“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”
Seeing the Night Hunt Team—with only three members acting in perfect synchronization—force the once-surging tide of Time-Deviants into a desperate retreat, the near-exhausted Special Affairs Chief finally let go of the tension he had been holding.
The strength he had forced into his body vanished in an instant.
His body slumped, leaning heavily against a nearby team member as he erupted into a fit of bone-shaking, heart-wrenching coughs.
Every cough triggered the agonizing pain of his ruptured internal organs.
Thick, dark-red blood surged from his mouth, staining the front of his tattered combat uniform.
By burning his life essence and overdrawing everything to activate his Oracle, his body was already riddled with holes.
He had only lasted this long through sheer willpower and the obsession with getting his brothers out alive.
“Chief!”
“Chief! How are you?!”
“Brother! Hang in there!”
The surrounding search and rescue members felt their hearts leap into their throats.
They gathered around him, their faces masked with desperation and anxiety.
Not far away, Qingluan—who was currently using two revolvers to suppress the Time-Deviants so effectively they couldn’t even lift their heads—tilted her head and caught sight of the scene.
Her brows furrowed slightly.
She casually blew on the still-warm barrels of her guns and then performed an action that left everyone dumbfounded—she shoved the guns directly down the collar of her shirt.
With her hands free, she pressed the communicator at her ear and asked in a low, rapid-fire voice: “Sister Yuchan, where are you guys? We have critically injured people over here who are about to kick the bucket!”
“Zzzzt…”
First came the sound of static interference from the communicator, followed immediately by a woman’s voice that sounded a bit helpless and out of breath.
“The wind was a bit strong during the jump. The landing point was off… Almost there, almost there!”
Upon hearing this, Qingluan grumbled, “I’ve been chatting their ears off just to keep these guys clinging to life. If you don’t get here soon, they’re really going to end up in a box!”
“Almost there. Huayao—”
“Two minutes.”
Another voice—calm, steady, and filled with confidence—cut in over the communicator, providing a precise answer.
By the side of the highway, the Special Affairs Chief felt that this was likely where he would meet his end.
The backlash from overloading his Oracle, combined with countless broken bones throughout his body—especially the horrific wound on his abdomen torn open by the pressure of a Tyrant’s punch—was gruesome.
He could practically see his own organs shifting within.
His breathing grew weaker, like a flickering candle in the wind.
Looking at these brothers from the Special Affairs department—men he had trained personally, who were now all injured yet still surrounding him—he forced a pale, paper-thin smile, trying to comfort them.
It only served to make the scene look more tragic.
“You… you’re all grown men. Why… why the hell are you crying…”
He wanted to do what he usually did—raise his hand and give each of these rascals a punch—but his arm felt like it was filled with lead.
He tried several times, but he couldn’t lift it.
Blood continued to seep from the corners of his mouth.
He scanned every familiar, living face with a sense of longing and care, but his eyelids grew heavier, and his vision began to blur and spin.
“Don’t forget… take care of your sisters-in-law. And… and…”
His voice was as thin as a thread, but he struggled to keep it clear.
“The families… of the other brothers… who didn’t make it back…”
As if he had finally finished passing on all his concerns, the last trace of strength left the Chief’s body, and he went completely limp.
His head tilted slightly to the side, his gaze unconsciously falling on his torn sleeve.
There, a faded but still bright red silk thread was visible.
It was a safety charm his wife had prayed for years ago; he had worn it against his skin ever since, never taking it off.
His faint breaths grew further apart.
Every microscopic rise and fall of his chest gripped the hearts of the search and rescue members.
They held their breath, terrified that the next moment, that weak vibration representing life would stop entirely.
“Chief…”
“Chief, don’t sleep! Brother! I’m begging you, don’t sleep!”
“Chief, wake up, look at us…”
Desperate pleas filled the small, surviving circle.
Just then—
“Roar—!”
“Awoo—!”
On the hillside ahead, the shrill, chaotic wails of countless Time-Deviants suddenly rang out.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
They saw three figures leap from the top of the hill like falling stars, hurtling toward the center of the battlefield at incredible speed.
