Chapter 111: Massacre

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Massacre

Du Bingtian stood blocking the back door, gun in hand, eyes tight with nerves. "How did you get in here?"

"Spiritual Energy. Obviously."

With the pleasantries out of the way, Xiang Yi turned to the robot, who was also inside the hardware store. "Where did you put the stuff I ordered?"

The robot hadn’t moved from its spot, but it was clear the operator behind it was watching everything unfold through the outside surveillance feeds.

He was grateful that Xiang Yi had shown up to help — genuinely. The problem was that these people appeared to have been drawn here by Xiang Yi in the first place.

The robot couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Running into a client’s enemies in a place like this wasn’t exactly a first, but the sheer scale of this particular incident was something else entirely.

It was an occupational hazard. No reason to put that on the client.

Besides, the client had already handled most of it. Even less reason to bring it up.

"It’s only been a few hours since you asked me to put that together. What’s the rush?"

"Don’t worry about it."

He needed the item, and he had a use for it.

The immediate threat had been pushed back for now, but his objective wasn’t done, and Shi Tie was still out there working. There was no way he was just going to stand around watching.

Ever since Master Chang found out Xiang Yi was still alive, he hadn’t broken his promise over these past two days — study materials, references, all of it had been delivered as agreed.

And Xiang Yi had had plenty of time to learn between the killings.

He was capable of more.

The robot casually pointed toward the small door Xiang Yi was already familiar with. "Stockroom."

And so, like a wolf stepping into the sheep pen — well, like Xiang Yi stepping into the robot’s stockroom.

Shi Tie was already on the move, heavy machine gun in tow, making its way from the road in front of the hardware store into the sheet-metal housing district.

Its feeding instinct made it acutely aware of every living thing in the vicinity.

The orders it was following now were simple: find Lu Qi, break his arms and legs, then stuff something in the man’s mouth — a rag, anything — to stop him from killing himself the way that old bastard Wan Rong had.

It could tell faces apart.

When Xiang Yi rested, he had it stay on alert against everyone except Ning Ye. That had already been put to the test earlier in the day.

A dozen or so rows of sheet-metal structures away.

Lu Qi and his team had slowed their pace. After entering the housing area, no further attacks had come.

Chances were the target didn’t have anything else up his sleeve. No point burning energy sprinting around, and besides—

"You hear that? Footsteps. That’s the Corpse Ghost."

Lu Qi murmured to his men, nodding in Shi Tie’s direction.

"The target’s ride just went down. He couldn’t have gotten far — odds are he slipped into the hardware store while we weren’t watching."

"Get the absorbers and iron nets ready. Then tear that hardware store apart. I’d like to see him stay hidden after that."

One of the team members spoke up. "No guns?"

"No. Guns are basically useless on a Corpse Ghost. If you’ve got something better, you use something better."

"Understood."

Lu Qi’s team fanned out quickly and methodically, closing in on Shi Tie.

Not that any of it mattered to Shi Tie. A Corpse Ghost had an instinctive awareness of living things — humans especially — and could pinpoint a specific target through the intensity of their biological activity alone.

Both Pingyu and Xiang Yi himself had experienced that tracking ability firsthand.

The protective suits Lu Qi’s team was wearing did dampen Shi Tie’s senses somewhat, but this many bodies this close? It still felt them coming.

Shi Tie kept walking, raising the machine gun as it moved, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

Still, it hesitated for just a fraction of a second when the figures came into view.

The suits came with helmets. It couldn’t tell which one was Lu Qi.

And Xiang Yi’s orders were clear — don’t kill an unconfirmed target before finding Lu Qi.

Fine. Check them one by one.

There wasn’t much going on inside Shi Tie’s rotted skull. Completing its orders was the only thing it knew how to think about.

It swung the machine gun at the figure in front of it.

But its thundering footsteps and massive frame had already given away its position long before it struck.

The man had been ready. He ducked fast, avoiding the sweep, lunged sideways to open up distance, and vaulted up onto the roof of a nearby sheet-metal building.

He wasn’t the main attacker. He was bait — there to draw Shi Tie’s attention.

The moment he cleared the wall,

several figures burst from the rooftops on either side of Shi Tie’s rear, and multiple iron nets came down on it all at once.

But as the nets dropped over Shi Tie, it showed no sign of being affected whatsoever — it simply grabbed the mesh and ripped it apart like paper.

Several team members crackled over the radio. "Iron nets are useless!"

"Copy that."

A faint fwip cut through the air from a nearby rooftop.

Something that looked like a tranquilizer dart, but built entirely from metal, shot toward Shi Tie’s chest.

The metal spike punched through and buried itself in Shi Tie’s chest, stopping just short of the ribs.

Shi Tie’s massive body lurched — just for a moment — then it surged with sudden force, yanked the spike straight out of its chest, and dropped it on the ground.

"The micro-absorber did nothing! We’ve only got one launcher, and by the time we reload the second round, it’s already pulled the first one out! How is a Level 1 Abnormality this goddamn tough?"

"What about the large one?"

"No launcher for it — we’d have to get right up in its face to use it!"

"For some reason the Corpse Ghost doesn’t seem to want to shoot. We’ve got a window!"

"Hold for the second round — get ready to move!"

Lu Qi’s voice rang across the radio.

But the man who had drawn Shi Tie’s attention moments ago was already creeping back in, slipping out from the shadows between the sheet-metal buildings, trying to recreate the opening from before.

What he forgot was that Shi Tie might be dead in the head, but there was still something rattling around under that skull.

The instant the man got close, a faster, harder swing came down and drove the machine gun straight into both of his legs.

The sharp crack of breaking bone and a howl of agony rang out together.

At that same moment, on the roof of a nearby building, one of the men who had thrown the nets suddenly broke into a sprint.

He leapt from the edge, dropping from height, hurling himself at Shi Tie.

His eyes were shot through with red — fear and fury in equal measure — and he had a spike-shaped weapon gripped in his hand, nearly the length of a forearm, driving it down toward Shi Tie’s body.

Shi Tie, of course, hadn’t missed him for a second.

It dropped the machine gun, spun with unsettling speed, and snatched the man’s arm out of the air, wrenching his wrist until it gave way with a sickening crunch. The man couldn’t hold back the scream. The spike tumbled from his fingers.

Shi Tie’s other hand closed around his helmet, and with one easy squeeze, crushed it completely.

Shards raked across Lu Qi’s subordinate’s face, and Shi Tie got a clear look at his features.

Not Lu Qi.

Shi Tie’s arms drove apart in a single savage motion, tearing the man in half at the waist.

Blood and viscera rained over Shi Tie in a shower.

It let out a guttural roar, as if some part of it wanted to drink the blood of its enemies.

But it stopped itself — just barely — and tossed the two halves of the body aside.

It moved to the man whose legs it had shattered, smashed his helmet, confirmed he wasn’t Lu Qi.

Shi Tie brought its foot down and caved his skull in.

Then it picked up the machine gun and walked on, following the pull of whatever living things still remained.

Behind it, the freshly torn body gave a sudden twitch.