72: Crab Hunting

They say that before a person dies, their life flashes before their eyes, a lifetime replayed in an instant.

But Li Yu felt like her 'instant' was unusually long.

In her mind, she saw herself as a child, nestled in her great-grandmother's arms, listening to stories of her generation... She remembered the innocent, budding romance of junior high, how shy she was when she first liked a boy... She recalled the nervousness and joy of holding hands with a boy for the first time, and the fury she felt when she discovered her boyfriend was two-timing her... The unease after discovering her special abilities, the joy and pride after being recruited by the Special Administration Bureau... Her parents' expectations, her captain's trust, her own ambitions... Finally, it all dissolved into a long sigh.

"Is it over?"

"I'm so unwilling to accept this~"

"But it seems there's nothing I can do..."

After despair came acceptance.

"Dad, Mom, your daughter is unfilial. You'll have to bury your child."

"You're not that old. Hurry up and have another. Maybe I can still be your daughter..."

Just as Li Yu calmly accepted death, the exclamations from the crowd in the distance once again reached her ears.

"Wow, another one!"

"This one is strong! So much stronger than that big guy!"

"Holy crap, not only is he strong, he's handsome too! Red smoke coming from his hands, scales growing, and his hair is sparkling like it has special effects! I declare him the King of Kings!"

"So, you guys get to evolve without us, huh?"

"Who has his contact info! I want to marry him!"

"Bro, calm down, this isn't Chengdu..."

Amidst the clamor, Li Yu opened her eyes.

Then she saw a figure with a single ponytail, wearing a Special Administration Bureau uniform, firmly blocking her, holding off the mutated crab's giant pincer with one hand.

'Uh, why do I feel like I've never seen this person before?'

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she suddenly felt the world receding.

She looked sideways, dazed, and indeed, there was a person radiating colorful light, holding her waist, helping her dodge the other giant pincer of the crab.

In this moment of extreme danger, an out-of-place movie line popped into her head.

'My destined one is a peerless hero, who will one day arrive on a colorful cloud to marry me.'

Li Yu was enchanted.

She instinctively opened her mouth, leaning against Yang Dian's chest, and murmured:

"Are you my peerless hero?"

Yang Dian, who was holding Li Yu's waist and dodging the splashing sand and rocks, looked at Li Yu in surprise:

"I was called by your captain for backup; I'm not a monkey bringing reinforcements."

With that, he set Li Yu down, pulled the pistol from his lower back, and handed it to her:

"Good marksmanship. Blow out the crab's other eye too."

Before he finished speaking, Yang Dian bent his body and charged towards the mutated giant crab again.

As he sidestepped to avoid the giant pincer's horizontal slash, his right hand, transformed into a Dragon claw, swept across the crab leg joint.

"Crack~"

With a soft sound, the shell on the crab leg was pierced through like tofu by Yang Dian's grasp.

Unfortunately, the crab leg was too large, and he couldn't grasp the fascia to disable the leg.

Twisting his body to dodge the piercing attacks of the other two crab legs, he leapt back, and at the same time, reached out again, grabbing at the crab leg joint.

"Crack~"

This time, he succeeded with one strike!

A flat, white fascia, full of elasticity and toughness, was directly pulled out from the joint by Yang Dian.

But before he could celebrate, the heavily wounded crab leapt high into the air, its seven crab legs converging downwards, stabbing towards Yang Dian, who was mid-air with no room to maneuver.

"Damn!"

Muttering a low curse, Yang Dian channeled all his Qi and blood into his right arm.

"I wonder if I can withstand this!"

As his nerves tensed, Yang Dian's peripheral vision caught sight of a large, bronze-colored mass suddenly appearing, then filling his entire field of vision.

At the same time, a furious roar entered Yang Dian's ears.

"Kill it!"

"Bang!"

The big man slammed into the sharp crab legs, and Yang Dian, having caught his breath, landed on the beach and stomped hard, kicking up a large amount of sea sand. At the same time, he flashed to the side of the giant crab, extending his right hand and snapping another crab leg joint with a claw.

The giant crab, which had just gotten up, stumbled.

Before it could retaliate, more "bang bang" gunshots rang out, directly blowing out the crab's other eyeball.

Losing all vision and plunged into darkness, the crab immediately went berserk, its remaining six legs and two pincers furiously attacking everything around it.

Yang Dian pulled up the giant man who had fallen on the beach and led him to a safe area beyond the crab's attack range.

"Phew~ We survived."

Yang Wei stood up stiffly, let out a sigh of relief, and looked at Yang Dian:

"Brother, thanks."

"But I've never seen you before. You're not from our Huizhou, are you?"

Yang Dian waved his hand, allowing the Qi and blood Dragon scales on his hand, which had dimmed considerably, to return to their original form, transforming back into Qi and blood and retracting into his body.

"I'm from the Fuzhou Paranormal Management Bureau, here on a mission."

"I happened to receive your request for assistance, so I came over."

"I wasn't too late, was I?"

Yang Wei opened his mouth, then sighed:

"You weren't late, but we were."

Yang Dian fell silent for a moment as well.

On the beach, scattered patches of sand were stained red with blood.

Several incomplete bodies lay sprawled in pools of blood.

This was the terror of anomalous creatures.

This was the helplessness of ordinary people facing anomalous creatures.

In fact, if Yang Dian hadn't arrived quickly...

Li Yu would have certainly died tragically under the giant crab's pincer.

And not just Li Yu.

Given the mutated giant crab's speed, who knew how many more people would have died here if help had arrived any later.

Scanning the crowd a hundred meters away, gathered in a heap and pointing at the scene, Yang Dian then looked at the mutated giant crab still thrashing on the beach:

"When will the reinforcements arrive?"

The reinforcements Yang Dian spoke of, of course, weren't just combat support.

There was also logistical support.

There were no less than a hundred eyewitnesses present; if secrecy wasn't maintained, things would escalate in minutes.

At this moment, Li Yu, who had come over to the two, spoke:

"The Information Department has already blocked the network. All photos and videos related to the mutated giant crab and the battle have been reviewed and prohibited from publication."

"Special Administration Bureau support teams have arrived at the coastal road and will be here shortly."

"Armed Coast Guard support will arrive in 3 minutes, and Public Security Bureau police support will arrive in 7 minutes."

After speaking, she handed the pistol in her hand back to Yang Dian:

"Your gun."

Yang Dian took the pistol and tucked it into his lower back. Just as he was about to say something, a series of "clack clack" sounds suddenly came from the direction of the mutated giant crab.

Looking over, it was indeed the large crab, which had stopped its rampage at some point, and was now moving its remaining intact crab legs and pincers, beginning to dig into the sand, preparing to bury itself?

As it dug into the sand, the several mouthparts in front of its crab mouth clacked against each other, making a "clack clack" sound.

Feeling that something was not quite right, Yang Dian took out his pistol again and handed it to Li Yu:

"Blow out its mouthparts too!"

Li Yu had just received the pistol and hadn't even had time to aim when, suddenly, ripples spread across the distant sea surface...