What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH211-213

Chapter 211| Chapter 212| Chapter 213

Chapter 211: A Little Excited

The man pushed her sleeve up a fraction higher, his eyes scanning the skin of her arm. “Have you felt any discomfort recently?” he asked.

“No,” Pei Xiqing answered quickly. Everything had been completely normal for her lately, and she hadn’t noticed any anomalies. There were no zombies in their isolated village, and she hadn’t experienced even a hint of physical pain over the past month.

It was just undeniably strange. Ordinarily, whenever active walkers were this close, the necrotic corpse spots on her body should have broken out far more severely than this.

Duan Xiaolin turned his head sharply toward the threshold. “Get Qiu Chao over here, as soon as possible.”

Shadow nodded instantly, preparing to signal the command staff.

Pei Xiqing hurriedly pulled her sleeve back down to cover her arm, reaching out to tug at the man’s cuff. “Really, I don’t feel anything wrong. Don’t worry so much, Brother Duan. There’s no need to trouble Brother Qiu Chao to make the journey out here.”

The man’s grip on her wrist remained absolute and unyielding. “Qiu Chao previously ran a comprehensive diagnostic on your system and confirmed that your abilities and physical vitals were stable. Therefore, if any mathematical anomalies manifest, you must be re-examined immediately.”

“Alright, I understand. I’ll wait for him to come over,” Pei Xiqing soothed, yielding to his concern. “But since we’re already here, let me step inside and take a closer look at the parasite first, okay?”

She had braved the lower levels of this facility for a specific purpose, and that purpose was directly tied to the massive organism trapped inside the cage.

Duan Xiaolin slowly released his hold on her wrist. “Watch your step.”

The concrete floor inside the cell was heavily littered with the mangled remains of various biological test subjects and baseline walkers.

“I will.”

With Duan Xiaolin shielding her flank, they stepped past the inner perimeter of the barrier. Pei Xiqing casually hitched her sleeves up slightly. She honestly didn’t believe there was a structural failure within her own body; if a critical mutation were occurring, her heightened perception meant she would undoubtedly be the first to sense it. However, the sluggish progression of the virus-induced corpse spots was undeniably outside her historical parameters. Compared to her previous baseline, this was a massive anomaly.

The closer they drew to the corner where the parasite was huddling, the more the surrounding atmosphere grew heavy and suffocating. The colossal entity resembled a deeply traumatized, autistic child, entirely refusing to communicate with the outside world. Ultimately, it crowded all nine of its massive heads together, pressing its bulk into the shadows of the concrete wall without letting out a single sound.

Pei Xiqing clicked on her tactical flashlight, projecting a steady beam of light to quietly study its form.

In the late-game lore of the original webnovel timeline, there had indeed been mention of hyper-evolved parasitic variants that completely eclipsed the threat of the zombie virus. The strongest of those strains had ultimately been subjugated to serve as the personal vanguard and mounts for the protagonist, Xiao Yue. Yet, this specific entity trapped in front of her didn’t possess a single trace of an entry in the text, nor did it match any data in her memory files.

She couldn’t even fathom what exactly it was trying to hide from. She certainly wasn’t fearsome enough, nor did she wield the kind of crushing genetic energy required to reduce a tier-one apex beast to a shivering mess.

The only logical answer was the man standing right behind her.

Pei Xiqing let out a soft cough, turning her head to look at him. “Brother Duan, what is its primary dietary preference? If I feed it something it likes, maybe we can get it to relax its defenses a little.”

Leaning casually against the alloy bars, the man let out a soft, amused chuckle. “Its primary preferences include high-tier zombie variants, parasitic organisms that match its own energetic tier, and thrashing, desperate humans.”

Before Pei Xiqing could process his words, Xiaobai—whom Shadow had been leading by the leash at the edge of the cell—suddenly let out a sharp whine and lunged forward. The massive pup tried to aggressively squeeze his bulky frame straight through the structural gaps in the inner cage.

Pei Xiqing rapidly clamped her hands around his lead, digging her heels into the dirt. “Xiaobai! Down! You are being far too reckless!”

The tension on the line forced the giant dog to a sudden halt.

