Chapter 66: Elder Medusa
The night grew deep, and the weather was cool. Normally at this hour, many people would have come out to enjoy the breeze, but with the recent decline in public safety, no one dared to venture out once it got dark. Even the shops closed early.
Inside an apartment on the sixth floor of Jiayi Residential Community, a sharp-faced, scrawny middle-aged man stared at the bubbling meat slices in the pot. His cheeks caved in and puffed out repeatedly as he forced down the urge to vomit.
Sitting across from him, a bearded man wielded his chopsticks with both hands, shoving meat into the pot with one while scooping out cooked pieces and stuffing them into his mouth with the other. He wolfed down the food with a savage expression, his features twisted into a ferocious grimace as he ate.
Beside him sat two large iron basins piled high with chunks of meat. Whenever the bearded man finished what was on his plate, he would slice fresh pieces from the basins.
"Women taste better. Men are tough and coarse—they hurt the teeth!" The bearded man wiped the grease from his lips and shot a glance at the middle-aged man. "You can't handle this already? There are plenty of cannibal players in the Holy Sword Society. It's fine if you act like this in front of me, but don't let them see it."
The middle-aged man quickly agreed and poured more wine for the bearded man. "Brother Zhao, when can I meet the other members of the Holy Sword Society? I've handed over a potion and turned in a player—that should qualify me, right?"
"The Holy Sword Society sent me to contact you, so you've been acknowledged. But you still need to pass a test." Brother Zhao said smugly. "Our Holy Sword Society isn't some random group. Even though we've just set up a branch in Ting City, there are high-level players above us. You're lucky. Once more people join later, someone like you won't get in."
"Yes, yes, yes!" The middle-aged man beamed with excitement. "What kind of test, Brother Zhao? Just tell me!"
"Can you kill?" Brother Zhao sized him up. "We hunt players. Half the items and potions we get go to the Holy Sword Society, and we keep the other half. If you rank up quickly, the society will invest heavily in you. You'll have whatever potions and items you want!"
"Brother Zhao, I'll follow your orders!" the middle-aged man declared. "Tell me what to do, and I'll do it!"
"I've eaten my fill." Brother Zhao smacked his lips. "Can't sleep on a night like this anyway."
The middle-aged man caught on and went to rummage through a drawer. He pulled out a small card and was about to make a call when suddenly there was a knock at the door. He answered, and a young woman's voice came through.
"I live downstairs. Is your apartment leaking?"
The middle-aged man remembered that a family did live directly below. He was about to dismiss her impatiently when Brother Zhao said, "She's delivered herself to our door. Let her in."
The middle-aged man brightened. Peeking through the peephole, he saw only a long-haired woman standing outside. He quickly turned the lock, but the moment the door cracked open, the woman's hair surged forward like seaweed, wrapping tightly around his head!
Not only that, but the cascading hair transformed into countless black snakes, slithering rapidly toward Brother Zhao in the living room!
Brother Zhao grabbed the meat-slicing knife and hacked off the snake heads lunging at him. When they hit the ground and reverted to hair, he let out a cold laugh. Seizing several black snakes with one hand, he swung his arm to wrap them around himself, then yanked hard!
Zhou Ning grabbed the doorframe and swung her blade, cutting off half her hair. But new strands grew back instantly. This time, the twin snakes intertwined, forming black serpents two or three times larger than before, quickly filling the living room.
"Damn disgusting!" Brother Zhao spat at the writhing black mass filling the room. Instead of retreating, he spun his knife and lunged toward the doorway!
Startled, Zhou Ning quickly commanded the black snakes to entangle his feet, then sent countless more surging over his body. In the blink of an eye, they cocooned him like a mummy!
Seeing him subdued, she breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that cannibal players weren't as tough as people said. Even though this wasn't Xu Huo's plan, killing him probably wouldn't cause any problems.
The hair tightened relentlessly until it could compress no further, and the man wrapped inside stopped moving. Zhou Ning cautiously stepped forward, but then a sharp sting shot through her hair tips, and she immediately leaped back!
Ever since her hair could turn into snakes, it had gained a life of its own. Though it couldn't petrify people like a true Medusa, it could relay any sensation back to her!
Almost as she retreated, the hair cocoon was sliced open from bottom to top by a sharp blade. A flash of cold light followed, and the knife that had been in Brother Zhao's hand stabbed straight toward her face!
Zhou Ning's heart raced. She flicked her hair, wrapping it around the door handle, and yanked herself out from under the blade!
Brother Zhao was caught again by the surging black snakes. He kept swinging his knife to cut them, and when he realized the hair couldn't harm him, he burst into wild laughter: "You ordinary players think having one trait makes you invincible? Let me teach you a lesson today!"
As he spoke, the muscles in his legs swelled like stone. He stomped three or four deep footprints into the floor, then lunged viciously at Zhou Ning!
"Elder Medusa!" Zhou Ning's eyes flashed red. As she looked up, her figure vanished on the spot, replaced by a massive, gaping python that crammed itself into the narrow hallway, waiting for him to jump straight into its mouth!
Though he wasn't afraid of the hair-snake attacks, suddenly seeing a giant python right in front of him made Brother Zhao instinctively pull back his assault. He grabbed the open shoe cabinet door, kicked the middle-aged man stuck beside it toward the python as a shield, and quickly retreated!
What the hell?!
As he hesitated in shock, Yuan Yao, who had already entered the apartment and was waiting for an opportunity, lunged from behind and drove a knife into his lower back!
Caught off guard, Brother Zhao's eyes bulged. Even as he was stabbed, he twisted around and grabbed Yuan Yao by the throat!
"Who are you people?!"
The black snakes surged from behind again, wrapping around his limbs and waist, dragging him backward. But he refused to let go, looking as if he would strangle Yuan Yao to death!
Zhou Ning was about to help when the middle-aged man, having freed himself from her hair, charged at her and began grappling, shouting, "Brother Zhao, run! These people are definitely after the Holy Sword Society!"
Furious, Zhou Ning used her hair to lift the man and suspend him in midair, then directed more black snakes to coil around Brother Zhao's neck. But at that moment, a half-arm-length cleaver suddenly appeared in Brother Zhao's hand. With a casual swing, he sliced through all the black snakes.
"Don't think you're the only ones with items!"
Seeing him swing the cleaver at Yuan Yao, Zhou Ning's heart nearly leaped into her throat. In that critical moment, Huang Junjie jumped in through the window. He grabbed a potted plant and smashed it to deflect the cleaver, then a bamboo knife flew from his sleeve, severing Brother Zhao's wrist cleanly!
Yuan Yao broke free. Brother Zhao staggered back two steps. Seeing Huang Junjie's fierce advance, his expression shifted. He kicked Huang Junjie aside and crashed through the window to escape!
Huang Junjie knocked over the sofa but wasn't seriously injured. Yuan Yao, however, had his throat bruised purple. He coughed and said, "Cannibal players really aren't human. He took a horizontal slash to the kidney and still acted like nothing happened!"
Zhou Ning helped him up. Meanwhile, Huang Junjie checked the blood trail from the living room to the balcony, then spoke into his earpiece: "He's out. Stabbed in the lower back, right wrist tendon severed—not a fatal injury. He's got a bladed weapon. Be careful."
"I understand." Inside a taxi parked outside Jiayi Residential Community, Xu Huo replied, then said to Hu Wenhu and the other two, who had been lying in ambush outside the community, "You can move now."
After receiving their confirmation, he started the car and drove toward the construction site.