Chapter 93 Brand, The Colossal Starfish
Inside the leader's mansion, second floor hall.
General Silvio, the rebel commander, still lay dead on the polished floor, his eyes wide open in disbelief.
Xi Nian, in his three-in-one black kitten form, quietly squatted on a table nearby. He struggled to suppress the violent, wicked urges gnawing at his mind, while his eerie blue eyes locked on Harley Quinn's pale figure. Her skin, marked by tattoos, was now covered in a dazzling red dress.
He almost couldn't resist using his tentacles to string her up and torment her.
Perhaps it was the slaughter and negativity in the air that fueled him, but even without fighting much himself, Xi Nian felt his mind and spirit growing increasingly unstable.
He had to find Starro, the target Xiao Huang sought, and leave this place at once.
But his gaze drifted back to Harley.
Wait… that new red dress looked far too clean.
That wouldn't do at all.
As Harley finished changing, the black kitten suddenly leapt forward. His dark paws, dripping faint black slime, pressed against her chest like he was kneading her.
Xi Nian left clear paw prints—one at the base of her slender white neck, another across the firm fabric of the crimson gown—like branded marks of ownership.
The black stains marred her snowy skin and the pristine new dress, radiating a faint aura of corruption.
Yes, that was better. A pet should look like a pet. The dark thoughts of the fused Xi Nian grew stronger.
Harley only laughed it off, assuming the marks were dirt. She hugged the black kitten back into her arms without a care.
Just then—
Gunfire and fighting sounds from the rooftop, the courtyard, and throughout the mansion abruptly died away.
Harley picked up Silvio's golden pistol and walked downstairs, the black kitten in her arms. In the corpse-strewn courtyard, they reunited with Captain Robert and Peacemaker.
"Chomp chomp…"
King Shark waddled out from the side, riddled with white bullet scars. He patted his slightly bulging blue-and-white belly before joining them.
"Where are the other two?" Captain Robert frowned at the suddenly quiet mansion.
"One of them's there," Harley pointed at the fountain, where half of Polka-Dot Man's corpse floated lifelessly. "He died when he jumped from the helicopter."
"…Right." Robert rubbed his face. That one was on him.
Polka-Dot Man, despite being one of the squad's few superhuman members, had been weakened by a higher-dimensional virus. His body was frailer than a normal man's. Even if he hadn't died in the fall, he probably wouldn't have lasted long.
"Wait—what about Cleo Cazo?" Robert's expression grew tight. Unlike Polka-Dot Man, he cared deeply about Ratcatcher II, treating her like a daughter.
"I'm here."
Before Harley could reply, Cleo walked in through the front gates.
She was dragging a bald scientist by his collar with one hand, while pressing a gun to his forehead with the other. A black rat bared its teeth at his neck threateningly.
"He tried to escape. I caught him," Cleo said.
But as she drew close to Harley and the kitten, the rat suddenly went stiff. Its eyes glazed over, its little legs twitched, and it fainted dead away, tumbling from the scientist's shoulder.
Everyone fell silent.
Cleo quickly scooped the rat into her hands protectively, while Captain Robert seized control of the prisoner.
"You must be Gaius Graves. The Thinker. Head of the Starfish Project." Robert pointed his gun coldly at the bald scientist.
The Thinker snarled, "Damn you, you killed General Silvio! His right-hand man, General Mateo Suárez, will never let you live!"
"We don't care. Not like we have a choice." Robert glanced at the kitten in Harley's arms, then smacked the Thinker's face with his gun. "You're taking us to Jotunheim."
"Jotunheim…" The Thinker's eyes widened. At the name, his face flickered between fear and madness.
…
Corto Maltese, inside the capital city.
At the edge of the city stood a massive factory shaped like a smokestack. This was Jotunheim—the island nation's greatest secret. The site of Project Starfish, and the only target of Task Force X's mission.
Barbed wire and steel gates guarded the outside, with rebel soldiers on watch.
Crash!
A modified van smashed straight through the locked gates.
Bang bang bang!
Doors flew open and the squad poured out, mowing down the dozen guards in seconds.
"Open the door!" Captain Robert shoved the Thinker forward, slamming his face against the scanner by the front entrance.
The gates slid open.
Task Force X stormed inside, taking the scientists and staff as hostages. The terrified researchers scrambled aside as the squad pushed straight to the uppermost levels of the facility.
And there, in the most secure lab, the squad froze in horror.
Against the far wall, two men were strapped to machines, their bodies thrashing in agony. Each had a strange starfish latched across their faces, covering eyes, nose, and mouth.
At that moment—
The black kitten jumped from Harley's arms to the ground. Xi Nian's ghostly blue eyes glowed as he stared at the parasites clinging to the captives.
They had made it to Jotunheim with the squad. Everything had gone surprisingly smoothly.
"Is this the Starro you're after?" Xi Nian asked telepathically.
"Meow meow!" Xiao Huang replied.
"What does that mean?" Xi Nian frowned. The little Flerken's answer was clear:
"Not the one, but connected."
Not Starro itself, but… related.
Xi Nian was just processing that thought when—
Boom!
The entire lab shook. From behind a massive reinforced glass wall, an enormous suction-cupped tentacle slammed against the barrier, rattling the whole building.
"What the hell is that…"
Even the hardened killers of Task Force X felt their blood run cold as they stared wide-eyed.
Beyond the glass loomed a creature the size of the entire facility—an enormous starfish monster, so huge it filled two-thirds of the thirty-meter-high structure.
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