"No, stop—"
Solian's attempt to stop them was drowned out by the barrage of gunfire.
The situation spiraled out of control in an instant, with blue beams from the plasma gun and electromagnetic pulse gun flashing incessantly throughout the hall.
More lighting fixtures were smashed, making the light extremely dim.
The mercenaries were incredibly fast, but their target wasn't some other creature, but "Number One."
"Number One" seemed to vanish instantly—and the next second, its massive and ferocious body appeared above the mercenary's head. Its movements were light and smooth, like a cat in the shadows.
Those eyes, which looked no different from human eyes, now revealed their true form. The membrane used for mimicry flipped inside the eyelids, revealing the scarlet, glowing compound eyes underneath.
"Up there!"
An experienced mercenary immediately noticed the bloody shadow thrown overhead. He screamed and threw a small high-explosive grenade directly at it.
"Bang--"
This time, the blinding, scorching white light finally touched the shadowy figure of "Number One".
Number One felt a slight pain.
Human movements appeared incredibly slow to it, but the power of the high-explosive bomb was slightly beyond its expectations. Furthermore, the wings it had evolved to please Lin Xi were somewhat cumbersome for its adult form. It was precisely for these reasons that a large chunk of "Number One's" wing was singed off by the high-temperature flames of the bomb.
Of course, this would not affect "Number One's" operations. However, upon discovering that its already somewhat pitted wings were once again stained with black scorch marks, its previously suppressed bloodlust was instantly aroused.
Hiss—
A high-pitched scream erupted from inside "Number One's" body; to the mercenaries below, it was as if "Number One's" body flickered.
Immediately afterwards, the terrifying monster, with its incredibly sharp forelimbs, leaped down, and in an instant, the bodies of several mercenaries were severed.
The sight of their comrade's corpse instantly turned the remaining mercenaries' eyes red. With years of experience working together, they nimbly turned their guns and opened fire on "Number One," who kept "appearing." However, almost every few seconds, a mercenary would suddenly fall to the ground without warning, their throats still emitting groans as their bodies shattered.
"It looks like the negotiations have broken down."
Meanwhile, on the other side, seeing the hall instantly turn into a bloodbath, Elisa and Bryce decisively dragged Lin Xi away to an inconspicuous corner.
They didn't expect the berserk "Number One" to stop his killing spree, let alone the mercenaries who were already terrified.
From the moment the mercenaries began firing at "Number One," the situation began to spiral into its worst possible direction.
Just when Lin Xi and the other two thought things couldn't get any worse, a wrong bullet caused everything to collapse completely.
It was a flash of blue light that suddenly appeared in the shadows.
A very unremarkable ion bullet.
It looked no different from the energy beams flying around the hall, but coincidentally, the bullet was heading straight towards Lin Xi.
In that instant, Elisa, who had been hunched over and standing beside Lin Xi, searching for the freshly baked cake, suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.
Elisa's intuition kicked in at that moment—she had never had such a strong premonition before.
In a flash, she grabbed Lin Xi and pulled her to one side. It wasn't until the excruciating pain shot through her left side that she vaguely realized what she had done.
The bullet that was supposed to pierce Lin Xi's heart has now pierced Elisa's body.
"Hmm—"
Elisa let out a painful groan, and then her body went limp.
"Elisa?!"
"My God—what's wrong?!"
Lin Xi and Bryce immediately realized something was wrong.
Elisa gasped for breath, trying to reassure the two men beside her that everything was alright, but the constant flow of blood gushing from her body said it all.
"Oh...no...no..."
Lin Xi was the first to feel that ominous dampness.
He carefully embraced Elisa. Although the lights in the hall were already very dim, strangely, Lin Xi found that he could see everything around him with exceptional clarity.
For example, Elisa's face, which had instantly lost all color, was in his arms.
For example, the ever-expanding wet stains on Elisa's clothes.
For example... the blood on his palm.
Time... suddenly slowed down.
It was as if everything around him was just an old videotape, and an invisible hand had suddenly pressed the slow-motion button.
Lin Xi could see Bryce trembling beside her, kneeling next to Elisa, pulling a first-aid kit from his pocket. But his movements were far too slow; a bead of sweat hung on the tip of his nose, frozen in place.
