Chapter 20: Unstoppable Adaptation

Lin Ye’s shout finally jolted the stunned group awake.

The waves of flesh on both sides had already crossed the walls of black fire. Countless lumps piled over one another, pressing toward the center of the street. The broad passage his sword had opened was visibly narrowing again.

He had no time to wait for them to react at their leisure.

He put away the black greatsword, caught Shen Qingyue around the waist, and tucked her against his side.

Black flames burst backward from beneath his feet.

As for the others, he glanced back once and paid them no further attention.

He’d given the warning and opened a path. They’d insisted on using their powers against Neoboras despite his attempts to stop them. He couldn’t carry them out one by one.

Some people were determined to die, however good the advice they received.

They could listen or not.

The remaining Bureau members finally recovered from their shock. Some immediately retreated along the path Lin Ye had opened, while others still tried to hold back the flesh closing in from both sides.

One supernatural attack after another struck the tide.

The first few were remarkably effective. Fire, frost, and metal blades easily tore great masses of flesh apart. But after the same attacks had been used a few times, their effectiveness rapidly diminished.

The creatures were adapting to their abilities.

More terrifying still was being touched by Neoboras.

During the retreat, an investigator’s arm was grazed by a lump’s teeth. The wound was only as long as his thumb and barely bled. After he’d run a few steps, a bloodshot eye opened inside it.

Within a few breaths, eyes covered his arm, neck, and face. He clawed at them in terror, calling to his companions for help, but his voice was soon replaced by dense squeaking.

His body split down the center of his chest, revealing only layers of sharp teeth opening and closing within.

The next moment he turned and lunged at the nearest companion.

Fang Chi watched several more team members swallowed by the tide and finally gave up trying to organize a defense.

He kicked away an approaching lump and pointed after Lin Ye. “Stop fighting! It gets tougher the more you hit it! Follow Lin Ye—run!”

Zhao Yue grabbed a member still using an ability. “Put your powers away! Everyone retreat!”

Liang Hong wrapped vines around two injured investigators. He’d run only a few steps when pursuing flesh bit down on the vines. He had to sever his own creations and let the thick tendrils be swallowed.

Screams continued behind them.

The team had started with more than twenty people. By the time they escaped the flesh-covered block, fewer than ten could still keep up.

…

They finally stopped beside an abandoned square far from the town center.

Fang Chi leaned against a wall and slid to the ground, gasping. Song Wenshan braced his hands on his knees, breathing just as raggedly, but kept his hearing ability active to guard against pursuit.

Liang Hong hadn’t fully recovered from his earlier injuries. After the escape, he was frighteningly pale. He sat against a broken streetlamp, chest heaving, unable to get out a complete sentence for some time.

Most surprisingly, Zhou Chengan had made it too.

He had no powers and no one had specifically protected him. Surviving the tide owed something to good luck, and probably to Neoboras having shown little interest in him from the start.

Now he sat collapsed, legs weak, face bloodless and a large wet patch on his trousers.

At least he was alive.

Shen Qingyue was in the best condition. Lin Ye had protected her in his arms the whole way; apart from her disordered hair, she barely had dust on her.

“Young Master Lin, are you hurt?”

Once on the ground, she immediately circled him to check. Only after seeing no wounds on the black armor did she relax a little.

“What could happen to me? Those lumps ate plenty, though. I doubt they’ll need dinner tonight.”

Lin Ye dismissed the armor covering his body and looked back toward the route they’d taken.

Neoboras hadn’t followed.

The masses had pursued them for only two blocks. Once the group stopped using powers, the creatures slowed noticeably, then slipped back underground and into walls and gaps in buildings.

In less than a minute, White Stone Town was quiet again.

If not for the destruction left along the way and the loss of nearly half the investigators, everything that had happened might have seemed a nightmare.

The survivors gradually turned their attention to Lin Ye.

No one regarded him as an Upper City young master here to pad his résumé anymore.

Leaving aside how he recognized the strange flesh, the power he’d just displayed exceeded everyone present’s understanding.

One strike had destroyed an entire street and cut through the vast tide. The lingering black fire had even formed two walls of flame tens of meters high.

He couldn’t be low-Sequence!

Sequence 6?

Impossible.

Sequence 6 wasn’t nearly enough for an attack on that scale from one person.

Sequence 5, perhaps even Sequence 4?

Several Bureau leaders exchanged disbelieving looks.

Liang Hong’s feelings were especially complicated.

Looking at Lin Ye’s back and remembering his earlier, relentlessly vicious words, he felt his face grow hotter.

Would someone like this need family connections to pad his record?

How ridiculous that he’d taken him for an incapable rich young master and wanted to teach him a lesson in public, make him kneel and admit fault.

Now, Lin Ye merely burning him with black fire counted as restraint.

Liang Hong lowered his head, red with shame, unable even to meet his eyes.

Zhao Yue was the first to step forward.

After what had happened, he was even more respectful toward Lin Ye, his address noticeably cautious. “Mr. Lin, thank you for intervening. Otherwise, I’m afraid none of us would have escaped.”

