Chapter 85 The Reappearance of Measles 2
I've imagined countless times what it would be like to reunite with Asahi.
Perhaps she finally realized that I was strong enough to fight the disaster she brought, and that she felt she couldn't survive in modern society with her current condition, so she came to me hungry for help; or perhaps I followed the clues I had and found her wandering in the night; or perhaps, more dramatically, I found her just when she was in danger and rescued her from the brink of disaster like a divine intervention.
And as it is now, suddenly bumping into her while investigating a monster is naturally one of the possibilities I had imagined.
But as I imagined it, when her figure actually came into view, I felt as if my heart had been hit by a bullet, and my mind went blank for a moment under the shock of surprise.
Ma Zao has appeared!
Upon appearing, she immediately severed the monster's head, but the battle did not end there.
The moment the head fell off, the monster's entire body structure suddenly disintegrated, turning into a pool of liquid like black ink, which spilled onto the ground.
That wasn't the monster's true form, but rather a clone he created using the power of shadow.
The black ink substance turned into a shadow upon landing. As Mazao's feet touched the ground, a huge figure leaped out of the shadow—it was none other than the strange man from before.
While Asa was still absorbing the impact of her landing and unable to connect to the next move, the monster transformed her arms into mantis-like longswords and launched a high-speed, alternating slashing attack, aiming at Asa's throat.
Although describing it in words might not seem fast enough, these changes actually happened within a mere second. Even with my dynamic vision, I can't say I saw everything clearly. In that extremely brief moment, there were likely many more exchanges, but what I could clearly see and express were only the ones mentioned above.
Compared to me, Zhu Shi was probably better able to understand the changes before him and react accordingly. Before I could even process the shock of "Ma Zao appearing," Zhu Shi had already vanished from my side like an arrow, seemingly off to lend a helping hand.
However, it seems that Asahi doesn't need anyone else's help.
The stiffness from landing seemed to have no effect on her dodging the monster's overlapping slashes. Whether it was due to her excessive speed or a spatial teleportation, her figure vanished from in front of the monster in an instant, returning to the position in the air where she had initially launched her decapitation slash—directly behind the monster. At the same time, she swung her recurve sword again, aiming for a fatal slash at the back of the monster's neck.
It's unbelievable that Asahi, who used to be so weak, has suddenly unleashed a speed and power that is even faster and more powerful than the monster.
The strange man may or may not have realized that Mazao had appeared behind him. At this crucial moment, he at least did not choose to stand still, but quickly protected his vitals and rolled forward, making a timely dodge.
The "timely" mentioned here only refers to his timely escape from the blade; however, injury was unavoidable.
With a flash of light, Asaha severed the monster's left wrist.
The latter couldn't help but let out a painful scream, its body rolling forward several times.
Instead of immediately giving chase, she first adopted a defensive posture towards the suddenly appearing Zhu Shi and shouted warily, "Who goes there!?"
"I..." Zhu Shi seemed to be trying to explain something.
The wounded monster clearly had no patience to listen to their conversation. Seeing that Asaho had temporarily stopped the pursuit, the monster, despite its disheveled appearance, nimbly and decisively got up from the ground and attempted to flee into the distance.
His initial fleeing actions were most likely a ruse, a prelude to a counterattack against Ma Zao. But now, he clearly intends to escape.
Unfortunately, he may have noticed Ma Zao and Zhu Shi in the open, but he didn't notice me hiding in the shadows.
Although I desperately wanted to speak to Asahi first, I wasn't so magnanimous as to ignore the monster's escape. My gaze focused on the monster's body, and I instantly ignited it.
Normally, the plan would have been for me to vaporize the monster's body from the head down, while Zhu Shi severed its connection to the source of its power—the Seed of the Heart—before it died. Only then could we take the monster's head to Lu Youxun to extract information. But now, things have happened so suddenly that Zhu Shi and I haven't had time to coordinate. I can only slow down my efforts to destroy the enemy so that Zhu Shi can keep up.
The monstrous figure, now engulfed in flames, screamed in agony.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he is the last oddball in Saltwater City, and also the mastermind behind the recent series of murders. I know perfectly well that he, currently being burned by flames, is also human, yet he feels no pity for his wounded kin. He was also the one who sent his shadow clones to attack Chang'an. I don't care why he killed those local dignitaries, but I need to dig out his reasons for attacking Chang'an from his mind.
