Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

"Xilun" made a casual gesture.

The golden spear fell into her hand.

The gun hummed.

It's as if it recognizes the user, yet it's also as if it's resisting.

Lady Black Raven raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Nice gun."

"It's a pity his appearance isn't quite right."

The real Xiren shuddered violently in the depths of darkness.

"rest assured."

The Black Crow woman offered only casual words of comfort.

"It won't break."

She took a step forward.

The clock tower's crumbling walls silently sank.

The next instant, the black crow shadow collided with the gray-black disease ring.

The entire camp was shattered.

There was no loud noise.

The initial collision was eerily quiet.

Lady Black Raven held a golden spear, its tip pressed against Eli's vertical pupil wound on his chest.

Eli clenched his claws together and gripped the gun tightly.

The air between the two of them distorted layer by layer.

The broken bricks of the bell tower first turned white, then black, and then, as if burned by an invisible fire, turned into fine ash.

No ashes fell.

They hung in mid-air, trembling violently.

Outside the cordon, blood was flowing from the sheriff's ear.

He touched it blankly.

Before he could even look down and see clearly, a young guard beside him suddenly knelt down, clutching his throat with both hands, gasping for breath but unable to inhale any air.

"retreat!"

Someone finally broke down and shouted.

"Everyone back off! Get out of here!"

Nobody cares about decorum anymore.

The noble guards, members of the apothecary association, undercover agents from the police station, and several men in black, whose origins were unknown, all staggered backward.

They originally thought they were at a safe distance.

Only now do I realize that for this level of combat, the so-called safe distance is nothing more than a line drawn by an ant on the edge of a table.

On the clock tower.

Eli's claws were cracked from the impact of the gun barrel.

Black blood seeped out and fell to the ground, where it immediately sprouted clusters of grayish-white mold.

The fear in his eyes deepened.

It's not because Xilun is strong.

Xilun is only of the third order.

Even if the power it just displayed was strange, ferocious, and beyond reason, it shouldn't truly threaten the foundation of a fourth-tier demon hunter.

What truly frightened Eli was what lay behind the body before him.

That is not power itself.

It is a position.

Like a starving and destitute person looking up and seeing the shadow on the throne; like a child in a sickbed seeing the dark sun through a broken window.

He didn't understand.

Therefore, there is fear.

"You are not human."

Eli managed to squeeze out a hoarse sound from his throat.

"Xilun" laughed.

"It's rather cute to hear you say that."

She twisted her wrist.

The golden spear suddenly disappeared.

Eli's pupils contracted, and his vertical pupils on his chest suddenly closed.

The next moment, the spearhead emerged from under his left rib.

It wasn't a puncture.

It's like it's always been there.

Eli grunted, his deformed body sliding backward half a zhang, his feet carving two deep furrows in the brick surface.

The gray-black disease ring spun wildly.

Patients' faces emerged from the ring, their mouths snapping open to bite the gun barrel.

They don't have real teeth.

But it can devour strength.

The golden light on the surface of the golden spear quickly dimmed, and a tooth-grinding corroding sound came from the shaft.

Lady Black Crow glanced down.

"Nausea."

She loosened her grip.

The golden spear slipped from his grasp.

Eli was overjoyed and was about to take the opportunity to drag the gun deep into the sick ring.

But then "Xilun" raised his right hand and gently pinched it between two fingers.

In mid-air, a black feather slowly emerged.

The feathers are no more than an inch long.

The edges, however, glowed with a faint scarlet light.

She pushed the feather forward.

The patients in the ward all showed fear on their faces.

They want to retreat.

It's too late.

Black feathers landed in the center of the sick ring.

There was no explosion.

There was no flame.

Only one clear crow cawed.

The massive ring of disease behind Eli suddenly stopped.

Everyone in the ring turned their heads at the same time to look at Eli.

The pleading in their eyes disappeared.

Instead, hatred took its place.

"You promised to save us..."

A child's voice rang out.

"You said the pain would stop after taking the medicine..."

"Dr. Eli..."

"Why is something growing inside my stomach...?"

"Where's Mom...?"

"I don't want to be a holy embryo..."

The sounds were fragmented, chaotic, and shrill.

It felt like countless needles piercing Eli's brain.

Eli's face turned pale.

"Shut up."

He said in a low voice.

The sympathetic ring continued to tremble.

More voices rose up.

"You saved me."

"You killed me too."

"You say the plague is fair, but why are you standing outside watching us rot away?"

"Dr. Eli, it hurts so much."

"Shut up!"

Eli roared.

The fourth-order pressure exploded, forcibly pushing the faces inside the sick ring back in.

But in that very instant, his chest was wide open.

Lady Black Crow grabbed the golden spear and stepped forward.

The spearhead was raised.

It was torn from Eli's abdomen all the way down to his shoulder.

Black blood gushed out.

