The reinforcement team continued to advance into the depths of the 24th District. After the incident with Murayama, everyone realized the danger of this journey.
Su Xiao glanced at the time; they had been traveling for three hours.
Along the way, they encountered two more groups of primitive ghouls, inevitably leading to battles. The number of reinforcement team members quickly dwindled, now only ten remain.
The cannon fodder was practically all dead, and the remaining investigators had some skill. Although they couldn’t handle things independently, they could still play a role in the team.
As a result, the speed of the reinforcement team’s march significantly increased.
The microcomputer in Su Xiao’s hand rang; Arima Kishou’s position had changed. This wasn’t the first time.
"Quasi-Special Bai Ye, we’ve been on this path before."
Maniwa Haruo quickly ran to Su Xiao’s side, holding a compass and a hand-drawn map.
"Mm, got it." Official source ıs 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝔫𝔢𝔱
Getting lost in the depths of the 24th District was common. The good news was that they were getting closer to Arima Kishou, probably two hours away.
A deafening beast roar came from behind the group.
"What is it this time?"
The rearguard, Iwagakure, immediately assumed a combat stance, staring into the dim passage behind them.
It was as if some colossal beast was crashing into the flesh walls of the passage, causing the entire tunnel to shake.
Su Xiao stared intently at the back, his expression growing more grave. The last time he ventured deep into the 24th District, he seemed to have heard this kind of beast roar.
A short distance behind, the dark red flesh wall shattered, and a giant head emerged.
This head was at least three meters thick, resembling a python’s head, but at the center of the head was a blood-red Red Eye.
Su Xiao was all too familiar with this type of Red Eye, unique to ghouls, with a black sclera and blood-red pupils.
"An animal ghoul? How is this possible!"
Iwagakure looked at the snake ghoul in astonishment. CCG had never discovered any animals becoming ghouls.
"So this is the Blood Eye."
Su Xiao looked at the snake ghoul; this should be the Blood Eye that Yuna and Arima Kishou had mentioned.
The Blood Eye emerged from the shattered flesh wall, its body at least three meters thick, with an unmeasurable length extending far down the tunnel. Conservatively, the Blood Eye’s length was at least dozens of meters.
Its entire body was covered in bluish-black scales, shining with a ghostly sheen, with deep red patterns visible between the scale gaps.
After crashing through the flesh wall, the Blood Eye flicked its snake core, that plate-sized singular eye intensely staring at the reinforcement team.
Maniwa Haruo’s calves trembled, involuntarily taking two steps back.
"What Haruo said is correct, this must be a dream, hahaha, how could such a creature exist; my wife is still waiting for me. How does this damned 24th District have such a creature?"
A middle-aged investigator’s mind began to unravel, dropping his Quinque box to the ground, salivating and smirking foolishly.
"Captain Bai Ye, what do we do?"
Iwagakure was calmer than the others, looking at Su Xiao.
"Retreat slowly, facing this beast head-on, we’ll all die."
It’s not that they didn’t want to escape, but they had already been targeted.
Su Xiao was certain that if he confronted the Blood Eye, he wouldn’t last more than five minutes.
The size of this monster was immense; its power and stamina attributes must be incredibly high.
The Blood Eye’s head swayed side to side, seemingly deciding how to consume the humans before it. The scent of human flesh made the Blood Eye drool.
Su Xiao attempted to use [Basic Detection (Temporary)] on the Blood Eye.
[You used Basic Detection on the elite creature (Blood Eye) and obtained the following data.]
Blood Eye (Elite Creature)
Power: 30 (the extreme value of the Origin World)
Skill 1, Elite Creature (Passive): Power +10, Agility +5, Stamina +10
Skill 2, Heat Sensing (Passive): Increases tracking success rate by 60% when hunting prey.
Skill 3, Ancient Creature (Passive): Defense +6, Abnormal state resistance increased by 30%.
Skill 4, Frenzied Bite (Active): As a mutated reconstructed creature, Blood Eye has shark-like sharp teeth with a biting force exceeding that of normal creatures. When hit by Frenzied Bite (Active), if Life Value is below 80%, a stamina attribute check will be conducted. If the check fails, an instant-death effect will occur.
