“This goddamn thing’s at least a C-class!”

A terrified yell drowned out the news report.

Then came the gunfire.

The continuous roar of expanding gases, the convergence of energy conversion, coalesced into beams of light erupting from the muzzles, sheets of laser fire forming streaks of indigo flame across the sky.

The bullets hit her back.

Her coat was torn, her camisole shredded, revealing the slender back of a young woman, a thin layer of muscle rippling with each breath.

The light beams were like they’d hit a hyper-alloy steel plate.

They destroyed her clothing, but failed to pierce her skin, not even leaving a scratch, bouncing harmlessly away.

“No! This has to be a B-class! Or even—”

Their faces were ashen.

Some, gritting their teeth, gave up and fled, terrified of dying if they stayed a second longer.

Others roared and charged, brandishing silicon-carbon blades, slashing at her neck.

Su Yao saw their reflections in the glass wall.

She rolled aside, dodging the blow.

Even if she’d been hit, it probably wouldn’t have mattered, but she barely had the energy to think about anything else.

The next blow followed immediately.

The attacker was clearly experienced, his blade like a red butterfly flitting through flowers, each strike delivered at a difficult, almost impossible to dodge angle.

—She wasn’t very good at dealing with this.

Su Yao thought vaguely.

However, the opponent’s movements were slower than her reaction speed, so dodging wasn’t too difficult, but the feeling made her uneasy.

She raised her hand.

Her palm contorted in mid-air, her wrist bones growing, her finger bones elongating.

With a series of crisp bone-grinding sounds, her extensor muscles and ligaments moved together.

Sharp claws extended like blades unsheathing.

The moment the claws met the blade, the silicon-carbon knife shattered like a thin piece of plastic, as fragile as a child’s cheap toy.

Hot fragments scattered like a shower of light.

Her claws didn’t stop.

The metal handle quickly shattered as well.

“Ah—”

The attacker screamed, his fingers severed at the base, blood spurting out like a fountain.

Su Yao didn’t think this was the end.

An instinct drove her forward, pinning the man to the ground, lowering her head to bite his neck.

…

Her mind was a whirlwind, her appetite unsatisfied, her fighting instincts rekindled.

The light beams hadn’t left a mark, but the impact had been transmitted through her flesh, signifying an attack and provocation, which enraged her.

She was still hungry.

Her mind-reading ability hadn’t been replenished.

And now, among the many scents in the air, many represented food.

Su Yao discarded the body, stepping back.

The first victim smelled slightly better.

So she approached the person, crouching down.

She gasped, saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth onto the corpse below, tiny sparks continually erupting from the fragmented metal spine.

No.

It wasn’t just morality or some kind of line that was affecting her.

She vaguely sensed that if she bit down, she might lose her last vestiges of sanity.

Su Yao stood up, staggering towards a nearby convenience store.

The owner hadn’t had time to close up shop and had wisely fled; clearly, this wasn’t the first time he’d faced this situation.

The store was deserted. She grabbed high-calorie snacks from the shelves, tore open the packaging, and stuffed oily jerky and fried foods into her mouth.

She ate a lot, then dazedly squatted down, crawling towards the door.

Had she forgotten something?

Su Yao roughly tore off the jeweled hair tie from the back of her head and threw it onto the counter.

The moment the collision sounded, footsteps echoed from the street outside.

“It’s over there! At least a B-class!”

A shout came from afar, followed by a large group of people flooding into the street, nearby shops closing down, and passers-by fleeing as quickly as possible.

“A little kitten scared you guys like this.”

A leader emerged from the crowd, tall and thin, wearing a full-face filter mask, surrounded by his underlings, letting out a sharp laugh.

“Initial awakening… maybe it’s even her first time. Just take out her claws.”

He took off his coat, revealing a lean, muscular body, stomped on the ground, and silently charged forward.

He swept across the street like a whirlwind, covering tens of meters in an instant.

He appeared before Su Yao.

After listening to his subordinates’ descriptions, he didn’t believe any other possibilities, so he prejudged that the girl in front of him was a B-class.

Being a B-class himself, he was confident in his powerful special abilities and his mastery of initial awakening.

Dealing with a young girl would be incredibly easy.

However—

When he roared and brought his claws down, he didn’t see the girl’s blood spattering.

In that instant, the black-haired, golden-eyed girl leaped, colliding directly with his chest.

It was like a heavy hammer had struck, he heard the crunch of broken ribs, claws pressed onto his shoulder, the young woman’s figure swayed, leaping onto his back.

Long canines pierced into his flesh, his supposedly impenetrable skin proving incredibly fragile.

His neck bone groaned under the grinding of her teeth.

It was only a moment, in fact.

His neck was bitten open.

However, the vitality granted by his B-class bloodline prevented him from dying.

He still had the energy to use his special abilities.

But the approaching danger overwhelmed his ability to think, the sudden defeat spurred him on, preventing him from realizing what it all meant.

So he didn’t run away, instead continuing his attack in anger.

Su Yao suddenly felt her body grow heavy.

In a moment of confusion, she released her bite, then her body grew even heavier, and with a dull thud, she collapsed.

“…Taste my power!”

