What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH175-177

Chapter 175| Chapter 176| Chapter 177

Chapter 175: Kill It

The two monstrous parasites were still locked in a fierce struggle, but the tentacled monstrosity from the containment tank clearly lacked practical combat experience. Unable to match the sheer deterrence of its opponent, it was quickly forced into a disadvantage.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Xiao Yue pulled a radiant, golden crystal core from his chest pocket. The moment it was exposed to the air, the crystal erupted with blinding light and a massive surge of supernatural energy.

Pei Yanting’s mind raced, rapidly calculating a viable battle plan. Using this final, high-tier crystal core meant they were completely burning their bridges; there would be no turning back. She cast a quick, cold glance back at the unconscious Pei Xiqing before her attention was drawn back to the two roaring titans clashing in the center of the lab.

Perfect, she thought. This was the exact apocalyptic host they had been waiting for.

Killing it meant harvesting invaluable crystal cores and taking a massive step closer to their ultimate goal. The future of this apocalypse shouldn’t be monopolized by a single faction. Neither Franlun nor the official bases had the right to dictate human freedom. As long as Xiao Yue didn’t forget his original promise, sacrificing this ultimate trump card would be more than worth it.

Pei Yanting rapidly recorded the tentacled parasite’s attack patterns and mass, analyzing its structural vulnerabilities. “Xiao Yue! Attack its lower right flank!” she shouted over the din. “Aim for the exposed area beneath the tentacles! Do not strike the limbs! Damaging the tentacles will only trigger its rapid regeneration and make it stronger! If we get locked into a battle of attrition, it will just drain our supernatural energy until we die!”

Xiao Yue nodded grimly.

The golden crystal core levitated and seamlessly merged with his own supernatural energy, instantly amplifying his power output by at least three times. Coupled with his newly awakened tri-elemental abilities and his near-absolute combat intuition, his chances of actually slaying the apocalyptic beast skyrocketed.

He hadn’t dared to act earlier because he only possessed this single, supreme-grade crystal core. He had been saving it for the most critical moment to ensure it delivered maximum impact—a single, fatal blow to completely obliterate the terrifying mutant.

Now was the perfect opening.

Factoring in the parasite’s regenerative cooldown and its shifting weak points, Pei Yanting screamed at the top of her lungs, “Now, Xiao Yue! Kill it!”

Supercharged by the crystal core, Xiao Yue’s aura exploded. He no longer looked like the sickly, coughing man from a moment ago. Locking onto the parasite’s exposed flank, the three distinct supernatural abilities in his palms violently intertwined, condensing into a massive, blinding sphere of destructive light. He lunged forward to deliver the fatal strike—but in the next second, a powerful burst of dual-elemental energy slammed into his path, forcefully blocking his advance.

“You!” Xiao Yue spun around, glaring furiously at Ling Lang, who was sprinting toward him. “Why are you stopping me?!”

“Who the hell do you think you are? It’s not your turn to play the hero,” Ling Lang snarled, his own anger boiling over.

When he had rushed toward Pei Xiqing earlier, he had seen Duan Xiaolin arrive to catch her. Though his body still trembled slightly from the shock of seeing her collapse, he knew Brother Duan had her safe. He needed to handle this mess first before checking on them.

“The monster is suppressed and vulnerable right now!” Xiao Yue argued furiously. “If we don’t strike immediately and miss this opening, we’ll never be able to kill it!”

“And I’m telling you,” Ling Lang flashed directly in front of him, unleashing a vicious blast of supernatural energy to push him back, “it is none of your damn business!”

Xiao Yue shielded his chest, skidding back two steps. The condensed energy swirling around him crackled dangerously. Dual ability users were already incredibly rare in this apocalyptic world, but he was likely the only person alive to have awakened three distinct powers. Once fused, their destructive output was catastrophic.

