Chapter 43: Exploding the Building!
Seeing her companions suddenly freeze as if they had crashed, their eyes vacant and expressions dazed, Jiang Li showed a puzzled look.
Just then, before she could come back to her senses, an unsettling spirit energy fluctuation erupted around them.
Accompanied by that wave of spirit energy, dense fog materialized around the crowd, with ugly, semi-transparent appendages resembling balls emerging from the mist.
With a series of slick, sticky sounds, the bloody and meaty tips of those appendages gradually opened, revealing countless teeth, and deformed tissues lashed out like long tongues.
At this sight, Jiang Li suddenly regained her senses, stepped back, and a long kn*fe quietly manifested in her hand. Skillfully, she drew an arc with it, raising it to face the grotesque appendages that were gradually approaching, swinging the blade.
Cut!
With a slight tremor from the spirit energy fluctuation, a section of the semi-transparent limb was sent flying by the trajectory of the long kn*fe, emitting an inexplicable foul odor as bl**d poured out, landing on the ground and quickly transforming into what resembled wet, hair-like tissues.
With no time to think further, after severing the ugly limb in front of her, Jiang Li immediately rushed toward the next person.
Gripping the kn*fe tightly with both hands, her figure spun and maneuvered within the small living room, wildly swinging the blade as if dancing.
A piercing sound of cutting through the air suddenly rang out; as the level of spirit energy fluctuated, the power and toxin on the blade surged beyond previous levels.
The ethereal blue arcs traced by the long kn*fe easily sliced through the ugly limbs like cutting grass.
bl**d splattered!
Every time a tentacle was cut, Jiang Li could vaguely hear whispers by her ear.
“Stay up all night tonight, just this once.”
Not advisable! Even spirit ability users must ensure the most basic sleep if there are no special circumstances!
“Have a drink.”
Meaningless! Never believe that moderate drinking is good for your health!
“Smoke one.”
Absolutely not! Smoking is harmful and provides no benefits, harms others and oneself!
“Clang!”
After slicing the last limb, Jiang Li followed the momentum of her downward strike, embedding the long kn*fe into the ground, supporting herself with it as she steadied her stance and looked up, her pupils trembling slightly.
She saw that after she had severed all the limbs, the Flesh and bl**d Tree behind Tan Qiuming seemed unwilling to give up, once again spewing out dense fog.
As if blown by a fierce wind, the foggy branches and leaves formed from the Flesh and bl**d Tree shook violently, and then, like dead leaves drifting from the branches, the thick fog floated down rapidly toward everyone in the room.
Without any order, the mists almost arrived before everyone at the same time.
Like before, one by one, they were being broken down; fearing that time was running out, Jiang Li slightly furrowed her brows, parted her thin lips, and murmured, “In the Northeastern Wasteland, there’s a beast, resembling a deer but with one horn.”
As she chanted the description of her spirit patterns’ authority, the spirit energy within her body surged like boiling water, and green armor instantly covered her entire body.
With a thought, the Xiezhi-shaped shoulders surged, and suddenly a cold light flickered in its majestic eyes. Wherever the cold light swept, all the ugly limbs extending from the dense fog bore a glowing hoof-shaped mark.
[Descend Punishment: The Nineteen Linked], activated!
Seeing those marks, Jiang Li hesitated slightly before tightening her grip on the long kn*fe and striking at the nearest ugly limb.
This newly acquired ability from her successful spirit pattern upgrade had only been tested for stability at the Siye Society headquarters a few times; she had never used it in actual combat. Now, using it on so many targets at once made her somewhat uneasy.
“Puh—Puh—Puh—!”
With a single slash, a string of dull noises of flesh breaking echoed.
Almost identical jagged wounds instantly appeared on all the ugly limbs.
Effective! Jiang Li exhaled a slight sigh of relief and quickly struck out the second and third slashes.
Those ugly limbs marked by the [Linked] stamp; as long as one limb was attacked, the rest marked would sustain the same damage in the same area, share the glory and share the loss.
Thus, when Jiang Li unleashed several strikes with all her might on the limb closest to her, all the limbs around her paused simultaneously, piercing screams erupted, and as bl**d burst apart, all the limbs met their demise, the long kn*fe slowly slicing through them, leaving a trail of faint light.
Just when Jiang Li thought everything was over, she suddenly heard abnormal sounds.
“Bang—Bang—Bang—!”
It sounded as if some colossal being were rampaging through the building, the muffled sounds coming from above, growing closer.
Accompanied by the muffled sounds, the entire building trembled as if it were about to collapse.
In the blink of an eye, the sound arrived above her head, and after a brief silence, a massive mud flower exploded on the ceiling, countless debris and dust fell, and several ugly tendrils came crashing down from above.
Instinctively, Jiang Li wanted to raise the long kn*fe to block in front of her, but before she could lift it, she felt darkness before her eyes, as if she had been hit head-on by a speeding truck, and was thrown backward.
Pain spread across her body, sharp, piercing sounds resonated from the armor, as if countless blades were scraping against it.
After colliding with the wall and landing on the ground, Jiang Li had no time to think. She bore the pain and rolled several times, then used the momentum from her roll to slightly spread her long legs upon landing, steadying her stance, and gripped the long kn*fe tightly again, pointing the blade forward.
