Chapter 291: Instant Effect

Hundreds to thousands of eyes simultaneously flashed an eerie dark‑red light in an instant, like tiny ignited coals, all focusing on A Xing.

The entire dim space was further shrouded in a bizarre glow as the suddenly illuminated red "Star Sea" reflected around.

A Xing stood silently in place, watching this silent "gaze" of red light ocean that was staring at A Xing, and calmly spoke into the Communicator:

"Black Tower Lady. If all the rats' eyes were emitting red light, all flashing and looking at you, would that be a normal phenomenon?"

The other end of the Communicator was silent for two seconds, then a tone‑neutral retort came from Black Tower: "What do you think?"

"Understood."

A Xing nodded, "That means an anomaly has appeared."

A Xing's words just fell, as if a switch had been triggered.

"Squeak—!!!"

A piercing, ear‑splitting, sharp mouse screech suddenly erupted!

The dozens of massive rats nearest to A Xing began to swell at a visibly rapid and extremely unnatural rate!

Their fur burst, revealing rapidly proliferating pink flesh underneath!

Their bodies expanded severalfold within seconds, hind limbs becoming thick and powerful, while forelimbs elongated and differentiated into additional jointed, barbed appendages!

Their heads distorted, snouts split, exposing spirally arranged, constantly dripping slime‑laden, ferocious oral organs!

"Evolution?"

No, it resembles more a forced catalytic mutation!

Within just a few breaths, A Xing was surrounded by dozens of these waist‑high, terrifying "Mutated Rat Monsters", while farther away even more massive rats with red‑glowing eyes stirred menacingly, emitting low growls.

The sewage rippled as their restless limbs cut through it.

A Xing watched these creatures transform instantly from "local specialty fauna" into "K‑style monsters", her golden eyes remaining unruffled, only a slight furrow of the brow.

She weighed the Metal Ball Club that had accompanied her for a long time in her hand.

(…Feels a bit like bullying.)

(…And cleaning it up might be rather… troublesome.)

She flicked her wrist, and the club vanished.

In its place was a sword of a… remarkably unique design.

The blade was slender and long, glimmering with a dim, age‑worn sheen, but that was not the point.

The point was that the sword's "blade" portion was unmistakably a wind‑dried, stiff, partially scaly, contorted‑struggling — Salted Fish!

It was the Salty Fish Sword formed from the wondrous "Immortal Salted Fish"!

When the Salty Fish Sword appeared, a complex, indescribable stench of briny, sour odor surged like an invisible shockwave, instantly radiating outward from A Xing.

The scent was so "outstanding" that even the Sewer's own complex, rotting stink paled before it, as if forcibly redefined.

The effect was immediate.

Those Mutated Rat Monsters that had been frenziedly roaring and poised to pounce froze in unison!

Their simple sensory systems evidently had never processed such a "soul‑shaking" olfactory input.

In their dark‑red pupils, the look of madness was briefly replaced by an instinctive retreating emotion.

The surrounding circle even involuntarily loosened a bit backward.

However, this retreat lasted less than a second.

"Squeak—!!!"

A sharper screech rang out, its source unknown from which corner of the Sewer.

The red glow in all Mutated Rat Monsters' eyes flared violently, instantly overwhelming the brief hesitation, replaced by even greater ferocity!

They no longer hesitated; hind limbs thrust, sewage splashing, they surged from all directions toward A Xing at speeds far exceeding before!

Their spiraled oral organs gaped wide, limbs flailed, bearing the momentum to tear her apart and devour!

A Xing faced this filthy, wave‑like onslaught with an expression still calm.

She didn't even perform any flamboyant opening move; she simply grasped the Salty Fish Sword and gave a seemingly casual forward swing.

There was no dazzling blade flash, no sharp sound tearing the air.

Only a barely visible gray‑white "breath", like a fanned gust, shot out from the Salty Fish Sword's "fish head"!

Where this "breath" passed, the air seemed to warp slightly, due to the highly concentrated scent — Salty Fish Secret Technique: Stink Slash!

The leading Mutated Rat Monsters, as if hitting an invisible wall, had their attack motions instantly distorted; their reinforced skins and chitinous shells seemed to offer no protection, their inner structures directly assaulted by the pervasive "Stink Slash" scent, emitting a series of teeth‑aching "sizzle" sounds, their movements stiffening, then being flung back like torn sacks, colliding with comrades behind them and causing a small chaos.

But this was only the beginning.

A Xing flicked her wrist, and the Salty Fish Sword traced arcs in her hand.

Each arc she cut lifted a puff of gray‑white mist. These mists seemed sentient, automatically tracking and coiling around the charging rat monsters.

Those struck head‑on instantly lost combat ability, collapsing and convulsing; those merely brushed lost accuracy, their movements becoming crooked and erratic.

Yet the rat monsters were too many, coming in wave after wave.

A Xing's figure darted across the sludge‑soaked little island, the Salty Fish Sword dancing like wind, repelling the approaching monsters one by one, yet the encircling ring kept shrinking as more Mutated Rat Monsters surged in from other pipe mouths.

A Xing's gaze swept over the increasing red specks, seeming to think the efficiency was still insufficient.

She halted, grasped the Salty Fish Sword's fish tail with both hands, and held it upright before her.

In the next instant, centered on her, countless varying‑size, differently shaped Salty Fish Illusions silently materialized in the surrounding air!

These Illusions were not solid, yet held substance, each emitting a soul‑shivering "fragrance" for the rats, densely hovering mid‑air, all fish heads facing outward, like a silent, scent‑soaring army.

A Xing uttered a simple syllable, devoid of emotion:

"All Fish Return to Sect."

Her arm swung down.

The hovering countless Salty Fish Illusions, as if given a charge order, instantly transformed into streams of gray‑white light, radiating from A Xing in all directions without blind spots.

Each beam of light precisely locked onto one or several Mutated Rat Monsters!

Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff—!!!

Like the muffled pop of bursting bubbles, they merge into a single sound throughout the Sewer space!

There is no gruesome scene of flesh flying everywhere, yet the effect is even stranger and more thorough.

Every Mutated Rat Monster struck by the Salty Fish Illusion, regardless of size or degree of mutation, is as if its spine were pulled out, as if it were instantly pickled and air‑dried for millions of years, its movement suddenly freezes, then it falls upright, crashing into the sewage or a pile of trash, its dark‑red eyes go out, its body becomes shriveled and rigid at a visible speed, and finally it even begins to emit another kind of… a nuance reminiscent of the corner of an aged Salted Fish warehouse, a more complex and profound "flavor".