Chapter 205: The Price of Victory

Nine Frost, Gray Bear, Old Joe, and Ronnie surrounded Li Zhuanghu and attacked in turns. Li Zhuanghu was a mix of contradictions: he had high defense, great strength, and impressive attack speed, yet the other parts of his body were slow. It took him seconds to even turn around, and he couldn’t jump, lunge, dodge, or charge.

It was as if the Rune Circuit was an experienced driver whose skill was wasted on a broken, inefficient machine that was Li Zhuanghu.

Taking advantage of his shortcomings, whoever Li Zhuanghu was facing backed out of the range of his arms, while the one behind Li Zhuanghu took the chance to rain attacks down on his head.

Nine Frost had swung his rock pick hammer many times. Unfortunately, the attacks didn’t even leave a dent as if he was hitting a shot put ball.

Gray Bear had also seized the chance to attack, and he knocked Li Zhuanghu to the ground many times. However, Li Zhuanghu’s vise-like hands were formidable weapons that could take lives in the blink of an eye, and no one dared get too close to him, let alone move into his space from the front to peel off the Rune Circuit.

Again, Li Zhuanghu was righted by an intangible power like a tumbler.

The four men had had a difficult fight with the rune corpses, leaving them with little stamina. Although they were getting anxious, there was little they could do.

Once more, Li Zhuanghu became upright again, and the arrow through its head popped off at some point. The red glow in his eye sockets grew in intensity.

“We can’t go on like this! We have to keep his hands under control. I’ll grab the Rune...”

Gray Bear’s words were cut short by a flash of shadow. It was so sudden that he didn’t have the time to dodge it.

Swoosh!

Gao Yang thrust the shortsword in his hand into the rune corpse’s head, kicking it away while pulling out the blade.

“Captain!” Gray Bear was both surprised and glad.

Gao Yang warned, “Watch out! The rune corpses are getting back up again!”

The four of them had been too focused on Li Zhuanghu to notice that when the arrow was freed from Li Zhuanghu’s head, the immobile but not yet killed rune corpses had climbed back up.

Moreover, a few stragglers had heeded Li Zhuanghu’s summon and were coming their way from the fringe of the running track.

“Fuck! Won’t they stay down?” Gray Bear snarled.

“We need to get the Rune Circuit now! Or we’ll all die!” Nine Frost clenched his teeth. “I’ll keep Li Zhuanghu occupied. The rest is your...”

“Captain!”

Old Joe called out suddenly.

His face was pale and sickly, and his eyes circled by faint, mold-like spots.

Nine Frost was shocked. “Old Joe! When did you...”

“I was bitten back when we were on the pingpong table...” Old Joe smiled bitterly and stroked his bald head. “I thought I’d get away with it once Li Zhuanghu was killed.”

Blood streamed down from his nostrils. “But that’s not happening, it seems.”

He wiped off the blood and walked up to Li Zhuanghu. “Captain, when you talk about me in the future, would you stop talking about my dark past, but about how I honorably sacrifice myself?”

“Old Joe!”

With a yell, Old Joe charged at Li Zhuanghu.

Li Zhuanghu reached out to grab him. He dodged away with a sidestep and moved around to Li Zhuanghu’s back, latching himself onto the rune corpse leader with both arms and legs like the shell of a turtle.

Without pause, Li Zhuanghu bit Old Joe’s arm.

“Ahhhh!”

Old Joe screamed as red veins spread through his body from his bitten forearm, then the corruption reached his face. His eyes started to melt and bleed with viscous blood. It was the starting stage of his transformation.

However, his human will held strong, and he maintained his hold on Li Zhuanghu.

Nine Frost didn’t have the time to mourn. He rushed up to grab onto one of Li Zhuanghu’s arms. Then Ronnie did the same with the other arm, throwing self-preservation out of the window.

“Hurry!” Nine Frost shouted. “We can’t hold him down for long!”

The three men had momentarily subdued Li Zhuanghu.

After an exchange of glances, Gao Yang and Gray Bear rushed toward Li Zhuanghu from the front.

Without another thought in his head, Gray Bear clawed into Li Zhuanghu’s ‘heart’ and grabbed the Rune Circuit, pulling back with all his might.

Tremendous pain and fear overwhelmed Li Zhuanghu. He tipped his head up and screamed.

That triggered an exponential increase to his heart’s temperature, and the Rune Circuit became bright red—not from the light it emitted, but from the heat.

“Ahhhh!” Gray Bear’s hands were scorched, and vapor of blood rose.

“You motherfucker—” Gray Bear clenched his jaw and held fast, but he couldn’t pull the Rune Circuit off.

Without hesitation, Gao Yang also grabbed onto the Rune Circuit. The intense heat of several hundred degrees burned his ten fingers, and the sharp pain almost made him black out. He could even sense his skin and flesh getting cooked by the high heat.

But he couldn’t let go. The rune corpses were coming their way from not far away. This was their only chance.

“Ahhh!”

“Ahhhhh!”

Gao Yang and Gray Bear pulled at the same time, veins popping out from their foreheads.

Sizzle, sizzle—

Finally, the Rune Circuit slowly separated from Li Zhuanghu’s heart, tearing the slimy muscle tissues apart.

Three seconds later, the Rune Circuit was uprooted like a giant carrot.

Crimson fog filled the air under the moonlight. Gao Yang and Gray Bear fell to the ground along with the heated Rune Circuit, which was still covered in red mist.

Old Joe was the first to let go of Li Zhuanghu. He collapsed with his arms extended and bled from all seven orifices. His heart had stopped, but his lips were tugged into a smile.

Nine Frost and Ronnie let go of Li Zhuanghu’s arms, falling on their bottoms.

Without the energy of the Rune Circuit keeping it running, Li Zhuanghu’s body became weak and frail. The red light in his eye sockets died down, and his chest was a mess of bloody gore. He stayed upright for only a second before falling to the ground, unmoving.

The rune corpses rushing their way also collapsed.

Finally, the terrible battle came to an end, but at what cost?

Gao Yang’s hands were all bloodied and charred. The pain left him a shuddering mess, and he kept gasping for breaths. His empty head couldn’t register any thought. He remained slumped in his seated position.

Then he heard footsteps. Nine Frost and Ronnie were coming his way.

They each held a syringe of Medicine C in hand. Ronnie injected Gray Bear’s two hands with half a dose each. And Nine Frost did the same for Gao Yang.

The pain in Gao Yang’s ten fingers dulled before subsiding, leaving only an itchiness like that of an insect bite.

The charred flesh fell off quickly, and flesh and skin regenerated anew, gradually recovering.

Three minutes later, Gao Yang picked himself up.

Not far from them, Can remained lying on grass, still unconscious. Lithe Snake, now missing an arm, sat cross-legged with a dark look on his face.

Ronnie sat next to Can, while Gray Bear went up to Lithe Snake, accompanying them silently.

As for the fourth team, Black Sparrow had just woken up, and she stared into the air, unable to accept what had happened.

Xiuyi and Old Joe were placed on the side, their faces covered by clothes.

Nine Frost and Yellow Butterfly sat by the two dead men with sorrow brimming their eyes. Nine Frost was still holding tightly onto the now cooled Rune Circuit.

Gao Yang went up to Lithe Snake with a frown, a terrible thought flashing through his mind.