Chapter 52 - 48: The Author is Speechless

Chapter 52: Chapter 48: The Author is Speechless

"Like hell I’m saving him!" Yin Zhen cursed furiously in her head, but her body honestly charged forward.

"Help out!" Yin Zhen pulled the axe from her waist with one hand and yanked the submachine gun from her back with the other.

White Phosphorus rushed ahead of her, the Blood Flame on her fists surging. She sent the Mutant lunging at Ian flying with a single punch, and smashed her other fist into a tentacle whipping toward her face. The stench of burnt flesh exploded in the air. The tentacle spasmed and shrank back, while White Phosphorus was forced a few steps back by the recoil.

Lighthouse charged forward, slamming his Shield onto the ground. It stood like an iron gate in front of the group. A Mutant crashed into it, and with a backhanded swing of his machete, he cleaved open the skull of another.

Tuner stood in place, spreading the ten fingers of his hands. Blood silks shot out from his fingertips like countless taut piano strings, weaving into a precise net in the darkness. ℴ

Three Mutants rushed into the net. The blood silks tightened and sliced. Before they could even scream, their bodies were shredded into pieces. Black blood splattered against the wall, sizzling as it hit.

More tentacles surged from all directions. The blood silks pulled tauter and tauter. Veins bulged on Tuner’s forehead. With a violent yank of his hands, the blood net burst. The blood silks spun out like razor blades in every direction. Wherever they passed, tentacles were chopped into sections, and black liquid poured down like a torrential rain.

Seeing the backup arrive, Z13 and Z49 instantly shifted their auras, pivoting from defense to offense.

Z13 twirled her twin daggers, her figure moving so fast she became nothing but a blur. It was clearly a speed-type Extraordinary Ability. Wherever her daggers flashed, the severed ends of the tentacles were as clean as if cut by a laser.

Z49 pulled a sawed-off shotgun from his waist. He blasted any Mutant within three meters to pieces with a single shot. His movements were crisp and decisive, though it was temporarily unclear if he possessed an Extraordinary Ability.

Ian was dragged to the back by Yin Zhen and handed over to Tuner. She immediately charged forward, cleaving open a Mutant’s skull with her axe while pressing her submachine gun against another’s jaw, emptying the entire magazine.

Although she could not use any Extraordinary Ability other than Transformation right now, her combat style was more beast-like than anyone else’s. Dodging into close range, swinging the axe to hack, raising the gun to spray—there was not a single wasted movement.

A Mutant lunged from the flank. Yin Zhen swung her arm, smashing the axe handle into its face. The moment it jerked its head to the side, she dropped the empty submachine gun, drew Night Song, shoved it into the creature’s eye socket, and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The Mutant threw its head back and collapsed, its entire head blown apart.

More and more Mutants poured in. Tentacles dangled from the holes in the ceiling, whipping down simultaneously like a nest of inverted snakes.

Lighthouse raised his Shield to take the hit head-on. The iron plate caved in under the lash. His legs buckled, forcing him down on one knee, as deep gouges were left on the Shield.

Z13 flipped over his head, locking her twin daggers around a tentacle. Using the momentum, she spun like a top, shredding four or five tentacles in the process.

Z49 pressed his shotgun against another and blasted it in half. The severed tentacle convulsed on the ground a few times before springing up and wrapping around his ankle. He glanced down and crushed it under his boot, his motion as casual as stomping out a cigarette butt.

Tuner’s blood silks possessed decent area-of-effect capabilities, holding off the majority of the Mutants and tentacles, but the toll on him was immense. A tear was ripped in his net, and three Mutants rushed in, lunging straight for Ian.

White Phosphorus spun around to intercept, punching right through one with a fist of Blood Flame. Just as the second one’s claws were about to graze Ian’s face, Yin Zhen’s axe flew over, spinning through the air before embedding itself in the creature’s forehead.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She fired three consecutive shots, the bullets piercing the first one and blowing off the head of the Mutant trailing right behind it.

S717 possessed outstanding Talent in Close Combat Gun Skill, which was also the only Intermediate Skill out of Yin Zhen’s three current Skills.

The tentacles retreated slightly, unexpectedly beginning to reform. They gathered together, twisting and intertwining into several thicker strands that slowly reared up like giant pythons.

The walls of the entire cabin area were writhing. More Mutants squeezed out from the cracks, swarming like an ant colony pouring from its nest.

