The battle within the Demon-Slaying Cave had finally drawn to a close. Li Zhui ordered the two mutants to be securely bound, forbidding any harm befall them.
He affixed a climbing hook to a chromium-molybdenum steel chain with a clasp, then whistled sharply. Instantly, a group of humanoid salamanders burst forth from the great fissure.
"Dayuan, Sanyuan, Wuyuan, Qiyuan, come with me hunting. Eryuan, you stay behind to guard the place." As he named them with his fingers, he assigned tasks through gestures, breaking down their duties clearly.
The four dispatched salamanders chirped excitedly, while the others muttered their discontent.
"All right, all right, I'll reward you all when I return!" He patted the pointed heads of the Eryuan, soothing them.
The lizard demon, grievously wounded in both legs, scrambled in a desperate, tumbling flight. Yet, upon reaching the water cavern, he was met by a squad of aquatic guards.
Their escape route lay at the western slope of Mijialing, at a dense forest called Miba Mountain. Instructor Zhai Zhongren, seeing the lizard's injuries, hastily summoned a helicopter.
Within fifteen minutes, the chopper hovered over the small valley. Guided by the salamanders' keen olfactory senses, Li Zhui and his comrades tracked them closely.
The exit was a vertical shaft guarded by two squads and monitored by surveillance cameras. Yet when the humanoid salamanders emerged, the watchful sentry seemed momentarily stunned, failing to sound the alarm.
Rong Dayuan—the tallest salamander—led the way out, raising its arms high while uttering a few cooing sounds.
This was no surrender, but a greeting—a sign of respect and "hello." The guards smiled in response and nodded, pressing the communication button. "Reporting to Instructor Zhai: another Shenquan warrior has returned to the ranks."
Zhai Zhongren, overseeing the lizard's boarding, heard the report, spun around, and shouted, "Open fire! Shoot immediately!"
But it was too late. Four salamanders, each one a formidable force, leapt upon four guards. Fortunately, the humanoid salamanders were naturally docile; they merely pressed their faces close and opened their mouths in bluffing menace.
Yao Yao sprung from the shaft, propping herself on her serpent's tail like a pole vault, soaring like a dragon as she crashed down on the guards before they could raise their guns. With a mighty tail sweep, she swept them all aside.
"Dragon! Dragon! It's a dragon coming!"
"It's the Earth Dragon King! He's eating people! Run!"
Once one fled, a dozen followed in a frenzy. In the blink of an eye, two squads of guards had vanished without a trace.
Li Zhui emerged from the shaft, making no grand gesture—only inhaling deeply, greedily drinking in the air. Though overcast, the light stung his eyes—it was sunlight.
Eighteen years. At last, he could behold the day again. Eighteen years trapped beneath the earth, his life a cycle of suspended animation and cruel injections and dissections.
"I swear, no one shall ever imprison me again! Nor shall I allow anyone to imprison those I cherish!" Li Zhui suddenly raised his head and unleashed a soul-shaking, earth-rending roar.
Yao Yao's emotions could be distilled into a single phrase: profound astonishment. From the embryonic stage until Li Zhui had brought her away, she had lived entirely within the confines of the CZR3857 Research Institute, her understanding of the outside world derived solely from simulated tests.
In her simulated realm, there were nothing but grim, haunted forests or ruins and sewers infested with monsters—thus, she could scarcely fathom that the real world beyond was so breathtakingly beautiful.
Breathing more greedily than even Li Zhui, she was utterly enraptured by the splendor surrounding her, so much so that she remained oblivious to the bullets the guards fired at her. Fortunately, the panicked shots were wildly inaccurate, missing by meters.
"Take off! Take off now!" Zhai Zhongren's foot was still on the ground as he shouted frantically.
"They're escaping!" Li Zhui roared, instantly unleashing his full power, sprinting recklessly down the valley.
From the shaft's mouth to the helicopter's landing zone—roughly 120 meters—surveillance footage recorded Li Zhui covering the distance in a mere six seconds.
The pilot hastily pulled up. Li Zhui whipped out his left arm; the hooked claw shot forth, snagging the landing gear, and he was yanked upward, swiftly ascending along the steel cable.
