Chapter 13
Slaying the Red-Haired Corpse Fiend!
"Sizzle... sizzle..."
The live stream room was still filled with a despairing array of static.
There is no video.
No sound.
Only that cold, robotic system notification tone remained: [Signal source lost, attempting to reconnect...]
But this time, no one left.
Thirty million people were glued to their dark screens, their breaths seemingly frozen in place.
The scrolling speed of the comments was so fast that it was impossible for the naked eye to catch it; it was a concrete manifestation of collective panic.
[Host?! Say something!]
Don't scare me! That claw just touched my head!
[It's over... the shield is shattered! That was a shield that could withstand bullets!]
Where are the people from Bureau 749? Go rescue them! This is a national hero!
[Save my ass! This is thousands of meters underground in Kunlun Death Valley! Even a god couldn't get there in time!]
At the Shark Platform headquarters, Wang Hai slumped in a chair, his shirt soaked with cold sweat.
Looking at the flow graph with its straight line, he had only one thought in his mind: It's over.
If Jiang Han really dies during a live stream, it will not only be a disaster for the platform, but also a psychological trauma for the entire internet.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Those 120 seconds felt longer than a century to everyone.
Just when everyone's psychological defenses were about to collapse.
"Sizzle—"
A piercing electrical microphone whistle rang out.
Immediately afterwards, the static on the screen jittered violently.
The screen lit up.
……
The first thing that catches the eye is a foot.
A foot wearing a black military boot stomped heavily on the muddy rocks.
The camera slowly pans upwards.
That's Jiang Han.
His bare upper body was now covered with shocking bloodstains. The originally black Qilin tattoo was now glowing with an eerie blood-red light, as if it had come alive, swimming and roaring across his skin.
He stood there, slightly out of breath.
His chest heaved violently, every muscle bulging like granite, radiating a suffocating masculine hormone.
In his right hand, he was holding something.
It was a head.
A hideous head covered in red hair and with only one eye!
The single eye was still wide open, its reflection lingering in the terror and disbelief of its final moments.
At the severed neck, black blood, as viscous as petroleum, dripped onto the ground with a sickeningly loud sound.
"call……"
Jiang Han casually tossed it aside.
"Rolling around—"
The red-haired corpse demon's head was thrown into the abyss beside him like a ball, and a dull echo came a few seconds later.
He raised his head, his eyes, now black again, looking at the drone hovering in the air, a bloodthirsty smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.
"The signal was bad just now."
He wiped the blood from his face, his voice hoarse and casual, "Just killed a little chic one on the go, didn't scare everyone, did I?"
Quiet.
A deathly silence.
Then, the barrage of comments exploded like a nuclear bomb!
Holy crap!!!
[Alive! Jiang Shen is still alive!]
"Just something?! That's a Hou! That's a Hou that even eats dragon brains! You call that just something?!"
[He's so damn handsome! I want to have his babies!]
Is this something a human could do? Fight a prehistoric beast bare-handed?!
[Who just said the streamer died? Come out and take your punishment!]
Professor Gu, on the other end of the line, was taking off his glasses and wiping the fog off the lenses with trembling hands.
He stared at the blood-soaked young man on the screen, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.
"This doesn't make sense..."
The old professor muttered to himself, "The red-haired corpse demon's bone density is ten times that of a human, and its skin is bulletproof. How did it manage that? Could it be... that tattoo?"
Jiang Han ignored the jubilation in the live chat.
He pulled a compressed biscuit out of his backpack, without even tearing off the packaging, and stuffed it directly into his mouth, chewing it vigorously.
Although the battle just now lasted only two minutes, it was extremely taxing on my physical strength.
Although the Qilin bloodline is powerful, it is also a major energy consumer.
Don't get too excited yet.
Jiang Han swallowed the dry biscuit, but his gaze went past the dragon corpse and looked towards the deepest part of the cave.
That area is a body of water connected to an underground river.
The water was as calm as a black mirror.
But at that moment, all the hairs on Jiang Han's body stood on end.
That was the trembling of a biological instinct.
"This red-haired monster is just a gatekeeper."
Jiang Han, carrying the Black Gold Ancient Sword, slowly walked to the rocks by the water.
During the fight in the dark, he smelled an extremely strong, sweet, and metallic scent.
Now, with the help of the light, he could see clearly.
In that huge rocky trough, a pool of golden-red liquid had accumulated.
It doesn't look like blood.
It looks more like some kind of melted amber, crystal clear, and even still emitting wisps of heat.
Jiang Han squatted down, stretched out his finger, and hovered it an inch above the liquid.
Scalding hot!
The heat was so intense it was almost scalding!
"Old Gu."
Jiang Han stared at the pool of liquid, and without turning his head, said, "You said true dragons are cold-blooded animals, right?"
Professor Gu on the other end of the screen was taken aback, then subconsciously replied, "Of course! Reptiles are all cold-blooded animals; their body temperature changes with the environment. This underground cave is only a few degrees Celsius, so their blood should be ice-cold!"
"Oh."
Jiang Han sneered and suddenly plunged his finger into the pool of golden-red liquid.
"Sizzle—"
The moment they made contact, a slight burning sound was heard!
Jiang Han raised her finger, looking at the trembling golden-red droplet of liquid at her fingertip.
"Then how do you explain this?"
His voice was deep and chilling, "This thing is at least sixty degrees. And... it's still flowing."
"This is dragon's blood."
"Or perhaps...ambergris."
"And it just leaked out."
Jiang Han suddenly stood up, holding the black gold ancient sword horizontally in front of his chest, his eyes fixed on the calm water.
"It didn't leave."
"It's right here underwater."
"The watchdog that watched me kill it."
These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the flames of celebration that had just ignited in the live stream.
Everyone felt a chill run from the soles of their feet straight to the top of their heads.
Just then.
"Gulp..."
A huge bubble suddenly appeared on the calm water surface.
Followed by.
"Glug, glug, glug..."
Countless bubbles surged out of the water like boiling water.
The water level of the entire underground lake began to rise visibly!
A terrifying, ancient, and savage pressure descended upon the entire cavern as if it were a tangible force.
The drone's camera began to shake violently, emitting a strained buzzing sound.
[Warning! Strong magnetic field interference!]
[A giant organism has been detected rising to the surface!]
[Estimated body length: Over fifty meters!]
Jiang Han licked his chapped lips, and the golden vertical pupils in his eyes flickered in and out of sight once more.
He did not back down.
Instead, he took a step forward.
"Have you finally decided to let go?"
"The real deal."