"Hiss! Dog Master! I've had enough of you! So what if I kill you!? Now that I've got S-rank power, why should I stoop to serve a dead woman like you!?"
"Roar!! I'm a Werewolf destined to become a hellhound!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
After sounds echoed from the cavern, fighting resumed inside.
At the cave entrance, Liu Xiyun knit her delicate brows, gazing gravely at the clashing figures in the cavern's center.
One human. One Werewolf.
She recognized the woman. The Werewolf's voice sounded like her former contracted familiar.
"Why are they fighting each other?" Liu Xiyun signaled the little maid beside her to hide carefully.
But the maid didn't seem to understand. She stood at the entrance, tilting her head as she kept peering outside.
Without lowering her voice, she asked in confusion, "Huh? Huh? Where's Brother? Wasn't he just here with the adults?"
"Wah! Ahhh! Why are so many adults dead! Sobbing... Wailing... So scary! So scary!"
"Sister, you must protect me!"
Reminded by the maid, Liu Xiyun finally noticed corpses scattered around the vast cavern. Grotesque bodies—human and beast—shared one trait: steel fused with flesh. Many had transparent glass domes encasing their brains, revealing pale pink matter and membranes.
They were missing limbs, body parts everywhere. The Werewolf fighting the woman must have torn them apart.
Blood and gore filled the scene—utterly disgusting. Nauseating.
Slightly aside stood a tech zone filled with instruments. Around it lay over a dozen human corpses in white lab coats, each bearing a dark green emblem on their chests. It resembled some foreign evil organization's symbol.
Too far to see details, Liu Xiyun couldn't identify it. But whoever dared such inhumane experiments on Huaxia's soil wouldn't escape her.
"Keep quiet," Liu Xiyun told the maid. "I'll strike after they weaken each other."
"Huh? Oh? Shouldn't we run away?" The little maid tilted her head in confusion.
Liu Xiyun frowned. "Do you know the exit?"
Seeing the maid about to nod seriously, she interrupted, "Even if you do, I won't leave now. This evil group might have prisoners. We must find and rescue them."
"Huh? Oh? Oh. Them?" Liu Xiyun followed the maid's pointing. On the cavern's right wall hung dozens of figures.
Transparent tubes pumped dark green liquid into their bodies—clearly human experiments. Liu Xiyun focused her gaze. Their eyes were glazed; all will and consciousness gone.
"These beasts!" Furious, Liu Xiyun punched the stone wall beside her—thud!
The noise halted the fight. The human and Werewolf turned toward her.
"It's you!" The familiar-master woman snarled, starting to charge—then froze at the Werewolf's restless growl.
"That's right, it's me!" Liu Xiyun stepped into the entrance, glaring. "How dare you conduct human experiments on Huaxia's territory! You deserve death!"
Her slender hand drew a flexible sword from her waist. Yuan power surged as she slashed a sword-energy blast toward the woman.
The rainbow-like arc met the woman's whip. Dispersed, she stumbled back with a grunt, eyes blazing hotter.
Her tech whip clicked and clacked, extending forward—iron spikes spinning—as she counterattacked Liu Xiyun.
"Not you! Get out of the way!"
"Bang!"
The whip struck the entrance like a cannonball. Stones collapsed from above, kicking up thick dust clouds.
"Whoosh!"
Liu Xiyun dodged with the maid—both unharmed.
But the woman's words made Liu Xiyun frown. "Not me? Then..." Her wary gaze snapped to the little maid she'd placed on the cavern floor. "You're the problem!"
"Hmph! You Huaxia people love schemes! Don't think I'll believe you're not allies! I trust none of you!" The woman seethed, as if the maid had tricked her.
"Uh..." Sword in hand, Liu Xiyun stared, stunned, as the maid dusted herself off with curious calm.
"You... what did you do to her?"
"Haha!" Suddenly!
Just as Liu Xiyun spoke, the little maid planted her hands proudly on her hips, laughing arrogantly.
It nearly scared everyone present.
"Haha! Since you've sincerely asked, I'll kindly tell you everything..."
