Chapter 13: Lin Jinxu

Darkness swallowed Sang Ling’s vision. Her left hand had gone numb, completely beyond feeling.

She was about to pass out.

After the Zerg attack, this entire commercial district had been reduced to rubble. Behind half a wall smashed through to its exposed rebar, an Alpha in a white military uniform leaned quietly against the concrete, eyes closed, silver-white hair spilling to her waist. Cradled in her arms was a borrowed Tang Dao. She lay utterly still, as if sunk into some deep, dreamless sleep.

Suddenly, the index finger of her right hand curled, just slightly.

The Alpha struggled to lift her right arm, forcing her limp fingers to move, then slammed them hard against the wound on her forehead.

Sang Ling pressed her fingers deep into the gash the rebar had torn open. The pain jolted her out of her daze instantly, cold sweat soaking the back of her neck.

She tugged at the wristwatch Light Brain on her left hand—it wouldn’t come off. This military-issue wristband was welded to the wearer’s skin at ultra-low temperatures; only a special solvent could dissolve the solder.

Something was wrong with this Light Brain and its so-called Medical AI. Even injured, she should never have lost consciousness this quickly.

She planted the Tang Dao named Cloud Piercer upright in the ground and hauled herself up with it, scanning her surroundings. She found a few of the plastic packaging bags that littered every commercial district and jammed one forcibly between the wristband and her skin—hoping the plastic would provide some insulation the next time the Medical AI decided to shock her.

She checked the map again. Lin Jinxu’s red dot had stopped moving several minutes ago, apparently somewhere inside a building.

An ancient, priceless Tang Dao, being used as a crutch. Leaning on it, limping deeply with one step and shallowly with the next, Sang Ling followed the map toward the red dot.

After a few dozen meters, she was fully awake again—and surprised to find that the Medical AI hadn’t interfered with her this time.

Whatever the reason, Sang Ling was done caring. All she wanted now was to bring Lin Jinxu home and put an end to this chaotic, nightmarish day.

Before going out to meet Su Qingyue today, she had gotten thoroughly dolled up at that styling studio—had even washed her face properly with cleanser. But now her face was a mess of dust, wounds, and dried blood, filthy beyond words.

As for the white military uniform—well. Sang Ling grumbled inwardly as she trudged along. Whoever designed white service uniforms had clearly never considered how easily they’d get filthy on an actual battlefield.

After an unknowable stretch of painful walking, the little green dot representing her and the little red dot representing Lin Jinxu were finally about to overlap on her Light Brain.

She raised her head. Before her loomed an enormous warehouse door. Lin Jinxu had to be behind it.

Taking no chances, she drew Cloud Piercer from its sheath, bent her right arm, and let the blade glide smoothly through the gap between her upper arm and forearm, wiping it clean.

The silver-white blade flashed with a biting chill. The next second, light energy ignited along it—a cold, moonlight-like glow wreathing the steel, deepening the frost in the air.

Sang Ling knocked. Without waiting for an answer, she shoved the door open with force.

The massive, aged warehouse door groaned open, stirring a thin layer of dust into the air.

Sang Ling took a step forward.

Inside the vast, empty warehouse, thirty completely identical Lin Jinxus turned their heads toward her in perfect unison.

One Lin Jinxu was breathtakingly beautiful. Thirty Lin Jinxus staring at you at once was nothing but horror and the uncanny.

Sang Ling: ……

She swallowed discreetly, her left foot sliding back half a step entirely of its own accord.

Sang Ling’s left foot stepped forward again, erasing that half-step of retreat.

Her right hand tightened on Cloud Piercer. Raising her left hand, and under the gaze of thirty Lin Jinxus, she sent a voice message to Jiang Yunzhao.

“The High-Tier Zerg Commander from this attack has been located. It possesses two special abilities: Splitting and Shapeshifting.”

Unlike the Low-Tier Zerg, which were merely enormous, High-Tier Zerg had evolved considerable intelligence—and would randomly possess one or two special abilities.

This particular High-Tier Zerg had clearly hit the genetic jackpot. Both Splitting and Shapeshifting were extremely powerful skills.

“But surely God can’t favor you this much.”

Sang Ling tilted her wrist, and Cloud Piercer flashed with a stern blade-light. “Splitting, Shapeshifting—that’s already strong enough. If your combat power gets any higher, it simply won’t be fair.”

Genetics were relatively fair to the Zerg. A High-Tier Zerg that possessed intelligence and special abilities could not also have the colossal body of a Low-Tier Zerg. Their frames were roughly human-sized, their physical destructive power far inferior to the low-tier kind—in exchange for command authority over the lesser swarms.

Sang Ling was counting on exactly that: this High-Tier Zerg’s combat strength couldn’t be strong, which was why it needed to disguise itself as Lin Jinxu rather than simply kill her on the spot.

The tip of Cloud Piercer dropped and dragged across the cement floor with a rasping hiss—like a thin wire of iron coiling around a neck, and no one knew when that wire would bite through flesh and take a life.

Sang Ling paced a slow circle in front of the thirty humanoid figures. She was absolutely certain the real Lin Jinxu was among them.

But their features were completely identical—the same long white women’s shirts, the same long curly hair, identical down to the curve of every strand, and identical pheromone suppressant patches on the backs of their necks.