The figure in the middle was the tallest and most eye-catching.
She crossed her hands in front of her chest, and an invisible but massive wave of Oracle power rippled outward.
On the highway below the hill, the Time-Deviants who had been poised to intercept them suddenly froze, as if bound by invisible shackles.
In the next moment, a spine-chilling sight occurred.
Countless thick, emerald-green vines—carrying the scent of death—burst violently out of the chests of the frozen Time-Deviants!
They grew wildly, twisting and coiling, sucking the life force of their hosts as nourishment.
Accompanied by the desperate wails of the dying Time-Deviants, the vines thickened and became more grotesque at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The parasitized monsters quickly withered and shriveled, eventually turning into skeletal remains covered by vines.
“Yuchan, save them!”
The tall figure landed steadily on the tip of the thickest vine, her voice cold and decisive.
With a wave of her hand, another vine nearby moved as if alive, flexibly wrapping around the waist of another falling figure.
“Hey, hey, hey! Why is it like this again? I wasn’t read—”
Before the person could finish, she was hurled toward the search and rescue members like a stone from a catapult.
“Mongoose,” the tall figure in the middle said, completely ignoring her companion’s complaint.
After finishing this, she looked toward another companion who had landed lightly on the other side without looking back.
“Coordinate with Blacksmith.”
The twin-blade-wielding Mongoose remained expressionless, merely nodding slightly.
Then—her figure blurred instantly, vanishing from the spot like a ghost.
A moment later, she appeared in the area where the Time-Deviants were most densely packed, as if she had teleported.
She glanced indifferently at Blacksmith, who was crushing enemies like a bulldozer up ahead, and the twin blades in her hands suddenly erupted with a cold, piercing light.
She wove through the swarm of Time-Deviants with erratic movements.
Every swing of her blades was precise and lethal, a beauty born from the combination of violence and agility.
Wherever she passed, severed limbs flew, and lives were harvested like grass.
On the other side, in front of the search and rescue members.
The figure thrown by the vine adjusted her posture in mid-air, landing somewhat clumsily and staggering a few steps before steadying herself.
The rescue members stared blankly at the woman who had suddenly appeared.
She had her long hair tied neatly behind her head and was wearing a white lab coat symbolizing her status as a physician.
Underneath was the standard combat uniform of the Sword-Holders, outlining her tall and curvaceous figure.
After steadying herself, the woman reached up to adjust her glasses.
The gaze behind the lenses was sharp and calm.
With a reassuring, professional smile on her face, she walked quickly toward the rescue team.
“Beifu Headquarters, Night Hunt Team Medic. Code name: Yuchan.”
Her voice was gentle yet carried an unquestionable authority.
“Lay the critically injured flat on the ground. I will treat them.”
Hearing this, the rescue members felt as if they had woken from a dream.
Their suppressed excitement and hope erupted instantly.
With clumsy but careful movements, they laid the barely breathing Special Affairs Chief on a relatively clean patch of ground.
They also brought over the comrade whose legs had been severed, placing him side-by-side with the Chief.
Yuchan stepped forward quickly and knelt.
Without hesitation, she stripped off her tactical gloves, revealing fair, slender fingers.
She gently took the Chief’s cold wrist.
In the next moment—
A soft, vibrant Oracle power, like a warm spring, bloomed from Yuchan’s palm.
Following the point of contact, it flowed continuously into the Chief’s nearly lifeless body!
The expressions of the surrounding rescue members changed drastically, their eyes filled with unbelievable shock.
They saw the tiny, bone-deep wounds covering the Chief’s body begin to wriggle and heal at a visible rate.
In just a few breaths, he was restored to his original state, without even a scar left behind.
Even the most horrific tear in his abdomen began to close as flesh and tissue regenerated wildly under the cover of the emerald light.
The edges of the wound pulled together and sealed rapidly.
“Hiss…”
Yuchan suddenly took a sharp breath, her brows knitting tightly.
