Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

He wasn't dead yet, but he could only live for a few more seconds at most. Once he realized the harsh reality, Alice's fingers stirred up several chaotic air currents through the wind barrier—the giant scythe in his hand was detached from his powerless limbs by the churning air currents, and then, relying on its light mass and high strength, it quickly drew several fast circles in the tornado, caught up with him from behind, and cut him into multiple pieces.

[They lost 60% of their skeletal warriors, but in exchange, they gave up the life of an Imperial Arms user.]

Alice thought to herself, and she reached out. Several colorless puppet threads shot out from between her fingers, deftly retrieving the large black scythe from the turbulent air currents through the wind barrier. With a slight coordination of the muscles in her wrists and back, she used a few light, nimble steps to dissipate the scythe's momentum.

The variables involved in the calculation are not a loss.

She gripped the giant scythe, casually twisted the handle, and nodded in satisfaction. More puppet strings sprang from her sleeves, wrapping around the main body of the scythe at various intricate connections.

I've heard that the Imperial Arms choose their own masters, but Alice doesn't need this scythe to acknowledge them.

She simply lacks a weapon made of sufficiently durable material, which would perfectly fill the gap in her melee combat skills.

The storm dissipated...

[The Imperial Arms users are just a group of mortals wielding powerful weapons; including that guy named Esdeath, their physical bodies are fragile.]

Alice dragged her giant scythe and strode toward the central temple. With her other hand, she manipulated the chaotic residual information in the atmosphere, and the surviving undead who had been on high alert as the explosives detonated left their shelters to avoid the wind and blast, and followed her.

The Order's counterattack did not intensify as the storm subsided. This indicated that they were severely wounded, or that they had sufficient confidence in the Teigu user who had launched the attack.

Meaningless confidence

But for me, it's a good thing.

The girl's figure moved forward with the dispersing gale and poisonous clouds, and when she had gone far enough to reach the temporary defensive line of the cult warriors, her regrouped undead soldiers also reorganized their ranks and raised their guns.

"Fire!" Alice ordered.

A barrage of bullets, at least 30 percent more dense and precise than during the previous suppression, tore through the air, exploding into a spray of blood among the Order's ranks. This jolted them awake from the shock of the poisonous storm, allowing them to see Alice bursting into view of them, and the weapon she controlled!

A familiar weapon.

"That scythe is...it's the Shadow Scythe!"

"Good heavens! Could it be Lord Chichitos..."

"This is impossible!"

Alice could almost clearly sense the chaos and panic in their hearts. However, this did not conflict with her killing them. She raised her hand, and the giant scythe, pulled by the puppet strings, tore a long line of blood through the ranks of the Order's warriors. With a flick of the puppet strings in her other hand, the majestic sculptures and columns in front of the Great Temple became her perfect leverage point!

Like a predatory spider, she leaped from one end of the sculpture to the other, guided by the puppet's strings. The giant scythe, entangled in silk threads, became her claws, and a single, casual bite tore several warriors to pieces.

She advances, her opponent retreats. She triumphs, her opponent perishes.

The Path of Peace is full of strong fighters who are skilled in close combat or long-range sniping. However, the night and the poisonous storm destroyed most of the combat power of the ranged forces. Even the warriors who are skilled in close combat... without the aid of Imperial Arms, their abilities are undoubtedly inferior to those of the Imperial Arms user, Kikitos.

They came one by one, and they died one by one.

They come in droves, and they die in droves.

Furthermore, Alice was not fighting alone; she had soldiers who assisted her tactics. When she single-handedly tore apart the already crumbling Order warriors' lines, the enemy's defeat was a foregone conclusion when the remaining undead legions surged forward.

They screamed, they howled, they crumbled, they fled. A small fraction fought to the death for God, while the majority deserted Him. But whatever their choice, the witch and her silent army did not hesitate for a moment.

Blood stained her boots, her puppet strings, and the shadow scythe bound by threads. A mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood were erected by her, the fallen cult warriors stretching from the bottom of the temple steps all the way to the temple's entrance. And when she commanded the skeletal soldiers to guard the gate and release poison gas, while she herself pushed open the door and entered the temple, the entire front of the temple was soaked in dark red blood.

“Peaceful Path”.

Alice spoke softly, her clear voice turning low and somber behind her gas mask. She held her scythe, the blood dripping from its tip leaving a thin, red trail on the ground. The resentment and pain of the hundreds of fallen cult warriors clung to her, transforming into flickering black flames around her.

Her fingers trembled slightly, and a puppet string quietly connected to a stone pillar near the entrance. The string immediately tightened, providing her with leverage to retreat at any moment.

"I thought you had predicted I would come."

