Wang Yanfei did not hesitate. He raised his machine gun, aimed at the charging giant ape, and pulled the trigger.
A flash of fire streaked through the air.
"Bang!"
The gunshot echoed through the cave. The bullet pierced straight through the giant ape's forehead. Its massive body staggered forward two more steps under sheer inertia before finally collapsing with a thunderous crash.
Silence followed, broken only by the soft dripping of blood. Wang Yanfei slung his gun over his shoulder and approached the corpse. His gaze lingered on its shattered skull and the brain matter slowly oozing out.
He crouched down and ran his fingers over the ape's face. Its fur was matted with blood, sticky and repulsive. He flicked the dented forehead lightly with his fingers, then straightened up and rubbed his chin.
"I thought you'd be tougher than this. Turns out, you can't even take a bullet."
Just as he was about to turn away, his serpentine tail flicked through the pooling blood, shedding some of the sticky filth. But then—
He felt something.
The blood on his hands, the crimson droplets staining his clothes—they moved. A sensation impossible to describe, like thousands of tiny insects crawling over his skin.
Wang Yanfei looked down.
The spilled blood and torn flesh were writhing. As if they had a will of their own.
He quickly shook off the blood, watching in astonishment as the scattered remains began converging—toward the corpse of Dr. Lin lying in the middle of the cave.
The body twitched.
Guided by some unseen force, the broken flesh and blood gushed toward the lifeless husk, enveloping it piece by piece.
"You've got to be kidding me." Wang Yanfei frowned. He didn't wait to see what would happen next.
His hand shot to his waist, yanking free a string of grenades. He weighed them in his palm, a cold smile forming on his lips.
"Reality isn't a TV show. Transformation sequences don't mean invincibility."
With a smooth motion, he pulled the pins and hurled the entire string of grenades toward the gathering mass.
The grenades traced a sharp arc through the air, clinking as they landed in the center of the pulsing flesh.
Dr. Lin's corpse remained still, but the blood and flesh surged frantically, as if trying to complete something before the inevitable explosion.
BOOM!
A deafening blast ripped through the cave.
Flames and shockwaves erupted, consuming everything in their path. Shrapnel, charred flesh, and burning debris shot skyward. The walls trembled under the force of the explosion, dust raining down from above.
Wang Yanfei stepped back, lowering his body slightly. His tail pressed firmly against the ground, anchoring him. Heat and the pungent scent of blood filled the air.
He squinted, focusing on the explosion's aftermath.
The firelight faded, leaving behind a thick haze of smoke and charred remains. The ground was scorched black, the bloodied flesh reduced to grotesque cinders.
But Lin's body—was gone.
"Interesting." Wang Yanfei murmured, his gaze locked onto the center of the destruction.
And then—he saw it.
A blood-red banana lay amidst the scorched remnants.
Its skin was pulsing. Veins, dark like dried blood, crisscrossed its surface. Every slight tremor sent ripples through the veins, as though it had a heartbeat of its own.
A deep, inexplicable revulsion rose within Wang Yanfei.
He raised his machine gun without hesitation and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets tore through the air.
But—nothing happened.
"Tsk, is this the banana that Asel wanted?" Wang Yanfei muttered in a low voice, staring at the thing vigilantly, with his snake tail close to the ground, slightly tightened.
The bullets passed straight through the banana, leaving no impact. No rupture. No blood splatter. Not even a ripple of disturbance. It was as if—
It wasn't even there.
Then—the banana shuddered.
The veins bulged grotesquely, writhing beneath the surface.
A long, jagged tear split open along its side.
A hand emerged.
Pale. Muscular.
A second hand followed, gripping the torn skin like a cocoon, peeling it apart.
From within the blood-red banana, a figure stepped out.
He had golden hair, cascading like molten metal. His eyes burned with a luminous golden hue.
And behind him—
A long monkey tail swayed gently in the air.
The golden-haired figure stood amidst the carnage, his gaze sweeping over the destroyed cave. His expression did not change.
Then, he closed his eyes.
A single tear rolled down his cheek.
It fell silently into the bloodstained ground.
Wang Yanfei narrowed his eyes. He didn't care how tragic this scene looked—
Battle instincts screamed danger.
His body moved instinctively. In a fluid motion, he unslung another firearm and squeezed the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bullets poured out like raindrops, pointing directly at the opponent's chest. However, the figure with blond hair and monkey tail didn't even look up. The moment the bullets approached his body, they seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, hovering in the air, and then fell to the ground one by one, making a crisp sound.
Wang Yanfei's eyes sank, and he quickly stepped back a few steps, readjusted his posture, and stared at the opponent's movements.
Wang Yanfei was about to fight back, but before he could move, the figure with blond hair and monkey tail appeared in front of him in an instant, so fast that people didn't even have a chance to react. The pale hand suddenly swung down and stepped heavily on Wang Yanfei's hands.
The crisp sound of bone cracking echoed in the cave, accompanied by Wang Yanfei's low roar. The bones of his hands were completely shattered, and the machine gun slipped from his hands and hit the ground heavily, splashing blood. He clenched his teeth, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, and the snake's tail swung violently, trying to repel the blond figure.
But the opponent's movements were as fast as a ghost, and one hand accurately grasped the end of the snake's tail, with a sneer of contempt in his cold eyes. His other hand grasped Wang Yanfei's waist like steel and pulled hard.
"Ah--!" Wang Yanfei let out a heart-wrenching roar, and the pain spread from his body to every nerve. His snake tail and human body were torn apart abruptly, and the sound of flesh and blood being torn apart was disgusting. Blood and internal organs were scattered all over the floor of the cave.
His snake tail was thrown aside casually, and his body fell powerlessly in a pool of blood. The severe pain made his consciousness gradually blurred. His breathing became rapid, and everything in front of him seemed to become blurred...