Chapter 50: Chapter 49 Crying Snake_1
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
```
Soon, Huai Shi, armed with an automatic rifle and wearing a gas mask, was kicked off the vehicle and followed the burly brothers of the Sublimators Suppression Troops into the manor, which still retained flames in places.
All around, a swath of white met the eye.
In the burnt ashes of desolation and ruins, monstrous creatures could be seen constantly. Whether it was the remnants of scales with horrifying hardness or the fierce skeletons... they seemed as if they came straight from Hell, in a bizarre form that natural evolution couldn't possibly produce.
Besides that, only a deadly silence remained in the manor.
The further forward Huai Shi went, the colder his heart became—what the hell were these bastards hiding here? Even now, streams of black gas continued to rise slowly from beneath the white ashes, dissolving into the air.
Those robust soldiers with gas masks also seemed unable to bear the pressure here, with many stumbling and falling to the ground. Their teammates quickly dragged them out to the medics for emergency treatment.
But Huai Shi seemed completely unfazed.
He didn't feel any discomfort; on the contrary, his mind was terrifyingly clear, and both his body's reaction speed and perception were becoming sharper.
"Abyss sedimentation, this place has been transformed into a feeding ground, the concentration of Abyss sedimentation here is even higher than at the Border."
In response, Ai Qing said through the communication link, "A proper amount of pressure can accelerate the operation of your soul, similar to diving. But for ordinary people without a forged soul, these sediments are deadly poison. The cultists love this kind of trick the most."
"Uh..."
Huai Shi readied his rifle, carefully watching his surroundings: "What exactly are they trying to pull off?"
"Who knows, they probably want to go big," Ai Qing replied calmly. "Once the main force enters, they would use the God-given Engraved to elevate the depth here, like stuffing us into something's stomach, and the black gas you see is akin to stomach acid, slowly digesting us..."
Huai Shi shivered involuntarily, shrinking his neck and growing even more vigilant.
Although the Special Affairs Department's power was vast, they were still within the system and had many inconveniences—they could only resort to rounds of mortar fire in situations like this. Even with terrorists, who could have imagined that there would be a crippled woman in the decision-making layer who would fire missiles at the drop of a hat?
This is still domestic territory, for crying out loud!
What are you doing?
Not just the allies, even the spirits of those unfortunate ghosts would probably be full of confusion.
Fortunately, Ai Qing's descent of justice and the subsequent White Phosphorus Incendiary Bombs had thoroughly cleansed the ground; now in the manor, not even a live insect could be found.
Even if any foul fish or rotten shrimp hadn't been killed or burnt to death, they would have burnt their lungs to a crisp with the poison gas and collapsed to the ground.
At the innermost part of the ruins, Huai Shi saw a body that could only be described as ferocious, as if it had been in the destruction range when the missile exploded. Half the body charred, it hadn't died on the spot but had struggled to escape.
Then it was swallowed by a White Phosphorus Incendiary Bomb that rained from the sky, burned alive by the fire like maggots on rotting flesh, leaving behind a twisted mass of char.
One could vaguely make out a face reminiscent of beasts.
The half-charred, half-broken face revealed a fragmented skull resembling that of a monkey, with large and sharp teeth, which crumbled into two pieces with a simple tap of the rifle barrel.
Though there was science, and there was Divine Power, facts had shown that Divine Power still couldn't beat science.
While it was unclear if it was a Second Stage Sublimator with some bizarre Stigmata, in the Current Circumstances, it couldn't withstand the oppression of the iron flood.
It's said that in the Old Magic Era, things weren't like this, but with the construction of the three major blockades of the Current Circumstances, the difficulty for Sublimators to wreak havoc has only increased.
As for the details, Raven said he would tell Huai Shi after he officially received the Stigmata. But until then, nothing more had been mentioned voluntarily—probably some sort of hidden secret.
After Huai Shi did one final sweep for any dangers, he waved to a few soldiers in hazmat suits carrying big boxes over, they briskly tossed that body into a box to be sealed and taken away.
Even the bodies of Sublimators have value; even burned to a char, one might still be able to extract some remnants of Stigmata, and an autopsy might directly reveal their identity.
Unfortunately, the burning from the Incendiary Bomb was too thorough, and the body crumbled to dust with a touch.
Impossible to piece back together.
Huai Shi continued forward, but after taking two steps, he sensed something off and retreated to his original spot, bending down to wipe through the still-warm ashes on the ground.
Through the ashes whose residual warmth hadn't yet dissipated, he saw a hint of metallic luster, and as he dug further, he made out the outline of steel.
It was a Dagger.
Its guard was deformed by the heat, and the wrapping on the hilt was almost carbonized, but the blade itself remained intact, covered only in a layer of black char.
About forty centimeters long and five centimeters wide, with a single-edged blade. The style looked like some kind of ceremonial artifact used in rites, but Huai Shi found it exceedingly handy when he tried Drawing Sword with it; it seemed to be more than just a ceremonial piece.
He weighed it in his hand and felt it was no ordinary item.
"It's a Border Relic," chimed Raven's voice, suddenly appearing as if from nowhere at Huai's side. "It should be a result of excavation from the Abyss of depth 7 to 8. Looks like a Sacrificial Knife used for live sacrifices by the Tenochititlan Empire—good stuff, eh!"
Raven peeked from the shadows, his eyes twinkling as he watched Huai, "Is there a way to pocket it on the sly?"
