Chapter Fifty-Six: You’re No Match for Chen Xi

Jia Wenxuan, shoved away by Qi An, fired a shot directly into the roof of the vehicle. Terrified, You Zi's pupils dilated to the absolute limit, and she clutched her head in agony, letting out a whimper-like scream.

This scream drove the North 2 team members in the front seat to the brink of complete mutation, and Jia Wenxuan's contamination level also reached seventy percent.

Facing a Yellow Priest on the verge of birth, the tiny remnant of his human will felt extreme terror. Enraged that Qi An had deflected his gun, he let out an angry roar and lunged to wrap his hands around Qi An's neck!

However, Qi An was a step faster, cupping his face in both hands.

Jia Wenxuan froze. Chen Yuezhou, whose finger was about to squeeze the trigger, relaxed it, watching wide-eyed as Jia Wenxuan's split pupils—which had filled his entire eyes—rapidly converged back into a single pair!

The fear and hostility drained entirely from the male soldier's body. His elegant face lowered as he looked at the petite girl in his arms, and to his astonishment, tears began to fall.

He seemed on the verge of embracing her.

Yet Qi An shoved Jia Wenxuan aside, turned, and threw her arms around You Zi's severely mutated body.

As she held You Zi, resting her chin on You Zi's shoulder, her gaze met Chen Yuezhou's through the car window.

Qi An's eyes possessed the soft, gentle shape of almonds, but her look was sharp, warning, and even carried a hint of provocation.

*Don't shoot! Everything is under my control!* her eyes seemed to say.

Chen Yuezhou's heart skipped a beat, and his grip on the gun involuntarily loosened.

Then, he saw the pupils within Qi An's large eyes rapidly splitting as well.

The edges of each newly formed pupil shimmered with a faint golden light, while every single iris held the fantastic, nebula-like colors of a galaxy.

Thinking he was hallucinating, Chen Yuezhou blinked, but when he looked again, Qi An had already closed her eyes.

You Zi's contamination level had reached at least eighty-five percent, pushing dangerously close to the absolute limit of what a Purifier could intervene with.

Everyone had gathered around the vehicle. Yang Yuning shot and killed the mutated North 2 team member in the front seat, forced open the locked car door, and dragged Jia Wenxuan out.

His eyes remained fixed on Qi An's every movement, his heart clenched as if gripped by a giant hand, terrified that Qi An might mutate right along with You Zi!

All the others stared intently at the scene as well.

The heavy rain showed no signs of stopping. People stood in the downpour like rigid statues, gazing fixedly at the sole source of light inside that car.

At last, the golden-veined tentacles that had spread out like a golden gown shrank back into You Zi's body. Her skin returned to a normal, healthy flush, and her pupils refocused.

Slowly burying her face into Qi An's shoulder, she whimpered, "Thank you..."

"You were very strong," Qi An gently patted You Zi's slender back.

Then, she looked out of the car. "Purification complete. She's fine now."

With these words spoken, the statues seemed to be infused with life once more.

Cheers and weeping instantly erupted!

"Holy shit! My Sister Qi has saved everyone again! My Sister Qi is a national treasure!" Zhuang Xiao cried out in such emotional gratitude that he was practically on the verge of tears!

Qin Tian烁 was actually crying. His Purifier had narrowly cheated death, yet one of his team members had still perished!

What a catastrophic ordeal.

Chen Yuezhou had already put away his gun. Exhausted to the bone, Qi An stepped out of the vehicle, which was reeking of fishy blood, and was immediately supported by Yang Yuning.

Zhao Bohan handed over an umbrella, and Yang Yuning held it open for her, half-supporting and half-carrying her toward Sun Yiran's relatively clean car.

For some reason, Chen Yuezhou took a few steps forward, his gaze fixed on Qi An.

As Qi An brushed past him, she raised her eyes to look at him as well.

Chen Yuezhou's contamination level should have been teetering on the edge of a level-three mutation, yet he was still maintaining his sanity and enduring remarkably well.

However...

"You seem a bit inferior to your younger brother," Qi An murmured softly.

It was a fact; after all, Chen Xi had ventured deep into the brood nest alone and slaughtered over a hundred bugs just to reach a level-four mutation.

