Chapter Thirty-One: Second-Order Aberration?

Lin Lei saw several people gathered at the spot where the ghouls’ corpses were being burned, and his heart skipped a beat. Although Li Xueshu had said that after being burned by the "Netherfire," there would be no residue left from the corpses of the monsters, what if something unusual remained? He put on an innocent expression, pretending to know nothing, and walked up. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing!" Chen Ning shook his head. "I just didn’t expect so many ghoul bodies to burn away so quickly!"

The scattered ghouls could be burned up in ten minutes, but here, dozens of corpses were piled together; naturally, it would take much longer. Neither of them could have imagined that Lin Lei had doubled back midway and devoured the entire mound of ghouls. Though it seemed strange, it didn’t cross their minds to think more of it.

Lin Lei sighed in relief at their words, cleared his throat, and shifted the topic. "How’s your side? How many ghouls did you take out?"

Chen Ning shook his head, "We only managed seven or eight."

There was only one source-energy radar, and neither of them possessed the terrifying senses of Lin Lei or Li Xueshu; killing off seven or eight escapees was already quite good.

Lin Lei picked up the source-energy radar and noticed that there were now very few dots of light in the surrounding area—just a handful. After all, the radar’s range was limited; anything farther couldn’t be seen.

"With Li Xueshu’s strength, how could she be gone so long? Could she have discovered something unusual?" Lin Lei frowned, when suddenly his ears twitched.

He seemed to hear the wind whistling in the deep darkness.

He looked up into the distance.

"Is it just my imagination?"

He raised his hand, checking the source-energy radar, but there were no flickering dots of light.

No anomalous signals, no disorder.

Chen Fan shook his head, frowning into the darkness...

The wind grew louder.

At last, Lin Lei’s eyes sharpened—in the darkness, a massive black shadow was hurtling toward them at incredible speed!

"What is that?!" Lin Lei’s expression changed dramatically.

The lighting was too dim and the distance too great; for the moment, Lin Lei couldn’t make out the shadow’s features.

Its speed was astonishing—easily sixty or seventy meters per second. Even at his peak, Lin Lei couldn’t match it.

"Careful! Something’s coming, get ready for battle!" he shouted, drawing both his source-energy pistol and alloy longsword.

Chen Ning and Qiao’er’s expressions hardened as well, raising their own firearms.

This was the sewer; with an opponent this fast, even Lin Lei couldn’t outrun it—escape was not a wise option.

With the weapons Chen Ning and Qiao’er carried, they would at least have a fighting chance against a powerful monster.

The terrain here was open, fairly suitable for suppressing enemies at range with firearms.

As the shadow approached rapidly, Lin Lei finally saw its form clearly.

The creature was about two meters forty or fifty tall, with unnatural bulging muscles, covered in blue-green fur, two sharp horns on its head, features twisted and fierce, draped in a tattered black cloak.

It was much larger than Chen Ning!

"Could it be a second-tier monster? Why would another monster appear here? Didn’t Li Xueshu say that ghouls usually repel other monsters?"

Lin Lei had no time for surprise; his eyes flashed.

"Even a second-tier monster can’t be immune to the firepower of modern weapons!"

He decisively gave orders to Chen Ning and Qiao’er.

"Fire!"

Both Qiao’er and Chen Ning had excellent nerves; even now, they acted without panic, each raising their weapons.

Scorching tongues of flame erupted, and the submachine guns rattled, bullets whizzing densely toward the creature in the darkness.

But the monster was so fast, even with Qiao’er’s twin submachine guns firing non-stop, it was hard to hit the elusive beast!

Still, with such dense fire, some shots struck home.

Although the monster didn’t drop dead when hit, its speed was affected.

Dodging back and forth, its movement slowed significantly.

Chen Ning took the opportunity to toss grenade after grenade; the blast radius was much larger than that of bullets.

After a few hits, the creature muttered something, extended its claw, and raised an object resembling a bookmark. A black light formed into a phantom shield, blocking the blasts!

Another grenade exploded in front of it, but the flames were entirely held at bay.

"Damn, it’s a source artifact—this monster has a source artifact!" Chen Ning shouted loudly.

"Impressive!" Lin Lei’s eyes gleamed, thoughts racing.

Wild ghouls indeed repelled other monsters, but what if this horde wasn’t wild, but bred and kept?

No wonder so many ghouls were hiding in the sewers, so disciplined and concealed—it must be governed by some other will!

He drew a deep breath, raising his gaze to the charging beast. This creature was almost certainly second-tier or higher; if it broke through the concentrated firepower, they’d struggle to hold it back.

The monster, relying on its unique shield, pressed ever closer, now within effective pistol range.

Lin Lei swiftly raised his source-energy pistol.

He fired shot after shot at the beast.

Bang!

Even the machine gun fire had no effect, but when Lin Lei’s source-energy bullets struck the monster’s shield, ripples spread across it like waves on water!

The source-energy bullets were clearly more effective than the submachine guns or flamethrower.

Lin Lei’s eyes burned with resolve; he kept squeezing the trigger.

Unfortunately, the creature was so fast that even at close range, Lin Lei managed to hit it only once out of several shots.

On the other side, Chen Ning and Qiao’er kept up their barrage.

Since the monster charged straight at them, the closer it got, the harder it was to maintain their concentrated fire.

Soon, the black shield began to creak, looking more and more unstable...

But the monster pressed forward, using the shield’s defense to force its way close.

At this range, its agility would drastically reduce the effectiveness of Chen Ning and Qiao’er’s ranged attacks.

A foul wind filled Lin Lei’s nostrils.

His eyes were resolute; he holstered the source-energy pistol, gripped his sword with both hands, and charged ahead.

"Careful with your fire—don’t hit me!"

It wasn’t selflessness—he knew best that without Li Xueshu, if he didn’t hold off this monster, the other two would be killed instantly. And without their ranged support, he could never hope to defeat such a beast alone!

His thoughts flashed by in an instant, clearing his mind, gripping his sword firmly.

The monster’s blood-red eyes locked onto Lin Lei, its sharp claws slashing out.

But Lin Lei was ready. He sidestepped the attack and slashed with all his strength!

With his immense power behind the blow, the blade cut through the air and struck the already fragile black shield.

Crack!

The shield could no longer withstand it; countless cracks spidered across its surface.

But before Lin Lei could relax—

As the shield shattered, the bookmark-shaped artifact in the monster’s hand burst into flames, releasing a violent surge of energy that exploded outward—

Boom!

The shockwave was fiercer than any grenade, blasting outward in all directions.

"Not good!"

Lin Lei dove to the side, but was still caught by the terrifying blast, his blood surging, throat sweet with the taste of blood, sent flying into the distance.

On the other side, farther off, Qiao’er and Chen Ning were also thrown by the shockwave, crashing heavily to the ground!

Their weapons were sent flying as well.