Long Yan had previously researched the theoretical existence of triple-ability users, but data was virtually nonexistent; they only existed as hypothetical algorithms in headquarters’ supercomputers. Seeing Xiao Yue’s tri-elemental aura firsthand, she quickly realized the terrifying devastation those combined powers were about to unleash.

She quickly threw up a hand, deploying a barrier of her own energy to separate the two men. “Ling Lang! Back down! Don’t force his hand!”

“If you want to kill that thing, you’re going to have to go through me first.” Ling Lang completely ignored Long Yan’s warning, standing his ground and firmly blocking Xiao Yue’s path to the parasite.

“Then don’t blame me for not holding back,” Xiao Yue said coldly.

“You’re a useless piece of trash,” Ling Lang spat. “Don’t act like you were ever being polite.”

“We have no choice but to destroy that monster! Do you want everyone in this cavern to die?!”

“You can do literally anything else to it except kill it! Do you not understand human speech?!”

“You—!”

Meanwhile, the dynamic between the two colossal parasites shifted.

The grotesque, tentacled host from the tank was running out of time before Pei Xiqing’s sedative took full effect. In a frenzy, countless parasitic insects frantically wriggled out of its fleshy appendages, trying to swarm. The nine-headed snake-human parasite seemed visibly disgusted by the spawning vermin. With a single, devastating sweep of its massive, scaled tail, it crushed and blew away the entire swarm of insects crawling across the laboratory floor.

Noticing the intense standoff between the ability users below, the snake-bodied parasite seemed to possess a high level of sentient consciousness. Recognizing what the humans were targeting, it ceased its active suppression of the host’s lower tentacles. Instead, it slithered back and coiled its massive form around the ruined stone pillars of the laboratory.

Its deep, intelligent green eyes stared coldly down at the humans. It was choosing to watch the show from a distance, intending to wait for the humans and the host parasite to fight to the death before effortlessly reaping the benefits.

“It’s too late!” Xiao Yue roared, seeing the host parasite breaking free. “You really are trying to get us all killed!”

Unable to withstand the overwhelming, crystal-enhanced shockwave, Ling Lang was violently thrown backward by Xiao Yue’s blast. The tri-elemental strike smashed him brutally against the heavy stone wall.

Ling Lang coughed, spitting a curse. “Fuck.”

This bastard really does have three supernatural abilities.

Taking advantage of the opening, Xiao Yue moved with blinding speed. He closed the distance to the host parasite’s weak point in an instant, driving his glowing, tri-elemental strike fiercely into the exposed flesh.

The impact triggered a massive fluctuation of supernatural energy, accompanied by an overwhelming, pungent stench of vaporized blood. The parasite’s body began to erupt in a continuous chain of gruesome explosions.

It sounded like a string of massive firecrackers detonating. The ground quaked violently, and massive chunks of debris broke loose from the laboratory ceiling. The frantic regeneration of the monster’s tentacles abruptly ceased. Its colossal, bloated body swayed unsteadily in the air for a long, agonizing moment before slowly beginning to collapse.

“No!” Ling Lang screamed.

That thing cannot die! I’d rather die myself than let my brother suffer the backlash! Desperate, he pushed off the wall and threw himself forward, trying with everything he had to intercept the fatal energy.

Noticing his sheer desperation, Pei Yanting’s eyes narrowed. Guessing there was an underlying secret, she deliberately provoked him. “Ling Lang! Are you seriously going to make an enemy out of the entire world and jeopardize humanity’s safety for a disgusting parasite?! It’s not worth it! You’re an elite operative directly monitored by the Central Headquarters. Unit 009 was nurtured and funded by the human bases! By maliciously interfering with the destruction of this threat, are you truly worthy of the base’s resources and the people’s trust?!”

Ling Lang’s supernatural barrier briefly stalled Xiao Yue’s advance, but it was ruthlessly shattered by the hero’s third ability. The overpowering shockwave slammed into Ling Lang, instantly damaging his mental core and sending a stream of blood trailing from the corner of his mouth.