Before the blood could even fall to the ground, "Silen" reached into the wound with his left hand, his five fingers grasping a living thing.

She pulled suddenly.

She pulled a dark blue-green chain of flesh and blood from Eli's body.

The other end of the chain is connected to the bottom of the clock tower.

It is connected to the central building.

Connected to that plague cocoon that was not yet fully formed.

Eli let out a roar of pain for the first time.

The voice didn't sound human.

It was like all the gasps in the hospital ward at night were torn apart at once.

"We can't let it stop!"

He slapped "Silen's" head with one claw.

If this attack lands, even the head of a third-order aberrant will explode like a rotten fruit.

But Lady Black Crow did not dodge.

Or rather, she should have been able to hide.

But Celen's body slowed down for a moment.

Severe injuries, blood loss, the force of Fowles' punch, the backlash from the Breath of the Styx, and the dark patterns of Xuan Yin coldness all held her back at this moment.

boom!

Eli's claws grazed the side of "Silen's" neck.

Half of his shoulder was torn apart by blood and flesh.

The black trench coat was torn to shreds.

A deep, bone-revealing wound was visible on Xilun's collarbone.

The real Xiren felt a sharp pain deep in her consciousness.

It's not physical pain.

Rather, he clearly saw that his physical body was being forcibly overdrawn.

Ms. Black Crow also frowned.

"trouble."

She looked down at her shoulder.

The blood had barely flowed out when it was swallowed up by the black patterns.

However, the crack did not heal.

Instead, fine cracks spread towards his chest.

Just like porcelain cannot withstand molten iron.

"This body is extremely fragile."

For the first time, there was a hint of dissatisfaction in her tone.

"With such a small amount of divine power, it's already going to break."

Eli retreated, panting.

Upon hearing this, the fear in his eyes subsided slightly.

weakness.

This unknown entity has weaknesses.

She cannot descend indefinitely.

She needs Celen's body.

This body was already dilapidated.

"So even you have limitations."

Eli's mouth split open.

That smile contained blood, and also a hint of almost devout madness.

"Even gods need doors."

"The door is too narrow, we can't get through."

Lady Black Raven raised her eyes.

His scarlet pupils were as still as two moons sunk to the bottom of a well.

"You call the thing you serve a god?"

"He is, of course, God."

Eli's chest wound writhed, and a grayish-white scab forced it shut.

"Pain is His hymn, decay is His garden, and plague is His gift of equality to the world."

He opened his arms.

The corpses throughout the entire camp convulsed simultaneously.

Wisps of bluish-black aura emanated from the corpse's mouth, eye sockets, and chest and abdominal wounds, merging into his sickly aura.

"The body of a fourth-tier demon hunter is the best vessel."

"I have already forged myself into the key."

"Kill me, and the cocoon will mature faster."

"Spare me, and Lund's blood will run dry."

Which one do you choose?

Lady Black Crow watched him quietly.

The throbbing sound from the central house in the distance grew faster and faster.

Lund's blood finally flowed to the bottom of the clock tower.

The grooves that had been carved into the brick joints glowed with a faint red light.

The blood flowed slowly and steadily along the groove towards the room.

Deep down, Xiren was almost driven mad.

He crashed into the darkness.

once.

Again.

The teacher is still here.

Blood cannot pass through.

Ms. Black Crow tilted her head slightly, annoyed by his noise.

"You're so annoying."

She raised her hand, seemingly trying to suppress Xilun's consciousness fluctuations directly.

But as soon as he moved his fingers, the crack on his shoulder widened again.

She stopped what she was doing.

After a moment, she chuckled softly.

"Fine."

"Because I accepted payment."

She lifted her foot and stepped onto the edge of the clock tower.

The shadows spread out beneath their feet, transforming into countless tiny black crows that swooped down along the walls, brick seams, and rainwater to reach the blood streaks.

The crows pecked at Lund's blood.

With each sliver of blood pecked off, the dark figure trembled violently.

Because that blood contained not only Lund's life, but also the pollution that the Black Death Cult had already sown.

Eli's eyes turned cold.

"Stop her!"

The black cloth in the central room of the camp suddenly billowed up.

Several third-tier auras hidden underground awakened simultaneously.

not human.

At least, they are no longer complete human beings.

Four “sick servants” whose bodies were sewn with iron wire and flesh membranes crawled out of the soil.

They have no faces; their faces consist only of a mouth that has been sewn shut.

The chest contains the hearts of different patients.

Every heart beats in the same rhythm.

thump.

thump.

thump.

Four sick servants lunged at the base of the bell tower, trying to tear the black crows apart.

Lady Black Crow snorted coldly.

A shadow of a crow spread out behind her.

Dozens of black feather blades slashed down.

The two sick servants were cut open on the spot.

The cut-open body did not die; instead, it turned into two puddles of sticky, diseased mud, which continued to wriggle towards the ditch.

