“Human methods are still so diverse...”
Ying Xiu lightly discarded the bullet its body had expelled and refocused its gaze on An Youxing.
“You bastard, you could have told me sooner that didn't work.”
An Youxing put away his handgun and drew a blade from the sheath hanging at his waist.
The blade was in the style of a Tang transverse sword. It wasn't his usual weapon; he was only using it temporarily because his own gear was in for maintenance.
Though he wasn't accustomed to it, as a Dao Manifestation rank Punisher, most weapons in this world were ready for use the moment they touched his hand.
“These bullets are expensive, and they can't be recycled.”
“How do you plan to repay this debt for wasting our bureau's funds?”
The two men behind him also drew their weapons, ready for combat.
They were also Punishers, both at the Clear Heart rank.
The Clear Heart rank was the first major watershed for Punishers. Some could never cross this threshold in their entire lives, but once one successfully broke through to the Dao Manifestation rank, advancing to the Star Initiation rank was practically guaranteed.
Just as everyone thought a fierce battle was about to erupt, Ying Xiu incredibly appeared above their heads.
“Wha—”
“When did it get up there?”
Ying Xiu, of course, offered no explanation. It was fundamentally different from typical Heterosequences.
It didn't kill for the sake of killing. Slaughter itself brought it no pleasure; its ultimate goal was to find enjoyment in the process.
As for what kind of enjoyment suited its palate?
Even it didn't know.
So it searched, wanting to find that feeling again—the exhilaration it had felt the first time it went on a killing spree.
This created a massive difference between its behavioral patterns and those of other Heterosequences of the same rank. It was precisely because of this that An Youxing's operations had never made any progress.
In the current situation, any other Heterosequence would have chosen to fight An Youxing to the death.
But the one standing here was Ying Xiu. It was a clever “person,” or at least it understood the wisdom of not fighting a losing battle.
The shadow hounds that were so important to it had already lost two members today. It couldn't continue fighting and allow An Youxing and the others to destroy the last shadow hound; even as powerful as it was, it couldn't afford such a loss.
So, it prepared to flee.
Ying Xiu excelled in speed, not to mention its core essence was a space-type ability. If it truly intended to run, even a Dao Manifestation rank like An Youxing couldn't stop it.
“I'm very grateful for your pursuit during this time... gentlemen, I shall take it as a form of recognition. Regrettably, our banquet has ended so abruptly, but after this, we will have many opportunities to meet...”
“Dammit, you're trying to run again!”
“Don't lump me in with those fools, gentlemen.”
The eerie smile reappeared on the face of the floating Ying Xiu. It didn't seem to move, yet it effectively caused all the trio's long-range attacks to miss.
Bullets, lasers, and blade-light—nothing could hit it.
An Youxing's expression finally turned grim.
“It seems our understanding of each other is still too shallow... Don't worry, we'll have plenty of chances to spend time together. There are countless hours ahead for us to continue our struggle.”
“Hahaha... what a truly delightful future!”
Ying Xiu's form was no different from a phantom in myth. An Youxing and his colleagues never stopped their attacks, but they were powerless against it.
Ying Xiu's figure drifted further and further away, finally vanishing from their sight.
Venting his frustration, An Youxing swung several arcs of blade-light into the night sky before finally lowering his weapon.
“It ran once, it ran twice—four times, five times, and we still can't pin it down! Those managers won't approve gear and won't send reinforcements! Damn it, do they take us for nuclear-powered donkeys?!”
An Youxing's colleagues were clearly accustomed to his outbursts. The two of them left him aside and began the cleanup work.
One went to comfort the civilians who were still in a state of terror, while the other helped Qiu Shubai up from the ground.
“Are you alright, comrade? We're from the Jiangnan Province Ability Bureau. Do you need us to call an ambulance for you?”
It wasn't that these public officials were biased toward Punishers. Although the civilians present were severely shaken, they hadn't been involved in the combat.
