Chapter 540: Illusion and Living Corpse_2

Chapter 540 -365: Illusion and Living Corpse_2

## Step 1: Contextual Analysis

Literary genre: This appears to be a fantasy/sci-fi web novel with elements of horror, action, and martial arts.

Language style: The style is vivid and descriptive, with a focus on action sequences and horror elements. It includes intense battle descriptions and grotesque imagery.

Tone: Dark, intense, with moments of reflection and compassion amid violence.

Plot keywords: battle, monster, research facility, experiment, martial arts, psychic attack, genetic modification

Characters:

– Wu Liangchen (): Male protagonist, a powerful martial artist with strong combat abilities and mental fortitude.

– Erya (): Female character who appears in an illusion at the beginning.

– Wu Mengchan (): Female character who also appears in the illusion.

– Old K (K): Mentioned character who previously told Wu Liangchen about a memory chip.

– Monster woman (): Female antagonist, a genetically modified human experiment with psychic abilities and grotesque physical features.

## Step 2: Integrated Translation and Polishing

I’ll now translate the text section by section while applying all the polishing rules.

First paragraph:

This introduces Erya () and she’s offering wonton soup to Brother Xiaowu (), mentioning she added extra dried shrimp because he loves it.

Translation: “At that moment, Erya ran up to him and handed over the wontons in her hands. Her bright eyes were full of joy and affection. “Brother Xiaowu, try the new wontons I made! I added extra dried shrimp, your favorite!””

Moving on to the next paragraphs, I’ll translate them while maintaining the structure and applying the rules:

The scene describes what appears to be an illusion where Wu Liangchen smashes through a fake reality involving Erya and Wu Mengchan. Then we transition to the actual setting – an abandoned research facility where he confronts a horrifying monster woman with reversed eyes and a grotesquely distorted mouth. An intense battle ensues, with the woman using both physical attacks and psychic assaults. Eventually, Wu Liangchen defeats her and discovers she was a tragic victim of cruel experiments, designed to be a “perfect weapon” but ultimately transformed into a monster.

After translating the rest of the text, I’ll now go through and do a final check for consistency, flow, and adherence to the glossary terms.

Let me provide the full translation now, section by section:

Note that I’m following the rule that internal thoughts should be enclosed in single quotes. I’ll watch for scene transitions that should be marked with 「」, and I’ll ensure all character references use the proper glossary terms.

I’ll now proceed with the full translation, integrating all the rules and maintaining the structure.

At that moment, Erya ran up to him and handed over the wontons in her hands. Her bright eyes were full of joy and affection. “Brother Xiaowu, try the new wontons I made! I added extra dried shrimp, your favorite!”

As she spoke, she extended the bowl forward with a radiant smile on her face.

The scene was warm and beautiful.

However, just as Erya’s hand was about to reach him.

A cold light flashed in Wu Liangchen’s eyes, and without the slightest hesitation, his right fist shot forward!

“BOOM!”

There was no bloody scene, only a sound like delicate glass shattering.

Before his eyes, Erya, Wu Mengchan, and the entire scenery of Dinghai City twisted and shattered like a mirror lake disturbed by a massive stone, instantly breaking into countless points of light before dissipating.

Wu Liangchen was still standing in the abandoned research facility’s core area.

And before him, the white-robed woman who had been facing away slowly turned around.

When he clearly saw the woman’s face, despite his iron will, Wu Liangchen couldn’t help but feel a chill rising up his spine.

What an eerily bizarre face it was!

The woman’s skin was as white as jade, but her eyes were reversed!

The left eye was in the right eye’s position, and the right eye in the left’s position. The corners that should have pointed toward the temples were both directed toward the bridge of her nose.

This extreme displacement transformed what might have been a beautiful face into something horrifyingly distorted that made one’s hair stand on end!

Now, those reversed eyes were staring fixedly at Wu Liangchen, filled with hatred and madness.

Having had her illusion shattered by Wu Liangchen’s strike, the woman seemed thoroughly enraged.

“Huh… huh…” Unintelligible growls emerged from her throat.

Suddenly, she opened her mouth.

Wu Liangchen’s eyelid twitched.

The lower half of her face, starting from the corners of her mouth, violently split open. Her skin and muscles curled back toward both sides, all the way to the ears! That small mouth abruptly transformed into a disproportionately massive, bloody maw large enough to swallow an adult’s head whole!

Inside that gaping maw were no normal teeth or tongue. Instead, densely packed, gleaming white fangs lined the interior, not arranged in upper and lower rows, but growing inward in bizarre spiral patterns, coiling round after round deep into her throat like a flesh-made meat grinder!

A cone-shaped, barbed dark red tongue, covered in reverse spines, extended out like a venomous snake, making a “hiss-hiss” sound.

“ROAR!”

An inhuman howl suddenly erupted from that horrifying giant mouth, carrying a mental shock that threatened to tear one’s mind apart!

Wu Liangchen let out a muffled grunt, feeling as if a steel needle had viciously stabbed into his brain.

This monster wasn’t just physically terrifying—it specialized in mental attacks!

Then the monster woman dropped to all fours, her body twisting in a way that defied human biomechanics, and lunged at Wu Liangchen with extreme speed!

Wu Liangchen drew a deep breath, knowing a tough battle lay ahead, but he felt no fear—instead, his fighting spirit was ignited.

