Harker struggled from the hair gripping him. He then used his scent to command the bodies of Mr. Xi's guards to shoot their master.
Mr. Xi dodged them with ease and then his eyes gleamed. The guards stopped shooting and stayed still on their tracks. He chuckled, clicking his tongue.
"Oh, son. You're going to have a lot of my people hurt. I can't have you in my care anymore if you constantly become a threat to my people."
Harker gritted his teeth. It's no use. He decided to focus his Succubus Ability to control the guards to help with shipping the remaining mermaids faster, along with Princess Jinzhu and her sisters.
"GO! GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE AND DETONATE THE FIRST BOMB!" He yelled to Roland's men.
Princess Jinzhu panicked as she got pushed towards the trucks that will take them to Santa Monica pier. The hair was slowly crushing Harker, until he was coughing up blood.
She yelled and pounded on the glass as she watched him suffer. "No! We can't leave Harker sir behind!"
"Just stay….. Still…. Your Highness…. Cough!" Harker wrestled with the hair strangling his neck.
He has no Snake Ability anymore because Xi Hua's DNA had run out. The gloves only had enough samples for him to unlock the Snake Ability. If only he could get a sample from Mr. Xi right now….
But it was impossible, as he was much stronger and had faster reflexes than Harker. It's like he could quickly guess every single move Harker makes. And it's harder to attack him as Harker had to keep his eyes closed to not be hypnotized by him. One small glance….
"Harker sir! Cover your ears!" Princess Jinzhu yelled. "I'm going to save you!"
Harker's eyes widened. "No! Don't do it, Your Highness! Just get out of here—"
"WAAAAAAAAWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
Mr. Xi had already covered his ears with his own hair, and Harker's ears as well. The shriek broke the nearby tanks in a 5 meter radius, along with the windows and other glass material in the building.
Princess Jinzhu burst out at deadly speed, heading towards Harker. She had her claws and fins out, ready to claw the hair away from him.
The snake demon chuckled. "Very good! Our little princess will actually be the one to save her prince—"
But she didn't.
She only feinted to claw at the hair restricting Harker, but actually turned her body away so that her dorsal fin would hit something else.
And that something were Mr. Xi's eyes!
"Gah!" The snake demon received a very deep cut across his eyeballs and nose bridge.
While he was distracted, Princess Jinzhu clawed the hair off him and knocked Harker with her. They rolled on the ground a few meters away from the blinded demon.
Harker landed on his back, with Princess Jinzhu on top of him. The princess was breathing heavily, her gills drying up and unable to receive water to turn into oxygen. Mr. Xi had said that he lungs were underdeveloped, and it was likely because the jiaorens were not allowed to come into the surface as much as possible.
"Harker sir…." Princess Jinzhu cried golden tears. "Take my tears…. and this snake's hair…. And kill that bastard…."
"No! Stay with me, Your Highness! Don't lose consciousness yet!" Harker held her tightly, carrying her and rushing towards the factory that's about to explode. "We just need to get you some water quickly! Don't close your eyes yet, ya hear!"
Princess Jinzhu wore that same gentle smile and mellow voice despite saying: "Stupid human…. This is your chance to kill him….. Just leave me alone…."
"I will kill him after I get you some goddamn water, ya hear!?" Harker said, angrily chewing on Mr. Xi's hair.
He gained back the Enhanced Snake Ability thanks to this. He then took one of the golden pearl tears from Princess Jinzhu's eyes. This increased his speed, and he was able to swing around with his hair to travel inside the factory faster and look for places with water.
He found a metal cylinder that was used to store water to be transferred into the tanks.
This cylinder was connected to a chute reaching far below, about 60 meters down. It functions like a well for the cylinder to gain water from the pipelines connected to it.
Harker yanked the cylinder off the chute it connects to, and turned it quickly upside down so the water it carried won't spill. He put Princess Jinzhu inside, who could barely fit up to her collarbone. But at least her gills could absorb some water now.
She gasped as she stayed in that cylinder, her arms hanging out from it. Harker pushed the off switch to stop the chute from ejecting water and flooding the room. He then pushed another button to drain the large hole down below, and caught his breath as he waited.
He was injured, but he was ready to face that snake demon Mr. Xi now. That demon must have followed him, as he heard banging a few meters away.
The east side of the factory had already exploded. Debris would fall on them soon, not to mention this side might also explode.
So he had to finish this quickly and get himself and the princess out of here.
"Come here, you bastard snake!" He yelled.
Harker eventually saw Mr. Xi stumbled inside the room they were in. His hands were on his bleeding eyes, and yet…..
He still wore that discomforting large smile.
"You are making a mistake, son…." He said. "I am not your enemy here. There are far worse things in this world than being protected by me…."
"Fuck your twisted protection!" Harker exclaimed, rushing towards him to attack.
He had jiaoren claws out to reach for this man's heart, and he had his hair as well to keep him in place. But to his surprise…..
Mr. Xi did not move.
He just let Harker take heart out, and did not fight back. What he did was to use his hair to trip Harker…..
And as Harker stumbled back, Mr. Xi that was attached to his hair fell into that deep hole where the metal cylinder was.
Harker's eyes widened. The gravity and weight of Mr. Xi was making his head feel heavy, despite his hair being strong enough to lift tons. He realized it was because Mr. Xi's own hair was reaching out to the pipes to attach himself there and add more weight.
Even with his heart taken out, Mr. Xi still managed to live for a few minutes and even flap his lips.
Harker could barely make it out, as he heard the booming sound of explosions coming near them and had to let go soon. He believed this was what Mr. Xi said on his last moments:
"But I must say….. Very good, Omniscient One. You always defeat every adversary in your path until the end."
Harker had to let him go on and watched Xi Jiaoshe's body go limp before even hitting the end of that well. He carried the cylinder containing Princess Jinzhu with him, as the last explosion came and left the factory in shambles.
BOOM!
The Demon of the Jiaoren Factory was no more. But…..
Harker wondered what he meant by those last words.