Chapter 44: Predicament

“Ah… ah… no… no…”

Leng Qiongling’s body lost all strength.

She went limp and collapsed onto my chest.

I quickly caught her.

She looked still not fully conscious, only murmuring heartbreaking words.

“No… everyone… no… I don’t want to die…”

Tears began streaming from the corners of her eyes.

“Leng Qiongling. Leng Qiongling.”

I tried to wake her, but she didn’t respond at all.

It seemed the sudden death had hurt her too much.

Watching her loved ones killed one by one, and she herself brutally violated—such an experience could not be easily forgotten.

Originally, she could have died once and for all, but now she had to carry these memories and live on.

For a young woman just coming of age, it was too heavy.

Her fear of that death even surpassed her hatred of the culprit who caused it all.

Even with a body beyond human understanding, deep inside she was still just a fragile, timid little girl.

“But you have to become strong. You must become strong. Since fate has forced these pains upon you, you have to carry them and live bravely.”

Even though Leng Qiongling might not feel it now, I gently patted her back, touched my forehead to hers, and whispered: “I know you’ve been trying hard. No matter how intense I make the training, you never give up, gritting your teeth and completing it. Actually, I didn’t tell you the truth—even Le Paxi and the others wouldn’t do that amount of training every day, but you’ve persisted for almost a week.”

“You’re really amazing. This time, I believe you can do it too.”

Boom rumble!!

The rock above my head suddenly began to shake violently.

I turned to see a pair of huge eyes staring at me and Leng Qiongling.

“Cleos…”

I propped Leng Qiongling against the rock wall, stood up, walked forward a few steps, and stared straight at Cleos.

Though I stood before it with bravado, I had no means to hurt this big guy.

I don’t have the ability of those fantasy male leads to suddenly power up at critical moments, do I?

Pistol… one bullet left…

Why did I keep exactly one?

How unlucky.

Even if I killed myself, it wouldn’t help.

“Hey, why are you so fixated on my squad member?”

I tried to speak in a disdainful tone, but my voice still trembled.

“She is… human… and yet… one of us.”

“I can’t understand you. Got a sore throat?”

“Language… useless evolution… we don’t need it… only when interacting with you…”

“Ah, yeah, yeah. So what do you mean? That Leng Qiongling is a Mad Beast?”

“She is human… but she will eventually become one of us… If you let her enter human society… she will destroy you… destroy all of you.”

“Oh? So you’re still concerned about us? Don’t you want to exterminate humanity?”

“We… only survive… evolve… destruction… all for survival…”

“Wait… do you mean you don’t want to exterminate us?”

“We… everything is for survival…”

Cleos repeated the same tone, making me break out in cold sweat.

Is this situation also what the Mad Beasts want?

They are evolving, and already have Mad Beasts with human-like features.

All for survival.

They are using humans?!

“You!”

I shouted in anger, but I knew it was just a clumsy attempt to mask my inner panic.

Even this seemingly mindless Giant Mad Beast saw through it.

“Are you angry? Why are you angry? Using other creatures to evolve your own species—aren’t you humans better at that?”

Its voice suddenly became continuous, no longer the staccato sounds from before.

And the muscles on its body began to surge like boiling water, constantly twitching.

Then, its originally thick arm turned into a huge blade, horizontally sweeping along the road, hurtling toward me with a roar.

This blade covered almost the entire road, leaving me no retreat, though I had no time to react anyway.

As if time stopped, I could only watch the huge blade that could slice me in half approach step by step.

Resigned to fate, I gave up struggling, thinking I might as well die closer to Leng Qiongling…

Boom!

A violent impact nearly shattered my eardrums, but the expected death did not come.

I opened my eyes to see what happened.

Leng Qiongling stood in front of me, her hands blocking the huge blade that was dozens of times larger than her own body, pressing it into the ground, carving a huge groove.

Drip, drip.

Even the supposedly indestructible body of a Madman can bleed.

From the wound cut open on Leng Qiongling’s palm, fresh red blood dripped, but immediately withered and turned into black residue.

“Leng… Leng Qiongling?”

“What? So surprised? Appearing at the most critical moment—isn’t that a plot point in all righteous stories?”

Leng Qiongling turned her head and forced a smile.

Although she wanted to joke in a light tone, it was obvious that the continuous Berserk States had overconsumed her functions.

Now, facing Cleos, she was at a disadvantage.

“Captain… you go away first. I need to shake it off.”

I followed Leng Qiongling’s advice and quickly ran down the road, but I tripped over a stone and tumbled all the way down.

Seeing that I had escaped, Leng Qiongling used all her strength to toss the huge blade into the air, then spun and kicked it away, immediately withdrawing from the danger zone.

The huge blade sliced that area almost flat, smooth and terrifying.

“Ahh… ahh…”

Leng Qiongling, who had retreated to my side, gasped heavily for air.

The previous actions had consumed too much of her stamina, pushing her to her limit.

But Cleos gave her no time to rest.

It immediately turned and launched a fierce attack on our hiding place, causing rocks to fall continuously, threatening to hit us.

To keep me safe, Leng Qiongling unhesitatingly charged out again, attracting Cleos’s attention so it no longer endangered me.

But the extremely exhausted Leng Qiongling could barely dodge Cleos’s attacks, using almost all her strength.

Cleos’s power and speed seemed to have increased a notch.

It kept launching fierce attacks at Leng Qiongling, making completely unimaginable movements with its huge body.

If she failed to dodge in time, she would be struck by a giant fist that could pierce mountains—something she absolutely could not withstand.

‘What do I do, what do I do…’

I watched Leng Qiongling anxiously.

Though she could still dodge Cleos’s attacks, I could see she was near her limit.

In a few more minutes, she wouldn’t hold out.

‘Is there any way…’

I quietly slipped out and accidentally came to the downward path I had seen earlier.

Then I felt vibrations coming from below.

The vibrations grew stronger.

Then I heard a car engine.

Soon, a vehicle similar to my off-roader drove up from below, flying out of the intersection in a wild manner, scaring me into dodging.

A person stepped out of the car.

He wore a hat, obscuring his face, but the huge arm faintly visible under his robe made me alert.

But he didn’t pay much attention to me.

He just tossed a long box nearly three meters in length from the car.

“Your goods.”

Leaving that one sentence, he immediately got back in the car and returned the same way.

Left confused, I had no choice but to open the box.

Inside lay a huge weapon.

It was a strangely shaped giant pair of scissors, with a structure so simple it was puzzling.

It looked like two huge blades joined together.

But I could feel the aura of a Mad Beast emanating from this weapon.

Without a doubt, it was a Madman’s weapon.

It was Leng Qiongling’s weapon.