49 Apocalypse Rules

Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi exchanged a look, and both understood what the other was thinking—they had to lure it out of the warehouse!

Otherwise, in a warehouse filled with the corpses of the Living Dead, no matter how much damage they inflicted on the Mother Transformer, it could use the "Blood Packs" on the floor to recover.

Meanwhile, the Psychic Power that Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi expended during the fight wouldn’t be so easy to replenish.

The two of them retreated at the same time, one covering the other. Guan Tong ran for the back door while Shi Jingyi deliberately fell a step behind, drawing the Mother Transformer’s attention to herself before exiting through the front door she herself had smashed open.

The Mother Transformer immediately gave chase. As soon as Guan Tong got out the back door, he circled around to the front of the warehouse. There, he saw Shi Jingyi using her martial arts to fend off and counter the Mother Transformer.

As she fought, a faint, flowing light swirled around her body. ’That’s her Psychic Power,’ Guan Tong realized. It was her unique way of using it—to strengthen her body and unleash the full potential of her martial arts.

She was locked in close combat with the Mother Transformer, leaving Guan Tong, who was aiming his Silver Hunter, no opening to intervene.

"Shi Jingyi!" he yelled. "You’re too close! I can’t get a clear shot!"

Guan Tong had thirteen No. 3 rounds left. They were his most powerful High-Explosive Bombs; just one hitting the Mother Transformer would inflict serious damage.

It might even be enough to blow its body—stitched together from the Living Dead—to smithereens.

But before he could do that, he needed Shi Jingyi to back away to a safe distance.

Hearing Guan Tong’s shout, Shi Jingyi immediately understood. She parried the Mother Transformer’s claws with a punch, then tapped her toes lightly on the ground, her body floating gracefully back a considerable distance.

Guan Tong seized the opportunity, pulling the trigger again and again. He fired off seven No. 3 rounds in one go, completely cutting off every possible escape route for the Mother Transformer!

He was done with single-shot probes. Against such an agile enemy, only saturation fire would work.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

A single No. 3 round was enough to obliterate a small target. Now, seven of them detonating in succession instantly tore up the ground near the warehouse entrance. A dazzling flash of fire engulfed the Mother Transformer!

Having retreated to a safe distance, Shi Jingyi watched the bombardment, slightly stunned.

She’d seen the dismembered Living Dead back in the warehouse, so she knew Guan Tong’s gun was powerful. But she hadn’t expected *this*. ’Is that still a gun?’ she thought. ’It’s more like a cannon.’

Guan Tong, meanwhile, stared intently into the heart of the explosion. ’What happened to the Mother Transformer? Is it dead?’

AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Suddenly, a piercing shriek erupted from the flames. It was the same one they had heard twice before—the shriek that turned corpses into the Living Dead!

Hearing it from so close, Guan Tong was hit by a wave of dizziness. Even his motorcycle helmet couldn’t stop the shriek from boring into his ears.

But the next moment, he felt a light pressure on his shoulder.

He turned his head to see that Shi Jingyi had appeared beside him at some point. Her left hand was on his shoulder, and as her unique energy flowed into him, he felt much better.

"Thanks."

"This isn’t good." Shi Jingyi gazed into the distant darkness, as if sensing something. "That shriek just now attracted a lot of the Living Dead. They’re closing in on us."

Guan Tong was surprised. "It can summon them?"

SWOOSH—

Just then, a mangled figure shot out from the lingering blast. It was the Mother Transformer.

They only caught a glimpse, but the creature was obviously grievously wounded. Most of its torso was obliterated, and its single, scarlet eye had been destroyed in the blast.

"It ran back into the warehouse! It must be trying to use the corpses to repair itself. We can’t give it a chance to recover!"

Guan Tong raised his gun to give chase but was stopped by Shi Jingyi’s outstretched arm.

"Too many of the Living Dead are converging on this location," Shi Jingyi said, her expression grim. "If we stay any longer, we’ll be surrounded."

Even so, Guan Tong couldn’t just give up on his target. Besides, he still had plenty of Psychic Power left. Even if his Silver Hunter ran out of ammunition, he could use his Psychic Power to create more and fight his way out.

"I don’t have much Psychic Power left," Shi Jingyi said. "Guan Tong, a gun that powerful must consume a huge amount of Psychic Power as well. To be safe, we should pull out now."

"You go on ahead, Shi Jingyi. I have to finish that monster." Guan Tong’s mind was made up. Before Shi Jingyi could say another word, he charged into the warehouse.