Lighthouse stood up, holding his Shield horizontally in front of him. "I might not be able to block the next wave."

Tuner retracted his blood silks, his hands trembling. "You have to block it even if you can’t!"

Z13 and Z49 retreated to Lighthouse’s flanks to reload. White Phosphorus stood in front of Ian, her Blood Flame burning at its brightest.

Yin Zhen swung open Night Song’s cylinder and quickly loaded High Explosive Bombs into it.

The python-like tentacle violently smashed down. Yin Zhen pulled the trigger, and the High Explosive Bombs detonated inside it, blasting a massive hole. However, it only veered slightly off course, crashing into the adjacent steel beam. The floorboards beneath their feet shook violently.

Seizing the opportunity, Z13 dashed forward. She plunged her twin High-frequency Vibrating Daggers into its wound and carved a long gash, causing black liquid to spout like a fountain. If not for the Special materials of their Diving Suits and Combat Uniforms resisting the liquid’s corrosion, they would not have been able to hold out this long.

Z49 decisively charged up, pressing his shotgun against the tear and firing four consecutive shots, blasting it in half from the middle.

The two severed halves thrashed wildly on the ground, sending Z13 flying before she could dodge. She slammed into the wall with a muffled grunt, her daggers slipping from her grasp. But she instantly rolled back onto her feet, scooped up her weapons, and continued fighting.

Lighthouse’s Shield was pierced from below by a tentacle that drilled out of the ground. White Phosphorus’s Blood Flame dimmed by half, and Tuner was down to only five blood silks. His spiritual power was nearly drained dry; his temples throbbed violently, and his vision repeatedly darkened.

Mutants were still pouring out endlessly, and the tentacles were constantly reforming.

"There’s a platform below! No Mutants!" Ian yelled to everyone, lying flat on the edge of the metal floorboard that had already tilted to a forty-five-degree angle.

Yin Zhen immediately switched to her Hook Lock Gun and fired a shot at a seemingly sturdy pillar nearby. The steel cable pulled taut. She rushed over, grabbed Ian by the wrist, and without hesitation, leaped straight into the bottomless darkness.

The sounds of hooks firing rang out one after another. Just as Tuner secured his own rope, he turned his head and saw his beloved Lucia dragging the useless Ian down with her. Gritting his teeth in fury, Tuner leaped off right after them from the same spot.

A python-like tentacle whipped in from the flank, mercilessly snapping everyone’s hook cables.

"Captain—"

The sound of snapping steel cables mingled with the deafening crash of the collapsing metal floorboards. A massive number of Mutants tumbled downward alongside the metallic wreckage. In the darkness, those blood-red spores swarmed from all directions like sharks smelling blood.

The wind howled past her ears. Yin Zhen gripped Ian’s wrist tightly as steel rebar, pipes, and shattered floorboards whipped past their eyes like a waterfall played in reverse.

She could use Shadow Manipulation. She could even use the abundant shadows here to envelop Ian, teleporting them both together to the nearest crossbeam. But if she did, Ian would know she was not the real Lucia. She was S717—the S717 who had awakened Blood Source Resonance and resonated with other Extraordinary Abilities.

From beneath his helmet, Ian’s eyes were fixed on Yin Zhen. His hands were not trembling; from beginning to end, he hadn’t shown a trace of panic. Yin Zhen could sense it. He was waiting. Waiting for her to expose herself.

The steel rebar on the lower level was drawing closer. It crisscrossed chaotically, its tips sharp as spears. If they crashed into it at this speed, both she and Ian would be skewered into sieves.

"If worse comes to worst, I’ll just abandon Ian, take the penalty of an Identity Card downgrade, turn into a Raven, and save myself first!" Yin Zhen thought.

Just in the instant she was about to let go, a Water Curtain suddenly rose from the ground below. Like a waterfall flowing upward, it caught her and Ian steadily, absorbing the brunt of their downward momentum and deflecting them off course together.

Yin Zhen and Ian crashed onto the rotten metal floorboards one after the other. With a loud CREAK, the boards gave way again, plunging them together into the seawater below.

The pursuing spores halted above the water’s surface, changing direction to hunt for the others.

[Triggered Golden Event Card: Fateful Encounter]

[Event Explanation: ...]

[Mysterious Evaluation: Stop looking, the ellipses just mean ellipses. It means I’m speechless. As for how this plotline develops, write it yourself (throws pen)!]