The zombies were either impatient, or their commander was. More and more zombies poured out from the spatial projectors, concealed behind an invisibility shield. Soon, many four-armed Shuras appeared. Bai Cha swung her Muramasa faster and faster, her afterimages a dense circle, shredding anything they touched like pork legs in a grinder.
“Still not coming out?” Bai Cha frowned, puzzled. She deliberately slowed her pace, as if waiting for something.
After another two minutes, the zombies emerging from the spatial projectors were no longer ordinary Shuras, but four-armed Shuras. Another minute passed, and the spatial projectors even paused for a few seconds, ceasing to release zombies.
*Could this be it? Is this all?*
Not to mention how many failed experiments those scrupulous people had created, if this was their trump card, it was rather pathetic. If she hadn't shown up, this plane would have merely crashed. The protective shield would have brought everyone down safely, and these zombies would have been smashed to death.
Although Muramasa was incredibly sharp, Bai Cha could roughly estimate the combat power of those four-armed Shuras. Their combat power was indeed good, but falling from high in the sky would also kill them, shattering them to pieces.
After all, these Shuras were not truly immortal zombies. They were merely the products of failed human experiments, possessing life just like humans, and were essentially half-human.
As she pondered, Bai Cha's eyes lit up. The spatial projector suddenly enlarged, like a small opening on a bag. Something was squeezing out, tearing the opening violently apart. The spatial rift, which was only slightly taller than a person, was now being forcefully ripped open from both sides by six arms. This sight made even Bai Cha raise an eyebrow.
One had to know how sharp spatial rifts were, capable of easily slicing through the hardest synthetic metal. Yet, these six arms, though bleeding and gruesome, were still stubbornly tearing at the spatial rift, seemingly able to hold on for a while longer.
Finally, a head and half a torso gradually squeezed out of the spatial rift. The creature looked like a mix of human and ghost, as if two people had been stitched together in a grotesque posture. Its head was half of a beautiful, eerily charming woman's face and half of an ugly man's face. Six arms sprouted from its ribs, making it look less appealing than even the zombies in horror films.
“Shuras with male forms are ugly, while female Shuras are beautiful. Are you… deformed or have you failed evolution?” Bai Cha murmured. But the deformed Shura crawling before her froze, then suddenly looked up at the girl in front of it. Its clouded eyes actually held a flicker of thought amidst the chaos.
The people around were also stunned. Gong Yuechen looked at Bai Cha with curiosity.
To them, Bai Cha had suddenly opened her mouth and uttered a string of symbols they couldn’t understand, and then the monstrous thing had stopped moving.
This deformed Shura hesitated. Its original form was human, but after being excessively modified, even though it was a failed demigod, it had come into contact with some knowledge beyond the ordinary. Despite its muddled consciousness, as a monster that could no longer understand human language, it had understood what Bai Cha had said.
In other words, Bai Cha was speaking the language of its species?
Although this Shura was deformed, it retained a sliver of human reason and the wisdom of a hellish creature. Its subconscious told it not to advance, but the voice behind it kept urging it to attack.
Finally, command overcame hesitation. The six-armed Shura pressed itself to the ground, brimming with battle intent, ready to charge. As soon as it raised an arm, a giant hand slammed down, pressing it firmly into the ground.
The six-armed Shura’s blood seemed to freeze. Fear spread within it. As it looked up, it saw the thing that filled it with the most terror in its life.
Behind the girl, a phantom flashed and vanished. The phantom disappeared too quickly for the human eye to capture, but the six-armed Shura saw it clearly.
It was an enchantingly beautiful woman, exquisitely formed, with a perfect, voluptuous figure. However, behind her were fourteen arms, like a thousand-armed Guanyin blooming with a hundred flowers. Each hand was slender and alluring, as if it could steal one's soul.
But the more perfect she appeared, the more terrified the Shura became. Despite its own ugliness, everyone in the cabin saw pure panic on its contorted face.
With a roar, the six-armed Shura knelt down. To everyone's dumbfounded gaze, it kowtowed several times to Bai Cha before scrambling back into the spatial rift, utterly terrified, covering its head, and fleeing for its life.
Bai Cha, her back to the crowd, felt the thread-like black cracks on her face gradually recede, moving down her neck and back to her heart, unseen by anyone.
“Cough, cough, Bai… Bai Cha? Are you done?” Seeing Bai Cha slice through the last spatial projector with a single strike, Gong Yuechen finally breathed a sigh of relief. “You… you haven’t been following us, have you?”
“Why else? Who else would be so idle and come to take care of you?” Bai Cha sheathed Muramasa, contemplating whether she could negotiate a price with Miyamo. Hearing Gong Yuechen's words, she casually replied, “When I saw you charter a plane, I started suspecting your intelligence.”
Such a low-level mistake, and without guards. They brought two pilots and two flight attendants, clearly a last-minute charter.
Bai Cha found it truly bizarre. These people were all around forty or fifty years old, yet they were acting like youngsters with hot blood. Hadn’t she done anything to excite them recently?
In any case, the plane finally resumed normal flight.
After ensuring everyone's safety, Bai Cha finally released them from her forced protection.