Pei Xiqing tapped the top of his broad nose, chiding him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Shadow observed the dog’s intense focus, noting calmly, “Perhaps… the creature is simply experiencing a visceral surge of excitement upon encountering a member of its own genetic tier.”

“Really?” Pei Xiqing subtly loosened her grip on the leash. Sure enough, she noticed that the huddling, socially anxious monster in the corner had slowly begun to turn its gaze in their direction.

The exact moment the Hydra locked its sight onto Xiaobai, its nine dejected heads instantly flared with life. Rearing back into the air, its jaws parted to expose rows of gleaming fangs as it slowly, cautiously glided across the concrete floor toward the dog.

Xiaobai lolled his tongue out happily, his massive front paws frantically scratching at the middle layer of the alloy reinforcement bars.

Pei Xiqing looked at the giant beast, then down at her overly enthusiastic pup. She reached out to pat Xiaobai’s head, whispering, “Are you absolutely certain you won’t instigate a bloodbath the second the locks clear? Don’t make me come in there and drag you out.”

Xiaobai wagged his tail furiously. He genuinely seemed to comprehend the exact frequency of her voice; the moment she shifted into a lecturing tone, he immediately dropped his haunches onto the floor, sitting obediently before her.

Pei Xiqing added softly, “The parameters inside that cell are still highly volatile. If it launches an offensive strike against you, execute an immediate retreat. Do not attempt to contest the space.”

Xiaobai remained perfectly upright, his posture rigid with discipline.

Pei Xiqing glanced back at the man behind her, a look of profound amusement in her eyes. The pup truly was a testament to Duan Xiaolin’s conditioning methods. If an outsider walked into this lab right now, they would think she was conducting a formal military briefing for a canine operative.

Shadow stepped forward, disengaging the manual overrides for the final containment gate.

The exact second the steel door hissed open, Xiaobai bolted straight into the enclosure.

Inside the cage, the Hydra instantly shifted into a razor-sharp combat stance. A massive mutated beast and an oversized pup stood frozen in the center of the cell, their locked gazes crackling with tension.

The pup’s brilliant blue eyes stared directly into the monster’s eighteen glowing pupils. Though his tail instinctively tucked between his hind legs under the immense biological pressure, Xiaobai refused to back down an inch. He bared his sharp teeth, letting out a continuous, feral growl from his chest, looking as though he were prepared to launch a suicidal assault at any second.

The Hydra’s atmospheric pressure was equally staggering. The sheer genetic weight radiating from its multiple heads was enough to warp the air inside the chamber; its silhouette against the concrete wall resembled a primordial demon capable of swallowing a human whole in a single bite.

Pei Xiqing felt her chest tighten with genuine anxiety for Xiaobai. Even though she knew her pup had successfully integrated the genetic material of the two previous parasites from Xiao Yue’s arc, she couldn’t suppress the protective panic gripping her heart as she watched him advance. During those tense seconds of silent confrontation, she was genuinely terrified that the Hydra would snap its jaws shut and instantly crush the pup’s skull.

Duan Xiaolin smoothly reached down, sliding his hand into hers to anchor her. “He is no longer the defenseless animal that can be callously slaughtered at the whim of the wasteland.”

Pei Xiqing let out a slow, ragged breath. “The parasitic gene truly re-engineered his entire baseline. I honestly don’t know whether this evolution will prove to be a blessing or a curse for his future.”

“It does not project as a catastrophe,” he murmured.

Before the words could fully settle, Xiaobai suddenly darted beneath the Hydra’s colossal frame. Lunging upward, he clamped his jaws firmly around one of its long necks.

The Hydra’s immediate biological reflex was to execute a lethal counterstrike, but the exact second its remaining heads whipped around, its eyes collided with Duan Xiaolin’s cold stare. The monster instantly froze, dropping its massive bulk flat onto the concrete floor and ceasing all resistance.

Realizing the threat had dissipated, Xiaobai didn’t apply lethal force. Instead, he treated the apex predator like a massive playmate, playfully nipping at one head before spinning around to bat at another.

The Chief Judge raised his hand, flashing a precise hand signal to the captive beast.

