CRASH! The heavy metal portal sprang open, and the deafening din of battle, the strident alarms, washed over him like a brutal tide! Without a flicker of hesitation, gripping the still-warm pistol—Ling's essence pulsing within it—Xiang Lie plunged into the chaotic fray like a charging bull, utterly without a thought for his own safety.
His objective was clear: to swing the sturdy-looking lump of metal in his hand and smash it, hard, into the red-haired lunatic's face!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! You muscle-headed oaf!" A furious, exasperated voice detonated directly in his mind! It was Ling. "I'm a pistol! A pistol! Not a goddamn brick! Are you seriously planning to charge her and bash her head in with me?!"
Xiang Lie's forward momentum juddered to an abrupt halt, nearly sending him sprawling. He glanced down at the intricately designed weapon in his hand, then across the chaotic scene to Ye, still locked in fierce combat with the other girls. For a moment, he was utterly bewildered. If not a bludgeon, then what was it for?
"Raise me! Point me at the lunatic!" Ling's voice was an undeniable command. "Steady your hand! I'll assist your aim!"
Xiang Lie instinctively complied, adopting a stance he'd seen in countless action films: legs slightly braced, both hands gripping the pistol, the muzzle tracking the distant, crimson blur. "Don't waver! Control your breath!" Ling's voice urged again, a hint of patient guidance now present. "Yes, just like when you're training your traps, funnel all your focus, every iota of will, into your arm and into me! Feel it, control it!"
"Fire!"
At Ling's command, Xiang Lie squeezed the trigger without a moment's hesitation!
"Pthwwt…" A profoundly dull, almost deflated sound, like a botched suction cup, escaped the muzzle, followed by a faint, ominous wisp of sickly green smoke. That was it. There was no satisfying CRACK, no projectile searing through the air, no monumental impact. On the battlefield, Ye's movements hadn't even flickered.
The air seemed to congeal for a beat.
"Goddammit!" Ling's furious roar reverberated in Xiang Lie's skull. "Unstable energy output! My legs… blast it! Forget it, again! This time, I'm cranking up the power!"
Xiang Lie steeled himself, re-aimed, and squeezed the trigger again.
"Click."
This time, only a faint, hollow click, like a mechanism jamming. Xiang Lie's face went utterly green. He began to seriously suspect he was wielding some cheap, knock-off toy.
"Last chance! If this doesn't work, just throw me like the goddamn brick you wanted me to be!" Ling's voice, now, was laced with desperate, do-or-die resolve.
Xiang Lie took a deep, bolstering breath. He felt less like he was firing a pistol and more like he was attempting a max-weight deadlift. He channeled every ounce of his immense strength into his arms. For the third time, he squeezed the trigger, fiercely.
"BLAM—!!!"
This time, it was a true, deafening roar, unlike anything before! A colossal recoil slammed back from the grip, jolting his arm numb! A crimson-glowing energy bolt, trailing a long, fiery wake, ripped through the chaotic battlefield like a launched cannon shell!
"THWACK!"
The bolt struck Ye's rapidly moving thigh with pinpoint accuracy!
"AIEE—!!!"
Ye let out a shriek of raw agony, losing her balance completely, and slammed hard to the ground. The wound on her thigh fizzed and smoked, gnawed at by the crimson energy that had struck her, temporarily crippling her movement.
"Yes!"
"A direct hit!"
A collective sigh of relief swept through the onlookers. But Xiang Lie had no time for celebration. The instant the shot roared from the barrel, a profound, soul-devouring hunger surged from his gut, making his vision tunnel and nearly knocking him off his feet.
So… this was the price?
Just as Xiao Lin seized the opportune moment, preparing to lash out with a specialized metal net to fully subdue the fallen Ye—a chilling transformation began!
"ROOOAAARRR—!!!" An inhuman, agonizing shriek, brimming with endless pain and fury, ripped from Ye's throat! Before everyone's horrified eyes, Ye's body lurched upright with a grotesque, biomechanically impossible motion! Her clothes at the chest tore open violently. Beneath her skin, something writhed frantically, obscenely. The next second, a blood-streaked, savagely clawed hand slowly, excruciatingly, inch by agonizing inch, began to tear a blade from her own chest cavity!
It was a long blade, a malevolent emerald green, as if forged from the darkest jade. Its surface was covered in twisting black runes and bizarre, chain-like totems, radiating an aura of palpable, heart-stopping evil!
"No!" Xiao Lin's face went ghost-white instantly, a strangled cry escaping her lips. "It's 'Parasitic Armament'! She's undergone a secondary evolution!"
Ye, now clutching the emerald blade, pulsed with an aura easily ten times more potent than before! Her crimson eyes, now burning with renewed ferocity, locked onto Xiang Lie, and a cruel, predatory smile stretched her lips.
Meanwhile, Xiang Lie, oblivious to the drastic escalation, was still fumbling with the pistol in his hand, attempting to fire another shot.
"She's out of control! Retreat! Back to the command center, now!" Xiao Lin made an instant decision, rushing over and yanking the still-bewildered Xiang Lie by the arm. The other girls, abandoning their losing fight, scrambled backwards, retreating with desperate speed.
The group stumbled back into the command center in disarray, slamming the heavy door shut just as Ye lunged, mere inches from the threshold!
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The thunderous blows, like a siege ram, continued without cease. The heavy metal door shuddered and groaned under the furious onslaught of the green blade, each impact rattling the entire room, sending dazzling sparks showering from the groaning metal, as hideous, gaping dents appeared one after another!
Inside the room, the air felt thick, congealed with dread. The Weapon Girls who had just been fighting had reverted to their human forms, now slumped on the floor, gasping for air, their faces etched with a bone-deep dread and utter despair.
"What now?" Xiang Lie's voice was grim, his gaze fixed on the battered, groaning door.
All eyes turned to Ling. She manipulated her wheelchair, her face pallid as she watched the demonic figure on the screen. She took a deep, shuddering breath, then spoke, her voice dry and strained: "Now… we can only wait for Mister Yi."
"I've already sent him a top-priority distress signal. He's returning from outside the city…" She paused, then delivered a number that sent a fresh wave of despair, cold as ice, through everyone in the room.
"At the very fastest, it will still be an hour."