The door clicked shut, obscuring the silhouettes of Thien Anh and the doctor.
Silence reclaimed the room for a fleeting few seconds, broken only by heavy, ragged gasps and the metallic stench of fresh blood rising from the three newly fallen corpses.
Cao Hung—the once-illustrious Young Master—lay sprawled, a dark hole punched through his forehead, his eyes fixed on the ceiling in a frozen, hateful stare. The two burly bodyguards beside him had also breathed their last.
"Dead… they're all dead…"
A scrawny, rat-faced man scrambled out from beneath a table. He looked at Cao Hung's corpse with zero pity; instead, a flicker of raw greed ignited in his eyes.
"Quick! Get the gun!" he shrieked, lunging toward the bodyguard's corpse to seize the handgun.
The remaining men snapped out of their stupor. With Cao Hung and the guards gone, their time had finally come. Whoever held the gun, held the crown.
"Get back! That's mine!" "Damn you, let go!"
They fell upon one another, trampling over the dead to scramble for the weapon. Their cowardice and base survival instincts were laid bare, more revolting than ever.
But before the struggle could find a winner, a chilling, sibilant rasp echoed through the room.
Hiiiiisssss…
Everyone froze. From the ventilation duct on the ceiling, a jade-green shadow glided down, undulating like a silken ribbon of death.
Azure Sky. She coiled herself atop Cao Hung's corpse, raising her triangular head. Her golden eyes, cold and predatory, swept over the trembling crowd. Her forked tongue flicked in and out, sampling the thick, cloying scent of fear in the air.
"Mon… monster!" "It's that snake from before!"
The rat-faced man, clutching the newly stolen handgun, pointed it at Azure Sky with shaking hands.
"You… die!"
Click.
The gun jammed. Or perhaps he had forgotten to thumb the safety.
Azure Sky narrowed her eyes in visible disdain.
Zip!
Fast as a streak of jade lightning, she struck. Two venomous fangs sank deep into the rat-faced man's throat.
There was no need for tearing or shredding. A single injection was enough. The man dropped the gun, both hands clutching his throat as his eyes rolled back into a milky white. He collapsed, frothing pink-stained bile, his body convulsing violently before going rigid in a matter of seconds.
"AAAAAAAH!"
The rest erupted into a panicked frenzy, snatching anything within reach—ashtrays, liquor bottles, stools—hurling them blindly at the tiny monster.
"Get away! You demon!" "Kill it! Crush it to death!"
A large man grabbed a heavy iron pipe. Roaring to bolster his waning courage, he lunged, aiming to pulverize the serpent's head.
Azure Sky didn't bother to dodge. She unhinged her jaw.
Squelch!
A stream of deep violet liquid sprayed directly into the man's face.
Sizzle… Hiss…
The sound of flesh being eaten away was sickening, accompanied by a plume of acrid white smoke.
"AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
The man dropped the pipe, his hands flying to a face that was liquefying like wax under a flame. Flesh peeled away in massive clumps, revealing the blanched white of the skull beneath. His wails were agonizing—the screams of a stuck pig echoing through the confined suite.
Thud!
He fell, his head striking the floorboards with a wet crack like a rotted melon. Brain matter and blood mingled with the acid to form a grisly, viscous puddle.
Absolute terror paralyzed the survivors.
"Help! Help me!" "Open the door! Run!"
They jostled one another, sprinting for the main exit. But Azure Sky had already glided there, blocking the path. She reared up, flaring her hood in a lethal threat. Anyone who dared to cross would find only death.
The way out was severed. Sub-human nature took hold.
The men turned their gazes toward the corner of the room, where the naked, frail women huddled in weeping terror.
A depraved thought flickered in their minds.
"Use them as human shields! Throw them at the snake to distract it!"
"Yes! Grab them!"
The men lunged at the women like starving beasts. They snatched them by the hair, dragging them across the floor despite their heart-wrenching pleas.
"No! Please! I don't want to die!" "Have mercy! I'll do anything! Don't throw me to the monster!"
The weeping and the piteous cries failed to move the blackened hearts of these animals.
"Shut up! You useless, broken sluts! Die and be done with it!" "Be its bait!"
One man grabbed a gaunt girl by the hair and, with every ounce of his strength, hurled her toward Azure Sky.
Whoosh!
The girl flew through the air, her eyes wide with a terminal, cursing desperation: "You bastards! May you never find peace in death!"
Thud! Snap!
Her body slammed onto the cold, hard ceramic. The impact snapped her neck instantly; fresh blood geysered from her ears and nose. She lay motionless, her eyes still fixed in a frozen stare of absolute resentment.
Then came the second, the third. They threw the women as if they were discarding bags of refuse, hoping the monster would be too preoccupied with the feast to notice them.
Azure Sky watched the unfolding chaos. Her cold reptilian eyes remained un-rippled. She was a cold-blooded creature; she killed for survival. But the actions of these 'higher' beings filled her with a profound revulsion. They were more venomous than any serpent.
She didn't touch the fallen women. She glided past the corpses, her gaze locking onto the men cowering in the corner.
"Hee… Hee…" (The serpent's mocking laugh).
The real banquet was only just beginning.