With two sharp “cracks,” the skulls of the two burly men shattered completely, their bodies collapsing lifelessly to the ground, thick rivers of fresh blood gushing out from the brutally severed necks.
Fokna was so terrified that he instantly collapsed to the floor, staring incredulously at the towering, blood-soaked monster before him.
Under the flashing red emergency lights, the butcher resembled a demonic fiend straight from hell.
Crimson beads of blood slowly trickled down the grooves of the pitch-black ram horns on the shattered skull.
The butcher’s upper body was bare, muscles engorged with blood, and veins bulging beneath the skin, resembling a bloody medieval sculpture, radiating violence and death as a twisted form of beauty.
The butcher loosened his grip, and the crushed skull thudded twice against the floor.
Finally, Fokna came to his senses.
Instead of screaming and fleeing like the others after catching his breath, he erupted with an insane, frenzied madness!
“So powerful… truly so powerful… no wonder it’s the War Machine of the Montford family!” he muttered at first, then his voice grew louder, his smile crazed as if he had discovered some ultimate truth, waving his hands wildly. “If I combine you with my Arakni, we can absolutely create the perfect being! A perfect creation beyond all others! I will be immortalized in history!”
At that moment, the alarm abruptly ceased, and all the lights went out simultaneously.
In the final second before darkness swallowed everything, Jiang Huaying saw the butcher mercilessly raise the double-edged great axe in his hands.
The blood-stained blade drew a crescent moon-like arc through the air.
With a soft “puff,” it was as if a candle flame had been snuffed out.
When Jiang Huaying’s vision returned, she was tightly held in the butcher’s arms.
Her chest heaved violently, not caring that her clothes were stained with filth, blood, and sweat; she clung tightly to him.
She had clearly promised herself this would never happen again.
Yet she had come so close to losing him once more.
Jiang Huaying distinctly felt the heavy breaths next to her ear, like a wild beast desperately suppressing the brutal urge to destroy encoded in its genes.
Every inhale breathed out bloody heat from the ram horn skull.
“Yicai, I’m… I’m here…” Jiang Huaying hugged his sleeve, gently stroking the back of the butcher’s neck again and again.
Her fingers touched the cold, slippery substance on his skin.
She knew it was sticky blood but didn’t stop.
The system’s alert sounded frantically.
The black fog’s density suddenly spiked, then dropped again, rapidly crossing the threshold multiple times.
After a long while, Jiang Huaying finally heard the confirmed result.
[System Detection Abnormality: Black fog density unchanged.]
She breathed a sigh of relief.
By now, the butcher had also calmed down.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
His heavy breathing continued violently, his broad bronze chest rising and falling like endless mountains, as if about to swallow Jiang Huaying whole.
She felt slightly breathless.
She slid her arms down and placed her hands on the butcher’s chest, trying to push him gently away.
“Let’s get out of here first. What about the others… the cat?”
The butcher didn’t move an inch, so Jiang Huaying lightly patted him twice.
The muscles under her palm relaxed, beating with heat and elasticity.
“Alive,” the butcher uttered coldly and emotionlessly, then stood up holding Jiang Huaying.
Jiang Huaying: …
Not bad.
Passing by Fokna’s corpse, the butcher simply stepped over it.
Fokna, split in two, lay like a puddle of rotten flesh on the ground, eyes wide open in death, a grotesque spectacle.
Jiang Huaying didn’t see a single detail of this bloody scene; the butcher’s outstretched hand blocked it all.
She sat in her designated seat, her hands loosely wrapped around the butcher’s neck, feeling an unprecedented sense of security.
From her vantage point, she could see the far corner of the medical room, and noticed someone hadn’t left.
A beautiful woman with straight bangs slumped against the wall, her face pale, staring blankly at them, completely stunned and frightened.
Jiang Huaying had a good impression of her empathic abilities and knew who had triggered the alarm, so she called out to warn her: “You should leave quickly. Outside… probably no danger.”
After all, the greatest danger was right here.
Sining finally snapped out of her immense shock.
She stared at the once-close human girl and the ferocious monster, feeling dazed.
She opened her mouth several times, wanting to say something, but finally chose silence under the butcher’s intensely oppressive gaze.
“Meow~”
A small black shadow in the shape of a cat appeared from nowhere, climbing onto Jiang Huaying’s shoulder.
Curious, she reached out and gently cupped it, calling softly, “Xinkehe.”
