“Damn it, everyone, attack together!”
Faced with the oncoming horde of abyssal beasts, the members of the Special Affairs Bureau’s elite squad weren’t about to stand around like logs. They immediately raised their weapons, ready to fight.
But just then, a crimson light suddenly streaked down from the sky, striking the charging abyssal beast and cleaving it clean in two.
“Are you all okay?”
As the elite squad stared in stunned silence at the bisected beast lying nearby, a woman’s voice suddenly reached their ears.
Snapping out of their daze, the squad members turned toward the source of the voice.
After a brief moment of shock, their squad leader quickly responded to Yan Yu, who was floating in the air in her transformed state as the Bloodthirsty Empress.
“We’re fine, thank you for your help. May I ask who you are?”
Hearing his question, Yan Yu—aware that her current identity was largely unknown even within the Special Affairs Bureau—replied,
“I’m Yan Yu, a member of the Free Life Association, an organization of superhumans.”
“An organization of superhumans… the Free Life Association?”
The squad leader frowned slightly, as this was the first time he’d ever heard of such a group.
Noticing his confusion but knowing this wasn’t the time to explain, Yan Yu said,
“Since you’re all unharmed, I’ll take my leave now. If fate allows, we’ll meet again.”
Without giving them a chance to respond, she willed herself forward, flying toward the location of a fully bloomed Fleshbloom in the distance.
By the time the elite squad members processed her words, Yan Yu had already vanished from sight like a shooting star.
“What a mysterious woman.”
“Mysterious? That white-haired woman, Yan Yu, isn’t just mysterious—she’s insanely strong. Did you see how she sliced that abyssal beast in half with one strike?”
“What kind of superhuman organization is this ‘Free Life Association’? How do they have someone like her?”
“Speaking of which… is she heading toward that Fleshbloom over there?”
“Judging by the direction, yeah, she’s definitely flying toward it.”
“Wait, is she planning to destroy it?”
“Uh, duh. What else would she be doing there?”
As the squad members buzzed with speculation about Yan Yu, the woman in question had already caught up to Yan Qi, arriving together above the Fleshbloom that had manifested in the real world.
“So this is the Fleshbloom in the real world? Aside from the petals being fully open and looking even more disgusting, it doesn’t seem much different from the ones in the black barriers.”
Staring down at the grotesque flower, Yan Yu shared her thoughts with Yan Qi and Daoyan the Empress.
Yan Qi, who felt the same, controlled Daoyan to respond:
“I agree. But enough talk—we need to act fast and destroy this thing before the abyssal rift next to it stabilizes. That would be bad news.”
“Right. But Daoyan, are you in any condition to fight right now?”
“If Yao’er adjusts me a bit more, I should be able to recover enough. For now, you go ahead and deal with the abyssal beasts guarding the Fleshbloom.”
“Got it.”
Trusting Daoyan’s words completely, Yan Yu didn’t hesitate. She broke away from their trio and dove straight toward the abyssal beasts below.
Watching her sister charge ahead without suspicion, Yan Qi—who had just lied—let out a quiet sigh of relief.
She then guided her main body and her doppelganger away from the exposed sky, descending to a safer spot on the ground.
Once secure, Yan Qi realized that with the Church of the Plague God’s cultists no longer lurking near the bloomed Fleshblooms, her fox-girl form’s abilities were temporarily unnecessary.
Without delay, she dismissed the transformation, reverting to Daoyan the Empress.
“In this form, I can fight just like Sis—cutting through one-star abyssal beasts like they’re nothing.”
With that thought, she wasted no time and rushed to support Yan Yu in the battle against the remaining abyssal beasts.
Arriving near the Fleshbloom, Yan Qi saw the scattered corpses of beasts—her sister’s handiwork—and wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Ignoring them, she quickly scanned the area for Yan Yu.
It only took a few glances before she spotted her sister, deep in the Bloodthirsty Empress’s signature battle frenzy, wearing a cruel smile as she carved through the remaining monsters.
“The Bloodthirsty Empress’s ‘Battle Lust’ talent really is something. The more she kills in a short time, the stronger she gets—not to mention absorbing the beasts’ life force to sustain herself. The only downside is how easily she loses herself in the fight.”
After this silent assessment, Yan Qi stopped spectating and joined the fray, helping her sister clear out the remaining threats.
Before long, the two of them had effortlessly wiped out the abyssal beasts and incinerated the Fleshbloom.
“Alright, let’s move to the next one.”
“Mm.”
With the immediate threat gone and noticing the approaching Special Affairs Bureau personnel, Yan Yu knew there was no need to linger. She nodded in agreement, and the two sisters—along with Yan Qi’s fox-girl doppelganger—took off toward the next Fleshbloom’s location.