Chapter 80: Chapter 80
Zhang Can, descending from above, landed in front of the dead infected body, grabbed it fiercely, and stuffed it into his mouthpart.
In the blink of an eye, a seventh tentacle tore out from his back.
At the same time, a face full of venomous hatred protruded from the starfish, staring deadly at Cheng Ye standing at the alley entrance.
"You deserve to die!"
"Zhang Can, I must clarify that you and I have no grievances or enmity."
Cheng Ye couldn't help but shake his head. From this look alone, he could be one hundred percent certain that Zhang Can truly hated him, it wasn't a case of mistaken identity.
But the two had clearly never even spoken, only having their gazes meet in the shopping center. Why would there be such intense hatred?
"No grievances or enmity?"
A fierce roar came out. "You, you deserve to die. You should have died all along!"
Cheng Ye frowned. "You gave up taking medicine yourself and went out to seek death. What does that have to do with me?"
"I didn't give up! It was you! It was you who forced me to give up!"
"If I were an inspector, I could survive. I wouldn't be now. You, so weak, don't deserve it. The one who should die is you!"
"Heh." Cheng Ye was amused by the anger. "So you think not daring to take medicine is because of me?"
"I, I dare. Why wouldn't I dare..."
A packet of black-brown epidemic powder was thrown out, rolling twice before falling in front of Zhang Can.
Cheng Ye sneered as he raised his gun muzzle. "Come on, eat it for me to see. I most enjoy exposing you stubborn dead ducks!"
Zhang Can's fierce face suddenly retracted into his body. The fusion body that had been trying to argue the previous second suddenly went mad.
Seven tentacles danced wildly like snakes, and the entire body crashed toward the alley entrance like an out-of-control bull.
But unfortunately, after rushing just a few steps, it suddenly stopped abruptly.
Cheng Ye flashed backward, and Big Dragon and Huang Sheng, carrying rocket launchers, simultaneously emerged, grinning maliciously as they pulled triggers.
"You didn't really think I was chatting casually with you, did you?"
Terrifying explosions swept through the alley, with flying rocks shooting out of the alley entrance like raindrops.
Before the smoke cleared, Cheng Ye pulled out the remaining four high-explosive grenades and threw them all into the flame-rolling alley without thinking.
The booming explosion sounds connected in a string, mixed with Zhang Can's heart-rending angry roars.
This time, Cheng Ye also joined the suppression army, roaring with all his strength.
A feeling of exhilaration came, like taking a cold shower on a sweltering summer day.
In the smoke, black shadows flickered again, wanting to escape as before.
But Second Dragon, leading people standing on the rooftop, this time no longer held a broken plain knife in his hands, but a machine gun loaded with bullets!
"Zhang Can, if you're still fucking human, don't run!"
Second Dragon pulled the trigger. Four machine guns forming a metal bullet rain forcibly suppressed the black shadow back into the alley.
At this time, only one escape direction remained for it.
"Come on, let me see your courage. Didn't you say you even dared to eat Epidemic Powder?"
Cheng Ye taunted. At the mention of epidemic powder, the still-hesitating fusion body immediately lost its ability to think, roaring as it broke through the fire net blockade.
Even though several "bricks" smashed onto its body during the charge, it was completely oblivious, only discovering when it rushed out of the alley entrance:
Hundreds of militia warriors had already gathered around, each person's face wearing a smile so joyful it was eerie.
What were they laughing about?
What were they waiting for?
"Zhang Can, there's not much time left to escape."
Gripping the remote control with his finger hovering over the detonation button, Cheng Ye breathed slightly heavily.
Now, as long as this monster left the crowd and he pressed the remote, everything would be over.
If a troublesome advanced fusion body were in the wilderness, it would be an utterly despairing nightmare.
But in the buffer zone, Cheng Ye couldn't even dare to imagine.
He, a trainee inspector, a newcomer who had only transmigrated to the wasteland world for three months, was actually about to achieve the accomplishment of slaying an advanced fusion body.
Should he celebrate or feel fortunate?
"I, I'll make you regret this!"
