rip—”
Huayibai’s tendrils tore through the insect’s body, splitting it in two, the two evolving figures inside falling from the sky.
And as they fell, Huayibai’s tendrils rapidly detached from the insect, a long, thin tendril hooking onto the nearby building.
“Rumble—”
“Boom—!”
With Huayibai’s precise maneuvering, the two rockets detonated just as the two falling figures were passing, the explosions sending them flying in different directions.
One sprayed blood, the other… scattered bone dust and ash.
It had literally… scattered Mommy’s ashes.
But Huayibai wasn’t unscathed. Even with its evasive maneuvers, the explosions had scorched and torn away a large portion of its tendrils.
Only a small mass remained, clinging to the building’s side, like a fleshy growth.
Looking at the scattered blood and ash, Huayibai breathed a sigh of relief.
I have to tell Mommy the good news!
Mommy, Mommy, I blew you up, blood everywhere, your ashes scattered to the wind!
Mommy will be so proud!
Thinking this, it happily wriggled on the building’s wall.
Although it didn’t understand why Mommy had wanted it to injure its other Mommies, it had completed the task.
Huayibai didn’t understand, but Lin Jiayao had her reasons.
She was exploiting the system’s mechanics.
Once an evolution was confirmed, the process was completely handled by the system; all Lin Jiayao had to do was wait for the six hours.
But what if the evolution was interrupted, the zombie injured, losing blood crystals before the process was complete?
Then the system would ensure the zombie acquired enough blood crystals to complete the evolution within the remaining time.
Otherwise, its own six-hour rule would be violated.
This meant that Mask and A4, their evolutions interrupted, would go on a rampage, driven by an insatiable need for blood crystals, until they had enough to evolve.
And if she could have them encounter Wu Hejun in that state… even a B-rank Awakened wouldn’t be a match for the system’s wrath.
After completing the task, Huayibai didn’t immediately report back but instead directed the spore-infected Voodoo Cult members to circle the area.
As they ran, these soon-to-be-mushroom-people, both ordinary humans and Awakened, spread spores.
The spores, landing on the ground, sprouted tiny red mushrooms. And if anyone stepped on them, the mushrooms would instantly transform into tendrils, ensnaring them.
Huayibai was creating a containment zone, trapping the Voodoo Cult members.
But as it infected more and more people, absorbing their memories, it noticed something unusual.
Several of them shared a similar memory.
A giant insect landing in a plaza, surrounded by Voodoo Cult warriors.
And that sparkly woman, climbing into the insect’s open abdomen.
From these fragmented memories, Huayibai pieced together a complete picture.
“Going… to… Kun City… two… B-ranks…”
Kun City?
Huayibai immediately stopped and then, inside the jeep, opened its eyes, looking at the woman in the front passenger seat.
“Thump, thump—Thump, thump—”
The jeep shook violently as it drove over the uneven terrain, the chassis protesting.
Vines, roots, moss, and fungal carpets covered the ground, the tires occasionally losing traction, their progress slower than walking.
“Should we… just get out and walk? We can’t drive through this…” Lin Xiwan sighed, looking at her sister.
But then, she noticed her sister’s expression, previously calm, suddenly change, her gaze fixed on Huayibai in the back.
“What’s wrong?”
Following her sister’s gaze, she looked at Huayibai, who was pouting slightly, a look of… guilt…?
Lin Jiayao’s mind raced.
What’s going on?
If Huayibai wasn’t mistaken…
That Voodoo Cult lunatic, along with another B-rank Awakened, was coming to Kun City?
And the Voodoo Cult’s headquarters was practically undefended?
They had sent most of their forces to Guangdong. With Wu Hejun and the other B-rank gone, they were vulnerable.
Isn’t she afraid of… my team?
Run?
Her first instinct was to flee. If Wu Hejun was coming to Kun City, then they would just avoid Kun City. They were still on their way.
But she quickly dismissed the idea.
Being able to pinpoint their destination so accurately… she must have used some sort of precognitive or tracking ability…
How could she possibly outrun a prophecy?
