Infinite Nightmares

Inside the basement, Zhang Wenda stared in surprise at the scythe—his scythe. "Teacher, you can borrow my abilities?"

"Only a portion of them. Don’t forget, my ability is transfer. And of course, transfer can be used," Teacher Rabbit said before his body vanished from Zhang Wenda’s sight in a blur of purple.

The sight made Zhang Wenda’s heart race with excitement. He had never imagined Teacher Rabbit was this powerful.

"Song Jianguo, get out here! Let’s finish them!" Zhang Wenda forcefully swung his flashlight, and a red laser shot out from it, leading a translucent mouse as they charged outside.

By the time Zhang Wenda charged out of the Youth Palace, he found Teacher Rabbit already engaged with the enemy. But these weren’t the same foes as before; he had never seen what these opponents looked like.

He saw a group of pseudomorphs on skateboards—no, that wasn’t right. They weren’t *on* skateboards. They had no feet at all. Their feet had been completely lopped off and replaced with side-by-side skateboards.

They slid around rapidly, becoming a series of blurs, their speed somehow matching that of Teacher Rabbit, who was borrowing his own abilities.

Their weapons were different this time, too. They were no longer carrying firearms but all sorts of melee weapons. Many of them also held a dark, rhombus-shaped shield.

The shields looked incredibly ugly and deformed almost instantly when struck by the scythe, yet they could withstand its attacks. It was obvious this was all a premeditated assault.

Zhang Wenda had guessed correctly. The enemy was indeed modifying their mercenaries with each attack to counter his abilities. Although there were already enemy corpses on the ground, it was clear that these "roller-people" were beginning to surround Teacher Rabbit.

"Quick! Go help him!" Zhang Wenda whispered, and the translucent mouse beside him immediately flew to Teacher Rabbit’s side, reaching out with its hands to wrench at the roller-people’s wheels.

As they tumbled to the ground, Zhang Wenda immediately drew his Laser Sword and charged forward to provide support.

Zhang Wenda’s Tri-Core Ability hadn’t fully recovered, so he could only use some of his basic powers, like the Red Core’s strength enhancement and the Blue Core’s immobilization.

But even so, he still caught the others off guard. The situation began to shift, especially when a cursing Song Jianguo joined the fray with his Black Cats.

"Weren’t we supposed to hide and avoid fighting them? To keep them from observing our true strength? Why are we fighting again?" Song Jianguo asked during a lull in the fighting, his back to Zhang Wenda as he held his spear.

"I couldn’t get into the Youth Palace! There’s no time to explain. Let’s just deal with these guys first!"

As Zhang Wenda continued to clash with the enemies, he could still see a blurry figure on a distant chimney out of the corner of his eye. Someone was watching from afar. He had to end this fight quickly.

And just as Zhang Wenda was fighting, over on the distant chimney, Saber spoke with utmost respect to a woman in a catsuit standing beside him. "Miss Tang, that’s him."

"Why is it a child? A little interesting."

The person speaking to Saber was a woman, and yet not entirely.

Though the figure beneath the catsuit was curvaceous, she had no head. Where her head should have been, a bird’s nest sat instead.

Perched in the nest were three crows—left, middle, and right. The one that had just spoken was the one in the middle.

"My time is precious. I have no time to just stand here and wait. Go, take your men, and force him to reveal his true power. The sooner, the better."

"Rest assured, Miss Tang. I’ll see to it at once!"

With a slight wave of Saber’s hand, several jeeps with their rear sections covered in green tarps immediately emerged from an alley to the left. He then strode menacingly toward the battle.

Once they were gone, the Crow pulled a cell phone from a pocket and saw the call on the screen. She held the phone up to the left crow’s ear and began to speak.

"It’s me, Tang Xingxiong. Help me stall that kid from Bureau 507. Don’t kill him—killing him would easily provoke retaliation from the Third Line. The more low-key we are right now, the better. Just stall him. Make him a few hours late."

Hanging up the phone, she watched the distant battlefield with great interest. "Kid, I hope you don’t disappoint me."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the three crows in the bird’s nest spread their wings. Leaving a few black feathers drifting in the air, they flew swiftly toward the sky above the battlefield.

By now, Zhang Wenda had started to feel that something was wrong. These enemies were different from the last ones. This time, it felt as if they were endless. No matter how many he struck down, a constant stream of foes continued to surround them.

Glancing at his dwindling Tri-Core energy, Zhang Wenda was just starting to wonder if they should retreat when the situation suddenly took a drastic turn.

Hundreds of bayonets materialized in mid-air, slicing through the atmosphere with an ear-splitting shriek as they lunged straight for Teacher Rabbit!

Surrounded by the bayonets, Teacher Rabbit’s purple figure instantly became a blur.

Sparks flew as the scythe violently clashed with the torrent of bayonets. Teacher Rabbit’s figure moved like a phantom, dodging and weaving as the scythe carved deadly arcs of light, precisely severing several bayonets with each swing.

However, the move was a feint. The bayonets abruptly changed direction, descending upon Zhang Wenda like a rain of blades.

With a suppressed, low roar, a monstrous Zhang Wenda instantly became an afterimage. Scythe and bayonets clashed violently once more, erupting in a shower of sparks.

With their monstrous abilities now shared between them, it was as if two monsters had appeared on the battlefield.

Under Zhang Wenda and the Rabbit’s coordinated attacks, more and more of the flying bayonets were shattered until they no longer posed a cohesive threat. The remaining roller-people also finally began to dwindle in number.

But before Zhang Wenda could lower his guard, a muffled THUD rang out. The Rabbit suddenly froze, a bloom of red gradually staining the purple fur on his chest. A sniper from afar.

"Teacher!!" Zhang Wenda screamed, his eyes wide with fury.

More gunshots rang out. The Rabbit once again became a blur, charging in the direction the bullets came from.

"Haozi! Something feels really wrong! This is a whole different level from last time!" Song Jianguo yelled, having immediately taken cover behind his Cat Shield.

"Stop complaining! The enemy isn’t going to play by your rules!" Zhang Wenda yelled to the distant Rabbit, "Teacher! It’s time to fall back! We’ll retreat toward the Xinhua Bookstore!"

’The enemy had clearly come prepared. Dragging this out would only put them at a disadvantage. It would be better to head for the Third Line’s territory and lead this disaster right to their doorstep.’

Seeing the Rabbit start to change direction, Zhang Wenda got behind the shield with Song Jianguo, preparing to leave.

They hadn’t taken more than a few steps, however, when the roar of engines filled the air. Several jeeps with their high beams glaring blocked their path.

When he saw the familiar bayonet-headed figure step out from the light, the color drained from Zhang Wenda’s face. More importantly, a dozen other enemies emerged from behind him. Now they were in real trouble.

Just then, the Rabbit, now a blur, arrived in front of Zhang Wenda. He could see bone spurs growing from his fur and black holes beginning to appear on his body.

’Zhang Wenda understood now. Borrowing his powers wasn’t as easy as his teacher had made it sound. The side effects were clearly immense.’

He said in a low voice, "Teacher, let me take it from here. This time, it’s my turn to protect you."

As Teacher Rabbit gave a slight nod, Zhang Wenda’s body began to grow taller, and his fingers started to change rapidly.