After being bisected at the waist, the Night Devil still flickered ten meters away due to inertia before losing balance and rolling violently. Blood and entrails spun outward from the smoothly severed abdominal cavity!
The glass lamp flew out and shattered on the ground, splashing lamp oil everywhere and igniting writhing, twisting flames, as if someone were screaming and struggling within the fire.
Ashley didn’t rush to retrieve the Metal Lifeform, in case the Night Devil was still clinging to a last breath—that would spell trouble.
She retreated two or three intersections away and patiently waited for the lamp oil to burn out.
Without that special flame, the “Night Demon’s Hand Shadow” couldn’t activate.
It took a long time before she returned to the scene of the battle. The situation was gruesome: walls and ceilings splattered with bloodstains, the air thick with the stench of blood, feces, and urine.
The Night Devil’s intestines trailed a full five or six meters, like a snail dragged out on a needle. His lower body had slid a long distance, painting the floor behind him a vivid, ink-black crimson.
As she passed the remains, without warning, a shadow slashed toward Ashley’s throat!
But she didn’t panic. Without a special light source, it couldn’t sever the plant nerves… Oh no!
Ashley’s expression changed drastically. She clutched her throat, her eyes widening in disbelief.
She couldn’t breathe!
She quickly drew her gun and emptied the clip into the Night Devil’s head. A waist cut really wasn’t reliable—this guy’s vitality was too tenacious…
As she reloaded, she scanned the surroundings, but aside from the corridor’s own lights, she found no extra light source… What was going on?!
Where was the light source?!
Abruptly, a slender, pale hand adorned with pink nail polish appeared out of thin air before her. As this hand lifted a hazy veil, the silhouette of a girl in a wedding dress gradually materialized in the air.
Her other hand held an identical octagonal lamp—the light that activated the Night Devil’s ability emanated from it!
Ashley’s heart sank. This was a brand-new ability! And the Wolf Cat sisters hadn’t mentioned it, so it wasn’t deliberate concealment; rather, its stealth nature meant few in the organization even knew about it!
“‘Bride’s Wedding Dress’—I really like it. With this ability, anyone will subconsciously exclude me. As long as I don’t deliberately disturb them, they won’t notice me at all.”
The girl narrowed her eyes, a faint, icy smile curving her lips.
Ashley’s gaze shifted slightly; she noticed the girl was somewhat different from the other Card Court Society members.
There was a lazy boredom in her eyes, like she was just looking for amusement, with no sense of urgency at all.
Moreover, the “Bride’s Wedding Dress” allowed her to wander the world silently, like an unnoticed solitary shadow.
The Society President would never hand out such an unassassinate-able sub-ability—like the Invisibility Cloak from Harry Potter and the Three Holy Artifacts; once given away, the person was gone, and even Death couldn’t find them…
“You’re Adelina Tixiang! The president of the Card Court Society!” Ashley exclaimed.
The girl’s smile deepened. She tilted her delicate, soft face, her eyes full of appreciation as she said:
“The way you took down the Night Devil was really cool. I’m starting to like you. Want to be my new Night Devil? I’ll hold the lamp for you.”
“Hmph, cold-blooded woman—I don’t want your ‘like,'” Ashley retorted with a pout.
“Your cute little mouth is still talking. How long can you hold your breath?”
The girl’s delicate hand pressed against Ashley’s chest. She lifted her chin slightly, her thin lips parting in a seductive, lingering whisper:
“Want to live? Just kiss sister’s mouth, and you can have some air.”
Those thin lips, coated in pink lipstick, were soft and glossy, exhaling warm breath—exactly what Ashley’s constricted lungs desperately needed.
It all felt so natural, like it was meant to be…
But Ashley rolled her eyes, looking at her like she was an idiot. Then, she pulled out a hand pump for inflating balloons.
She inflated herself!
She shoved it into her mouth—puff, puff—filled her lungs, then let the elastic recoil expel the waste air.
She had researched the Night Devil’s ability and prepared accordingly.
The girl was amused and covered her mouth with a light laugh. “You’re so cute. You actually came up with that countermeasure.”
The two exchanged smiles. Ashley walked toward the Metal Lifeform, while Tixiang lowered her veil, and they passed each other by.
