Chapter 28: The Long Night, It’s Normal for Something to Happen

“Die.”

One claw swung down.

Blood sprayed everywhere, dyeing the hem of the skirt red.

“Focus fire! Focus fire! Target combat assessment error! This isn’t S-rank—it’s a double S-rank rampaging body!!” 

The captain’s voice finally carried a hint of fear.

Bullets rained down on Gu Chen like a storm.

But the Eden Project subject’s muscle density was ridiculously high. 

The bullets embedded in the surface layer of muscle before getting stuck, then were pushed out by the powerful self-healing ability.

Though not fatal, it hurt like hell!

This pain only further stimulated Gu Chen’s ferocity.

He charged through the bullet rain on all fours, zigzagging across the garage.

One claw shattered a helmet.

One kick sent a burly man flying.

Finally, he leaped onto the roof of that armored riot vehicle.

“Too noisy!”

Gu Chen roared. 

Both hands grabbed the massive speaker still emitting infrasound and ripped it out by the roots!

Clang!

The huge speaker was used like a brick as he smashed it straight into the driver’s cabin.

The bulletproof glass shattered. 

The driver was instantly turned into a mosaic.

The noise stopped abruptly.

The world fell silent.

But Gu Chen didn’t stop.

The thrill of slaughter and the stench of blood completely burned away his last shred of reason.

He stood on the roof, bathed in blood, chest heaving violently. 

Those vertical pupils slowly turned toward the only survivor left in the entire area.

Qin Hongyi, hiding behind the pillar.

“Food…”

Gu Chen licked the blood at the corner of his mouth. It was the Black Knight’s blood, but he spat it out in disgust.

“Stinks… not tasty…”

His gaze locked tightly onto Qin Hongyi. 

There was a cold fragrance there, a sweet scent, an antidote that could calm him down.

Whoosh!

Gu Chen pounced down from the roof, heading straight for Qin Hongyi.

Qin Hongyi didn’t dodge.

She tossed aside her empty dual guns. In her hand, she only clutched that ice-cold seal.

Facing this out-of-control beast, she wasn’t afraid at all. Instead, she spread her arms wide and even pushed out her chest provocatively—both mad and bold.

“Gu Qingcheng, come.”

Qin Hongyi looked into those blood-red pupils. “Want to eat me? Then let’s see if your teeth are sharp enough.”

Thud!

Gu Chen pinned her to the ground.

He didn’t bite directly.

Like a big cat protecting its food, he pressed Qin Hongyi beneath him. 

His nose frantically sniffed at the side of her neck as he let out rapid, heavy breaths.

Reason and instinct were locked in a fierce tug-of-war.

He wanted to bite through her throat and drink all her blood.

But… he couldn’t bear to.

A voice in his subconscious screamed: This is his. This is Gu Chen’s private property. If he broke it, there would be none left.

“Mm… it hurts.”

Gu Chen shook his head in agony, his nails scraping sparks across the floor.

Qin Hongyi looked at him like this, and something in a corner of her heart softened.

“Silly fool.”

Qin Hongyi raised her hand and cupped Gu Chen’s bloodstained face.

“Hang in there. It might hurt a bit.”

With that, without the slightest hesitation, she bit the tip of her own tongue.

Blood welled up.

She suddenly lifted her head and kissed Gu Chen’s lips.

The intense metallic taste flooded Gu Chen’s mouth.

It was Qin Hongyi’s blood.

Carrying her unique dominance, madness, and the ruthless determination to do anything for him.

Gulp.

Gu Chen’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he instinctively swallowed this sweet nectar.

As the blood entered his stomach, the raging energy that was about to burn him to ashes was instantly soothed.

The red light in his vertical pupils quickly faded, returning to clear black-and-white human eyes.

Reason returned.

Gu Chen’s eyes snapped wide open.

He had been forcefully kissed by this crazy woman again?

And in an underground garage full of corpses and rivers of blood?

Gu Chen wanted to push her away.

But Qin Hongyi gave him no chance. Instead, she gripped the back of his head and deepened the bloody kiss until both were panting, their lungs drained of air.

Pop.

Their lips parted.

A strand of silver thread stretched between them.

Qin Hongyi licked the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes hazy. 

“Awake now? Young Master Gu sure has a massive case of bedhead rage.”

Gu Chen panted heavily, his face as red as a cooked shrimp.

He looked around at the hellish scene like a slaughterhouse, then at his own hands still covered in blood and brains.

“Did I do this?”

Gu Chen asked incredulously.

“Otherwise? Was it me who transformed into a Sailor Moon and did it?”

Qin Hongyi pulled him up from the ground. 

