Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

The locksmith took out his knife.

His movements were extremely fast. His narrow-bladed longsword flashed with a gray arc. Taking advantage of the moment when the bear pressed down with its forepaw after killing the skinny man, he slashed the bear in the abdomen.

The blade cut into the flesh, and blood splattered.

Repairing the lock continued without pause; the knife was drawn before the bear regained its strength.

This is where Superbear's weakness lies.

Its power is terrifying, but after each full-force palm strike, there is a gap of nearly one second.

Locksmiths seize this very second.

He brought in the overseer as cannon fodder, not to distract him with guns, but simply to bait Subel's attack and then take advantage of the situation.

Suber Bear flew into a rage, turning its massive body toward Xiu Suo, completely ignoring Xilun, who was huddled in the corner.

A ferocious beast weighing four or five hundred pounds and a baptized man wielding a sharp blade clashed in a narrow cave.

boom!

The stone walls echoed with a deafening roar, and dust fell to the ground.

The locksmith's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

His swordsmanship was fierce, each strike landing precisely in the gap after the bear's paw strike, but the Suber bear's vitality was too strong.

Blood flowed from the wound in its abdomen, yet it did not diminish its attack in the slightest, striking down with each palm, each palm carrying the force to shatter rocks.

The cave wall was swept by the bear's paw, sending rocks flying.

As Xiu Suo parried and dodged, crimson energy flowed along the blade, a testament to his status as a baptized person.

"you!"

Xiu Suo roared at Xi Lun.

"Aim your gun at the top of its neck!"

Xilun crouched by the cave wall, gun in his hand, his voice trembling.

"Lockingsmith, we're out of bullets."

Xiu Suo froze.

This guy's gun isn't even fully loaded?

A bear paw came hurtling towards him. Xiu Suo didn't have time to think. He dodged to the side, using the back of his knife to block half the force of the paw. The ground beneath his feet was shaken and cracked.

"Then use martial arts to restrain it!"

"I'll find the opening!"

Xilun didn't move.

"Master Locksmith, I was bumped by a bear just now, and my leg is injured."

Xiu Suo's face contorted for a moment.

He finally realized what was happening.

This young man is shirking his duties.

Damn!

They don't even have this much awareness!

Anger surged from his chest, but the bear paw wouldn't wait for him to retaliate; the next paw had already struck.

When repairing locks, all his anger can only be channeled into the knife.

The crimson energy spread along the blade. He held back, slashing once, twice, three times, each strike hitting the bear's old wound and widening the opening.

He gritted his teeth and vowed that once he killed this beast, he would also cut off Xilun's head.

In any case, this matter can be resolved with just a word from me.

Blood gushed from the bear's belly, turning the cave floor into a pool of blood.

Superbear's movements began to slow down.

After a long period of silence, Xiu Lock finally managed a slight smile.

He seized the opportunity, unleashing his crimson energy to its fullest extent on the blade, and plunged it into the bear's abdomen.

The blade was mostly embedded in the ground.

At this very moment—

boom!

A shot rang out.

A bullet flew from the other side through the bear's body and struck Xiu Suo precisely in the chest.

The locksmith's smile froze on his face.

He looked down at the blood blooming on his chest, opened his lips, but no sound came out.

The hand holding the knife loosened its grip.

The shot wasn't fatal, but it struck him precisely in the chest, freezing him in place for a moment.

The knife only went in halfway and got stuck in the bear's abdominal cavity.

The bear Suber let out a roar and slammed down with its giant paw.

The bear's claws dug into the locksmith's shoulder, and with a slight exertion—

Stab it!

A tearing sound rang out.

When Xilun looked over, Xiu Suo was no longer human.

The bear's paws were covered with bits of meat and scraps of cloth.

There was a two-second silence in the cave.

Then the blood-covered Subel bear slowly turned its head, its small black eyes fixed on Xiren.

Xilun clenched his back molars.

The long locksmith's knife was stuck in the bear's chest, its hilt trembling with each breath.

It took the first step.

The wound was torn open, and blood dripped onto the muddy ground, leaving a trail of dark marks.

The second step.

It's even slower now.

Xilun raised his gun, concentrating all his attention.

My field of vision narrowed, and I stopped breathing.

boom!

The bullet hit his abdomen—the same spot as the previous shot.

Exactly.

The bear swayed but didn't fall.

Xilun's temples throbbed; this kind of precision shooting was much more mentally taxing than training.

boom!

The third shot.

He drilled in through the single gunshot wound from the first two shots, embedding himself in the wound.

boom!

The fourth shot.

The bear continued walking forward.

Each step was slower, and blood gushed from the bullet hole in its abdomen, mixing with the blood from the knife wound in its chest, pooling at its feet.

After firing six shots, the gun barrel was empty.

Six bullets, all hitting the same wound.

Silenben had another gun with a magazine full of bullets, but he didn't have time to draw it.

The bear was less than three steps away from him.

Its breathing was heavy and suppressed, its mouth was open, and bits of meat and blood mingled between its teeth, emitting a foul stench.

Xiren threw away the empty gun and bent down to pull Erma's silver knife from the strap on his right leg.

He stabbed her with a knife.

The bear raised its forepaws and brought its five sharp claws together.

click.

The silver blade was broken in two.

Xilun's arm went numb from the shock, and half of the knife hilt flew out of his hand.

But that's exactly what he wanted.

The bear exhausted its paw strength, and a brief moment of respite appeared.

Xilun lunged forward and grabbed the hilt of Xiu Suo's long knife, which was stuck in the bear's belly, with both hands.

Pull it out forcefully.

The moment the blade was pulled from the wound, blood gushed out like water from a burst dam.

Superbear let out its final roar in the battle.

He held on for two seconds with all four legs, then his front knee buckled and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The cave shook.

Blood seeped out from beneath it, soaking the soles of Xilun's shoes.

It stopped moving.

Xilun gripped the cracked longsword, panting as if he were about to cough up his lungs.

He looked down at the blood covering his body, unable to distinguish which parts were from the bear and which were from others.

The two humanoid corpses on the ground had been smashed into a pulp by the bear's paws, and were completely unrecognizable.

He gripped the locksmith's knife in his hand; the blade was covered in spiderweb-like cracks and looked as if it could shatter at any moment.

Having been struck by the claws of the bear Subel, even this weapon of the baptized could not withstand it.

The destructive power of those claws was far more terrifying than any weapon he had ever seen.

Xilun straightened up, supporting himself on his knees, panting heavily, and staggered to the bear. He plunged the cracked knife into the bear's abdomen, ensuring it was completely dead.

Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief after doing all that, his body suddenly froze.

A black line rose from the bear's carcass.

Extremely fine, extremely fast.

Like a living snake, it pierced through the air and burrowed into his chest.

The moment the black line pierced his chest, Xiren felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

The cold seeped from the very bones, as if something was crawling through my veins and across my limbs, finally filling my palms.

Xilun looked down.

A tingling sensation ran through my palm, as if something was wriggling under my skin, about to burst out.

He instinctively clenched his fists, but the itching only intensified.

The skin at the base of the five fingers bulged slightly, and a layer of milky white texture squeezed out from between the pores, slowly, like bamboo shoots covered in soil.

Click.

A thin crack appeared first at the tip of the right index finger.

A curved, sharp claw emerged from the flesh.