Jiang Huai swallowed hard, an overwhelming urge to gag rising within him.
If it weren't for Lu Wanyin last night, he probably would have been treated the same way as Shen An'an.
He turned tremblingly to Lu Wanyin beside him and asked, "She... is there any way to save her?"
It was clearly a stupid question.
Lu Wanyin shook her head, her expression indifferent. "Unless she has a body like yours, one that's not ordinary."
Then, she raised her hand, summoning a pitch-black sickle, its cold gleam sharp and intimidating.
At the same time, the monster, noticing their presence, threw aside the woman's remains and let out a piercing shriek before pouncing toward them.
"Stay behind me, Jiang Huai. This is an infected, code-named Hundred-Armed Worm."
She instinctively tried to place a hand to her ear, only to realize she wasn't wearing her earpiece and was only wearing a nightdress.
"Code-named Death God, commencing the hunt."
She muttered to herself before dashing forward, her movements like lightning, closing the distance between her and the monster in an instant.
The sleek, sharp sickle traced an elegant but brutal arc in the night air.
With a flash of cold light, one of the creature's front limbs was severed, falling to the ground with a thud.
Bright red blood gushed from the wound, splattering across Lu Wanyin's face.
She exhaled softly, a puff of white mist emerging from her cherry lips.
In the next moment, the sickle gleamed once more, cleanly slicing the monster's long spine in two.
The monster let out a dreadful scream and collapsed to the ground.
Lu Wanyin lightly withdrew the sickle, flicking the blood off the blade.
The battle had been swift, yet she showed no signs of fatigue, her breathing calm and composed.
Jiang Huai stood in stunned silence. Last night, Lu Wanyin had told him to close his eyes, so he hadn't seen her fight. Now, seeing her up close, he was even more shocked.
Lu Wanyin crouched beside the woman, gently placing the woman's hands on her chest.
"May your soul rest in peace, may you never suffer again in your next life."
The woman's pupils trembled, her mouth unable to form words. Then, with a flash of cold light, Lu Wanyin's sickle severed the woman's neck, sending her on her final journey.
Lu Wanyin then calmly walked toward Jiang Huai, speaking in a flat tone, "I'll call the logistics team from the organization to take care of the aftermath. For now, let's..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly sensed something.
It was a familiar aura.
And Jiang Huai had already noticed. Behind Lu Wanyin, a crack was slowly tearing the air apart.
"Watch out!"
Jiang Huai shouted as he ran toward Lu Wanyin.
The girl slowly turned around, just as the monster's head emerged from the rift, locking eyes with her.
Her pupils constricted in a split second.
The monster suddenly twisted its face into a terrifying grin, its sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight.
It opened its mouth wide and lunged at Lu Wanyin's head.
In a split second, Lu Wanyin snapped back to her senses, instinctively raising her sickle.
However, it was too late. She barely managed to block the attack, but the monster bit down on the blade of the sickle.
The two forces stalled in mid-air for a moment before the monster suddenly jerked its head, slamming Lu Wanyin, along with the sickle, into the brick wall behind them.
Bang—!
A dull crashing sound was followed by a short, pained scream from the girl.
Lu Wanyin felt a massive force hit her, her internal organs shifting violently, and a mouthful of coppery blood spilled from her mouth.
She slid weakly down the wall, collapsing on the filthy ground, struggling to hold herself up.
Blood dripped down from her temple, and Lu Wanyin gasped in agony, her vision blurring from the intense pain.
The sickle had already slipped from her hand, falling to the ground a few feet away.
Weakly, Lu Wanyin turned her head. She wanted to look at Jiang Huai, but her vision was so blurry she couldn't see where he was.
She could only muster the strength to yell, "...Jiang Huai, quick... run..."
The monster's enormous body and twisted face were slowly emerging from the rift, exuding an overwhelming aura of evil and threat.
Lu Wanyin struggled to sit up, but her legs had already gone numb.
What terrified her the most wasn't her injuries, but the fear coursing through her.
"This... this isn't an infected..."
Her voice trembled, filled with disbelief and horror.
Yes, she finally realized—this monster wasn't the low-level infected she usually hunted. This was a full-fledged...
Beast.
And it was clearly quite intelligent.
Once it emerged from the rift, instead of immediately killing, it enveloped the alley with its presence, creating a completely secure hunting environment.
After ensuring this, it began leisurely chewing on the body of the infected that Lu Wanyin had just slain, while slowly closing the distance toward her, its eyes flashing with cruel, bloodthirsty light.
Lu Wanyin trembled as she tried to move backward.
Her entire body screamed in pain, feeling like it might fall apart at any moment.
Fear washed over her like a tidal wave. This wasn't the first time, but she had never imagined that after all this time, she would still feel so weak in the face of a Beast.
The monster drew closer, its mouth full of sharp teeth, blood spilling from its maw, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to Lu Wanyin.
In the nick of time, a stone flew through the air, hitting the monster in the head.
It let out an angry hiss, its head snapping around to see the direction the stone came from.
"Run!" Jiang Huai's voice shouted from the side. "I'll hold it off. You get out of here!"
As he spoke, he threw another stone at the creature.
This time, the monster was completely enraged. Its eyes glowed with fury as it abandoned the defenseless Lu Wanyin and charged toward Jiang Huai.
Seeing the monster approaching Jiang Huai, Lu Wanyin's heart raced with panic.
She gritted her teeth, trying to suppress her fear, trembling as she moved toward the sickle on the ground, muttering to herself in self-encouragement.
"I... I can do this. I'm not the same as before... I can do it..."
But when her hand finally grasped the sickle, her trembling fingers couldn't even lift the weapon properly.
A deep sense of helplessness and anger surged within Lu Wanyin's heart.
Memories flooded back: her parents killed by the beasts, the screaming crowd, the flames, the nauseating smell of blood.
Then, a scream snapped her back to the present. She quickly turned her head.
Jiang Huai had already been caught by the monster, held in its grasp.
It seemed to enjoy tormenting its prey. When it caught Jiang Huai, it didn't immediately kill him.
Instead, it began tearing his arms off with its sharp claws.
Blood gushed out, splattering in the air.
Lu Wanyin felt the warm, nauseating liquid splash across her face. Her pupils constricted, and her expression went blank.
The pain in Jiang Huai's body nearly made him lose consciousness.
In that instant, an inexplicable surge of fury filled his heart.