Chapter 13

That was what Xuan said but the others felt he was intentional. It felt like he knew this would happen then had the leader step into this danger.

YinKong nodded without saying anything. She turned around and ran toward the exit. She appeared calm but there was a hint of anxiousness in her eyes. They could tell she actually worried about Zheng.

Xuan didn’t stop her. He flipped through the documents. “We have enough time to leave here. We have obtained our item and reward for the bonus mission. That’s it then. Mission obtain the prototype T virus successfully completed.” He ignored the weird expressions from the others and started walking away.

After Xuan got ten meters away, ChengXiao said to the rest of the team in a quiet voice. “Did something happen before I was revived? Is he trying to kill Zheng? You really can’t irritate this psychopath. He just kills you if he catches you and you don’t even know how you died. Yes, don’t ever irritate him. And did Zheng really do something to him?”

Kampa patted his shoulder and said. “It might be a misperception but don’t you think what you just said annoyed him?”

ChengXiao suddenly looked shocked. He carefully glanced at Xuan and saw him still reading the documents like nothing had happened. ChengXiao let out a sigh of relief. “Be careful of what you say. This is a man with a demon hidden within. He looks like he never cared but he will eat you in whole when he starts calculating. Anyone that talks behind his back needs to be careful. Or you might be the next one to get abandoned.”

“Talking behind him? Just like what you are doing?” WangXia walked past ChengXiao and casually asked.

“Eh?”

Enough about ChengXiao seeking death. YinKong was running to the research facility anxiously. She wasn’t good at communicating herself but she was really worried about Zheng. She didn’t want to see him die. She wasn’t aware when did it start that she had acknowledged these people around her, even though they were weaklings when judged on the standards of her seniors, comrades and ZuiKong. These people were weak in both strength and willpower. They were people that could be abandoned at will. Yet she had acknowledged them as comrades.

ZuiKong killed all her the people she trusted. She didn’t want to give up on any of these comrades she had now. This emotion was not in accordance with the way of assassination. However, she wished to protect them.

The corridor leading to the exit was quiet. Team China had cleared all the defensive machineries and guards. She easily came out of the center in just two minutes. Then she ran toward the research facility in full speed. She noticed fires burning in everywhere. There were remains of several armed helicopters burning on the ground. A fighter jet was speeding through the sky and a dozen armed helicopters followed behind it.

YinKong didn’t stop to watch this intense fight as she continued toward the facility. Half way there, she heard a loud bang. One of the helicopters that was firing missiles shattered into pieces. It then exploded in midair.

Zero moaned as he held his head in his hands. Lan quickly asked. “What happened? Why was that helicopter shattered with a shot? Are you alright?”

Zero shook his head. “It’s fine, just a little headache. The success rate of the Mystic Eyes is too low. You can only see half a second and the points and lines move extremely fast in that half second. This is my fourth shot already. It’s impossible to hit a moving dot. I have to rely on the speed of the Gauss sniper rifle to hit the lines. There’s less than a 25% chance I can use the power of the eyes successfully.”

Lan didn’t understand the situation regarding the Mystic Eyes but she believed what Zero said. She suddenly saw Zero bleeding blood from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears and panicked. “Zero, you all right? Say something!”

Zero wiped the blood that dripped down from his eyes and smiled bitterly. “The Mystic Eyes put too much strain on my body. I can’t see anything now. I probably won’t die but I have to exit the unlocked mode now. The pain is going to knock me unconscious.” His body started convulsing.

Zero’s last shot was spectacular but YinKong wasn’t in the mood to watch the firework. She counted down the time in her mind. And she had entered the unlocked mode. Numerous guards were running out from the facility and screaming with fear. Some of these guards had missing arms and legs.

YinKong ignored them. She still had her dragonshard with full energy. Her Excalibur didn’t have the laser ability but its sharpness was impressive by itself. Its invisibility attribute allowed her to kill people without traces. She stopped hiding herself and charged straight ahead. The guards didn’t bother her. They kept running as if they had seen a ghost. Neither side bothered the others. YinKong counted four minutes and thirty-seven seconds. She entered a big lobby and a pungent smell of blood struck her sense.