Although the danger was averted, these people were inevitably left with psychological scars. Seeing those grotesquely deformed figures gnawing at the protective shield left a significant portion of them unable to eat meat for days to come.
Upon arrival, a group of people, seething with anger, stormed into the conference room with the footage Bai Cha had provided. Bai Cha's ability to prevent framing was absolutely masterful. From machines, fingerprints, surveillance, video recordings, and audio, she had covered all bases meticulously. It was like wielding Thor's hammer.
As a result, the group went to settle the score with great momentum, only to emerge dejected shortly after. Seeing Bai Cha standing calmly by the wall, searching for Gu Mingze on the monitor, Gong Yuechen felt utterly disheartened.
“They’ve gone too far! Even if their contributions are great, they can’t be so reckless! We almost died, and those people are saying we haven't!” Gong Yuechen, filled with frustration, complained to Bai Cha as soon as he saw her. “Do they have to wait until we’re dead to acknowledge it? They’re sick.”
“Exactly! They really don’t take us seriously. Are energy and weapon research more important than human lives? So many failed products, and those people are dodging their eyes while still stubbornly refusing to admit fault,” someone chimed in.
“Do they need a bigger disaster to attract attention? I really don't understand what they're thinking.”
“…”
More people complained, and clearly, even the neutral faction's opinions were starting to diverge.
Bai Cha listened impatiently. Watching the bustling crowd in the video, she casually replied, “So, you all compromised too?”
Gong Yuechen and his group fell silent, looking at Bai Cha with furrowed brows, hesitating to speak.
“Save the pleasantries in front of me. You only support me with your words. In the conference vote for the resolution of ‘giving them another chance,’ didn’t ninety percent of you vote in favor?” Bai Cha genuinely didn’t want to deal with these people, but if she didn't speak, it seemed everyone treated her like a fool. “The remaining ten percent also abstained. Who opposed it?”
She didn't participate in such meetings to avoid annoyance. In these votes, it was the same old story: the "Bright Faction" would cross the line, and then their proposal for "giving the Bright Faction one last chance to reform" would pass with a high number of votes. Every time it was the "last chance," which was utterly pointless.
“Uh, Miss Bai, we had no choice…” someone awkwardly chuckled. Before they could offer further excuses, Bai Cha interrupted.
“It’s not that you had no choice, it’s just that you felt I could handle it. You felt it hadn’t reached a critical point yet.” Bai Cha truly had no desire to play coy with these people. They simply hadn’t been pushed to that extreme, and their interests hadn't been sufficiently infringed upon.
Frankly speaking, it was "better my neighbor's house burn than mine." The unfortunate ones were always her, so naturally, they didn't see the need.
Even Gong Yuechen felt embarrassed this time. He hadn't expected Bai Cha to show absolutely no leniency. Was Bai Cha not only planning to fall out with the Bright Faction but also with the neutral faction?
“I’m not surprised you all chose that. I’m leaving.” As if she hadn't seen their unpleasant expressions, Bai Cha closed her tablet and leaped up, quickly disappearing from everyone's sight, not even sparing a backward glance or a look at the people below.
Sunlight could nurture many things, but it couldn't solve problems hidden in dark corners. She was someone destined to remain in the shadows.
However, she didn't want to stay here anymore. This world was worth protecting, but some things weren't worth her being locked down here.
“Xiang Nan, received.” Bai Cha tapped her earphone. She had accessed all the surveillance footage she could, only to find that the footage seemed to have been tampered with.
Bai Cha was all too familiar with this method of processing. She had personally taught it to Gu Mingze. She recalled their last conversation hadn't been anything to provoke him. So why the sudden, premeditated runaway? He had even processed the surveillance himself.
"Shadow" was funded by a foundation. How could Gu Mingze leave without being paid? The place with the best benefits was undoubtedly "Shadow." Bai Cha wasn't a stingy boss; in fact, she was lavish with her money and spent without hesitation. The benefits were diverse, yet Gu Mingze had left without taking any money?
“Bai, the surveillance is restored. Gu Mingze returned home for the last time, stayed for two days, and then jumped into the Chilliant River.”
Xiang Nan's tired voice came through. Gu Mingze had inherited his father's talents. Although Gu Mingze's physical fitness was poor, he was a true genius in computing. Even for Xiang Nan, cracking Gu Mingze's technology wasn't easy.
“You gave the鲛珠 (Jiao Zhu - Mermaid Pearl) to Gu Mingze. Water is like air to Gu Mingze. He probably guessed we could restore the surveillance, so he intentionally took the water route to avoid it.”
“…This guy.” Bai Cha floated in the air, changing direction several times before arriving at the Gu residence, where she met Lucifer at the entrance.
The Gu family residence was also extremely prosperous, as they were a high-ranking and influential family within the neutral faction. The recent events had thrown everything into disarray, so Bai Cha had given the people involved in the world competition a holiday. Gu Zituan should be at home at this time.
“Beep—Visitor confirmed, notification sent, please wait.”
A mechanical voice emanated from the metal gate of the courtyard. Soon, with a click, the gate opened. An aged butler led Bai Cha into the hall.
“Yo, Miss Bai, a rare guest.” Gu Nudao walked in from the door, accompanied by his wife, Xue Jian. The couple looked in good spirits.