Chapter 10: The Two Deer-Headed Butchers

Ye Mi suddenly hurled her broadsword toward the path of the laser beam.

Her reaction was astonishingly swift; in a single instant, she responded with decisive action.

A flicker of unwillingness passed through the high-ponytail team member’s eyes, but she immediately darted aside. Faced with the choice between firing her energy gun to kill Ye Mi and saving her own life, she chose the latter.

Clearly, this decision was a mistake.

Because the next second, after she dodged the broadsword, the tall figure clad in a black robe appeared beside her and delivered a merciless punch to her abdomen.

“Li Shuang, hel—”

Her eyes bulged wide as a mouthful of blood sprayed across Ye Mi’s black robe. She flew three meters like a rag doll, crashed heavily to the ground, and her energy gun slid far from her grasp.

There were no longer any laser beams targeting Ye Mi.

The remaining two team members did not simply wait for their end. As Ye Mi performed these motions, a red shadow drew a dagger from her waist and lunged at Ye Mi’s flank with astonishing speed.

Ye Mi sensed the whistling behind her and dodged to the side, but the attacker was even faster than expected.

The sharp dagger grazed Ye Mi’s right arm, drawing a trail of blood beads and leaving a ghastly wound on the Deer-headed Butcher.

Ye Mi frowned and promptly delivered a side kick to the attacker’s chest. The opponent suffered the same fate as the high-ponytail team member, sent flying by the tremendous force.

The last remaining team member panicked and tried to flee.

Ye Mi sneered, drew her broadsword, and with a swift motion, the blade pierced the back of his skull. He fell wordlessly to the ground.

No one survived.

Counting this, it was already the third Defense Bureau team to die at Ye Mi’s hand.

Just as Ye Mi was about to resume her post-battle ritual—searching for spoils—a chilling sensation suddenly crept up her neck.

Her combat instincts forced her to duck; a broadsword skimmed her scalp, severing a few strands of hair.

Ye Mi rolled away to gain distance and looked up, stunned.

Standing before her was another Deer-headed Butcher!

The same black robe, the same broadsword, the same deer skull mask, even the posture was identical.

“What’s going on?”

Ye Mi instinctively touched her head, confirming the deer skull mask was still in place.

It hadn’t fallen off?

Before she could think further, the opposing Deer-headed Butcher swung its blade at her.

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Ye Mi parried hastily; the two broadswords clashed with a shower of sparks.

She soon realized this impostor was far weaker than herself.

After a few exchanges, it was clear to both parties that continued fighting was futile; the impostor’s hesitation grew, and when the distance opened up, it turned and ran toward the edge of the forest.

Ye Mi had no intention of letting it escape. She had to uncover the origin of this false Deer-headed Butcher!

She sprinted forward, quickly overtaking it, forcing the impostor to resume combat.

Seizing an opening, Ye Mi swept her blade and knocked the fake Deer-headed Butcher to the ground.

Just as she prepared to finish it off, a strange red mist began to rise from the figure.

When the mist dissipated, a young woman with reddish-brown hair lay on the ground.

She had an Asian face, pale complexion, blood at the corner of her mouth. Yet, despite her upright features, she possessed an uncanny air of forgettability—her appearance left no lasting impression.

In short, she was someone impossible to remember.

Ye Mi glanced at the Defense Bureau uniform on the woman and, after a moment’s pause, recalled: this was the one who had nearly succeeded in ambushing her from the flank with a dagger earlier—her name seemed to be Li Shuang.

The red shadow was actually her reddish-brown hair.

The fake Deer-headed Butcher had been her own transformation.

What kind of power was this?

Ye Mi felt intrigued and crouched beside her.

Li Shuang opened her eyes weakly. Seeing Ye Mi’s deer skull mask so close, fear flickered in her gaze, quickly replaced by fierce resolve. She gripped the dagger and tried again to stab Ye Mi’s throat.

She did not succeed.

Li Shuang squeezed her eyes shut in despair, awaiting death.

Would it hurt? It already hurt enough.

She hoped the end would be swift.

She’d heard the Deer-headed Butcher performed rituals with corpses. Would she become one of them?

How unfortunate… She’d almost managed to kill this monster.

Countless images flashed through her mind in an instant. Yet Li Shuang felt no searing pain of decapitation; instead, something tightened around her neck, as if she were being lifted.

Confused, she opened her eyes and found herself half a meter off the ground, carried like a chick into the forest’s depths by the Deer-headed Butcher.

A chance to escape!

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Li Shuang snapped alert and tried to struggle.

A crisp crack resounded as Ye Mi decisively broke Li Shuang’s arm.

Now it hung limp, looking meek.

Cold sweat streamed down Li Shuang’s face, her lips pale, but she bit her tongue and refused to cry out, glaring at Ye Mi with a mix of confusion, fury, and terror.

An iron will that belied her appearance.

Ye Mi was a little surprised, but said nothing, dragging Li Shuang toward the pond deep within the forest.

Li Shuang’s body swayed with each step, agony radiating from her broken arm, but she feared her impending fate even more.

Why hadn’t the Deer-headed Butcher killed her?

Was she to be used for a living sacrifice?

Li Shuang despaired inside.

She’d heard rumors, seen footage from annihilated exploration squads—the corpses hung upside-down in the cathedral haunted her mind.

She’d felt uneasy before coming here, and now the worst outcome had arrived.

If her corpse were hung in the cathedral, Li Shuang could accept it—dead was dead; what happened to her body afterward hardly mattered.

But to be hung alive… what torment awaited?

Her mind churned with imagined tortures. The damp forest air, laced with the scent of blood, made her stomach convulse, spreading despair and unwillingness through her entire body.

This monster’s habits were terrifying!

The scenery flashed by. When Li Shuang saw the strange fruit tree glowing red in the depths of the forest, her eyes widened.

She had never seen such an eerie plant—three fruits pulsed like hearts, emitting a flickering crimson light.

It stood alone in the center of the pond, as if it were a work of natural art.

Li Shuang instantly realized this was the team’s objective—the treasure hidden deep in the forest.

She gave a bitter smile. Who would have thought, before dying, she’d get to see it? Among her team, she was perhaps the closest to completing the mission.