When the people inside the villa recovered from the shockwaves of the sonic screech, they saw that the spider woman was already dead by the window.
How had he done that? The official walkers were both surprised and overjoyed.
The spider woman possessed immense vitality and self-healing power. Ordinary attacks had little effect, meaning she could only be worn down slowly.
Yet their colleague had dispatched her on the spot in just a few slashes.
Isn't he a newcomer? How is he so strong...? Amid their shock and delight, confusion flashed through the minds of the Level 2 walkers.
"Good, excellent!" Clutching his shoulder and leaning on his cane, Li Dongze hid near the kitchen and called out loudly, "Guan Ya, give Bailong and Da Jiba full support—don't worry about anyone else! Yuanshi, you guys coordinate with Captain Qingteng to kill that insect! Tang Guoqiang, hold on a bit longer!"
As expected of a Scout, he was truly strategizing from behind the scenes now.
Upstairs, Bailong and Da Jiba, and downstairs, Captain Qingteng and the others, were greatly invigorated. Had they not been unable to afford any distraction, they would have heaped praise on the kid Yuanshi Tianzun.
Though he was a newcomer, his combat power wasn't weak in the slightest—far more reliable than his Decurion.
Tang Guoqiang, clutching the giant serpent's tail tightly while wrapped in its coils, breathed a sigh of relief and concentrated on wrestling with the beast.
The Bewitching Demon truly is a profession born for slaughter... Zhang Yuanqing felt the surge of power returned to him after the Bloodthirsty Blade drank blood. A fierce battle intent and murderous urge welled up within him, and he charged straight toward the insect man.
After drinking blood, the Bloodthirsty Blade plundered essence blood from corpses and fed it back to its wielder. Bewitching Demons possessed a similar passive trait, allowing them to fight with ever-greater vigor the longer the battle went on.
Guan Ya slid past Zhang Yuanqing with a smooth step, smiling. "Nice job."
As the two crossed paths, the veteran tease swapped magazines and unleashed a barrage toward the second-floor corridor, blasting craters into the walls and piling pressure onto Unbridled.
Unbridled glanced at the situation downstairs. Ignoring the giant serpent, he barked at his other companion, "Get up here and help!"
The official walkers had divided the battlefield to pick them off one by one, and Unbridled had envisioned doing the same. But the spider woman had died too quickly, sending the situation spiraling downward in an instant.
They could no longer fight separate battles.
As for why he didn't descend himself, there were too many official walkers on the first floor. If he dropped down, the Fire Master and Water Ghost would follow him, plunging him deep into enemy territory.
Hearing the summons, the insect man bent his backward-curving knees and kicked off. The floor tiles shattered with a crunch, and his hulking form slammed into the cheongsam-clad beauty like a speeding car, sending her flying.
Zhang Yuanqing, who was rushing over, hastily stowed his yanagiba and opened his arms to catch the airborne, voluptuous beauty.
But he underestimated the impact. Their bodies collided with a smack, tumbling all the way to the glass cabinet beneath the television before stopping. Zhang Yuanqing faintly heard his bones groan on the verge of fracturing, and his heart skipped a few beats.
Having sent his enemy flying, the insect man sprang into the air, spreading his elytra. Cicada-wing-thin vibrations whipped up a violent gale.
Lying in Zhang Yuanqing's arms, Captain Qingteng grabbed a vine from the void and flicked her wrist.
The brown vine whistled through the air, wrapping around the insect man's ankle and leaving him dangling midair like a kite.
Do Wood Demons have this much strength? Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but look closely at this ageless woman. Suddenly, he noticed that during the collision, the buttons at her chest had popped off, leaving a corner of her collar turned aside. Black lace cradled snow-white curves, delivering an intense visual impact.
Captain Qingteng, your collar popped open... Zhang Yuanqing silently reminded her in his heart and pulled back his gaze. He was still just a kid; he would never peek at such indecent sights.
"Burn his wings!"
Leaning entirely against Zhang Yuanqing's chest, Qingteng strained her arms in a fierce tug-of-war.
At her command, the two Fire Masters opened their mouths and drew deep breaths. Just then, two poot sounds came from the insect man's crotch, venting a plume of dark-yellow gas that engulfed the Fire Masters below.
The two muscular men instantly stiffened. Then, as if drunk on bootleg liquor, they stumbled, collapsed, and began foaming at the mouth.
Even from a distance, Zhang Yuanqing caught a whiff of slightly sour, pungent gas. His tongue immediately went numb. He quickly held his breath. Fortunately, the pill held in his mouth took effect, swiftly neutralizing the mild toxin.
The insect man struggled for a moment, unable to break free of the vine. Remembering something, he looked down at his ankle. An instant later, his calves below the knees dissolved into surging water.
A vine could not bind water; it dropped uselessly.
Carried by inertia, Captain Qingteng fell heavily back into Zhang Yuanqing's arms. Her face paled. "Not good..."
