After killing the two of them, Zhao Xuan happily obtained two pieces of loot.
To his surprise, the two items that dropped were both Grade B.
"No wonder they were so hard to deal with!"
If Zhao Xuan had used Shimada Hideo's A-rank component, he probably could have defeated them easily.
But he didn't want that.
He didn't want to rely solely on level advantage to win. That would still be depending on an "external force" rather than his own skill. That's why he had fought the two using only the C-rank component on his head — to gain real combat experience, to train himself, and to better control the parasite's power.
In the end, he found that the two were much stronger than he had expected.
Then a bright idea hit him: he remembered seeing Reiko Tamura use a similar tactic in an anime. So during the fight, he deliberately created the illusion that his tentacles were being cut off — when in fact, at the moment the blades struck, he used a "gecko severing" technique and deliberately separated a chunk of flesh.
Separated flesh — parasite cells — if there's enough of it, won't immediately wither away. It can still be controlled by the original body.
Reiko Tamura used this tactic later in the story, fighting three parasites at once and defeating them all.
So Zhao Xuan copied her: he first separated two chunks of flesh to pretend his tentacles had been severed. Then he suddenly used another C-rank component on his right hand to draw the two enemies' attention, letting them think that was his trump card, and allowed it to become entangled with their tentacles.
Finally, he controlled the separated flesh on the ground to launch a surprise counterattack and achieved a reversal kill.
Now, after killing the two parasites, Zhao Xuan possessed one A-rank, two B-rank, and two C-rank [parasite components] — five pieces in total.
He equipped the two B-rank components on his legs and immediately felt countless new reserves of power surging through his body. He felt light as a swallow.
Concentrating, Zhao Xuan's legs swelled and sprouted denser muscles. His feet changed dramatically into a beast-like reverse-joint structure. His legs also grew many barbs and blade-like protrusions.
Zhao Xuan bent his legs slightly and pushed off — the whole body rocketed upward like a rocket.
"Whoa!"
He hadn't expected to jump that high; it felt like he'd shot up the height of a dozen floors.
This was bad — falling from that height…
He glanced down and spotted a utility pole not far away.
Got it!
As he fell, he reached out with his right hand. It transformed into a long tentacle that grabbed the pole and yanked. He swung his body forward.
In midair he adjusted his posture so his legs pointed downward and landed steadily. The impact was enormous; the spot where his feet struck the ground cracked like a spiderweb.
"Amazing!"
Zhao Xuan was ecstatic.
After that first experience he felt much more confident. He jumped again with full force and landed on the roof of a nearby building. Then, like a phantom in the night, he leapt from building to building.
"Ha ha ha! So exhilarating!"
Zhao Xuan ran and leapt quickly between towers. With five parasite components equipped, he could clearly feel his physical attributes and abilities making leaps and bounds. He even developed a fleeting sense of being unbeatable.
Indeed, power is a great temptation for a man.
After bounding through the city for a while, he unconsciously reached the outskirts.
Suddenly he smelled a strong metallic scent of blood.
With his body and senses greatly enhanced, his sense of smell had also improved qualitatively.
He could clearly detect the human blood scent drifting through the air.
"That smell… human blood! That direction!"
Without hesitation, Zhao Xuan leapt toward where the blood smell came from.
But puzzlingly, he could sense no parasite aura at all.
Could it be… a parasite that, like him, could conceal its aura?
Carrying the question, Zhao Xuan arrived at a construction site and saw a shocking scene.
In a corner of the site, a man was riding on top of a woman, a bloody dagger in his hand, stabbing her over and over. A crazed smile spread across his face.
Yes — he was smiling.
A man killing someone and smiling as he did it.
"You… what are you doing?" Zhao Xuan couldn't help but speak up.
"Huh? Caught?" the man said, standing and licking the blood off the dagger.
"As you see, I'm killing her. Any objections?"
Zhao Xuan froze.
When faced with terrifying parasites, he felt disgust and fear. But when confronted with this pale-faced man with a mad grin, an uncontrollable wave of fear and revulsion rose in Zhao Xuan.
"W-Why? Why are you killing her?"
"Why? How could you ask such a stupid question?" The man smiled and slowly walked toward Zhao Xuan. "Let me think… revenge? Loot and rape? Or some other reason? Life's been hard, people pick on you, you hit the limit, you break down — there are always reasons."
"Or maybe… simply for fun? To feel what it's like to plunge a blade into someone?"
"There are endless reasons humans kill."
The man came closer and his smile grew more terrifying.
Zhao Xuan realized: this was a lunatic — someone who killed for pleasure.
"Aren't you afraid of being discovered and arrested after killing?" Zhao Xuan asked.
The man laughed loudly. "Fool. Haven't you seen the news? Our world hides some man-eating monsters! If I disguise myself well, the police will think she was attacked by those monsters. What's it to me?"
Zhao Xuan nodded. "I understand…"
Monsters have always existed in the world, and some people are worse than monsters.
"Looks like you understand your situation," the man said, raising the dagger. "Since you saw me, I'll have to kill you too! Don't worry — I'm not particularly interested in men. I won't torture you like I did her. One thrust and—"
"Pfft—!"
The man's sentence cut off as his eyes widened, a tentacle piercing straight through his chest; blood gushed out.
"So… it was… you… who is the… monster…"
The man fell, unwilling.
Zhao Xuan looked down from above at the dying man with no expression on his face.
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