"...Where did you spring from? And what the hell are you thinking?!" Huai Shi asked through the Book of Fate, "There are people watching behind me; where would I even hide it?"
"Isn't it pretty normal to ninja loot in a party?" Raven shrugged. "Also, watch your back."
At that moment, there was a chill in the air as something broke through the space.
```
A chill raced up from the back of his neck.
Huai Shi didn't hesitate; he swung his sacrificial knife behind him, only to hear a sharp, massive bang, and he was almost sent flying by the tremendous force.
Fortunately, he was no longer the novice he once was; midair, he somersaulted, landed on his feet, and faced the direction of the attack.
Then, he saw a figure slowly materializing out of the air.
The first thing he noticed was the thick blood dripping from the charred flesh, and as the muscles moved, many tiny, fresh red cracks burst open on the burned black skin.
Immediately after, he saw numerous pieces of charred skin slowly peel off.
It was like a snake shedding its skin.
Breaking free from its old shell and death,
embracing rebirth.
In the midst of painful spasms, the burned dead skin fell off bit by bit, but it seemed the new skin hadn't yet had the chance to grow, only revealing a layer of twisted flesh that was a blur of blood.
And those resentful eyes.
Huai Shi took in a sharp breath.
"Bro, you need me to call an ambulance for you?"
He talked a big talk, but his body wasn't as compliant; dropping the sacrificial knife, he lifted his automatic rifle and opened fire.
Within ten meters, he aimed and suppressed the gunfire, emptying a magazine in a few seconds, then skillfully pulled out a new one from the Quick Reaction Vest on his lower back, changed the magazine one-handed, and continued firing.
Who was he kidding? If he didn't shoot, was he supposed to wait for the thing to close in and slash him up instead?
Huai Shi had no confidence in going toe-to-toe with a being strong enough to survive under incendiary bombs—could he really outfight them? Better to shoot first... After training with the Book of Fate, he wouldn't dare to call himself the king of shooters, but he wasn't the rookie who didn't even know how to fire steadily. The one-handed magazine change he'd learned this morning nearly dazzled the eyeballs of the Suppression Troops behind him.
Chang Wei, you say you don't know martial arts!
The moment Huai Shi pulled the trigger, that eerie figure tried to dodge, probably caught off guard by Huai Shi's quick response, not even bothering with the Border Relic in his hand. Seeing Huai Shi drop something, it instinctively lunged forward, trying to reclaim the weapon.
But bullets are always faster than humans; in an instant, twenty steel-core bullets turned it into a bloody wind chime, green blood splattered all over the ground.
While Huai Shi was reloading, the figure had already scrambled and rolled into the ruins behind the broken wall.
The beefy brothers of the Suppression Troops weren't just there to look pretty, though they were stunned at first, they quickly unleashed a storm of bullets, nearly turning that half-wall into a sieve.
With his magazine reloaded, Huai Shi found time to pick up the Border Relic from the ground and casually slipped it into his vest. Without hurrying to check his results behind the wall, he took some iron grenades from his comrade's pocket, unplugged the pins, and when the timing felt right, he heaved them over.
Before the sound of the explosion could be heard, a shadow bolted out from behind the broken wall with a piercing howl, charging straight at Huai Shi.
Crash!
Huai Shi instinctively drew his sword to block, only to feel the military sabre in his hand snap at the center. Taking the momentum to fall backward, he felt something cold graze his face, chilling to the bone.
It was a sharp bone spur.
The chaos of gunfire stopped abruptly as the soldiers who had surrounded the area suddenly weakened, collapsing to the ground as if drained of strength.
Even behind the gas mask, Huai Shi could still smell a sweet and sickening scent, his vision blurring.
Poison!
He threw a handful of Apocalypse Ash, forcing the figure back, and as he got to his feet, he felt a wave of weakness.
Only now did he get a clear look at the newcomer's true face.
After surviving missile bombardments and white phosphorus bombs, the person looked as though they had shed a layer of skin, the new flesh faintly showing a layer of pink scales, and with three strange horns on their forehead, each a different color.
What the hell!
"Don't wimp out, get 'em!" Raven's voice rang in his ears, encouraging him, "The Stigmata of the Crying Snake are only Second Stage; they survived only because they are a little tougher with their Soul Ability. That poison is nothing compared to what I feed you every day!"
Can you maybe talk less crap? Huai Shi retorted angrily, And what exactly do you feed me each day?
No time to berate that backstabbing creature, the Sublimator with the Crying Snake Stigmata already lunged at him again, his bone spur thrusting straight for his throat with lethal precision and astonishing speed... but the posture seemed almost like it was mockingly laughing at Huai Shi.
Bro, can you even?
Huai Shi easily dodged the thrust, swiftly drawing the sacrificial knife that was tucked at his chest, flipping it in mid-air to hold it in a reverse grip, and stabbed downward.
As their figures crossed, before Huai Shi could stabilize, he heard a ghastly scream from behind.
From shoulder to lower back, a huge gash was carved into the Crying Snake's shell by the sacrificial knife, revealing the color of the bone beneath.
When the sacrificial knife tasted blood, the layer of charcoal on it seemed to wash away, exposing the bronze beneath.
The flowing blood seemed to be absorbed by the blade, converging on the edge and writhing like living tendrils. Meanwhile, the wound it inflicted didn't bleed at all, instead withering as if it were split wood.
It looked sinisterly terrifying.
-- Gift
received