Catching the directive, the Hydra’s massive necks coiled like pythons. Reaching across the floor, it tightly snared the baseline walkers that were still mindlessly thrashing inside the enclosure, stuffing them directly into its central maw. It executed the consumption with theatrical deliberation, as if actively demonstrating its predatory mechanics for Xiaobai, before systematically deploying its viral payload to parasitize the final remaining zombie.

Xiaobai dropped into a squat, tilting his head up to meticulously study the entity’s genetic sequence.

Standing outside the structural alloy bars, Pei Xiqing watched the presentation in absolute silence. After analyzing the creature’s behavioral patterns for a long moment, she turned to Duan Xiaolin. “Brother Duan, don’t you find this specific specimen to be mathematically anomalous?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Its cognitive framework is entirely different from the parasite we observed inside the glass vat a month ago.” Pei Xiqing fell into deep thought. “The previous entity was a mindless, rabid pathogen incapable of differentiating between human tissue and baseline wildlife. But this one… it clearly retains a substantial reservoir of residual self-awareness. It is fully capable of independent calculation. And, more importantly… I can sense a highly familiar frequency radiating from its core.”

She couldn’t formulate the exact biological terminology to explain the sensation, but looking at this creature triggered an entirely different internal response than when she had previously injected the laboratory serum into the tentacle variant. That first specimen had radiated an overwhelming, suffocating wave of pure murderous intent, its cells caked in the foul, turbid stench of stale blood. This one, however… despite wielding nine lethal heads and boasting a combat output that was likely multiple factors higher than the tentacle monster, lacked that chaotic bloodlust.

She took a tentative step forward, preparing to cross the threshold into the active enclosure.

Duan Xiaolin’s fingers instantly tightened around her wrist, arresting her advance.

Pei Xiqing looked up into his eyes. “It’s fine, Brother Duan. I need to step closer to run a sensory analysis. Xiaobai is right there anyway.” Worried that he would refuse out of caution, she smoothly slid her fingers into his palm, locking their hands together. “Come into the cell with me.”

With that, she gently guided the man across the threshold and into the heart of the iron cage.

The Hydra was still in the middle of its behavioral demonstration for Xiaobai, but the exact second its receptors processed their approach, its massive heads violently retracted. Compressing its colossal volume, it desperately tried to melt back into the furthest corner of the cell.

Pei Xiqing halted exactly three paces away from its primary neck cluster. Alongside Xiaobai, she stared intently into the monster’s eighteen glowing eyes for a long, drawn-out interval. Finally, she slowly extended her bare hand toward the darkness, her voice calm, clear, and steady.

“Xiaobai and I do not harbor hostile intentions toward your system. If your cognitive cortex can process the semantic frequency of my words, advance your primary head. I have a critical biological metric I need to confirm with your core.”

Chapter 212: Give Me Some Time 

Duan Xiaolin knew exactly what she was trying to do the moment she extended her hand.

He flatly disapproved. “It is a highly concentrated pathogen. Your biological baseline may not be able to adapt to its cellular structure.”

Pei Xiqing countered softly, “It’s fine. Aren’t you standing right here beside me? Besides, I have a strong intuition that it won’t trigger a hostile reaction.”

The Hydra had completely lost the savage, world-altering arrogance it had displayed when she first encountered it. Back in that industrial factory, it hadn’t viewed a single human being as a threat. She couldn’t fathom what kind of intense psychological or physical conditioning it had endured over the past month to entirely wipe the feral pride from its eighteen eyes.

There was a massive mathematical probability… that its submission was entirely tied to Duan Xiaolin.

Her tone remained gentle, completely devoid of the typical revulsion or terror survivors harbored toward parasitic anomalies. She simply maintained her extended palm, offering a steady focal point.

With Xiaobai continuously nudging and encouraging the massive beast from below, one of the Hydra’s long necks finally rippled forward, bringing its heavy head cautiously toward her bare skin.

The exact second the monster’s tissue made physical contact with her hand, Pei Xiqing stiffened slightly. Watching the viral shedding rapidly stimulate the latent virus inside her bloodstream, she turned her head to look at the man, a flash of profound surprise crossing her features.

