CHAPTER 185: WEAPON

The horrifying scene on the platform seared itself into Wei Jun and the others’ eyes. Some of the Mutual Aid Group members were trapped in momentary shock before their faces morphed into extreme terror.

The sight was just too gruesome, and it had happened too close to them. It was likely their fate next.

Their first instinct was to run, so they ordered their security guards to defend them while they started looking for an exit as everything around them descended into chaos.

Aside from the rolling shutter door, there were two other obvious side doors on either side, but the combat spider was near one of them, and the fighting was still continuing there. Everyone chose to run in the other direction.

No matter what, they were Martial Valor University students, so they moved fast. None of them used the stairs. They jumped down from the platforms and passageways and headed to the side door.

Just as they reached it, they heard a loud bang, followed by a huge tremor above them. Someone jumped down and landed in front of them with a loud crash to block their way.

Chen Chuan swung his saber and brought his head up slowly to look at all of them. In an instant, all the Mutual Aid Group members stopped running forward and started moving back.

“Chen Chuan, if you kill us, you’ll die too!” one Mutual Aid Group member threatened savagely.

“When you killed people, did you never think about the possibility that you might get killed too?” Chen Chuan retorted calmly. He brought his saber up and positioned it horizontally in front of him. A chilling glare glinted off the blade.

The next moment, the scenery raced past him, and the angles around him shifted swiftly. Fierce saber glares cut through the people. Once the dust settled, he appeared behind the group. No one remained whole.

Wei Jun did not choose to jump down with the rest and stayed on the platform. As the organizer of the event, he knew all the exits in the factory. There was one more passageway at the back of the factory that led straight out of the building, but there was a problem: They might not be able to get past Chen Chuan.

With no other choice left, he had to retreat to a safe room behind him. At the same time, he snarled at the two black-robed men who followed him. “Your ritual was useless! Take responsibility for this, or you’ll suffer the consequences!”

The two black-robed men exchanged glances, then drew curved knives from their waists and walked out.

Wei Jun immediately called for the Mutual Aid Group members nearby to retreat into the safe room as well. Then, he shut the custom-made steel door, cutting out all the gunshots and pained screams outside.

One of the members trembled in fear. “He’s crazy! How could he attack us?”

Wei Jun’s hair was a mess. At this point, he did not care whether Chen Chuan had actually lost his mind. His priority was to save himself. He said urgently, “Where is it? Bring it out!”

The security guards who came in with them hurriedly dragged out two huge boxes from the cabinet by the wall and set them at the center.

“How do I use this, Jiang Wei?” Wei Jun asked anxiously.

Jiang Wei was the calmest out of all of them. He walked over and squatted down. With a flick, he opened the latch and yanked open the lock to reveal another box with a combination lock. “I got these from Black Orchid, but it’s my first time using them too. Even if they can’t kill Chen Chuan, they should be able to stop him for a while. We need to use that time to escape. Once we’re outside, we can mobilize our forces to kill him.”

Another person urged him to hurry. “We know, but now’s not the time to talk about these things. Just hurry up already.”

They didn’t know how long the people outside would last. When Chen Chuan used his blade, he left the platform covered in severed limbs and heads. The sight of it had terrified them to the core.

Jiang Wei spun the combination lock until he heard a click. The lid opened, revealing a thick, white sealed bag. It was a square of about half a meter on each side covering something.

Jiang Wei picked up the high-calorie nutritional shot embedded into the side of the box and injected the thing inside with it. Once all the liquid was pushed into the thing, he could feel it trembling slightly, and he quickly retreated.

Rip...

Two sharp blades cut through the bag from within, and the thing inside stretched its body before slowly standing up.

When the others in the room saw it, they subconsciously retreated to the wall.

The thing was a giant, grayish-green, metallic-looking praying mantis.

It was contracting and stretching its powerful mandibles. As the spiracles opened, the modified tracheae delivered ample oxygen into various parts of its body. Once it gained enough energy to wake up, its bulging compound eyes fixed on all the people in the room. Slowly, it began moving its raptorial claws while emitting a dangerous presence.

“That’s a combat praying mantis bought by Black Orchid. It should be able to stop Chen Chuan for a while,” Jiang Wei said.

“Wait. Don’t we have another box? R-Release it too!” Someone behind him urged him.

Jiang Wei ignored him. He first gave the combat praying mantis a few orders through some gestures. Once it slowly moved to stand at ease, Jiang Wei walked to the other box.

“I’ll be done soon.”

***

After Chen Chuan got rid of another group of people, he turned around to see two black-robed men heading toward him.

The two seemed like mirror images. Their bodies even moved in left–right symmetry. They also had a face printed on their clothes. If the two independent faces were merged together, they would form a complete face.

They were like abstract images of the supernatural being he saw earlier. It seemed like the two men were related to the ritual.

The two rushed at him from his left and right. Their steps and rhythm were the same, showing their perfect teamwork.

They were just... too slow.

