“Damn it!”
Su Wan shook her dizzy head, a fiery, dull ache radiating from her back.
She watched Zhang Ma, her shoulder pierced by sharp claws, blood gushing, yet still desperately clinging to one of the Mutant's legs.
And herself? She could only hide in the corner, utterly useless!
A surge of fury, mixed with bone-chilling cold and despair, rushed to her head.
She clenched her fists.
“I'll fight you!”
A short roar from a monster and the terrifying ripping sound of a sharp blade slicing through tough flesh echoed in her ears.
Su Wan's eyes snapped open.
The Mutant that had pounced on Zhang Ma moments ago now lay with its massive head rolling not far from her feet.
The cut was clean, and viscous, dark green fluid gushed out.
Its body twitched and collapsed, splattering the ground with foul blood.
Lu Shiyan had appeared a few steps in front of her at some unknown point, the military dagger reversed in his hand still dripping blood.
Dark green blood splattered on his cheek, making him look like an Asura bathed in blood.
He turned quickly, a drop of blood from the dagger falling half an inch in front of Su Wan's feet.
“Ugh!”
Lu Shiyan grunted, a deep, bone-visible wound slashed across his left shoulder blade by another Mutant's sharp claws.
Blood instantly gushed out, staining his combat uniform.
He swayed, but still stood in front of Su Wan.
“Hide!” Lu Shiyan's voice was strained.
Su Wan didn't hide; she rushed to Zhang Ma's side, helping her up: “Zhang Ma, how are you?” Tears streamed uncontrollably.
“Miss…” Zhang Ma's voice was a mere thread, hoarse with blood foam, “Don't cry…”
A blood-stained hand feebly lifted, trying to wipe away Su Wan's tears, but only brushed uselessly, leaving a new streak of blood.
Before she could finish, a violent cough interrupted her.
Blood gushed from her lips, staining Su Wan's clothes.
“Zhang Ma!” Su Wan's voice trembled beyond control.
The woman who had given her the only warmth in this apocalypse… just… died?
No!
Su Wan gently laid Zhang Ma down.
She retrieved her Tang Dao from her space and charged at the Mutant that had just severely wounded Lu Shiyan and was now shaking blood from its claws.
“Die—!”
The blade chopped down!
“Clang!”
Sparks flew.
Too hard!
The Mutant's hide was incredibly tough.
The blade only left a shallow white mark, and the immense recoil made her tiger's mouth ache as if it would split.
She was violently thrown back again by that brutal force, crashing heavily against the cold wall, her internal organs feeling dislocated.
“Su Wan!”
A low voice, with a strange penetrative quality, rang out.
Suddenly, a scorching wave washed over her!
It wasn't direct flame, but pure, brutal heat that instantly sucked the air out of the vicinity.
Lu Shiyan had reacted the moment he saw her charge at the Mutant like a madwoman with her knife.
The hand he extended forward, which had only been dripping blood moments ago, now erupted with blazing flames from its palm.
A massive, amorphous stream of fire, as if alive, charged with the power to incinerate everything, slammed into the few swaying Mutants attempting to regroup.
Sizzle!
A sharp crackle filled the air—the sound of fire meeting the monsters' viscous bodily fluids.
Immediately following, with virtually no interval, silver-blue electric arcs, like wild snakes, wrapped around the fire stream and exploded!
Thunder and fire intertwined, creating a deafening roar!
The Mutants couldn't even let out a complete howl before they were utterly consumed.
Their bodies convulsed, deformed, and melted under the high temperature and electric shock.
Skin and muscle dripped and evaporated like wax, revealing stark white bones, and then even the bones began to twist and carbonize.
A foul, burnt smell mixed with a strange ionized scent, overpowering the previous stench of blood.
The entire process was astonishingly fast.
Ten seconds? Perhaps even shorter.
The light dissipated.
Only three smoldering, unidentifiable charred remains were left in the corridor.
Tiny electric arcs still flickered on the remnants for a few moments, emitting faint crackling sounds, then completely died out.
Lu Shiyan's arm dropped weakly, the skin on the edge of his palm faintly charred and cracked.
No! There was still one!
Su Wan watched in horror as a Mutant silently emerged from the darkness behind Xiao Han.
It was more agile and its movements more sinister than the others, having bypassed Lu Shiyan's flames and launched a surprise attack from the flank.
“Behind you!” Su Wan shrieked.
The moment Xiao Han turned, intense pain contorted his face, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side, completely losing its combat ability.
He only managed to raise the weapon in his right hand to block weakly, but it was swatted away by the Mutant's claw, the weapon flying from his grasp, arcing through the air.
It's over!
Just at this critical moment, a dark figure leaped in through the shattered window, holding a sharp cleaver, and chopped at the Mutant's spine.
The sound of the blade entering flesh was sickening, but the cut was incredibly precise, almost splitting the Mutant in two.
“A Mo!” Xiao Han gasped, both surprised and relieved.
It was A Mo!
A Mo, who had been knocked flying earlier, wasn't dead; he had used the opportunity to circle around to the Mutant's rear from outside, seizing the moment to deliver a fatal blow.
His right arm's combat uniform was torn and bloody, clearly having just endured a bitter struggle.
The Mutant twitched a few times, then finally crashed to the ground, motionless.
Su Wan felt her legs give out, leaning back against the wall, and she looked up at Lu Shiyan.
His face was pale, his forehead covered in cold sweat, one hand supporting his body against the wall, the other pressing against the wound on his ribs.
Blood seeped from between his fingers, staining half of his clothes.
That scorched area was still burning in her vision, but Lu Shiyan's figure suddenly swayed, then his vision went black, as if pushed by an invisible hand, and he fell straight backward.
“Lu Shiyan!”
Without thinking, she struggled and rushed over, catching him before he hit the ground.
He felt scalding hot to the touch, and his breathing was faint and rapid.
“How is he? He's not going to die, is he?” Su Wan's voice trembled.
Xiao Han, himself unsteady on his feet, his left arm hanging limply, his face paler than the wall, panted: “He… forcefully broke through his ability, the cost is immense.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the cooling charred remains on the ground, his voice hoarse: “Just now, if his ability… hadn't temporarily broken through, we would all have died here today.
This kind of power isn't easily controlled.”
Su Wan remembered the power Lu Shiyan unleashed at the end; it was indeed more terrifying than any she had witnessed before.
So that's it.
No wonder he collapsed from exhaustion.
Su Wan looked at the unconscious Lu Shiyan in her arms, then at Zhang Ma's cold corpse and the severely injured Xiao Han and A Mo not far away.
She clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms.
She instinctively protected her lower abdomen; the dull ache from hitting the wall was still there, fiery.
But her abdomen was silent, no cramping, no sinking sensation.
The baby was fine.
Xiao Han quickly tended to his own wounds and called to A Mo: “Carry him inside.” He pointed to a relatively intact conference room nearby.
A Mo quickly stepped forward, carefully supporting Lu Shiyan's shoulders.
Lu Shiyan was completely unconscious, his face ashen, but a trace of dark red blood oozed from the corner of his lips.
“I'll help.” Su Wan stepped forward, lending a hand.
“Lu Shiyan, he…” She couldn't help but ask, her voice trembling in a way she didn't even notice.
Xiao Han rummaged through the medicine box, not looking up, his tone heavy: “I don't know, he's severely overdrawn.
Whether he can pull through… only he can decide.”
Su Wan's heart sank abruptly.