The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 91

Even after undergoing aberrant changes, a monster’s body still largely obeyed the structures and instincts of a living creature.

At the moment when Zhang E was most likely to let down her guard, two black shadows dropped from the rafters.

Bright blades flashed once in the darkness.

One of them thrust straight at Zhang E’s heart from behind.

The other swung his saber at the fleshy tube between her abdomen and Prince Rui.

The first blade sank three inches deep, its point piercing Zhang E’s heart. Just as its wielder tried to twist the hilt and shred the organ, the saber jammed against the plate-like bone armor growing across her back.

Even with her heart pierced, Zhang E suffered far less than they had expected.

What made her throw back her head and howl was the slash to the fleshy tube.

The blow came so quickly that the tube connecting Zhang E to Prince Rui was severed cleanly in two.

Zhang E let out an agonized shriek. Her lips split into four petals, exposing the pink membrane within. It resembled a pink flower made of flesh, except that every petal was densely covered in tiny white hook-shaped teeth.

One half of the severed tube remained lodged in Prince Rui’s navel. The other sprayed pale blue mucus like a ruptured hose. Round egg sacs spilled from Zhang E’s abdomen along with the fluid.

Prince Rui sat dumbly on the table with his legs spread, letting the mucus splatter all over him. Two springy eggs even bounced off his forehead.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang E—wounded in two places—wrenched herself around. Sharp nails sprang from her fingers like a cat’s claws and swept toward her two attackers.

“Careful.” The tall man who had severed the tube dodged backward and warned, “Outside.”

The person behind Zhang E reacted just as quickly.

The two shadows retreated from the cramped room one after the other.

Zhang E lowered her head. The eggs strewn across the floor were gradually dimming, their sheen fading away. She raised her face and gave a grief-stricken cry.

“My children—”

Abandoning Prince Rui, she chased after the two shadows.

With every step, her body twisted and swelled. The gray-white bones inside her grew and expanded with astonishing speed, while her once fair, tender flesh shriveled as though dried by the wind.

By the time she reached the door, she had become a gigantic, corpse-like monster nine feet tall.

The narrow doorframe blocked her path. She swept out both hands, tearing the wooden door apart as though it were brittle paper.

A great hole opened in the room, and exceptionally clear moonlight poured inside.

Prince Rui sat in a filthy daze on the boundary between light and darkness, half a fleshy tube still dangling from his navel. To his left, countless flayed corpses hung upside down from the ceiling in the gloom. To his right lay moonlight as silvery as mercury.

Beneath that moonlight, the half-transformed Zhang E faced two people.

One tall and one short, they stood shoulder to shoulder under the moon. They were Shen Yan and Zhao Li.

Prince Rui had never imagined that the sight of those two would one day move him so deeply.

He opened his mouth, but his tears fell before he could speak.

“Shen… Shen…”

As he choked out the name, a hand reached from behind and clamped over his mouth. It dragged him sideways, and two more people rushed over to support him. Together, they hauled his bare-bottomed figure away at a run beneath the moon.

It was Tan Ying and the others who had arrived as reinforcements.

*[New Quest: Children. She wants to give birth to healthy children and turn this world into their dining hall and breeding nest. For all living beings beneath Heaven, stop this terrifying mother.]*

The quest appeared just as Zhao Li saw the agile Tan Ying hauling Prince Rui away.

He was sobbing his heart out while letting his bird fly free beneath the moon.

Zhao Li thought she ought to draw this classic scene later and send it to his sweetheart, Zhao Yaoguang. Given how desperately that woman cared about appearances, she would probably faint from crying.

“Pfft.”

The thought made Zhao Li laugh aloud. A moment later, she felt Shen Yan’s sharp sidelong glare.

“Pay attention!” Shen Yan frowned, his eyes fixed on Zhang E.

At a time like this, how could this girl still have the leisure to look at that filthy thing?

“Yes, sir!” Zhao Li immediately focused.

Zhang E prowled ten paces away. Torn strips of red gauze still clung to her swollen gray-white body, and her eyes had become grayish-yellow compound eyes.

She glared venomously at Shen Yan, the man who had killed her children. At the same time, she stretched out her neck and licked the wound on the fleshy tube with a long tongue. With a nauseating wriggle, the tube retracted into her navel.

Then her clawed foot pushed off the ground, and she charged straight at Shen Yan.

“Careful.”

The nine-foot monster hurtled toward them with both arms spread, the claws on all ten fingers as sharp as daggers. They swept through the air with a vicious whistle; even the lightest graze would tear away a strip of flesh.

Shen Yan and Zhao Li dodged to either side.

Zhang E’s claws struck the ground and gouged several deep furrows into it.

She ignored Zhao Li, who had stabbed her through the back, and fixed her gaze on Shen Yan.

“Give me back my children.”

Her voice trembled slightly. She sounded exactly like a mother overcome with grief.

Still crying out, she raked both claws at Shen Yan.

Shen Yan had trained in martial arts since childhood. The hem of his Flying Fish Robe snapped around him as he leaped and twisted aside with the agility of a leopard, his long saber knocking Zhang E’s claws away.

Ignored behind her, Zhao Li seized every opening to chop at Zhang E.

But insect-like armor had grown across the monster’s back and the nape of her neck. Even a full-force strike left only a white mark and jarred Zhao Li’s hand painfully.

Zhang E moved faster and faster. Beads of sweat finally appeared on Shen Yan’s forehead.

Neither of them had managed to inflict any meaningful damage on her transformed body.

Anxiety rising, Zhao Li stared at Zhang E’s back. A vicious idea suddenly took hold of her. She pulled a water pouch from behind her waist and, without wasting time on its stopper, tossed it into the air and slashed it open. The liquid inside poured over her long saber.

The scent of Sichuan chinaberry fruit spread through the air.

Zhang E’s movements faltered for an instant.

Both Zhao Li and Shen Yan caught it.

Shen Yan thrust his saber into Zhang E’s right eye. The blade churned the eyeball to pieces, reducing it to glistening fluid.

Following close behind him, Zhao Li delivered a thrust of breathtaking viciousness.

Her saber, drenched in Sichuan chinaberry water, plunged straight into the orifice at Zhang E’s rear.

No matter how much bone armor covered her body, that place was still lined with soft, fleshy membrane.

The blade entered through the opening and drove deep into her gut. Soft, pulsing organs tangled and tore beneath its edge.

Zhang E threw back her head and screamed.

The cry was filled with terrible agony. Pale blue blood gushed from her lower body in wave after wave, soaking the ground.

Zhang E wheeled around. Her blade-like claws, heavy with hatred, raked toward Zhao Li.

Zhao Li had meant to twist the saber and worsen the damage, but with the monster’s fury abruptly turning on her, she hastily released the weapon and jumped back.

She was still one step too slow. Zhang E’s claws grazed her ribs and scraped away a strip of flesh.

At first, Shen Yan was puzzled when Zhang E suddenly turned. Then he saw the long saber protruding at an angle from her backside.

The corner of his eye twitched. Without needing to think, he instinctively kicked the hilt with all his strength.

Most of the saber had still been outside her body. Now it vanished inside, and its point burst from Zhang E’s upper abdomen.

Howling, she could no longer remain upright.

She staggered toward the room that resembled a slaughterhouse, spilling great quantities of blood with every step.

At last, she curled in upon herself and collapsed onto her side.