Chapter 90: Savior, the Mutated Giant Snake

She ""saw"" a figure twisted by entangling vines, ""saw"" several people in the distance retreating in terror, and then a few wild grasses suddenly sprang up from their curled positions, whipping right at their legs.

She was startled, but couldn't think—her energy was still extending outward. She caught sight of a panicked figure running blindly—ah, it was Ah Gang.

Get back here!

She shouted in her mind, and a thicket of brambles slid out to trip him up. He fell hard.

Her energy kept spreading. There were still people around, a lot of them. Suddenly, a figure rushed over—who was it?

She was just about to ""zoom in"" her perspective, when that person suddenly raised a gun.

""Bang bang bang bang!"" Muzzle flashes tore through the darkness. The few people not attacked by vines screamed and fell, then a firefight broke out.

Bian Changxi's head buzzed. She jolted awake, her vision flaring bright before dimming again. She felt utterly hollowed out, and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

She collapsed to the ground, clutching her head, her whole body wracked with pain—sharp, stabbing aches all over. She couldn't tell if she'd been shot or just hit by flying dirt and branches.

Then the gunfire stopped. Someone rushed over, wind at his heels, and carefully helped her up. ""Miss Bian.""

It was Shadow.

Shadow had noticed Milk hadn't followed and felt something was wrong, so he came to check. He heard the gunshots, saw the fight from afar, and then watched Bian Changxi dash into the wild woods. He entered from another direction to catch up.

Bian Changxi opened her eyes to a thick fog, so dense she could barely see anything.

Shadow quickly explained, ""I made the fog. There are still a lot of them around—we need to leave right now.""

She tried to grab his sleeve, but missed—her arm wouldn't lift.

""Milk..."" Her voice was hoarse and weak, barely audible.

Shadow heard her. He paused, then understood, and looked down. The fog didn't affect him, and he soon spotted a lump of black that looked like a mouse. He reached out and picked it up. ""Is... this it?""

Bian Changxi took it with her left arm. As soon as Milk touched her, it vanished—she'd stored it away without even hesitating to hide it from Shadow.

Shadow's eyes flickered, but he said nothing. He was about to help her up when suddenly his expression sharpened and he fired two quick shots. Two muffled groans sounded in the fog, followed by bodies hitting the ground.

He immediately pulled Bian Changxi behind a tree. The next moment, bullets riddled the spot they'd just been in.

Bian Changxi groaned in pain. Shadow asked urgently, ""What's wrong?""

""Doesn't matter... just go...""

She kept sliding down, and Shadow quickly supported her, shocked to find her ice-cold, as if she'd just been pulled from a freezer—and she was getting colder by the second.

He saw her face was covered in blood. Her left shoulder was caved in and mangled, her right wrist was grotesquely swollen, her hand twisted at an unnatural angle. She was covered in wounds. He was shaken to the core, and quickly hoisted her onto his back. ""Hang in there! I'll get you out!""

He ran a few steps before pursuers caught up. ""After them! After them!"" shouted the metal-powered man.

Shadow turned, firing as he retreated. With Bian Changxi on his back, he didn't dare expose his back for a second.

Click—the magazine was empty.

Shadow frowned and tossed the gun aside. Unlike Bian Changxi, he didn't have a storage space; he only brought two guns for this night mission, and both were empty now. He pulled out some throwing blades, fleeing while flicking them out as needed.

He was even deadlier with blades than with guns. The blades seemed to have eyes, curving midair to strike people hiding behind trees—one to the eye, one to the throat—like an assassin from ancient times, ghostly and ruthless in the fog, mercilessly reaping lives.

Bian Changxi gripped a crystal core in her hand, but she was losing too much blood, her whole body freezing, her hands and eyelids so heavy she couldn't lift them. She felt she was about to go into shock, about to die. She thought of Gu Xu—how much blood had he lost back then, yet acted like nothing was wrong? If she survived, she had to ask him for his secret—how did he manage to be so tough?

Right now, she couldn't even absorb energy from the crystal core.

That's right—she must have overdrawn her powers, and this time it was serious. She was completely empty inside. She was done for.

She wanted to pat Shadow, tell him to put her down—there was no point in running anymore. She just wanted to crawl into her storage space and sleep, forget about everything.

Suddenly, Shadow stopped. ""Listen—something's coming.""

She forced herself to focus and heard a slithering, hissing sound, the ground trembling slightly, and a whiff of something foul and bloody in the air.

She moved her lips. ""Mu-mutated snake?""

And a huge one, at that.

Hadn't those guys checked and said there was nothing here? It was the scent of blood—it had attracted these things. Shadow's face was grim as he ran, Bian Changxi light as a feather on his back. If he weren't afraid of jostling her, he could have run even faster.

Bian Changxi pressed her lips together, pushing away her despair and forcing herself to focus all her energy on healing.

