Chapter 2: Divine Scion

This emergency asphyxiation procedure called a cricothyrotomy, Li Cheng had only ever seen on TV dramas and in books—he had never performed it on a living creature.

The rough, clumsy motions just now might lead to aftereffects such as mediastinal emphysema, laryngeal edema, vocal cord damage, and even wound infection, but compared to death by direct suffocation, all of the above were acceptable.

"Gurgle, gurgle."

The bee-shaped monster was still sucking the blood of its second victim; judging from how shriveled the latter's body was, this feeding was about to end.

Time remaining was scarce, but fortunately, thanks to the restored oxygen supply, Li Cheng's strength was considerably greater than before.

He used his knife to slash open the spider silk on his left hand, then the strands on his cheek.

With a final hard yank, he broke free of his bonds, picked up the bicycle lying beside him, and pedaled with all his might.

Only now did Li Cheng notice the change in the sky.

A breathtaking rift stretched across the night sky, and millions upon millions of brilliant stars—purple, red, or green—shone within it.

Buzz-buzz-buzz—

There was no time to think; the sound of membranous wings beating followed close behind. That bee-shaped monster had actually stopped feeding and was pursuing him. And it was terrifyingly fast. Clearly it did not intend to give up its prey.

The gap between them shrank rapidly. Li Cheng clenched his jaw, hunched over the bike, and rode straight down the embankment, plunging into the water and vanishing.

The bee-shaped monster circled the surface several times, then dove headfirst into the water, its tail stinger driving into Li Cheng's left shoulder.

Fresh blood spread through the icy river water. Enduring the searing pain, Li Cheng rolled over, pushed off the riverbed with his feet, and using his weight advantage, pressed the bee-shaped monster beneath the surface. He grabbed a riverbed stone at random and smashed it against the creature's head.

Though the bee-monster was strong, it weighed less than a human and was at a severe disadvantage underwater. Two of the three blood-amber stones on its forehead were smashed clean off by the rock, landing on the back of Li Cheng's hand and fusing instantly with his skin.

Buzz!

The bee-monster vibrated its wings explosively, wrenched free from Li Cheng's grip, broke the water's surface, and flew back up to circle at high altitude. Its waterproof tawny fuzz stood out vividly under the starlight.

Bang—

A heavy bullet from an extreme distance punched through the bee-monster's abdomen, blasting it apart midair; foul yellow ichor and the blood pooled in its belly sprayed everywhere.

Li Cheng started violently and, on instinct, sank beneath the water.

A dozen seconds later, from the direction the gunshot had come, a Humvee bearing the English logo of "Prometheus Laboratory Company" roared into view.

The car door opened; several gunmen armed from head to toe jumped out. The last to step down was a blue-eyed blond man in a suit, carrying an exaggerated-looking anti-materiel sniper rifle.

"Sir,"

An armed operative holding a scanner swept over the half of the bee-monster's corpse lying beneath the tree, and reported to the suited man: "Checked it. It's a low-tier insect-class experimental subject that escaped from the Killing Grounds. It's carrying one shard of the Insect Lord's Divine Scion, with an anomaly fluctuation index of 31."

"Understood."

The suited man nodded, scanned the surroundings, his gaze lingering briefly on the bicycle tracks and bloodstains on the ground and the remnants of spider silk on the wall. His brow furrowed slightly. "Two Divine Scion shards are missing."

Just as he took a step toward the canal, headlights flared on a distant bridge, and three pitch-black armored vehicles sped over.

"The Special Affairs Bureau got here this fast?"

The suited man's eyes narrowed slightly, and he signaled his men to clean up the scene. Especially the bloodstains on the ground.

The three armored vehicles screeched to a halt at the roadside, and a group of men and women in black suits stepped out. They took over the scene with practiced ease, donned gloves, collected the bee-monster's shredded flesh and blood, and lowered the two mummy-like victims down from the wall.

Treating the Prometheus personnel, who had arrived first, as if they were invisible.

"Miss Tang Wenwei, it's been a while."

The blond man offered a greeting. "Per Special Affairs Bureau regulations, in the Shadow Realm, the experimental subject's corpse belongs to whoever kills it."

"That's when no homicide has occurred."

