“It hurts! It hurts!”

The Human-Faced Scorpion shrieked, using a massive pincer to rub the cracked carapace where Iron Lion had smashed it. The expression on the colossal human face twisted in agony, eerily mimicking a living person.

It was a sight that made the skin crawl.

But then, the face on the scorpion’s carapace rippled and shifted. The features rearranged themselves until they formed… the face of Zhou Lan.

Chen Ye froze.

Even Iron Lion and Nana hesitated, caught off guard by the sudden transformation.

In the distance, Zhou Xiaoxiao stood as if struck by lightning.

“Why…” she murmured, her voice trembling. “Why does it have my sister’s face?”

The blood drained from the young girl’s face, leaving her pale as a sheet of paper.

“Chen Ye, why didn’t you save me? If you had just stopped, I wouldn’t have died!”

The giant face turned toward Chen Ye, its eyes brimming with limitless resentment.

“Chen Ye, you are so cruel!”

“You are heartless!”

To see such a massive face, distorted with such raw, human hatred, was enough to make one’s scalp tingle with horror. In a momentary daze, Chen Ye almost believed that Zhou Lan herself was standing there, accusing him from beyond the grave.

But the moment of weakness passed. His survival instincts screamed.

Danger.

Chen Ye exhaled sharply. Thick gray smoke billowed from his lips, rapidly expanding to obscure his vision and hide his position.

This Human-Faced Scorpion is playing mind games.

He pumped more smoke into the air. He couldn’t cover kilometers like a natural disaster yet, but he could accumulate enough to turn the battlefield into his domain.

“Chen Ye, I want you to DIIIIIEEEEEE!”

The final screech was sharp and piercing, a sonic assault that left the surrounding survivors dizzy and disoriented.

Whoosh!

A black blur struck the spot where Chen Ye had just been standing. The scorpion’s stinger moved as fast as lightning, punching a hole through the smoke cloud.

But it hit nothing but air.

Hidden within the gray haze, Chen Ye sensed the stinger’s trajectory perfectly. Without a second thought, he flicked his wrist.

The Blood Resentment Machete spun out of the fog.

Clang!

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…”

The machete sparked against the chitinous tail. It didn’t sever the limb, but the monster’s pained wails confirmed it wasn’t immune to the damage.

[Slaughter Points +50]

A small notification popped up, but Chen Ye ignored it.

“Damn it! Chen Ye, where are you hiding? Come out!”

Pain only fueled the monster’s rage.

“Iron Lion! Nana!” Chen Ye’s voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. “Why are you two staring? Kill it!”

Iron Lion roared, snapping out of his stupor. He charged at the scorpion like a flesh-and-blood tank.

The Titan Sequence was built for this—brutal, unadulterated violence. His regenerative capabilities allowed him to trade blows that would pulverize a normal man.

“Crimson marks as the pact, sword soul shares my body! Drink my essence blood, cry out to the three souls…”

Nana began her chant.

Chen Ye recognized the technique from the battle in Longevity Village.

Even from a distance, the white light radiating from her longsword made his skin prickle.

The girl tilted her head slightly. A split second later, the pitch-black scorpion stinger stabbed the empty air where her head had been.

Does this woman have eyes in the back of her head?

Or is this the Sword Immortal’s intuition?

The scorpion was cunning. It used Zhou Lan’s face to draw aggro, making them think it was targeting Chen Ye, only to launch a sneak attack on the high-DPS swordsman.

“Scum!”

Nana moved like a butterfly weaving through a storm. Her blade danced, carving deep gashes into the monster’s exoskeleton.

She was a Sequence 2 Sword Immortal at the Opening Edge realm. Her offense was terrifying.

Beside the truck-sized arachnid, Iron Lion—a three-meter giant—looked almost petite. His punches were heavy, but against the creature’s armor, they lacked the cutting power of Nana’s sword.

“Go for the face!” Chen Ye commanded from the smoke.

Nana’s eyes narrowed. Her sword flowed like water, thrusting straight for the monster’s human eyes.

“Xixi! Look who I am!”

Just as the tip of the blade was about to pierce the pupil, the giant face twisted again.

It transformed into a woman’s face—one that held a haunting blend of anger and joy. The features bore a striking resemblance to Nana, but older, more mature.

Nana froze. Her momentum died instantly.

“Sis…? Nana?”

Nana… isn’t that her own name?

The sword stopped inches from the monster’s eye. The girl stood paralyzed, as if under a binding curse, her body trembling violently.

“Hehe… Xixi, you remember me. You still remember me…”

The monster’s voice dripped with sickly sweet affection.

“My dearest little sister, I missed you. I missed you so much.”

“You ate me, but I don’t blame you. We are finally one. Now you are me, and I am you!”

“Little sister…”

“My good little sister!”

Chen Ye’s eyelids twitched wildly. The premonition of death spiked.

None of these Anomalies are simple beasts.

“Iron Lion! Hit it!”

“To hell with your ghostly tricks!”

Iron Lion realized the danger. He ignored the snapping pincers, tanked a glancing blow from the stinger, and barreled straight toward the face.

“DIE!”

His sandbag-sized fist hammered down.

But the face warped again.

