[Loading Dimension...]
[Illegal Intruder Detected.]
[Forcibly passing through the "Bronze Gate"...]
[Current Instance: Biohazard City.]
[Difficulty: B+ (Difficulty adjusted to S due to the intruder carrying unknown high-energy items).]
...The instant the feeling of weightlessness disappeared was a violent impact powerful enough to shatter bones.
Shen Qingqiu felt like a pebble carelessly tossed aside by God, crashing into a pool of rotting, foul-smelling mud.
The sound of the interstellar storm vanished, replaced by the pattering, cold rain and a chilling, low growl, as if phlegm were stuck in her throat.
"Cough cough..." Shen Qingqiu struggled to sit up.
Her spacesuit had completely disintegrated into fragments during the dimensional barrier crossing. She was only wearing a thin white undershirt, soaked through by the rain, clinging to her body and outlining her trembling back, trembling slightly with pain.
"Seventeen?" She didn't bother checking her own injuries, frantically searching for that familiar figure amidst the rubble and debris.
He was there.
Less than two meters from her, lying quietly in a puddle.
Seventeen's condition was dire.
The once-mighty "Red Hare" mech that had dominated the Star Sea was long gone, even his prized "Star Right Arm" had lost its luster, turning a dull, bluish-gray, covered with shocking cracks.
His eyes were closed, his long, silvery-white hair scattered messily in the mud, his face as pale as a broken porcelain doll.
"Seventeen! Wake up!" Shen Qingqiu rushed over, cradling his head in her arms.
It was icy cold to the touch. The residual warmth of the core reactor after it shut down. [Warning: System severely damaged.]
[Energy: 0%]
[System Status: Forced Hibernation.]
No response.
He was like a wind-up doll, eerily quiet.
Shen Qingqiu's heart clenched.
She reached out a trembling finger to check his breath—though she knew he was a cyborg and didn't need to breathe, it was an instinctive fear.
Just then.
"Uh…ah…" A series of dragging, heavy footsteps came from the rain from all directions.
Shen Qingqiu looked up sharply.
By the flickering, crackling neon sign by the roadside, she could see her surroundings.
It was a narrow, filthy back alley. The walls were covered in messy graffiti and dried bloodstains.
And at the alley entrance, and in the abandoned stairwells on either side, countless swaying figures were gathering in this direction.
They wore tattered modern clothing, some in suits, others in nurses' uniforms.
But their skin was grayish-white, presenting a highly decayed, gigantic appearance. Their eyes had no pupils, only cloudy whites. Their mouths were open to an exaggerated angle, dripping black saliva.
Zombies.
Hundreds of zombies.
They smelled the blood of the living, the alluring aroma of higher-dimensional life.
Like sharks smelling fish, their previously sluggish movements suddenly became frenzied.
"Roar—!!!" The horde of zombies surged.
"So ugly." Shen Qingqiu looked at the unrecognizable monsters, a hint of physical disgust flashing in her eyes.
She subconsciously wanted to mobilize her spiritual power, or connect to the "Vermilion Bird's" firepower system.
However…
[Connection failed.]
[Spiritual power blocked.]
[Current world rules: Materialist technology (low magic).]
There is no spiritual energy here, no warships.
She was just a weak woman, powerless and helpless, trapped in the heart of the zombie horde, clutching a heavy "scrap metal" body.
A desperate situation?
Shen Qingqiu lowered her head, looking at Seventeen, who slept soundly in her arms.
Raindrops slid down his eyelashes, making him look so fragile, so helpless.
"Before, you were always the one protecting me."
Shen Qingqiu reached out and gently straightened his disheveled collar, wiping a speck of mud from his cheek.
Her movements were gentle and composed, as if the approaching monsters didn't exist.
"This time, it's my turn to protect you."
She pulled a strangely shaped silver pistol from the pocket of Seventeen's tattered trench coat.
It was the "particle beam pistol" they had stolen from the space pirates.