The remaining two sick servants crashed into the flock of black crows, shattering patches of darkness with the pounding of their hearts.

Lund's blood flowed forward again.

Eli seized the opportunity, transforming into a gray-black afterimage as he lunged at "Silon".

He no longer made any attempt to conserve his strength.

The physical body of a fourth-tier demon hunter exploded completely.

The clock tower's crumbling walls collapsed beneath his feet, squeezing out a ring of white air.

His right claw stabbed towards "Silun's" heart, while his left claw clawed towards Sirun's brow.

That's where awareness is weakest.

He could pour Nurles's plague dream into the crack he made.

Even if it can't kill this unknown entity, it can still make the gate to Xilun completely rot.

Ms. Black Crow finally got a little serious.

She did not use a gun.

Instead, he extended his left hand to meet Eli's claws.

The two hands touched.

Flesh and blood.

Humans and fourth-tier monsters.

Yet it unleashed a terrifying power completely disproportionate to its size.

Eli's grayish-white scab on his right arm burst open inch by inch.

"Xilun's" left hand is also cracking.

The skin cracked, the muscles split, and black lines appeared on the surface of the bones.

Lady Black Crow's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"That's too much of a stretch."

She whispered.

"Not even a single finger can fit."

Eli felt a chill run down his spine.

One finger?

These words terrified him more than any attack.

The being before us, even now, is still merely casting a shadow through a broken third-tier body.

What about the real body?

If the real Victoria were to truly open her eyes, what would she become?

He dared not think.

I can't even think about it.

"Open the door!"

Eli suddenly roared.

Not his subordinate.

It's underground.

The cocoons in the central room.

"Nurles!"

"Please open your eyes!"

Inside the central room of the camp, the flesh membrane suddenly swelled to its limit.

The roof was cracked from the inside.

An indescribable stench and chill spread out.

It's not the smell of a corpse.

It's not the smell of medicine.

Instead, it is the last breath exhaled by the patient before death, which was stored for millions of years and then reopened.

Lady Black Crow suddenly turned her head.

She looked at the room, her eyes becoming deep and unfathomable for the first time.

"really."

"They're coming for me."

Eli, his face covered in blood, laughed.

"It's not directed at you."

"This city was meant to welcome Him."

"You just woke Him up early."

"Silen's" eyes suddenly turned bright red.

"Then I'll kill you first."

The golden spear bounced off the ground and landed in her right hand.

The spearhead was entwined with the shadow of black crows and the chilling aura of dark blue, and the spear intent honed over many years was forcibly ignited at this moment by some higher force.

Conceal, borrow, deceive, sever.

What Lund taught Siren was pushed to a near-cruel perfection in the hands of Lady Black Raven.

She clearly took half a step back.

Eli felt death was right at his throat.

"No--"

He had just opened his mouth.

The gun has arrived.

The red star is silent.

There was no dazzling light.

There was no intense killing intent.

Only a deep, dark black-red line pierced through the rainy night.

Eli's vertical pupil was pierced through his chest.

The gray-black disease ring stagnated.

His body was impaled by the golden spear and pinned to the last section of the clock tower's crumbling wall.

Lady Black Crow gripped the butt of her gun and looked up at him.

"Doctor."

She said softly.

"You deserve to die, so your master can come and pay homage to me!"

Eli lowered his head.

He looked at the gun that had pierced him.

He watched as the vertical pupil on his chest shattered little by little.

The fear on his face suddenly faded.

He coughed up a mouthful of black blood, and then actually laughed.

"It's too late."

Lady Black Crow turned around.

At the base of the clock tower, the bloodstains pecked away by the black crows were almost completely gone.

The last drop of blood had already dripped into the black and red ditch in front of the central house.

Boom!

The heartbeat in the room stopped for a moment.

immediately.

boom!

The ground in the center of the camp cracked open.

After that drop of blood fell, the world seemed to pause for a moment.

The wind has died down.

The rain has stopped.

Even the chaotic footsteps of the fleeing people in the distance were swallowed up by some invisible force.

Only a faint cracking sound could be heard coming from the central room.

哢.

Crack.

Like an eggshell breaking open.

It's like a coffin lid being slowly scraped through from the inside by fingernails.

Lady Black Crow stood on the ruined wall of the clock tower, her golden spear still piercing Eli's chest.

Eli did not die immediately.

The vitality of a Tier 4 Witcher is too stubborn.

A hole was cut open in his chest, half of the gray-black disease ring was broken, and almost all the blood in his body had been drained, but he was still clinging to his last breath by the connection with his cocoon.

He looked toward the central room.

His eyes were filled with fervor.

It was also sad.

Like a doctor who has personally killed countless patients, finally receiving what he believes is a cure for the world.

"Did you hear that...?"

He hissed.

"He has awakened."

"Silen" didn't look at him.

She looked at the central room, her expression even colder than before.

The walls of that room had completely turned flesh-colored.