Chapter 74: Terror
The reinforcement team continued deeper into District 24. After what happened with Murayama, everyone realized the danger of this mission.
Su Xiao checked the time; they had been traveling for three hours.
Along the way, they encountered two more groups of primitive humanoid ghouls, inevitably leading to battles. The reinforcement team's numbers dwindled rapidly, now only ten remained.
The cannon fodder was essentially dead. The remaining investigators all had some skill—not enough to stand alone, but they could contribute to the team.
This noticeably sped up the reinforcement team's pace.
"Beep~."
The micro-computer in Su Xiao's hand sounded. Kuki Kairyo's position had changed; this wasn't the first time this had happened.
"Bai Ye, Associate Special Class, we've been this way before."
Touka Shinohara quickly ran to Su Xiao's side, holding a compass and a hand-drawn map.
"Mm, I know."
Getting lost in the depths of District 24 was commonplace. The good news was that they were getting closer to Kuki Kairyo, about two hours away.
"Roar!"
A deafening beastly roar came from behind the group.
"What now?"
Iwao Kuroiwa, who was at the rear, immediately assumed a combat stance, staring at the dim passage behind them.
"Thud, rumble."
It sounded like some massive creature was ramming the fleshy walls of the passage; the entire tunnel shook.
Su Xiao stared intently behind him, his expression growing grim. When he had last ventured deep into District 24, he seemed to have heard a similar roar.
"Rumble."
The dark red fleshy wall not far behind them shattered, and a massive head poked out.
This head was at least three meters thick, resembling a python's head, but with a single blood-red eye in the center.
Su Xiao was all too familiar with this kind of red eye—it was the unique red eye of a ghoul: a black eye socket with a blood-red pupil.
"An animal ghoul? How is that possible!"
Iwao Kuroiwa stared in shock at the python ghoul. In the history of the CCG, no animal had ever been discovered becoming a ghoul.
"So this is the Blood Eye."
Su Xiao looked at the python ghoul. This should be the Blood Eye that Yuna and Kuki Kairyo had mentioned.
The Blood Eye emerged from the broken fleshy wall. Its body was at least three meters thick, its length incalculable, stretching far down the passage. A conservative estimate put the Blood Eye's length at several dozen meters.
Its entire body was covered in blue-black scales that glinted with a faint light, with deep red patterns visible in the gaps between the scales.
After breaking through the fleshy wall, the Blood Eye flicked its forked tongue, its face-sized single eye fixed on the reinforcement team.
"Is this a dream?"
Touka Shinohara's legs trembled, and she involuntarily stepped back two paces.
"Shinohara's right, it must be a dream. Hahaha, how could such a creature exist? My wife is still waiting for me. How could this damn District 24 have something like this?"
A middle-aged investigator's mind began to unravel. He dropped his quinque case on the ground, a foolish grin on his face as drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
"Captain Bai Ye, what do we do?"
Iwao Kuroiwa was calmer than the others and looked to Su Xiao.
"Slowly retreat. If we engage this beast head-on, we'll all die."
It wasn't that they didn't want to flee; they had already been targeted.
Su Xiao was certain that if he faced the Blood Eye, he would be dead within five minutes.
The monster's body was simply too massive; its Strength and Stamina attributes must be terrifyingly high.
The Blood Eye's head swayed left and right, as if contemplating how to eat the humans before it. The scent of humans made the Blood Eye salivate.
Su Xiao attempted to use [Basic Detection (Temporary)] on the Blood Eye.
[You have used Basic Detection on an Elite Creature (Blood Eye), obtaining the following data.]
Blood Eye (Elite Creature)
Health: 100%
Mana: 110
Strength: 30 (World Maximum)
Agility: 12
Stamina: ??
Intelligence: 11
Charm: 2
Skill 1, Elite Creature (Passive): Strength +10, Agility +5, Stamina +10
Skill 2, Heat Sensing (Passive): Increases tracking success rate by 60% when hunting prey.
Skill 3, Ancient Creature (Passive): Defense +6, Abnormal Status Resistance +30%.