“Alright, stop reminiscing here. We can’t stay long. The commotion earlier probably alerted even the anti-riot squad.”

Gu Chen endured the weakness after overexertion and staggered over to one of the Black Knight corpses.

He squatted down and rummaged through the headless body’s waist pouch for a moment.

He pulled out a tube of dark-red reagent.

“What is this?” Qin Hongyi leaned in.

Gu Chen pulled off the cap, brought it close, and sniffed.

The familiar metallic-sweet scent made his stomach churn violently.

“Knockoff crap.”

Gu Chen crushed the vial to powder with his five fingers.

“A diluted version of the T-9 Agent, laced with massive amounts of stimulants and steroids. That old dog Qin Mu has been secretly running Eden Project experiments too.”

Gu Chen stood up, his gaze turning toward the pitch-black rainy night beyond the garage exit.

“These Black Knights are basically disposable consumables. Use this stuff and they won’t last a month.”

“Looks like Second Uncle brought out his coffin money just to kill me.” Qin Hongyi laughed coldly.

Gu Chen walked to the only undamaged armored riot vehicle nearby, kicked aside the unidentifiable mess in the driver’s seat, and climbed in.

“Get in.”

Gu Chen started the engine. It roared to life.

“Where to?” Qin Hongyi jumped into the passenger seat and buckled up.

Gu Chen gripped the steering wheel with one hand and pulled the bloodstained seal from his chest with the other.

“Home.”

Gu Chen slammed the accelerator to the floor.

The armored vehicle smashed through the barrier.

“Back to that monster’s home.”

“Coordinates: Western Mountains, Eden Laboratory Zero.”

Torrential rain poured down.

The wipers screeched against the glass but couldn’t clear the thick curtain of water.

Inside the car, only the engine’s roar filled the heavy silence.

Gu Chen gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.

The earlier high of tearing apart those mechs had felt amazing, but the Eden Project subject’s energy conservation law never took a day off.

Whatever heat he had burned through, he now had to repay double.

Cold.

Bone-deep cold.

Gu Chen felt as if liquid nitrogen at minus two hundred degrees flowed through his veins instead of blood.

His teeth began chattering uncontrollably, clacking together.

He wanted to hit the brakes, but the legs that had just crushed helmets were now stiff as frozen meat in a freezer and refused to obey.

“Young Master Gu, if you freeze into an ice sculpture in the driver’s seat, this car will be hard for me to handle.”

In the passenger seat, Qin Hongyi glanced over.

That one look made her brows lock tight instantly.

Where was the demonic, blood-soaked overlord from moments ago?

Gu Chen’s devastatingly beautiful face was now deathly pale. 

His lips had turned blue-purple, and even his long lashes were coated in a fine layer of white frost.

His entire body shook violently, like a phone set to maximum vibration.

“Sh… shut up…” Gu Chen forced the words through clenched teeth. “Turn on… the heater…”

Qin Hongyi leaned over, slammed her foot on the auxiliary brake, and forced the bullet-riddled beast of a vehicle to a screeching halt in the shadows of the roadside woods.

“Those bastards shot the AC compressor to hell during the barrage. Right now there’s no heater—not even a fart.”

The car lurched to a stop.

Gu Chen pitched forward from inertia, only to be yanked back by the seatbelt. The jolt made it feel like his organs were leaking icy vapor.

“Damn it.”

Gu Chen cursed under his breath. His consciousness began to blur.

This was it.

Without an external high-heat source to force intervention, in less than five minutes he would die from core temperature collapse—the most pathetic death in history for the strongest subject ever created.

Suddenly, a suit jacket still warm with body heat dropped over his head.

Then the seatbelt buckle clicked open and the seatback was violently reclined.

“Qin Hongyi.”

Gu Chen tried to raise a hand to block her, but it fell limply with no strength at all.

“Don’t move.” Qin Hongyi’s tone was commanding. “If you don’t want to die, lie still and behave.”

Rustling sounds filled the cabin.

The sound of fabric sliding.

Gu Chen forced his eyelids open. In the faint green glow of the dashboard, he saw Qin Hongyi climbing over the center console.

The already cramped driver’s compartment instantly became even tighter.

Though the armored vehicle looked huge from the outside, the cabin had sacrificed comfort for defense. 

Two adults squeezed into the passenger-side space felt exactly like forcing two sardines into a single can.

“You… what are you…”

“What am I doing? Giving a spoiled canary a life-saving top-up.”

Qin Hongyi finished speaking and straddled Gu Chen’s thighs directly.

She showed not a trace of shyness. 

With swift movements she unbuttoned her own shirt and tore open the collar of Gu Chen’s already tattered long dress in one ruthless yank.