Chapter 137: Brutal Slaughter

Bang—Yichen heard a faint sound. He shifted his gaze toward the darkness and vaguely caught sight of a spark.

What was that?

Before he could process the thought, a tingling, agonizing numbness swept across his entire body!

This sensation was not unfamiliar to him. He had experienced it once before, back when Lu Yu awakened after becoming an infected one.

...There is electricity down below!

Yichen realized the truth, but it was already too late. His body lost all control as he plummeted into the trap alongside the two women.

"Yichen!" Lu Yu rushed to the edge of the mechanism, attempting to rescue them. By the flickering light of the electricity, he could faintly make out the figures of Yichen, Liang Bing, and Xueman.

He estimated the depth of the pit to be around five or six meters.

He had no idea how strong the voltage had been, making it impossible to assess the severity of the electric shock the three of them had suffered.

Sensing that they still retained a faint trace of breath, Lu Yu felt a wave of relief. As long as they were alive, it was only a matter of time before their bodily functions returned to normal.

Just as he exhaled in relief, a sudden chill struck his chest.

A sharp claw pierced straight through from his back to his front! His fragile body was as vulnerable as a sheet of paper!

Lu Yu coughed up a mouthful of blood, only then feeling the delayed surge of agony.

What did it mean to have one's heart torn to shreds? Today, he finally knew.

The Stalker had moved too swiftly and concealed its presence so completely that he had failed to notice its approach. He had been far too careless...

Half of the Stalker’s head hung loosely to one side, its brain pulsing and writhing as if exulting in its effortless triumph.

It had originally believed its time was up, but Mu Zongxing had managed to activate the central courtyard's mechanism just in time, seizing the exact right moment. Yichen had been thrown off, his sword strike missing its mark, and then Yichen's desperate attempt to save others had handed the creature a new lease on life.

Having learned its lesson, the Stalker locked its primary target onto Lu Yu. Eliminating him meant removing a massive hidden threat.

Its plan had been to use electricity to deal with Yichen. Though it hadn't expected one of Yichen's companions to be capable of manipulating current, the advantage had now swung back to its side.

Mu Zongxing had installed a high-voltage chamber beneath the central courtyard, instantly subduing all three infected ones. Yichen, in particular, would be unable to move for a short while, giving the creature complete control of the field.

Lu Yu had become an infected one only recently and lacked practical combat experience. Coupled with the Stalker’s concealed aura and the sudden calamity that had befallen Yichen and the others, he had let his guard down against the fatal threat.

His body was no different from that of an ordinary person; if vital organs like his heart and liver, or his head, were damaged, death was certain!

With a casual flick, the Stalker hurled Lu Yu away, and he hit the ground with a heavy thud.

He still had a few breaths left in him, but to the creature, he was already a dead man.

While healing the wound on its head, the Stalker looked down from above at Yichen trapped within the high-voltage chamber.

Though Yichen could neither speak nor see what was happening above, he could hear and smell. The rich, heavy stench of blood caused his heart to beat frantically.

The Stalker turned its attention toward the corner.

Chen Hong and Yilin, mother and daughter, had witnessed the harrowing battle beforehand and the bloody scene of Lu Yu being impaled right before their eyes. Their minds shattered, leaving them staring with wide, tear-filled eyes, trembling uncontrollably.

As they watched the monster close in step by step, Chen Hong abruptly snapped to her senses.

She threw herself in front of her daughter, shielding her.

The Stalker was unmoved by her action. To it, the order of slaughtering them made no difference; they were all Yichen's family.

The Stalker dragged Chen Hong upward. The stubborn mother bit down hard on her lower lip, refusing to let out a single cry.

"Let her go!" Cheng Xianglong, standing at the tunnel entrance with only a pistol, had lost his composure. He fired rapidly, but missed the Stalker's exposed brain entirely.

Some bullets struck the creature's body with dull thuds, while others grazed past its head, having zero effect. Even this suicidal display of bravado failed to draw the monster's attention toward him by a single step.

The Stalker possessed intelligence; it acted solely on its own impulses and could not be easily provoked into shifting its aggro.

It dragged Chen Hong to the edge of the central courtyard's mechanism.

Since Yichen was unable to move, it brought someone right to him so he could hear everything in excruciating detail.

No... No!

Pinned to the cold ground, Yichen screamed in desperate agony within the depths of his soul, yet his throat could only produce faint, rattling gasps.

Large tears welled up and spilled from his eyes, which remained wide and unblinking due to the paralysis.

The Stalker had won! Its method was a hundred times more cruel than simply killing him outright.

Chen Hong began to struggle, hurling curses and spitting a mouthful of saliva directly onto the Stalker.

The creature remained unfazed; the more she fought back, the more agonizing it would be for her son.

Seeing the Stalker open its cavernous maw, Chen Hong drew a deep breath.

"My son... I know you'll be fine. Mom is going first. You must kill this monster and take care of your sister! You must survive! You will survive!"

Crack—

Yichen heard the sound of breaking bones, followed immediately by something being tossed down from above.

Familiar, warm blood splattered across the space. In that instant, it felt as though he could hear every murmur and expression of care his mother had given him since childhood, and even the stern scoldings when he had done wrong.

He caught a final glimpse of Chen Hong’s tear-stained eyes—the last sight he would ever witness.

Yichen plunged headfirst into the darkness, sinking into an endless, boundless world of pure black.