The short-haired woman called Tang Wenwei showed no courtesy, replying coolly: "There are victims at the scene, so the Special Affairs Bureau has the authority to confiscate all anomaly-related items connected to the case. Including the experimental subject's corpse."

Special Affairs Bureau? Shadow Realm? Experimental subject?

Li Cheng, who was entirely submerged, listened to these terms, his head full of question marks.

He vaguely felt that those self-proclaimed Special Affairs Bureau agents in black suits were probably an official organization, and he was wavering over whether to climb out of the water and declare his identity as an ordinary citizen.

"Sister Tang, this person is still alive!"

A Special Affairs Bureau operative suddenly shouted.

Everyone's gaze snapped over. The second victim, now nearly indistinguishable from a dried corpse, was lying on the ground, laboriously gasping for breath.

Personnel from the Special Affairs Bureau rushed forward, injecting an unknown liquid into his body with a syringe and placing a makeshift respirator over his mouth and nose to assist his breathing.

As the suspected nutrient solution was administered, the victim's skin gradually plumped up, and he gained the strength to speak.

"Wh-where am I? Who are you?" With the support of those beside him, he barely managed to stand, his gaze drifting.

"Do you still remember your name? Your home address?" the Special Affairs Bureau personnel asked, taking out a phone to photograph him and compare his appearance against the resident database.

"Me? My name is Tan Tao, I'm a designated driver,"

Under the strange gazes of those around him, he spoke more and more slowly, as if desperately trying to remember.

The skin on his forehead gradually split open, and clusters of compound eyes emerged; his entire lower jaw split apart to either side, sprouting pincer-like mandibles.

Fwip!

The designated driver's back clothing tore apart, and a pair of membranous wings extended from within. Yet he seemed to feel nothing at all, continuing to mutter on his own: "I live in the SJ district, my wife and kids are still waiting for me at home, I have to hurry back."

"Alright, Mr. Tan, we understand your situation, we'll help you."

Tang Wenwei maintained a gentle smile, then suddenly drew a pistol from her waist with lightning speed and put a bullet through his forehead.

Brain matter splattered; the driver's insectoid corpse toppled backward. Those around him dodged automatically, showing no surprise or anger.

"Infected by the Insect Lord, a quick death is actually a mercy."

Tang Wenwei sighed softly, turned to look at the blond man from Prometheus Company, and said, "Mr. August, is there anything else?"

"Nothing."

August shrugged, his gaze drifting over the canal's surface, and said casually: "However, to demonstrate the friendship between Prometheus and the Special Affairs Bureau, we'll continue maintaining the Shadow Realm's presence here. You have no objections, I assume?"

"Suit yourself."

Tang Wenwei paid it little mind and continued directing her subordinates to clean up the scene.

"."

Beneath the water's surface, Li Cheng's mind was filled with images of Tang Wenwei firing her gun.

【Anyone infected by the Lord of Insects — dying quickly is actually a kind of relief.】

He'd just been stung in the shoulder by the bee-monster — did that count as infection? If it did, then if he surfaced now, would he get a bullet to the head too?

His thoughts were a tangled mess. He held his breath and pushed the bike forward in utter silence beneath the water's surface.

Until he could barely hold on any longer, then he carefully poked the breathing tube above the surface, sucked in a mouthful of air, and kept diving.

He didn't know how long he'd been walking before the armored vehicles finally vanished from sight.

Only then did Li Cheng surface, climb to the bank, crawl under a bridge arch, and break into a violent coughing fit.

At that moment the city lit up again, the starry sky had vanished, as if everything that had just happened were an illusion.

"Urgh—"

He spat out a large mouthful of stomach fluid laced with murky blood; his hands, bracing his body, trembled without cease.

The scent of fresh blood drew the ant colonies roosting nearby. A swarm of ants crawled over, lapping up Li Cheng's watery blood; some even crawled onto his hands.

He couldn't collapse here. He had to get home.

His hazy consciousness drove his body to stand. He brushed the ants off his hands, shakily lifted the bicycle upright, and rode toward his aunt's house.

His body was burning hot; the clothes soaked through by the river were slowly giving off steam. By the time Li Cheng took the elevator upstairs and reached the door, his clothes and even his schoolbag had been dried.

Relying on the last shred of consciousness, he changed into slippers, shut the security door, walked into his bedroom, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

(End of Chapter)