In this incident, everyone who had been directly harmed by the Heterosequence, aside from Qiu Shubai, was no longer in this world. If anyone needed care, it wasn't their turn to provide it; that was the jurisdiction of the Reapers.
And those who were frightened wouldn't recover anytime soon; the best they could do was try to comfort them.
Because of this, the only person they could truly help was Qiu Shubai, who had fought the Heterosequence.
“I'm okay... just a bit tired. I am the Vice Section Chief of the Second Combat Section of the Yuanxing City Ability Bureau. Thank you to the provincial bureau for extending a hand to us.”
Qiu Shubai's extremely faint voice fully proved her current weakness, but she still maintained her basic rationality, choosing to report her official identity.
“So you're a colleague from the city bureau,” An Youxing said, having finished venting his frustration as he joined the cleanup. “Xiao Li, call an ambulance for her immediately.”
“She was bitten by that thing's dog. It's best to send her to a specialized hospital for a proper checkup to avoid any hidden lingering effects.”
“Understood.”
Xiao Li moved quickly. He helped Qiu Shubai to a chair to rest and then directly dialed the Punisher hotline for Yuanxing City First Hospital.
But just as everyone thought the dust had settled, a loud bang suddenly came from the wall behind them.
An Youxing was also startled. When he saw clearly what had happened, even this battle-hardened frontline Punisher couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Ying Xiu, who had just been mocking them, was pinned by four identical longswords. Each sword had pierced through its limbs and driven deep into the wall.
A faint shimmer, barely discernible to the naked eye, flowed across the surface of the longswords—the characteristic of an activated ability, cold and precise.
Ying Xiu howled as it tried to break free, but a Heterosequence was not invincible.
In a sense, Heterosequences were once human. They often retained many human behavioral traits, including the sensation of pain.
The intense pain prevented Ying Xiu from making any larger struggling movements. Pitch-black liquid energy flowed down the decorative patterns on the wall; that was the “blood” of a Heterosequence.
Using the faint moonlight reflecting off the blades, An Youxing recognized the model of these longswords.
Tier 1 weapon, Grantee Longsword.
Seeing so many Tier 1 weapons appear at once, a name exploded in his mind. This was followed by an uncontrollable sense of admiration, which then turned into deep concern.
It wasn't just him; everyone at the provincial bureau had complex feelings about this guy. Every time he appeared, it meant that a large chunk of their credit would be taken away.
But that wasn't the most annoying part.
The most annoying part was that if he didn't show up, the operation or mission would likely end in failure, and they wouldn't get any credit at all.
Sure enough, the familiar voice rang out in his ear.
“You run pretty fast, but you're not exactly built to take a hit.”
Luo Yang stepped slowly out of the shadows, looking at Ying Xiu mockingly.
His gaze was identical to the way Ying Xiu had looked at those unarmed humans earlier.
“This is the first time I've seen a Heterosequence that can be pierced by a Grantee Longsword.”
Qiu Shubai naturally noticed the commotion and saw Luo Yang.
“He is... Luo Yang?”
She knew Luo Yang's identity within the Ability Bureau, but the team she led had almost never dealt with him.
Yet for some reason, she felt this silhouette was familiar—an indescribable feeling, as if she had seen him somewhere long ago. But no matter how she searched her memory, she couldn't find a corresponding image.
“I'm taking the Heterosequence's core.”
An Youxing said with a bitter smile, “Can I even say no?”
Forget this small Yuanxing City—even in the entire Jiangnan Province Ability Bureau, as long as it was a case involving a Heterosequence, if Luo Yang was willing to help, there were no conditions they wouldn't agree to.
If the funds allocated from above weren't strictly earmarked for specific purposes, leaving no extra money, the people in the province would have definitely promoted Luo Yang from the Yuanxing City bureau even if they had to pay an astronomical salary.
Unfortunately, while they were short on cash, this guy was also a homebody who seemed very unwilling to leave Yuanxing City for work.
