Over-the-Shoulder Throw

Shen Yixiu looked up at Han Qingyu. If her eyes could be seen, her gaze in that moment would likely have been complicated—a complexity that ultimately manifested in her voice. "But I already saw it," she said, trying her hardest to sound flat. Then, as if her throat were choked up, it took immense effort for her to squeeze out two more words: "Qingzi." The feeling those two words gave off was like a wronged, frightened little girl running up to the person she trusted and relied on the most, crying out in helplessness while holding back her tears. In that split second, Han Qingyu wanted nothing more than to pull her into an embrace, but the monstrous python was already gathering its strength. It seemed to have regurgitated the object solely to unburden itself for battle. As the slime sloughed off the surface of the thing lying on the ground, a suit of dead iron armor was exposed, roughly sharing the same structure as Rusty Sister's. Yet the details were slightly different. Aside from being larger overall and apparently housing the body of an adult man inside, the front sections over the face, chest, and waist were made of a transparent material, as if deliberately designed to facilitate observation. This left every horrifying detail inside the iron armor clearly visible. It was a pale, yellowish face covered in patches of dark brownish spots. That hue and those blotches covered every visible part of his body. His eyes were wide open, yet dull and lifeless, leaving it impossible to tell if he was alive or dead. Strips of skin had peeled away from his body, and the metal bands piercing through even parts of his organs were visible to the naked eye. At his waist, there were also conspicuous, gaping holes. "I... I was in a coma the whole time back then, and I was still so young..." Shen Yixiu wanted to say that she didn't know what she looked like beneath the iron armor, or whether she was like this too. Rusty Sister was usually so sensible that Han Qingyu and the others often inadvertently forgot that she wouldn't even turn eighteen until next month. A seventeen-year-old girl—the same girl who had once entrusted Han Qingyu with a small mirror, saying that if she were dying one day, she wanted to look at herself. Didn't she love beauty just as much as anyone else? At this moment, having laid eyes on one of her own kind for the first time, Shen Yixiu was completely unable to rein in the horrific imaginations about her own body. A towering shadow engulfed her, leaving her panicked and helpless. "Hiss!" The monstrous python lunged! "Get lost!" With a furious roar, Han Qingyu's emotions erupted. In dire need of a vent, he charged straight forward to meet it. Leaping to dodge a bite coupled with a tail sweep from the giant serpent, his body spun horizontally at high speed while carrying his momentum upward. His twin swords whirled like lightning around him, slicing all the way from the python's belly up to beneath its jaw. Relying almost entirely on the accumulated, cascading impacts of this brute force, Han Qingyu actually hacked the monstrous python over onto its back. Unfortunately, he still failed to inflict any serious damage upon it. "You're not the same, dummy!" Han Qingyu kicked off the python's body with his final strike and vaulted backward, shouting with a trace of irritation in his voice. Yet if he were asked to say gentler words of comfort, he would have had no idea where to start. Just as he was at a loss— "I've read your file. You're the only exception, Xiuxiu." With her very first sentence, Xin Yaoqiao struck straight to the heart of the matter. Amidst the chaotic scene, her voice sounded calm and rational, compelling anyone who heard it to listen. "Don't be afraid," she said. "Those are livor mortis spots. And you're alive, Xiuxiu. "You are alive, and you've been growing all along, which means your skin is growing too. It's impossible for it to lack vitality, understand? "Wounds heal under the influence of source energy, and coupled with the restorative effect of natural growth, you are in very good health right now. "If you really have to imagine it, come, let me tell you: what fits your situation best right now is actually Wu Xu's physical state. A few knife scars, and nothing more." Her words ceased. Silence fell. The shift took place deep within Shen Yixiu's eyes where no one could see, yet everyone present could sense the change in the atmosphere from within themselves. *Color me impressed,* Han Qingyu couldn't help marveling inwardly as he faced off blade-in-hand against the regrouping monstrous python. This was the very first time their group had truly realized that Classmate Xin Yaoqiao was an intellectual—or perhaps even a scientist. In just a few short sentences, completely devoid of any patronizing attempt at comfort and hardly using profound language, she had tackled the crux of the issue, progressed layer by layer, and delivered compelling arguments from multiple angles. These were words none of the rest of them could have accurately grasped, summarized, and expressed—especially not in such a chaotic situation right on the scene. Not only was Han Qingyu incapable of it, but even if Wen Jifei, Liu Shiheng, and He Tangtang tried to chime in right now, they would still only have the same old clichés: "Yeah, Rusty Sister, we've told you long ago that you must be really fair-skinned." "The kind of fair that has a rosy glow to it." "Plus Rusty Sister has dimples! Those definitely wouldn't just vanish." "..." Seeing that things were roughly settled on her end, Han Qingyu hollered, "Hey, don't forget there's still a thing here that I can't kill in one go!" Everyone's attention snapped back to him. With no path of retreat behind them, Han Qingyu shouted his plan: "I'll try to lure it away a bit. You guys look for an opening to get out first, and then Rusty Sister can come back to help me. I am definitely killing this thing today!" "Right you are! With your family's traditional heritage, Qingzi, if you don't kill it today, I'm afraid you won't be able to face your ancestors!" With his mood improved and having seen that Han Qingyu was at least holding his own without losing ground, Wen Jifei found the leeway to crack a joke, moving behind Shen Yixiu along with the others. Han Qingyu couldn't be bothered to entertain him. Sprinting forward, his twin blades surged once more. Shifting his form, he circled the monstrous python, hacking and slashing as the relentless clanging of iron on steel rang out without pause. Soon enough, the giant python's attention was completely drawn to him. Han Qingyu fought as he retreated, leading the serpent toward one wall to clear a path for Wen Jifei and the others to slip out. At that moment, the group hugged the wall, edging toward the exit. Meanwhile, the monstrous python leaned its upper body back, coiling to spring forward... *Not good!* Han Qingyu cried out in alarm inwardly as the giant python suddenly changed its posture. After drawing back, it didn't pounce forward, but continued backward while rolling sideways. Its massive body swiftly unfurled and stretched out, twisting like a dragon as it snapped toward the five people over there. Moreover, its angle was tricky—it swept right along the wall. *Clang!* He Tangtang raised his sword to block first. Though he wasn't bitten, his strength was insufficient, and he was knocked aside by the impact. The python's bloody maw continued lunging toward Wen Jifei and Liu Shiheng, who stood shoulder to shoulder with him. In that instant— *Whoosh... Bang!* The sonic boom of the three-dimensional apparatus and the sound of impact occurred with almost zero interval. When the dust settled, Rusty Sister stood there. More than half of her left dead iron arm had been jammed straight into the python's maw, halting it dead in its tracks. Human and serpent locked in a standstill. In the next moment— "Ahhh!" As if venting all the terror and rage that had filled her heart just moments before, Rusty Sister took a step forward, firmly planting herself sideways as her right hand swept up to seize the python's upper jaw. "Go to hell!" With both iron arms locking the serpent's head behind her shoulder, power erupted through her. Bending forward like lightning, she actually tore the python's massive bulk clean off the ground in that split second, using the momentum to flip its entire body over her shoulder! *Smack!* Like a whip striking the earth. The explosive sound echoed as if an enormous slab of meat had been slammed violently onto the ground. An! Over! The! Shoulder! Throw! The sheer disparity in their sizes made the scene all the more jaw-dropping. Rusty Sister had just cleanly delivered an over-the-shoulder throw to a dead iron giant python as thick as a water bucket. The entire sequence had taken less than two seconds—crisp, decisive, and overflowing with power!