The guard seated by the cabin door fired desperately at him. Li Zhui spun sharply midair, shifting his position dramatically as he unleashed a locking shot.
Though the bullet missed the guard, it struck above the cabin, unnerving the pilot, who instinctively yanked the control stick—causing the aircraft to tilt sharply and eject the guard from the cabin.
Seizing the helicopter's moment of correction, Li Zhui swung on the steel chain, soaring upward and diving into the cabin.
Zhai Zhongren, initially clutching a pistol, immediately dropped it and raised his hands upon seeing Li Zhui—a reaction swift as lightning.
The lizard demon, sprawled on a specially designed stretcher, suddenly exhaled a poisonous mist, then hunched forward, pressing his forelimbs to the ground. With a sudden thrust of his tail, he lunged fiercely toward the core of Li Zhui's wrapped form.
The lizard demon's strike was impeccably timed, its prediction of Li Zhui's evasive movement astonishingly precise. Though the host's eyes were blinded, a lizard's acute hearing surpassed even its sight, and thus its judgment was unfaltering.
Regrettably, there was one factor beyond calculation: how Li Zhui would react during the host's momentary delay. Consequently, the demon assumed Li Zhui remained oblivious to this flaw.
As the lizard's tail neared within a foot of Li Zhui's chest, he unleashed his steel chain with a powerful strike against the tail. Pressed by two tremendous forces, the tail vertebrae shattered instantly, leaving the appendage a mangled, bloody ruin.
With calm precision, Li Zhui withdrew his spiked hammer and delivered a brutal blow to the lizard demon's lumbar spine. Instinctively, the creature whipped its head around and snapped viciously at him.
In a deft wrist motion, Li Zhui fired a tranquilizer dart directly into the demon's jaws, then clasped his hands firmly, forcing the jaws shut.
A muffled, explosive crack sounded as the lizard's skull fractured like a watermelon, blood and tissue splattering throughout the cabin.
"Will you turn yourselves around, or must I throw you down?" Li Zhui asked with ironic politeness.
The helicopter swiftly banked, hovering above the vertical shaft. Securing the headless lizard with the steel chain, Li Zhui descended first, then hoisted Zhai Zhongren before leaping clear.
The helicopter instantly ascended and vanished. The valley's guards who could escape had already fled to the ridges, and under orders from their superiors, they feigned resistance, firing blindly downward.
In truth, the mobile guards were formidable fighters, but faced with supernatural foes and caught entirely unprepared—monsters with human heads and serpent bodies—none but the truly abnormal could remain composed.
Shortly after Li Zhui's departure from the demon cave, calamity struck.
Old Lei and his wife Niu Mei, upon hearing of the attack, defied all warnings and dove headlong into the fray. Tragically, they arrived only to find their son lost forever.
Niu Mei wailed as she collapsed onto their son's body, darkness swallowing her consciousness.
Old Lei, seeing the hooked blade lodged in their son's chest, roared in fury and swung his firefighting axe with all his might. Though the axe bit three centimeters deep into the monster's arm, it failed to sever bone.
Just as they believed Ant-Man dead, a violent spasm wracked his body—he regained consciousness.
"Die!" Old Lei stamped on the creature's chest and yanked fiercely on the axe embedded in its arm.
Simultaneously, Ant-Man screamed, wrenching his left arm backward while stabbing forward with his right. The hooked blade pierced Old Lei's abdomen, burying itself in the handle.
The monster stomped wildly, using its momentum to shove backward along the ground.
The brutal motion tore through Old Lei's abdomen, spilling entrails in a gruesome cascade.
Niu Mei seized the axe and furiously delivered a dozen savage blows to Ant-Man, severing limbs before finally cleaving off his head.
Then, swinging the axe high, she lunged at the toad-man. Feng Xun hurried to block her, but lacking raw strength, she was flung far aside.
Shortly after, Xiao Kang was caught like prey in Niu Mei's grasp—hoisted and slammed down headfirst, knocked unconscious.
Seizing the opportunity, Tiger and Yong combined forces to wrestle Niu Mei down and pin her.
Stronger and more ferocious than her husband, Niu Mei howled and struggled fiercely. Yet the two men's stamina waned, their earlier clashes with Ant-Man and the toad-man having reopened old wounds and inflicted new ones.