Reading through Blood Eye’s data, Su Xiao drew in a cold breath. A Power Attribute of 30 was unheard of. To be bitten and face an instant-death check? What kind of terrifying thing was that?
As for the phrase ’an instant-death check will be conducted if Life Value is below 80%’, in Su Xiao’s view, it was nonsense. Being bitten by that gaping maw, surviving was already a blessing, and one still hopes for a Life Value above 80%?
"Quasi-Special Bai Ye, what do we do?"
Maniwa Haruo grabbed Su Xiao’s arm. Before the Blood Eye, this strong woman was only left with fear.
"Everyone, take note, use every means to escape!"
Su Xiao shouted, leading the reinforcement team on a desperate run deeper into the 24th District.
Against such a terrifying creature as the Blood Eye, Su Xiao had no intention of fighting it. The Blood Eye’s power attribute was twice his own, and the power gap was incalculable, utterly overwhelming.
With stamina attributes as ???, it indicated that the Blood Eye’s stamina was extraordinarily high. Its enormous size likely meant the Blood Eye’s stamina attribute was also at the extreme value of 30 points.
After the Blood Eye discovered Su Xiao leading a retreat, a hint of mockery appeared in its single eye. It possessed intelligence, or perhaps it intentionally let the reinforcement team go, relishing the thrill of hunting.
The Blood Eye flicked its core, its serpent body writhing within the passage, its scale armor scraping across the ground as its colossal form showcased incredible speed.
Su Xiao and his team fled desperately, thunderous roars resounding from behind.
"Captain Bai Ye, that monster is catching up."
A slightly chubby investigator, clearly not good at running, slowed down after a short while, landing at the rear of the group.
The Blood Eye twisted its body behind them and suddenly accelerated. Its gaping maw opened to ninety degrees, revealing rows of dagger-like fangs.
With the snake’s mouth shut, the slightly chubby investigator was swallowed whole, a severed hand dropping to the ground with a thud.
A spine-chilling chewing sound came as the Blood Eye, different from regular pythons, didn’t swallow its prey whole but chewed it first.
Blood saturated its maw, and the Blood Eye’s single eye widened as it savored the taste of human flesh.
After relishing the taste of human flesh, the Blood Eye’s speed accelerated once more, its snake head darting out like a flash, swallowing another investigator whole.
The Ghoul Investigators stood no chance against the Blood Eye.
If they were in an open area, Su Xiao might have been able to use his speed advantage to contend with the Blood Eye for a bit, but now, within the underground passage of the 24th District, they could only choose to flee.
After fleeing desperately for a while, three forked paths appeared ahead.
Su Xiao roared, quickly dashing toward the middle path.
Behind them, the Blood Eye, seeing the forked paths, lost its mocking expression. Its snake body writhing rapidly as it instantly caught up to the reinforcement team.
The rearguard, Iwagakure, suddenly stopped moving.
"Captain Bai Ye, I’ll cover the retreat."
This experienced old investigator had already realized it would take time to escape into the forked paths.
Su Xiao’s expression was grim. Iwagakure’s actions were brave, but facing such a giant beast, he couldn’t even delay for time.
As the Blood Eye swept through the passage, Iwagakure, the First-Class Investigator, was instantly devoured by the serpent, unable to delay for even a second.
It wasn’t that Iwagakure was foolish, but he was unaware of the Blood Eye’s data and didn’t know how terrifying the giant python truly was.
After the Blood Eye caught up with the reinforcement team, it swallowed several investigators in one bite, crunching and chewing. Taking advantage of this brief pause, Su Xiao rushed into the center fork, with Maniwa Haruo and Shuuzou Suzuya following closely behind.
Though Maniwa Haruo’s strength wasn’t much to speak of, she ran rather quickly.
The Blood Eye stopped before the forked paths, beginning to enjoy a human flesh feast.
Only three members of the reinforcement team remained.