Sky-cracking Rider-Chapter 668: Section 663 - Parasitic Species

```

Ten minutes earlier, a small team of intelligence experts privately recruited by Louis Landon, the big shot of Louis Industrial Company, referred to as the "Intelligence Team" by Chen Fei, had dispatched a five-man squad that led another combat team with clear division of tasks. They caught up with Xia Ji and his group who had miraculously escaped from the Rebel Army’s position.

One-third of the dozen or so people who had fled the Morning Star Continent together were no longer to be seen. On the battlefield, the Grim Reaper is egalitarian, as death could come for anyone at any time.

Even the undercover agents planted by the Imperial Security Department alongside Xia Ji were not spared on the battlefield.

If it wasn’t for the skilled masters of the "Intelligence Team" utilizing every trick in the book, locating Xia Ji and company would not have been an easy task.

Having finally escaped the battlefield, they arrived at a small town 150 kilometers from Nandu City, where Xia Ji and the others were about to find a place to rest, only to be cornered by a group of thugs exuding a murderous aura, some even emanating an aura of death.

The moment the other party drew their weapons and charged without a word, Xia Ji and his friends knew that a new round of life-and-death struggles was about to begin—it was either kill or be killed.

However, this was not an evenly matched fight.

The Dead Soldiers, already resigned to death, had less than twenty-four hours to live. They only sought a swift end.

Having escaped the pursuit of the Imperial Security Department and the fire of the Rebel Army positions, facing this group of ruthless thugs who did not hold back at all, Xia Ji and his group immediately suffered heavy casualties, knocked down one after another, with various weapons raised and falling, gunfire crackling continuously, until they were chopped to mud.

These thugs were like "Hellish Fiends" that had come into this world, only seeking to kill, indifferent to life or death, and no amount of pleading could soften the force of the descending weapons.

Just as Xia Ji thought it was all over for him, out of nowhere, a third party entered the fray.

What kind of people were they?

Butchers in oil-stained aprons with cleavers;

Professional women in business attire;

Kindly looking old ladies holding grocery baskets;

Students carrying backpacks and dressed in school uniforms, brimming with enthusiasm but not in a school;

Thin, worried-looking philanthropists from the 7-12-7 charity;

...

Such motley crowds suddenly poured out of the nearby alleys, even more unconcerned with their lives than those fearless thugs, completely unarmed, yet they overwhelmed the "Hellish Fiends" who were slaying Xia Ji and others.

Even as limbs were severed, these seemingly ordinary civilians continued to grab hold, choking, punching, biting and kicking. Despite the lack of sophisticated moves, they managed to bury those armed to the teeth, expert killers under their sheer numbers.

The absurd massacre soon ended, with the small town some 150 kilometers away from Nandu City resembling a Ghost Domain, strangely without a single person coming over to intervene or spectate.

One of the students, having lost half of his body and barely breathing, struggled to crawl next to a "Hellish Fiend" who seemed to have been strangled to death. His backpack still on, half his homework book protruding and soaked in blood.

But the student paid it no mind, he opened his mouth wide with all his might, and something emerged, seemingly human-shaped with multiple tentacles, which plunged into the chest of the ostensibly strangled "Hellish Fiend." Crimson blood immediately gushed out, creating a horrific scene.

"Hiss-scratch!~"

The "Hellish Fiend" who should have been dead suddenly sprang to life, emitting a strange hiss. Its stiff body trembled once more, and beneath the skin, slender filaments kept growing and spreading throughout the body, especially around the head, completely enveloping it.

After about ten minutes, the reanimation process gradually subsided, and the grotesque skin surface returned to its smooth appearance, as if the abnormalities had never occurred.

This wasn’t the only instance; other "Hellish Fiends" who appeared unscathed were invaded by strange humanoid creatures, displaying similar hissing, trembling—a sort of adaptation process.

As if that weren’t enough, even two or three of Xia Ji’s surviving companions were dragged over, and by the time they realized what was happening, they were pinned down by their limbs. No amount of struggling, yelling, crying, or begging seemed to help.

Lambs on the chopping board can only be slaughtered by their butcher; they have no other fate.

Something entered their chests alive, blood spurted, and they struggled and screamed for a longer duration.

Once the noise subsided, the surviving companions were let go, their eyes slowly opening.

Xia Ji confirmed that the sole survivors were no longer his companions, not even deserving to be regarded as human.

Stammering in a trembling voice, he said, "What in the world are you?"

By now, it was better for him to be dead.

The first "Hellish Fiend" to resurrect staggered over to Xia Ji, tilting its head as it observed him, its mouth agape, forming various shapes while a clear voice came out.

"We, need, obedience."

"Kill me!" Xia Ji no longer wished to live, preferring to have been killed earlier rather than fall into the hands of these monsters.

"Obedience, keeps, the self, if not..."

