Chapter 73: Black Blood (Chapter 1, Requesting Monthly Votes)

The stinking, corrosive odor hit him face-on; Lin Xian was instantly startled, silently cursing—this thing was a xenomorph, and it could spit corrosive acid?

Plop! Plop! Plop!

The three-headed monster scrambled down the wall and lunged wildly at Lin Xian, its three heads gaping wide, spewing acid toward him.

Lin Xian immediately dove into the alley’s corner and spun around to erect a steel-bar fence behind him.

Pssst~ Pssst~

Black blood kept spraying from behind; the three-headed monster crawled like a living spider, scaling walls to bypass Lin Xian’s fence and close in rapidly.

The monster moved at incredible speed and could attack from afar—luckily, Lin Xian had chosen this winding alley; in an open area, he’d have been forced to erect iron walls head-on, putting him at a severe disadvantage.

Taptaptap!

At the corner, as the three-headed spider lunged out, Lin Xian raised his rifle and sprayed bullets from the next turn, fighting like a guerrilla.

Scorching bullets tore through, instantly ripping away flesh and sending chunks of meat flying.

Lin Xian turned and ran, picked up his radio, and saw its red light still glowing—he immediately understood that this supernatural force in the night also emitted signal-shielding energy; it seemed the radio behind him would need to be fitted with strange blood essence as well.

“The building!”

In the dark alley, Lin Xian suddenly roared.

The three-headed monster closed in rapidly from behind; Lin Xian didn’t look back, continuously releasing steel nets and iron walls behind him while dropping tripwires and spike walls along the ground.

Click! Bang!

The monster behind was repeatedly blocked by his traps, even sustaining some damage—this fully enraged it; its spider-like legs moved faster and faster, climbing upward to close in swiftly.

At that moment, Lin Xian spotted the alley’s exit ahead—on the second-floor balcony, a tower-like silhouette was poised and ready!

Da Lou!

“Watch out! This thing spits acid from afar!”

He sprinted forward, warning as he ran.

Aaaah!!!

The three-headed spider surged forward from the high wall, continuously spewing black blood that landed behind Lin Xian and on the walls, emitting a chilling, corrosive hiss.

“Die!”

As it neared Lin Xian, Da Lou leapt out, gripping his massive steel-slicing sword, grunting as he swung down in one brutal slash!

Shink!

The three-headed spider hadn’t anticipated Da Lou’s appearance—the brilliant flash of cold steel severed two heads clean off, and the third lost a third of its skull.

Pssst!

Instantly, a torrent of black blood erupted from the spider’s body, surging straight toward Da Lou.

Lin Xian, sprinting forward, had foreseen this—he instantly erected a steel wall and shoved it upward, blocking Da Lou from the exploding black blood, then grabbed Da Lou and rolled him away.

Sssss~

For efficiency, Lin Xian used the thinnest iron sheets—he only needed to block that single instant of black blood.

Soon, the corrosive black blood ate through the thin wall, leaving several massive holes.

“Too close!”

Lin Xian and Da Lou scrambled to their feet, no time to pause—both raised their machine guns and sprayed bullets at the spider behind the iron sheet.

Taptaptap!!

The alley erupted with fierce gunfire; muzzle flashes lit up half the lane—under the torrent of bullets, the spider’s last remaining head let out a horrific, wailing shriek.

“Don’t slack off—empty the magazines!”

Lin Xian roared; this thing appearing from above was too bizarre—no one knew if it had hidden tricks. With the advantage now, they pressed the attack with overwhelming firepower, giving it zero chance to recover.

Clickclickclick!

Soon, Lin Xian emptied his assault rifle’s magazine—he dropped it without hesitation, raised both hands, and summoned a wind gun in his left and a flashlight in his right.

Fffft!

Umm~ Zzzzt!

The wind gun pierced through; electric sparks exploded!

Against supernatural entities in the night, never hesitate—three heads might mean three lives!

Lin Xian and Da Lou kept firing for over a minute until Da Lou’s machine gun magazine was also completely empty; only then did they pause.

The gunfire echoed repeatedly through the narrow, empty alley.

Huh~ Huh~

Both panted heavily; Lin Xian saw the black shadow on the ground had stopped moving, so he switched on his flashlight.

Ahead, not far off, the three-headed spider had been reduced to a pile of rotting flesh; Lin Xian’s thin iron sheet lay atop it, hissing as it corroded.

Black blood pooled everywhere, quickly devouring the iron sheet entirely—making one’s brow furrow. “Dead, right…?”

Lin Xian glanced over—the gunfire had drawn the attention of many zombies.

He made an instant decision, covered his nose and mouth, and stepped forward to investigate.

At that moment, a visible black mist appeared in the flashlight’s beam; Lin Xian’s eyes lit up, and the faint, whispering wails began in his ears.

As expected, on the ground where the mist gathered, a crimson-red bead appeared.

The bead was the same size as the one he’d traded for by the bonfire; wary of contamination from the corrosive black blood, he conjured a metal tong and a simple iron box, lifted the strange blood essence from the ground, and said:

“This thing is truly troublesome.”

The situation had been terrifyingly close!

Lin Xian stared at the black blood on the ground, frowned, and stepped back—this stuff, if it touched you, wouldn’t kill you but would rot off a layer of skin, and it even corroded steel.

A foul stench now rose sharply; Lin Xian accidentally inhaled a bit, instantly feeling his head grow heavy, his organs churning violently—he nearly vomited.

“Quick, get away!”

Lin Xian signaled Da Lou; without hesitation, they scrambled into the SUV, engines roaring as they sped toward the city’s edge.

Vrrrm!

The engine roared; the SUV’s headlights were swallowed one by one by the darkness ahead.

!

“These supernatural entities are too strange…”

In the passenger seat, Lin Xian opened the iron box, stared at the strange blood essence inside, and said grimly:

“They seem to sense our presence—they always appear right next to us.”

At first, he thought there might be some nest in the darkness, and at night, these monsters emerged from it.

But strangely, during daylight, he saw no trace of any nest—they simply appeared out of nowhere, right before Lin Xian’s eyes.

Several times, had he not reacted fast enough, he’d already be dead.

“Can they teleport?” Da Lou asked, driving, still shaken.

“If they could teleport, how could I ever escape?” Lin Xian shook his head. “It’s just that these things always appear without warning—not even footsteps.”

“It’s as if… they’ve always been right beside you.”

As he spoke, Lin Xian suddenly felt a chill run down his spine—he glanced at Da Lou, and his peripheral vision caught a flicker of red. He instantly snapped his head toward the rearview mirror.

In the mirror, the backseat held a woman in red clothing, her hair hanging loose, sitting unnaturally centered, her entire face shrouded in black shadow.

Lin Xian jumped in shock, whirled around—but the backseat was empty.

Da Lou noticed his reaction and also looked at the mirror.

“What’s wrong, Xian Ge?”

Lin Xian stared at the empty backseat, his expression grave. “Something’s off.”

Zzzt…

Zzzt…

At that moment, a strange electrical crackle sounded.

Lin Xian’s radio suddenly emitted noise—he hadn’t pressed any button; the car fell silent, both men’s eyes locking onto the radio.

“Zzzt… zzzt…”

“Wish… zzzt… wish you…”

“Zzzt… wish you… birth… day… happy…”

From the radio came the raspy, eerie humming.

New author seeking follows and monthly votes.

After the official launch on December 1st, I’ll post massive updates—don’t save this novel; check the last chapter every time a new one drops.

(End of Chapter)