Chapter 125 - Are You Ready to Die?

One warning…

It was all it took for the entire elite squad to be wary of this specimen from a seemingly off-site experiment of the facility. When they read about Liu Xiaodan and his general behavior, everyone was dismissive of his level-five status; they couldn't see what was dangerous about this gentle face.

However, the past two encounters with him had proven them wrong. On the surface, they were only letting him realize that he was at a level-three status. That included immediate takedown at any possible harmful action and permanent tag of location.

What happened that morning in the Food and Leisure Hall was a miscalculated mishap to the elite squad as they decided to take their eyes off of him for a few hours to make sure the dignitaries were safe. However, what followed that time was him killing a newcomer… even if it was in self-defense.

Before that, he caused a patient to run amok, broke out of his floor, and started a rumble between unaccounted parties. For that, they were extremely wary of him. It's just that… they were told not to tag along Liu Xiaodan and just let him move around freely like any other patients.

However, the Treatment Hall was currently off-limits. An experiment had gone crazed and had already harmed and potentially killed a doctor. The elite squad had to scour the floors to find that person, and so Eight was out here. He didn't think that he would be face-to-face with Liu Xiaodan all of a sudden.

"Please don't shoot. I don't like getting shot." Liu Xiaodan raised his arms. In this dim-lit room, he could feel a presence, and he could tell that it wasn't Eight. If anything, the patient might attack Eight while his back was turned on the patient.

"Don't like getting shot? On your knees, hands on your head!" Eight moved his rifle and watched Liu Xiaodan slowly and cautiously moved to get on his knees. It's just that Liu Xiaodan was staring straight at him… until his gaze moved a little to the side.

The sudden shock froze Eight in his spot. Before he knew it, Liu Xiaodan dashed towards him and pushed the gun off of his direction before tackling Eight down to the ground. Bang! Bang! Bang! Eight still managed to pull the trigger and fired against the ceiling. It should alert the others.

However, as soon as he hit the ground, something red flashed from the side and missed him just by a few seconds. Blood splattered at where it landed and then pooled at where it crouched down. Both Liu Xiaodan and Eight turned to see a gross creature with its meat half-chewed at some places.

"Eight! Come in! I heard gunshots!" Captain rang up Eight, but Eight couldn't reach to push his transceiver. He couldn't even move from the fear. When he finally felt panic kick in, his gun was held down by Liu Xiaodan.

"Stay down," Liu Xiaodan whispered as he got off of the elite guard. His brows frowned as he got to his feet. "Leave her alone, whatever you are."

He was talking to 4-19… more likely whatever possessed the poor patient. 4-19 was a female patient on the fourth floor, but she wasn't part of the support group. Neither was she present in the Food and Leisure Hall. Perhaps Yun He would recognize her, but right now, she was nothing but a servant.

The entity inside her stared at Liu Xiaodan and gauged the seemingly normal human. Something was amiss with this man, but the entity only made the body smile. "Liu… Xiaodan… do you think… you can take me on?"

"It's not a question that I will. Leave her alone."

"Oh, you must be that newcomer everyone was talking about." The entity held onto the woman's head and planned to break it. "Let me see the power that they feared. If you fail to impress me, I will devour you."

"If I impress you, what will I win? Oh, wait… I have an idea." Liu Xiaodan smiled back, but it was different from how a human would smile. "I know exactly what I will win."

Bang! The entity felt like an excruciating pain seared from one of the woman's legs, and so it felt the body fall onto the floor. However, the physical leg was doing fine. What actually exploded?

Liu Xiaodan actually stole the guard's combat knife earlier, and he chose to wreck his arm wound open with it again. His blood gushed out and oozed with the miasma that coated the woman. The entity instantly felt like lightning struck its core as the power of the seemingly normal human skyrocketed in a few seconds.

"King…!" the entity cried out as it f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y ripped itself away from its woman host. The entity was not of human origins as well, but it was already missing a leg… out of twelve. It hurriedly crawled to the air vent, but the miasma continued to chew on its flesh as it went.