Shi Jingyi watched him charge in and hesitated for a split second. She remembered the martial arts academy student she’d been too late to save. Her eyes hardened, and she followed him inside.

Guan Tong, having entered the warehouse first, immediately spotted the wounded Mother Transformer squatting in the center of the room, using the other corpses to repair itself.

With its eyes and claws destroyed in the bombardment, its repair process was far less efficient than before. More than half its body was still a mangled wreck.

Guan Tong immediately raised his gun, but before he could fire, the Mother Transformer scrambled up the warehouse wall.

It seemed to possess some level of intelligence. It knew Guan Tong’s gun could kill it, so it used its speed to dodge and rapidly close the distance.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

As the Mother Transformer rapidly closed in, Guan Tong had no choice but to switch to No. 1 rounds, hoping for wider coverage. But the No. 1 rounds weren’t powerful enough; the pellets that hit only slowed it down slightly, failing to inflict any lethal damage.

While dodging his attacks, the Mother Transformer continuously grabbed dismembered limbs off the floor and hurled them like projectiles. Its strength was immense, so Guan Tong didn’t dare try to block them, forcing him to keep running and dodging.

Just as Guan Tong was about to use his Shadow Armor for defense, Shi Jingyi entered the warehouse and engaged the Mother Transformer, giving him a moment to regroup.

Guan Tong was surprised to see her. He had thought she would retreat, since she’d said her Psychic Power was nearly gone.

ROAR!!!

The roars of numerous Living Dead echoed from just outside the warehouse. Shi Jingyi had been right; the shriek had drawn hordes of them here! Judging by the sound, it wouldn’t even be a minute before they swarmed the warehouse.

’We have to end this fast!’

At that moment, Shi Jingyi said, "Guan Tong, I might have to expend all my remaining Psychic Power to kill this monster. Go lock the back door. Defend the front entrance with your gun. If you can hold them off, we can survive."

...

Guan Tong looked at the Mother Transformer. But he had a better idea.

With a thought, the Wordless Book materialized in his palm, and the ethereal Shadow instantly emerged from its pages.

He now understood the key to killing the Mother Transformer: don’t give it a chance to recover. Its body had to be completely destroyed all at once.

Multiple No. 3 rounds from the Silver Hunter could do the job, but the situation no longer allowed for that. ’Then, I’ll have to let the Shadow give it a try.’

Guan Tong commanded the ethereal Shadow to form a long rope, which slithered like a snake across the floor toward the Mother Transformer as it fought Shi Jingyi.

In the dim light, not only did the simple-minded Mother Transformer fail to notice, but even Shi Jingyi was unaware of the shadow silently creeping up nearby.

Then, Guan Tong seized his chance. Just as Shi Jingyi sent the Mother Transformer staggering back with a whip kick, he commanded the Shadow to dart into its body!

In its ethereal state, the Shadow had no physical form and could pass through anything. Guan Tong took advantage of this. Once the Shadow was inside the Mother Transformer, he had it transform again, reshaping it into a body similar in size to the monster’s.

Then, Guan Tong instantly solidified the Shadow!

The amount of Psychic Power required to solidify the Shadow was directly proportional to its size. The Shadow, now shaped like the Mother Transformer, was about three times its normal size. The transition from ethereal to solid had a fixed cost of 20 Psychic Power, but factoring in the increased volume, Guan Tong instantly lost over 80 points of Psychic Power the moment it solidified!

But the effect was spectacular!

SPLATTTT!

A solid object of equal volume had suddenly formed inside its body. As a result, the Mother Transformer’s entire form was instantly crushed from within, bursting into pieces!

This sudden turn of events stunned Shi Jingyi. She quickly backed away several steps, her eyes fixed on the scene.

In the dim light, she could just make out a pure black "Mother Transformer" draped in gore, but it existed for less than two seconds before vanishing without a trace.

And as for the real Mother Transformer, with all its stitched-together limbs blown apart, its true form was finally revealed.

It was a palm-sized monster whose skin was turned inside out. It resembled a newborn hatchling, only incomparably grotesque.

It had no eyes, ears, or nose—only a sharp, tube-like mouth. Unquestionably, that was the mouth that had produced the ear-piercing shrieks.

It spun about blindly, seemingly trying to piece together more flesh from the Living Dead to rebuild its powerful form.

But what greeted it instead was the sole of a size 42 shoe.

SQUISH!

With one stomp, Guan Tong crushed the Mother Transformer’s true form under his foot.