After the hybrid girl retreated a few steps, a much more… bizarre figure emerged from the swarm of giant insects. If one were to only look at her upper body, she appeared to be a small girl, seemingly naked, with waist-length fiery red hair concealing her vital areas, likely not even in her teens. However, her lower half was not human legs, but rather a swollen, arthropod-like abdomen, complete with six segmented, chitin-covered limbs.
“What the hell is that? Is that an Arachne?!” Shirley gasped. Her instincts screamed that this creature before them was not something to be trifled with.
“While spiders are beneficial to humans, I’m afraid I prefer the handsome Spider-Man over… whatever this is,” Yurizumi declared, nocking an arrow, drawing her bow, and tentatively firing her first shot at the creature. It was utterly useless, however. The arrow inexplicably halted mid-air, suspended directly before the half-human, half-insect girl! Even the Savior from a certain matrix could only manage this much. “What the hell…”
“Try this!” Eileen, in turn, grabbed her AR-I plasma assault rifle. In previous skirmishes, she had used this weapon to incinerate over a dozen grotesque giant insects. A silver-blue energy beam shot towards the hybrid girl, only to… similarly halt as if struck by a ‘binding spell’.
“Ugh, this is troublesome…” Eileen instinctively stepped back, muttering to herself. The limits of the previous hybrid girl’s power had only allowed her to barely deflect the residual shockwaves of energy weapon fire. This, however, was in a completely different league, directly freezing a high-temperature ion beam. This was practically on par with a certain black jar’s grandson!
“My turn!” Ji Bingyao hoisted her Big F***ing Gun, initiating the charging sequence. She intended to gamble on the ‘one strike to overpower many’ principle. However, after two faint ‘squeaking’ sounds, a red ‘low energy’ light suddenly flashed on the weapon’s scope.
“Damn it—” Ji Bingyao reached for the waist of her tactical vest, only to find every synthetic leather pouch scorching hot. These energy cells were filled with coolant in their sealed state to maintain a low temperature, only rapidly heating up after depletion. In other words, the preceding battle had been so intense that she had unknowingly exhausted all of her spare energy cells.
“Heh.”
The petite ‘Arachne’ let out an eerie chuckle. She raised a slender, human hand. Instantly, the B-9K in Ji Bingyao’s grasp flew from her hands, spinning as it landed at her feet. Then, the hybrid forcefully waved a hand, and the energy beam and arrow, previously ‘frozen’ before her, immediately shot backward, forcing Eileen and Yurizumi to scramble for cover.
“You bastard! Try this!” Alice hoisted her Gatling gun high, while Xia Hua shouldered her double-barreled shotgun. Yet, something even more astonishing occurred: both had clearly loaded their weapons, but no matter how they pulled the triggers, not a single round would fire. Some strange force was jamming the firing mechanisms, rendering them inert.
“Cackle… cackle, cackle, cackle…” The hybrid girl moved her body on her six arthropod legs, continuously emitting a chilling, strange laughter. Even the likes of Miss Hanako from the toilet or Myrtle would likely flee in terror upon hearing such a sound. As she advanced, Shirley’s companions were, one by one, firmly pinned in place by an inexplicable force; their minds remained lucid, but they were utterly incapable of movement.
“Xiao Rui, consume that bad woman’s brain lobe. She won’t need such useless things, and can still be utilized by the hive,” the weaker, yet seemingly attention-seeking, hybrid girl remarked.
“Giggle, giggle, giggle, hee hee hee hee hee hee hee…”
Under the control of an unseen force, the tentacles embedded in Shirley’s ears, nostrils, mouthparts, and the back of her neck were brutally ripped away. Her upper body was then lifted, forcing her to confront the hybrid girl’s gaze. Within those obsidian-like eyes, devoid of whites, flickered cruel delight, malicious anticipation, and detached coldness. There was not a shred of humanity to be seen.
Then, the girl’s cherry lips parted slightly, revealing a slender, tubular proboscis extending from beneath her tongue. Such mouthparts were common among butterflies and moths; Shirley had seen many while catching them as a child. But to find one on a ‘person’… that was beyond terrifying!
“Damn it… my brain isn’t tasty! Little kids shouldn’t eat too much greasy stuff; don’t you know eating too much brain matter will ruin your figure?!” In her terror, Shirley began to babble incoherently.
“Don’t worry, once your brain lobe has been absorbed, Xiao Rui will gain your knowledge and memories. From that perspective, your spirit won’t die; it will merely merge with the hive,” the hybrid girl said with a playful smirk. “As for your physical body… I imagine it will be quite easy for you to gestate twenty or thirty adorable, healthy hive members over the course of your remaining life, won’t it?”
“Apologies, but I must disagree.” Just as the tubular proboscis was about to pierce Shirley’s nostril, a slender spatial rift, no larger than a pencil, abruptly appeared and swiftly closed, severing the entire proboscis! Screaming in agony, the hybrid girl recoiled, and the force suppressing Shirley dissipated, allowing her to collapse back into the pile of tentacles within the cockpit.
“Salome?”
