The Gentleman at the End

Chapter 68: Chapter 67 Mouse

[Mariano family]

The family Edmund belonged to was well-known throughout the Fourth Continent, owning even a large estate in Zion and continuously developing their own firearms industry.

The firearms produced by the Mariano factory, like their family culture, emphasized “excellence, swiftness, and lethality.”

Each firearm produced by the family guaranteed high quality, but at the expense of stability, they opted for lighter weight and increased power.

From the age of five, family members were required to go through rigorous firearms training, and if they couldn’t fully adapt to the recoil by the age of ten, they would be cut off from the family’s nurturing system and lose their living allowances.

Edmund Mariano

Edmund began practicing firearms with his father at the age of five, and by the age of eight, he finished firearms training early with a perfect target score.

He was then sent to a specialized training ground under the auspices of the organization to develop his physique, reflexes, enemy killing skills, and to learn the use of cold weapons.

At thirteen, he gained the qualifications to hunt outside, joining the family’s gentlemen to clear the surrounding area of patients, starting to accumulate experience early.

Eventually, he joined the organization with a score of 86 and received a blue letter, unlocking the rare profession “Gun Swordsman.”

≮Professional Characteristics≯

“Mastery and Comprehension”: Alternating between firearms and swords can improve the ‘synergy proficiency’ of both. As proficiency increases, it can elevate the speed of reloading, shooting accuracy, sword drawing speed, and other basic attributes, and when proficiency is high enough, there’s a chance to comprehend special combat skills.

“Neurological Adjustment”: Achieving a certain number of kills with coordinated gun and sword against patients can accelerate the growth of the [Coordination Motorics] value.

Raised by a noble house and having received gentlemanly training from childhood, Edmund,

felt an ideological shock when he first came to the Clinic’s basement in the Same Space and saw the self-degraded Pathological Gentleman – Mr. Li.

Edmund resolved to eradicate such degenerates.

When Yi Chen first proposed the “Rat Extermination Plan,” he immediately agreed as the captain, betting his life and choosing to stay here.

Currently,

as the plan moved smoothly towards its final phase, Edmund’s long-suppressed anger burst forth,

an extraordinary focus allowed him almost instantly to achieve headshots and beheadings.

Although such head-targeting strikes could not destroy the Pathogen Core inside the opponent’s body and were not guaranteed to kill the Non-Normality,

they bought enough time to make adjustments.

With such time, the theater manager finished fusing his body.

He turned his head, looking at everyone as well as Mr. Li on the patient bed.

“Although I’d really like to stay here and kill this old rat with you, it seems there are many restless things outside trying to storm into the clinic.

I’ll stand guard outside for you, clean out the detritus in the catacombs, and eliminate any interference.

Please make sure to kill this disgusting old rat.”

The Moon Seal on the manager’s forehead activated instantly, spilling out silver radiance… This was the first time he displayed his true Moon people strength.

The white suit fell away.

From his back and slightly above his waist, arms of different styles grew, each corresponding to his inherent actor traits.

There were slender female-like arms with sharp, long nails,

and old, pathological arms that were rotting and could exude corrosive acid from between the limbs,

The manager’s head also sprouted the faces of a young woman and an old person on either side, each with different emotional expressions, coordinating observations of the surroundings and behind.

Click!

The manager stepped out of the clinic room and proceeded to seal the door.

Soon after, sounds of combat arose outside the door,

To further reduce outside interference, Juliana poured all the previously prepared fuel at the doorway and ignited it.

If the rats tried to squeeze through the gap in the door, most would be scorched.

…

[Scene switch (Yi Chen)]

On Yi Chen’s end, he maintained a gentlemanly posture and stepped forward with a smile.

Capitalizing on the moment Edmund shot and drew Mr. Li’s attention,

one of his hands had already slipped inside his coat, reaching behind to his belt… touching the handle of the Spine Axe that had become scorching hot from the moonlight.