Ashley glanced back; from the direction, the Night Devil and Tixiang had been heading to join the kill on Coleridge’s side. Their clash with her was pure coincidence.
She pressed deeper, encountering few monsters, and smoothly reached the core area where Coleridge stored his collection.
“Huh?”
Ashley stopped abruptly before a familiar door. After blasting it open with explosives, a translucent white egg sheath lay in the center of the floor.
The Mothmen’s Egg Sheath.
She casually stored it in the Slanted House.
Further ahead, she finally reached the area where Vicky usually lived.
The ship cabin structure was no longer normal from there on.
Inside a hollowed-out tree root over twenty meters in diameter lay more than a dozen pretty little boys.
They wore white skirts, their eyes replaced with beautiful, transparent sea-blue gems that revealed the nerves and brain tissue inside. Their teeth had been ground flat and inlaid with sparkling amethysts.
Though blind, they were extremely obedient, as if trained, following Ashley’s every command and crawling one by one into the Slanted House.
Further on, in a corridor garden woven from flowers and wisteria, she found the girls.
Laughter and cheerful voices filled the air, but they sounded eerily desolate.
The girls held mirrors, forcing smiles even as tears streamed down their faces.
Because if they sank into sorrow and couldn’t project positivity, they lost their value as collectibles—and their fate would be disposal, vanishing silently from the world.
Upon seeing Ashley, they habitually obeyed, lining up to enter the Slanted House.
Though eight rooms held thirty people, with six sides available to stand on, it wasn’t crowded.
The final area was the prison cells, holding several oddballs.
One carried a large basket on its back and looked like a kappa.
Another sat cross-legged in meditation, its skin like a rocky surface with a small pine tree sprouting from the cracks.
Another had a hammer-shaped head with eyes on the sides and a fish-like lower body.
There were also some natives covered head to toe in chalk and cinnabar ancestor totems.
Ashley opened the cells and released the weirdos but didn’t store them in the Slanted House. Since they weren’t vulnerable, helping this far was plenty.
Her next move was to return to the deck, head to the top-level helipad, and escape on a flying Cadaver.
Ashley turned and retraced her steps.
Suddenly, a staggering figure ran toward her from ahead—talk about bad luck; it was Coleridge!
Only Black Bee remained of the collector’s three-man guard; the other two had likely been lured away by Tixiang and the new Night Devil.
Seeing Ashley, Coleridge shed his previous arrogance and bossiness. His eyes burned with terror and ferocity, like a cornered wild dog as he roared:
“Get out of my way! Or I’ll fight you to the death!”
He must have figured the upper decks were blocked and planned to escape via speedboat or submersible.
Ashley remained utterly calm, not even looking at him. Her gaze fixed on the lanky youth with the “Black Bee” ability as she said flatly:
“Transform.”
Black Bee glared at her warily, clenching his fists as a sharp aura erupted!
Almost simultaneously, black-and-yellow patterns covered their skin, their arms elongating into sharp, conical stingers!
“Don’t be surprised. My ability is Copy—we’re the same,” Ashley explained.
The youth twitched his antennae, his tone laced with irritation. “You think matching my ability lets you beat me?”
“Who knows.”
Ashley didn’t answer directly. She pegged it as arrogance if he was confident, insecurity if not; he was trying to psych her out subconsciously, but she saw through it keenly.
Though a combat genius, Ashley was still slightly inferior to his years of mastery.
Unlike gamers who played a hero thousands of times and still sucked, real fights meant injury or death—so Black Bee’s use of the ability was absolutely top-tier.
But when it came to being despicable, Ashley knew she didn’t lose to anyone.
She flashed forward, not toward Black Bee but veering midway, her stinger aimed straight at Coleridge’s heart!
Coleridge’s pupils shrank; death’s shadow chilled him to the bone, his mind blank—he could do nothing but await death!
“You despicable!”
Black Bee lunged, lacking a protective ability but blocking the fatal strike with his chest!
Crack!
His chest plate shattered, a sharp tip protruding from his back!
As Ashley’s second thrust pierced from under his jaw through his throat and into his brain, Black Bee’s limbs went limp, his forehead antennae twitching like they were electrified—he died on the spot!
“Brave warrior, you deserve my respect.”
Using the two conical stingers extended from her arms as levers, Ashley snapped Black Bee’s neck with a crunch!