Every bit of recovery counted.

Suddenly, screams erupted behind them. Bian Changxi struggled to turn her head and saw a pair of huge, blood-red eyes swaying in the fog like lanterns. A massive mouth opened, biting off a man's head and swallowing it whole.

She suddenly remembered a story she’d read as a child—Li Ji slaying the snake, or something like that.

This was the first time since her rebirth that she’d seen a mutated snake. Maybe it was her current weakness, or the trauma of her injuries, or maybe it was because in her previous life, after her powers were damaged, she rarely went outside for years. Whatever the reason, this giant snake filled her with an overwhelming sense of oppression, and the stench from its mouth was as unbearable as Zhang Yuwen’s bad breath.

Her chest grew tighter, blood surging, her heart aching with every beat. Maybe a broken rib was stabbing her from inside.

Suddenly, the mutated snake turned its head, its cold gaze locking onto them. Clearly, it found the scent of these two ability users even more enticing. Its massive body slithered toward them.

""This is bad...""

That monstrous head, that huge, slime-covered body, the stench of rot—it crashed through trees and flattened grass with unstoppable force. Shadow darted left and right through the woods, forced farther and farther from the forest edge. Then, with a leap, he landed at the bottom of a small slope, hid Bian Changxi under a tree, and grabbed her straight sword. ""Don't come out!""

Bian Changxi grabbed his hand—this time she managed to hold on, gasping, ""Mist—aim for its eyes!""

Shadow paused, nodded, and turned back just as the snake caught up, its mouth gaping, tongue flicking at him.

That head was as big as half a person, and when it opened, the stench was like a swirling black hole. Shadow dodged nimbly, firing his submachine gun into the snake’s mouth, making it rear back in pain. Seizing the moment, he leapt from a branch and sliced off its tongue with a single stroke.

""ROAR—!""

The mutated snake howled, blood and venom spraying from its mouth.

Shadow hit the ground running, darting to a tree behind the giant snake, climbing up like a monkey, and perching on a branch.

The snake, enraged, swung its head and rammed the tree.

Shadow jumped down and leapt to another tree even farther away, truly living up to the phrase ""leaping up and down.""

The mutated snake was lured farther and farther away. When Shadow judged the distance was right, he flung two dense balls of white mist into its eyes, adding two blades inside for good measure.

The snake instantly reacted as if doused in acid, thrashing madly and letting out a shrill screech. Its powerful tail whipped about, snapping trees in half.

Shadow seized the chance to run, but was unlucky enough to be struck by the tail, sent flying, rolling several times. His back was stripped of clothing and flesh, and the snake’s slime seeped into his wounds, making his whole body sizzle and smoke.

""Ah..."" He gritted his teeth and cried out, but his voice was drowned out by the chorus of screams behind him.

He'd deliberately lured the snake toward the metal-powered man and his group.

Enduring the pain, he glanced back, then sprinted toward the small slope. But when he arrived, he stopped short.

Three people now stood in front of Bian Changxi—the elite man and Ah Gang, both pointing guns at her. Ah Gang, drenched and disheveled, snarled, ""This woman tricked me. I'm going to cripple her!""

He'd only just learned about the shock device from Boss Zhang.

No wonder she had so many powers.

The elite man disagreed. ""Wait until Brother Zhang finishes his business.""

Boss Zhang, panting, had just arrived.

When Shadow appeared, both men pointed their guns at him. ""Don't come any closer!""

Ah Gang fired, forcing Shadow to his knees.

His eyes gleamed with excitement. ""You're one of Gu Xu's teammates, aren't you? Ha! He was so impressive, made me look like a fool the first time we met. Later, Qu Nan respected him so much, while I was just Qu Nan's servant, always bowing and scraping—how humiliating! I never thought I'd see his people at my feet, one about to die, the other kneeling before me. Ha!""

Bian Changxi looked up at him—he was completely unhinged. Who would've thought someone who seemed so normal could be so twisted inside?

With that glance, she noticed the sizzling on Shadow’s back and the strange smell—she understood immediately.

She had dragged him into this.

""Go,"" she said, weak but sincere. ""Find someone to avenge me."" She smiled. ""I know, someone like him—he's so slippery, you can't do anything to him.""

Shadow acted as if he hadn't heard her, glaring at Ah Gang. Ah Gang, infuriated by the reminder of his humiliation, screamed, ""What do you mean, I can't be caught? Go? Easy for you to say! Let's see how you go anywhere!""

Bian Changxi let out a sarcastic laugh, but the laughter soon turned into a fit of coughing that tore through her whole body, so she forced herself to hold it in.

Ah Gang grew even angrier, striding up to Shadow and grabbing his head.

Boss Zhang shouted, ""Don't fall for it! She's provoking you!""

*PS:*

Thanks to Ai Feng C for the two pink tickets—thank you for your support!"