Of course, this was also a slightly petty, spiteful remark from Qi An, still harboring a tiny bit of "resentment" over their previous conflicts.

She never expected this caustic comment to cause Chen Yuezhou's expression to undergo a drastic change.

Anger frosted Chen Yuezhou's already sharp brows and eyes, and his fists clenched so tightly his joints cracked!

Yang Yuning instantly stepped in front of Qi An, fixing a fierce glare on him!

Qi An was somewhat taken aback, feeling that the dynamic between this pair of brothers was truly bizarre. Was there some sort of rivalry?

She reached out and grasped Chen Yuezhou's wrist.

The hostility gripping Chen Yuezhou's entire body paused instantly. Yang Yuning looked startled, then grew somewhat angry. "Why are you purifying him again? Continuous purification is extremely dangerous for you!"

The wrist Qi An had grabbed was precisely the one she had bitten earlier.

In this brief span of... what, ten minutes?—Chen Yuezhou's wrist had already healed without a trace.

She had bitten down with all her might earlier, clearly tasting the iron tang of blood in her mouth!

Chen Yuezhou froze, his fierce, deep eyes turning somewhat dazed.

Over on the other side, Xu Le, who had just finished a consecutive purification of several people including Sun Yiran, also froze and let out a massive sigh of relief.

He wouldn't have to purify the boss himself; he was about to drop dead from exhaustion!

Besides, the boss had grown increasingly resistant to purification over the past two years, and Xu Le always dreaded having to do it for him.

Chen Yuezhou hadn't reached a level-three mutation, so Qi An performed only a rapid purification, yet her emergency purification techniques seemed even more adept than before. Amidst the resonance, she caught a glimpse of a castle within Chen Yuezhou's spiritual world.

Its thick, dark-gray walls and heavily armored guards seemed virtually indestructible, yet deep within the firmament loomed a massive eye, radiating a sense of surveillance and oppressive weight.

This mirrored Chen Xi's world, though the eye in Chen Xi's mind had been far more terrifying.

Qi An completed the rapid two-minute purification. Her spiritual power swept across the firmament like a gale, scattering the dense, gloomy clouds and transforming them into brilliant sunlight that spilled over the castle and the earth.

As she withdrew her consciousness, she nonetheless caught a fragment of memory.

A laboratory—yet another laboratory! A massive underground laboratory, sealed yet brightly lit. Tables were scattered casually across the room, surrounded by researchers gathered in small groups of twos and threes.

This appeared to be merely an ordinary day at a research institute, but in a distant corner stood numerous transparent cylinders taller than a human being. Inside those cylinders were... severed limbs? Human bodies?

Qi An—or rather, Chen Yuezhou—seemed to be an intruder. The gazes of every researcher snapped toward this direction, their faces expressing shock and panic.

Chen Yuezhou was trembling, his emotions a turbulent mix of shock, anger, and dread. He looked up and saw a figure resembling a child looking down at him quietly from the overhead skybridge spanning the laboratory.

His terror intensified tenfold! The memory terminated right there.

Back in the rainy night amidst the chaotic battlefield, Qi An's consciousness returned, and she released Chen Yuezhou's wrist.

Just like everyone else who had ever been purified by Qi An, Chen Yuezhou was reluctant to break the resonance with her.

He tried to reach out and grab her hand, but Yang Yuning intercepted him, having anticipated the move.

Having witnessed yet another memory filled with agony, Qi An felt utterly exhausted, her eyelids too heavy to keep open.

Yet there were still people unaccounted for. Dragging her fatigue, she waited until Deng Shuang and the others located Tang Long, who had lost contact earlier.

Because the vast majority of corrupted bugs had pursued the main force, Tang Long and a few others who had fled toward the mountains for various reasons managed to avoid any catastrophic danger.

Tang Long had sustained minor injuries, but he kept his contamination level suppressed at fifty-five percent. Leading those few individuals, he had slaughtered the dozen or so pursuing bugs and crossed paths with the search party along the road.

Qi An noted that Tang Long's mental resistance had improved.

With that, she slipped into deep unconsciousness.