He needed to personally test the potion’s effectiveness. This would determine its price.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Long Ming picked up Death’s Fang and sliced his left palm. Blood welled up, accompanied by a sharp sting of pain.
He then grabbed a powerful healing injection and administered it into his arm.
A moment later, something incredible happened.
The wound on his palm began to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"Great. This is a sure thing!"
Watching the wound heal, a satisfied smile spread across Long Ming’s face.
...
Under the cover of night.
An ugly, fist-sized creature resembling a mosquito silently flew through the window of an old building. Its body was covered in misshapen red growths, and it had two pairs of dark-red legs and a pair of thin wings.
「An hour later.」
TAP TAP~
The sound of footsteps echoed from the stairwell.
Long Ming’s neighbor, Zhou Hao, appeared. His face was flushed, a cigarette dangled from his lips, and he hummed a little tune as he climbed the stairs. He started down the hallway toward his apartment.
At this moment, he saw a young man wearing a white shirt, black leather shoes, and a watch on his wrist, standing motionless in front of a doorway.
Zhou Hao looked at the man’s back, then recognized him and greeted him with a smile.
"Well, if it isn’t Xiaoli. It’s late, why aren’t you home? What are you doing here?"
However, the man didn’t answer. He remained motionless, facing the door.
"Oh, I get it! Waiting for Widow Wang to open the door for you, huh? When are you going to hook a brother up?"
Zhou Hao chuckled, pulling a cigarette from his pack and offering it to him.
This Xiaoli was not only handsome but also a smooth talker; he’d hit on practically every girl in the building.
But Xiaoli remained motionless.
"Why aren’t you saying anything?"
Zhou Hao chuckled and reached out, patting Xiaoli’s shoulder.
Xiaoli’s body trembled. He whipped around, revealing a deformed face covered in red pustules, and lunged at Zhou Hao with sharp claws.
THUD~
In an instant, Xiaoli tackled Zhou Hao to the ground.
Xiaoli opened his mouth, revealing a long tongue and sharp teeth, and tried to bite Zhou Hao.
Terrified, Zhou Hao desperately pushed against Xiaoli’s jaw and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Help!"
Hearing the commotion, neighbors started opening their doors and shouting.
"What’s going on!"
But when they saw Xiaoli, now a mutated monster, wrestling with Zhou Hao on the floor...
"AHH~"
...the neighbors screamed in terror.
Inside his rental apartment.
Hearing the chaos outside, Long Ming was startled. He opened his door to take a look.
When he saw Zhou Hao pinned down by the mutated Xiaoli, his heart leaped into his throat.
Long Ming instantly spun around and dashed back into his living room. He grabbed the Black Shadow Automatic Rifle, rushed back out, aimed it at Xiaoli’s head, and decisively pulled the trigger!
BANG~
The loud blast echoed throughout the entire apartment building.
The bullet struck Xiaoli square in the head, sending a spray of blood everywhere.
The mutated Xiaoli immediately stopped moving.
Zhou Hao took the opportunity to kick Xiaoli away, then scrambled to his feet in terror and ran to Long Ming’s side.
Long Ming kept his gun trained on Xiaoli’s fallen body.
Just then, the headshot Xiaoli began to twitch and unsteadily climb back to his feet.
"You’ve got to be kidding me. He’s not dead?"
Zhou Hao and the other onlookers stared wide-eyed, their faces etched with disbelief.
Long Ming’s heart sank. ’So the head isn’t the weak spot.’ He decisively aimed at Xiaoli’s heart and pulled the trigger again.
BANG~
The bullet hit Xiaoli in the heart. He staggered back two steps but then steadied himself, still not dead.
After seeing this, Long Ming suppressed his surprise and calmly observed the mutated Xiaoli.
Suddenly, Long Ming noticed a slight bulge in the creature’s abdomen. However, its clothes obscured a clear view.
He decisively aimed for the bulge and fired!
BANG~
The mutated Xiaoli let out a piercing shriek and collapsed heavily, dark red blood pouring from its abdomen.
"It’s okay. It’s over now."
Long Ming confirmed Xiaoli was dead before speaking in a low voice.
"Phew, we’re safe!"
The neighbors present all breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Hao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said to Long Ming.
"Brother Long, thank you so much! If it weren’t for you, I’d be a goner today."
"Don’t worry about it!"
"But... how do you have a gun? Holy shit, don’t tell me you’re a gun hoarder?"
"I’m in the reserves. My firearm is registered."
Long Ming explained with a sigh.
"Oh, I see."
Hearing Long Ming’s words, Zhou Hao gave an embarrassed laugh.
Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps approached. Two patrolling guards armed with guns rushed up the stairs. Seeing the corridor filled with onlookers and a corpse on the floor, they seemed to relax slightly, then one spoke.
"Make way!"
"Oh, thank goodness you’re here! We were scared to death. That guy, Xiaoli, he just went crazy, turned into a monster."
A middle-aged woman in pajamas, phone in hand, said agitatedly.
"We understand. Who shot it?"
An older man wearing a bulletproof vest and holding an automatic rifle—Tang Kun—spoke up.
"I did."
Long Ming admitted it without hesitation.
Spotting the wristband on Long Ming’s hand, Tang Kun asked.
"And you are?"
"I’m from the Third Legion’s logistics unit."
Long Ming deliberately replied vaguely.
Hearing that Long Ming was from the Third Legion, Tang Kun nodded and then said.
"Good work. We’ll take it from here."
"Alright."
Long Ming nodded.
"Alright everyone, disperse! Nothing more to see here."
Tang Kun shouted to the crowd.
"That was terrifying."
...
The crowd of neighbors returned to their apartments, murmuring amongst themselves.
Long Ming also went back into his apartment and shut the door.
He went to his bedroom, sat down at his computer, and opened a forum to search for posts about similar incidents.
His search returned over ten thousand posts.
Long Ming scrolled through them one by one, his expression growing darker with each post.
Starting the night before last, monster attacks had been occurring one after another in various Sanctuary Cities.
The monsters varied in size, shape, and even methods of attack.
But they all shared a single name: Blood Breath Beast. No other specific information was currently known.
All that was known was that these Blood Breath Beasts were extremely dangerous. The smaller, parasitic ones were especially difficult to guard against.
After reading this, Long Ming silently stood up, walked to the living room, and put on his concealable body armor.
He wasn’t afraid of the Blood Breath Beasts, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Even after putting it on, Long Ming still felt uneasy. He slipped the Viper automatic pistol into his pocket to keep on his person, stowing everything else away. Then he returned to his computer and continued browsing the forums.
At this moment he saw a popular post about Mountain City Mountain.