Chapter 377: Dual-Line Operation

—The snap of the metal box latch opening was crisp.

Qin Zhixia's right fingertips were still trembling, not from fear but from oxygen shortage caused by excessive blood loss. Yet her movements showed no hesitation.

The box lid lifted.

Embedded in the black‑lined foam were two items: a jet‑black, high‑density Alloy Battle Knife whose blade was three inches shorter than the standard model, with a contoured grip for easy holding; beside it lay a rapid‑wear backup Exoskeleton.

Qin Zhixia bit the end of the tourniquet, lifted the Exoskeleton with her right hand, snapped the calf clasp onto her right knee with a click. The hum of the drive module resonated through the frame, and the pale‑blue power indicators lit up in sequence, climbing up her right leg to her waist.

She pressed her palm onto the Alloy Battle Knife's grip.

As the void was infused, a layer of white mist rose on the blade's surface.

Combat power—restored.

Qin Zhixia straightened her body.

The bruising from the tourniquet had turned a faint violet, and every inch of her from head to toe was stained. Yet the light in those Crimson Phoenix Eyes shone brighter than when the Giant Saw Blade had sliced off her left arm moments ago.

Yan Ming's steps paused as he emerged from the ruins.

His gaze swept over the battle knife in Qin Zhixia's hand; the gray‑white mist on the blade lingered for a fraction of a second, and his blue pupils constricted slightly.

Then he looked at Su Ming.

Yan Ming tilted his head, a motion bearing an elegance that was neither monster‑like nor quite human.

He raised his right hand, the bone‑white Gavel spun half a turn between his fingers, its scarlet head aimed toward Su Ming.

"Mr. Su, the last time you slipped through my courtroom with an emotional tale," Yan Ming said, his voice steady and measured, enunciating each word as if reading a verdict, "I must admit, that story by Lei Yu truly moved the Rules themselves. But you think the same trick—"

He lifted the Gavel high.

The ground beneath his feet began to fissure. Pale‑blue cold light seeped from the cracks, and black marble veins raced outward along them, each vein a physical projection of the Rules' shackles. The air rang with the clatter of metal gears meshing, and the outline of the Judgment Platform flickered behind Yan Ming.

—Can it be used a second time?"

The Absolute Court's Rules were closing.

Su Ming didn't wait for him to finish.

The Time Marrow Worm thumped violently beneath the skin of his wrist. Su Ming's pupils contracted to two pinprick points, and in the next instant he vanished from the spot.

It wasn't disappearance. It was just too fast.

Yan Ming's blue pupils completed a focus shift within 0.03 seconds. He captured Su Ming's motion trajectory—a straight line thrusting directly from the front. No fancy footwork, no probing. Just the most primal, most violent, most unreasonable straight‑line charge.

The Gavel came down.

The marble pattern on the ground shattered, and the phantom of the Judgment Platform swelled for an instant—

But the closure was incomplete.

Because Su Ming had already arrived.

The Electric Blade's blue arc cut into Yan Ming's domain within its radius. Time within that range was forcibly slowed by ninety percent, allowing Yan Ming to see the path of Su Ming's blade strike in crystal clarity. Yet anchoring the domain's rules required space, distance, a physical gap between the "judge" and the "defendant."

Su Ming pressed his face against his.

Close enough to feel each other's breath.

The Electric Blade collided with the Gavel mid‑air. The metallic clang was less loud than imagined, more like the dull grind of two bones pressing together, and the splintered debris seared both cheeks.

The phantom of the Absolute Court shattered.

The marble veins receded from the ground, and the Judgment Platform dissolved like foam.

A rare thing flashed across Yan Ming's blue pupils—a surprise.

"I really underestimated you; I didn't expect you'd learned to grab the forward sway," he said.

Su Ming gave no reply. The Electric Blade sliced horizontally, heading straight for Yan Ming's throat. Yan Ming blocked with the Gavel; the scarlet head struck the blade edge and deflected. Su Ming spun, his left elbow smashing into Yan Ming's temple. Yan Ming leaned back, planted his right foot, pushed off to create a two‑step gap—

Su Ming gave nothing.

Time slowed again.

Visually, two after‑images tangled, the Electric Blade's blue light and the Gavel's scarlet tracing intersecting trails against the gray backdrop of the derelict building. Each clash lasted milliseconds. Su Ming compensated for lack of force with temporal offset, while Yan Ming used regenerative ability to heal each cut wound.

Two monster‑level combat powers tore at each other in human‑scale close‑quarters combat.

Efficient.

Deadly.

On the other side.

Xiao Zhang stood in the shadows.

He looked at Qin Zhixia.

Qin Zhixia also stared at him.

Their gazes collided straight in the debris‑strewn, blood‑splattered space. No dialogue. The words that needed to be said had already been spoken in the prior trial.

Xiao Zhang's right hand trembled.

That hand had once, in a downpour, carried a bag of evidence across three streets; had once, in a morgue, cradled relics and wept until exhausted; and had once, in a dark basement, clamped Chen Guoliang's throat and pressed him into the cement floor.

