On how PhDs become human evil

Section 120, Chapter 22: Old Bug: Don't come near me!

"rustle…"

It was still like something was rubbing against something.

Such a sound echoed throughout the space, reminding one of the word "chewing," which was extremely disgusting.

In fact, the person making such a sound is quite disgusting.

It was a mass of insects that filled a trench more than ten meters in diameter, constantly crawling and twisting, vibrating their mouthparts.

These insects, even more disgusting than the ones that had attacked the girl, crawled and wriggled throughout the trough, their bodies overlapping each other as they secreted some kind of liquid, filling the space with a chilling sound.

After blasting the entire Matou family home to smithereens, White Gage and Kallen headed to the basement. Like other magicians, the basement was Matou Zouken's magic workshop. The path to the basement was filled with all sorts of magical traps to deal with any enemies.

Of course, since the possibility of being invaded by a Heroic Spirit-level enemy was not taken into consideration, Zouken Matou's arrangements were kept to a minimum, so dismantling them was not too difficult.

After dismantling the magic traps along the way and arriving at the basement, the two saw the scene described above.

To be honest, Bai Jie had seen many hells on earth: Chernobog destroyed by natural disasters, Lungmen attacked by the Reunion Movement, Changkong City destroyed by the Honkai, and the coastal areas of Shenzhou buried by Chi You's attack... However, among all the various hellish scenes, the scene in front of him was the most disgusting Bai Jie had ever seen!

"Hehehe, I didn't expect you guys could actually make it here."

Just as Bai Jie was feeling disgusted by the sight before him, the voice of Zouken Matou, who should have been dead, suddenly rang out in the basement. Then, the swarming worms below suddenly stopped moving, and then countless mouthparts turned towards Bai Jie and Kallen.

The next moment, the overwhelming swarm of insects transformed into a surging wave, rushing towards the two like a tidal wave!

"Master, please step back!"

With just a single word of warning, Kallen of Original Sin swiftly charged towards the swarm of insects, her dark red twin pistols, Bloodhand Saint, appearing in her hands in an instant, and in the next second—

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Like a datura flower blooming in mid-air, countless blood flowers blossomed, and black bullet casings clattered and clattered to the ground amidst the smoke; there were dozens of them!

Dozens of shots per second.

For a pistol, this rate of fire is already terrifying, but what is most surprising is not the rate of fire, but Kallen's skill.

Handguns typically have a capacity of eight to fifteen rounds, so two guns together would have sixteen to thirty rounds. To fire all of that ammunition in one second, and to ensure that not a single shot misses... Karen's dynamic vision is terrifyingly powerful!

"Kaslana Gunfighting... No, although it feels similar in general, the details are too different. Is it a modified version?" Bai Jie muttered to himself, watching the Sin Kallen who was unstoppable in the swarm of insects.

Kaslana's ancestral combat technique is only gun-fu. Because of the Judgment of Heavenly Fire, Kaslana already had extremely mature gun-fu skills before firearms became widespread. As a member of Kaslana, Kallen, the original sin, naturally also knew this technique—during her lifetime.

Unlike Sister Kallen and Phantom Thief Kallen, Sin Kallen died five hundred years ago and was resurrected five hundred years later by the power of Theresa, a vampire from another world. However, she lost most of her memories, including Kaslana's gun-fu technique. Only a few scattered fragments remain.

Therefore, although the gun-fu she is using now is very similar to Kaslana's gun-fu in many ways, it is completely different in essence. The most obvious feature is that she prefers to use guns to deal damage in combat!

Actually, Bai Jie had always been puzzled. Gunfighting should be a technique that combines physical skills and shooting, but in battle, both K-423 and Siegfried liked to kick up first, and they were lucky if they could shoot a few times in a battle!

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Another burst of spinning fire erupted, the spiral storm of shots like a swiftly passing sword blade, shattering everything in its path. With just one sweep, a large portion of the seemingly endless swarm of insects was wiped out, and a vacuum zone was created within five meters of Original Sin Kallen.

I bloom amidst the carnage, like a flower at dawn.

"Hey? That's... Karen! There seems to be someone about ten meters to the left!" Bai Jie suddenly shouted.

After Bai Jie pointed it out, Kallen, the Original Sin, also noticed that place. She had been so focused on spinning and jumping around with her eyes closed that she hadn't noticed anyone else there.

