Chapter 53: Partner of Justice: I'll Cover the Rear!

High above in the sky, boundless vines grew and intertwined, resembling an expanding, gloomy cloud that cast a strange, oppressive weight upon the living creatures on the ground.

Seeing the starry vines spreading ever wider, threatening to engulf the space directly above him, Yuan Zhu decided not to linger. Spotting the direction of the city gate, he accelerated into a frantic sprint across the rooftops.

Whenever he encountered an insurmountable gap between buildings, the uniform he wore would surge with shadow energy, delivering a powerful thrust to his body that propelled him several yards through the air. Alternatively, while leaping mid-air, he would condense a temporary shadow platform beneath his feet for a second point of leverage, achieving a double-stage aerial jump.

With this skill, even burdened by a 100-kilogram Buddha statue, he remained unmatched in this world. Like a black lightning bolt, he wove through the night, his legs practically kicking up sparks.

He sped past crazily battling corpse-ghouls and masterless, wildly flying miniature kasaya-ghosts, keeping his eyes and ears open for any targets worth hunting. Before leaving the city, he wanted to score one more prize.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar bleating of a sheep echoing from a nearby alleyway—it was the foreign reserve member of King Mao's squad, the little goat.

A thought flickered in his mind, and, driven by a mixture of curiosity, he altered his course, deciding to investigate the source of the sound to see what was happening. Naturally, there was also a slight urge to show off and act cool in front of others.

After all, having just fought his way through the Vajra Temple, his self-confidence was at an unprecedented peak. Even though he had exited his [Boss Form], he had reinforced his uniform to a new stage, making him feel fully capable of carving out a path to victory in lower-tier battlefields.

I am no longer the same Yuan Zhu who first transmigrated to this spirit-realm; I am terrifyingly strong now!

Before he could even get close, an aged, piercingly sharp scream drowned out the sheep's bleat, sending a sharp throb through his eardrums akin to a combination of sonic waves and mental shock.

Could there truly be enemies?

When Yuan Zhu bounded a few times with his double-jump and successfully scaled the roof of a pavilion, his eyes widened as he witnessed a scene of infighting and slaughter.

At this moment, Lü Rang, with his rainbow mohawk, lay half-dead on the street. His chest had suffered a devastating impact and was severely collapsed; half of his chest cavity had caved inward, forming a deep crater. Blood currently trickled from the corners of his eyes and nostrils, his breathing was faint, and his mouth spewed mouthfuls of blood. With more air going out than coming in, it was clear he did not have long to live.

Behind him lay the little goat with its lumbar spine fractured, its four hooves twisted and broken, bleeding from all seven orifices, and emitting miserable, dying bleats.

Judging from the severity of Lü Rang's condition, the splatter pattern of blood on the ground, and the positions where he and the little goat had fallen, it was highly likely that the youth had suffered a direct impact while trying to protect the goat. He had been struck so hard that his chest collapsed and he was sent flying backward at high speed. The terrifying kinetic energy had then transferred to the little goat, leaving both of them with shattered bones and ruptured tendons before they dragged themselves a short distance and lay waiting for death.

Not far from Lü Rang was Mailili, once again frightened into curling up and hugging her head, choosing to quietly await her death. Beside her stood Meng Xiyue, a model university student of Taisi City, wearing a solemn expression as she fulfilled her obligation to protect her teammates.

Huh???

Even this pampered young lady can protect people! Where has Zhou Chu gone? Is he dead?

Just as Yuan Zhu wondered if he had picked up the wrong script, another ear-piercing scream rang out. A "high-speed rampaging withered old granny," moving so fast she left a string of afterimages, shot out like an electric bolt from a dark corner, still clad in a combat uniform corrupted by [Foul Blood].

Old Granny Yu now had stark green eyes, and her mouth was split open in a horrifying 120-degree blood-red maw lined with upper and lower rows of sharp fangs. Piercing bone spurs protruded all over her body, and a slender tail-whip had grown from her tailbone to aid in balance.

