Chapter 352: The Others

These people had failed to understand one thing from the very beginning: the moment Zhang Wenda became 03, he was no longer a single person. A decapitation strike was completely useless against him.

Regardless of his physical body’s state, all creations from his Inner World could act freely. They were all independent, each with its own thoughts, yet simultaneously a part of Zhang Wenda.

This was especially true now. Having completely broken free from the main body’s control, Red’s most primitive, savage nature was thoroughly unleashed, driven by the pursuit of the ultimate thrill of the kill.

Aboard the swaying jeep, a sharp scythe swung down, slicing through flesh and scraping against bone, eliciting bloodcurdling screams. Eyes were gouged, hearts were ripped out, throats were slit.

Fingers gripping weapons were bitten off one by one. A stark-white spinal column was ripped out, and Red greedily slurped the intoxicating, translucent marrow from within. It was impossible to tell where its own color ended and the blood began, as it was now dyed completely crimson. The pungent stench of blood began to spread across the vast, empty expanse of concrete.

These people could never have imagined that Zhang Wenda, as 03, was not at his most dangerous under normal circumstances. He was at his most powerful when Red was completely unbridled.

With a low HUM, a beam of green light shot toward it, but Red instinctively raised half a corpse to block it. Red lowered the body—now rapidly turning to metal—and glanced toward the other two vehicles.

The men were clearly terrified by this spectacle, their faces turning ashen. But they were no ordinary people; they immediately drew a variety of weapons and began to fight back.

An assortment of bullets and energy beams rained down on Red from both vehicles. Under attack, Red stomped its feet. The immense force instantly flipped the jeep—now devoid of life—and it launched itself like an afterimage toward one of the other vehicles.

The next second, a swirling purple orb was thrown its way. Red instantly felt the world invert, its body defying the laws of gravity as it began to fall rapidly upward, toward the sky.

It kicked off the thought-cluster in mid-air to stabilize itself, but a defensive grenade was immediately tossed in its path, exploding instantly.

Clearly, they had come fully prepared for this kind of trouble. Faced with Red’s assault, they deployed a rotating arsenal of weapons, some modern, some bizarre.

Furthermore, the men were well-coordinated, clearly possessing extensive combat experience and formal training. But while their tactics were sufficient for an ambush, thinking they could face Red head-on was a pipe dream.

After a few exchanges, Red seized an opportunity. In the split second before a grenade detonated, it hurled it right back.

To evade the blast, the SUV farther back swerved violently. The people inside lost their footing, and their suppressive fire immediately weakened by half.

Red seized this opening in an instant. With a maniacal laugh like a mandrill’s shriek, it began a new round of slaughter. The sound of tearing flesh drowned out the roar of the engines. No matter how powerful their weapons, as long as their bodies were made of flesh and blood, they were as fragile as tofu before Red.

Seeing this, one of them hurriedly shouted, “Wait! I know what you’re looking for! I have intel on other Third Line members!” The next second, however, the lower half of his face was torn clean off.

If the normal Zhang Wenda would have weighed the pros and cons, the Red of this moment considered none of it. It only wanted to create a river of blood.

It was now driven entirely by instinct, seeking the ultimate ecstasy of butchery, maximizing its victims’ suffering.

Some, in their despair, tried to jump from the vehicle and run, but the “red” within their own bodies had already been stolen away, leaving them without a shred of motivation to flee.

Just as a mist of blood erupted over that vehicle, Red poked its head out from the carnage to look at the last car. It was then that Blue, who had been standing behind Zhang Wenda, finally arrived, belatedly riding in on the Youth Palace.

It had been focused on figuring out how to free Zhang Wenda and had paid no attention to the fight. It never expected Red to create such a bloodbath in such a short amount of time.

The blue rabbit, propping up the metal form of Zhang Wenda, shouted down, “Don’t kill them all! They’re useful!”

But Red turned a deaf ear. At this moment, not even Zhang Wenda’s safety could compare to the pleasure of the kill.

Seeing that the four people in the last vehicle were about to suffer the same fate as their companions, Blue grabbed Zhang Wenda’s metal statue and hurled it down at the car, then forcibly swapped places with the red monster below.

The rabbit pressed a furry paw onto one of the men’s faces while raising its right paw overhead, catching the descending statue of Zhang Wenda.

In that same instant, the rabbit’s transference ability activated. The white-gold metallic sheen on Zhang Wenda’s body rapidly receded as he returned to flesh and blood, while the man pinned by the rabbit’s paw rapidly turned to metal.

The sky suddenly darkened. Red plummeted from above like a great eagle, the shadow of its scythe falling across the remaining enemies’ necks.

Just as they were about to be decapitated, the now-restored Zhang Wenda quickly looked up and shouted at the diving Red, “Stop.”

The scythe’s trajectory instantly shifted from their necks to their arms. Amid a string of agonized screams, three severed arms tumbled to the ground, rolling across the concrete after being crushed by the jeep’s tires.

The blood-soaked tires slowly rolled to a halt. As the engine’s roar sputtered and died, the bloody slaughter finally drew to a close.

Amid the pained groans of the survivors, Hu Maomao arrived and joined Zhang Wenda.

Meeting Hu Maomao’s concerned gaze, Zhang Wenda shook his head. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. I’m 03, after all. You think I’d really let a bunch of nobodies get the drop on me?”

Then he looked at the men in the car. “I just never expected the allies we were looking for to be a bunch of guys like this.”

Hu Maomao whipped her head around to glare at the three survivors, her eyes filled with hatred. She raised a hand, and their groans of pain instantly escalated into shrieks as they clutched their heads with their remaining arms.

She could have never imagined that the rally signal she had tracked with such great difficulty was a fraud—a trap designed specifically for members of the Third Line who could read the secret code.

Not only had she almost fallen for it herself, but she had nearly gotten Zhang Wenda killed.

‘Zhang Wenda was entrusted to my care by the late Biaozi,’ she thought. ‘If he had died because of me, I don’t know how I could ever face my old friend’s questions in the afterlife.’

“Alright, let’s get down to business,” Zhang Wenda said, looking at the three survivors. “If you drive them insane, how are we supposed to find out who’s hunting the last of the Third Line?”