215: Pursuit and response

The monster's limp body suddenly trembled, and a faint red light flickered inside its hard-shelled chest, followed by a rapid, high-pitched 'drip-drip' sound, almost beyond the limits of human hearing.

"Not good!"

He Jingrui's reaction was lightning-fast; the moment the red light appeared, he lunged at the monster like a flash of lightning, aiming directly for its glowing chest.

He wasn't trying to stop something; he was trying to destroy it completely!

Lu Chuan instinctively sensed something was wrong and leaped backward, simultaneously pulling the still-dazed Ding Xinyang to the ground and shielding him with his body.

"Roar—!"

The monster let out a final, tragic, desperate roar, filled with disbelief and venom!

Bang!!!

A dull, violent explosion rang out!

It wasn't an earth-shattering boom, but more like a high-pressure air sac bursting inside a body!

The monster's chest shell suddenly bulged outward and shattered.

There was no fire, but a large amount of viscous, putrid, dark green slurry, mixed with metal fragments and unknown tissues, splattered out.

This slurry was like strong acid, splattering on the floor and walls, making a 'sizzle' corrosion sound and emitting pungent white smoke.

He Jingrui's figure had already retreated the moment the explosion occurred; he precisely avoided most of the splattering material, with only the clothing on the outside of his arm corroded into several holes, revealing the unharmed, bronze-glowing skin beneath.

He looked at the monster's shattered body with icy eyes.

After the explosion, only a small part of the monster's head and its lower body, connected to its barbed legs, were still twitching; its chest and abdomen were almost hollowed out, its internal structure a mess, and that eerie red light had completely extinguished.

The living room was filled with a heavy, putrid and corrosive smell, a complete mess.

The corroded floor and walls were still emitting wisps of white smoke.

Ding Xinyang was protected by Lu Chuan, still shaken and pale.

"I... I can't believe it! This damned thing even self-destructs?!"

Lu Chuan stood up, glanced at the monster's gruesome remains, then at the bag on the ground containing the blood-stained photos and notebook, and finally turned his gaze to the dark night outside the window, his expression extremely solemn.

"Half of the island nation's territory fallen... genetically modified warriors... collecting emotional nourishment and Magic City defense data... follow-up troops... ultimate power..."

Lu Chuan whispered, repeating the fragments of information the monster had revealed before its death; every word was incredibly heavy.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulent waves in his heart, and turned to look at He Jingrui.

"He Jingrui, what do you say?"

He Jingrui shook off a few drops of sticky liquid from his arm, his voice still steady, but with an unprecedented killing intent.

When the nation's territory was threatened, his usually simple-minded personality became decisive.

"I need to find Squad Leader Ban and relay this matter to him exactly as it happened."

Lu Chuan nodded, a hint of determination flashing in his eyes.

"The Little devils target is Magic City; you don't need to help in the shop tonight; just go and do what you need to do."

He squatted down, carefully using a piece of sofa leg that hadn't been touched by corrosive liquid to separate the undestroyed tissues from the monster's remains on the ground, putting them all into the bag, then handed it to He Jingrui.

He Jingrui took the bag and nodded silently.

The three of them did not linger; after leaving the apartment, they went their separate ways.

Lu Chuan took Ding Xinyang back to complete the shop opening task.

He Jingrui, on the other hand, set off to find Ban Yangming.

Walking in the dark, He Jingrui's rapid footsteps subtly paused.

His combat intuition was giving him a warning at this moment.

The surrounding darkness seemed to come alive, carrying a viscous malice.

It was as if from every shadow of the surrounding buildings, more than one pair of eyes were peering, their gaze carrying a cold, greedy, inhuman aura.

"They found me so quickly?"

He understood; the monster's eerie red light and 'drip-drip' sound before its death were indeed not just self-destruction, but also some kind of positioning or alarm device.

Its "partners" had already tracked him down.

He quickened his pace calmly, adjusting his breathing, his muscles slightly bulging under his loose T-shirt, like a leopard poised to strike.

He didn't choose the main road but weaved through the labyrinthine alleyways of the city, trying to use the complex terrain to shake off or disperse his pursuers.

However, the opponents who could infiltrate were clearly not to be trifled with.

Rustling sounds grew closer and closer, like arthropods scuttling quickly up the walls.

Finally, at the entrance to a cul-de-sac piled with discarded building materials, He Jingrui stopped.

He quickly placed the bag containing the evidence into a crevice of a half-collapsed brick stack and loosely covered it with a few broken wooden planks.

After doing all this, he turned to face the "things" that were chasing him.

Dozens of monster figures silently slid down from the alley entrance and the low rooftops on both sides, blocking his retreat.

They varied in form, but all corresponded to the eerie figures in those blood-stained photos.

Some had wings on their backs, and their arms were massive, gleaming mantis blades.

Some had chitinous carapaces on their backs, with sharp bone spurs growing from their joints.

Some were relatively slender, with flower-shaped heads, and viscous, sweet-smelling, putrid liquid dripped from their fingertips.

Of course, there were also duplicates of the apartment monster, only larger in size, with longer, glowing tentacles on their heads.

They surrounded He Jingrui in a fan shape, their vertical pupils or compound eyes gleaming with cruel, bloodthirsty light, their mouthparts opening and closing, which was very unsettling.

A strange scent, a mixture of fishy smell, rust, and decaying sweetness, permeated the air.

"Hehehe! Leave the thing, and your life, here!"

The monster that was a duplicate of the apartment monster let out a sinister laugh.

He Jingrui's face was as hard as iron, his eyes as sharp as an eagle's.

He instantly entered combat mode.

His boxing stance slowly opened, then his shoulders dropped, and his elbows lowered.

In an instant, an invisible, extremely condensed killing aura rose, instantly dispersing the surrounding stench, as if a sleeping ancient beast had opened its eyes in the darkness.

"A bunch of damned things, let's see if my fists are harder, or your claws are sharper."

He Jingrui's voice was not loud, but it carried the clang of metal striking metal, echoing in the narrow alley.

Before he finished speaking, the one with the mantis-blade arms attacked first.

Its speed was astonishing; two flashes of cold light tore through the air, one high and one low, striking directly at He Jingrui's neck and waist.

At the same time, the monster dripping viscous liquid suddenly opened its flower-bud mouth, and a stream of highly corrosive and paralyzing venom shot like an arrow towards He Jingrui's face.

He Jingrui's eyes blazed with light; he didn't retreat but advanced.

His body twisted at an incredible angle, narrowly avoiding the fatal blade light and venom.

The venom grazed his shoulder and hit the brick wall behind him, immediately emitting pungent white smoke.

And in that flash of lightning, his right fist, like a cannonball, struck later but arrived first, with a shriek that tore through the air, hitting the mantis-blade monster precisely at the connection between its chest and abdomen.