Chapter 271: Why Run?

Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Why Run?

Feng Ling glanced behind him and wanted to laugh.

"This car won’t work," she said, shaking her head with a smile. "I should just call your captain and have him arrange for a truck."

It was only then that Duan Fei realized Feng Ling’s group consisted of two men, a woman, and a child, plus a Pollution Body with the upper half of a gray moth and lower half of a spider, a bird as large as a condor, and on top of all that, a white silk cocoon the size of a polar bear.

His patrol car really couldn’t fit all that.

"...In any case, I’ll first take you somewhere with no standing water," Duan Fei said quickly. "The Pollution Body can hide in the water, so it’s too dangerous around here... Oh, right!"

Duan Fei handed the flashlight to Feng Ling. "Take this. The Pollution Body avoids our headlights when it moves. Captain Han thinks it’s afraid of light, so it’ll be safer if you carry a flashlight."

’This Han Xu guy is pretty sharp,’ Feng Ling thought. ’The leech was only here for a few minutes, yet he still figured out it was afraid of light.’

The standing water at their feet suddenly churned unnaturally.

Ye Zheng was the first to notice something was wrong, forcefully shoving Feng Ling and Duan Fei aside!

The flashlight fell into the water with a SPLASH!

The beam of light wavered, illuminating a giant leech’s head emerging from the water! No—six heads, slick and plump, each lined with a ring of fangs like a circular saw!

But after her battle with the mountain of flesh, this leech looked as small as a toy to Feng Ling.

Ye Zheng lunged forward ferociously!

He swiped down with his claws, but the leech dissolved into the water like sludge and vanished. An instant later, it reappeared behind Feng Ling!

Duan Fei’s face fell in alarm, and he immediately moved to help.

He had only taken a single step before Xu Yiming blocked him. A moment later, Li Qing clamped a hand on his other shoulder!

Xu Yiming and Li Qing flanked Duan Fei, pulling him toward the side of the road. Seeing this, Duan Fei’s teammates also retreated hesitantly to the roadside.

"What are you guys doing?!" Duan Fei was dumbfounded.

Xu Yiming advised him with the voice of experience, "It’s better to stay far back."

"Why?!" Duan Fei demanded, growing frantic.

He had seen Feng Ling transform into the Big Snake in the water, but this was land! And with the leech able to hide in the water, it had every possible advantage. It was too dangerous!

When he looked up again, he saw twelve appendages shoot from Feng Ling’s back and impale the leech!

A look of delight flashed in Duan Fei’s eyes.

His joy lasted only for a second before he saw the leech dissolve like sludge and melt back into the water.

Duan Fei clenched his fists in frustration. The feeling that his attacks were having no effect was maddening! What was worse, the rain began to fall even harder, as if the heavens themselves were helping the Alien Species!

"Our attacks are useless!" Ye Zheng shouted in frustration.

"They’re not useless! It just dissolves into the water; it doesn’t vanish! Attack the water!" All twelve of Feng Ling’s appendages sprang to life, lunging at the water, biting, slashing, and thrashing!

She could absorb energy upon contact with living things, so as long as she could sense the pulse of its energy, she could instantly pinpoint its location.

Water splashed everywhere!

Pavement tiles, roof eaves, and billboards were shattered and torn apart in the wide-ranging assault!

Duan Fei finally understood why they had to stay back. The chance of being hit by collateral damage was just too high.

Feng Ling located her target. She suddenly dashed a few steps in one direction, and all her appendages stabbed violently into a patch of standing water!

SPLASH!—

The leech shrieked in pain, throwing up a huge wave as it reared its plump body back and spat a black liquid at Feng Ling!

Feng Ling immediately sidestepped, but in the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar pattern on the underbelly revealed as the leech reared up.

"Watch out, it’s poison!" Ye Zheng lunged and swiped at the leech. What he tore away was still sludge, but this time it was mixed with blood, proving the attack had been effective.