There were no living humans in this room. Two seven meter big Creepers hung on the ceiling. Tentacles grown on their bodies made them look like octopuses. Their hideous appearance gave her a shock. What was more shocking were the pressure and sense of danger these creatures imposed on her. She tensed up herself as her instinct was telling her she would die from these two monsters.

One of the Creepers jumped down from the ceiling. YinKong immediately rolled toward a corridor to the side. The claws swiped into the metallic floor then pulled a layer up like it was a piece of paper. The Creeper pulled off several meters of the floor. The other one also jumped down and leaped at YinKong.

The strength and speed of these Creepers were terrifying. YinKong could only rely on the sharpness of Excalibur. Her close range assassination techniques were nearly useless against these huge monsters and the lobby was spacious. If only she still had the metal wire she could use in long range.

Experience told her there was no way to live if she fought both Creepers unless she found terrain suitable for assassination. Worse yet, these Creepers didn’t seem to see with their eyes. If they sensed people with smell or temperature, her sneak techniques would be useless. She flipped herself up from the floor and ran into the corridor.

YinKong didn’t turn her head once. She could move faster than these Creepers but such speed also robbed her of the ability to do anything else but run. Yet, the further she went, the more that she felt despair. Because the smell of blood was getting even more intense ahead. So intense that it could make a person suffocate. The place ahead seemed like a slaughter ground. Were there even more Creepers?

YinKong took a deep breath. She didn’t stop her steps. She raised Excalibur as she made a turn. The area ahead was much brighter. It was a huge lobby and there, she saw Zheng. Zheng stood on top of countless human and Creeper corpses. He was holding a Creeper’s head in his left hand. His right hand was holding Tiger’s Soul. The sword pierced through a Creeper then into the wall. There were at least a hundred Creeper corpses in this room.

YinKong was absolutely shocked. The scene in front of her was so astonishing. Those were over a hundred of the huge Creepers, not zombies nor humans. They had bodies that were seven meters big, monstrous strength and speed. If they were to encounter one of these Creepers in their second Resident Evil movie, it would take them some effort to kill it. However, Zheng killed all of the Creepers by himself. His power was beyond anything a human could attain.

YinKong had been drowned in her own thoughts ever since she was revived. The previous Resident Evil movie might have been long ago for the rest of the team but it seemed like yesterday to her. The familiar stranger that she had secretly liked and admired gave her only despair and hatred. Their battle still seemed to be going on in her eyes. That was why she didn’t fight Zheng after she was revived. She didn’t get to learn of his strength.

Zheng used to be stronger than her but that was only due to the second stage of the unlocked mode. After she exchanged The Shining, it was questionable who would win in an all-out fight.

Yet this scene overthrew her conception. Without knowing, Zheng had grown to such a degree that she lagged way behind, just like the person she hated.

“YinKong?” Zheng threw the Creeper’s head away. It shot into the wall like a canon and smashed into a paste. Zheng’s eyes were bloody red. He grinded his teeth and growled like a beast. His mind seemed to be in a berserk state. After he saw YinKong, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes but then he roared.

YinKong was struck by the disappointment at herself that she forgot the Creepers chasing after her. One of the Creepers leaped from five meters away from her. Its sharp claws aiming at the back of her head.

Zheng moved as he roared. He appeared behind YinKong in just an instant. Soru in instant Destruction was too fast that YinKong couldn’t catch his movements with her eyes. By the time she turned her head around, Tiger’s Soul slashed upward and cut the Creeper in half. However, Zheng was too close to it that the light blade became ineffective. His wrist dragged through the Creeper’s teeth instead and was torn open a wound. Tiger’s Soul dropped to the floor.

At the same time, the second Creeper jumped down at him. Zheng didn’t have time to pick up Tiger’s Soul. But because YinKong was standing behind him spacing out, Zheng reacted with even more madness. He jumped toward the Creeper instead of backing away then kicked at its head. He had entered Explosion. The strength and speed of his kick shoved its head into the body. While still in midair, Zheng grabbed the Creeper’s shoulders and began tearing them apart. The Creeper was split in two from the middle. This seven-meter monster was like a toy in his hands. He then smashed the corpse into the floor. In the end, no one could even make out that this was a Creeper.