Duan Xiaolin stepped forward, taking her hand in his to meticulously wipe the transparent, viral mucus from her skin with a clean cloth. “You are the very first human to ever willingly interface with a tier-one parasite’s baseline payload using your bare hands.”

Pei Xiqing offered a slight, knowing smile. “I didn’t feel a single trace of cellular rejection. It felt identical to the night I was bitten by that walker out in the wild. Is it scientifically accurate to hypothesize that my system is fundamentally immune to the parasite’s viral strain?”

“We will require comprehensive laboratory sequencing to confirm that baseline,” he replied, his brow furrowing in a rare display of open agitation. “You are taking far too many unnecessary risks.”

Pei Xiqing squeezed his fingers, her voice steady. “Don’t lose sleep over it, Brother Duan. I am entirely insulated against the structural threats of this wasteland, and I will never allow myself to become a liability that drains your focus. Even when you eventually return to the capital to systematically purge the corruption, I possess more than enough leverage to preserve my own safety.”

Furthermore, the exact instant her cells interacted with the parasite’s frequency, she could feel the dormant, serpentine energy of the Qiong Snake totem inside her flesh begin to restlessly stir.

If her biological calculations were correct, this apex parasite shared a direct evolutionary lineage with the Qiong Snake, and the Qiong Snake was fundamentally bound to Duan Xiaolin’s genetic framework. One of the core conditions of this world’s mechanics had finally rendered itself transparent to her.

Duan Xiaolin’s original, reality-warping superpowers were directly linked to the survival matrix of the primary host parasite. The destruction of the host would inherently destabilize his genetic baseline, which explained why the entity’s near-lethal hibernation had stripped him of his active abilities five years ago.

What exactly was the systemic reality of that ‘each taking what he needs’ policy engineered by the high command five years ago?

Before Pei Xiqing could unpack the thought any further, Shadow glided across the threshold to report that Qiu Chao had officially arrived at the facility.

The man smoothly guided her out of the active containment cell. Before crossing the threshold into the corridor, she couldn’t resist casting one final look back at the huddled silhouette of the Hydra.

Since the catastrophic proliferation of parasites across the external bases had absolutely nothing to do with this captive specimen, this entity was a vital asset that had to be kept alive at all costs. Absolute security had to be maintained around its containment grid; no administrative variables could be allowed to threaten its survival.

Anyone who attempted to execute this beast was her mortal enemy.

Brother Duan had been stripped of his supreme active capabilities for five long years. Now that his genetic template was finally on the verge of a total, flawless restoration, she would never allow a single faction to sabotage his ascension. When contesting space with baseline walkers, he still retained an elite arsenal of strategic warfare—utilizing high-caliber firearms, localized traps, and calculated biological counter-measures. But those hyper-adaptive, multi-headed parasitic variants could not be easily suppressed by conventional military ballistics alone.

He was stepping back onto the political board to clean up a catastrophic mess engineered by the directorate, and there was no telling how many predatory factions were currently watching his movements from the shadows, actively preparing to launch a lethal coup the moment he overextended. Under such volatile parameters, he absolutely required his apex, body-protecting supernatural abilities to guarantee his dominion.

The ruling elites back at Central Headquarters had witnessed his absolute ruthlessness; they desperately craved his administrative iron fist to manage and secure the structural stability of Franlun. Yet, paradoxically, they were entirely unwilling to pay the true executive price his alignment demanded.

Half an hour later, Pei Xiqing was escorted into a private office hidden deep within the facility’s lower subterranean levels.

The chamber carried a distinctly eerie, tomb-like quality, entirely insulated from the surface biosphere. There was no natural light penetrating the thick bedrock; the only illumination came from a solitary desktop lamp resting right at the man’s elbow, casting long, stark shadows across the concrete walls.

Pei Xiqing wandered lazily around the perimeter of the desk, her eyes locking onto a structured display case packed with weathered military trophies, historical badges, and tactical decorations. “Are these remnants from your early operational history?” she asked curiously.

“No,” Duan Xiaolin replied evenly, setting his files down. “This installation originally functioned as a classified, underground military mining complex. This specific chamber once served as the regional mining commander’s executive office. When the baseline zombie mutation initially detonated across the sector, the structural safeguards failed, burying the entire command staff alive beneath the bedrock—including him.”

