Chapter Three: Child of Flesh and Blood

The place where they stood was quite secluded, with no surveillance in sight. Lin Lei intentionally confronted the man, but his true purpose was to divert the woman's attention. In reality, the effect of the 'Nightwalker' artifact concealed his energy fluctuations, making the woman unsuspecting of Lin Lei and allowing him to launch a successful surprise attack.

At such close range, even if the target were a second-tier physical-type source user, she would have no chance of dodging Lin Lei's bullet—let alone when she was not one. As for the others involved, the Bureau had all sorts of source artifacts: some could calm emotions or seal memories. He wasn’t worried that any lasting psychological trauma would remain.

After finishing off his target with a final shot, Lin Lei finally turned around, forcing a smile at the three girls behind him. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not a bad person…”

The girls’ screams cut off abruptly; each spun around, mounted the electric scooters parked by the roadside, and wobbled off in a panic toward the distance. Lin Lei raised his eyebrows but let them go. These three were students at Second High; they wouldn’t be hard to locate later. Logistics could handle it.

But what took Lin Lei by surprise was that the girl called Feifei, evidently terrified, managed to unlock her scooter only to crash straight into the nearby park fence. The scooter toppled, pinning her underneath. She tried several times to lift it but failed, and then broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

Lin Lei could only shake his head and walk over to her. “Are you alright?”

Seeing him approach, the girl’s eyes were red and swollen, and she wept even harder, her voice hoarse with fear. “Please, please, don’t kill me…”

Lin Lei helped her up, took out his credentials, and explained concisely, “There’s no need to be afraid. I’m with the Special Operations Division of the Security Department. That person was a notorious murderer here in Biyang City…”

Her crying ceased abruptly. She sniffled, dazedly accepting the credentials he handed her. But no sooner had she taken them than her eyes shifted past Lin Lei’s shoulder, her face suddenly contorted with terror.

Sensing something amiss, Lin Lei spun around. On the ground, the obese, middle-aged woman’s corpse was swelling with grotesque lumps of flesh, twisting and distorting before his eyes.

Lin Lei’s breath caught; even he was momentarily stunned. “‘Mutation’? Impossible. Even if she was a second-tier source user, a post-mortem mutation shouldn’t occur this quickly. Is this her special ability…?”

Lin Lei’s thoughts raced as he shouted to the girl behind him, “Run! Hurry!”

“I—I—my legs won’t move—” The girl was collapsed on the ground, crying out in despair.

Lin Lei had no time to comfort her. He strode forward, retrieved his energy pistol, and fired at the writhing mass of flesh, all the while dragging the unconscious man beside it away and tossing him behind.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets tore bloody holes through the woman’s bloated corpse. Soon, Lin Lei had emptied all thirty rounds. The thing on the ground was no longer recognizable as human, yet it still squirmed, its twisted limbs and organs exuding a nauseating stench.

“Even a second-tier physical-type source user couldn’t survive this many energy bullets. This must be some kind of special ability…”

As his barrage ceased, the writhing meat rapidly coalesced, sprouting crimson tendrils that shot toward Lin Lei.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

Though fast, the tendrils were easily avoided by someone as prepared as Lin Lei. He drew the alloy longsword from the sheath on his back.

Slash!

With a swift motion, he severed several wriggling, blood-red appendages.

“The strength and speed are unremarkable…”

Despite how bizarre the situation was, Lin Lei remained calm. The corpse’s tentacles weren’t so difficult to handle.

“After all, this one was only first-tier…”

Severed tendrils fell to the ground, twisting madly, inching back toward the main mass. Frowning, Lin Lei spun his blade in a relentless dance, parrying the monstrous attacks as he advanced on the bloody lump.

With a sudden, forceful strike—

Slash!

The nauseating mass was cleaved in two by his blade. Both halves writhed frantically, then began to merge again.

Lin Lei’s lips twitched. He brought the blade down again and again. Like mincing dumpling meat, he quickly reduced the monstrous lump to countless strips of wriggling flesh.

Though it could no longer attack, these shreds still trembled, trying to rejoin.

“Is it impossible to kill?” Lin Lei muttered, exasperated. He kept hacking with one hand while dialing Li Xueshu with the other.

The call connected quickly. Lin Lei described the situation as succinctly as possible. Since Li Xueshu could provide information on the target’s movements, she should also know more about the target’s background.

“That’s a fanatic of the forbidden entity called ‘Mother of Flesh and Blood.’ After death, the body mutates and begins transforming into a ‘Child of Flesh and Blood.’ In this state, physical attacks can’t kill it…”

“It’s simple to deal with: ‘Child of Flesh and Blood’ fears fire most. Flames can destroy it completely!”

Lin Lei’s eyes brightened. “Will ghostfire work?”

Li Xue nodded. “‘Ghostfire’ is a special flame that burns source energy; it’s even more effective.”

“Alright, we’ll talk after I’m done!”

Hanging up, Lin Lei cracked his neck, kept slashing with one hand, and pulled out a lighter with the other.

With a click and a whoosh, ghostly blue flames erupted, devouring the writhing mass in an instant.

As the ghostfire burned, the “Child of Flesh and Blood” convulsed violently, but could not coalesce again. In its shredded state, it was utterly unable to extinguish the flames. It could only wait to die.

Soon the trembling ceased.

Lin Lei narrowed his eyes, swiftly took out his PDA, and snapped several photos of the burning remains. Then he turned to the still-wailing girl.

Her voice was hoarse from screaming, yet she hadn’t fainted. Lin Lei stepped forward and gently tapped her on the back of the neck. She passed out at once.

Only then did Lin Lei turn back to the burning flesh and activate “Plunder.”

Devouring this monster’s energy cost over twenty units—higher than a ghoul. Lin Lei couldn’t say whether this gift was ultimately good or bad. Shaking his head, he activated “Plunder.”

The ghostfire-engulfed mass vanished from the earth.