The fierce face squeezed out a roar. The remaining two tentacles weakly slapped the ground, even their threats carrying comedy.
However, just as he was about to leave and Cheng Ye was also about to press the button.
From the end of the street came the sound of beating gongs and drums.
A dark mass of people surged out from the shadows. At the very front, three district elders in red jackets hunched their backs, but their steps were unusually firm.
Two large drums were mounted on pushcarts. Bare-chested men continuously swung drumsticks down, making the ground seem to tremble.
Zhang Can froze in place. Cheng Ye, gripping the remote control, was stunned. All the militia warriors were somewhat bewildered.
Only Second Dragon flipped down from the rooftop, his voice hoarse, "When I knew it was Zhang Can, I notified the district elders. I want his wife to see what kind of thing her husband really is."
Big Dragon shouted, his eye corner twitching. "No matter what, Zhang Can was still one of our people, a brother. Being infected was his fate. You've gone too far!"
Second Dragon smiled miserably. "I carried him back from the corpse pile. He swore to heaven he wouldn't betray us. But what did he do? For the sake of clinging to life, how many brothers did he get killed?"
"I didn't cling to life!"
Zhang Can's face struggled out from the twisted body. On his fierce face, a trace of panic actually showed. "I can't die! My wife is about to give birth. I have to live to see the child..."
"But should we die? Should they die?"
Pointing at the dozen or so people lying at the hotel entrance, all militia who had been burned by the fluid earlier.
Second Dragon roared angrily, "You are a coward, you are the shame of Tianyuan Community, the shame I, Second Dragon, will carry on my face for life!"
Rarely, Cheng Ye actually saw a trace of fear that only humans could have on that face covered in mucus.
Advanced fusion bodies actually still retained such emotions?
An aged voice came from the crowd. Elder Song, over sixty years old, hunched his back but actually broke free from those supporting him and slowly walked forward.
Someone stepped forward to stop him, but he waved his hand and walked toward Zhang Can by himself.
Cheng Ye raised the remote control in his hand and said in a deep voice, "You can stand there and talk to him, but you cannot go any further."
"Inspector Cheng, please rest assured. This old man crawled out from infection tides and has fought with no fewer than three digits of fusion bodies. A’Can, he's still conscious."
Elder Song squeezed out a smile and didn't stop until he was three steps away from the fusion body.
"District Elder! I really wasn't afraid of death!"
Zhang Can's tentacles trembled violently, like an injured wild beast.
"I know, I know everything..."
Elder Song smiled comfortingly, then suddenly gave himself a slap.
The crisp sound stunned everyone, even Zhang Can's face showed bewilderment.
"It's the District Elder's fault, it's the District Elder who made you become ."
"I, I'm old now, and afraid too. I was always anxiously urging you to take over, putting too much pressure on you."
Under the dim streetlight, Elder Song's eyes flickered with crystalline light. He murmured, then actually stepped forward a few more paces, his withered right hand gently resting on Zhang Can's protruding forehead, his fingertips caressing the mucus-covered skin.
Visibly, the massive fusion body suddenly stiffened, and the two tentacles behind it miraculously calmed down.
"The burden of these thousands of people was all placed on your shoulders. A’Can, you couldn't bear it. You should have escaped long ago..."
"District Elder, I..."
Zhang Can's lips trembled, and his face covered in mucus actually began to convulse, crying like a human with suppressed sobs.
"Don't worry. Second Dragon wanted me to bring your wife, but I didn't listen to him."
"Now, the District Elder will give you one chance."
Elder Song bent down, bringing his gaze level with Zhang Can's, his voice suddenly clear and carrying a barely concealed sharpness, "You go over there, kneel before Inspector Cheng, and apologize to him. Then you'll still be a person from our Tianyuan Community, a hero who emerged from our collective. I'll let your wife know, let your child know, that his man, his father, is a real man!"
"Or, you eat the District Elder now, and just pretend this old man's eyes were wrong, that he mistook A’Can for someone else!"
A terrifying roar erupted from the center of the starfish again.
But this time, there was no impact, only blood-colored painful wailing mixed in.
