For a moment, Lu Feng almost thought his night-vision goggles were broken.
Yet he had suffered enough shocks since this morning that one more hardly seemed to make a difference.
An amateur kid holding a gun for the very first time in his life, without any pre-aiming, pulling the trigger for the first time and hitting a high-speed moving target from fifty meters away with three rounds in under half a second?
Was he hacking? Not even trying to hide it?
Yet in that fleeting glimpse, as he looked at Ji Jue's shooting stance—a textbook-perfect posture so outrageous it would bring drill instructors to tears, paired with covering fire worthy of a comrade dropping to their knees in gratitude—Lu Feng actually experienced a brief moment of self-doubt... Had he gone to some knockoff hell camp?
"Attaboy, heh—"
Beneath his mask, Lu Feng couldn't help but laugh out loud. His right hand drew the handaxe slung at his lower back, splitting the skull of an oncoming assailant, and he lunged forward.
Ignoring the figures closing in behind him, he let Ji Jue's bullets whistle past his ears!
In the distance, Ji Jue fired again. Continuously.
Bullets lifted off fresh craniums with natural ease or drove back the figures peeking out from the corners, pinning them down.
He could feel it: the squeeze of the trigger, the cycling of the firing mechanism, the roar of the bullet within the barrel, the spent casing ejecting from the slide—as effortless as grabbing an apple with an open palm.
No need to think, no need to focus, just effortless ease. Nothing more.
What felt even more abundant was a certain feeling born of communion, an unprecedented instinctual response. A sensation so thoroughly exhilarating he had never experienced anything like it before.
It was as though an invisible presence was guiding his hands, pointing the way, etching decades of accumulated experience into the marrow of his bones—
The moment Ji Jue's ability infused the pistol, the realization came naturally: It had a soul!
Ji Jue had an inexplicable epiphany: Perhaps this was the true purpose of his ability—to feel the tool, learn from the tool, and let the tool tell you how it was meant to be used!
So he pulled the trigger.
Aimed at the woman in the corner of the chaotic crowd, who had watched with cold detachment from start to finish. He could see the contemptuous sneer at the corner of Zhu Hong's mouth, and behind her sunglasses, those crimson eyes.
Those eyes shifted slightly, snapping in Ji Jue's direction in an instant.
Bang!
A sonic boom spread as the brass bullet spun through the air, plunging into the space between her eyebrows, penetrating the skull, and churning her brain into a bowl of foul-smelling tofu pudding to splatter across the floor—or at least, that was how it should have gone. It was only natural. Yet unfortunately, it didn't even make it past the first step.
The bullet sank into the flesh, but as if slamming into an armored strike plate, it actually ricocheted off her cranium! Leaving behind only a wound that rapidly closed up.
Ji Jue pulled the trigger again.
In that instant, blood-fire burst in Zhu Hong's eyes, and faint scales surfaced across her pretty face. She parted her lips and silently mouthed something.
Ji Jue couldn't hear a thing.
Yet a bone-deep chill washed over him.
Because the newly rebooted surveillance system was frantically blasting alerts into his mind: *DODGE DODGE DODGE DODGE DODGE!!!!*
Without thinking, without hesitation, Ji Jue threw himself forward like a starved cur lunging for food—neither graceful nor dashing, yet as fluid as a donkey rolling in a mud pit.
An ugly masterpiece of smooth motion.
Right after, the thick concrete ground where he had just stood, along with the parking sign painted on it, shattered into pieces! A deafening boom.
A long tail covered in strangely colored scales materialized out of thin air. It appeared for a split second before blurring again, nearly impossible to distinguish in the gloom. Yet through the camera's infrared feed, images streamed continuously into Ji Jue's mind.
It was a python!
In the infrared feed, the bizarre, gigantic serpent slithered through the shadows, its scales reflecting a brilliant, translucent glimmer. But to the naked human eye, its colors blended seamlessly into the surroundings, completely undetectable in the dark.
Several meters long, the giant serpent writhed and coiled in the darkness. Along its underbelly dragged cumbersome appendages that looked like half-evolved limbs, and lumpy tumors covered its face. Lingering in its eyes was that same blood-fire, brimming with hunger and madness!
"Holy shit, Brother Feng, watch out, there's a hun—"
In that fleeting window, Ji Jue didn't even dare look back as he shouted at the top of his lungs, only to see the giant serpent lunging forward like a coiled spring.
Instinctively ducking, he tried to roll away, but just as his upper body launched forward, his legs were violently yanked upward as if bound by ropes!
The serpent's tail was as nimble as a hand, coiling tight around his left leg and hoisting him into the air. Then, unhinging its bloody maw wide, it snapped shut amidst a foul wind, lunging straight for Ji Jue's head.
Bang.
A dull crunch rang out between its snapping fangs. A bite powerful enough to crush bone like a guillotine came to a sudden halt... blocked by Ji Jue's arm!
Even the maddened serpent's eyes seemed filled with shock and disbelief.
Beneath his torn overalls, paper shreds sliced by the fangs spilled out—to guard against another ambush from that old geezer's lethal maw, Ji Jue had taped thick books layer upon layer around his arms: the very Thirty Volumes of the Examination King that could make the youngest Lu weep in the night!
"How's the taste of knowledge?"
Through the pain of fracturing bone, Ji Jue's face contorted into a grin. His other hand thrust forward, shoving the scorching gun barrel into the serpent's eye, tearing through the iris, and he pulled the trigger like a madman!
Four consecutive rounds blasted inside the eye socket. The giant serpent shrieked in agony and violently convulsed. Ji Jue was flung away, slamming into the concrete, his vision going black as he nearly passed out.
