Chapter 912: Rare Creatures
When Naga-ashi realized it had been betrayed, its madness even startled Lin Sanjiu. It repeatedly slammed its body against the gate, making the bones inside it crackle. Its blade-like arms appeared frail and weak against the fortress-like iron gate. No matter how it roared and attacked, the gate stood resolute, leaving only faint scratches.
In a state of despair and agitation, it let out a piercing scream, reminiscent of a dying owl. The person behind the gate instinctively took two steps back.
"Why?" The words Naga-ashi sounded nothing like human speech; instead, they resembled the mournful screech of some animal, coincidentally matching those syllables.
"What's so surprising?" The voice behind the gate spoke again, still tinged with a trace of astonishment. "They don't care whether you succeed in getting revenge. They just want to witness a massacre. Isn't that part of your nature too?"
Although every duoluozhong harbored hatred towards posthumans, it was apparent that Naga-ashi had a higher probability of being killed. In order to satisfy their own desire to see bloodshed, the duoluozhong that had informed Naga-ashi of the news had probably leaked their conversation.
Naga-ashi slid down against the iron gate, its teeth chattering and its body trembling. Lin Sanjiu walked up to it, grabbed its collar, and pulled it up. "Now is not the time to give up. Look over there!"
Naga-ashi followed her gaze as she directed.
Under the bright beams of several searchlights at the top of the gate, various shapes and sizes of shadows emerged from the darkness and approached them. The air seemed to thicken with the scent emanating from their bodies, flowing sluggishly. The light turned the cement ground into a glaring gray-white color. Each shadow on the pale ground resembled a dark forest that emerged from the depths of the earth, growing longer and closer.
"I didn't expect the duoluozhong to find posthumans to help," the voice suddenly laughed.
Lin Sanjiu remained silent, her gaze fixed firmly on the creatures that were gradually rising and standing tall in front of them. She took out a card from her hand. Not far from her, Naga-ashi stood up again, panting heavily, tearing off all the fabric from its right arm.
When both Lin Sanjiu and Naga-ashi tensed up, the voice continued with interest, asking Lin Sanjiu, "What are you? A mercenary? Did it pay you?"
"A mercenary? She often doesn't even pay me for the snacks." The duoluozhong laughed coldly, then turned back and looked at Lin Sanjiu warily. "Shouldn't you give me the weapon now?"
"I have fought alongside all kinds of people," Lin Sanjiu said, tossing the umbrella-shaped weapon to it without even looking. "But this is the first time with a duoluozhong."
"Don't get your hopes up," Naga-ashi caught the umbrella-shaped weapon with a snap. "If I have the chance, I will definitely stab you in the back with it."
"And then you'll end up buried here yourself?"
The two exchanged a few more words, but their gazes never left the creatures in front of them for a moment. A sigh came from behind the gate, indicating that their conversation had been heard.
"Posthuman, you are different from it," the voice gently persuaded, sounding somewhat regretful. "After all, you are one of us. If you were just hired by it, I wouldn't necessarily stop you from leaving, but you must explain your identity first."
Lin Sanjiu was about to speak instinctively when, all of a sudden, a nearby shadow lunged forward, like a swimmer diving into water. It instantly disappeared into the floor and transformed into a long snake slithering between the cement tiles, rapidly biting towards them.
That person intentionally seized the opportunity to distract her by extending an olive branch. They probably had no intention of letting an outsider who knew about the interior of the sanctuary leave alive.
Just as Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly, the long black shadow swiftly approached her foot in the blink of an eye, astonishingly fast. As soon as it got close to her, the shadow dispersed and transformed into a small lake, spreading out like spilled oil.
Her Defense Forcefield had already enveloped her from head to toe, but she didn't dare to be careless. She leaped backward, using the steel gate behind her as leverage to somersault into the air and land in an open space nearby. Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief for dodging the shadow on the ground, a sudden question popped up in her mind.
Why did they turn on the searchlights?
Wouldn't it be more advantageous for them to attack in complete darkness, benefiting their own creatures?
Before she could find an answer, she thudded onto the ground. A searchlight happened to be positioned on the nearby door, shining so brightly that she had to squint her eyes. It was at this moment that Naga-ashi suddenly shouted, "Shadow!"
It was coming after them again?
No, something wasn't right—Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat as she suddenly understood. She quickly rolled on the ground and jumped up in a hurry. As she twisted her body, she felt a cool sensation on her shoulder. When she looked down, she realized that a piece of fabric was missing from her combat uniform's shoulder, and she had no idea when it disappeared.
The shadow within the cement floor swam and reshaped its body. Just now, Lin Sanjiu couldn't distinguish which side was the head and which was the tail, but with a glance, she could now see it clearly: the head portion wriggled as if it had just swallowed something.
She couldn't help but touch her exposed shoulder that was exposed to the night breeze. It wasn't just the outer combat uniform; even the undershirt and vest had the same missing piece, with the edges smooth as if it had never existed.
"This thing can devour our shadows!"
In an instant, Lin Sanjiu understood everything. She shouted in shock and anger, "Wherever the shadow is missing, our bodies will be missing as well!" She swiftly turned her card, which transformed into a long whip in her hand. "If the shadow is missing, it will be missing from our bodies too!"
No wonder the Defense Forcefield was useless. She couldn't possibly cover her shadow with it.
However, Naga-ashi couldn't answer her anymore.
The duoluozhong, who had just shouted "Shadow!" earlier, was now extending its head forward while its body struggled to retreat. Its throat made continuous choking sounds, and its bulging eyes protruded even more, as if someone was pulling its eyeballs with a string, trying to yank them out. The duoluozhong's body was indeed different from human "flesh." Even though its eyes were mostly out of the eye sockets, it still seemed to be able to resist.
In that moment of distraction, the shadow on the floor once again spread and covered Lin Sanjiu's shadow—this time, it swallowed her head and shoulder.
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