"Master, cover me, I'm bringing her out!"

"Boom--!"

No sooner had Kallen finished speaking than Bai Jie pulled out the Heavenly Fire Judgment and fired a shot. A burst of flames swept outwards, and a third of the entire basement was instantly engulfed in flames. Naturally, the swarm of insects that occupied most of the basement was almost completely swallowed up by the fire. The explosion sounded like firecrackers in the first month of the lunar calendar, which was actually quite comical.

Bai Jie: Cover? If we kill all the enemies, our teammates won't be discovered. Perfect cover!

(Master... never mind, let's leave it at that.)

Original Sin Kallen didn't even want to complain anymore. She no longer expected Bai Jie to make any normal tactical moves. She took advantage of the sea of ​​fire to rush to that position, then picked up the little girl huddled in the corner and quickly jumped back to the high platform where Bai Jie was.

"Wait, Karen, put her down first!" Bai Jie suddenly stopped Karen, who was about to come over.

Although she didn't know what Bai Jie wanted to do, Karen of Original Sin still followed his instructions and put the little girl down.

After staring at the little girl for a while, Bai Jie remained silent for a moment, then suddenly projected a scalpel and stabbed it into her body!

"Master?!"

Kallen was just surprised by Bai Jie's actions when he pulled the scalpel back, with a wriggling worm familiar skewering on the blade.

"So that's why you've always been so fearless. Even though the magic workshop was destroyed and your own body is gone, you didn't seem to care at all. Now I finally understand." Bai Jie looked at the insect on the blade and laughed. "So you've fallen this low, Matou Zouken."

The being named Zouken Matou was already dead. What appeared before Whitebeard and Kallen was just a simple physical body, which is why he could still move after being smashed flat by Judah.

The real Zouken Matou had already abandoned his physical body and transferred himself to the Crest Worm, which served as his source body, and now resided in the body of the little girl in front of him.

"If this little girl hadn't acted a bit strangely, I would have actually been fooled by you. What child wouldn't cry in a bunch of bugs?"

"I never imagined I'd be forced to this point... but not yet—"

"Your next sentence is—I can still reside in your body, right?" Bai Jie sneered. "It's simple for a magician as traditional as you to have such thoughts. After all, transferring one's spirit and soul into another person is commonplace in order to reach the Root. But do you think I'll let you succeed?"

A ghostly blue light shone in Bai Jie's hand, and feathers appeared out of nowhere in the basement.

Divine Key: Feather Crossing Dust.

"You can enjoy hell for the rest of your time, Zouken Matou, until you can't enjoy it anymore."

P.S.: My home internet was having problems, sorry for the late post.

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Section 121, Chapter 23: Pulling the dog: Who dares to touch my PhD!

After dealing with the old bugs, Bai Jie had Kallen pick up the little girl and walk out of the basement. In any case, those bugs wouldn't live long even if they weren't burned to death immediately by the Heavenly Fire Judgment, not to mention that Matou Zouken's consciousness was being controlled by Yu Duchen.

According to Bai Jie's character design, he has probably died more than two hundred times by now. Bai Jie always uses this method to make those inhuman scum magicians wish they were dead.

Magicians are people who don't want to die. For them, immortality means more possibilities to reach the source. But if they feel that living is worse than dying, then it's a different story.

Bai Jie's concept for Yu Duchen is that he experiences countless repetitions of death, but the process is different each time.

Simply put, under the effect of Feather Dust, the person affected will experience death countless times: drowning, suffocation, burning, poisoning, beheading, hanging, dismemberment, car accidents, natural disasters... There are as many ways to kill a person in the world, and he will experience death as many times as there are, until his spirit is completely worn away in endless death, and he becomes a physiologically vegetative person.

For a magician, it would be better to die.

The Divine Key, Feather of Dust, lacks the destructive power of the Heavenly Fire Judgment, the omnipotence of Judah, the healing and destructive power of the Black Abyss White Flower, and the range of the Star of Eden... Among the many Divine Keys, it seems so inconspicuous, but its abilities are enough to live up to the name of a Divine Key.

"Alright, so what should we do with this little girl?" On the street outside the Matou residence, Bai Jie looked at the unconscious little girl and pondered.