Suddenly, just as the insect man was about to leap toward the second floor to assist Unbridled, he began dodging erratically midair, as though matching wits against thin air.
Qingteng snapped her head around and saw a thick, pitch-black substance swirling in the eyes of the boy behind her.
Illusion! she realized immediately.
Without hesitation, Qingteng whipped out the vine again, coiling it around the insect man's ankle.
Following his combat instincts, the insect man once more transformed his lower limbs into water. Qingteng shouted, "Now!"
In tacit understanding, the two Earth Monsters dropped to one knee and pressed their palms to the ground. The living room floor cracked open, and sand and dirt burst through the tiles, engulfing the insect man.
The Earth Monster's Sand Manipulation, the Water Ghost's Water Manipulation, and the Fire Master's Fire Manipulation were all skills unlocked at Level 2, serving as signature techniques for their respective professions.
The insect man crashed down from midair. Everything below his knees was empty. Not far away, a puddle of muddy water squirmed with difficulty, trying to return to his body, but unable to do so because of the sand and dirt mixed within it.
Earth counters water.
Seizing the opportunity, Qingteng twisted her waist and sprang up. Sprinting and leaping, she dropped her knees onto the insect man's body.
The two Earth Monsters and two Wood Demons pounced simultaneously, pinning the insect man's hands and feet.
Qingteng pulled back her right fist and thrust her chest forward, her upper body drawn taut like a powerful bow before she slammed her fist down.
The legendary drunk beating a tiger was nothing compared to this.
Thud, thud, thud... Under the barrage of heavy punches, the insect man's head shattered. Gray-white brain tissue and crimson blood splattered everywhere, accompanied by a foul, dark-green fluid.
Another one down. We've got this... Zhang Yuanqing was elated.
The enemy had lost two monsters, while their own side had only lost one Level 3 Scout and two Fire Masters. Barring any accidents, the scales of victory had tipped toward the officials.
Thrilling though it had been, everything was well in hand. He wouldn't have to use his trump cards!
The thought had barely crossed his mind when a dark blur shot across his field of vision, cannonballing straight into Qingteng's curvaceous figure.
It was Tang Guoqiang in his miner's helmet. The two flew back together, smashing furniture to splinters along the way.
"Pfft!" Captain Qingteng turned deathly pale and coughed up a pool of blood.
What happened? The Contractor couldn't handle the snake? Just as the thought surfaced, Zhang Yuanqing felt an itch in his throat. He began coughing violently, his limbs aching with a sudden weakness, as if saturated with lactic acid after intense exertion.
His legs gave out, and he slumped to the floor, having no idea why.
Just then, Zhang Yuanqing heard Guan Ya groan softly. Leaning against a pillar, she slowly sank to the ground.
Almost simultaneously, Li Dongze by the open kitchen, the four elite members beside the insect man's corpse, and Tang Guoqiang and Qingteng against the wall all began coughing to varying degrees, showing symptoms of severe weakness and exhaustion.
Even the giant serpent that had flung Tang Guoqiang hung its tail limply over the second-floor railing, seemingly affected as well.
"We're... poisoned... cough, cough..."
Captain Qingteng's face was ashen.
Poisoned? When did that happen? Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. Prior to this, he hadn't noticed anything wrong with his body. As a Night Wanderer with abundant vitality, he should have detected any toxin invading his system right away.
Moreover, Baihui's Wood Demons possessed skills in the domain of life; they should have been the most sensitive to poisons.
Yet none of the three Wood Demons, Captain Qingteng included, had noticed a thing.
Crack!
The railing on the second floor snapped, and Bailong, clad in her racing suit, fell down alongside her black blade.
Right after, a burst of flames drifted down and suddenly expanded, resolving into a staggering figure clutching his lower abdomen—Da Jiba.
He had suffered a terrifying puncture wound to the stomach, and thick gushes of blood poured out uncontrollably. His burly body was covered in bloody claw marks.
Both captains looked haggard, their limbs trembling with limp weakness.
A tall, dark figure leapt down from the second floor, shaking the ground on impact.
The scales across Unbridled's body were heavily damaged, oozing beads of blood. He dashed toward Da Jiba.
Snap! His knee flexed and he bounded up, delivering a savage kick that swept upward like an ascending blade.
If this kick landed, the Level 3 Fire Master's jaw would burst like a watermelon.
At the critical moment, Qingteng, as a healer, still retained a sliver of strength. Flicking her wrist, her vine whipped around Tang Guoqiang's ankle, and with a whoosh, she hurled him toward Unbridled.
Unbridled transitioned his upward kick into a roundhouse kick.
Bang! Tang Guoqiang flew backward like a soccer ball.
Having clearly formed a grudge against Da Jiba during the earlier scuffle, Unbridled ignored Tang Guoqiang. He lunged forward in a bow stance, his fist piercing the air, determined to slay his foe.