She raised her head, looking at the leader of the Anning Dao sect, who had remained calmly seated on the jade throne at the far end of the temple from the very beginning. She tried to discern any flaws in this leader, who was said to be able to summon miracles, predict the future, and wield all sorts of incredible powers. Even as she was exerting all her strength, she had vaguely sensed a threatening creature within this great temple. However, even after she arrived, the eerie man with his heavy halo hadn't moved an inch.

He sat on the throne, motionless.

His eyes were lowered, and he remained silent.

Alice sensed a subtle unease. She felt as if she had fallen into another trap, one that she had orchestrated before she blocked her memories. She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, intending to test the waters again, but in that instant, a gust of wind rushed towards her!

'Puff—'

Like a train speeding recklessly, in the blink of an eye, the Master of the Peaceful Dao on the jade throne went from extreme stillness to extreme motion, traversing a distance of dozens of meters to appear before Alice. Her slender, white hand, so delicate it resembled that of a wealthy young lady, suddenly pressed down; even before the hand arrived, a storm arose behind her!

【——！】

The ground cracked slightly from the shockwave of the palm strike, and as the blow landed, Alice was already being pulled backward by the puppet strings. With a wave of her hands, the threads connecting the giant scythe began to dance, and countless black flames, formed from curses, surged from the air, engulfing every corner of the Peaceful Dao Sect Leader's body!

However, the flames abruptly stopped an inch away from the Master of Anning Dao.

[Can't the heat penetrate?]

Alice's heart skipped a beat. She slightly manipulated the sea of ​​information around her. Although she couldn't directly utilize the massive amount of information in the atmosphere because civilization couldn't decipher it, her unique keen perception as an information mage still allowed her to detect some significant changes.

Unstable, turbulent currents of information churned around the leader of the Anning Dao sect. This seemed to be a powerful biomagnetic field formed by some innate talent, resonating with the Earth's magnetic field to create an invisible shield against energy attacks. Having understood the principle behind the opponent's power, the young woman's heart grew increasingly conflicted.

[...An early form of primal energy shield? It didn't require inscriptions or triggering messages; it was created solely through a powerful innate magnetic field and accumulated experience...]

"...He's really quite an impressive guy."

She pondered for a moment, but her hands never stopped moving. Since the crude cursed flames hadn't worked, she'd resort to a more direct method—with a flick of her wrist, the swirling puppet strings pulled the Shadow Scythe, which was intended to strike the Anning Dao Sect Leader with a chain scythe, back to her side. And as she gripped the handle of the giant scythe, the Anning Dao Sect Leader's figure was once again in front of her!

"Get out of my way!"

She retreated, swinging her giant scythe, the tip of the blade burning with black flames. The flames fell, scorching large slits into the ground. The scythe's edge sliced ​​through the invisible shield that only protected against energy, but missed its mark before the cursed flames could reach her—the leader of the Path of Tranquility retreated even faster than he had arrived!

He retreated, and Alice advanced. With each slash of the scythe, the cursed flames spread forward, easily igniting many flammable objects in the temple hall. The environment for the battle gradually worsened, and murky smoke began to fill the air.

However, it's not just the smoke that's murky.

While Alice clashed with the leader of the Way of Peace, the skeletal soldiers she had deployed outside were carrying out her orders. Deadly poison gas, gradually filling the area around the Great Temple as the skeletal soldiers worked, suppressed other resistance forces within the city while simultaneously engulfing the Great Temple itself!

The highly poisonous fog mixed with the smoke from the burning temple.

Alice had wrapped herself up completely, not revealing an inch of skin, to prepare for this situation. And now, her tactic had come in handy!

She continued forward, and her distant memories of fighting with a scythe gradually became clearer. Her swordsmanship, which had initially relied solely on speed and cursed flames to create a suppressive effect, transformed from crude to refined. In just a few dozen seconds, the shadows of her scythe became skillful, smooth, and ever-changing.

Her combat power increased as the poison gas spread, but the leader of the Anning Dao Sect did not receive the same treatment. In the third second of the battle, Alice realized that the Anning Dao Sect Leader's thinking seemed to be distorted; what was actually there was merely an empty humanoid shell fighting on instinct. However, for her… this was precisely the perfect opportunity to strike while the enemy was down.

[Anyway, the original plan was to wipe them all out. All I wanted was your industrial system, a foundation for future expansion.]

With a thought, she added even more power to her already merciless scythe. And just half a second later, a spray of blood erupted from the chest of her enemy!

This is the first wound, and with the first one, the second will come much easier—originally, after his mind was paralyzed, the leader of the Tranquil Path could only rely on superhuman speed and strength to fight her. Now, the corrosive effects of the poison gas are weakening his constitution, so his defeat is inevitable!

Alice's first scythe cut a gash in his chest, the second nearly severed his right arm, and the moment the third strike landed, the sharp blade was pointed at his neck!

then……

'boom--'

With a deafening roar, a powerful aura, accompanied by fine mists of blood, erupted from every pore of the Taoist priest's body. Not only was the scythe, poised to sever her head, deflected, but even Alice, wielding the giant scythe, was affected—she was forced to use the momentum to leap back like a spider and climb onto a nearby stone pillar. The surging blood and energy caused her breathing to become slightly unsteady!