“Eldest Son… look who I am.”

The face shifted into that of an old woman with graying hair and a gentle, weary expression.

Chen Ye cursed internally. Don’t look, you big idiot!

“Big Guy! Don’t look at it!”

It was too late.

The giant face looked at Iron Lion with maternal love.

“Eldest Son… all these years, you’ve worked so hard.”

Iron Lion’s colossal frame shuddered. The rage vanished from his eyes, replaced by a heartbreaking vulnerability. Tears welled up in his red-rimmed eyes.

Chen Ye had never seen the giant look so small.

Nearby, Captain Chu Che was sweating bullets, anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

If the three Beyonders fell here, the convoy was dead.

Chu Che glanced at the sun. The storm had passed; the Anomaly was weakened by the daylight. Even suppressed, it had paralyzed two Sequence Beyonders with sheer psychological warfare.

If the Blood Moon rose… they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Fuck!”

A Heavy Machete wrapped in willow branches whistled through the air, aimed straight between the old woman’s eyes.

“Chen Ye…”

The face morphed back into Zhou Lan instantly.

The machete didn’t hesitate. It slammed down.

The Human-Faced Scorpion couldn’t comprehend it. It was pulling the image of Zhou Lan directly from Chen Ye’s memories. It knew this woman was significant.

Why didn’t he hesitate?

What the monster didn’t understand was that even if the real Zhou Lan stood there, Chen Ye would still chop her down if she tried to kill him.

“AAAAHHH!”

A bloody gash split the face open.

“Chen Ye! You… look who I am!”

The face shifted again!

It became an old woman—Chen Ye’s own grandmother.

Chen Ye hesitated.

But only for a fraction of a second.

The smoke around him boiled. Several massive, gray wolves formed from the mist charged out, snapping and snarling.

Smoke Simulation.

Iron Lion and Nana remained frozen, tears streaming down their faces, muttering to their lost loved ones.

The smoke dogs lunged, tearing at the giant face.

A pincer swept across, dispersing the dogs into wisps of vapor.

But more dogs rushed out from the fog.

The Heavy Machete danced in the air, controlled by the willow tether.

Thick white smoke poured from Chen Ye’s mouth and nose like a chimney, expanding the battlefield until the monster’s vision was completely obscured.

“Chen Ye, look at me…”

“Look at your grandpa!”

Chen Ye didn’t blink. He brought the machete down again, carving another bloody trench into the face.

The monster shrieked in confusion. Why is he so ruthless? These are his memories!

“AAAAHHH!”

The tail stinger stabbed blindly into the smoke, punching holes that were instantly refilled. The massive pincers thrashed, hitting nothing but air.

Outside the smoke, the survivors strained to see.

Chu Che, desperate to help, suddenly remembered something. He sprinted to his SUV and rummaged through the trunk.

He held up a bag filled with a thick, crimson liquid.

“Chen Ye!”

A giant hand made of smoke materialized from the fog, snatched the bag, and retracted.

It was Black Dog Blood.

Chen Ye had mentioned it once—an old folk remedy for suppressing Anomalies. Chu Che had taken it to heart, periodically drawing blood from the convoy’s two guard dogs.

Inside the smoke.

Chen Ye ripped the bag open and dumped the contents directly onto the Human-Faced Scorpion’s head.

Sizzle…

Black smoke rose from the face as the blood burned like acid.

“Nana! Big Guy! Are you two idiots done dreaming?!”

“I’ve been carrying this fight for ten minutes! Wake up!”

Chen Ye stepped out of the fog and slapped Nana across the face.

SLAP!

He didn’t hold back. A bright red handprint bloomed on her delicate cheek, swelling instantly.

SLAP!

He swung a full haymaker and slapped Iron Lion.

The pain snapped them back to reality. The hallucinations shattered.

“Kill it!”

For the next ten minutes, the smoke cloud echoed with the monster’s agonizing screams.

The survivors outside watched with trembling legs as the sounds of violence reached a crescendo.

Under the furious assault of a humiliated Sword Immortal and an enraged Titan, the Human-Faced Scorpion didn’t stand a chance.

Chen Ye stayed in the smoke, playing support.

He threw the machete from unexpected angles. He sent smoke dogs to harass the flanks.

His raw damage was the lowest, but his utility was unmatched.

[Slaughter Points +50] [Slaughter Points +100]

Chen Ye used Iron Lion’s massive body as cover, staying safe while the big guy tanked the hits.

Iron Lion was covered in blood, but the pain only made him fight harder. He was a berserker, his machete spinning like a windmill of death.

Nana spat a mouthful of blood onto her blade. The steel hummed, glowing with intensified light.

With a single, clean strike, she sliced off half of the Human-Faced Scorpion’s head.

A Sequence 2 Sword Immortal was terrifying when she stopped holding back.

“Go!”

Chen Ye saw the opening. He spun the Blood Resentment Machete and launched it with every ounce of telekinetic force he had.

The blade buried itself deep into the remaining half of the monster’s skull.

“Noooooo—”

The resentful wail abruptly ceased.

[System Prompt] [You have slain the Human-Faced Scorpion.] [Reward: Slaughter Points +20,000]