The captains' expressions shifted drastically. They could only watch helplessly as their comrade faced death.
At this juncture, Zhang Yuanqing, with his astonishing recovery ability, mustered a burst of strength. Staggering forward, he caught Tang Guoqiang as the man sailed by like a soccer ball, stepped in front of Da Jiba, and thrust the Contractor forward like a shield.
Bang, bang, bang! Unbridled's fists rained down, pummeling Tang Guoqiang relentlessly.
Zhang Yuanqing retreated step after step behind his "shield."
"Y-You're taking this a bit too far..." Tang Guoqiang wheezed, spitting blood.
He was tough and thick-skinned, so a few punches wouldn't kill him, but the experience was thoroughly unpleasant.
Zhang Yuanqing explained, "I'm taking emergency evasive action."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a whistling roundhouse kick sent both him and Tang Guoqiang flying.
"Futile resistance!" Unbridled sneered, looking around at the slumped official walkers. Opening his hideous mouthparts, he spoke in human speech, laughing smugly, "I never said I was relying on these three fools. How could they defeat fifteen official walkers, even with my modifications?
"Haha, they were nothing more than a smokescreen to distract you! The real killing move is my secret item. It emits a colorless, odorless toxic gas that can affect even walkers at the Saint stage!
"Though it does have a flaw: it requires an enclosed space and enough time to take effect. As I said, this is a banquet of slaughter I prepared for you. Do you like it?"
The faces of Team Captains Li Dongze, Qingteng, and Bailong grew paler still.
It turned out that from the moment they stepped into the villa, they had walked into a trap—an elaborately prepared trap.
The Level 2 walkers exchanged glances, their faces steeped in despair.
Unbridled looked at Zhang Yuanqing, his gaze settling on the Bloodthirsty Blade tucked into the youth's waist. He clicked his tongue.
"Isn't that Ou Xiangrong's item? Heh, I've coveted it for ages. I thought after Ou Xiangrong died I'd never get the chance to claim it, but here it is, delivered right to my doorstep."
He then looked toward Tang Guoqiang's miner's helmet, Bailong's black blade, Guan Ya's pistol, Qingteng's vine, Li Dongze's cane...
"What a rich harvest. The boss was right—killing people and taking their treasures truly is the quickest path to wealth. Out of gratitude for you fools' generosity, I'll give you a quick death. Hm, you three don't have to die."
His amber vertical pupils scanned Guan Ya, Qingteng, and Bailong one by one, tracing their curves repeatedly. The wicked Witch Doctor made no effort to conceal his lust, chuckling slyly, "I will modify the three of you, strip away your sanity, and turn you into beasts that do nothing but stick up your rears and beg for me."
Captain Qingteng's expression shifted; if that were to happen, she would rather die.
"Bah!" Bailong spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm, raising an eyebrow in a cold sneer. "When that day comes, this lady will make sure to bite your cock off."
Hearing Unbridled's words, Guan Ya—who hadn't shown much fear of death until now—shivered slightly. A wave of intense disgust and dread welled up within her.
She snapped her gaze toward Zhang Yuanqing, a sliver of hope shining in her beautiful eyes.
She knew Yuanshi possessed a rule-based item.
He still had trump cards he hadn't played. If anyone present could turn the tide, Guan Ya believed it was him.
Most evil professions are scoundrels who don't deserve pity even if they die a hundred times over... Zhang Yuanqing bared his teeth and returned Guan Ya's gaze. Forcing his weak limbs to support him, he rose to his feet and summoned the red bridal veil from his inventory.
Thinking it through, the only one capable of quickly killing this scoundrel was the Ghost Bride.
He hadn't wanted to play his trump card too early, but when the time came to use it, he wouldn't hesitate.
"Hm?" Unbridled was arrogant in speech, but he hadn't let down his guard; he had kept a close eye on the movements of the official walkers.
He instantly looked toward Zhang Yuanqing, his gaze falling upon the gold-embroidered red bridal veil in the boy's hand.
Unbridled's reaction prompted the captains to turn around as well. Looking toward Zhang Yuanqing, they saw him raise the red bridal veil.
What is that? Does he still have tricks up his sleeve? Qingteng, Bailong, Da Jiba, and the others were both bewildered and expectant.
Li Dongze and Guan Ya, however, showed astonishment and disappointment. What Yuanshi had brought out was not what they had expected.
Meeting Unbridled's gaze, Zhang Yuanqing flashed a strange smile and said, "Care to experience what it feels like to be a groom?!"
Inside his waist pack, the Cat King Speaker crackled with static, and the shrill sound of a suona burst forth:
"She was laughing as she cried, guess why she laughed as she cried, cried, look at how she cried as she laughed..."
The suona blared—eerie, shrill, and high-pitched.
Whoosh! With a flick of his hands, he unfolded the red bridal veil and, under the bewildered gazes of everyone present, draped it over his head.
Chapter 76