Sheng Xia tightened her right hand around the baton, while her left hand continuously gathered droplets of rain.
The heavy downpour provided her with an endless supply of water, allowing her to draw upon it at will.
A water sphere the size of a basketball constantly shifted and changed shape in her palm.
Sensing Sheng Xia’s emotional change, Jinbao quietly crouched on her shoulder. Its golden eyes watched the Blood Red Leopard Beast with full vigilance.
The Blood Red Leopard Beast was fast, had a powerful bite, and overwhelming attack strength. The former Sheng Xia had once been completely powerless before it, but now things were different.
Watching its bloodied, ferocious face, Sheng Xia remained utterly calm. She knew this was the moment to end her nightmare.
As long as she killed this Blood Red Leopard Beast, she would be freed from the original host’s lingering psychological shadow.
Controlling the water sphere, Sheng Xia did not retreat but instead advanced, sprinting forward in an S-shaped path toward the beast.
The Blood Red Leopard Beast did not expect a human to be so bold. It roared and lunged at her.
Sheng Xia followed the direction of its attack and dropped backward. At the same time, the water in her hand instantly transformed into sharp, thin water arrows that shot directly toward the beast’s four eyes.
In her other hand, the baton had already disappeared, replaced by a sharp dagger. The blade swept across the beast’s lower abdomen as she passed.
The Blood Red Leopard Beast’s weak points were its eyes and lower abdomen.
However, its hide was thick and tough. With Sheng Xia’s current strength, ordinary blades could only barely break its skin.
Only the eyes were different. At such close range, her water arrows struck repeatedly with extreme precision, each one hitting its target.
In an instant, the Blood Red Leopard Beast was blinded, letting out continuous roars of pain.
Sheng Xia dodged its frenzied movements while continuing to form water arrows, striking again and again into its eyes.
With her current insufficient strength and lack of powerful weapons, she could only rely on blinding it and attacking through its wounds.
The eyes were connected to the brain. Sheng Xia showed no mercy, relentlessly driving water arrows deeper into its head.
She even tried to control its blood, but her ability was still too weak to succeed.
Driven into near madness, the beast was bombarded for five minutes straight, enduring thousands of attacks before it finally collapsed to the ground.
Sheng Xia also fell to her knees, completely exhausted, gasping for breath.
Seeing the beast fall, she forced herself to stand and, using her last bit of strength, raised a kitchen knife and hacked toward its neck.
Strike after strike, Sheng Xia was covered in blood, as if possessed.
Only when her hands began to spasm and could no longer grip the handle did she stop. At that point, the beast had already been decapitated and was completely dead.
Sheng Xia sat there in a daze, kneeling on the ground. It was impossible to tell whether the liquid on her face was rain or tears.
She had done it.
She had killed the Blood Red Leopard Beast.
All at once, she felt her body lighten, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Her mind became clear again.
After calming herself, Sheng Xia stored the beast’s corpse into her spatial storage.
At the bus station, she found an off-road vehicle with a full tank and keys inside, and drove onto the highway.
The vehicle smoothly passed through the ETC toll gate and headed toward Xifeng City.
For Jinbao, who was riding in a car for the first time, everything was thrilling. It bounced excitedly inside the vehicle. Sheng Xia ignored it, using one hand to drive and the other to eat bread to restore her strength.
She turned on the radio. Since mobile networks were down, she could only hope the frequency broadcasts would provide useful information.
Half an hour after Sheng Xia entered the highway, Kangcheng fell.
The local armed forces could no longer withstand the growing number of beasts. With no resistance left, the monsters poured into the city. They advanced without restraint, killing anyone they encountered. The once peaceful and beautiful Kangcheng had turned into a living hell.
At the same time, Gu Ziyan, who was flying toward Kangcheng in an armed helicopter, was overwhelmed with anxiety. He had just received satellite communication reports that Kangcheng had been attacked by a beast tide an hour ago, with civilians desperately calling for help everywhere.
But it would still take him more than an hour to arrive.
He could no longer reach Sheng Xia by phone. He had no idea how the girl was doing now.
In the darkness, Gu Ziyan pushed the helicopter to its maximum speed. The others on board remained silent, enduring the turbulence, but their curiosity about the person he was personally going to retrieve was undeniable.
Just what kind of girl could make the direct heir of the highest commander of the Huaxia Federation personally come to pick her up?
An hour later, Gu Ziyan finally reached the skies above Kangcheng. But the moment he saw the scene below, his heart sank violently.
Not only him, but all six others on the helicopter turned solemn, fists clenched tightly.
Every street in Kangcheng was filled with various beasts, slaughtering civilians without discrimination, sparing no one.
Half of the city’s infrastructure had been destroyed. Some beasts even piled up corpses they could not finish in parks and squares, forming small mountains, while they continued hunting.
“Stop standing there! Open fire!” Gu Ziyan roared, immediately operating the machine gun on the helicopter and opening fire without hesitation.
The others quickly followed, grabbing their weapons and shooting down at the beasts.
But the beasts were massive and heavily armored. It took more than a dozen bullets to kill one. Against hundreds or thousands of them, their efforts were negligible.
After the initial barrage, Gu Ziyan realized the beasts’ weak points were their eyes and heads, while their hearts were difficult to locate precisely.
“Shoot the head and eyes! Aim carefully and don’t waste bullets!” he ordered while simultaneously reporting the situation to Yanjing.
The moment Kangcheng was attacked, the nation had already received the alert and dispatched nearby armed forces for rescue. However, due to communication loss, the situation had been unclear.
Now that Gu Ziyan’s report had arrived, the government immediately increased military deployment, determined to eliminate the beast tide in Kangcheng.
Unfortunately, the attack on Kangcheng was only the beginning. Across the world, black holes and dimensional rifts erupted like geysers, releasing countless beasts and monsters.
Leaders worldwide were forced to prioritize defending the most populated and defensible cities, while immediately beginning large-scale fortification efforts.
Gu Ziyan also received new orders from headquarters: he was instructed to return to Yanjing immediately to oversee defensive construction.
His heart was filled with bitterness. He had already flown over both the Gu residence and Sheng Xia’s home. Both had been destroyed, clearly already visited by beasts.
He wanted to search personally, but his team held him back tightly.
“Boss, the ground is full of beasts. You can’t go down!”
“Yeah, Boss, judging from the situation, the beasts have been inside for a while. That girl might have already escaped!”
“Boss, we are soldiers. We must obey orders. Yanjing needs you now. You must go back!”