216: Lu Chuan's unique technique

“Bang!”

A muffled thud, like a heavy hammer striking tough leather.

The praying mantis blade monster’s enormous body suddenly arched, its eyeballs nearly bulging out, spewing dark green fluid from its mouth as it stumbled backward.

On its proudly hard shell, a clear, inwardly concave fist print had appeared.

Battle erupted instantly in the dead end.

The dull thudding, the cracking of hard shells, the roars of monsters, and He Jingrui’s steady breathing intertwined, breaking the night’s silence.

Meanwhile, back at the Midnight Diner with Lu Chuan and Ding Xinyang.

Lu Chuan pulled up the rolling shutter, not immediately turning on the lights, but first warily scanning the interior from outside the shop.

Ding Xinyang followed closely behind him, not daring to stray even half a step.

“A Chuan, why are we still coming to open the shop…”

Ding Xinyang swallowed nervously.

“Uh, no, no, I mean, why aren’t we with He Jingrui? Isn’t it very dangerous to be alone in this situation?”

Lu Chuan quickly checked the back kitchen and front hall, speaking in a hushed voice.

“Don’t worry, He Jingrui’s combat power is very strong. From what I know of him, as long as it’s not dozens of those monsters from the apartment building attacking him all at once, they pose no threat to him.”

Only after confirming the shop was temporarily safe did Lu Chuan turn on the small light at the counter, its dim yellow glow barely dispelling a corner of the darkness.

Ding Xinyang secretly glanced at Lu Chuan, then whispered:

“…Actually, what I wanted to say is, we two might be in great danger…”

Lu Chuan’s movements paused, but he quickly nodded as if nothing had happened.

“Don’t worry, although I’m not as good a fighter as He Jingrui, I also have ways to deal with those monsters.”

Hearing Lu Chuan say this, Ding Xinyang, though still nervous, let out a sigh of relief.

Just then—

“Screech—!”

An ear-splitting sound of glass scraping suddenly rang out, breaking the tense silence in the small shop.

Both were startled, abruptly looking up at the second floor where the sound originated.

Movement upstairs?

Ding Xinyang’s scalp nearly exploded.

Lu Chuan gave Ding Xinyang a look, signaling him to be silent, then stealthily moved to the kitchen door, and looked up at the hole in the ceiling.

Then, he met the gaze of a single glowing eye from the second floor.

In that instant, Lu Chuan’s instincts overtook his thoughts; he was already running, not forgetting to pull Ding Xinyang with him out of the shop door.

As soon as they ran out of the shop, they found a woman wearing a loose maternity dress standing outside the door.

The woman had her head down, her long hair covering most of her face, one hand cradling her bulging belly.

“A pregnant woman?”

Ding Xinyang cried out in surprise.

Lu Chuan looked at the woman, scoffed, and pulled Ding Xinyang, dashing out through the gap in the doorway.

Just then, the woman’s sinister, malicious gaze, peering through the strands of her hair, fixed intently on Lu Chuan and Ding Xinyang’s backs.

At the same time, an extremely shrill and piercing scream exploded.

“Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah—!”

Stimulated by the noisy sound, Ding Xinyang’s inner ear vestibular system went awry, and his body suddenly lost balance, half of him hanging onto Lu Chuan.

Fortunately, Lu Chuan’s physical fitness was already superhuman; Ding Xinyang’s weight was nothing to him.

Otherwise, with the woman’s sudden attack, the two might have tripped over their own feet and fallen flat on the spot.

When Lu Chuan had half-pulled, half-carried Ding Xinyang away from the pregnant woman and the one-eyed green-skinned person who had chased them from the second floor, he finally put Ding Xinyang down, then stared coldly at them.

The night wind blew, and he clearly smelled a familiar yet nauseatingly sweet, fishy smell.

This smell, he had also encountered on the monsters in the apartment building.

“Are there more? It can’t be just the two of you, can it?”

Lu Chuan pressed against the alley wall, carefully guarding against other directions.

Sure enough, as his voice faded, two more footsteps approached from not far away, accompanied by a repulsive, eerie laugh.

“Yo ho ho ho—”

Using the light shining from the shop, Lu Chuan clearly saw the “honorable appearance” of the two new monsters.

It was as nauseating as ever.

One of the monsters was covered in large and small wriggling tentacles, and when the tips of the tentacles split open, one could see mouths full of sharp teeth inside.

The other monster carried a moss-covered turtle shell on its back, its body still vaguely human-like, but its head was a massive turtle head.

“Little brat, your gaze displeases this lord very much. Seeing how handsome you are, this lord will definitely cherish you well later, yo ho ho ho ho ho ho…”

The one emitting this eerie laugh was precisely the monster covered in tentacles.

Lu Chuan ignored it, instead looking at the woman who had been staring at him with a chilling gaze.

Among these four distinctly different-looking monsters, he vaguely felt that the strongest one should be this big-bellied woman who resembled a pregnant woman.

“A bunch of cowardly rats, disturbing my business. Have you decided how you want to die?”

Lu Chuan’s voice was cold, but his entire body’s muscles gradually tensed up.

The woman was silent for a few seconds.

Suddenly, she violently lifted her head.

Her long hair slid to both sides, revealing not a human face at all.

Instead, it was an insectoid face covered in a grayish-white chitinous carapace, with compound eyes glowing with an eerie green light.

That “mouth” split open, revealing a dense array of tiny, sharp teeth inside.

“Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah—!”

An ear-piercing shriek turned into a storm, rushing towards Lu Chuan and Ding Xinyang.

Sonic attack!

Lu Chuan was well-prepared, already deploying his unique technique—the appetite coins Superpower Exchange Method!

Buzz—

A transparent protective shield instantly expanded from Lu Chuan, encompassing Ding Xinyang as well.

Then, after blocking that high-frequency sound wave carrying terrifying energy, Lu Chuan had already taken the initiative to attack.

“System! Increase my strength—one hundredfold!”

As his words fell, thousands of appetite coins instantly disappeared.

Ignoring the pang of regret, Lu Chuan had already used the Nameless Leg Technique, shooting out like lightning under the powerful strength buff.

With a loud “boom.”

The tentacle monster, still smirking sinisterly, was instantly slammed into the brick wall of the alley at an extremely high speed.

Pfft—

A mouthful of green blood splattered out, making a sizzling corrosive sound as it hit the ground.

“Die!”

Lu Chuan roared, and with a hundredfold strength buff, the fist driven by the Nameless Fist Technique smashed fiercely towards the tentacle monster’s head.

“Wait…”

The tentacle monster shrieked in terror, but before he could finish speaking, the fist had completely exploded his head.

“Damn it!”

Aside from the woman still shrieking, the remaining two monsters roared in fury and alarm, suddenly pouncing towards Lu Chuan.

In the narrow alley, fierce combat erupted instantly.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, He Jingrui was engaged in a bloody battle with over thirty monsters in a dead end.

The bag containing top-secret evidence lay quietly in the shadow of a brick stack, like a fragile lone boat in a storm.

The night of the Demon City, in these unknown alleys and dead ends, had completely boiled over.