Pei Xiqing leaned closer to the glass, finally deciphering the faded engraving on the central trophy beneath the dim yellow light.

“Too many lives have been callously ground into the dirt over the first five years of this apocalypse,” the man murmured, his voice flat. “The attrition has been so severe that we still retain a massive, mathematically staggering density of active walkers that have never been systematically purged from the deeper sectors. A secondary viral mutation event—one infinitely more volatile than the initial detonation five years ago—could fracture our defenses at any given second.”

Pei Xiqing leaned her lower back against the edge of the heavy mahogany desk, her expression thoughtful. “It isn’t just a matter of surviving the first five years of a zombie outbreak. There will likely be another five years after this, followed by the next ten, twenty, thirty years… Adaptation is a biological mechanism that will never hit a hard ceiling—whether you’re analyzing the evolution of human ability users or the genetic progression of the undead.”

The recent, hyper-aggressive manifestation of the parasitic variants across the outer perimeter was undeniable scientific proof of that reality. The end of the world wasn’t a localized crisis that would hit a clean resolution anytime soon.

Five years of survival was merely the opening movement of a grand orchestration. There was still an incredibly long, treacherous road ahead for humanity.

Suddenly, a crisp, rhythmic knock rattled the heavy oak door.

“Enter,” Duan Xiaolin directed calmly.

Clad in his signature black trench coat and faceless tactical mask, Qiu Chao pushed the door open, stepping smoothly into the dim office. He fixed his masked gaze on Pei Xiqing, his eyebrows lifting slightly behind his visor. “I’ve arrived to run your diagnostics.”

He lifted a sleek, advanced medical scanner, the diagnostic array humming to life in his gloved hand. “Shadow already briefed me on the energetic shift that manifested inside the containment bay. Miss Pei, please follow me to the upper deck. I need to run a comprehensive, head-to-toe evaluation of your cellular composition.”

Pei Xiqing didn’t immediately move; instead, she turned her eyes to Duan Xiaolin.

The man offered her a subtle, reassuring nod.

Reassured, she turned on her heel and followed Qiu Chao out of the subterranean commander’s office, scaling the stairs toward the sterile environment of the upper laboratory.

Inside the pristine, brightly lit medical lab, Qiu Chao efficiently drew a series of fresh blood samples from her vein, channeling the biological fluid into the main analyzer to test her genetic stability and track the precise rate of her viral fusion.

As the readouts finalized, his brow furrowed sharply behind his visor. He snapped the digital medical ledger shut with a hollow click. “The diagnostic metrics confirm that your proximity to active walkers has paradoxically caused the cellular symptoms of your virus to recede. How exactly does your baseline feel right now compared to your historical comfort levels?”

Pei Xiqing provided an entirely honest assessment. “The physical drag has faded significantly. The internal weight of the infection feels almost entirely neutralized.”

Qiu Chao uploaded the raw data stream straight into Franlun’s secure neural network. Within the glass visor of his mask, complex columns of rapidly shifting experimental data and mathematical models rolled across his pupils like a digital waterfall.

Unable to decipher his expression through the tinted alloy of his visor, Pei Xiqing couldn’t track his assessment; she could merely sense the sudden, heavy drop in atmospheric pressure inside the room as the silence stretched out.

Sensing her underlying tension, Qiu Chao let out a quick, easy laugh, deliberately breaking the clinical chill. “Don’t look so alarmed, Miss Pei. This is simply my default baseline behavior whenever I’m parsing complex biological data. I maintain this exact standard with every elite combat operative who sits in that chair. If I don’t project absolute, unyielding seriousness while evaluating their vitals, those arrogant ability users will assume I’m running a joke operation.”

“I understand.”

“Structurally speaking, there are no critical failures manifesting within your organs,” Qiu Chao summarized, setting the scanner aside. “Your core nutritional markers are infinitely more balanced compared to the data we extracted during your baseline evaluation a month ago. I can read the systemic stabilization clearly just by analyzing your skin tone. The only real mathematical wild card left is the long-term latency curve of the zombie virus—it remains incredibly complex to project over such a compressed timeline.”