Skill 4, Frenzied Bite (Active): The Blood Eye is a mutated, modified creature with shark-like teeth. Its bite force exceeds normal biological limits. If hit by Frenzied Bite (Active) and Health is below 80%, a Stamina attribute check will be triggered. If the check fails, an instant death effect occurs.
Skill 5: ???
Skill 6: ???
...
After reading the Blood Eye's data, Su Xiao drew in a sharp breath. A Strength attribute of 30 points was unheard of. Being bitten triggered an instant death check? How terrifying was that?
As for the line "only triggers the check if Health is below 80%," Su Xiao thought it was nonsense. If you were bitten by that gaping maw, surviving was already a stroke of luck. How could you expect your Health to be above 80%?
"Bai Ye, Associate Special Class, what do we do?"
Touka Shinohara grabbed Su Xiao's arm. This strong-willed woman was reduced to nothing but fear before the Blood Eye.
"Everyone, listen up! Use any means to escape!"
Su Xiao shouted, leading the reinforcement team in a desperate sprint deeper into District 24.
Su Xiao had no intention of fighting a creature as terrifying as the Blood Eye. Its Strength attribute was double his own, and the gap in power was incalculable—a complete crushing defeat.
The ??? for Stamina meant the Blood Eye's Stamina was very high. Its massive size might mean its Stamina attribute was also at the maximum of 30 points.
When the Blood Eye saw Su Xiao leading the group to flee, a hint of mockery appeared in its single eye. It had intelligence, or rather, it had deliberately let the reinforcement team go to enjoy the thrill of the hunt.
The Blood Eye flicked its tongue, its snake body writhing through the passage. Its scales scraped against the ground, and its massive body displayed astonishing speed.
Su Xiao and the others fled for their lives, with a rumbling roar coming from behind.
"Captain Bai Ye, that monster is catching up!"
A slightly overweight investigator, clearly not good at running, quickly slowed down and fell to the back of the group.
The Blood Eye's body twisted behind them, its speed suddenly increasing. Its gaping maw opened to a ninety-degree angle, revealing a mouthful of dagger-like fangs.
"Pfft."
The snake's mouth closed. The slightly overweight investigator was swallowed whole, and a severed hand fell to the ground with a wet slap.
"Crack, crunch."
A bone-chilling sound of chewing came from the Blood Eye. Unlike ordinary pythons, it didn't swallow its food directly; it chewed first.
Blood seeped from the snake's mouth. The Blood Eye's single eye widened as it savored the delicious taste of human flesh.
After tasting human meat, the Blood Eye's speed increased again. Its head shot out like lightning, swallowing another investigator in one gulp.
The ghoul investigators had no power to resist before the Blood Eye.
If they were in an open area, Su Xiao could have used his speed advantage to tangle with the Blood Eye for a while. But now, trapped in the underground passages of District 24, he could only choose to flee.
After a desperate run, three forks appeared ahead.
"Split up and escape!"
Su Xiao roared, quickly running into the middle fork.
Seeing the forks, the mockery in the Blood Eye's eyes disappeared. Its snake body twisted rapidly, instantly catching up to the reinforcement team.
Iwao Kuroiwa, who was at the rear, suddenly stopped.
"Captain Bai Ye, I'll hold it off."
This experienced old investigator realized that entering the fork would take time.
Su Xiao's expression darkened. Kuroiwa's action was brave, but facing this giant beast, he couldn't even buy them time.
"Boom."
The Blood Eye swept through the passage. Iwao Kuroiwa, a Special Class investigator, was instantly devoured into the snake's belly, not even delaying it for a second.
It wasn't that Kuroiwa was stupid; he simply didn't know the Blood Eye's data and didn't understand how terrifying this giant python was.
After catching up to the reinforcement team, the Blood Eye swallowed several investigators in one gulp, crunching and chewing. Taking advantage of this brief moment, Su Xiao rushed into the middle of the three forks, with Touka Shinohara and Juuzou Suzuya close behind him.
Although Touka Shinohara wasn't very strong, she could run quite fast.
The Blood Eye stopped before the forks and began to enjoy a feast of human flesh.
Only three members of the reinforcement team remained.