The soft cat-shaped shadow stepped onto her palm, chest puffing out: “It’s me, Aguan.”
Xinkehe’s voice came from the pitch-black sesame seed ball with no discernible features.
“This is my shadow. That guy, the butcher, went looking for you.”
Jiang Huaying carefully prodded the perfectly poised black ball’s ear tips, feeling something like a springy jelly.
“We’ve already reunited with Yicai. Where are you all?”
The shadow sank slightly under her touch, then quickly bounced back.
“Of course I didn’t tell you.”
Xinkehe had anticipated the butcher’s reaction, so she purposely split off a small part of her shadow to come over.
“I and the other common monsters have escaped, and successfully sealed off the entire building. Not a single rat can get out. Aying, you can play around as you like—avenge whoever you want, kill them all, it doesn’t matter.”
Jiang Huaying opened her mouth to say she wasn’t that ruthless, when the system suddenly sounded again.
[Personal Mission (0/3): Rescue other test subjects.]
No rest at all.
Jiang Huaying pulled herself together and patted the butcher’s shoulder, issuing a command: “Let’s go, we have to—”
She hesitated, realizing she knew nothing about the MF Building.
“Uh, the other test subjects are locked up inside the observation rooms.”
Before the butcher could respond, a weak voice came from the corner—Sining.
“I… I don’t know, but I can take you there.” She stammered as she stood shakily, avoiding the butcher’s gaze, only cautiously glancing at Jiang Huaying.
“I know too,” the butcher’s voice was cold and hard, unusually tinged with emotion.
Like afraid she would choose someone else, his thick fingers tightened against the girl’s waist, his broad knuckles pressing into her snow-white soft flesh, leaving faint red marks.
Sichai didn’t know what came over her, but on impulse added, “But I have access permissions to those labs, which can save you a lot of trouble.”
The moment she finished speaking, two beams of fierce red light stabbed into her forehead.
If lasers could kill, she would have been scalped by now.
Sining broke out in a cold sweat, suddenly realizing just how daring she had been!
“Don’t scare people,” Jiang Huaying punched the butcher’s ram horns lightly.
The murderous aura vanished instantly, like a pricked balloon deflating in an instant.
The butcher obediently tilted his head down, meekly saying, “Don’t hit.”
Jiang Huaying didn’t give in, poking his chest instead: “I know you’re strong, but why not relax a little?”
The butcher remained silent, only glaring darkly at Sichai.
Unable to change Jiang Huaying’s mind, he would just give up on his own.
Jiang Huaying saw through his thoughts and whispered petulantly, “Bad dog.”
The butcher’s voice rumbled in response, “Good dog.”
Sichai, hearing their whole exchange, slipped back into a daze.
She still remembered how much effort and resources old Mr. Montford had poured into the butcher to make him MF Group’s weapon.
But now, the young lady had easily tamed the butcher with just a few words.
“Go straight ahead at the next intersection, then turn right to reach the A-385 Observation Room,” Sining said, trailing behind Jiang Huaying and the butcher as a human map.
Jiang Huaying sat firmly in the butcher’s strong arms, casually surveying the surroundings as if just sightseeing.
If the others around them didn’t scream in terror, Sihai looked on at her fleeing coworkers, who scattered helplessly like headless flies but couldn’t escape.
She felt a pang of sympathy, but nothing more.
They were all just workers.
She had just been lucky to latch onto the young lady’s big thigh in time.
As for whether her actions counted as betrayal of MF Group—she was just a salaried worker.
There was no need for loyalty or self-sacrifice.
If MF Group was to be preserved, that was the board of directors’ responsibility.
Sichai understood this clearly and didn’t hesitate to open the observation room’s door for Jiang Huaying.
The trapped staff inside recoiled in fear at the sudden opening, barely having time to feel hope.
“Bu… butcher…”
“The butcher escaped!”
“We’re doomed!”
They screamed and ran inside; some were already utterly terrified.
They collapsed on the floor, frozen as the butcher advanced step by step, unable to move.
But seconds passed without incident.
The butcher walked past them, eyes straight ahead, as if they were insignificant ants by the roadside.
Their gaze slowly lifted and caught sight of the girl held in the butcher’s single-arm embrace.
Delicate yet massive, beautiful yet brutal, pure white yet soaked in blood.
That visual impact would be etched deeply in their minds even as their hair turned white and eyesight dimmed.