As the words left his mouth, Qiu Chao raised his head to look through the wide, transparent observation window of the laboratory. His eyes accurately locked onto the cold, piercing stare of the man watching them from the corridor behind his wire-rimmed glasses.

Qiu Chao pressed his fingers against the rim of his mask, lowering his head slightly as he addressed the intercom. “Chief Judge… please, grant me a brief moment to stabilize the data.”

Chapter 213: Did You Do It On Purpose? 

The moment Pei Xiqing stepped out of the examination room, Xiaobai was already waiting patiently by the door. Hearing the click of the latch, he immediately pricked up his ears and bounded over, frantically rubbing his massive head against her side.

She squatted down, gently scratching behind his ears. Behind her, the heavy laboratory door clicked shut. Qiu Chao remained inside, likely completely lost in thought over the raw data.

She subconsciously glanced down at her bare arm. The rapid pace at which the necrotic corpse spots were fading felt entirely unnatural. She couldn’t tell if this shift was a blessing or a curse.

The total disappearance of her livor mortis meant she would no longer suffer from horrific zombie-like physical symptoms whenever walkers were nearby. But it also forced a chilling realization: her perception abilities had originally been triggered by those exact anomalies. If the physical marks vanished entirely, would her supernatural traits disappear right along with them?

Pei Xiqing cut the thought short. There was absolutely no point in overanalyzing it now. Truthfully, she didn’t care. She had already come this far. She was no longer the fragile, low-tier supporting actress who had to walk on eggshells, meticulously planning every step just to survive under the thumb of her superiors. Even if she lost her abilities, it didn’t matter anymore.

Taking a thick piece of meat that Shadow had prepared earlier, she spent a few minutes feeding Xiaobai before turning on her heel to walk back into the massive containment cell. Standing outside the reinforced perimeter, she raised her head to lock her gaze onto the Hydra.

“Five days ago, you finalized a deal with Duan Xiaolin, didn’t you?” she asked clearly.

Without Duan Xiaolin standing physically beside her, the Hydra’s demeanor was night and day compared to before. It lay lazily across the concrete floor, entirely ignoring her voice, its multiple heads refusing to even look in her direction.

Sure enough, this was the exact same arrogant monster she had first encountered back in the industrial factory. In that brief moment when it had acted docile, she had almost believed she had misidentified the specimen. But this haughty, dangerous entity—exuding pure contempt and looking down on every living thing—was the apex predator that truly fit the lore of the apocalypse.

Pei Xiqing didn’t lose her temper. Instead, she casually leaned her back against the alloy bars, a small smile playing on her lips. “I certainly don’t possess Brother Duan’s crushing genetic energy to force you to your knees, but you shouldn’t forget one fundamental reality: I am entirely immune to your viral strain. Not a single one of your predatory methods will work on me.”

Hearing her steady voice, the Hydra sluggishly shifted one of its massive heads. Yet, its expression remained profoundly indifferent and perfunctory.

Pei Xiqing reached down, lightly patting the pup’s flank. “Go on, Xiaobai. Bite it.”

Xiaobai didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second. Bounding through the secure entry chute, he charged straight into the main enclosure and sank his teeth into the Hydra. This time, the pup didn’t hold back his strength. His razor-sharp canine teeth clamped down so violently that he nearly tore one of the monster’s massive heads clean off its neck, leaving it hanging by a thread of mangled tissue. It was a grotesque, terrifying sight.

With a furious hiss, the Hydra violently whipped its massive tail, striking Xiaobai with enough force to send him flying across the cell. But to its shock, the pup’s teeth snapped shut around its tail mid-swing. The momentum looked as though it had successfully repelled the dog, but in reality, the beast had just sacrificed a massive segment of its own tail to the pup’s jaws.

Since integrating the previous parasitic genes, Xiaobai’s bite force was an absolute biological nightmare. Back in the valley, a single glimpse of his jaw structure was enough to terrify the local villagers into fleeing two miles down the ridge. If he hadn’t been immaculately trained to never harm a human, and if she and Brother Duan hadn’t carefully conditioned him together, he would have frightened half the population to death ages ago.