She was no longer human!

Yuan Zhu had no idea what the old woman had experienced prior to this, but it was clear that through over-reliance on her combat uniform and the ingestion of massive amounts of foul-bone demon blood, the suit had usurped the master, taking control of her body and driving her into a deep, irreversible distortion.

Her rationality had been ground away, and under the parasitic enhancement of the uniform, her body had completed a certain ultimate evolution.

Instead of treating the uniform as a tool to be controlled, human and garment had fused deeply, transforming into a筋肉-bound, rampaging old granny who appeared hunchbacked and under 1.2 meters tall, yet was actually covered in ferocious bone blades, possessed extremely developed leg muscles, and sported an auxiliary tail-whip.

As she patrolled back and forth at high speed, confronting Meng Xiyue, there was also a group of "eggplant-headed civilians" lingering on the periphery of the battlefield. Their minds had likewise been polluted by the "foul blood," and having thoroughly transformed into monsters, they were now drawn in one after another by the scent of blood.

The heads of these monsters were neither humans with green pupils nor blood-red eggplant heads; instead, they bore an entirely new shade of green—resembling green tomatoes that had sprouted human facial features but remained unripe.

Little Chili poked fun, "Wow, it hasn't even been long since I paid attention, and a new species has evolved here! Have these eggplant heads been polluted by foul blood and turned into 'forgiving-green crazy tomatoes'?"

"..."

Yuan Zhu was left speechless. Little Chili had said everything he wanted to say, leaving him with no choice but to take action.

"No rush! Let that pink-haired girl play around first. Look, Meng Xiyue seems like she's about to get serious?" the sprite reminded Yuan Zhu again.

In the center of the wide street, Meng Xiyue had originally been intervening frequently out of a simple desire to look after her teammates, using invisible force to beat back Old Granny Yu's attacks while frowning and pondering how to rescue Lü Rang—or whether she should simply ensure her own survival and leave immediately.

Consequently, while appearing composed, she had also seemed somewhat half-hearted, wishing to run away alone yet feeling torn and indecisive.

However, Old Granny Yu, who had already lost her sanity and transformed into a high-speed-type zombie, displayed extraordinary greed. Her probing attacks had been neutralized in ways that defied understanding.

Anyone with a brain would have given up the target by now and searched for new prey. But Old Granny Yu was different; she harbored an unfathomable obsession with that little goat, charging repeatedly toward the positions of Lü Rang and Mailili, which only grew Meng Xiyue's irritation.

Suddenly, the muscle-bound rampaging old granny changed her tactics. With another dazzling blur of rapid shuttle-like movements, she flashed behind a "crazy tomato," pierced its heart with a single claw, dragged the corpse behind her as she ran at top speed, and hurled it forcefully toward Meng Xiyue as a human-flesh cannonball.

Not only that, but after flinging the crazy tomato, she used both hands and tail to unleash dozens of consecutive, hyper-fast claw strikes, her tail-whip cracking in rapid succession to dismember the "cannonball" mid-air into countless pieces. Encased in a massive amount of dark green foul-blood eggplant pulp, the debris was splattered toward Meng Xiyue.

The pink-haired girl raised her palms to counter the strike. Her invisible force field once again batted away a large quantity of corpse chunks and foul blood, but a small portion evaded her defense and splashed onto Meng Xiyue's uniform and face.

At that moment, the young woman—splattered in the highly corrosive, green foul-blood facial bomb—plunged completely into a berserk mode: "Go to hell... you bunch of garbage, don't push people too far!"

Visible, distorted ripples gradually gathered around her. The air seemed to be warped and squeezed by an invisible force, eventually molding into the shape of a faint yet clearly distinct palm.

"Taste my... [Classical Mechanics Basic Model: Newtonian Divine Palm, 1st Style]!"

After reciting this bizarre name, Meng Xiyue simply closed her eyes and stood rigidly in place, striking a completely undefended pose.