Under everyone's shocked gazes, this advanced fusion body actually slowly propped up its body, using trembling tentacles to support itself as it moved toward Cheng Ye.
"No need." Cheng Ye waved his hand, interrupting what Huang Sheng was about to say.
As an inspector, he had seen over a thousand cases in the handbook.
But never had any case been able to bring him such tremendous shock as this moment.
A person parasitized by fusion could actually still possess emotions and restrain the parasite's pollution?
The huge starfish fusion body crashed down on its knees three steps away from Cheng Ye. Two tentacles hung down like rags, mucus seeping through the holes.
"Inspector Cheng, you're not wrong. I am a coward."
"Please shoot. Give this coward one last bit of dignity."
Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What about your wife and child?"
Unexpectedly, Zhang Can actually understood the implication, and his twisted face suddenly became peaceful, "I have no chance to turn back."
"Is it that you can't, or don't want to?"
"Can't." Zhang Can's voice suddenly became hoarse. "This is pollution, pollution that starts from the soul. I can feel that I actually had a chance to resist that transcendent pollution, but I..."
He pondered, squeezing out six words from his mouth, "lack something."
"Indescribable, but I can feel that I'm naturally incomplete."
Zhang Can's tentacles suddenly trembled violently. "Like... the soul has a gap, the genes are missing a piece!"
Cheng Ye was slightly stunned, but before he could contemplate the meaning of these words deeply.
The drone swarm overhead suddenly seemed to explode, all simultaneously emitting a sharp, piercing sound.
Zhang Can, who had regained his sanity the previous second, suddenly showed pain on his face. His eyes were instantly swallowed by blood color, and the drooping tentacles rose like venomous snakes!
"Quick, kill me quickly!"
"Zhang Can, listen, you must cooperate with me one hundred percent!"
"I, I'll cooperate with you, Inspector Cheng, I'll fully cooperate with you!"
The painful howling was chilling.
Facing the waving tentacles, Cheng Ye pulled out his handgun from his waist, his movements appearing somewhat hesitant.
But in a dimension only he could see, the panel quietly unfolded.
[Zhang Can, 100% (Perfect)]
[Searchable range: Intelligence (Guaranteed Success), Items (Guaranteed Success), Skills (Lv1, Probability -15%, Lv2, Probability -1%)]
"Guaranteed success actually appeared, and the skill search probability dropped so low?"
Cheng Ye's pupils suddenly contracted. This was the first time he had seen such a description on the search panel.
Intelligence and Items glowed with brilliant blue light, while Skills were extremely dim, covered with a layer of gray light.
You must know that perfect cooperation could increase hidden probability by 50%, but now it showed that Lv2 only had a 1% probability of successful search.
Was there insufficient energy?
Or was it that... Zhang Can's life form had already reached another level?
"Intelligence, or Items?"
The charge was only 69%, one chance.
Before using the panel, he had wanted to search for intelligence, wanting to find information about the transcendent.
But now, Cheng Ye hesitated for a moment, his gaze falling on Items.
Inexplicably, he had a feeling that if Zhang Can's life form had already evolved, then he would obtain...
[Zhang Can (Symbiotic State)]
[Searchable item range determination:]
[Search successful. You have obtained special item - Tears of the Horned Starfish]
[Tears of the Horned Starfish (Transcendent Item)]
[Description]: Legend says that horned starfish shed tears when witnessing sincere emotions. Each tear possesses incredible power. After consumption, it can bring tremendous short-term enhancement to organisms, ascending to the transcendent realm.
[Usage Effect]: Immediately enter Horned Starfish Symbiotic Guardian State, duration '5' minutes.
During the duration, the following enhancements will be gained: Strength: Amplified to 3165kg Speed: Amplified to 100m/4.95s Defense: Amplified to completely ignore kinetic impacts below 157,000 joules
Acquired Skills: Carnivorous Recovery (Transcendent; Lv5), Soul Shriek (Transcendent; Lv6)
[Note]: After the symbiotic state ends, the user will gain "Guardian Blessing of the Horned Starfish"
[Note]: Guardian Blessing of the Horned Starfish: Permanent immunity to mental impact skills (level below Lv6)