"Roar—!"
A roar that felt like it would tear through eardrums suddenly exploded. Immediately after, the rust-stained iron gate of the Chemical Plant bulged outward as if struck by heavy artillery, then crashed down.
Amidst the rolling dust, a distorted monster rushed out.
It was a monster that had completely lost its human form. Its muscle fibers were like clumps of tangled red nematodes, trembling violently as it ran. Those bloodshot eyeballs were locked firmly onto Cyrene not far away.
"What is going on? What is happening?!"
Seeing the situation suddenly become critical, Cyrene slightly widened those azure rhombic pupils, her body stiffening for a moment due to this unexpected turn of events.
"What are you standing there for? Run!"
A violent shout exploded in her ear—it was the Stall Owner's voice, hoarse with anxiety.
This man disguised as a peddler reacted extremely quickly. The moment the monster rushed out, he had already kicked away the obstructive pancake cart.
Clatter—
Pots and pans scattered all over the ground, but he couldn't care less about them. Both hands gripped a special handgun tightly, the black muzzle rapidly locking onto the high-speed approaching mass of flesh in tandem with his breathing.
"Don't move, you beast! Have you forgotten the taste of electricity?!"
The Stall Owner's eyes were bloodshot, and veins bulged on his forehead as he tried to intimidate the beast with his roar.
However, it was useless.
The monster did not even turn its eyeballs. In its world, there seemed to be only the girl with pink hair. A gurgling sound of desire came from its throat, and its claws tore cracks into the asphalt road beneath its feet.
"Damn it! You're asking for death!"
Seeing this, the Stall Owner gritted his teeth. Without any hesitation, his index finger pulled the trigger.
"Swish—"
A brilliant arc of blue light shot out.
A special Electric Shock Warhead tore through the air, accurately burrowing into the monster's scapula.
Zizzle!
Blue current instantly exploded across the monster's body like a dense net, frantically tearing at its nerves.
The monster's body twitched violently, its running motion faltered slightly, and a puff of charred black smoke rose from its flesh.
But that was all.
Similar to the strike it had received before, this monster did not stop. Instead, it seemed completely enraged by this repeated pain. The madness in those blood-red pupils grew even more intense. Bracing against the numbness of the electricity, it accelerated again, lunging toward Cyrene!
[Warning: High-risk Xenogeneic detected approaching. Please escape as soon as possible; this Xenogeneic was attracted by you.]
[As for others, you do not need to worry for now because this Xenogeneic's target is currently you.]
Just as Cyrene was wondering why the monster was so persistent, the System's cold notification sounded abruptly in her mind.
"Attracted by me?"
Cyrene's movement to turn paused, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"What do you mean attracted by me?!"
Though her heart was filled with doubt and confusion, reality left her no time for thought.
The monster hit by the Stall Owner's shot was currently dragging its smoking body, drooling, and staring fixedly at her. The greed in its eyes was like a starving ghost seeing a feast.
A chill rushed up her spine to the top of her head. The tingling sensation on her scalp snapped her into clarity instantly.
"Seriously... I can't handle this kind of 'enthusiasm'!"
Cyrene bit her lip and followed the System's suggestion, decisively turning to sprint toward the other end of the street.
Sure enough, the monster completely ignored the Stall Owner who was firing frantically. It didn't even spare a glance at the man who had caused it harm, directly switching directions to chase Cyrene like a mad dog.
"System! What exactly is going on?!"
The wind whistled in her ears. Cyrene maintained her running pace while shouting in her mind with some exasperation.
[Answer to host: Because you unlocked your ability, your body is emitting a high-purity aura of Memoria.]
[Memoria is essentially a type of energy. To a low-level Xenogeneic, the high-quality Memoria on your body is like a lighthouse in the dark, enough to drive them into a frenzy of desire to devour you to complete their evolution.]
[Therefore, when you are close enough to a Xenogeneic, they will perceive your existence and then chase you regardless of everything else.]
"Why didn't you mention such an important setting earlier!"
Hearing the System's explanation, Cyrene felt a massive headache coming on, and her footsteps almost lost their rhythm.
If she had known she was a walking piece of Tang Sanzang's Flesh, she definitely wouldn't have run over here to investigate the situation at this time.
[Because data was previously insufficient. Only after the Xenogeneic was attracted by you and displayed abnormal behavior was this System able to confirm this mechanism through deduction and analysis.]
"You—"
Cyrene was suddenly speechless. This kind of "hindsight" behavior was simply maddening.
The roars behind her were getting closer. That nauseating stench had almost reached the back of her neck.
"Forget it, there's no point in blaming this artificial idiot now!"
Cyrene took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Since this thing was coming for her, the Stall Owner was safe for the time being.
Now the only way was to call for backup!
"Fortunately, I agreed to let Phainon follow secretly this time, otherwise it would really be trouble..."
She sighed silently in her heart.
However, if she let Phainon come out now, it would not only expose his existence, but under the nose of the Official Authority, she—the weak girl saved by an "unknown powerhouse"—would definitely be listed as a primary subject of observation.
A pink-haired girl just happens to run near the Chemical Plant where a monster is held, the monster just happens to go berserk, and it just happens to chase the pink-haired girl, and finally, a man in white clothes with gold trim just happens to pass by and kill the monster...
This script was so cliché that even a third-rate screenwriter wouldn't dare write it that way!
How could there be so many coincidences?
But hearing those heavy footsteps getting closer behind her, Cyrene knew she had no choice.
"Hoo... Help—"
Just as Cyrene was about to cry for help to let Phainon come out and save the day.
"Zizzle—!!!"
The sound of a current several times stronger than the handgun shot suddenly exploded.
Immediately after.
"Roar—!!!"
The monster's roar instantly turned into a shrill scream, followed by the dull sounds of flesh bursting and bones snapping.
The pursuing pressure stopped abruptly at that moment.
Cyrene's running footsteps halted suddenly, her soles skidding a mark on the ground.
She blanked for a moment, then instinctively looked back.
She saw that the previously hyper-violent Xenogeneic was now slumped on the ground, charred all over. Its body was still twitching occasionally as blue electric arcs danced on its corpse, making crackling sounds.
And beside the monster's corpse, Phainon's familiar figure did not appear.
Instead, it was a strange girl.
That girl was leaning against a wall, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for breath. It was obvious that the strike just now had exhausted a great deal of her physical strength.
Her left hand supported her body weakly against the rough wall, while on her right hand, which hung at her side, several blue electric arcs that had not yet dissipated were currently coiling.
In the air, a more intense smell of charring permeated.
★ ★ ★
T/N: Tan Sanzang's Flesh, from Journey to the West, is believed to grant immortality when you beat—I mean, eat his meat, or rather his flesh. Yummers.