Luo Yang seemed completely indifferent to what others thought of him. The only reason he appeared here was that he had seen a new commission on his phone app: obtain Ying Xiu's core.
Obviously, he was the only one in all of Yuanxing City who could take this mission.
The core of a Heterosequence was an excellent material for manufacturing Punisher weapons and equipment. It was only natural that someone wanted to get their hands on it to tinker with some new gear.
Moreover, the compensation was indeed quite generous—a full 150,000 Shenzhou coins.
Therefore, even though he had already gone home and was lying in bed scrolling through his phone, Luo Yang had still accepted the mission.
He just hadn't expected to run into today's mission target on his way here.
Luo Yang stepped forward and casually drew a brand-new dagger. Ignoring Ying Xiu's miserable roars, he attempted to forcibly gouge out the core buried deep within its body.
“Aaaaagh!!!!”
Ying Xiu's howls became even more agonizing. It struggled desperately to escape, but its space-type core had completely stopped responding; it couldn't even use the most basic space-type ability like teleportation.
Luo Yang's face remained calm. Holding the dagger in a reverse grip, he repeatedly stabbed into the positions where he thought the core might be hidden.
One stab, two stabs, three stabs...
After twenty-seven stabs—exactly twenty-seven—he actually managed to gouge that core out alive.
Once a Heterosequence lost its core, regardless of its rank, it would die instantly. The energy that formed its body would completely dissipate, melting into the planet's atmosphere.
It wasn't the first time An Youxing had witnessed Luo Yang's style, but it was the first time he had truly seen someone extract the core of a Shadow rank Heterosequence while it was still alive.
The pitch-black hexagonal crystal reflected the cold moonlight, with residual black liquid energy flowing over its surface. Luo Yang shook it dry with a look of disgust before tucking it into his pocket.
This isn't just some external help, An Youxing smiled bitterly again.
This is a Living Yama.
The Grantee Longswords that had pinned Ying Xiu's limbs silently turned to dust. Luo Yang looked at the four sword marks with a bit of heartache before turning toward Qiu Shubai.
He walked quickly to the young woman's side, and a faint trace of energy caused his pupils to shrink.
“Is this... residue from a blood spirit stone?”
Blood spirit stones were the red ores Qiu Shubai had absorbed on her way here. However, they weren't natural ores but industrial products that had undergone artificial processing.
In Luo Yang's knowledge, only one organization in all of Shenzhou could receive allocations of these things.
The Special Division, that “Special Incident Operations Section” which resembled an intelligence agency and was founded by one of the first ten Soul Kindling rank Punishers in Shenzhou.
She's from the Special Division?
Luo Yang's gaze toward Qiu Shubai held a bit more suspicion, but he also knew now was not the time to consider that.
Qiu Shubai had slipped into unconsciousness at some point. Luo Yang bit his finger and let the flowing blood drip into her mouth.
This was a common method among Punishers to replenish blood energy—obtaining blood energy by directly ingesting blood. This method worked quickly, though the conversion rate was low; its main advantage was its broad applicability, allowing the vital signs of an injured Punisher to be stabilized as quickly as possible.
However, Luo Yang chose to feed his blood to Qiu Shubai because he had another thought.
His ability was to control weapons that belonged to him. But what was control, how was it controlled, what was a weapon, and what counted as belonging to him?
No person or law had ever defined those questions.
According to Luo Yang's own repeated trials, he only needed to combine the reality of the situation with a reasonable explanation in his mind for anything to be defined as a weapon belonging to him!
Including his blood.
As the blood entered her throat, Luo Yang concentrated his spirit. Using the blood as a probe, he amplified his mental strength within Qiu Shubai's body, meticulously investigating her physical condition.
After confirming that Qiu Shubai had only fainted temporarily due to blood loss and blood energy exhaustion, Luo Yang finally let out a long sigh of relief.
No matter how many mysteries surrounded Qiu Shubai, he didn't want anything to happen to her.
After all, this woman was his—
re-examination examiner!
Rate on N.U.