Suddenly, Niu Mei thrust upward, toppling both burly men, then scrambled forward to reclaim the firefighting axe.
"Boys, if any of you dare block me again, I'll cleave you all!" she roared, brandishing the axe wildly with raw, unrefined force that kept them at bay.
Taking advantage, Niu Mei spun around and swung the axe at the toad-man. He screamed, desperately pulling at his iron chains as the axe rained blows upon him.
Just as the axe neared to split his skull, a sudden flash blinded Niu Mei—he charged and knocked her down with a powerful headbutt.
Using the momentum, the toad-man executed a backflip, landing firmly atop a large stone. Breathing heavily with a mixture of fury and resentment, he stared at Tiger and the others.
Niu Mei scrambled to her feet, swinging the axe with renewed vigor, but this time more measured, advancing step by step.
Cornered with no room to maneuver, the toad-man emitted a desperate scream, "Help... save me!"
His sudden plea startled Niu Mei, causing her to stagger back two steps. Hope flickered in the toad-man's eyes.
"Don't… kill me…" he begged.
"I don't care if you're man or monster—you die today!" Niu Mei bellowed.
She raised the axe once more, closing in deliberately until certain of her strike, then brought it down in a savage arc.
Bound tightly and unable to evade, the toad-man could only scream, awaiting death.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out—Niu Mei collapsed instantly, clutching her right thigh and rolling on the ground, cursing furiously, "You d*mn b*st*rd! I'll tear you apart alive!"
The shot came from Yongzi, who immediately took aim at her left leg, only to be urgently stopped by Feng Xun.
"Aunt Niu, Dali is one of our brothers. We all want to rip these monsters apart! But we can't kill them just yet," Feng Xun pleaded earnestly.
"Rubbish! Killing demands justice! I'll carve him into eighteen pieces!" Niu Mei howled hysterically.
Ma Yongxian flipped his rifle butt and struck her forehead, leaving a mark and momentarily quelling the chaos. Everyone was injured; if she continued like this, it was hard to say if one or two wouldn't die. Though he sympathized with her pain, risking their lives wasn't an option.
An hour later, Li Zhui and Yaoyao returned. Feng Xun briefly recounted the situation.
"Why didn't you let us kill the demons? They killed our husband and son!" Niu Mei roared.
"Your husband and son were killed by Ant-Man. You killed him—that debt is settled," Li Zhui said calmly.
"No! They're all monsters! They came together! They all must die!" Niu Mei struggled to rise but her legs gave way and she collapsed again.
Li Zhui ignored her and removed the lizard demon's chest armor. To his surprise, the control unit remained concealed within the host.
He dragged the corpse before Linghu Min. "Sister, please dissect it. There's still a person inside."
Linghu Min nodded and began preparing for surgery. Feng Xun's blood boiled at the news—she still bore clear bite marks on her neck from the lizard demon's torment the previous night; hatred burned fiercely within her.
Yaoyao was equally excited and slithered forward to help but, seeing Linghu Min's wary expression, she knew she was feared and reluctantly withdrew.
Even the toad-man looked eager, his eyes pleading and flattering Li Zhui. "Boss… please… can I…?" he begged.
Before he could finish, Feng Xun sprinted over and lashed him sharply with a rope.
After being captured and drugged by the toad-man last night, Feng Xun's humiliation was etched deeply in her soul. In truth, the toad-man hated the lizard demon with a sincere vengeance, having suffered repeated abuses and tail-whippings.
The surgery commenced swiftly. Linghu Min skillfully incised the lizard demon's chest skin, revealing a synthetic skin sac beneath. When cut open, a grotesque, salamander-like mutant emerged before their eyes.
Linghu Min instructed Xiao Kang to fetch an underwater life-support pod, while she and Feng Xun sterilized the control unit with diluted alcohol. Then they asked Yongzi to help remove the control unit's respiratory system and transfer it into the pod.
Once prepared, they carefully detached all the bridging mechanisms and wrapped the control unit in a moisture-preserving membrane before placing it inside the pod.
Next, they cleansed and disinfected the parasitic skin sac and, still protecting the control unit, wrapped it once more.