Chen Chuan brought his saber up and swung it left and right. Their heads were removed from their necks, and their bodies landed on the floor practically at the same time; the only difference was that they fell in opposite directions. Even the way they fell and the manner their blood gushed out of their necks were the same. Of course, they didn’t do this intentionally. It was a product of the strength and angle of Chen Chuan’s attack.

Chen Chuan flung off the blood on his saber and looked to the other side of the factory. Screams and pained cries were coming from that place until recently, but it had now fallen silent.

He had already gotten rid of all the people he could see at the center of the factory, but a group of them had retreated to the room above him.

Regardless of whether they ran or didn’t, it made no difference to him. Unless someone who was as fast as he was came out to stop him, Chen Chuan would only need a bit of time to catch up to them. After all, only a short time had passed since the slaughter started.

Chen Chuan pondered over the situation for a bit before making a gesture. The combat spider hiding on the ceiling immediately crawled over to a red steel door at the back of the factory to spin a web there.

Even though the combat spider’s threads only lasted for ten minutes before they fell apart at as slight a touch as a breeze, that amount of time was enough for Chen Chuan.

With the Frost King Saber in hand, he went up the metal staircase and turned toward the room where Wei Jun and the others were hiding.

Just as he got close to it, he sensed an attack and brought the Frost King Saber up to parry it.

Clang! Clang!

Something shot out of the room.

He turned around and saw the thing coming to a stop on the metal railing. It was about half a meter long and had a triangular head, a thin, long neck, and large raptorial claws shaped like blades. The thing was staring at him while the tip of its foreleg, which was positioned under its stomach, brushed against the metal railing. It let out a harsh metallic screech.

A flicker of surprise appeared in Chen Chuan’s eyes. “A praying mantis, huh?”

Judging by its size and the speed it displayed, it was clear that it was also a bio-weapon.

And it wasn’t the only one.

Chen Chuan could sense another praying mantis moving in the shadows waiting for its chance to strike.

***

Back in the safe room, Wei Jun heard from his security guards that the praying mantis had successfully engaged Chen Chuan, and he immediately ran out. “We need to go while he’s busy!”

The group surged out and ran with him in a panic.

Jiang Wei thought of something and threw a high-calorie nutritional injection he had never used on the floor. It shattered with a crash, and the nutritional fluid inside spilled all over the floor.

The others didn’t understand why he did it, but he didn’t have the time nor mood to explain himself. Chen Chuan didn’t seem to have come alone, but had brought something similar to the combat praying mantis. These things relied on calorie and nutrient dense liquids or foods to move. Even though he wasn’t sure whether it would be attracted by the scattered fluid, he saw no harm in trying.

The group left the room. Soon, they arrived at a narrow passageway with a red steel door at the end of it. It was the exit.

One of the Mutual Aid Group members ran ahead of the others. After a few steps, his head and body were suddenly cut into several pieces and fell on the floor.

“What...”

Those behind him were shocked and quickly stopped.

Jiang Wei cast a glance at the cuts before looking around. He grabbed a knife from the security guard beside him and went forward to give the air a few tentative swings. He then gritted his teeth in determination and said, “There are gaps. We can crawl out.”

The group exchanged looks, and Jiang Wei cast them a glance before he nudged his glasses up to make sure they sat on his nose securely. “I’ll go first. Follow me.”

He brought a leg up before slowly moving it over the thread. Then, he bent his back to cross himself and brought his other leg over. Once out, he swung at the area in front of him with the knife again, only to find more threads. This time, the only gap was at the area down below. So, he lay down on the ground and crawled forward. Soon, he was some distance away from the entrance.

When the group saw that he had succeeded, they started copying him. They removed their weapons and personal items before moving in the exact same manner as he did.

***

The two combat praying mantises stared at Chen Chuan. They had their own fighting style and would not take the initiative to attack. When Chen Chuan moved to fight them, they immediately backed off, but when he tried to leave, they followed him and attacked him.

A flicker of emotion appeared in Chen Chuan’s eyes. While these combat praying mantises were troublesome, he wasn’t scared of them. The problem lay in that getting rid of them would take some time. Even though they weren’t as fast as he was, they were still considerably quick. They could even move while ignoring the terrain and aid each other.

But at the end of the day, they were just bio-weapons. Without anyone giving them instructions, they would just follow a fixed attack pattern.

Chen Chuan brought his saber up and shut his eyes.

The two combat praying mantises acted according to their attack pattern and jumped almost at the same time. Two raptorial claws came swinging at Chen Chuan’s sides.

He sucked in a deep breath. The moment he activated the Furnace Breathing Technique, a burst of energy filled his body, and he did a spinning attack. A saber flash cut through the praying mantises.

While still in midair, the bodies of the two bio-weapons started sliding apart. A single cut split their bodies open diagonally from top to bottom. The halves fell on the floor, one after another. The interstitial fluid flowed over the floor, while their limbs and severed bodies twitched.