TL: Hua

Chapter 27

However, Ji Yan was still sent flying by a sweep of Ji Xuan’s leg.

The bullet pierced the pipe wall, sending sparks flying everywhere. The surprisingly bold fake young master had courage and strategy but lacked the matching physical prowess. When Ji Xuan grabbed him by the throat, the expression on his face remained pitiable. His clear, moist eyes were downcast, his lips trembling.

One moment he was pleading, “Second Brother, it hurts, can you be a bit gentler?” and the next he was murmuring, “If Big Brother finds out, he will definitely be very happy.”

But all his fear was only skin-deep. Under his palm, Ji Xuan could feel an incredibly steady pulse; even the speed of the blood flow seemed meticulously controlled, with no tremors and certainly no struggling. With a twist of Ji Xuan’s wrist, Ji Yan dissipated under his hand.

*Thud, thud!*

A snow-white metal canister fell to the ground, rolling along the pipe wall until it stopped at Lai Zhou’s feet.

It was an item Ji Yan had left behind, a prop belonging to the internal simulation, so it would not disappear just because the holder was eliminated.

“What is this? An antidote? Doesn’t look like it, though…” Lai Zhou picked up the canister and examined it for a moment, unable to recognize what it was.

There was a glass section in the middle of the canister, allowing a clear view of the contents. It seemed to contain only liquid, and the inner walls of the canister were covered in painted patterns.

As Lai Zhou spoke, he walked toward Ji Xuan, seemingly intending to hand it to him.

Ji Xuan looked down, casting a cold, indifferent glance at the thing in his hand that looked like a skull.

“Keep it for now.” As he said this, he had no intention of reaching out to take it, wearing a look of blatant distaste.

Lai Zhou understood instantly.

“Although I don’t know what use this thing has, if it stays behind, it must be something good…” Lai Zhou was opening his backpack to put the canister inside when he suddenly paused and raised his voice abruptly: “Eh? We’re in first place!”

Ji Xuan and the others had inherited half the points of the eliminated team. On the dashboard, the original first place on the leaderboard plummeted rapidly, allowing the code for Team Eight to climb from fifth to the top spot.

“I told you we had to wait for them to get fat before slaughtering them.”

Pei Yingye spoke casually, holding the dark jacket out in front of Ji Xuan.

Lai Zhou didn’t notice the activity on their side, still happily studying the newly changed rankings: “Thanks to Brother Ji Xuan and Brother Pei Yingye for the donation. And thanks to Chief Shen for the donation. Amen.”

Ji Xuan let out a laugh, lifting his eyelids to size up Pei Yingye. The jacket being offered was not the one Ji Xuan had taken off. Pei Yingye was holding the collar of his own jacket; his upper body was only clad in that black tank top, outlining his lean, powerful muscle lines.

Seeming to catch the inquiry in Ji Xuan’s gaze, he raised the back of his hand to touch his nose and explained, “Your clothes were shredded into rags by Shaikh. You don’t actually want to wear them, do you?”

“Wear mine first.” His gaze swept over Ji Xuan’s undershirt, which appeared even more form-fitting due to being soaked with sweat. Then he openly examined the tattoo on his right arm. His eyes were dark, and he added with forced nonchalance, “You look cold.”

Ji Xuan didn’t take it, but he didn’t refuse either, simply looking up at Pei Yingye.

The latter maintained his posture, averting his gaze with feigned indifference.

Finally, the corners of Ji Xuan’s mouth twitched imperceptibly, and he reached out to take the jacket.

Satisfied, Pei Yingye conveniently scooped up Ji Xuan’s ruined jacket from Lai Zhou’s other backpack and tied it casually around his waist. The torn fabric draped down, partially obscuring his trousers but emphasizing his tall frame and lean waist.

Peacock.

Ji Xuan thought with a soft laugh, glancing at him. He didn’t say anything more, simply pulling the oversized jacket tighter around himself and shifting his focus back to the countdown on his interface.

“The tracking signal is gone.”

He had only spent a short time dealing with Shaikh; it was surprising they had lost the location of that S-grade Zerg so quickly.

“Should we head down based on the last known coordinates, or—”

Just then, the canister Lai Zhou had tucked into his bag suddenly jolted, like an irregular heartbeat. The eyes of all three fell on it simultaneously as the silver patterns on the inner wall began to glow, as if responding to some kind of pull.

