“Ah—!”
High in the sky, Chloe, clutched in the talons of the Great Raven, squeezed her eyes shut and screamed nonstop. Clusters of damp mist slammed into her face. She stuck out her pink little tongue, letting the gale whip it back and forth, finding it amusing.
Once the ground revealed sandy red danxia landforms, she reined in her playfulness and seriously guided Ashley to land, switching mindsets seamlessly.
The raven landed steadily on a protruding rock embedded in a gentle red soil slope. The airflow stirred up thick fine dust, which slowly flowed down the hillside.
The chest of the Shriek Devil Crow split open with a squelch, and the Blue-Haired Loli poked her head out.
Ashley had accumulated over 100 hours of flight time, so she wasn’t dizzy to the point of disorientation, but she still felt thoroughly drained.
“You bastard! Couldn’t you let me hold you in the cockpit together?” Chloe grumbled, shivering all over.
“I told you, it’s too cramped.”
“We could strip naked, hug tight in the warm flesh—sounds great, right? Hey, you’re not getting shy on me, are you?”
Chloe stepped in front of her, puffing out her budding chest, and smirked sideways.
“At a time like this, whoever chickens out is a worthless small fry!”
“Why are your pants wet?” Ashley glanced at the damp patch near the crotch of her jeans. “Don’t tell me you got scared and peed yourself from the height?”
“Heh heh, I did it on purpose—pissed right down below. Those guys on the street probably think it’s raining. Blame your family for wrecking the weather station.”
“Good grief, you’re rotten to the core.”
The area consisted of shattered deep ravines and flat-topped hills forming danxia landforms. At a glance, it was desolate and utterly devoid of people.
The ‘outpost’ was Union City’s smallest administrative unit. The elevated ‘Red Rock Outpost’ was small but maintained order, staffed by a rotating Tribunal specialist and an Undying Corps member.
The main building was a squat, square concrete shell—crude and simple, but incredibly sturdy.
It had two floors. The ground floor featured a tavern up front and a pigeonhole inn out back, just big enough for a single bed.
The second floor housed the specialist’s residence and supply warehouse.
The rooftop had some bedding for cooling off in summer or for standing watch.
As soon as Ashley stepped through the courtyard gate, a thick stench of blood mixed with hospital disinfectant hit her.
The outpost’s main gate was narrow, fitted with a sturdy sliding iron door for easy operation.
In front of the well at the entrance, a man with his arm fixed in a splint used his other hand to pump water from the handcart.
Peering inside from the doorway, in the opposite corner sat a plague doctor wearing a crow mask, holding clinic.
Unlike other plague doctors, she was tiny—small cape, small hat, small mask—like a miniature figure. Perched on a high-backed chair, her feet dangled off the ground, resembling a eerie doll.
Her little hands worked on a gruesome wound torn across the entire chest.
Fingers that should have been playing with Lego or Disney toys delved into swathes of scarlet, festering flesh, creating a stark contrast.
Blood splattered onto the white lacquered crow mask. The little plague doctor occasionally wiped the riveted round lenses with soft tissue, her eyes behind them coldly detached, exuding an innate aloofness.
Besides the patient on the makeshift operating table, seven or eight more lay on mats against the wall, waiting their turn.
Eric’s speed hadn’t been enough to dodge the Shield Tunneling Devil Worm’s charge. His leather armor couldn’t withstand the sharp rotating mouthparts’ shredding. He’d taken a bad hit—his chest looked like it’d been through a meat grinder. If his companions hadn’t quickly packed the wound with heaps of Insect Bean, he’d have died in seconds from active arterial rupture causing lung flooding and suffocation.
“Doctor Yinsu Helin, can Eric be saved?” a woman with swollen, tear-reddened eyes asked from the side.
The loli plague doctor didn’t respond, didn’t even glance her way. After a moment, she said flatly:
“We’ll see.”
But her fingers danced like butterflies flitting through flowers—precise and elegant. She hooked needles, threading transparent fine lines through the jagged edges of the mangled flesh, while using tweezers to peel apart the black fibers swollen from the Insect Bean.
Bang—!
The transparent membrane laced with fine blood vessels was stretched taut by supports. Fine threads pierced it like embroidery, pulling the flesh together and integrating it.
The scene was a gory mess, yet possessed a bizarre beauty that made one’s scalp tingle, impossible to look away from.
Ashley gaped in shock. In her vision, the threads seemed like a pre-programmed script, executing with one click—sewing muscle precisely, anchoring it to the biomimetic skin. It was hard to believe this came from human hands.
“Next.”
Surgery complete, Yinsu Helin waved her little hand. Someone immediately carted the patient away, and the next in the ticket line hurried forward.
Seeing this group of failed Mutated Wriggler hunters, Chloe’s DNA kicked in. Her eyes curved into crescents, and she cackled:
“Heh heh, you lot are such a bunch of wastes…”
Ashley quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Mmph mmph…” Let me talk! Let me talk!
“Nope.” Ashley shook her head slowly. This wasn’t the city—out in the wilds, plenty killed over a few harsh words.
Fortunately, with their heavy losses, no one noticed the pair. Resisting the pain had already exhausted them.
Ashley caught a whiff of cruelty. Injury meant months without labor income, plus steep medical bills and losses from the failed hunt. This hunter team was probably on the brink of bankruptcy.
She picked a clean table and sat. The choking blood reek killed her appetite—saving money, at least.
Ashley’s gaze drifted to the stairs. The Tribunal specialist and Undying Corps member should be upstairs.
Beside her, Chloe seemed to catch on, giggling while trembling all over.
“I heard the Jenkins Family got wiped out by the Tribunal. You wouldn’t have PTSD from the Undying Corps, would you? Heh heh heh, I wanna make a huge scene and lure it down!”
“Hey, we’re still partnering up here!”
“Hmph, then why aren’t you thanking me for sparing your life?” Chloe cupped her face, her sparkling eyes locked on the Blue-Haired Loli.
“I don’t have PTSD, but those things are seriously creepy…”
“Oh? Spill it! I wanna write about Tribunal secrets!” Chloe’s eyes lit up like stars.
As they chatted, the loli plague doctor suddenly flipped her palm onto the patient’s wrist and said in an icy tone, “Your biological info is off. You’re a wanted criminal!”
The young man with a sharp buzz cut—only a layer of black stubble left—froze, forcing an ugly smile as he defended himself:
“Must be a mistake, right? Biological info… Are you a Tribunal agent?”
Chloe leaned to Ashley’s ear and explained:
“This is the Tribunal’s ‘Crow Plan.’ Most doctors and plague doctors join in. They use test strips on patients’ biological info. Red, orange, yellow reactions show wanted level—that guy’s the lowest ‘pale yellow,’ a total small-fry criminal.”
As if hearing the whisper, “Let go of me!” The fugitive panicked, yanking his hand free and sending the loli plague doctor’s tiny body tumbling to the ground!
Just as he bolted for escape, the ceiling exploded with a massive ‘boom’!
A sharp black spike thrust down from above, piercing straight through the fugitive’s head from crown to chin!
Pain—excruciating pain!
The fugitive convulsed like a frog hit with electricity, then gradually stilled. A huge wet patch spread in his pants, releasing a stench of urine.