She gazed at the leader of the Path of Tranquility, her hand gripping the black scythe tightly—no longer hesitating, her own unwavering will forcefully shattered the Shadow Scythe's self-protective encryption and infiltrated it. And as her breathing calmed, this Imperial Arms formed a strange connection with her.

However, at that moment...

The aura emanating from the leader of the Anning Dao Sect suddenly shifted abruptly, transforming from calm and composed to flamboyant and unrestrained in an instant. He opened his eyes, and as his injuries healed, an even more oppressive aura emanated from him.

“I must thank you, you unknown little beauty.” His bright eyes gleamed with a complex light. “Thanks to your help, I was able to completely eliminate this clueless fellow and take control of this body. Now…”

He assumed a starting stance, and his entire aura instantly transformed into that of a roaring beast.

"Let's start the next round. This time, I'll show you what a man's power is."

He said this, beckoning in the shape of a tiger. But Alice gradually frowned.

After a long while, the girl's slightly conflicted voice finally came from under the gas mask.

"...Cheng Xiao?"

"Gah—?"

............................................................

Meanwhile, on the other side of this empire...

When Alice is forced to devise a more effective, feasible, and 'new' plan because of a trap she clearly set herself, strange and terrifying things are happening outside her own plans.

'thump--'

With a muffled thud, a battered and bruised man collapsed by the roadside in a remote southern city. Presumably due to his injuries and illness, he quickly died. Not long after, a scavenger ransacked him, stealing all his belongings, including his clothes, and then kicked him into a stinking ditch by the street.

The weather was hot, causing the corpse to decompose very quickly. However, unlike other rotting carcasses, this one seemed untouched by maggots or hyenas. It simply floated, remained, and soaked quietly, until one moment…

With a 'plop' sound, a thin segmented limb suddenly pierced through the corpse's chest.

After the first branch comes the second branch, and after the second branch comes the third branch.

As the fourth segmented limb emerged from the corpse's chest, a massive, disproportionately large mandible and two small, sharp appendages slowly crawled out from the remains. Had Alice been there, she would have recognized its true nature at a glance.

This is the Zerg, the Warrior Zerg, specifically the Warrior Zerg from the Arachnid Zerg race.

Its appearance went unnoticed, and naturally, its disappearance was equally silent.

It left along the sewage ditch, carefully advancing along the rudimentary underground network at the city's lower reaches. Before long, a spacious underground hall appeared before it.

It saw many of its kind, and many of its kind saw it. Just as it touched the limbs of its kind and merged into the group like a normal Arachnid warrior bug, three or four new warrior bugs and flying bugs crawled out from other parts of the sewer network and quickly and without hesitation joined the collective ranks.

The insects reproduce rapidly, faster than humans, faster than pigs, and much faster. Lacking a mother, they employ a parasitic strategy similar to that of aliens without a queen: directly inoculating with their eggs. In the initial stage, they capture homeless people and inject their eggs into them. In the next stage, they begin building nests.

And then an even more powerful Zerg race will be born.

Section 31 - End of Score Farming

Zhang Jie gently raised his hand and removed his fingers from the brain worm—after the brain worm was transported to a suitable location, it quickly fell into a strange state of slumber. The guarding soldier immediately activated the contingency plan, waking Zhang Jie from his slacking-off state and ordering him to examine the brain worm—and he quickly arrived at a conclusion based on his excellent professional skills.

—The brain worm's spirit has detached from this enormous body; what remains in the starship is merely a fleshy vessel with instincts.

“I knew it! Why did they want me to stay on the starship to take care of the new recruits…” Zhang Jie muttered to himself, a look of sudden realization crossing his eyes. “So they were referring to this ‘new recruit.’”

He pondered, and as he thought, some guesses surfaced in his mind. He had initially been quite critical of Patchouli's plan for him to slack off, but now it seemed perfectly suited to his major.

It's good to have something to do.

Zhang Jie thought to himself, then waved his hand, signaling the soldiers guarding the brain worm on the starship to temporarily ignore him and also to stop the corresponding monitors from working. He then injected his mental energy into the worm's body, carefully bypassing the self-protective mental measures to delve into the worm's mind and explore the secrets hidden deep within its brain.

This is a long-lived insect.

Through the examination of his memory area, Zhang Jie's entire life was clearly presented in his field of vision. From new to old, from near to far. He reviewed the life of this giant brain worm from its current state to the past—from being transported to the spaceship, to being captured by Zheng Zha, to hiding underground to withstand artillery fire and living in constant fear. Based on Zhang Jie's rough estimate, the brain worm's lifespan was over three hundred years.

Three hundred years...that's a bit too long.