The tall, thin man roared, touching his mangled neck, black markings appearing on his face.

His face turned pale, his breathing heavy, as if a large amount of energy had been suddenly drained from him; blood even trickled from his mouth.

“How—”

How could there be such a huge energy drain?!

He thought incredulously.

And most surprisingly, the girl, who should have been unconscious and senseless, was still awake!

Su Yao lay sprawled on the ground.

From her knees and elbows down, her forearms and lower legs, to her hands and feet—

It was as if they were glued to the road surface, immobile, as if they had merged with the ground.

She could still move her waist, abdomen, and legs.

But not enough to attack her enemy.

No.

Wrong.

The instinct that still governed her reason seemed to say that it wasn’t over yet.

“How’s that? Hmm?”

The man coughed up blood, gritting his teeth, his eyes blazing with fury.

“Bitch! I’ll cut you into pieces!”

He yelled for his men to bring a high-polymer cutting saw, simultaneously kicking the young woman lying on the ground, cursing incessantly.

Blood splattered again into the air.

The man widened his eyes in shock, then felt a stinging pain in his lower leg.

A dark shadow whipped upwards.

Something sliced across his calf.

His foot hadn’t yet landed on the girl; it stopped mid-air.

In a blink, he lost all feeling in his right leg.

The man fell down in a daze.

The last image in his eyes was a huge tail.

Composed of several segments, curved and coiled in the air, covered in deep red-black carapace, the cold, smooth chitin gleaming with a chilling light, the tail hook at the end like a suspended scythe.

The tail was almost as long as her height.

Therefore, the size of the hook at the end was much larger than an ordinary dagger.

It curved downwards in a beautiful arc, becoming sharper and sharper, like a finely honed weapon.

Blood dripped slowly from the venomous barb.

“Lion—”

He convulsed violently, losing all sensation, blood continuously pouring from his mouth.

The man let out a low moan, seemingly too weak to yell.

His skin rotted inch by inch, large blisters appearing on his body, quickly bursting and corroding the surrounding skin into lumps of rotting flesh.

His eyeballs melted into a semi-liquid state, sliding out of his eyes, turning completely into blood before hitting the ground.

“Lion—Scorpion—”

His last words dissipated in the wind.

With his death, his ability was lifted.

Su Yao slowly got up, turning to look at the people in the distance.

“?!”

Even without immediately recognizing what it was, the leader’s death plunged the remaining men into immense terror.

Some trembled, unable to stand, staggering back a few steps, turning and fleeing.

Others charged forward.

Su Yao remained motionless, squatting, her arms braced in front of her, her bestial hands pressed against the ground, her tail held high in the air, watching them impassively.

Everything became simpler.

The tail’s speed was astonishing.

Almost perfectly synchronized with her consciousness.

Anyone who charged forward hadn’t even seen what happened before being struck by the tail hook.

With a mere flick, they lost all strength, falling to the ground, dying faster than the man before.

Venomous liquid shot from the needle-like barbs, the process quick and fluid, like breathing, requiring no practice.

…

In an instant, the empty street was littered with corpses.

Su Yao walked two steps, her tail held high.

Her clothes were torn to shreds, hanging precariously on her chest and hips; another gust of wind would blow them all away.

She suddenly stopped.

A figure appeared ahead.

The person was very tall, wearing sunglasses and a black trench coat, his broad shoulders and long legs barely concealed by the garment, the hem falling to his knees.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, his posture relaxed, his expression calm.

His gaze swept across the corpses and blood, without a flicker of his brow.

“To avoid disturbing you, I wore clothes this time. Now it seems I chose the wrong time to meet again.”

His voice was low and deep.

“…Or maybe I spent too long choosing my outfit. Sorry, but I’m really not good at this. I just wanted to talk to you.”

Su Yao narrowed her eyes, staring at him.

“The first meeting between humans… were you human before?”

The other person showed no hostility, and didn’t seem to intend to approach, which lessened her desire to attack.

“But according to the customs here,” the person said, “shouldn’t your fiancé be here to help you?”

Su Yao’s mind was muddled, but at his words, she immediately said, “No!”

“Fiancé?”

“No!”

“Hmm, it seems that’s the keyword.”

The person paused. “Let’s try something else? Time travel? Another world? Family? Going home? Do you remember how you came to this world?”

Su Yao gave him a look of disbelief.

After a few seconds, she realized that this guy was very handsome.

Although his sunglasses covered his upper face, his tall, sculpted nose, sharply defined jawline, and slightly pale, thin lips were exceptionally refined.

Su Yao tilted her head.  “…Soothe.”

Her mind was a mess, and it felt like someone was pouring water into it, stirring it as they poured, keeping everything in a terrible state.

But she vaguely remembered something, about how to deal with this state.

If someone soothed her with their spirit, everything would be alright, or so it seemed.

The tall man in black lowered his head slightly, thoughtfully looking at her for a moment. “I’ve never…”

Su Yao was standing in front of him.

He was extremely tall; she could only look at his chest, seeing the muscular contours barely concealed by his thin shirt, the taut lines straining the buttons.

Su Yao licked her lips, then bit into his pectoral muscle.