“I’m sorry, Mother,” the winged girl who had leaped from the spatial rift declared. Appearing alongside her were Cassandra and approximately thirty female warriors clad in black, form-fitting combat suits and enclosed combat helmets. Among these, half possessed a pair of wings similar to Salome’s, though shorter and clearly not for flight, while the other half were even more petite, yet carried heavy weapons disproportionate to their size. “Allow me to handle things here now!”
“Who are these people?!” Shirley demanded.
“They are the ‘Holy Maiden’ Guards, directly subordinate to my sister Salome and me… However, neither of us is combat-specialized nor suitable as gene-modification templates, so only a small number of ‘Holy Maidens’ have been created using our genes. The vast majority of ‘Holy Maiden’ warriors are produced using our sister Anastasia’s genes as a template,” Cassandra replied. “But they are more than enough to deal with the situation here.”
“Agh!” The half-human, half-insect girl, whose proboscis had been severed, erupted in a shrill scream and lunged at Salome with flailing limbs. An intimidating, shimmering orb of light shot from her mouth. Salome, however, merely drew a casual circle in the air, and the orb vanished without a trace… only to reappear in a rift behind the hybrid girl, striking her arthropod-like abdomen with pinpoint accuracy.
Undoubtedly, the orb of light contained an immensely potent energy. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the hybrid girl’s chitin-encased abdomen was utterly obliterated. Hemolymph, reeking of a strange odor, splattered everywhere.
The hybrid girl, ravaged by her own attack from behind, erupted in a hoarse, desperate wail. Her agony, however, did not last long; she was swiftly dispatched amidst several flashes of cold light. Two ‘Holy Maiden’ warriors, each with short white wings on their backs, jointly raised their lightblades, teleported a short distance to the hybrid’s side, and finished her with a dazzling flurry of coordinated strikes.
“First Squad, establish a circular defensive formation! Second Squad, proceed to the dormitory building and search for surviving students!” Cassandra swiftly issued commands to the ‘Holy Maidens’ who shared her petite stature. “Sister Salome, I’ll trouble you to open the gate shortly!”
“Understood!” Salome nodded, simultaneously making another gesture. This time, her target was the hybrid girl who had so cruelly mocked Shirley moments ago. Though the hybrid instinctively attempted to form a shield with her powers to block the attack, her shield burst like a soap bubble before the spatial rift Salome created. Subsequently, her legs were severed at the root.
“Eek! I know I was wrong!” The legless hybrid girl rolled twice on the ground, beginning to wail for mercy. “I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn! Please forgive me!”
“Oh, I can certainly forgive you,” Salome stated. “I won’t kill you.”
“Huh? Wait! You can’t do this! Guh, kill me—”
“Why not? Don’t you adore your hive? A hybrid like you, having lost her legs and unable to perform combat or infiltration missions, will surely be ‘recycled’ within the hive to live a ‘happy’ life… perhaps by gestating dozens of adorable hive members?” Salome sneered. “Indeed, I wouldn’t dream of disturbing such joy.”
Meanwhile, around the kindergarten section, Cassandra’s First Squad swiftly completed their assignment. Heavy anti-material rifles and large-caliber machine guns were successively set up behind makeshift cover, beginning to mow down the advancing parasitic insect swarm with precise firepower. The ‘Holy Maidens” accuracy was astonishingly high; even many flying insects tracing irregular ‘Z’ patterns in the air were taken down with a single shot, as if they could foresee the future.
“Alright, this should buy us some time!” After a few minutes of fighting, the remaining parasitic hosts finally realized something was amiss and retreated in disarray, leaving only the unfortunate legless hybrid girl sprawled on the ground, watching Salome with tear-filled eyes, seemingly hoping for a swift end. “Everyone move quickly, I’m opening the gate now!”
As a massive spatial rift tore through the air, appearing in the center of the ‘Holy Maidens” circular defensive formation, the Second Squad, previously operating separately, immediately returned, bringing with them several dozen people. These included Lu Ying and other elementary school students who had remained in Dormitory Building 7, as well as kindergarten children, staff, and security guards. Although most of the security guards were rather stubborn, fortunately, the Second Squad managed to ‘persuade’ them to cooperate with the weapons they carried.
“You… why are you helping us?” Ji Bingyao asked, a hint of disbelief in her voice, wary of being tricked again.
“Because… I know I was wrong,” Salome said, lowering her head, unable to meet Ji Bingyao’s gaze, a stark contrast to her previous arrogant demeanor. “I’m sorry… truly sorry. Whatever compensation you require, or whatever punishment you deem fit for me in the future, I will gladly accept…”
“I failed to counsel Sister Salome in time, so I am also willing to accept punishment!” Cassandra added. “But for now, everyone, please evacuate quickly! The other side of the gate leads to a safe house thirty kilometers away, with a secret evacuation point nearby! You’ll be safe once you’re there.”
“Alright, we’ll trust you this once,” Yurizumi conceded. “But if you dare to deceive us again, I… what’s that?”
With the distinctive humming sound of ducted-fan engines, several massive shadows suddenly appeared within the clouds on the horizon.