The Montford heiress, who had exploded in popularity during the great killing live stream and was hailed by the whole Upper City as the “Angel,” was sitting atop the blood-soaked humanoid monster’s shoulders.
With a gentle wave of her hand, she could command the monster’s feet; wherever she pointed, it would attack.
The butcher was her sharpest blade, unstoppable wherever he went.
Simu watched the stunned crowd and felt an inexplicable pride welling up inside.
As a loyal viewer of the live stream, nothing was more exciting than witnessing a true, real-life couple!
The butcher moved swiftly. Under Jiang Huaying’s command, all the test subjects were released.
Then she tapped the hunting cat on her shoulder, planning to go all out to save everyone: “Xinkehe, can you help escort the test subjects out? Arrange everything properly?”
The black shadow puffed out its chest. Its faceless, soft-looking cat face “looked” toward the butcher.
“Of course! As long as Aying wants, I can help you complete anything.”
Sichai stood aside, eyes sparkling as she watched.
She felt like she had just found some incredible new ship!
With the test subjects freed, only staff and researchers remained.
Facing the white-coated figures, Jiang Huaying couldn’t help but recall Fokna, who had done experiments on her. But she knew not all of them were inhuman monsters.
As if sensing her concern, the butcher scanned everyone present.
Bathed in the electronic red light, they felt like lambs about to be slaughtered, sent to the butcher’s domain.
“Lin Jiande, employee #109276, A-385 Observation Room Team 3 leader, 37 instances of abuse of power, regularly extracted rare neurotransmitters from test subjects’ spinal cords for use as military stimulants sold on the black market.”
“Hanlitisi, employee #382754, A-385 Observation Room Team 7 deputy leader, 52 instances of repeatedly implanting the same false memories in test subjects’ brains to test extreme tolerance…”
“Zhongben Zhangren, employee #918322…”
With each name the butcher spoke, video clips played before everyone’s eyes.
Watching the horrifying, utterly inhumane experimental scenes, the others were first stunned, then visibly horrified.
For a moment, no one could tell who the real monsters were.
Seeing their own vile deeds exposed, those named immediately dashed for the exit.
The butcher looked at Jiang Huaying.
This time she didn’t hesitate and whispered, “Kill them.”
Zhongben Zhangren had just reached the door, hope blooming, when suddenly he lost feeling in his legs.
Looking down…
The world spun wildly as he fell to the ground, his lower body still standing firm.
Blood sprayed, and screams rang out again.
Mali Tisi was utterly petrified. Lin Jiande, seeing escape was impossible, collapsed crying right before Jiang Huaying.
He sobbed miserably, “The board of directors forced me to do it. I had no choice. I was coerced! I can take you to the board—they’re upstairs!”
Jiang Huaying arched her brow with disdain, her voice colder than ever.
“Don’t worry. The board members won’t escape either.”
After clearing the 148th floor, Jiang Huaying led the butcher upward.
The MF Group’s labs were far more than just this one.
After they left, a long silence filled the observation room before trembling footsteps echoed out.
The survivors emerged one by one, standing in the brightly lit corridor, all their eyes boiling with overwhelming emotion.
MF Group was truly about to change!
On the 198th floor of the MF Building, all the board members gathered.
They already knew everything that had happened downstairs.
The sharpest and quickest among them rushed to the elevator entrance, frantically pressing the buttons.
By then, they no longer cared about maintaining appearances.
Like chickens in a cage, they squeezed forward, terrified of missing the first escape elevator.
Guard Squad rushed over hastily.
Their captain’s face was grim because, not long ago, his squads had begun losing contact one after another.
Until finally, the last squad went silent.
They were located just downstairs…
Suddenly, a lightning thought flashed through the captain’s mind. He raised his gun and shouted, “Everyone fall back!”
The elevator dinged open.
The golden, radiant elevator doors slowly slid apart.
The board members pressed against the doorframe, craning their necks upward, only to be shocked by who stood inside.
They scrambled back in panic, and those behind pushed desperately forward.
The elevator entrance immediately descended into chaos.
“Help!”
“Step back!”
“It’s the butcher! The butcher is coming up!”
The Guard Squad, ready to fight, stood frozen.
Jiang Huaying was too recognizable; no one could mistake her.
At this moment, she sat on the butcher’s shoulder, one hand gripping his jet-black demon horns like a young queen on her throne.
Her pure white dress bloomed with splashes of blood as she looked down imperiously at everyone.