194: 5.4 Warning!

5.4 Warning!

Lu Yizhou promptly threw the arm to the side and cursed out a storm, unheeding of the frozen young man who was soaked in the disgusting liquid and Yves who snapped out of his senses and hastily pulled the latter away.  2

Lu Yizhou was focused on Edin's twitching figure on the ground, who was screeching 'ah ah' miserably. What the fuck was this creature? He was sure that he didn't use enough strength to rip off a man's limb just like that. In fact, it was Edin's arm that was too soft to the touch. Yes, it was just like cotton. The slimy sensation almost engulfed his palms and Lu Yizhou flicked his hands in extreme disgust. Fortunately General Kai had been wearing gloves since the beginning. Otherwise Lu Yizhou had no idea how many times he would wash his hands until he could shake off the sticky sensation on his skin.

The members of Unit Oakenwind poured in following Lu Yizhou's lead to free the civilians and guide them out. 

Lu Yizhou blocked the hectic noises around him and counted the time. When he reached 250 seconds — the approximate time when someone would die of blood loss from a large injury — a strange phenomenon happened to Edin. His body promptly went slack, eyes and mouth hanging open wide. Then as if he was a balloon punctured by a sharp needle, his flesh started to melt, emitting a foul smelling gas that almost knocked Lu Yizhou unconscious. His eyes widened by a fraction and his lips parted — to Lu Yizhou, it was equivalent to yelling in shock — at the bizarre sight and for once, he ignored his discomfort, merely stepping aside to avoid having his boots dirtied to continue watching. He witnessed first hand the way Edin's skin liquefied like a piece of tissue paper in the water before his whole body dissolved into a puddle of green liquid.

Just a few seconds ago, he was still very much human in the flesh but now…

A silent curse slipped off his mouth. What the fuck was this?!

[666: *retch* *vomit*]

"General!" Yves came in wearing a biohazard mask and thank God, handed Lu Yizhou another one. His eyes were shining with full blown awe. "General is awesome! No sentinel has endured inhaling the parasite's ejection gas for more than ten seconds without vomiting their guts out!"

Lu Yizhou, who was one step away from fainting, merely put on the mask and slowly, slowly let out the breath he had been holding. 

Yves beckoned to the other soldier nearest to him. "Have you got the flamethrower yet?"

"It's still on the way here, Lieutenant!" The man saluted and threw a curious look to Lu Yizhou. "No one expected General Kai to move so fast. Not that I am complaining!" He waved his hands, flustered. "It's just that General Kai truly lives up to his reputation!"

Lu Yizhou frowned. What kind of reputation did he have again?

Yves burst out in laughter and shooed the man away. "Go, go and make sure the civilians are safe. We have to keep vigil here so that this parasite can't go and latch onto another person again!"

That's right, parasite. Yves had referred to Edin as a parasite before and originally, Lu Yizhou thought it was just a figure of speech or a metaphor. However, looking at whatever was left of Edin, Lu Yizhou had to re-arrange his theories. If Yves had meant a literal parasite, then whatever it was ought to be this green matter and it could only be exterminated with fire. Fuck, once again Lu Yizhou was relieved that General Kai had been wearing gloves or else, would he have turned into this creature also?

Lu Yizhou scowled at the floor where the parasite was. He was tempted to stomp on it a few times with his boots when 666 gave a panicked warning.

[666: H—H—Host, at your three o'clock!!!]

With a movement so fast that it's a wonder how he hadn't gotten a whiplash, Lu Yizhou snapped his head to the side. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a small blob of similarly green liquid — Edin's arm, he recalled with another curse — was moving so slowly and steadily that no one had noticed its movement; it might as well be crawling. Damn, it was alive even when it had been separated from its main body?! Lu Yizhou had no idea how long it had been on the move but it was clearly moving on intent—

Goddamnit, that was a tiny bomb detonator hidden amidst the messy clutter of folded chairs and the parasite was trying to reach it!

"Yves!" Lu Yizhou barked out as he lunged forward.

[Why didn't you tell me there's a bomb somewhere close?!]

[666: S—Sorry, Host! 666 has been feeling too nauseous seeing that bizarre phenomenon QAQ!!!]

It was too late. Right before Lu Yizhou could reach it, the parasite gave a final, stubborn leap and landed right on the detonator. In the next second, an explosion erupted right in front of his face and despite the thick layers of spiritual power Lu Yizhou stuffed his ears with, such a massive, ear deafening blast was enough to puncture his eardrums! Tongues of flame licked his skin and his biohazard mask shattered, a fragment of it stabbed right into his right eye. But above all, it felt like someone had just triggered a nuclear bomb right inside his skull. His head was ringing and the pain was so overwhelming that he felt his soul floating out of his body for a split second. 

[System notification: Warning! Host's physical condition is rapidly deteriorating!] 

[System notification: Warning! Host's mental state is severely impacted!]

Lu Yizhou's body crashed onto the glass wall behind him and for a while, there was a jarring sense of weightlessness and his eyes took in the clear blue sky before his back connected with the concrete floor on the ground floor with a resounding thud. He let out a breathless cough, blood pouring out of his mouth and nose in a steady stream. His vision was dotted in black and for a split second, he thought he could see a black cat floating midair, golden eyes peering down on him intensely.

[System notification: Warning! Warning! The danger of Host's condition has reached past the critical threshold! Recovery operation is in progress. Commencing shutdown in three… two… one…]

The last thought that flashed in his mind was whether Yves would be able to survive. After all, wouldn't it be interesting if he could get rid of one without having to do anything? Alas, there was nothing more pathetic than him dying within the first half hour of arrival. He hadn't even found his lover yet…

Lu Yizhou let out a chuckle that turned into a cough with a mouthful of blood on his throat. Then, everything became dark.

pqdm.com