“Family Head… no—little sister.”

All thirty Lin Jinxus called out together, their voices seemingly in perfect sync, without the slightest discrepancy.

Sang Ling closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, she walked into the midst of the thirty.

Cloud Piercer’s tip feared no wear; it threw off tiny sparks as it scraped against the cement.

Sang Ling’s black, wide-treaded military boots stopped in front of the second Lin Jinxu in the second row.

This Lin Jinxu was no different from the rest. And yet Sang Ling was so certain: this one.

She reached out her hand.

Lin Jinxu’s lashes trembled like a butterfly about to take flight. She was silent for a long moment before resting her hand lightly on Sang Ling’s. “Are you sure it’s me?”

“It’s not her. It’s me.” The other twenty-nine Lin Jinxus spoke in unison.

Sang Ling seized Lin Jinxu’s hand—calm one second, striking the next. She raised Cloud Piercer, pivoted, and slashed through a full half-circle!

The five fake Lin Jinxus struck by the blade crumbled instantly into ash.

Darkness was creeping back into Sang Ling’s vision. She understood this time: the dizziness came from internal bleeding. She had lost too much blood.

Lin Jinxu could barely make out Sang Ling’s blurred silhouette anymore. She clutched Sang Ling’s hand with all her strength, drawing what little support she could from it—but a wild, defiant smile still curved across her face.

“Roll away now, or die under my blade. Your choice.”

After a moment of silence, the two dozen-odd fake Lin Jinxus converged together, merging into one another, their features dissolving completely into a single blurred, indistinct face.

Sang Ling couldn’t make out the details. All she could vaguely see was the High-Tier Zerg—that horrifyingly slender waist—retreating slowly from the warehouse.

In that instant, her legs gave out. Lin Jinxu immediately stepped forward to catch her, forcing her to stay upright.

“How did you know it was me?” Lin Jinxu insisted on asking. She seemed to need that answer desperately.

Sang Ling didn’t answer. She only shook her head, and the world went completely black.

Even as she fell unconscious, she was still thinking, How am I fainting in front of Lin Jinxu again? This is so humiliating.

Lin Jinxu stood ramrod straight where she was, holding up an Alpha who was far too heavy. Her strength was nothing remarkable; no matter how she pulled, the Alpha slid inexorably downward.

Sang Ling’s lips seemed to be muttering something. Lin Jinxu bent down to listen.

“Cloud Piercer… borrowed… take it back… expensive…”

She’s still worrying about that?

Lin Jinxu straightened up again. With elegant ease, she let go—and the woman crashed heavily to the ground. Perhaps she took a few more injuries. Lin Jinxu didn’t care.

For some reason, she felt a flicker of hate.

Jiang Yunzhao arrived fast. The moment she received Sang Ling’s message, she scraped together a squad of seven or eight, commandeered two military Flyers, and came tearing across the district.

The warehouse doors opened, and from far off she spotted Sang Ling lying on the ground, an elegant, exquisitely beautiful Omega standing at her side.

Before the Flyer had even fully settled, she leapt from midair. Her exoskeleton extended automatically, absorbing the impact of her landing, then retracted on its own.

By the time Jiang Yunzhao looked again, the Omega had already knelt at Sang Ling’s side, holding her hand, the very picture of devotion and worry.

Another woman who could act the part flawlessly.

Sang Ling, you idiot—how do you attract con artists like a black widow spider so easily? Is being a sweet, gullible darling just bait for hypocrites?

Jiang Yunzhao strode forward and planted herself beside Sang Ling.

The Omega tilted her face up, the rims of her eyes faintly red—enough to make anyone believe she had been crying.

Faced with such a lovely, pitiable Omega, Jiang Yunzhao felt nothing. She opened with, “Where’s the High-Tier Zerg?”

“It fled. The Family Head shattered a few of its avatars with her blade, and it ran.” Lin Jinxu said softly.

“It certainly ran fast.”

Jiang Yunzhao examined the warehouse floor and found several fragments of insect wing. She picked one up and studied it in the light.

“Mantis species,” she snorted a laugh. “Most likely that weakling, the Orchid Mantis.”

She forwarded the information to the soldiers in the vicinity as a warning.

Then she walked back over to the Omega, who was gazing at Sang Ling with rapt attention, the very image of concern.

“The medical team will be here soon,” Jiang Yunzhao said.

“Thank you,” the Omega told her.

Jiang Yunzhao looked utterly baffled. “What exactly are you thanking me for? I called the medical team for Sang Ling. What does that have to do with you?”

The expression drained from Lin Jinxu’s face, leaving something faintly awkward and melancholy behind.

Jiang Yunzhao felt not a shred of pity. She studied Lin Jinxu for a long moment, then said something shocking: “You don’t deserve her. You know that, don’t you?”

“She was already injured before she came to save you. She ignored the warnings and the danger to come anyway. And I thought—what kind of person must you be, to be worth that?”

Her words were merciless. “As an Omega, you have a pretty enough face. But you, as a person, are not worth her risking her life to save. You should be well aware of that yourself.”

Lin Jinxu’s grip on Sang Ling’s hand tightened all at once, crushing-tight.