Chapter 210 - 204: Monstrous Strength in the Fire

Chapter 210: Chapter 204: Monstrous Strength in the Fire

The line between reality and illusion shattered in that instant.

The wall of fire twisted into an eerie, ghostly green, and a kaleidoscope of bizarre hallucinations exploded before Ye Qingzhou’s eyes. Within the flames, the monster reverted to the form of a man he once knew, Jiang Jing, who stepped out with a savage grin. Behind him, the Warriors who had been sacrificed, the comrades who had been swallowed by the zombie horde, all crawled out, covered in blood.

"Why did you abandon us...?" "It hurts so much..."

An immense tide of guilt washed over his reason. Ye Qingzhou desperately tried to raise his gun, but his body felt as if it had rusted with age. The commands from his brain sank like stones into the sea.

The bizarre sonic wave wasn’t just auditory torture; it was like countless sticky threads, tightly binding everyone’s nerves. Zhang Wenyuan’s eyes were wide, veins bulging on his temples. A gurgling sound, "g-g-g," escaped his throat, but he couldn’t move an inch. Hu Chen’s hand was frozen on the car door handle, his terrified gaze fixed on empty space.

And as they watched, helplessly paralyzed, death drew near.

The severed tentacle was now like a giant python patrolling its hunting ground. Flesh granulated and squirmed madly at the wound, healing in the blink of an eye. It closed in, now less than five meters away from them.

"Come on... move..."

Cold sweat beaded on Su Qing’s forehead. As an Awakened One, her mental resistance was slightly stronger. Gritting her teeth, she used all her strength to move her trembling left hand toward the pocket at her waist. Behind her, Chu Zhaozhao’s face was deathly pale, her lips bitten raw, but a fierce determination shone in her eyes as she did the same.

It was their only hope.

The "lifesaving hair" Lin Fan had left them.

But the invisible pressure was like layers of soaked cotton quilts, smothering their mouths, noses, and limbs, making every movement excruciatingly difficult.

Even so, neither of them wasted a single second trying to futilely cover their ears.

They knew perfectly well—this was no mere physical sonic attack.

Just that afternoon, they had been hit with a "point-blank ultimate" from a banshee zombie. They were all too familiar with the feeling of being stunned by a high-decibel sonic wave: sharp pain in the eardrums, churning guts, and a physiological vertigo that destroyed their sense of balance.

But now?

Their ears didn’t hurt, and there was no nausea. Their brains just felt like they’d been filled with cement, their bodies rigid.

This was a far more insidious energy attack, hidden beneath the cacophony of voices!

In that life-or-death moment, Lin Fan’s past warning echoed in their minds:

"If you run into one of those invisible, intangible energy attacks, don’t hesitate. Pop a stim and get the hell out!"

That simple, crude formula was now their only lifeline.

Su Qing’s and Chu Zhaozhao’s gazes met and parted in an instant. In their peripheral vision, they saw that the other was already clutching a metallic syringe that glinted with a silver light.

Without a moment’s hesitation.

Both of them gritted their teeth and, with every last ounce of strength, viciously jammed the cold needles into the nearest patch of exposed skin!

HISS—

The drug took effect instantly!

A shiver ran through them both as a searing warmth exploded from their spines, surging up their central nervous systems and washing through every limb in the blink of an eye!

It was like a dying engine being injected with high-purity aviation fuel.

The fatigue, soreness, and drowsiness from before were incinerated in a second, replaced by a sense of exhilaration, with hearts pounding and blood boiling.

Their bodies didn’t just return to their peak state; they felt like they were on the verge of overloading.

"Hoo—"

Chu Zhaozhao let out a hot breath. She could feel the energy in her body, which had been nearly depleted, now churning wildly, its recovery rate shooting back up.

Like parched earth receiving a long-awaited rain, nourished by the drug, a deadly glint flashed in her eyes. With a thought, the two shortswords at her waist flew from their sheaths, hovering by her shoulders.

She raised the longsword in her hand like a rising gale!

Her entire body became a silver whirlwind. The two shortswords spun forward to strike like wingmen, while her longsword pulled her body along with it. Instead of retreating, she advanced, lunging straight for the coiled, python-like tentacle!

Meanwhile, Su Qing’s reaction was even more explosive.

Her strength was already a cut above Chu Zhaozhao’s. After the drug took effect, the terrifying burst of power allowed her to shatter the invisible mental shackles through sheer brute force.

CRACK—

It was as if something intangible had snapped in her mind.

Though her body still felt like it was carrying a hundred-pound weight and the viscous resistance hadn’t completely vanished, it was no longer enough to stop her from acting.

Without any pause, the instant Chu Zhaozhao lunged forward to engage the tentacle, Su Qing took a sharp step back. The core muscles in her back tensed, her entire body drawing back like a fully-drawn longbow!

Amid the chaotic firelight and curtains of rain, her eyes, reflecting the flames, locked onto the distorted, roaring face in the distance.

"Hah!"

With a low roar!

The spear, weighing over ten pounds, shot out like a bolt from a heavy crossbow, wrapped in her fury!

The monster, it seemed, had never expected that these "feeble insects," which it had mentally suppressed to the point of paralysis, could unleash such a powerful counter-attack in an instant.

For a moment, the mental pressure it was exerting on everyone stuttered and fell into disarray.

In that fleeting instant, a black bolt of lightning pierced the rain, accurately plunging into the left eye of the giant, distorted face!

BANG!

The eyeball and half of the head exploded! The spear’s momentum didn’t falter; it tore through, carrying a great spray of black blood, and finally slammed into the fiery ground behind the creature. All that was left was a terrifying, clean hole straight through the monster’s "giant face."