Chapter 191 - 189: Lair and Bug

Chapter 191: Chapter 189: Lair and Bug

A rather beautiful Western-style villa stood before Fu Juemin. Two gas lamps were lit on the flat driveway at the entrance.

Looking around, Fu Juemin could only see some evergreen plants casting bizarrely shaped shadows in the dim yellow light of the gas lamps. There wasn’t a single guard in sight. It was too quiet.

He kept [Yao Ling] active and, like a falling leaf, silently glided toward the side of the villa.

The Guardian Demon’s aura was like a faint yet clear Ink Line, leading him to a few red clay flowerpots. Beneath them was an inconspicuous, square pig iron cover.

He lifted it, revealing a dark and deep passage that seemed to lead underground. A faint, earthy, and rotten smell drifted out from within.

Fu Juemin reached out and touched some of the soil at the edge of the entrance, which was tinged with the Guardian Demon’s aura, and slowly rolled it between his fingertips.

He looked at the entrance before him, his eyes flickering as he hesitated for a moment.

Within his Demon Soul’s Perception, a dormant collection of motley, chaotic, and scalp-numbingly numerous Demon Fiend auras lay beneath the Western-style villa.

They were so densely packed it felt as if he were about to stumble into a Demon Fiend’s lair.

However, none of these auras were pure. It was as if various Demon Fiends had been forcibly fused together... some kind of shoddily mass-produced product.

’Something cobbled together by Western ’technology’?’

Fu Juemin guessed that he had probably found the Demon Fiend laboratory where Luo Zhengxiong was collaborating with the Westerners.

Indeed, this kind of shocking experimental workshop would be safest and most secretive inside the heavily guarded command headquarters.

Of the Demon Fiend auras he sensed, the strongest one didn’t seem to exceed... ’Wolf’ rank?

Fu Juemin frowned slightly. He wasn’t sure if the strength of these artificial Demon Fiends could be judged by their auras alone, and this was the main reason for his hesitation.

’However, none of the major Demon Souls within my body have issued a warning. It should be fine.’

’I wonder if I can get Skill Point Energy for killing these artificial Demon Fiend products. If I can, then tonight’s harvest might be far more than just a single Guardian Demon...’

’If things are as I suspect, Luo Zhengxiong’s Demon Fiend laboratory could turn out to be a decent "grinding spot."’

At this thought, Fu Juemin’s eyes lit up. He wasn’t afraid. Instead, he felt a faint sense of anticipation.

He took a light step forward and entered the dark opening.

Fu Juemin assumed the Five Beasts Qigong Bird Form and let his body fall naturally.

About a breath later, he landed on the ground.

THUD—

A soft sound quickly echoed through the enclosed space.

Fu Juemin sensed that he was in a long, narrow passage. There wasn’t a sliver of light; it was pitch-black.

Even with his night vision, he could only vaguely make out three or four meters in front of and behind him.

The entire passage resembled a tomb path leading to some underground stone burial chamber. Stone walls enclosed it on all sides, the air was damp and murky, and the hollow sound of dripping water echoed in the darkness.

Within his Demon Soul Perception, the Guardian Demon’s aura was now stationary. It had stopped somewhere not too far away. ’Is it... waiting for me?’

As for the motley Demon Fiend auras deeper in the lair, they remained still.

Fu Juemin walked forward slowly, his expression calm.

Back at Ink Garden, after he had exposed its true form, the Guardian Demon had deliberately lingered for a while before being scared off by his javelin throw.

’Now that it’s probably back in its "home turf" and I haven’t activated my [Demon Body], the terrifying aura that scared it is gone. Its courage must have returned, and now it wants revenge.’

This was exactly what Fu Juemin wanted. He had been worried that the Demon, scared off by their first encounter, would simply hole up and refuse to come out, which would make it much harder for him to hunt.

Piercing through the deep blackness before him, Fu Juemin advanced step by step along the passage.

After turning an unknown number of corners, his field of vision suddenly grew much brighter and more open.

He had entered an entirely new underground space. The floor, surrounding walls, and the four-meter-plus-high ceiling were all covered in massive, heavy steel plates. Water from an unknown source seeped from the riveted seams, trickling slowly down the walls.