The leech once again dissolved into the water, vanishing without a trace.

Feng Ling frowned, scanned the area, locked onto a direction, and sprinted forward to continue the attack!

"How do you know it’s there?!" Ye Zheng asked, even as he lunged forward to viciously tear at the water’s surface, already trusting Feng Ling’s judgment completely.

"I marked it," Feng Ling replied, her expression much more serious than before. "You can’t escape."

The last sentence was directed at the leech.

She was no longer content to just play around. With a cold, stern gaze, she released the Spiritual Suppression of the Queen Mother of the West. Her Teeth and Claws plunged into the water and yanked the leech out from the surface!

All six of the leech’s heads hung limply, as if scared stiff, completely motionless.

In the distance, Li Qing suddenly shouted, "Feng Ling! It has a buff that makes it immune to spiritual power!"

Feng Ling faltered for a second.

The leech’s limp heads suddenly shot up and wrapped around her!

Everyone gasped in shock!

The giant leech clung to Feng Ling, almost completely enveloping her from head to toe!

Ye Zheng was furious, but Feng Ling’s Spiritual Suppression hadn’t vanished. It was a struggle for Ye Zheng to even walk, let alone attack.

Then another thought occurred to her: ’If the Spiritual Suppression hasn’t disappeared, does that mean Feng Ling is alright?’

Just then, the leech coiled around Feng Ling suddenly went slack and fell back into the water—

Feng Ling retracted her Spiritual Suppression and said mockingly, "Why are you running? I told you. You can’t escape."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

A rapid volley of bullets peppered the water’s surface, followed by several bright beams of light. Han Xu’s team had arrived.

Feng Ling paid them no mind. Her eyes were fixed on the rapidly moving mark!

Her new marking ability was more direct than the last. She no longer needed to track a red mist to sense her target’s position; it was as clear as if a radar had been installed in her brain!

She realized the leech was escaping through a storm drain, so she immediately ran to the next grate. Just as the leech arrived there via the drainpipe, her Teeth and Claws stabbed into the water once more, yanking it out just as she had before!

The leech twisted its body, struggling desperately as chunks of black sludge fell from it.

But the part caught in her Teeth and Claws could not break free, no matter how it struggled! Nor could it dissolve!

Feng Ling ignored its struggles, reaching a hand toward the familiar pattern on the leech’s underbelly.

Another glob of venom spat from the leech’s mouth!

Feng Ling didn’t dodge or flinch, letting the black liquid splash over her. Despite the protection of her scales, she could still feel a faint sting, but she didn’t care.

Excitement flickered in her eyes, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward. Her fingers gently traced the eye-shaped pattern on the leech’s body. Then, she dug her fingers in and, bit by bit, gouged the eye out of its flesh...

The parasitic eye, a living thing, rapidly withered and turned gray after being separated from the leech’s body, becoming a desiccated specimen.

Feng Ling liked it very much.

So much so that she lost interest in the dying leech. After hacking at it a few times, she tossed it to Han Xu, who was catching up.

She carefully threaded the newly collected eye onto the string with her previous ones.

She glanced over and saw a car parked not far away. The window was cracked open, and a long camera stick was extended from the opening, holding a phone in a waterproof case that was filming her.

Feng Ling usually didn’t like being filmed, but today was different.

She was in an excellent mood today, so she walked over and tapped gently on the car window.

A female streamer shakily lowered the window, her face deathly pale.

Feng Ling asked her politely, "Are you live?"

The streamer nodded in a daze. "Ah... yes... yes..."

Feng Ling took a few steps to position herself in front of the camera. She tilted her head, stared into the lens for a moment, and then spoke. "Xing Guang, are you watching?"

She held up the string of eyes in her hand and shook it, making them jingle as if showing off her war trophies.

"I will find you," Feng Ling said, smiling at the camera.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky—

For an instant, her bright smile in the camera’s lens turned chillingly sinister, like that of the Death God.