Perhaps because she had spent too long in that insect hive, the little girl's emotions had become numb. There was not a trace of expression on her face, and she did not react even when Bai Jie stabbed her with a scalpel. It is conceivable how badly her mental state had deteriorated.

Holding the little girl, Kallen asked worriedly, "Master, that Divine Key you just used can manipulate consciousness, right? Can we try it?"

"Let me manipulate her brain signals? Sure, but the environment here isn't good. Let's go back to the apartment first if we want to manipulate her—provided someone is willing to let us leave."

"Who are you? What did you do to Sakura?!"

A hoarse voice rang out from the other side of the road, and then a hooded person appeared in front of Bai Jie and Original Sin Kallen.

"Are you... Berserker's Master?" Kallen, the Sin, thought for a moment and said, "As you can see, the Matou family has been destroyed by us—"

"Sakura?!"

Before Kallen could finish speaking, Kariya Matou saw Sakura Matou lying in her arms and the wound that had been inflicted by Bai Jie with a scalpel.

In that instant, the following equation appeared in Matou Kariya's mind: The Matou family is destroyed = someone invades the Matou family = participants in the Holy Grail War invade the Matou family = something will happen to Matou Sakura = Matou Sakura will be taken hostage and abused.

"Berserker! Charge!"

Without giving Kallen and Bai Jie any time to answer, Matou Kariya summoned Berserker, and the black knight, shrouded in black aura, immediately appeared in the night.

“AAAARRRRRRR!!!!!”

A roar filled with anger and resentment echoed through the silent night. Berserker easily removed a street lamp, and red patterns instantly covered its surface.

Thump!

The ground shattered under Berserker1's kick, and spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly. Berserker used this kick to rush towards White and Sin Kallen.

The speed was incredibly fast, and it even stirred up a fierce whirlwind wherever it went. The seven or eight-meter-high lamppost slammed down on the two of them with the force of splitting Mount Hua!

"Step back!"

Bai Jie hurriedly reached out to shield Kallen behind him. She was holding a child and couldn't fight freely, and there wasn't enough time for Bai Jie to activate a Command Spell to call Sirin over. So Bai Jie chose to take the first hit himself!

"The Oath of Judah!"

Magic surged wildly through the magic circuits, and a deep blue light coalesced at an unprecedented speed. At the critical moment, a translucent holy cross appeared in Bai Jie's hand.

Bang------!

The moment Bai Jie placed the Oath of Judah on his head, a terrifying roar resounded. The weight transmitted through the Oath of Judah made Bai Jie feel as if his arms were about to break!

"Shh-!"

Bai Jie's vision blurred suddenly, and before he could react, twelve chains flew out of the Oath of Judah and surrounded him in layers. The lamppost that had been supporting the Oath of Judah had somehow appeared in front of him.

If Judah's oath had been even a fraction of a second slower, Bai Jie would definitely have had his head smashed!

(This guy is completely different from the other Heroic Spirits!)

Alarm bells were ringing in Bai Jie's mind. In just one exchange, Bai Jie was nearly killed on the spot. He hadn't even recovered from the aftershocks of the first attack when the second one came.

Grabbing the chain with all his might, Bai Jie sprang the lamppost aside. Taking advantage of this brief opening, Bai Jie slapped his leg, and the [Cyclone] memory hidden under his pants and inserted into his exoskeleton armor was activated. A surging green hurricane spiraled upwards from Bai Jie's center!

"Karen! Let's go!"

Grabbing Kallen's arm, Bai Jie glided to the other side, but before he could, Berserker blocked his path, with two lampposts on either side blocking the road like spears.

(My weight plus Karen's weight plus the child's weight... no, it won't fly!)

Bai Jie pursed his lips. The current situation was absolutely terrible. If he were to fight Berserker one-on-one, it would be the worst possible outcome. His strength lay in analyzing his opponent's personality to grasp their psychological state and predict their actions, allowing him to react in advance—the so-called preemptive strike.

The prerequisite for this tactic is that Bai Jie must have a sufficient understanding of the enemy before the battle. However, Berserker had no understanding whatsoever. This battle was essentially an encounter. Furthermore, Bai Jie did not think he was strong enough to analyze the behavior patterns of a person who had lost their mind.

"Honestly, I don't want to cause Talulah any more trouble. My lips are getting swollen from all her kisses..."