Chapter 10: Qilin
Zhou Tai was currently in the body of a tall woman, roughly 1.7 meters in height. Normally, even if a human body were filled with Aberrant Parasite tentacles, as long as the outer shell remained intact, its movements would mimic human behavior. But Zhou Tai and the body he possessed were a special case.
Faced with Yu Xian's silver threads, he twisted himself and writhed like a deflating balloon, easily evading the attack. Then he raised an arm. The skin along it instantly split apart, and countless writhing tentacles intertwined, forming a grotesquely thick limb.
Zhou Tai burst into a booming laugh. "Here comes the fist!"
He threw himself into the air and drove a punch straight at Yu Xian below. Sensing danger, Yu Xian immediately jumped to the side and, after landing, instantly rolled across the ground.
Needless to say, losing an arm had greatly affected Yu Xian. Had he still possessed his right hand, Zhou Tai wouldn't even have had the chance to jump in front of him. Yu Xian would have shredded him instantly.
A thunderous boom rang out, and the ground where Yu Xian had been standing moments earlier shook violently. Amidst the rising dust, Zhou Tai's fist smashed a half-meter-wide crater into the ground. The punch had enough power to blast a gaping hole right through a person's body.
Having dodged the attack by rolling away, Yu Xian stopped into a half-kneeling position and slammed his left hand into the ground. He controlled his silver threads to tunnel through the ground and rushed toward Zhou Tai. A dense swarm of silver threads burst from the crater, weaving into a massive net that engulfed Zhou Tai and constricted in a flash.
Even in that critical moment, Zhou Tai still wore a smile. His body burst apart, transforming into a dense swarm of disgusting tentacles that fluidly wriggled through the gaps of the net, pulling the deflated human skin out with them. Anyone who had seen an octopus squeezing through impossibly small gaps underwater could imagine exactly how Zhou Tai escaped.
The tentacles rapidly burrowed back into the human skin. In the blink of an eye, Zhou Tai had once again taken the form of a young woman.
Yu Xian was able to follow Zhou Tai's movements, and the sight sent a jolt through his heart. Such precision, such speed!
Although Zhou Tai's abilities had not surpassed the limits of an Aberrant Parasite, his control over this woman's body was simply extraordinary. This kind of maneuver was something most Aberrant Parasites probably could never pull off.
Suddenly, Zhou Tai noticed Yu Xian's severed arm lying a few meters away. He shot a glance at Yu Xian. Then, a mass of tentacles burst forth from his torn-open arm. Reaching down, they scooped up the severed arm and bored straight inside.
Aberrant Parasites possessed a horrifyingly abnormal ability. By using their tentacles to simulate the flesh and nerves of other living beings, they could take complete control of their victims' bodies. This was, in fact, their most basic ability. Otherwise, after the parasites had hollowed out a host's body, the host's brain would have long since died from oxygen deprivation.
Zhou Tai used his tentacles to jerk and casually swung Yu Xian's severed arm back and forth. A smile appeared on his face. "Little Brother, this arm of yours is pretty nice. Let's continue."
He charged straight at Yu Xian. He was fast, much faster than ordinary Aberrant Parasites. Currently, he was at least three to four times faster than before, and his movements were anything but linear.
It was impossible for Yu Xian to predict his movement. Left with no better option, Yu Xian could only frantically retreat, doing his best to widen the distance between them.
The two of them tore across the sports field in a deadly game of cat and mouse. From time to time, Yu Xian lashed out with silver threads to block Zhou Tai's advance, but Zhou Tai moved as though he were dancing, or merely playing a game, effortlessly slipping past every attack. At the same time, he would swing Yu Xian's severed right arm around like a weapon, occasionally extending it without warning to launch punches at him.
In reality, Yu Xian's attacks posed virtually no threat to Zhou Tai. The silver threads were indeed incomparably sharp, capable of inflicting devastating damage on Zhou Tai, but Zhou Tai was far too agile for Yu Xian to land a hit on him. He could shift and reshape himself with astonishing speed. Several times, Yu Xian had deliberately woven his silver threads into massive nets, only for Zhou Tai to slip effortlessly through the gaps.