As the dust settled, she saw Tan Qiuming, who had fallen to the ground, suddenly stand up, several almost invisible bloodlines extending from the vortex behind him, connecting to the gaping fractures in the shattered ceiling.
A mass of dark red flesh was slowly writhing in those fractures.
When did that flesh begin to corrode the entire building? Jiang Li’s eyes widened slightly.
While she pondered, Tan Qiuming slowly raised his hands, gripping Zhong Hui’s throat, and the next second, countless thick limbs shot out from the Flesh and bl**d Tree, wrapping around Zhong Hui’s body.
Not good! Jiang Li’s heart tightened, just as she was about to step forward, she saw the fierce shadow behind Zhong Hui suddenly move.
“Ha ha ha—!”
With a burst of wild laughter, that fierce shadow’s previously empty arm rapidly ballooned, and the thick arm swung like a swinging hammer, screaming as it swung around, clutching all the ugly limbs in its grasp and pulling hard.
“Voom—!” The wave generated from the collision of spirit energies spread, releasing a low, bass rumble.
Amidst the rumbling, the fierce shadow raised its arm, wielding a large black sword, swinging it violently toward the ugly limbs.
Jiang Li watched, her eyes twitching slightly at the sight. The arm was clearly wielding a broad sword, yet it evoked a sense of wielding a massive axe.
After severing all the ugly limbs, a series of crisp bone-crunching sounds immediately transmitted from the fierce shadow, and together with the cracking sounds, the shadow’s mouth opened exaggeratedly, revealing countless sharp teeth, moving like a fast-spinning chainsaw, and crushed the limbs sent into its maw.
“Boom—!”
With a heavy sound reminiscent of a gate slamming shut, the fierce shadow’s massive mouth slowly closed, followed by a series of chilling sounds of chewing and swallowing.
[Devour Ghost]!
After the phantom born from the spirit pattern authority instinctively devoured those ugly limbs, Zhong Hui temporarily gained immunity to the powers corresponding to the Flesh and bl**d Tree, coming back to his senses.
Gathering himself, he looked around and spotted Jiang Li, who was brandishing a long kn*fe and seemed to have just experienced battle. A trace of surprise flickered in his eyes.
In dealing with urban legends, he had always acted recklessly, but that was because he had the capital to do so; the phantom generated by his spirit pattern would instinctively devour the spirit energy attacking him when sensing danger, thus briefly gaining immunity to the corresponding powers.
But he never expected that Jiang Li had awakened before him.
Could it be that she also possessed some ability to resist the effects of urban legend powers?
With no time to think further, Zhong Hui shook his head, activating his powers once again, using spirit patterns to weave chains and wrapping Tan Qiuming tightly, then quickly retreated to Jiang Li’s side, whispering, “Take them and run!”
After saying that, he picked up two of the three companions who had not yet awakened and tucked them under his arms, rushing toward the building exit.
Hearing an explosion coming from the direction of Minhe Community, a fire erupted.
Luxianbei wasted no time, leaving Zhou Tong, who was excitedly chatting with her, and ran toward the direction of Minhe Community.
However, she hadn’t run far before her coat began to stir, bringing the vibrating mourning Gray Owl Badge into her hand.
The coat,
It has a telephone, Lady Witch, here!
As she received the mourning Gray Owl Badge passed by her coat, Luxianbei lightly brushed her fingers across it when she heard Jiang Li’s voice.
“Luxianbei, don’t come over, I’m not in danger!”
At such a time, over half of the operators from the Shancheng Siye Society were over there. If Luxianbei suddenly appeared after becoming an urban legend, she would definitely be regarded as someone trying to take advantage of the chaos.
“No danger?” Luxianbei frowned and said, “It’s exploded, that fire is huge. Are you really Jiang Li? It won’t be some urban legend pretending to be her, right?”
“There’s a grave at Lions Mountain Cemetery, buried inside…” Jiang Li said faintly.
Before she could finish, Luxianbei hurriedly interrupted, “Honey, don’t say anymore, okay?”
“Mm.” Jiang Li replied and shifted the topic, “In any case, just don’t come closer. The explosion just now was because they were blowing up the building.”
“Blowing up the building?” Luxianbei tilted her head, “Why? When did the Siye Society adopt the habits of the White God Group?”
The White God Group is an organization similar to the Siye Society in Russia. Although Luxianbei had never interacted with their members, she had heard of their style; when the White God Group discovered an urban legend event, they usually resolved it in the simplest and most brutal way, such as blowing up buildings.
“We had no choice. The entire building was corrupted by some urban legend.” Jiang Li explained, “The interior walls are filled with unknown flesh.”
In fact, when Jiang Li and Zhong Hui discovered those ugly limbs, resembling parasites, hollowing out and corrupting the entire No. 7 unit building, they were both taken aback.
So far, this was their first encounter with an urban legend that could massively convert steel and concrete into flesh.
Luxianbei nodded thoughtfully, asking, “What about Tan Qiuming?”
“Don’t worry, we’ve captured him,” Jiang Li said, “I’ll be escorting him to the Sanxia Mental Hospital together with Senior Zhong Hui soon, and I’ll let you know after we get information from him.”
Luxianbei fell silent for a moment, nodded, “Okay.”
Afterward, she carefully stored the mourning Gray Owl Badge, sighed silently, and hailed a taxi passing by.
Since Jiang Li was no longer in danger, it was time for her to meet Dorethea.