If they stayed, they had the entire city’s worth of building-trees as allies, her Building-Tree Guardian form, the Vascular Network…
If they ran, they would be alone, vulnerable, nowhere to hide.
“Sister, carry me, we have to run,” she said, looking at Lin Xiwan, her voice urgent.
“Hmm?” Although confused, Lin Xiwan sensed the urgency in her sister’s tone.
She rarely spoke like this, not to her.
Lin Xiwan didn’t hesitate. Gripping the A-pillar, she climbed out the window, then, using her strength and agility, flipped over the hood and reached the passenger side, lifting her sister out.
The Voodoo Cult’s modifications, unlike other camps’, hadn’t included barred windows.
As she carried her sister, Huayibai also scrambled out, surprisingly nimble.
“Over there.” Lin Jiayao pointed, directing her sister towards where she remembered the Building-Tree Guardian being.
Based on her limited experience in the Training Grounds, using Kun City as the setting, and her observations during the extraction with the Building-Tree Guardian, she was vaguely familiar with the city’s layout.
She could navigate to the guardian’s location – it had been near the city’s edge; even wandering aimlessly, she would eventually find it.
She had to reach it and hide before Wu Hejun arrived.
If she could avoid a confrontation, she would. If not… then she would fight.
“Over there?” Lin Xiwan looked in the direction her sister was pointing. “What about the car?”
She didn’t question her sister’s judgment, just… the car and all their supplies…
They’d already lost so much; she didn’t want to abandon another vehicle unless absolutely necessary.
“Leave it.”
“Uh… okay.” Lin Xiwan shifted her sister onto her right shoulder, Huayibai onto her left.
“And Yibai’s backpack… never mind.”
“Boom—”
She kicked off the ground, her enhanced speed carrying them through the city’s concrete jungle.
As she ran, she memorized the route, so they could retrieve the supplies later.
She remembered Huayibai had two blood crystal stones in its backpack, and there was still food and water in the jeep; if they found a safe place to rest, she would retrieve them.
What Lin Xiwan didn’t know was that Lin Jiayao, upon hearing about Wu Hejun’s approach, had already instructed Huayibai to consume those two crystals.
“What’s happening…?” Lin Xiwan asked, shouting to be heard over the wind.
“Flying… insect…” Lin Jiayao replied.
Hearing this, Lin Xiwan’s pace quickened.
Good thing she had trusted her sister’s instincts; she had sensed an airborne threat!
Their last encounter with a giant insect had brought the Voodoo Cult; Lin Xiwan was still injured from that fight.
Had they been tracked somehow? Perhaps by a Voodoo Cult Awakened capable of tracking their blood or the vehicle?
Whatever the reason, escape was their priority.
But the closer they got to the city, the wetter and more slippery the ground became, a layer of mist further hindering her movement.
She had to discard her worn-out shoes, running barefoot through the concrete jungle.
And… the deeper they went, the more uneasy she felt.
The green glow she’d seen in the distance… it wasn’t from lights… but from the trees and vines themselves…
This meant…
They were blood crystal-infected plants, and this city… it might be deserted…
She slowed down, wary of potential dangers.
This was an unfamiliar city; caution was essential.
Lin Jiayao, however, seeing several two-meter-wide, circular depressions filled with water, relaxed slightly.
These weren’t natural puddles, but footprints.
The Building-Tree Guardian’s footprints.
Her memory hadn’t failed her; even at night, approaching from a different direction, she had found the right path.
Just as she was feeling relieved, a chilling sound:
“Buzz—”
A faint, but distinct, buzzing from the distance, echoing through the night.
And Lin Xiwan, her hearing enhanced, also heard it.
The familiar sound made her stumble.
She instinctively ran towards a nearby building, hoping to climb the vines and hide from the flying insect.
Buildings were usually good hiding places from aerial threats, but these weren’t ordinary buildings.
They were living, breathing building-trees.
Disturbing their vines, trying to enter their… bodies, would mean facing the zombies they harbored.
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