Yet before he could scramble up, a bone-chilling cold seized him. Thrashing in spasms, the serpent's massive body crawled over and wrapped tightly around Ji Jue, constricting inch by inch!
This was a python's true predatory instinct—a constriction powerful enough to crush large carnivores into pulp!
Crack!
Ji Jue heard his left arm groan under unbearable strain. His other hand groped frantically, but could only seize the tip of its tail, completely unable to pry it loose.
In his peripheral vision, Lu Feng caught sight of Ji Jue's plight. Dropping the submachine gun that was completely empty in his other hand, he sprinted across the corpses. With his free hand, he drew his shotgun, aiming not at the serpent, but turning toward Zhu Hong, who stood at a distance with folded arms and a cold sneer, and squeezed the trigger!
To catch the bandits, first take their chief!
A fiery storm of metal spewed from the barrel, roaring forward to bury itself in Zhu Hong's body. Yet after tearing through her haute couture gown, the pellets were swallowed up by writhing flesh, forcing her back by only a single step.
He didn't stop, racking and firing repeatedly until the entire parking lot was filled with deafening thunder.
Even that slender silhouette seemed to turn into a mass of mangled flesh in an instant. Shreds of clothing fluttered away, exposing shocking patches of crimson along with heart-fluttering, fair skin. And even... three soft, bouncing conical mounds... Three?
The advancing Lu Feng faltered for a second, his eyes blurring as something seemed to fly past. *Wait, why does she have three tits?! And what was that thing that just flew past...*
His barrel suddenly dipped. Two mangled hands reached up, seizing the hot barrel with a hiss of searing flesh.
At point-blank range, that once-pretty face slowly tilted up, revealing a twisted sneer riddled with bullet holes and dripping crimson, dripping with mockery: "What are you looking at?"
In the next second, Lu Feng finally realized what had just flown past. That thing was clamped around his throat—it was an... arm! A grotesque arm hidden beneath the dress and disguise!
Clamping around Lu Feng's neck, it slowly lifted him off the ground.
One, two, three... Lu Feng widened his eyes, recounting the number of arms on this woman in disbelief, before quickly rationalizing it: As everyone knows, humans are born with two tits and two arms. If someone has three tits, having three arms makes total sense, doesn't it?!
And then, he saw a fourth limb, sharp as a blade, slowly extend from Zhu Hong's back, followed by a fifth!
Like a spider finally tearing free from the confines of its skin to reveal its true form.
"I wondered what sort of pests had come, but to think ingredients would deliver themselves right to my door. I should thank you two for cleaning out these burdens and useless trash for me." Zhu Hong grinned, her fingers slowly tightening as she savored the thrill of crushing her prey. But right then, her vision... suddenly flashed bright.
Lights flickered.
Finally, the power was back on!
Yet the arrival of light was no herald of victory, but an abrupt disaster.
A horrific shriek erupted.
Lu Feng swore this was the first time in his life he had ever heard a snake scream, and it sounded surprisingly similar to Ji Jue's screams... But soon, he realized that *was* Ji Jue screaming.
Because the thing that had once been a grotesque serpent could no longer make a sound!
Just moments ago, on the brink of being crushed to death by the serpent, Ji Jue had made one last desperate struggle. He didn't waste energy trying to bite the monstrosity; instead, he mustered every ounce of strength he had left, seized the serpent's tail... and shoved it straight into a power outlet!
"Hey, buddy." Ji Jue forced his purplish-swollen face up, flashing the giant serpent one final grin: "Are you grounded?"
Snap!
In that instant, drawing spiritus from his watch, his ability activated!
Rebooting once more everything that had been shut down.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the entire building shuddered in a violent tremor, the tripped circuit breakers seemed to come alive, slamming back into place. The nightclub, previously engulfed in darkness and chaos, was bathed in blinding light. And Ji Jue along with it.
Amidst the transformer's wailing groan, a monstrous voltage sufficient to power the entire nightclub's dance floor, lighting, audio systems, live stage, booths, kitchen, lounge, and every single room answered Ji Jue's call. Burning through the wiring without hesitation, the current surged in—and for the first time in its life, the serpent shone with brilliant, radiant light.
Just like a light bulb.
The racing current struck like a tsunami. In an instant, it melted through the fragile carapace on the tail and surged into the python's flesh, racing along its blood and bones to spread heat through every inch of its body.
In less than a second, the wires completely melted away, cutting off the flow, but the giant serpent's body was left frozen in place, encased in its poorly conductive scaly carapace and barely maintaining its original posture.
Soon, as Ji Jue twitched, it snapped into several segments, bearing no resemblance to its former fierce, terrifying form—looking just like a foreskin charred into charcoal beneath an electrosurgical blade, giving off a rancid, sanity-shredding aroma of scorched flesh.
Ji Jue coughed violently, twitching as he struggled to stand, collapsed, and finally propped himself up, only to be overwhelmed by a wave of nausea. He threw up violently.
Only when he finally came to his senses, panting and looking up, did he notice the corpses scattered nearby, as well as Lu Feng being hoisted by the neck in a pool of blood. And Zhu Hong, staring at him as though she had seen a ghost.
Looking at him.
Subconsciously touching his face, he realized his mask had been torn off during the struggle with the giant serpent. His pale face was currently smeared with drool and nosebleeds, almost unrecognizable. Only that scar running from his neck up to his cheek remained unmistakably conspicuous. Unforgettable.
Crap, my cover is blown.
Ji Jue smacked his forehead and sighed, managing to force an enthusiastic smile toward the car owner big sister who had warmly invited him out to play.
"Hey, Boss." Smoothing his frizzy afro, he blinked his wide, watery eyes, doing his best to squeeze out a trace of coquettish charm. "Need any service?"
Chapter 12