Fine beads of cold sweat immediately broke out on her forehead.
She murmured in a low voice, her tone carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling.
“Essence overdrawn, internal organs shattered, multiple fractures… To hang on this long with such severe injuries… What a brave man.”
The treatment process lasted about a minute.
During this brief yet seemingly eternal minute, Yuchan’s body began to tremble slightly.
Her face grew paler and paler, as if she were enduring some unimaginable pain.
However, her hand holding the Chief’s wrist remained as steady as a mountain.
Finally, the Chief’s breathing—which had been so faint it was nearly undetectable—began to become steady and rhythmic.
“Phew…”
Yuchan let out a long, weary breath.
She released her grip and slowly stood up.
Her footsteps were visibly unsteady.
She raised her arm to casually wipe the cold sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.
By now, her face was as white as paper, and her entire body was trembling uncontrollably, as if she were forcibly enduring inhuman agony.
She looked toward Qingluan, who was having a grand time slaughtering Time-Deviants in the distance.
Suppressing her discomfort, she raised her voice and shouted: “Qingluan, get over here! I’ve got a massive dose for you!”
Hearing the shout, Qingluan’s movements froze.
She turned around to look at Yuchan, her face lighting up with joy.
Without hesitation, she sprinted back at maximum speed, shouting excitedly as she ran, “Coming, coming! Sister Yuchan, hurry! Don’t hesitate, fill me up!!!”
Hearing this, Yuchan raised her trembling hands and cupped them in front of her chest.
A thick, concentrated ripple of energy—an ominous dark gray that radiated an aura of desolation and pain—slowly condensed and manifested between her palms.
She took a deep breath, as if using the last of her strength, and gently pushed this eerie ripple of energy forward.
The dark gray energy, as if finding its home, quickly drilled into Qingluan’s body.
After completing this, Yuchan’s pale face regained a hint of color at a visible rate.
Her trembling shoulders slowly steadied as if a massive burden had been lifted.
Looking back at Qingluan—
She stood in place with her eyes closed.
Instead of pain, the smile on her lips grew even wider.
A moment later, she snapped her eyes open.
Her gaze was sharp and bright.
She excitedly licked her lips and turned back toward the battlefield, sprinting even faster than before.
As she charged, she shouted at the top of her lungs: “Shadow! Toss me something big to liven things up—!”
In the next moment.
Shadow, who had just impaled a Time-Deviant, didn’t even turn his head.
He simply reached into his own shadow with one hand and pulled out a heavy Barrett sniper rifle with an exaggerated design full of mechanical, violent aesthetics.
Grasping the body of the gun with both hands, he used his waist for leverage and violently hurled the heavy weapon toward Qingluan.
Qingluan’s speed exploded again.
She leaped with all her might, performing a nimble somersault in mid-air, and caught the heavy Barrett with perfect precision.
The moment she landed, she transitioned into a standard two-handed sniping posture.
Her shoulder pressed against the stock, her head tilted slightly, and her right eye aligned with the high-powered scope.
The crosshairs in the lens instantly locked onto the densest center of the Time-Deviant swarm.
“Time for afternoon tea~”
“Boom—!”
The Barrett’s characteristic, deafening, and violent roar thundered across the area.
The muzzle brake erupted with a fierce flame that stung the eyes.
Under the terrifying empowerment of Qingluan’s [Fair Trade] Oracle, the destructive power of this already massive .50 BMG round was now comparable to a small surface-to-surface missile!
The center of the explosion was instantly transformed into a hellscape of flames and shockwaves.
Qingluan herself was sent flying backward by the massive recoil.
She tumbled several times in the air before adjusting her posture and landing further away.
In front of the rescue team, Yuchan slowly turned around.
She glanced at the rescue members, who were still in a state of stunned silence.
Her professional, calm expression returned.
She then shifted her gaze to the critically injured member whose legs had been severed at the knees, pushed up her glasses, and said in a calm tone: “Stop dazing off. Let’s continue the treatment.”