“It’s moving!” Lai Zhou frowned, quickly pulling the canister back out. Feeling a slight vibration in his palm, he walked in a circle around Ji Xuan and Pei Yingye. “Could it be—”

“It’s a tracker,” Pei Yingye said. “What a strange tool. It seems they really scavenged quite a lot these past two days.”

Lai Zhou experimented by taking a few steps toward different tunnel branches. Very quickly, the pattern became clear: whenever he faced the narrow, downward-sloping tunnel to the left, the canister’s vibration frequency became high and sustained. If he backed away or turned in another direction, the vibration vanished immediately.

“So, Shen Que and the others relied on this thing to find this place so quickly after the signal changed?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Ji Xuan walked toward the downward tunnel. “Let’s go and see where it wants to take us.”

Pei Yingye naturally followed him.

The three followed the canister’s guidance and descended along the maze-like pipeline system. The air grew colder and damper; water dripping from the ceiling smelled of rust and decay, forming stagnant puddles on the ground.

The countdown ticked away, minute by minute, until they finally reached the end.

Sticky mucus corrosion and claw marks marred the heavy blast door. The door stood half-open like a silent, gaping maw, emitting a stench even more intense than before.

As a 3S-grade Alpha, Pei Yingye’s senses were far sharper than the average person’s. He covered his nose before even getting close, his face scrunched in disgust from brow to bridge. “It seems the boss of this instance isn’t very picky about its living conditions.”

Despite his complaints, he was the first to raise his gun and slip through the door.

Behind the door was a derelict server room. Emergency lights cast a sickly glow, barely illuminating the server racks standing like tombstones and the dried, blackened stains on the floor. Due to the lack of machinery running, the chill inside the room was like the sub-zero blast of a freezer, piercing to the bone.

Ji Xuan rolled up his sleeves, scanning the wreckage of the hall. The canister in Lai Zhou’s hand was vibrating almost frantically now, even emitting a low buzzing sound.

The narrow beam of a flashlight swept over the server’s surfaces covered in unidentified organic tissue, revealing another metal door deep within the room.

Without a word, Pei Yingye signaled Ji Xuan, and the two moved toward that door with practiced coordination.

The moment Pei Yingye prepared to push the door open, chaos erupted!

A pair of sickle-like forelimbs covered in shiny black carapace burst through the gap in the door with a screeching whistle, aiming straight for Pei Yingye’s head!

Pei Yingye reacted instantly, his core muscles snapping him into a backbend. If this were a movie stunt, it would have been a breathtaking shot. The Zerg’s forelimb grazed past his face, missing him by a hair. The limb slammed into a nearby server rack, tearing through the metal casing like paper and exposing the wires and components within.

“Ah… new visitors.”

Cold light rippled over a pair of transparent bone wings extending from its spine. This S-grade Zerg looked almost identical to a human male, with skin so pale it was nearly translucent, showing the faint blue tracery of veins. Its compound eyes were a deep, dark purple, like a distant galaxy, reflecting the trio clearly.

Its gaze landed on the canister in Lai Zhou’s hand. When it spoke, its accent was strange, as if it were unfamiliar with human language, the sounds rumbling out of its chest in distorted tones: “…and you’ve brought my poor child.”

Lai Zhou looked at it, then at the canister.

—Child? What child? This thing is its child?!

He was so startled he nearly dropped it.

The S-grade Zerg didn’t notice his breakdown. Its compound eyes shifted again, this time toward Ji Xuan and Pei Yingye.

“A… very special Omega.” It tilted its head slowly, as if sensing something. “Your scent is complex… very inviting.”

Pei Yingye took a subtle step forward, shielding Ji Xuan. “Finished with your last words?”

The S-grade Zerg chuckled, “High… mental power. Should take you back… as an offering to…”

Before it could finish, its silhouette blurred—its speed was beyond imagination! It bypassed Pei Yingye and lunged straight for Ji Xuan, its forelimbs sweeping down like a reaping mantis.

“*Clang!*”

The sharp edge of the forelimb grazed the skin of Ji Xuan’s neck, the wind from the strike ruffling strands of his hair. Ji Xuan’s bayonet parried the limb at the last possible second, the piercing ring of the impact echoing through the empty room. The sheer force numbed his arm, forcing him half a step back.

