Huang Mao saw the bottle of liquid and his pupils constricted sharply.
Anyone could tell that stuff was wrong. Drinking it would definitely cause trouble!
“Hey… can we talk this out?” Huang Mao shrunk his neck back. “I don’t think I’ve offended you guys, right?”
Martha didn’t answer him. With one hand, she unscrewed the cap. A strange aura wafted from the mouth of the bottle, like the scent of rotting flowers mixed with an indescribable, cloying sweetness.
“Drink it.”
Her voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.
“No, no, no…”
Huang Mao desperately clamped his mouth shut, gritting his teeth so hard the veins in his cheeks bulged.
But the hand gripping his head suddenly tightened, fingers squeezing as if trying to crush his skull.
“Ow! Gah—”
In pain, Huang Mao instinctively opened his mouth, and the purple liquid was poured in.
It was cold, slimy, crawling down his throat like a living worm.
“You should feel honored. This is a rebirth, a chance to gain power.”
Huang Mao’s body convulsed violently. His eyes rolled back, a “huh-huh” sound escaping his mouth as his limbs twitched like he’d been electrocuted.
Beneath his skin, faint purple veins could be seen pulsing, like little snakes slithering under the surface.
A few seconds later, he stopped moving, hanging limp in the air like a marionette.
“If it weren’t for the current shortage of monsters, we wouldn’t be using weak humans to bolster our ranks.”
Martha let go, and he slumped to the floor like a pile of mud.
The purple veins still pulsed beneath his skin, one beat after another, in a slow, eerie rhythm.
Hong Mao and Lü Mao were already too terrified to speak. They huddled at the foot of the bed, wishing they could shove themselves into the wall.
Martha turned and looked at them, then pulled out two more glass bottles from her chest.
Hong Mao shuddered, tears instantly streaming down his face.
“Are… are we… going to drink it too?”
His teeth chattered, his tongue felt tied, and he couldn’t get a single word out properly.
“Yes.” Martha walked up to the two of them.
Hong Mao closed his eyes and burst into loud sobs. “I don’t want to die—I don’t want to die—please—”
Martha grabbed one neck in each hand.
Hong Mao’s crying stopped abruptly. Lü Mao’s eyes rolled back and he fainted.
The purple liquid was poured out. One bottle. Two bottles.
Both bodies began to convulse simultaneously. Purple veins spread beneath their skin, creeping up their necks and across their faces like vines.
Martha released her grip, and the two slid to the floor, lying together with Huang Mao.
Then, her figure melted back into the shadows again, like a drop of ink dissolving into water.
The corridor returned to silence, the stark white light still shining.
And on the monitor, the three lay on the cold floor, their bodies undergoing an unprecedented mutation.
…
White Li pushed open the building’s main door and saw Lin Du already waiting downstairs.
He was wearing a tracksuit, with fine beads of sweat on his forehead, looking like he’d just finished a run.
“Do you get up this early every day?” White Li gently closed the door behind her, the lock clicking shut.
“Yeah, I usually go for a morning run too.” Lin Du wiped his sweat. “It’s a habit.”
White Li nodded, thinking this young man was quite disciplined, going for a run every day.
It’s good to be young.
The two walked side by side. When they reached the residential complex’s entrance, White Li suddenly stopped and waved at him.
“You wait right here. Don’t move.”
“Huh?” Lin Du was taken aback.
White Li was already jogging towards a breakfast stall by the roadside. She squeezed in among the students and office workers buying breakfast, standing on tiptoe to hand over her money.
“Four buns, one soy milk. Oh no, two! Two soy milks!”
Lin Du stood where he was, watching her squeeze around among the adults, like a little animal fluttering through a crowd.
A few minutes later, White Li came running back with two plastic bags, panting as she shoved one into Lin Du’s hand.
“Here, for you.”
Lin Du looked down at the bag in his hand: two steaming meat buns and a cup of soy milk, still hot.
“…Thanks.”
“No problem, no problem.” White Li waved her hand, already pulling out a bun and taking a big bite.
They continued walking.
Chewing on her bun, White Li suddenly remembered something and said, her words muffled, “Oh right, that… can I borrow a bit more money?”
“Haven’t you paid back what I lent you before?”
“I know, I know,” White Li swallowed her bite. “I’ll pay you back everything once I find a part-time job. Can you give me a little more time?”
Lin Du was silent for two seconds, then pulled out his phone.
“Transferred.”
White Li’s phone vibrated. She glanced at it, her eyes lighting up. “Thank you, thank you! You’re such a good person!”
Lin Du smiled slightly and took a bite of his bun.
“By the way, do you know of any part-time jobs?” White Li blinked. “Um… the kind that pays daily.”
“Yeah.”
“Really? What kind?”
“Cleaning toilets.”
White Li’s smile froze on her face.
“I saw the school was hiring cleaners for the toilets before. Fifteen bucks an hour, daily pay.” Lin Du’s tone was serious. “Consider it?”
“Do you have some kind of obsession with toilets?” White Li shot him a look. “I’m a neat freak, I can’t handle it.”
“Then there’s no other way.”
“Isn’t there anything… more normal?”
“Sweeping the streets?”
“You trying to work me to death?”
“Washing dishes in a kitchen?”
“My hands would get all pruny, right?”
“Really not considering cleaning toilets?”
White Li slapped his arm. “Are you teasing me on purpose?”
The corner of Lin Du’s mouth twitched slightly. He didn’t speak.
White Li stared at his profile for a few seconds, sure he was holding back a laugh.
“Oh, you… daring to mess with me…” She had just started speaking when a huge crash suddenly sounded in the distance.
BANG—!
A massive impact noise, as if something had smashed into a shop by the roadside.
Then came screams, shouts from the crowd, the screech of tires.
White Li and Lin Du both stopped walking.
In the distance, cars parked along the street were being flipped over one after another, rolling to the curb like toys.
A small car was tossed entirely into the air, flipping twice before smashing into a nearby bus shelter, glass shattering everywhere.
Something was charging towards them.
It was moving fast. It was hard to see exactly what it was, only a blurry black shadow weaving between vehicles, overturning cars and knocking people down wherever it passed.
The screams grew closer. The crowd began to scatter and run.
“A monster—a monster is here!”
Sirens blared over the city, the piercing sound stinging everyone’s eardrums.
White Li was momentarily stunned.
A monster? What monster is left now?
Weren’t they all defeated by the Blazing Knight?
Could it be a new one sent by the organization? Impossible, not this fast.
“Watch out!”
A hand suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.
White Li stumbled backward a few steps. The next second, an overturned motorcycle flew past the spot where she had just been standing, smashing into the wall behind her, gasoline spilling everywhere.
“Go.” Lin Du pulled her further back. “Run back into the complex, find a place to hide.”
“What about you?”
…