“You talk too damn much,” Ling Lang wheezed, wiping his chin. “These are my personal actions. They don’t represent any faction or organization.”

“Is that so?” Pei Yanting sneered coldly. “But if I remember correctly, Unit 009 is about to be formally placed under the strict management of the base’s military command. To act like a traitor now… what do you think the thousands of soldiers risking their lives on the surface would say about this?”

Ignoring their argument, Xiao Yue utilized the crystal core’s overwhelming speed. In the blink of an eye, he had torn through several more of the parasite’s vital weak points. The gargantuan monster’s chaotic breathing grew noticeably weaker.

Ling Lang clenched his fists, struggling to stand. Under the suffocating pressure of Xiao Yue’s aura, his physical endurance had been pushed to its absolute limit. It felt as though all his internal organs were being actively crushed. Xiao Yue’s newly awakened third ability… it was clearly related to gravitational force or spatial pressure. Every time Ling Lang tried to move, he had to fight against an invisible, crushing weight.

Ling Lang was knocked violently to the floor again, his impact cratering the concrete. Looking through the dust, he saw Pei Xiqing lying pale and unconscious in Duan Xiaolin’s arms. The sight made his blood boil with rage. He forced himself back onto his feet, fiercely wiping the fresh blood from his mouth.

He knew better than anyone that this grotesque parasite deserved to be eradicated. If its life wasn’t directly tied to his brother’s survival, he would have gladly butchered the damn thing himself!

Xiao Yue turned around, looking down at the battered Ling Lang. He opened his mouth to deliver a final warning—but before he could utter a single word, his body was brutally sideswiped by a massive, thrashing tentacle from the dying parasite behind him.

Chapter 176: Only Ten Seconds Passed

Everyone stared in sheer disbelief at the colossal parasite that had just collapsed.

It wasn’t dead yet!

The monstrosity violently shook off a layer of bugs from its grotesque body and launched a frenzied counterattack at Xiao Yue.

Having completely drained the energy from his supreme crystal core, Xiao Yue was utterly defenseless. Within seconds, thick tentacles wrapped tightly around him, squeezing with bone-crushing force. He was violently hurled across the room, tumbling across the hard concrete over a dozen times before finally skidding to a halt. The relentless tentacles pursued him, nearly smashing his battered body to pieces.

This abomination was impossibly resilient! He had pinpointed all its structural weaknesses and delivered a devastating strike to every fatal point. It had been on the absolute brink of death just moments ago, yet here it was, fighting back with renewed fury.

Long Yan rushed over to help Ling Lang to his feet. “This variant is way beyond our operational limits,” she gritted out. “As long as its core mother body survives, the host remains practically immortal. And this thing is terrifyingly cunning—it constantly shifts its core among the swarm. Any single one of the thousands of insects it excretes or absorbs could be acting as its true mother body.”

A cold realization washed over the squad: they might actually die here.

This apocalyptic beast, denied its hibernation, possessed an overwhelming home-field advantage. The millions of lesser parasites and corpses that had festered in this cavern over the past five years had provided it with a virtually inexhaustible source of nourishment.

“Cough… cough…”

Amidst the chaotic din of the ruined laboratory, a faint, weak cough suddenly broke through.

Pei Xiqing, who had been lying unconscious in Duan Xiaolin’s arms, weakly coughed up dark blood in her pain. A creeping layer of sickly, black-and-gray corpse spots began to visibly spread up her neck. Just as the necrotic marks threatened to crawl onto her face, they were forcefully halted by Duan Xiaolin’s supernatural energy.

Duan Xiaolin watched her every micro-expression with terrifying intensity.

He ruthlessly suppressed the creeping corpse spots that marred her skin like dark tattoos. Gently placing his fingertips against her neck, he felt the faint, steadying thrum of her heartbeat returning beneath her flesh, alongside the stirring energy of the Qiong Snake. Only then did he let out a slow, shaky breath.

