464: 46

Danger!

He immediately became vigilant, instinctively grabbing the dagger placed by his bedside. This dagger was something he had bought at the corpse-burning plant, and its sharpness went without saying; it could easily slice through the hide of a Level Three Pollution Beast.

Ning Yuan slowly approached the door; he still didn't know what was outside.

A Pollution Beast, an Aberration, or perhaps a person?

Killing people was not uncommon in this chaotic Outer City.

Pressing his ear against the door, the smell of blood became even clearer. Moreover, he could be certain that it was the smell of human blood. To be able to drift in through the door, it definitely wasn't as simple as a small cut on someone's hand.

There were no other sounds. Ning Yuan gripped the dagger in his hand, hesitating whether to go out and take a look, but he ultimately decided to wait and see.

If there was any danger, he would leave this place immediately and find a random spot to set up his Shelter. Over these past six months, he had already discovered many special uses for the Shelter, one of which was that it could be placed underground without any issues.

His gaze sank; there was movement. It was footsteps. These footsteps sounded like… a human?

It wasn't the dull sound of an Aberration, nor the sound of a Pollution Beast landing on all fours; these were the footsteps of a normal person walking.

Vaguely, he heard voices.

"Tonight, we shall use the people in this building for the sacrifice."

Another voice replied with dissatisfaction: "The quality of the people here is too poor; it's impossible to condense high-quality Blood Crystals."

"The Outer City is always like this. If you want high-quality Blood Crystals, you have to go to the Inner City. Those Guard Army members are not to be trifled with."

"Hmph, let's start quickly."

Ning Yuan's palms tightened. What did that mean? Sacrifice? Blood Crystals?

What were these people trying to do? He had never heard of any of this before.

Forget about that for now; leave!

Ning Yuan held his breath and slowly approached the window. Arriving at the window, he prepared to push it open and jump out.

Creak——

The old window made a teeth-grinding sound.

"Who's there!"

Two sets of footsteps rapidly approached this side!

Ning Yuan's heart jolted. He cursed the landlord's ancestors eighteen generations back in his mind, stopped hiding, slammed the window open, and jumped out.

At that very moment, the door was kicked open!

A man and a woman entered, their bodies shrouded in gray robes, wearing white faceless masks.

Seeing the open window, their expressions immediately darkened.

"He actually didn't fall unconscious from the Blood Spirit Incense! Catch him! He absolutely cannot be allowed to escape; if he attracts the Guard Army, it will be troublesome!"

The two of them quickly jumped out of the window and gave chase to Ning Yuan.

Ning Yuan felt the two people behind him, and his heart sank immediately. So fast! At this speed, they were at least at the level of a Level Three Gene Warrior.

"Hmph, brat, since you've discovered us, don't even think about escaping."

The man's hands beneath his gray robe suddenly elongated, transforming into two arms resembling those of a praying mantis.

The opponent sprang up, leaping suddenly to land above Ning Yuan's head.

Not a Gene Warrior, but a Mutant!

Ning Yuan channeled a sliver of energy into his five senses and suddenly ducked, dodging the sickle-arms.

A trace of surprise appeared in the man's eyes, but he merely let out a cold snort. After landing, he suddenly slashed at Ning Yuan. Ning Yuan instinctively blocked with the dagger in his hand.

Snap.

The dagger, which could easily slice through the hide of a Level Three Pollution Beast, snapped in two. Ning Yuan was sent flying more than ten meters, crashing into a wall.

So strong. He was going to die. Ning Yuan's heart pounded violently as he stared intently at the sickle-arms rapidly approaching again. If he were hit again, nothing awaited him but being torn apart.

But there was still a chance.

Closer, a little closer.

The sickle-arms were only a foot away from him.

Pocket watch!

The space within three meters seemed to have been hit with a pause button; even the Mutant swinging the sickle-arms was suspended in mid-air.

But Ning Yuan was not affected, nor was his fire.

Purple flames flickered and instantly submerged into the opponent's head.

Following this, Ning Yuan ducked low and rolled to the side.

The entire process took less than half a second, but in that brief moment, it had nearly drained one-third of the Qi in his body.

Time resumed.

The man's sickle-arms slashed against the wall. Looking at his arm embedded in the wall, his expression turned gloomy. He, a Level Three Mutant, had failed to kill a normal person several times over.