```

The "Hellish Fiends" that could no longer be called Human Race extended their hand and gently touched Xia Ji’s forehead. The latter felt as if he had suddenly fallen into an ice cellar, his entire body stiffening, enveloped by boundless terror.

A bad premonition arose, fearing that the entire town might have already been...

"...Colonized by parasites!"

The voice rang out close to Xia Ji’s ear.

For a moment, Xia Ji lost his ability to speak, as if his heartbeat was about to stop.

These creatures were not of the Human Race, but parasites using humans as hosts!

In the distance came several miserable screams and violent explosions, clearly indicating that even those that had slipped through the net could not escape a dreadful fate.

The "Water Bear" organization may have been having a blast dealing with mutants, but only mutants; no one dared to experiment with living people.

Xia Ji felt like a school bully’s little runt colliding head-on with a combat-ready soldier, like a broomstick going up against a large-caliber machine gun— the two sides were simply not on the same level.

"Pu..."

The cold-voiced adversary suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Due to the close distance, Xia Ji, who was already stupefied, was splattered across the face with it, a foul-smelling, nauseating mess.

"The host is poisoned, pu!"

Another mouthful of black blood, and the muscles on the face of the parasitized Dead Soldier twitched uncontrollably, as if in disbelief, howling chaotically.

Not just him, other successfully parasitized Dead Soldiers also fell into a frenzy, continuously spitting blood.

No one had anticipated that there would be people who had deliberately ingested poison.

As the poison took effect right then, the unsuspecting Parasitic Species crashed headlong into this predicament, a bout of terrible luck.

Despite the Parasitic Species striving to boost their metabolism to cope with the extensive blood loss, neither internal nor external efforts helped, adding insult to injury, and they quickly entered a state of complete exhaustion.

Once vitality was depleted, there was no coming back, not even divinities could save them.

Xia Ji was grabbed fiercely by the Dead Soldier whose jaw hung open wide, ready to repeat the process of parasitism that had just occurred.

"No, no, no, don’t!"

Xia Ji, with a face full of terror, struggled with all his might and unexpectedly managed to break free.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

The Dead Soldier Host that had just grabbed him seemed to have reached its limit— there was a slight click as its jaw dislocated, the Parasite within was ejected, and it fell to the ground.

However, it looked distinctly different from before; the less than half-a-foot-tall Parasite was pitch black, having lost its original pink color, its wildly flailing tentacles now listless, evidently poisoned to the brink of death.

All of the Parasitic Species that had infested the Dead Soldier Hosts were expelled, quickly becoming motionless.

In just a short moment, one-third of both the hosts and the Parasitic Species on the scene had perished.

The Dead Soldiers who had ingested poison in advance had robust physiques, resulting in the most intact corpses, which consequently became the preferred choice for the Parasitic Species—ultimately dooming a considerable number of them.

"Hehe, hahaha, serves them right! You unfortunate bastards, this is what you deserve!"

Xia Ji made no attempt to conceal his schadenfreude.

There was no worse situation than the present—wanting not to cry, he could only laugh!

The kind-looking old lady holding a vegetable basket approached Xia Ji, tilting her head to examine him, then threw a punch.

"Ugh..."

Xia Ji, hit hard in the abdomen, slowly lost consciousness.

-

"’Strong Men Team’, terminate your mission defending the hotel and head to Jiaming Town immediately. Move with caution and show no mercy to anyone behaving suspiciously!"

Chen Fei sent the orders to the "Strong Men Team" patrolling near the upscale business hotel.

The female Metallic Giant Dragon Yilan had already returned to the hotel, ensuring its defensive strength once more,

The situation in Nandu City had finally come to this point. Although it deviated somewhat from what Louis Landon had "prophesied," those Parasitic Species had finally shown their hand.