On the contrary, Zhou Tai had managed to strike Yu Xian several times. Although Yu Xian managed to evade the attacks, he had been grazed in multiple places. Fortunately, since he was a vampire, such minor wounds healed in the blink of an eye, leaving no visible traces behind.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out.
Bang!
Zhou Tai, who had been in hot pursuit of Yu Xian, immediately arched backward to dodge. The bullet streaked past his chest before striking the distant ground and exploding.
A perfect opening!
Yu Xian seized the opportunity to spin around and lashed out with his left hand. A dense swarm of silver threads whipped wildly through the air, slicing toward Zhou Tai from every conceivable angle.
Faced with the web of silver threads descending like an inescapable net, Zhou Tai immediately repeated the same trick. Countless tentacles burst out from within his human shell as he chose one of the openings and prepared to slip through. However, at that moment, another gunshot rang out.
Bang!
Just as Zhou Tai had broken free from the massive web of silver threads, Nora's bullet struck him. The resulting explosion severed a vast cluster of his tentacles. The remaining few rapidly retreated, burrowing deep back inside the woman's skin as he rolled backward to distance himself.
Although Nora fired several more shots in rapid succession, all of them missed. Zhou Tai was simply too fast.
After a series of backward flips, Zhou Tai landed lightly on the branch of a tree within the school grounds. He raised his head to glare at Nora, his shriveled face twisted with venomous hatred. "Bitch, I was having fun with Little Brother here. You're seriously getting in the way."
Neither Nora nor Yu Xian said a word. The two shared a tacit understanding; they had to strike while the iron was hot!
Bullets and silver threads intertwined as they converged on Zhou Tai. In an instant, gunfire blasted open the tree beneath him, then countless silver threads shredded it into fragments.
Yet just before the attack landed, Zhou Tai had already leaped backward. By the time the barrage struck, he was standing atop the school's perimeter wall once again.
With a cheerful smile, he said to Yu Xian, "Little Brother, let's have fun again next time."
Then his expression abruptly twisted as he glared at Nora in manic fury. "And as for you, you filthy bitch, you're dead. I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you!"
Bullets and silver threads came at him once again. He immediately flipped backward and vanished beyond the school's perimeter wall.
Zhou Tai's original plan had been to kill Yu Xian or at least play with him until the woman's body he controlled was ruined. But after obtaining Yu Xian's arm and realizing it was anything but ordinary, he decided to retreat instead, intending to take the arm back with him.
Yu Xian and Nora did not immediately let their guard down after Zhou Tai left. They stood in place for a long while. Only after confirming that he was truly gone did they finally let out a breath of relief.
Yu Xian sank onto the ground, exhausted in both body and mind. Zhou Tai had nearly killed him several times. The aftermath left him shaken.
Nora came down from the second floor and jogged over, slowing when she got close. Yu Xian turned his head toward her, and their eyes met. For a brief moment, they both shared a tacit smile.
"That was terrifying. I've never seen such a terrifying monster before," Nora said as she sat down beside him, still shaken.
Yu Xian nodded. "At least we managed to drive him away."
Suddenly, Nora pressed her gun against Yu Xian's lower back. Yu Xian had no choice but to raise his only remaining hand in surrender.
She stared at his back. "There are plenty of members of the Blood Race who are ten times, a hundred times, or even a thousand times stronger than that monster. My father's patience is limited. He sent me to kill you, and if I don't act soon, he'll send someone even stronger. By then, you'll be dead for sure."
Yu Xian couldn't help but laugh. "So, you've decided to kill me first?"
Nora lowered her gun. "Hmph. I'll give you some advice. You should try to join Qilin."
"Qilin? You can't seriously tell me that legendary Qilin actually exist in this world, and you want me to join them?"
"Of course not. Qilin is the name of a government organization. I don't know the full details either, but I once heard that three years ago, a wild vampire like you joined Qilin, and the Blood Race completely called off the hunt to kill him."
Qilin! A government organization! Yu Xian's eyes lit up. This option seemed far more reliable than running off into the wilderness and living as a hermit.