The air grew even more humid, mingled with the strange smell of rust and mold.

Dim yellow, explosion-proof lamps were sparsely installed inside iron cages on both sides of the tunnel, casting a gloomy, faint light. They were the only source of illumination in the space.

’Looks like this was crudely converted from some giant underground water pipe or a military air-raid shelter...’

Fu Juemin’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t break his stride and continued forward.

Just as he was about to step into the entrance of the steel tunnel, a shadow in a nearby corner suddenly writhed as if it were alive.

Immediately after, a dark green tongue covered in slick slime, like a cold, venom-dipped spear, shot viciously toward his heart.

Fu Juemin had long been prepared for this moment. The instant the anomaly appeared, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

He even managed to strike before the tongue did.

His right hand, already fitted with the Snake Scale Gloves, formed a blade. Emitting a faint metallic hum, it scraped down along the tongue. Wherever the edge of his hand passed, it silently sliced through the darkness, unleashing a cold, brilliant, seven-colored crystalline light.

Pharmacist Master Purifying Light Saber!

CLANG!

A harsh, piercing sound, like metal striking stone!

In a flash, Fu Juemin’s palm-blade scraped across the dark green tongue, slicing through the air.

As the momentum of his strike faded, Fu Juemin’s Saber Momentum abruptly changed. He then shot forward two steps, spread his arms, and locked the tongue tightly between his hands.

Before the tongue could retract, Fu Juemin, dragging it with him, deliberately slammed himself into the stone wall beside them—

BOOM!—

A tremendous roar resounded as the entire underground tunnel seemed to tremble. Large chunks of rubble fell from the ceiling, and clouds of dust mixed with damp vapor billowed into the air.

When the dust settled, Fu Juemin slowly emerged from the pile of rubble. His loose robes were stretched taut over his frame, which now stood over two meters tall—he had completed his [Demon Body] transformation.

The soft, slick, dark green tongue was wrapped tightly, coil after coil, around his arms, which were now manifold times thicker.

He had already wrapped it as tightly as possible in his normal state. Now, by exploiting the size difference post-transformation, he had constricted the tongue so forcefully that it sank deep into his flesh, which was as hard as rock and bronze.

’Trying to retract it now... won’t be so easy.’

WHOOSH—

Fu Juemin let out a long breath, then freed one hand. He gripped the tongue, which was taut as a steel cable, and began to pull—slowly, steadily, and irresistibly.

SQUELCH... RIP...

Amid a nauseatingly slick and scraping sound, the thing in the shadows was dragged out bit by bit. It was a massive, gecko-shaped Demon, its body the color of low-grade black jade. It struggled frantically, and for the first time, a clear trace of terror flickered in its cold, vertical pupils.

Fu Juemin stared intently at the Guardian Demon before him. His now ink-black eyes swirled with a bewitching, brilliant light. He slowly licked his lips and spoke softly, word by word, "This time... let’s see you run."

.....

「Meanwhile, at the end of the passage, in a vast underground chamber.」

Seated on a black-and-gold, dragon-carved commander’s throne that rested on a pile of bleached bones, the bloated figure of Luo Zhengxiong, clad in a black commander’s uniform, suddenly opened his eyes.

In his mechanically modified eye socket, a single hand on the face of the brass pocket watch that served as his eyeball was spinning rapidly, TICK TOCK TICK TOCK.

BANG!

Luo Zhengxiong viciously slammed his palm onto a button on the throne’s left armrest.

In an instant.

PSSSH— PSHHH PSHHH PSHHH—!!

To his left and right, massive canisters of cast pig iron, covered in riveted seams, began to let out sharp hisses one after another, like the release of high-pressure air.

The iron canisters opened automatically from the inside, and great plumes of white steam billowed out from them.

Luo Zhengxiong’s gaze was ice-cold as his low, hoarse voice echoed through the vast space.

"Deputy He is dead... A bug has gotten in.

Go crush that bug, and then, bring it to me!"

As his voice faded, pairs of crimson eyes began to light up one after another within the billowing white steam on either side of him!