Moments ago, when Pei Xiqing had collapsed, her breathing had entirely stopped, and the Qiong Snake’s aura had vanished. In a moment of absolute desperation, he had poured nearly all of his overwhelming supernatural reserves into her body, forcefully reawakening the dormant snake and kickstarting her vital functions.

During that process, absolutely nothing in the chaotic environment around them could have broken his impenetrable focus.

When her pulse finally stabilized, he realized with a profound shock that only ten seconds had passed in reality. But for him, time had contorted; during those agonizing ten seconds when her breath had ceased, he had nearly lost every shred of his legendary self-control.

The momentary cardiac arrest had been a direct result of the horrific viral infection and the brutal impact from the parasite’s tentacle.

Now that Pei Xiqing’s condition was stable and her breathing had evened out, Duan Xiaolin slowly stood up, holding her securely against his chest.

The laboratory was in utter chaos.

The colossal parasite continued its relentless rampage, spawning swarms of infectious insects. Ling Lang and the rest of the 009 squad had been battered to the ground.

Duan Xiaolin merely cast a single, glacial glance across the room.

A terrifying surge of supernatural power erupted from his dark green eyes. The ancient curse of the serpent and the absolute weight of misfortune slammed directly into the host parasite’s massive eyeball.

With a sickening bang, the colossal eye violently exploded in a shower of gore. An overwhelming, icy force instantly descended upon the beast, brutally pinning it flat against the concrete floor.

Cut off from their host, every single parasitic insect swarming the room instantly withered and died, dropping to the floor like dead leaves.

The survivors’ eyes widened in sheer terror, but Duan Xiaolin wasn’t finished. With a ruthless flick of his wrist, he wielded his power to violently rip the massive nine-headed snake parasite down from the stone pillars where it had been casually watching the show. He showed the divine beast absolutely no respect, nor did he seem to care in the slightest about the catastrophic backlash killing these two apocalyptic hosts would bring upon him.

“If you enjoy watching the show so much,” he said, his voice dropping to a deadly, arctic whisper, “then there is no need for you to live.”

The nine-headed serpent, previously so arrogant and domineering, instantly plummeted into an abyss of pure terror. Its massive, scaled tail began to tremble frantically. Dragged down by the sheer, crushing weight of Duan Xiaolin’s aura, it crashed heavily onto the floor, landing right beside the half-dead tentacled parasite.

The majestic serpent lowered itself to the ground, submissively wagging its tail toward the man. It didn’t dare to exert even a fraction of its strength. It looked utterly pathetic, whining low in its throats as if begging for mercy.

Holding Pei Xiqing safely in his arms, Duan Xiaolin looked down at the cowering beast with absolute apathy. He calmly stepped onto the distinct snake insignia marked across its chest.

“Eat it,” he commanded. “If you leave behind a single bone or a scrap of flesh, you will die too.”

Without a second’s hesitation, the nine snake heads lunged forward and began savagely devouring the pinned host parasite.

But even nine massive jaws weren’t enough to quickly consume the sheer mass of the beast. The host had hundreds of ten-meter-long tentacles, not to mention a bloated, grotesque torso packed with putrid internal organs built from parasitizing countless creatures.

The serpent ate at a frenzied pace, a look of ravenous madness gradually overtaking its eyes. Its irises turned blood-red as it gorgeously chewed and swallowed, completely out of control, violently tearing apart the host’s massive, fleshy bulk.

The host parasite wasn’t completely dead yet, but Duan Xiaolin’s crushing gaze had rendered it completely paralyzed. When it finally managed to summon enough strength to twitch and try to break free, two of the serpent’s heads instantly clamped down on its armored shell, viciously ripping it apart before it could even struggle.

Duan Xiaolin watched the gruesome scene of parasitic cannibalism with chilling indifference.

Simply letting it be eaten alive wasn’t nearly enough to repay the brutal strike it had inflicted on Pei Xiqing’s chest.

“Stop,” he commanded slowly.