Immediately, he redirected the force and spun, turning the bayonet to slice hard at the Zerg’s forelimb joint! Simultaneously, Pei Yingye moved. Drawing a standard-issue combat knife from his back, he descended like a bird of prey. While Ji Xuan held the Zerg at bay, he cut in from the flank, stabbing at the soft tissue of the Zerg’s armpit exposed by its raised limb.

The Zerg reacted instantly, its bone wings snapping back to block the strike with a jarring screech.

“Tch, damn hard.” Pei Yingye spat, his offensive never wavering. The combat knife danced in his hand, agile and ruthless, targeting joints and eye sockets.

The Zerg was forced to adjust its defense constantly, while Ji Xuan pursued every opening from the other side.

“Lai Zhou!” Ji Xuan shouted during a gap in the parrying.

“Working on it, working on it!” The Zerg encyclopedia was scrolling rapidly on his portable terminal. Lai Zhou dodged the edges of the battlefield while shouting in the Alliance military’s specialized communication language: “Stab behind the neck! The third carapace plate!”

Pei Yingye caught the black rod Lai Zhou threw to him and laughed. “I guess I should thank Mars for the mandatory requirements; having a tech soldier in the team actually comes in handy occasionally.”

With those words, he ducked under a forelimb, circling behind the Zerg with a flexible, almost eerie grace, his target clear.

Lai Zhou clutched his terminal, dodging falling parts and cables without even pausing for breath. “Friend! Even if you carry me to the first place, I’m still reporting you for discriminating against us technicians after we get out!”

Ji Xuan’s bayonet wedged perfectly into the joint of the Zerg’s forelimb as it tried to swing again, creating a half-second opening.

Pei Yingye closed in like a ghost, the black rod tracing a sharp arc as it was tossed and spun in midair. After a feint, it bypassed the bone wings and landed back in his hand.

“*Pshhh!*”

The rod was driven straight into the carapace!

Pei Yingye let go. A powerful electric current surged from the point of entry. The Zerg’s massive frame stiffened and stumbled back, its compound eyes wide with a mixture of shock, fury, and agony.

In the next moment, Pei Yingye retreated rapidly. Lai Zhou leveled the thermal gun he had scavenged from Shaikh’s team, the muzzle erupting in a wave of flame!

The S-grade Zerg let out a string of unintelligible gurgles before collapsing like a falling mountain.

[Hidden quest: Kill S-grade Mimic Zerg (1/1) – Completed.]

[Points +3000]

The system notification rang out coldly. Pei Yingye panted, looking at the fallen corpse, then at Ji Xuan, who was slowly straightening up and wordlessly wiping blood from his bayonet. He pulled his lips back into a bloody grin.

“…?”

A fragment of a long-buried memory seemed to overlap with the scene before him for an instant, and Ji Xuan let out an ambiguous laugh.

Until—

“*Cackle—!*”

The falling Zerg had struck something; a seemingly defunct server rack flared with blinding red light. An unstable humming rose sharply from within, and a sudden wave of heat swept through the room!

Ji Xuan’s pupils constricted. Without thinking, he grabbed the closest Pei Yingye with his left hand and yanked him toward himself, while his right hand grabbed Lai Zhou from behind.

It happened in a fraction of a second. A violent explosion accompanied by blinding light and a searing shockwave tore through the server room. Shattered metal and glass sprayed like shrapnel. As he was pulled by Ji Xuan, Pei Yingye threw his arms out, pulling the other man even tighter against himself while his other hand shielded the back of Ji Xuan’s head.

The three were hurled back by the massive impact, crashing out of the server room together.

Smoke filled the air, and the acrid smell of burning filled their lungs.

After a brief period of ringing ears and dizziness, Ji Xuan was the first to recover. He moved, immediately feeling the heavy weight pressing down on him and the searing body heat of another person through the fabric of their clothes.

Pei Yingye’s grip was very tight, his heavy breathing brushing against Ji Xuan’s neck. Once he regained his senses, Pei Yingye shifted his bruised arm and let out a muffled groan.

However, this intentional display of vulnerability did not receive the expected concern. Instead, he heard a soft laugh from above, teasing, mischievous, and carrying a hint of satisfied clarity.

“Pei Yingye, you’re heavy as hell,” he heard Ji Xuan say in his clear, pleasant voice, followed by a smile. “Get up.”