The Hydra let out a series of agonizing, sharp hisses. As its severed tissue began to sluggishly regenerate, all eighteen of its eyes flared with a feral, murderous bloodlust.

Xiaobai landed lightly on his paws, baring his bloody teeth as he dug his claws into the concrete, entirely unfazed by the counterattack. After a long, suffocating standoff, the Hydra’s focus suddenly shifted away from the dog, locking its gaze squarely onto Pei Xiqing.

The monster lunged straight toward her position at the viewing port.

But before it could even clear half the distance, Xiaobai intercepted the trajectory, his jaws clamping down to tear away a second head. Thick, emerald-green blood sprayed violently across the floor.

Pei Xiqing’s expression didn’t falter for a single second. “Still refusing to cooperate? I am fully aware that your cells possess infinite regenerative capabilities, but your system has only just emerged from hibernation. I highly doubt your current energy reserves can withstand having your necks systematically crushed over and over again like this.”

It was a calculated stroke of luck that this apex beast had previously sustained near-lethal trauma out in the badlands. If it hadn’t been severely weakened, it wouldn’t have required an entire month of laboratory containment just to stabilize a mere third of its baseline capacity.

The Hydra bared its gleaming fangs, its remaining heads thrashing through the air, its eyes burning with pure, unadulterated hatred. If its vocal cords were capable of articulating human speech, it would have undoubtedly been screaming obscenities at her. Unfortunately, it could only manifest its fury through physical violence.

Pei Xiqing completely ignored its posturing, casually waving her hand. “Xiaobai, come here.”

Xiaobai immediately broke off his attack, happily wagging his tail as he trotted back to her side. She pulled a clean handkerchief from her pocket, meticulously wiping the green stains from his muzzle.

“I know your cognitive cortex is restricted from speaking about the arrangement from five days ago,” she murmured, looking through the bars at the thrumming beast. “But you can easily answer my parameters with a simple nod or a shake of your head. Can we coordinate on that baseline?”

In response, the Hydra went entirely wild. Its massive tail thrashed against the floor as its multiple heads slammed relentlessly against the reinforced alloy bars and the concrete walls of its cage. As the most powerful dominant host in existence, it found the concept of being openly threatened by a fragile, unawakened human completely unacceptable. The exact second it managed to purge the remaining, indigestible remnants of the previous test subjects from its stomach, it was going to tear this arrogant human into microscopic pieces!

The monster’s violent tantrum lasted for more than ten minutes. Throughout the entire display, Xiaobai kept his blue eyes locked onto its throat clusters, fully prepared to spring forward and execute a lethal tear the second it overextended. Gradually, the Hydra’s erratic energy began to bleed off, and its massive frame settled back into the dirt.

Pei Xiqing stood firmly outside the steel threshold. “Once your processor has stabilized, advance to the boundary line. When I present a query, you will nod or shake your head. Nothing more.”

The Hydra let out a low, defeated rattle from its throat, reluctantly dragging its heavy bulk a few inches closer to her position. Even so, the impenetrable structural grid of the cage still separated them like a vast, impossible chasm.

Pei Xiqing didn’t waste her energy worrying about its compliance. If it weren’t for her desperate need to protect Brother Duan’s trajectory, she would have never willingly interacted with a volatile, highly dangerous biological anomaly like a dominant parasite.

“Is the evolutionary baseline of the Qiong Snake directly tied to your genetic matrix?” she asked flatly.

A long, heavy silence stretched out inside the subterranean chamber. Finally, one of the Hydra’s long necks sluggishly rippled, dipping its head downward in a slow nod.

Pei Xiqing had to narrow her eyes just to verify the movement. The lighting inside Sublevel Seven was exceptionally poor, and with all nine of its thick necks crowded together in the shadows, tracing a specific biological reflex severely tested her eyesight. To make matters worse, the monster was deliberately trying to obfuscate the data—one of its heads would nod while a neighboring neck violently shook from side to side.

“Can you stabilize your motor functions?” she chided, her voice dropping into a dangerous glare. “Are you intentionally attempting to corrupt the data?”

The Hydra flicked its long, forked tongues. Seeing the irritation flash across her features, a strange glimmer of malicious satisfaction seemed to dance within its pupils, and its multiple heads began to lazily sway in mockery.