And then there was Elisa, lying on her back in his arms, her dilated pupils like deep wells, devoid of any light. Her lips were slightly parted, as if she wanted to say something.
But Lin Xi couldn't hear anything...
Then, Lin Xi slowly raised his head and looked precisely in the direction from which the bullet had come.
Solian stood there, where he should have been a dark shadow, but Lin Xi could see him.
It's very clear.
Solian's face was ashen, but his eyes were strangely empty. Blood was gushing from his nose and ears, and the hand holding the gun had not yet been withdrawn.
That's not Solian, that's the lingering ghost... Scripps Eden.
Separated by bullets and corpses, Lin Xi gazed at him from afar.
I'm sorry, but you have to die.
Even though they were so far apart, Lin Xi could still hear that hoarse, ethereal, and emotionless whisper.
I'm going to kill him—
Lin Xi heard a voice whispering inside her body.
The whispers soon turned into a deafening roar.
I'm going to kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him—
Lin Xi's vision suddenly turned blood red.
"Hiss—hiss—"
The mercenaries, who were struggling to fight the monstrous monster, suddenly heard a high-pitched, sharp chirping of insects.
At first, they thought it was the monster's voice making a show of defiance towards them.
But the next moment they realized that wasn't the case. The hissing was coming from the other side of the hall.
Those companions who were bound here and had already undergone mutation all screamed in unison.
Before this, due to the various drugs injected into their bodies indiscriminately and the long period of binding, they were on the verge of death and could barely move. But at this moment, they suddenly became incredibly active.
They began to mutate at a visible speed. The monsters that could still be vaguely discerned as human changed completely in an instant—insect carapaces and fangs were squeezed out from under the skin, and human faces were twisted, deformed, and finally replaced by bizarre insect faces.
Hiss—hiss—
With increasingly high-pitched and piercing screech, the enormous monsters only needed to shake their bodies to instantly shatter the originally incredibly secure shackles and ropes.
The next second, the insects' eyes, which were faintly glowing in the darkness, were aimed at the human mercenaries who were putting up a stubborn resistance.
"Number One" stopped its movements.
It tilted its head to look at these newborn members of its kind, then suddenly turned its head to look at Lin Xi not far away.
Lin Xi's face was so white it was almost transparent, his gaze was somewhat vacant, and fine beads of sweat had already soaked his clothes.
A high-frequency insect chirp, inaudible to humans, was emanating from his slightly parted lips—
Then, the newly formed Zerg sprang into action, gathering together with the screeching sound of their arthropods scraping against the metal ground before heading towards the mammals with their soft interiors and abundant juices.
"Aaaaaahh ...
Soon, a series of screams rang out from the human side.
The gunfire continued for a while at first, but soon became sporadic.
The area covered by the swarm of insects was a living hell, but for the three people in another corner of the hall, everything around them had long since become unimportant.
"Elisa, hang in there, it's okay... it's nothing serious... we just need to stop the bleeding first..."
Bryce kept taking out hemostatic foam from the first aid kit and kept spraying healing spray and hemostatic foam onto Elisa's wound, but the medicine could only last for a short while before being washed away by the continuous flow of blood.
"I feel a little dizzy."
Elisa murmured to Bryce.
Perhaps due to blood loss, her voice became much softer than usual... even carrying a hint of coquetry.
"You lost a lot of blood, but it's okay. After I take care of your wound, you can get a good night's sleep. But right now, you have to hang in there, okay, baby? My good girl, you can do it..."
Bryce tossed aside the last empty bottle of hemostatic foam and immediately placed his hand on Elisa's wound.
He didn't even realize that his voice was already trembling with sobs as he spoke.
"...I'm so tired...I haven't had a proper night's sleep in ages..."
Elisa's voice gradually faded away.
"Elisa".
Lin Xi lowered his head and, through his blood-red vision, gazed at the weak woman in his arms.
A severe headache blurred his vision.
His heart was pounding, but his soul felt as if it had been ripped from his body.
The thick smell of blood emanating from Elisa acted like an activator, slowly eroding his nerves with an uncontrollable rage and lust for violence.
"...Don't die."
Lin Xi heard herself say this to Elisa.
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