‘No matter what kind of demon or monster you are, if you dare block my path, I’ll crush you!’

He snorted angrily as his body erupted with brilliant light, looking like a wrathful golden guardian deity.

“BANG!”

Fist and claw collided, producing a muffled, thunderous sound.

The monster woman’s claws were incredibly sharp, actually leaving several shallow white marks on Wu Liangchen’s fist!

‘What powerful physical strength!’

Wu Liangchen was inwardly startled, but his attacks grew even more ferocious, each strike containing terrifying force capable of shattering mountains and splitting rocks.

The monster woman was equally tenacious, her form flickering unpredictably, moving left and right with extreme speed.

Often, just as Wu Liangchen’s attacks were about to land, she would evade at an impossible angle. Simultaneously, sharp mental attacks washed over him like tidal waves, attempting to disrupt his focus.

Wu Liangchen let out a thunderous shout that seemed to suppress the piercing mental attacks. He no longer sought to kill with a single blow, instead fighting methodically and meeting force with force. ‘No matter your thousand transformations, I’ll overcome them with pure strength!’

The battle raged fiercely within the confined core area. Metal instruments were knocked askew, and the floor was trampled with countless cracks.

The monster woman’s resilience exceeded imagination. Even when struck by Wu Liangchen’s heavy blows, she would only emit a painful screech, roll several times, and pounce again, seemingly impervious to fatigue or pain.

Wu Liangchen’s heart remained iron-hard, his martial will steady as bedrock. The mental shocks that would have broken an ordinary Martial Artist’s mind were mere annoying noise to his ears.

During the intense battle, Wu Liangchen gradually figured out the monster woman’s attack patterns. Though her speed was impressive, her strength ultimately fell short against him, whose body had achieved divine indestructibility and flawless physicality.

“BOOM!”

Wu Liangchen seized an opening and landed a fierce punch to the monster’s waist. The monster let out a shrill scream, her body flying backward like a kite with cut strings, crashing into a distant control panel and smashing the metal console to pieces.

But in the next moment, she rolled once and pounced again with savage ferocity.

“Now’s the chance!”

Catching a fleeting moment when the monster woman’s old force had dissipated but new force had not yet generated—as she attempted to launch another mental attack—Wu Liangchen’s eyes flashed with brilliant light.

He neither dodged nor evaded, enduring a mental shock that caused only a slight pain in his mind without affecting his movements. On his right fist, Qi and Blood gathered to the extreme, bursting with golden light like a small sun in his grip. With an unstoppable and ruthless momentum, he smashed his fist directly into the monster woman’s chest!

“SQUELCH!”

This time, the monster woman couldn’t evade.

Wu Liangchen’s fist penetrated straight through her chest!

“GAAAH—!”

The monster woman let out an extremely miserable scream. In those reversed eyes, the hatred and madness gradually faded away, replaced by an indescribable sense of release and… bewilderment.

Her gaping bloody maw began to contract, the fangs receding and the dislocated jawbone slowly returning to position.

Wu Liangchen withdrew his fist, bringing out a spray of dark red, foul-smelling blood.

The monster woman staggered back several steps before leaning against a cold cultivation tank. She looked down at the gaping, through-and-through bloody hole in her chest, then slowly raised her head to look at Wu Liangchen.

Those bizarrely misplaced eyes now revealed a complex emotion.

She opened her mouth—which had somewhat returned to normal human form—her lips moving slightly to produce a weak, hoarse syllable.

“Th…thank…you…”

Before she could finish, her body went limp and she slid down the cultivation tank to the floor, completely losing all signs of life.

Wu Liangchen stood in place, breathing slightly heavily. Recalling the look of release on the monster’s face, he felt no joy at defeating a powerful enemy, but rather an inexplicable heaviness in his heart.

He walked to a nearby control console and quickly found the pre-war mainframe storage chip Old K had mentioned. It felt cold to the touch, covered with intricate patterns.

After securing the chip, Wu Liangchen’s gaze fell on some experimental journals scattered across the console. He casually flipped through a few pages.

As he read, his brow furrowed deeper.

These journals recorded the woman’s tragic life.

She had been part of a genetic modification project codenamed “Ouroboros.” The test subject was a female infant with rare mental talents who had been subjected to various cruel genetic editing and mental stimulation experiments since infancy, all in an attempt to create a “perfect weapon” with powerful mental control abilities and enhanced physical strength.

However, the experiment ultimately lost control. The infant’s body and mind underwent irreversible, horrifying mutations, transforming her into the monster he had just faced. Her humanity and emotions had been forcibly suppressed and twisted, leaving only a bone-deep hatred for all humanoid creatures and an endless bloodlust.

The final journal entry recorded how the experiment had spiraled out of control—she had massacred the entire research facility before becoming trapped here, suffering endless torment day after day, year after year.

“So that’s what happened.” Wu Liangchen sighed softly.

If not for his intervention, this pitiful woman would have remained in this sunless underground facility in her neither-human-nor-ghost state for who knows how many more years.

Perhaps death was truly the only release for her.

Wu Liangchen glanced once more at this research facility filled with sin and bloodshed, then took out an incendiary device, threw it down, and turned to leave.

BOOM!

Flames shot skyward.

The raging fire quickly spread, consuming all the filth and sin.