A scream of awful pain echoed as the entity broke three more legs just to fit itself easily into the vent. The miasma didn't follow it anymore and consumed the legs that it had left behind.

"Why would it try to fit itself in a vent? Couldn't it phase through the walls?" Liu Xiaodan's brows were raised. He then felt his wound heal the moment he pulled out the twelve-inch combat knife. He then looked at the bloodied blade, checking his reflection and noticing something amiss.

However, he couldn't put a finger on it for now.

He then turned to Eight who was on the floor. Extending a hand to help him get to his feet, Liu Xiaodan only chuckled with a somber look. "Are you okay? It was too late to save her. I just needed it to stop destroying her body some more."

"What on earth are you?" Eight was terrified. He had been working with and disciplining experiments a lot, and only a handful was strange enough to make him tremble. It's just that… most of those were in a deranged state and could not even stand seeing another live human being.

However, this Liu Xiaodan even saved his life and was s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e enough to honor a dead body.

Liu Xiaodan only chuckled lightly. He didn't even know what he was at this point either. He could be a human housing a demon inside his body and so inheriting its power for good… or just a terrible human-ghost hybrid that never died whatever happened to him.

Before Eight could react to the young man's silence, the heavy door exploded from outside. Captain and two more guards aimed at Liu Xiaodan and opened fire. Control was buzzing them about 4-28's presence and power demonstration… not to mention he was standing next to Eight.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Precise shots took down Liu Xiaodan by busting his knees and even his shoulders. He quietly fell to the floor, with his face hitting the cold ground.

He didn't move anymore in fear of getting shot again… and from the fact that he didn't even feel pain from the bullets that bored holes through his body. He could also feel his wounds healing faster than they should. Normally, there were only two reasons why this would happen.

One, he killed a few people, and so their soul essences would heal him. However, he didn't kill anyone tonight. There was no way he would be able to save soul essences from the earlier kills. This led him to think of the second reason.

"Is he dead?" Eight stepped back, staring straight at Liu Xiaodan's unmoving body and closed eyes. Blood pooled underneath him, and so his allergy gave him away. "Not yet?"

"Control, this is Captain. 4-19 and 4-28 are secured. 4-19's corpse stopped giving off the poisonous stench; her blood didn't feel corrosive as well." Captain called in the situation after receiving gestures from One who came there with him. He then found Four checking up on Eight for any cuts and bruises.

Static answered him. Captain's brows frowned just before their EMP readers began to run haywire. He then dropped the gun and drew out his flashlight, the same with everyone else. The four men aimed their flashlights everywhere, their hearts beating along with the beeping of the EMP reader.

A low howl echoed from outside the room. "Ah, you brought him here…"

Words were in the wind, and the four decided to stick together. At this point, even Liu Xiaodan slowly got up while cussing inwardly for his hives. It seemed that Guangru healed him indeed, but the child was still sulking. Unless Liu Xiaodan was indeed dying, he wouldn't step into battle.

Captain was shocked to see the man rise, but he was more worried about the incoming ghost attack. He only lifted the flashlight to blind Liu Xiaodan and tested the inscriptions on him.

"Get that thing off of me. I'm not the one causing the sound." Liu Xiaodan could feel the burn of the inscription, but it was akin to holding a hot pot of rice. He could hold it for a while, but it was still hot and painful to his hands.

"It's not effective then." Captain aimed it somewhere else. "Is this the doing of one of your friends?"

"I doubt it." Liu Xiaodan rubbed his eyes to get rid of the aftereffects of the strong light. He then eyed the dark hallway outside the room. "It's coming."

"Liu Xiaodan… Liu Xiaodan… are you ready to die?"

Liu Xiaodan frowned at the figure, seemingly recognizing the ghost with that modus operandi. However, wasn't that guy the reflection guy? Why was he walking outside the mirror? No, it couldn't be him then. If there was something uniform about ghosts, it was how their methods were consistent.

He then walked out of the guards' encirclement. "Who wants me dead? Don't tell me you have no name, too."

"Oh, don't worry, I have a name for you…"

Four more corpses dangled from the ceiling.

"Abaddon."