Pei Xiqing’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Xiaobai.”

The massive pup immediately bared his teeth, letting out a deafening, feral roar that rattled the containment bay.

The Hydra flared its crests in response, its thick tail slamming violently against the structural restraints of the cell. But the exact next second, its movement triggered the facility’s automated defense protocols. A massive surge of high-voltage electrical energy arced down from the ceiling mechanisms, sending a blinding blue current straight through its genetic template. The beast’s entire body began to twitch violently, its nine heads flailing through the air in absolute agony before collapsing heavily onto the floor.

Pei Xiqing turned around, finding Duan Xiaolin standing quietly within the deep shadows of the corridor behind her. Behind the cold, reflective lenses of his glasses, his eyes were devoid of any human warmth, and his quiet voice carried a terrifying, final warning. “If your system continues to deviate from protocol, I will personally authorize your immediate termination.”

The Hydra curled its massive, trembling length into a tight, pathetic ball against the concrete, completely suppressed.

Pei Xiqing stepped toward him. “Brother Duan, did Brother Qiu Chao extract any definitive conclusions from the blood panels?”

“Not yet,” he replied evenly.

“Alright.”

He remained standing a few paces back in the dim corridor, the faint, glowing ember of a cigarette blurring his sharp features in the haze. The environment was too dark to read his expression, but the subtle, rich scent of tobacco smoke drifted over to her.

“Why do you waste your energy interrogating a captive specimen?” his raspy voice cut through the quiet. “Why don’t you simply ask me your questions directly?”

She let out a soft, low laugh, stepping closer to his space. “Because I’m highly certain there are specific historical parameters that your own conscious mind hasn’t fully unraveled yet.”

The man paused, the cigarette smoke curling around his fingers. “If the entity refuses to maintain absolute transparency, you are cleared to execute it on the spot. You don’t need to harbor any reservations regarding its utility.”

“Mhm,” she nodded obediently, her tone sweet.

In reality, she knew she could never casually eliminate this parasite—its biological survival was the absolute anchor to his peak capabilities. But she hadn’t expected Duan Xiaolin to wrap up his session with Qiu Chao and descend to the observation deck so quickly.

“It’s fine, I have the situation entirely under control,” she murmured, reaching up to lightly pinch the corner of his firm lips. “But what exactly were you and Brother Qiu Chao analyzing upstairs? Why did your aura turn so incredibly serious?” She smoothed her fingers along his jawline. “Come on, flash me a smile.”

Duan Xiaolin’s expression softened instantly, his hand moving to securely clasp hers. “Whenever I am standing beside you, I am entirely content.”

Seeing her stubbornly attempting to manage a tier-one apex monster entirely on her own just to protect his interests was, in his eyes, incredibly endearing.

“The diagnostics confirmed there are no structural failures within my organs, so you can stop losing sleep over my vitals,” she comforted him softly.

The man’s lips curved into a slight, knowing silhouette. “Very well.” He gently squeezed her fingers before releasing his hold. “Continue your evaluation.”

“Okay.”

He lingered for a few more quiet seconds before turning on his heel to return to the upper laboratory deck.

The exact moment his long strides vanished down the security corridor, Pei Xiqing pivoted back to face the iron cage, her gaze turning cold as she looked down at the shivering Hydra. She lightly clapped her hands together to command its attention. “Now then… I assume your processors have finally acclimated to the protocol?”

If a monster refused to maintain transparency when treated with human decency, it simply required a brutal administrative lesson to align its metrics. It had assumed it could effortlessly bully her based on baseline physical dimensions, but she was absolutely not a weak link that could be pushed around.

The electrical shock had severely disrupted the Hydra’s neural pathways, leaving it groaning in agony as its multiple heads lay tilted against the damp concrete. Fighting the lingering paralysis, it sluggishly forced its dominant neck upward, offering a slow, synchronized nod of absolute submission.

Pei Xiqing crouched down, propping her chin in her hands as she locked her eyes onto its central pupils. Her voice dropped into a sharp, piercing whisper.

“The primordial form of the Qiong Snake… the original entity that anchored his template… it was actually you, wasn’t it?”

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