[Energy Remaining: 1%]
Only a few bullets left.
Shen Qingqiu stood up.
She didn't put Seventeen down, but instead wrapped him tightly in her large black trench coat. Then, gritting her teeth, she used all her strength to hoist the 1.9-meter-tall man onto her back.
Her body trembled, her knees buckled.
But her eyes were colder than the chilling wind of the rainy night.
"Want to eat us?" Shen Qingqiu held the gun in one hand, the other hand tightly supporting Seventeen's thigh.
She looked at the first zombie lunging at her, a chilling smile playing on her lips.
"You trash…you dare to challenge me?"
Zzz—!
A beam of eerie blue light shot from the gun.
It was a weapon from an advanced civilization; even 1% of its energy was enough to generate devastating heat.
The leading zombie in the suit had its head explode like a watermelon.
Not a scattering of flesh and blood, but direct vaporization.
The headless corpse lurched forward a few steps due to inertia, then collapsed.
"The first one." Shen Qingqiu counted coldly.
Carrying Seventeen on her back, she began a dance of death in the narrow alley.
She didn't fire randomly.
Each bullet had to precisely take the life of a monster.
Zzz! Zzz! Zzz!
Three shots, three headshots.
But there were too many zombies.
They trampled over the corpses of their companions, howling, crowding together like a gray mudslide, threatening to engulf this vibrant white figure.
Shen Qingqiu felt the weight on her back growing heavier and heavier.
That was Seventeen's weight, and also the weight of her life.
Her lungs began to burn, her legs felt like lead.
"Seventeen…you should lose weight."
She panted, joking in his ear, trying to wake him.
"If you don't wake up soon, your commander will be bitten into a sieve." The person on her back remained motionless.
Only that cold heart, pressed against her spine, vibrated faintly, almost imperceptibly.
Finally. The gun's energy was depleted.
Click.
The trigger was pulled, but there was only a hollow sound.
At this moment, the horde of zombies had closed to within three meters.
A zombie dressed in tattered overalls lunged forward, its blood-stained claws reaching for Shen Qingqiu's neck.
Shen Qingqiu had no time to dodge.
She whirled around, using her back (Seventeen's body) to block.
Because she knew that even in hibernation, Seventeen's nano-divine metal skeleton was not something these low-level monsters could bite through.
Clang!
The zombie's claws struck Seventeen's back, producing a metallic clang.
The claws snapped.
Using the momentum, Shen Qingqiu kicked the zombie in the knee, sending it flying.
But more zombies swarmed in.
Ten, twenty…
Countless rotting hands reached out, grabbing her clothes, seizing her ankles, trying to drag her into the stench-filled abyss.
"Get away!!" Shen Qingqiu roared.
She brandished her empty gun, smashing the eye socket of a zombie.
But she was also pulled to the ground by a giant zombie.
The two of them slammed into the mud.
Seventeen rolled to the side, his handsome face smeared with mud.
A zombie opened its massive jaws and bit down on Seventeen's neck!
"Don't touch him!!" Shen Qingqiu went mad.
She didn't know where the strength came from, but she lunged forward, using her arm to shield Seventeen's neck.
Thud.
Fangs pierced flesh.
Blood, warm, bright red human blood, gushed out instantly.
The excruciating pain made Shen Qingqiu's vision go black.
But she didn't back down.
She pulled out the hairpin with a backhand motion and plunged it into the zombie's temple.
The zombie fell.
But the smell of blood aroused all the surrounding monsters.
"Roar—!!!" All the zombies went berserk, surging forward like a tidal wave.
Shen Qingqiu knelt in the mud.
Looking at the twisted, rotting faces around her, she knew she had reached her limit.
She looked down at Seventeen beneath her.
He was still asleep, his brows slightly furrowed, seemingly having a restless dream.
Even in this hellish scene, he was still as beautiful as an angel.