He glanced toward the town center and lowered his voice. “What exactly were those lumps?”

Lin Ye took a deep breath, his face showing no relief.

“Go back.”

Zhao Yue paused. “Withdraw now?”

“What else? Stay and give them another course?” Lin Ye frowned at the group. “This isn’t something you can handle. Forget you—even I can’t handle it.”

He wasn’t making an excuse.

At present, he truly had no way to eliminate Neoboras completely.

He’d used the Black Knight throughout rather than his own raw stats because he feared the flesh would adapt too quickly.

With his max-level stats, one punch might shatter half of White Stone Town. But if even one cell survived, Neoboras’s progress toward adapting to his terrifying strength would increase enormously.

More importantly, the adaptation would be shared with its true body in Paradise Lost and every split body scattered across the world.

Lin Ye didn’t dare imagine how terrifying Neoboras in Paradise Lost might become after taking one of his punches.

He’d already used the black flames twice.

Neoboras was adapting to the Black Knight’s power. He estimated he had at most two effective attacks left, each dealing less damage than the last.

Still, Neoboras in its infancy wasn’t invincible. As far as he knew, quite a few people could completely destroy it at this stage. That was precisely why its true body didn’t dare leave the forbidden zone and instead sent scattered pieces of flesh out to develop in secret.

Hearing his tone, Song Wenshan grew more solemn. “We can withdraw, but afterward we must submit a complete report to the city branches. At the very least, we need to know its danger level and what level of reinforcements the Bureau should dispatch.”

“Right.” Fang Chi pushed himself up against the wall. “We can’t just write that the flesh adapts to powers. Headquarters would send another batch of Sequence 6 or 5 investigators at most, and they’d just be walking to their deaths.”

Lin Ye was silent for a moment, eyes narrowing.

“Then report it as quickly as you can. A few days from now, who knows what it might grow into?”

Looking into White Stone Town, he sounded more serious than ever. “Tell your superiors this isn’t an ordinary anomaly, or corruption left by some supernatural who lost control.”

“It’s a small part of the evil god Neoboras. But don’t worry—it’s only in its infancy. It’s still a long way from being fully grown.”

“An evil god?”

Several faces changed at once.

Zhou Chengan had just been congratulating himself on surviving. At those words, his body began to shake again.

Zhao Yue asked with difficulty, “What Sequence level do we need?”

Lin Ye gave a cold laugh. “Don’t bother sending rookies at Sequence 4 or 5. However many you send, they’ll only give Neoboras more abilities to eat. To deal with this, you need at least Sequence 3, and more than one.”

The square fell silent.

They exchanged looks, unable to hide their shock.

Sequence 3.

Those were powerhouses who truly belonged to legend. Even the Bureau, the world’s largest organization of supernaturals, had only a handful across all branches and headquarters.

Any one of them could suppress several cities or change the situation in an empire. They would never ordinarily be dispatched for a routine mission.

Yet Lin Ye was telling them this one required several Sequence 3s working together at minimum.

Liang Hong’s heart sank.

Having seen that strike firsthand, he understood that Lin Ye might not have been exaggerating when he called Sequence 4 and 5 supernaturals “rookies.”

Fang Chi gritted his teeth and nodded gravely. “I understand. If I make it back alive, I’ll report it immediately at the highest clearance.”

He looked at the empty streets, his tone becoming more cautious. “But how do we get out now? The flesh has occupied the way we came, and our vehicles are outside town. If we keep using powers to travel, we might draw it out again.”

Lin Ye gave him a strange look. “Walk back. What else? Do you want me to take each of you home and charge a fare?”

Fang Chi was momentarily speechless. “We won’t be attacked if we walk?”

“As long as you don’t use powers, Neoboras won’t bother with you. It has no brain and no hobby of killing people. It’s only interested in powers it can devour.”

He pointed down another road leading away from the center. “The flesh has gone dormant again. Take the long way back. Don’t touch the buildings or use abilities recklessly, and if your luck isn’t too bad, you’ll get out.”

Fang Chi visibly relaxed.

He was about to call the others to their feet when Song Wenshan raised a hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

Turning his ear toward the other end of the street, he gradually looked surprised. “There are people over there.”

Everyone followed his gaze.

Several hundred meters away, indistinct human figures stood beside a leaning building. At that distance, in the dim light, the group could make out only their silhouettes.

“Survivors?”

Zhao Yue brightened and waved immediately. “We’re from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs! Don’t be afraid. Stay where you are and wait for us to come over!”

Two surviving investigators eagerly started forward.

Finding people in this town might finally give them a clue to White Stone Town’s fate.

But Song Wenshan’s expression suddenly changed.

“Don’t go over there!”

He thrust out a hand, his voice nearly breaking. “They’re raising guns!”

Before he’d finished, flashes lit the distance.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Dense gunfire tore through the air from the figures’ position, mixed with the cracks of sniper rifles.

The two investigators at the front had no time to react before bullets pierced them repeatedly.