Chapter 381: Xiao Du Strikes Again

Chapter 381: Chapter 381: Xiao Du Strikes Again

Mu Tangfeng faltered in mid-air, a trace of hesitation flashing in his eyes. "Lanlan, I know your spiritual power can cure a spiritual power collapse, but the former Monarch’s situation is complicated. He’s not like he was on Black Star, where a prison could hold him."

"He’s lost all reason. He’s a complete beast, and his aggression has skyrocketed. I can’t possibly risk letting you get near him."

Shi Lan knew exactly what he was worried about and said earnestly, "Don’t worry, I won’t go near him. I can just let my spirit body get close, just like on Black Star. When you all were suffering from spiritual power collapses, it was my spirit body that soothed you in the beginning."

Mu Tangfeng still pondered for a moment after hearing her words. Shi Lan’s safety was at stake, after all, and he couldn’t make a decision lightly.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Shi Lan couldn’t resist slapping the back of his head. She feigned a fierce tone. "Turn around right now. We’re going back."

Mu Tangfeng let out an aggrieved cry. He clicked his sharp, golden beak twice before obediently turning back.

When Shi Lan and Mu Tangfeng arrived back at Zhenxin Hospital, the place looked like it had been bombed. It was a total wreck, with rubble everywhere.

Several figures lay on the ground. Shi Lan and Mu Tangfeng rushed over nervously to check on them but didn’t see Ye Ming or the others.

Worried that Shi Lan might grow tired, Mu Tangfeng pulled her into his embrace, his gaze still warily scanning the surroundings in case the former Monarch suddenly appeared.

Shi Lan crouched down and tentatively checked their breathing. Determining that the people on the ground were still alive, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, a man began to stir, groggily waking up. Shi Lan’s eyes lit up. "Sir," she asked immediately, "which way did Ye Ming and his group go?"

The man shook his head to clear it and pointed. Mu Tangfeng looked in the direction he indicated, his brow furrowing. "He actually went to the city center."

The city center had heavy foot traffic, and the surrounding areas were home to many high-society aristocrats. If the former Monarch were to truly go on a rampage there, it was feared that many people would be in grave danger.

"We can’t delay. Let’s go, quickly."

Shi Lan immediately pulled at Mu Tangfeng, and he took her with him, soaring back into the sky.

The pair flew toward the city center. Judging by the trail of destruction on the ground, the former Monarch had definitely passed this way.

’A male in the throes of a spiritual power riot is incredibly aggressive and destructive.’ As someone who had once experienced a spiritual power collapse himself, Mu Tangfeng understood. ’Often, your body acts uncontrollably because the internal pain is just too intense. It feels like every blood vessel is on fire, boiling, and your brain is throbbing. You’re forced into these cathartic rampages just for a release.’

And so, as they flew, they saw that not a single healthy tree remained in the former Monarch’s wake. Streetlights, traffic signals, and all kinds of signs lay toppled, some even snapped in half.

A public bus had also been kicked over onto its side. Fortunately, the bus was autonomous. And since most people near the city center were wealthy and traveled by Hovercar, it had been completely empty.

As they crossed into the central district, they saw that many of the high-tech buildings had also sustained damage to varying degrees. Even the Hovercars at the automated roadside stations were wrecked.

Beyond the material destruction, throngs of people were fleeing for their lives, their panicked screams echoing through the air as soldiers struggled to maintain order. Farther in the distance, smoke and dust filled the sky. With every collapsing skyscraper, Shi Lan and Mu Tangfeng could feel the tremors even from their vantage point high above.

Seeing the devastation, Mu Tangfeng picked up speed. For safety, however, he stayed at a high altitude to prevent her from being struck by a collapsing building or falling debris.

The pair gradually neared the epicenter of the chaos. The air was thick with flying dust and mist, and the ground trembled intermittently. Shi Lan couldn’t see much from their height, so she had to ask Mu Tangfeng to descend.

Mu Tangfeng carefully chose a spot with an unobstructed view, though they were still some distance from the main combat zone.

Shi Lan’s eyesight wasn’t good enough to make things out clearly, but he could see everything perfectly.

At the heart of the battle, Ye Ming, Jiang Xia, and Yan Huoshui had all assumed their beast forms and were desperately trying to stop the former Monarch, aided by numerous soldiers surrounding them.

However, a male in the grips of a spiritual power riot is completely irrational, his power explosively amplified. Even with so many people trying to surround and subdue him, they couldn’t halt his destructive rampage.

Moreover, Ye Ming and his allies were all covered in wounds, some shallow, some deep, and several bodies lay strewn on the ground. In contrast, the former Monarch’s Black Panther form seemed largely unharmed. Aside from his back, where the spiritual power riot had caused his flesh to split open and blood to mat his fur, he only looked a bit grimy. His coat was dull and he limped on one hind leg, but otherwise, he seemed fine.

This was why spiritual power riots were so feared: their sheer lethality was immense. The afflicted becomes an unfeeling engine of destruction, knowing neither pain nor fatigue, only charging forward relentlessly.

Their opponents, however, could not ignore such things.

With such a vast disparity in power, Ye Ming and the others were locked in a desperate struggle for their lives. Even when they deployed Mechas, the machines were nothing more than toys to be crushed and torn apart by the former Monarch.

As for heavy weaponry, it wasn’t easy to kill a 3S male in the middle of a spiritual power riot.

A sudden gust of wind, carrying dust from the collapsed buildings, made Shi Lan squint. Through the haze, she could just barely make out the figure of a Black Panther.

Anxiously, she asked Xiao Du in her mind, "Xiao Du, can you reach the rampaging Black Panther from this distance?"

Xiao Du seemed to sense its surroundings. "I can, Master!"

’Its voice was full of excitement. As a spirit body, I was starting to worry that the three cubs’ spiritual power wouldn’t be enough. Heh heh, but now there’s fresh Spiritual Poison!’

’Although I can’t absorb too much, the toxin from this kind of spiritual power riot is highly concentrated. It’s more than enough for me to get a full meal.’

At that thought, Xiao Du leaped out from Shi Lan’s head. With a wriggle of its body, it dove straight down, vanishing into the dust and mist in the blink of an eye.

Down in the combat zone, Ye Ming and the other two were locked in a desperate struggle with Ye Tianlin.

Though all of them were grievously wounded, not one showed a hint of fear.

Ye Ming, in his Black Panther form, leaped onto Ye Tianlin’s back with the speed of lightning, only to be violently flung far away by a powerful whip of his long tail.

The silver-white Pallas’s cat glared with fierce, brilliant golden eyes. With a lift of its paw, a bitter frost shot out, swiftly encasing the Black Panther’s body in ice.

But the ice shattered almost instantly, exploding outward with unstoppable force. Sharp shards sliced through the surrounding soldiers, and cries of agony rang out. Even Jiang Xia’s own leg was gashed by a fragment.

Yan Huoshui’s nine tails wrapped tightly around Ye Tianlin, but the Black Panther spun like a hurricane, violently shaking them off. With a reverse spin, he flung Yan Huoshui far into the distance, kicking up a storm of dust.

Another wound was added to their growing list. Yan Huoshui spat out a mouthful of blood, his tails screaming in pain. His red eyes were filled with a sinister, ruthless light. "If this doesn’t work," he snarled, "I’ll just take a bomb and go down with him."