Chapter 124: The Second Mutation

The deformed nurses charged forward, their hands brandishing weapons as they slashed at the Corpse Giant’s arms. Although their weapons were short—mere scalpels and syringes—each strike against the giant’s flesh acted like a blade cutting into ice; what started as a tiny incision would suddenly expand, tearing open a wound several inches long.

These malevolent spirits born from the Otherworld possessed the ability to exacerbate wounds. With the Corpse Giant suspended and unable to defend effectively, combined with Ellie’s relentless attacks from behind, the giant found itself on the back foot. While the giant’s body continued to regenerate, Fan Li noticed that the pace of its recovery had slowed significantly, no longer surging back together with the rapid speed seen before. Clearly, self-regeneration was a considerable drain on the giant.

The nurses gathered together, focusing their assault on the giant’s arms. After this damage persisted for some time, the arms were torn apart once more, allowing the Butcher to break free. Seeing this, the Corpse Giant threw its head back, emitting countless roars from its maw that converged into a cacophony of fury. The shrill sounds seemed to echo directly inside the ears, creating the illusion that one’s eardrums were about to be pierced.

The Butcher stood up, its triangular headpiece facing the giant. Its arms swelled until they resembled two frenzied pythons. Lifting its heavy cleaver, it swung horizontally, cutting a nurse in half before she could dodge. The Butcher was in a state of extreme rage, and its disregard for alliances meant it showed no mercy, even to the one that had just helped it escape.

The Butcher’s emotions influenced the shift in the Otherworld; under the influence of its madness, the area transformed into a hellish purgatory, thick with dark, chaotic energy. With its grotesquely inflated arms gripping the cleaver, the Butcher cleaved the Corpse Giant’s chest in two, splitting its entire body instantly. Seizing the opportunity, Ellie leaped into the air and smashed her hammer into the giant’s upper torso. Having succeeded, she darted to Fan Li’s side, unwilling to court unnecessary trouble with the Butcher.

The Corpse Giant still attempted to heal, but as its limbs began to regrow, a swarm of dense, human-faced beetles erupted from its body. They shrieked as they began to devour the giant’s flesh, preventing it from restoring its original form. The Butcher struck again, hacking the giant’s body into several pieces. More and more human-faced beetles emerged, until the monster was eventually covered in a layer of them.

These human-faced beetles relied on the energy of zombies to reproduce; for every beetle birthed, a zombie would be reduced to a husk. Yet, the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, were breeding on the Corpse Giant showed just how abundant its energy reserves were. The human-faced beetles overwhelmed the giant. Though it seemed the ordeal had come to an end, Fan Li couldn't shake an indescribable feeling of unease, unable to let his guard down.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, one of the human-faced beetles burst for no reason, spraying foul blood from its body.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

Like popping popcorn, more and more beetles exploded. At the same time, the spilled blood gathered together, fusing with the corpses of the beetles. In the blink of an eye, every beetle had burst, and the Corpse Giant regenerated, every inch of its skin and flesh defying normal human perception as it transformed into a massive, hideous, human-faced beetle.

Fan Li’s pupils constricted, his expression darkening. The Corpse Giant’s formidable regenerative power had once again surpassed his understanding. With a thunderous boom, a hideous, gargantuan head swept toward all the enemies present. Compared to the three-meter-tall giant covered in severed limbs from before, this secondary mutation had turned it into a massive insect standing four meters tall. It raised its terrifying mandibles to the sky and unleashed a vibrating shriek capable of shattering eardrums.

"嗡..."

Fan Li and Ellie covered their ears simultaneously. Even so, Fan Li felt a sense of panic and trembling that resonated from his soul, as if his heart were being gripped by a demon, causing his consciousness to cease functioning.

The giant human-faced beetle raised its head and spat, spraying a multitude of insectoid limbs from its mouth. The female nurses, lacking the strength to even block the attack, were blasted apart and fell to the ground. The Corpse Giant—no, the monster that had become a giant human-faced beetle—picked up the nurses’ corpses and plastered them onto its chitinous armor like trophies.

Iron chains descended from the sky, piercing into the monster’s body as the Otherworld attempted to hoist it up again. Yet, the monster stretched its front legs and snapped the chains entirely. The surrounding atmosphere became suffocatingly oppressive. Fan Li noticed that the pitch-black scene was suddenly pierced by flickers of light, as if curtains were being pulled open; more and more light flooded in. Dazzled, Fan Li blinked, and in that moment, he found himself back in the hospital.

After completing its transformation, the Corpse Giant had shattered the constraints of the Otherworld and returned to the original world.

The giant human-faced beetle’s maw still surged with a thick, violent aura, and its body was now covered in layer upon layer of countless, densely packed eyes. Each eye glowed with a look of extreme malice, radiating a hatred capable of tearing any soul to shreds. It swung its front limbs, striking the Butcher. The speed was so great that the Butcher took the blow head-on, crashing through a wall; it was unclear how long it would take to rise again.

"Wah!"

Ellie bent her knees and launched herself at the giant beetle. A crack was smashed into the beetle’s body, but in an instant, tiny beetles crawled out from the wound, pressing their backs against the gap to seal the breach.

Fan Li watched everything unfold. He had not expected the monster to be this terrifying; its strength had already surpassed that of the "Suffocation" he had encountered in the factory. Monsters also had their hierarchy, and there was no doubt this was an apex predator. Fan Li should have realized sooner: every severed limb attached to the monster represented a life. The survivors it had killed numbered in the hundreds or more, and that was the secret to its growth.

More flesh meant greater power. When Ellie devoured zombies, small red spots would appear on her music box; that was clearly a form of accumulating strength. With the Butcher temporarily incapacitated and Ellie on the defensive, Fan Li knew he would eventually face the monster’s assault. His brain raced, aware that he needed a strategy before the danger descended.

What trump cards did he have left to use?

"The sealed Nightmare... the Suffocation... right, there’s also the Corpse-Suppressing Talisman I obtained as a reward!"