The nine-headed serpent froze instantly, its jaws snapping shut mid-chew.

“Let it regenerate,” Duan Xiaolin ordered.

The mangled host parasite on the floor, now gnawed completely beyond recognition, tremblingly began to rapidly regrow its severed tentacles.

However, the very second a massive new tentacle sprouted, Duan Xiaolin’s invisible supernatural force ruthlessly ripped it clean off its body.

The ruined laboratory was already flooded with rivers of rancid, putrid blood.

Duan Xiaolin tossed the severed, writhing tentacle directly in front of the serpent’s snouts. “Eat it as fast as it regenerates. Do not stop until your consumption speed matches its regenerative output.”

Pure terror filled the serpent’s nine pairs of eyes. The cunning, arrogant intelligence it had displayed earlier was completely gone, replaced by absolute submission.

And so began an incredibly cruel, stomach-churning cycle of torture between the two apocalyptic beasts.

To call it a fight would be a vast understatement; it was pure, unadulterated torture for both creatures. One was forced to gorge itself relentlessly without end, while the other was trapped in an agonizing loop of painful regeneration, its new flesh being brutally severed and devoured the instant it sprouted.

Pei Yanting had already slumped to the ground, utterly traumatized by the horrific sight of Duan Xiaolin ordering the serpent to eat the host alive. But seeing him actively prolong the slaughter into an endless cycle of grotesque torture… surrounded by scattered, mangled limbs and the twitching remains of crushed insects, the sheer, barbaric cruelty of the scene shattered her sanity.

It was far beyond human comprehension. Her fragile psyche finally snapped, and she collapsed, unleashing a piercing, hysterical scream.

“Ahhhhh! You’re insane! You’re a madman!!”

Xiao Yue hurriedly grabbed her shoulders, trying to pull her back.

“We need to leave!” Pei Yanting shrieked, scrambling backward. Duan Xiaolin wasn’t human! He was an entity far more terrifying than the devil himself!

Xiao Yue half-dragged, half-carried her toward the exit. But before he could even take two steps, an impossibly heavy, suffocating pressure slammed down on them.

The overwhelming aura of Duan Xiaolin’s supernatural energy completely paralyzed the duo, rooting them to the spot.

“Who gave you permission to leave?” Duan Xiaolin’s voice was a chilling whisper.

He adjusted his grip on the unconscious woman in his arms, gently taking her limp hand and tucking it securely against his chest. Even with the two colossal apocalyptic parasites engaging in a gory, endless slaughter right in front of him, his attention still effortlessly locked onto the fleeing protagonists.

Xiao Yue froze in place.

Pei Yanting continued to thrash and scream hysterically, “No! Let me out of here!”

Xiao Yue quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. “Calm down!” he hissed urgently.

But Pei Yanting was entirely consumed by panic. Her instincts screamed that this monster of a man was going to throw them directly into the bloody fray to feed his nine-headed abomination! She didn’t want to die like that! It was too gruesome, too disgusting!

Xiao Yue fought down his own terror, forcing himself to maintain his composure. He turned around to face the man.

“Chief Judge Duan, aren’t you taking this a bit too far?” he demanded cautiously. “From what I’ve gathered, the village elder stated that these hosts are fundamentally connected to your own life force. If you just brutally slaughter them like this… wouldn’t you suffer a catastrophic backlash?”

To casually orchestrate the horrific, agonizing death of a creature so intrinsically linked to his own existence… this man was unfathomably ruthless.

Chapter 177: You Can Die

The man remained completely indifferent. When Xiao Yue raised his head and met his gaze, he saw absolutely no emotion in those deep, dark eyes. Without changing his expression, Duan Xiaolin continued to exert a crushing, invisible pressure across the room.

Xiao Yue’s chest throbbed uncontrollably. Stripped of the crystal cores that had previously protected him, he was quickly forced to one knee under the overwhelming weight of the aura. Sweat rolled down his forehead. Gritting his teeth, he reached out to support Pei Yanting, who seemed to be suffering a complete emotional breakdown.

