228: Blood Man

As the hatch slowly slid open, that nauseating smell of blood grew even stronger.

He stepped out of the room with extreme caution, entering the corridor. Every step was taken with immense care, his eyes warily scanning the surroundings.

He slowly approached the spot where the severed hand lay, crouched down, and reached out to pick it up.

After examining it closely, Li Yang spoke to himself with a heavy expression.

"These are indeed the remains of Imperial Soldiers. This battle armor is D-class... It seems something truly did happen to this starship."

Li Yang could never have imagined that all of this was specifically arranged by Wan Yi. That 'old fox' had directly dragged this starship, which had experienced a brutal battle, back from the battlefield.

"Hiss, hiss..."

Just as Li Yang was focused on the severed hand, an extremely faint hissing sound quietly rang out from directly above his head.

Immediately after, a drop of blood slowly fell from the ceiling, landing squarely on Li Yang's battle armor and splashing into a small crimson flower.

"Who's there?"

Li Yang was instantly alert. Sensing a dangerous aura, his reaction was incredibly swift.

Almost at the same moment the blood fell, he quickly reached out and grasped the light sword at his waist.

A beam of light flashed as the light sword was instantly activated. The bright beam, like a sharp blade, slashed straight upward.

"Aow!"

Along with the slash of the light beam, a sharp and painful shriek suddenly rang out.

Li Yang used the momentum to roll to the side, quickly leaving his original position to put distance between himself and the source of the attack. Only then did he see clearly what the thing before him was.

A mangled, humanoid creature was crouching on the ground on all fours, its body twisting like a beast as it let out painful howls.

Sharp claws over ten centimeters long grew from its hands, glinting with a cold, sinister light under the lamps, as if they could easily tear through anything in their way.

There was a deep wound on its abdomen, with wisps of green smoke still rising from it—the result of the power from Li Yang's casual strike with the light sword just now.

"What is this thing? A Creeper? That can't be right, can it?"

Li Yang's eyes widened, looking at this inexplicable creature before him in disbelief.

Its appearance and movement posture instantly reminded Li Yang of the Creepers from Earth's movies and TV shows, except this creature's head wasn't quite as massive compared to those on screen... Inside the flagship's Command Room where Wan Yi was, the massive light screen was broadcasting Li Yang's every move in real-time.

Wan Yi and Minister Sha stared intently at the light screen, their eyes revealing different sentiments.

"Not bad!"

Wan Yi was the first to speak, a hint of praise flashing in his eyes.

"This Cadet was the first to walk out of his room, and he's also currently the first to encounter these eerie things."

Minister Sha nodded repeatedly from the side, a satisfied expression appearing on his face as he chimed in.

"His reactions are fast and decisive enough. This is what a seed nurtured by the Empire should look like."

Wan Yi's gaze was locked tightly onto the mangled creature on the light screen as he spoke slowly.

"That thing is called a Blood Person. It's the most common and numerous creature in the Flesh and Blood Civilization. This one looks like it was born not long ago and doesn't have much intelligence yet. But you haven't seen the Blood People we encountered on the front lines; those are much more formidable. Not only can they pilot starships, but they're also proficient in using all kinds of weapons."

His tone carried a hint of gravity as he recalled those intense battle scenes from the front lines.

"Since they can still reproduce..."

Hearing this, Minister Sha's previously relaxed brow furrowed slightly again, a trace of worry surfacing in his eyes.

"Then there shouldn't be any accidents, right?"

After all, this assessment concerned the futures of many Cadets and also represented the face of the academy and the 73rd Army; it could not afford even the slightest mishap.

Wan Yi seemed to have expected Minister Sha's concern. He shook his head slightly and explained patiently.

"It won't happen, Minister Sha. Although Blood People do possess the ability to reproduce, it's on the premise of having enough flesh and blood as a foundation. Think about it; the fallen Imperial Soldiers on that starship were devoured clean long ago. Where would they get that much flesh and blood for large-scale reproduction? Even if there are occasional newborns, the numbers won't be high. For the Cadets, it's still within a manageable range."

Wan Yi's words were logical and his analysis was sound, allowing Minister Sha's hanging heart to settle a bit.

"Mm, that's good then."

Minister Sha nodded slightly, his gaze still fixed on the light screen, closely monitoring the development of the situation... He saw the Blood Person's wound healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if time were reversing for it. The originally shocking wound gradually contracted and smoothed over.

In a short moment, that deep gash completely disappeared, leaving only a patch of slightly reddish skin, as if to prove that the injury just now was not an illusion.

"This healing ability is truly startlingly fast..."

Li Yang was secretly amazed, but he didn't intend to strike again immediately.

Li Yang understood that knowing oneself and one's enemy is the key to victory in every battle. This was a good opportunity to scout information on this monster.

After all, he had absolute confidence in the Imperial B-class battle armor he was wearing.

This was Advanced equipment meticulously developed by the Empire. How could it be easily torn through by the long, sharp claws of the monster before him?

Sure enough, after its wound healed, the Blood Person let out a low roar and lunged toward Li Yang without hesitation, its posture looking as if it wanted to tear Li Yang to shreds.

Li Yang remained calm, making no move to dodge. His feet were planted firmly on the spot as he quietly waited for the Blood Person to approach.

When the Blood Person was only a few steps away, he shifted his focus, and an energy shield emitting a faint blue light instantly expanded in front of him like a solid barrier, isolating him from the Blood Person.

The Blood Person's sharp claws struck the energy shield fiercely, making a 'sizzling' sound. However, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree; it couldn't cause any substantial damage to the shield, failing to leave even a single crack.

Li Yang concentrated fully on observing the energy consumption of the battle armor. He was pleasantly surprised to find that with every attack from the Blood Person, the energy lost by the shield was almost negligible—it wasn't even as fast as the battle armor's own energy recovery speed.

"It seems the threat level of this thing is truly too low. It shouldn't be the culprit behind the deaths of the Imperial Soldiers..."

Li Yang said to himself.

After all, with this level of attack power, even the lowest D-class battle armor isn't something they can break through.

After obtaining the general information, Li Yang slowly raised the energy gun in his hand, his gaze calm and steady as he aimed at the Blood Person.

Then, with a thought, he deactivated the energy shield and lightly pulled the trigger.

In an instant, a scorching energy beam shot out like a bolt of lightning, accurately piercing through the Blood Person's brain.

The Blood Person didn't even have time to let out a scream before it instantly lost all capacity for movement.

Driven by momentum, the headless corpse swayed a few times before slowly collapsing to the ground, its limbs twitching uncontrollably as if in a final struggle.

"I'll go look for the others first..."

Li Yang put away the energy gun and glanced down at the corpse on the ground as it gradually stopped twitching, muttering to himself.

"If I'm not mistaken, all the Training Cadets should be on this starship. The current priority is to find them and figure out exactly what is going on together."

With that, he lingered no longer and walked toward the other end of the corridor, soon disappearing into the dim passage...