Drawing the axe,

swinging the arm,

tracing an almost circular trajectory in the air, carrying the full force of his body to strike precisely on the ‘Moon Seal’ on the side of Mr. Li’s neck.

Swoosh!

The sensation of cutting with the new weapon was distinctly different… Compared to the rigidity of chopping with a Hand Axe, it leaned more toward a feeling of sawing and shredding.

The feeling transmitted to his palm through the Spine Axe’s handle was alternately slow and rapid, progressively intensifying, and richly layered.

It even gave Yi Chen a faint sense of pleasure.

The slashing not only cut open the neck,

but tore through from the shoulder to the stomach, almost bisecting Mr. Li’s body nearly in half.

However,

Yi Chen did not show the slightest relaxation but instead, a flicker of panic sparkled in his eyes… The scene exposed before him impacted his consciousness to a certain extent.

Within the cleaved body of Mr. Li,

there were simply no so-called organs or skeletal structures, and it couldn’t at all be described with the concept of a human body.

Crammed into his body cavity were rats, or rather, a group of living creatures that could barely be called ‘rats.’

They were stuck together, forming organs and muscle tissues, and even setting up structures similar to skeletal supports,

It would be better to say that what was cleaved was not Mr. Li’s body, but rather a “Rat Nest” had been split open.

Clusters of crimson eyeballs were staring dead at Yi Chen, the ‘intruder.’

Steadying his mind,

Yi Chen still had two things to do next.

1. Reclaim the ‘Moon Skin’ that Mr. Li was holding but hadn’t had the chance to absorb.

2. Let roots grow, attempting to search for the hidden Pathogen Core within such a body.

Little Grape was also staring with wide eyes, scanning the body cavity. @@novelbin@@

However,

just as he grabbed the ‘Moon Skin’ and was about to stash it in his backpack, and the root inspection was about to begin,

the rat swarm inside Mr. Li’s body showed an intention to rapidly converge.

In an instant,

a primal sense of danger swept over his entire body, and the plants combined with Yi Chen started to tremble,

and from behind came Edmund’s desperate shout:

“Danger! Dodge!”

Without any hesitation!

Yi Chen immediately followed up with a standard and smooth backward roll as he drew his Hand Axe.

Crack!

Even though his reaction was fast,

he heard the sound of bones being crushed during the roll.

Hiss—red liquid sprayed out.

With bloodshot eyes and bulging veins, Yi Chen stared fixedly at his left wrist… Above the wrist, there was nothing left but the jagged wound from where sharp teeth had bitten through, and some egg-shaped Pathogens lingering on the surface of the wound.

The left hand was rendered useless,

looking up,

the cleaved body of Mr. Li, which had been split by the axe, had been refilled by the rat swarm, assembling and constructing a monstrous, distorted mouth structure that was happily chewing.

Had there been any hesitation just now, more than Yi Chen’s hand would have been bitten off.

Watching this scene, Yi Chen clenched his teeth, but more than his devoured left hand, he was worried about something else.

“Damn it! The Moon Skin!”

Gulping it down his throat.

This temporarily assembled giant rat mouth showed no intention of continuing the attack.

It disassembled back into the rat swarm, returning to the body,

and with it, the split wound healed.

Not just that.

All the white rats on the floor of the ward were drawn by their master, carrying the flesh of nurses and doctors that had been shot in the head or beheaded, all returning to Mr. Li’s body to serve as nutrition.

Hum!

A beam of moonlight penetrated through the layers of the ground and shined into the ward, landing on Mr. Li’s body.

The hidden Pathogen Core within was activated,

with hair standing on end,

Mr. Li’s body gradually separated from the hospital bed, gaining a certain degree of freedom.

However, the silver blood vessels extending from his back were still rooted to the ground, the restriction not completely lifted.

Completely inflamed like crystal, the eyeballs stared fixedly at the three people in front of him,

and from the mouth torn by the smile, little rats kept crawling out,

“You guys… wouldn’t it be easier to just go back and complete the mission? Do you really want me to eat you?”