Fooled, the rampaging Old Granny Yu transformed into lightning, circling her twice to ensure the prey showed no reaction whatsoever before lunging straight toward Meng Xiyue, her tail-whip striking out first toward the fragile, fair neck.

At that exact instant, the air between them seemed to be flattened and shattered, instantly erupting into thunderous sonic booms. An invisible palm slammed viciously into Old Granny Yu's front.

Tyrannical and fierce! Critical hit!! Explosion!!!

The muscle-bound old granny was like a high-speed car suddenly crashing into an iron wall. Her entire skeleton deformed and fractured, emitting a barrage of cracking, splintering noises.

Her originally ferocious and savage face was flattened and distorted by the strike, and her body ruptured from the inside out, spewing a massive cloud of green mist before flying backward like a shooting star...

"Holy shit! What incredible palm power!"

Yuan Zhu's eyes widened, feeling that this invisible palm strike was simply too badass! It was a burst of pure mechanical violence and fragmentation, devoid of polluting energy yet brimming with physical beauty.

It was essentially a pile-driver ramming strike, instantly shattering bones into dust.

Little Chili also provided intelligence feedback: "Strange, when she was gathering that air palmprint just now, her pollution reaction spiked briefly. But when she unleashed the strike, no pollution appeared at all—it was extremely clean and eco-friendly, simply unbelievable! This defies the spirit-realm!"

Even upright sects like Buddhism and the Holy See used filthy methods when channeling their power. Why could a mere university student use clean energy?

"I'll help you!" Seeing Old Granny Yu flying in his direction, Yuan Zhu no longer concealed himself and stepped forward.

The righteous partner, Shadow Neko-Man, sortie!

He raised his hand and fired a thread of shadow toward the airborne Old Granny Yu, tightly binding her waist. Then, unleashing his full physical strength, he swung the shadow thread, hurling her like a meteor hammer straight down toward the ground.

Boom!

Old Granny Yu, whose bones were already fractured throughout her body, suffered a secondary impact as Yuan Zhu used her like a meteor hammer to smash apart yet another crazy tomato closing in on Meng Xiyue.

Splat!

Green foul-blood eggplant juices and minced flesh splattered in all directions, provoking a shrill scream from the young woman: "Damn it! Surname Yuan, stop being so violent, or I'll beat you up too."

"Newtonian Divine Palm, 3rd Style!"

Bang!

Another crazy tomato was blown to pieces by Meng Xiyue's "air palm," sending a barrage of debris flying toward Yuan Zhu, which he easily dodged. What a strong desire for revenge.

Consequently, he adjusted his tactics, swinging the old granny to draw a wide, circular arc around himself, using her to knock away the remaining crazy tomato civilians.

Seeing that the number of surviving crazy tomatoes was dwindling, and wanting to use [Belly's Universe] to devour a few and attempt to refine a batch of strange subservient ghosts, he shouted right-mindedly, "Meng Xi, take the others and go first, I'll hold the rear!"

The feeling of standing before others and playing the role of the righteous partner while acting aggressively cool was actually quite pleasant.

Hearing this, the pink-haired girl cast another glance at Yuan Zhu—who was dressed head-to-toe in a pitch-black racing suit, looked robust with powerful, sweeping limbs, and was currently engaged in intensely satisfying corpse-flogging and kicking a downed old senior when she was already unable to get up. Then, she shook her head to dispel the thought.

Clearly an ally who was helping her stall a crazed, formidable enemy and bravely sacrificing himself to hold the rear, she somehow failed to feel any gratitude whatsoever. Instead, she felt that Yuan Zhu was the truly evil boss, given how viciously he was beating up a fallen elderly person.

"Lili, you go first, Lü Rang this guy... probably won't make it." Meng Xiyue chased away the remaining crazy tomatoes and hurried to the side of Lü Rang, who was still coughing up blood and running out of breath.

She watched the light gradually fade from her peer's eyes as the young man weakly raised a single finger, trembling slightly as if signaling her not to leave yet—could she try to save him one more time?