Zheng stopped his growling. He turned around to YinKong and said. “Are you alright?”

She looked at this man bathed in blood then suddenly woke up. This was a battlefield. That inexplicable spacing out could have gotten her killed multiple times. Even though Zheng’s madness saved her but as an assassin, she wouldn’t allow herself to continue showing her weakness.

YinKong shook her head. “Xuan said this place is going to explode in seven minutes. I took five minutes to run here. There’s about one minute and thirty seconds for us to leave. I will use The Shining which will get me out in forty five seconds. What about you?”

Zheng was stunned for a moment then cried. He charged over to YinKong then picked her up. “Shit. Don’t bother with The Shining. You only have speed in that state. Your reaction speed doesn’t increase. It would be strange if you don’t smash into a wall. Don’t talk and hold onto me tight!”

She was about to struggle to free herself when she felt a gust of wind. The scenery was flying backward at an insane pace. Zheng picked up Tiger’s Soul and ran with such impressive speed. It wasn’t as fast as Soru in instant Destruction but the speed was beyond anything YinKong could reach. The Shining might be faster but her lack of reaction speed was fatal.

Zheng didn’t know YinKong had fallen into her thoughts again. He entered Explosion and sprinted ahead. He could maintain this state for much longer than Destruction. The road he went past was embedded with his footprints. The alloy floor couldn’t stop his force.

YinKong quickly became accustomed to the speed. She pondered over her weakness and wanted to ask Zheng how he became so strong. But this was not the time to ask. Furthermore, everyone would keep the secret to becoming strong to themselves. They were merely comrades.

Instead, she asked. “Did you kill all the creatures in that room?”

Zheng replied with a nod. “Yes. I killed all of them. Haha, do I look like a devil now? Not referring to my clone but a devil that slaughters everything.”

YinKong was surprised as she looked at Zheng again. She frowned as if she couldn’t understand. “That’s surprising. You obtained the heart of a slayer.”

“Heart of a slayer? What’s that?” Zheng asked.

“Everyone has their soul. Some people are kind, some ruthless, some flexible and an assassin needs a calm and apathetic heart. Only when you do not care for the world anymore, will you be able to see the world calmly. An assassin kills people but he cannot be affected by killing. A normal person would feel scared for killing a person, sinned for killing two, and cold blooded and violent when he killed three, four, and five people. Such person is tainted by killing. An assassin needs the mindset that allows him to remain himself after killing. That’s what we call the heart of a slayer.”

YinKong was surprised to find herself speaking so much. Zheng was carrying her but they were in an urgent situation so she didn’t feel much about the act. Though it was still rather awkward. She could only talk to take away the awkwardness.

“Do you still remember the werewolf doctor of team India? He’s a classical example of being tainted by killing because he didn’t have the heart of a slayer. He’s not a complete assassin. I know of a person with the heart of a slayer but he did something inexplicable. You will at least not become tainted.”

Zheng was surprised then laughed out. “No such thing. I am just aware of what I am doing and what I want to do.”

He jumped out of the facility before they knew it. Fifty seconds had passed. YinKong pointed at a direction then Zheng gave a shout and charged ahead.

The battle in the sky was still going on. Most armed helicopters were downed. There were over a dozen broken helicopters on the ground and some burning in the sky. The Valkyrie was flying back and forth in the sky. Gando seemed to be panicking.

Zheng didn’t know how much time they had left so he kept running. As expected, he saw two Sky Sticks on top of a hill. Xuan was standing on one of them. He looked so calm even when he knew this place was going to get destroyed. After he saw Zheng covered in blood running over, he adjusted his glasses and lifted off with the Sky Stick. Zheng exited Explosion and stepped on the other. He followed after Xuan. Soon, a thunderous explosion came from behind. He turned his head slightly and saw two mushroom clouds.