"It seems… this time it's really over." Shen Qingqiu gave a bitter smile.
Her blood dripped down her arm, landing on Seventeen's pale lips.
"Seventeen." She leaned down, cupping his face in her hands, ignoring the claws that were about to tear her apart.
"If this is the end,"
"Then I want to… die kissing you."
She closed her eyes.
In the stench of death and despair, in the cold, rainy night,
she kissed him.
It was a kiss tinged with blood, despair, yet overflowing with boundless love.
Her tears mingled with the rain, falling between their lips.
Her blood seeped into his mouth.
It was the administrator's blood.
The highest-level biological key that had left its mark within him.
Boom—
The instant their lips touched.
A deep, muffled rumble suddenly echoed from the depths of Seventeen's previously lifeless chest.
Like a dormant star being reignited.
[High-purity bio-energy detected (administrator's blood).]
[System...forced restart.]
[Pain module: activated.]
[Anger level: MAX.]
Thump!
A powerful heartbeat sent shivers down Shen Qingqiu's spine.
The next second.
Seventeen opened her eyes.
It was no longer a warm purple.
But a deep crimson.
It was the color of violence, bloodlust, and destruction.
He saw it.
He saw her soaking wet, her arms dripping with blood.
He saw those hideous, rotting monsters, reaching out their filthy hands, trying to touch his god.
"Seeking…death."
The two words were squeezed out from between his teeth.
His voice was hoarse, yet carried the chill of hell.
BOOM—!!!
A terrifying shockwave erupted from the two of them.
It was a shockwave generated by the sheer force of flesh vibrating the air.
The innermost ring of zombies didn't even have time to react before being shattered by the shockwave.
Rotting flesh and black blood rained down.
Shen Qingqiu, sheltered in his arms, was unharmed.
She looked up in surprise.
She saw that Seventeen had already sat up.
His withered right arm, though still broken and tattered, suddenly glowed a blinding red light from its cracks.
He didn't stand up.
He remained seated in the mud, one arm around Shen Qingqiu, the other (his broken mechanical hand) reaching out towards the void.
[Xing Tian - Rage Form.]
Although he lacked an energy cannon and a lightsaber,
he possessed this body forged from divine metal.
He raised his hand and simply threw a punch at the tsunami-like horde of zombies before him.
Bang!
The air exploded.
The force of the punch transformed into a visible, transparent air cannon, carving a bloody path through the narrow alley.
All the zombies within a fifty-meter radius were reduced to a bloody pulp on the walls.
The world fell silent instantly.
Only the sound of rain and the clatter of falling zombie limbs remained.
Seventeen slowly withdrew his hand.
The red light in his eyes gradually faded, returning to a deep purple. He lowered his head, looking at the blood-soaked woman in his arms.
His gaze fell on the deep, bone-revealing bite mark on her arm.
His pupils trembled violently.
"Qingqiu…"
His voice trembled, filled with a painful urge to destroy the world yet a profound helplessness.
"I…I'm too late."
He cradled her injured arm.
The hand that had once shattered stars was now handled with extreme care, afraid to even touch the wound.
"It's not too late." Shen Qingqiu nestled against him, her face radiating a deep sense of peace despite the pain and cold sweat streaming down her face.
"You're awake."
"That's enough."
She reached out her uninjured hand and touched his face.
"Welcome to Hell, my knight." Seventeen took her hand and kissed it.
He looked up, surveying the zombies still lingering in the distance, too afraid to approach.
That look made even the mindless monsters instinctively shrink back.
"This isn't hell." Seventeen picked up Shen Qingqiu and stood up.
He stood tall in the rain, like an unshakeable mountain.
"As long as I'm here."
"This is...your palace."
He strode forward, stepping over the corpses strewn across the ground, towards the alleyway entrance.
Each step trembled with the earth.
A horde of falling corpses, an embrace awakens.
That night, this dead city welcomed a true...Grim Reaper.