Seeing the sheer terror on her face, he felt a sudden wave of confusion.

Survivors in the apocalypse had seen it all. They had endured the most tragic, agonizing experiences and survived being surrounded by bloody, terrifying hordes of zombies countless times. Even if the gruesome sight of the two parasites devouring each other was difficult to stomach, it was entirely out of character for someone with Pei Yanting’s cold logic and experience to collapse like this.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, deeply puzzled.

Pei Yanting’s eyes darted around in pure panic. Whenever her gaze flickered toward the two massive parasites slaughtering each other nearby, she looked as though she was going to faint entirely.

Xiao Yue held her tightly. “Calm down, don’t be afraid. They aren’t going to attack us. They’re basically dead.”

What they needed most right now was to stay calm. Once they panicked, their enemies would take full advantage. He needed to calmly analyze why Duan Xiaolin was acting so unscrupulously. Did the man genuinely not care about the backlash of killing the host parasite?

Pei Yanting tried to take deep breaths, but her panting only grew louder and more erratic. Finally, she gripped Xiao Yue’s arm so tightly that her nails dug into his flesh, leaving bloody crescent marks, though she didn’t seem to notice at all.

“Hurry, we can’t stay here…” She forcefully pulled Xiao Yue to his feet, desperate to flee.

She was terrified of this place and would try any means to escape. However, the crushing pressure kept them pinned; neither could take a single step forward.

Before she could even try to run, Pei Yanting was shoved back down to the floor. Xiao Yue caught her so she wouldn’t hit the concrete. Looking up, they saw Ling Lang and his squad marching purposefully toward them.

Before Xiao Yue could react, Ling Lang grabbed him by the collar, delivered a brutal punch to his face, and slammed him against the wall.

Wiping the blood from his own mouth, Ling Lang stepped forward and, without giving Xiao Yue a second to recover, punched him again!

Suppressed by Duan Xiaolin’s overwhelming aura, Xiao Yue had no chance to fight back. The moment he tried to move, Ling Lang seized the opening, raining down punch after punishing punch. Ling Lang poured every ounce of his strength, anger, and frustration into the physical, flesh-to-flesh beating.

In just a few breaths, Xiao Yue’s face was beaten completely beyond recognition.

Still unsatisfied, Ling Lang raised his fist for a final, devastating blow, but before he could connect, someone grabbed his arm from behind.

Long Yan shook her head at him. “He’s the only person in the entire apocalypse known to possess three supernatural abilities at once. Killing him here would be letting him off too easily. He’s a valuable research specimen. If we can map the genetic pattern of his three powers, it could benefit humanity greatly.”

Ling Lang let out a cold snort and shoved him away.

Xiao Yue collapsed helplessly to the floor. Coughing violently, he spat out a bloody tooth. “You might as well just kill me.”

“Want to die? I’m not going to let you off that easily,” Ling Lang sneered.

He turned around, his gaze falling on the two parasites still locked in their gory slaughter nearby. Thinking of the brutal blow the creature had dealt Pei Xiqing, his chest tightened with residual anger. He stormed over and was just about to kick the writhing mass of flesh when Duan Xiaolin’s faint voice rang out.

“Don’t touch them.”

“Why not?” Ling Lang demanded. “That thing was practically begging for death just now.”

“They are highly poisonous,” Duan Xiaolin replied calmly.

“But you were just touching them—”

“I am fine,” the man stated flatly. “But if you touch them, you will be poisoned.”

“Oh.” Ling Lang quickly withdrew his foot. He crossed his arms and glared at the nine-headed serpent. “Eat it. Take your time and eat it slowly. I want to see just how far these abominations will go to slaughter each other.”

He stood and watched the gruesome spectacle, acting as if the sea of blood before him didn’t even exist. Seeing the host parasite writhing and twitching in agony as it was devoured only excited him more.