Now, beneath the skin of that hand, something writhed.

He gave a wry smile.

Not the theatrical kind of wry grin, but one forced from deep within his lungs, a somewhat unsightly smile.

"You know, Qin Team."

He spoke, his voice hoarse and tinged with an old habit. When he said "Qin Team," the ending rose habitually, exactly like the tone he used when calling her during night shifts in the Project Team.

"I originally wanted to be more dignified."

Scarlet granulation bulged from beneath the skin of his left forearm—not a slow growth but a violent rupture, skin tearing outward with the wet sound of muscle fibers snapping. Pale Bone Spikes pierced his outer garment from the scapular area, their tips slick with shredded flesh and frothy blood.

His facial features began to distort.

Not a complete metamorphosis, but as if one layer of skin flipped over another. Xiao Zhang's facial contour was re‑cut: cheekbones rose, eye sockets sank, pupils shifted from black to dark red—

Yet whatever lay within those eyes remained unchanged.

Qin Zhixia recognized that kind of gaze.

Back when he was in the Project Team, Xiao Zhang, every time he faced a dead case that could not be investigated any further, would sit at his desk all night, his dark circles under his eyes as heavy as if he had been beaten, and his eyes held that kind of light.

Unwilling.

"But before you now, I'm afraid I'm just a monster," Xiao Zhang's voice grew less human. A new Bone Spike was forming at the larynx, the vocal cords physically altered, each word carrying a metallic scraping hum. "I also increasingly feel I'm a monster, so I can't...... keep pretending to be a Prophet in front of you."

He tore off the last intact piece of shirt fabric from his body. Beneath, the body was no longer human. Dense crimson flesh buds covered the entire torso, Bone Spikes protruded along the spine in succession, each as long as an adult's finger.

Monster.

A monster through and through.

Qin Zhixia's right hand gripping the knife tightened.

The gray mist on the Alloy Battle Knife thickened, the obscure activation power buzzed inside the blade. The Exoskeleton's right‑knee power‑storage indicator leapt from blue to white, the drive module entering overload‑ready state.

She said nothing.

No words are needed.

The Exoskeleton emitted a deep boom.

Qin Zhixia's body was propelled outward.

She turned into a faint blue afterimage.

——

Two fronts erupted simultaneously.

Su Ming's clash with Yan Ming was silent. Time flow was repeatedly stretched and compressed, their movements appearing frame by frame as still images to ordinary eyes. Each time the electric blade sliced Yan Ming's body, pink flesh buds filled the wound in moments. Each time Yan Ming's Gavel struck Su Ming, a subtle temporal offset nullified it.

Qin Zhixia's battle with Xiao Zhang was of a different style.

Blood and iron.

No Rules, no domain, no flashy supernatural display. Just a woman with a broken left arm, brandishing a knife, charging at a monster covered in Bone Spikes.

Xiao Zhang's four Bone Spikes thrust out simultaneously.

Qin Zhixia sidestepped, the back of the knife deflected two, the third scraped her waist leaving a blood streak, the fourth—

The Exoskeleton erupted.

She executed an impossible directional change in midair, the right‑knee drive module sounded an overload alarm, blue energy fluid splashed along her calf. The Alloy Battle Knife swung down from above, the blade tip condensing a visible layer of aura.

The blade tip pierced Xiao Zhang's left shoulder.

Xiao Zhang let out a muffled hum.

But he did not retreat.

His right hand grasped the blade.

All five fingers clenched directly onto the mist‑shrouded Alloy blade, the finger bones sliced open, blood gushed from the palms. Yet new Bone Spikes instantly grew from the severed fingertips, locking the hand and blade together.

Qin Zhixia's pupils snapped shut.

The blade pierced Xiao Zhang's chest without hindrance.

Against any ordinary Mutated Entity, this strike would be lethal.

But Xiao Zhang stepped forward.

The portion of the knife emerging from his back drove another two inches in. He voluntarily nailed himself to the blade. Around the edge of the chest cavity, new flesh buds proliferated wildly—not to seal the wound, but to spread along the blade toward Qin Zhixia's right hand on the hilt.

Crimson filaments coiled around the hilt like vines.

Then her wrist.

Qin Zhixia tried to pull the knife out. It wouldn't budge.

Xiao Zhang's face pressed up to hers. The once‑recognizable visage, now warped beyond recognition, bore dark‑red pupils reflecting Qin Zhixia's image.

He opened his mouth.

His voice was hoarse, like a dull blade scraping metal.

"But, Qin Team."

Crimson flesh buds had already crawled over Qin Zhixia's forearm, advancing toward the elbow joint.

"Determination alone isn't enough."

"With your current strength—"

His left hand rested on Qin Zhixia's only remaining right shoulder. The five fingers curled, the Bone Spikes at his fingertips about to pierce her shoulder skin.

"You cannot kill me with justice."