"Heh, Ye Lian, can you do it? If not, let me take over."

Perhaps because the time was too short, the woman, who hadn't really been paying attention, didn't notice the anomaly at all.

"Let's see how many times you can dodge!" The man's eyes were filled with fury.

Then, just at that moment, he suddenly felt his head becoming very hot and scalding, as if a ball of fire was burning inside.

What was going on!

At this moment, the woman suddenly stiffened, her eyes filled with shock: "Ye Lian, your head!"

Head? What's wrong with my head?

The man would never know what was wrong with his head. The fire burning from the inside out had already incinerated his brain. No matter how powerful a Mutant was, it was impossible to resurrect.

The woman widened her eyes, seemingly unable to react to the fact that her partner was already dead.

"You are a Talent User!"

Fire, extraordinary power—who else could it be but a Talent User?

Her eyes held wariness, but greed also surged up. Blood Crystals condensed using a Talent User were the most perfect Blood Crystals; they would be enough to help her immediately stabilize her chaotic body!

Several spider legs instantly pierced out from her back. Those long, thin spider legs, three or four meters long, stabbed into the ground, replacing the woman's legs as she crawled toward Ning Yuan.

Ning Yuan stared at this Mutant. He had long heard that Mutants were a group of Pollution Beasts with human forms; it seemed that saying was not false at all.

This time, the woman did not choose to get close, but instead used the three-to-four-meter-long spider legs to stab toward Ning Yuan.

Ning Yuan sensed the remaining Qi in his body, and his heart immediately hardened. Either live or die!

When the spider legs were only half a meter away from him, he suddenly sidestepped and lunged forward, heading toward the woman.

The woman was startled at first, but she immediately reacted. Four spider legs stabbed down simultaneously. At such close range, relying on her reaction speed, it was absolutely impossible for the opponent to...

The spider was frozen—or more accurately, the effect had barely covered the woman's head, and thus her thoughts were frozen.

Ning Yuan used all the remaining extraordinary energy in his body to throw a ball of fire. The flames submerged into the opponent's head, and he himself rolled away.

Time resumed.

This time, because the freezing effect only covered the front half of her body, the woman lost her balance and rolled onto the ground.

This also made her immediately notice the anomaly.

"What's going on? What just happened!" The woman's eyes were filled with shock and suspicion, but before she could continue thinking, a violent burning sensation exploded inside her brain!

"You! I! Arghhh!"

The woman's body convulsed, curling into a ball on the ground. Because he had used more extraordinary energy this time, the fire spread from her head to the rest of her body.

But the woman only let out two miserable screams before she was already dead.

No matter how powerful her physique was, her brain remained as soft as tofu.

And Ning Yuan's fire could ignore skin and flesh, burning from the inside out.

The woman was dead. Ning Yuan's face was deathly pale as he slumped on the ground. At this moment, his body was extremely weak; even if a child came along, they could potentially kill him.

But he knew he couldn't wait any longer; the commotion here must have been noticed by others.

Although it was unlikely that the Guard Army would come, no one could guarantee that. And even without the Guard Army, it was highly likely to attract Aberrations.

He supported his body, wanting to leave, but suddenly thought of something and came back to search the two corpses.

"There really is something?"

He fished a pouch out from the man's body.

He opened the pouch; inside were five gold coins! And more than a dozen silver coins!

He struck it rich!

Besides that, there were three blood-colored crystals. This must be the Blood Crystals they were talking about.

The opponent also had a piece of soft armor on his body. He quickly stripped it off, not even sparing the shoes, because he recognized them; they were leather boots made from the hide of a Level Three Pollution Beast, the King Worm. Just a single boot like that was worth dozens of silver coins.

He also scavenged three gold coins and more than a dozen silver coins from the woman.

There were also shoes and a silk garment. He didn't know what it was made of, but his flames had burned the woman's upper body, reducing the bones inside to ash, yet this silk garment remained completely undamaged. It was definitely a good item.

After collecting the spoils, Ning Yuan left into the darkness, preparing to find a place to place his Shelter underground.

"It looks like I must leave the corpse-burning plant tomorrow."

Once I buy the Gene Agent, I'll leave.