“Brother, what should we do with those two over there?” Ling Lang asked, walking back over to Duan Xiaolin.

His eyes inevitably drifted to the unconscious woman resting in his brother’s arms. The blood on Pei Xiqing’s face had been thoroughly wiped clean. If he hadn’t personally seen her vomiting blood moments earlier, he never would have guessed she had just survived a brush with death. At this moment, she simply looked as though she had fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep, instinctively snuggling closer against the man’s chest.

She should be alright now… Ling Lang thought. If she were still in danger, my brother wouldn’t be standing around here wasting time.

Ignoring the two cannibalizing parasites on the floor, Duan Xiaolin carried Pei Xiqing toward Xiao Yue. He didn’t make any aggressive moves, but every slow, deliberate step he took seemed to severely trigger Pei Yanting. The closer he got, the more frantic her panic became.

Finally, unable to take it anymore, she clutched her head and let out a piercing scream.

Duan Xiaolin stopped, looking down at her with vague detachment.

Xiao Yue quickly shifted to shield Pei Yanting behind him. “If you have something to say, say it to me,” Xiao Yue growled defensively. “Don’t terrorize a woman. She hasn’t hurt anyone. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Hasn’t done anything wrong?” Ling Lang burst into mocking laughter. “Who do you think deliberately lured that zombie horde to Base Three? Do I need to spell her name out for you?”

“What?” Xiao Yue looked at him in disbelief. “You’re talking nonsense.”

“I have hard evidence. Do you want to see it?”

“Impossible! That’s absolutely impossible!”

“Of course you wouldn’t believe it. You have no idea how many innocent people died at Base Three,” Ling Lang sneered. “Honestly, even if this woman murdered someone right in front of your eyes, you’d probably convince yourself that she was framed.”

“Shut up!” Xiao Yue roared.

“The aura of the mother parasite.”

Duan Xiaolin’s cold, measured voice suddenly interrupted the argument. For a moment, everyone froze, turning to look at the terrified Pei Yanting in utter shock.

Her eyes were blown wide open, unblinking for so long it looked as though they might bulge right out of their sockets. Her lips trembled violently. Very, very slowly, she raised her head to look directly at Duan Xiaolin.

The light in her eyes flickered rapidly—one moment displaying human terror, the next showing the chilling, ravenous greed of a parasite.

A horrifying realization dawned on Xiao Yue. “It was you!”

That explained why Pei Yanting had been screaming nonsense earlier, and why her behavior had been so completely uncharacteristic. She was infected by the mother parasite. Under the mother’s influence, the host’s body and mind were hijacked, forcing them into erratic, uncontrollable actions.

But how did Pei Yanting become infected? Xiao Yue’s mind raced. Before the chaos had erupted, both he and Pei Yanting had kept a safe distance from the containment tank. They had never made direct contact with the monster. When exactly had the mother parasite managed to slip into her?

Realizing she had been exposed, Pei Yanting suddenly scrambled off the floor and bolted. Completely overtaken by the mother parasite, she violently lashed out at the first person who tried to stop her, fiercely plunging a dagger into his side.

When Xiao Yue finally reacted, he looked down in shock—she had stabbed him.

A flicker of human struggle crossed her face for a split second, but her consciousness was swiftly buried by the parasite once more. Knowing her cover was blown, she abandoned all pretense and lunged directly toward Team 009. She opened her jaw unnaturally wide, trying to bite anyone within reach to spread the infection.

The mother parasite had instantly transformed Pei Yanting into a terrifying monster. In her twisted, unnatural movements, one could almost see the grotesque shadow of the tentacled abomination.

However, before she could sink her teeth into her next victim, she was firmly entangled and immobilized by a surge of dark green supernatural energy.

“Since the mother chose you as its vessel,” Duan Xiaolin said. His tone was perfectly calm, devoid of a single trace of emotion. He spoke with the absolute, unyielding authority of Franlun’s Chief Judge issuing a final verdict. “You can die now.”

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