The strange man seemed to be trying to escape through the flames, so I made a gesture of clasping my hands together. The raging flames on his body suddenly burst forth, forming the shape of a gigantic hand. Just like last night when I used my elemental arm to grab the enemy, this giant fiery hand that grew from his body turned around and locked him completely in its grasp, slamming him to the ground.
Zhu Shi's side has already arrived in cooperation.
Her eyes turned a cold, clear lake blue, her expression as indifferent as snow, as if she had already seen through the connection between the monster and the source of power, and was ready to sever it at any time.
Seeing this, I stopped holding back. To prevent this strange person from using some inexplicable superpower, or from trapping us in some strange alternate dimension like the last strange person, I directly vaporized his body from the head down.
At that moment, I had a strange feeling.
It felt like something was trying to slip away from my palm—or rather, from the giant hand I had formed of flames. The sensation was completely unexpected; I hadn't had time to prepare. It was like stretching with your arms outstretched, and your palm accidentally brushed against a passing fly. Although you wanted to immediately close your fingers and catch it, you were caught completely off guard.
In the end, the "fly" managed to get there first, slipping through the gap between the fingers and disappearing without a trace.
Zhu Shi seemed to have also observed some kind of invisible change using her special ability "Mount Buzhou," and immediately looked surprised: "—What?"
Visually, it seemed that nothing slipped out of my enormous flaming hand. The monster's body below the head was instantly vaporized by my flames, while the head rolled out from between my fingers.
However, my sense of touch was clearly abnormal. This feeling was definitely not the sensation of burning flesh and blood; it was more like destroying an ordinary shadow clone.
Sure enough, after the head stopped rolling, it immediately transformed into an ink-like substance, which spilled and spread on the ground, eventually turning into a shadow and fading away.
"That's a clone?" Ma Zao was stunned for a moment, then immediately looked at the severed hand not far away.
That was her left hand, which she had just severed from the monster, still retaining the shape of a mantis-shaped blade. If the monster was a shadow clone, then that left hand must also be a product of the shadow's creation.
But the truth is, the left wrist is still alive and well in its original position. More than alive? Perhaps because it had separated from the monster's body, the power within it had gone berserk and out of control, gradually causing the flesh to swell, as if it were about to explode at any moment.
But it ultimately failed to explode. Ma Zao stepped forward just in time and stomped hard on the left wrist. Heaven knows why, but the left wrist immediately became limp and even degenerated from its mantis-like longsword form into an ordinary, rough male hand.
Ma Zao picked up the bleeding severed hand from the ground, glanced at it briefly, and then looked warily at where I was.
Zhu Shi had already exited the "Mount Buzhou" state. Her eyes returned to their normal color, and her expression was no longer so cold. Seeing Ma Zao's wariness, she seemed to be thinking about how to introduce herself so that the other party could temporarily lower their guard.
I stepped directly out of the shadows and appeared in front of Asaho, carefully observing her current state.
She's still wearing the black printed hoodie, short skirt, cotton tights, and black ankle boots that I gave her in the past. Although she must have worn them for many days, I don't know if she's washed them, but the outfit still looks brand new.
She was also wearing a black cat whisker mask, but presumably for easier breathing, she hung it around her neck.
The red GPS bracelet was still on her left wrist, while her right hand gripped a large recurve knife. Her movements had been too fast for me to see clearly earlier. Now, looking closer, I noticed the recurve knife was displaying a strange, shimmering, and ethereal form. Anyone who saw it would understand that it was no ordinary weapon.
When she saw that it was me who came out, she was so surprised that she forgot to hold on to her bleeding severed hand and let it fall to the ground.
“Zhuang Cheng—?” she exclaimed in surprise.
Zhu Shi seemed about to introduce himself when he heard my name suddenly mentioned by the other person, and he couldn't help but open his mouth wide: "Huh?"
Her gaze shifted back and forth between me and Mazao. After a few seconds, she finally seemed to understand what the latter's reaction meant and asked hesitantly, "You...know each other?"
(End of this chapter)
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