Chapter 9

In the armored vehicle at the edge of the battlefield, Shisi and Qiuhua observed the fighting outside from the window.

"Are they okay?"

Qiuhua, watching the almost overwhelming evil spirits, said with some concern.

"They're fine."

Shisi extended his senses to the battlefield. Although the loss of control of his power was dangerous, he had gained something from it. Now he possessed a kind of mental perception that gave him a stronger sense than his physical eyes.

"From the strength and number of the enemies in front of us, there won't be any danger."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Commander Lang and Qiu Wei are far from the center of the battle. As long as they maintain their distance, they can get support if they are attacked. And Old Hu is very strong; these Type C evil spirits are no match for him. Although the number of evil spirits is large, there is no reinforcement, so they will eventually be eliminated. So there's no need to worry."

Shisi, who had come to this conclusion, didn't think there was anything to worry about.

"..."

But he noticed that Qiuhua suddenly tilted her head and stared at him seriously.

"What's wrong?"

"You should be worried~~~"

Qiuhua's voice sounded very gentle.

"?"

"At a time like this, you should be worried~~~"

"I don't understand."

Shisi shook his head.

"The battle situation is not critical, and worrying without action is meaningless."

"That's not the case."

Qiuhua took Shisi's hand and placed it on her chest. Shisi could feel Qiuhua's heartbeat through the softness of her chest.

"The feeling of worrying about others comes from here."

"..."

Shisi looked at his hand, then placed it on his own chest. The heartbeat was the same as before.

He still didn't understand.

"Well, if you can't figure it out, don't think about it. You'll understand naturally when the time comes."

Qiuhua smiled and waved her hand.

For some reason, Shisi felt like he had been seen through. But Qiuhua didn't have the superpower to read minds. Shisi was puzzled. For Shisi, who had lost his memory and had only a few hours of life experience, Qiuhua's wisdom as a mature adult was something he couldn't understand.

"Since Shisi says it's fine, I'm relieved."

Qiuhua kindly changed the subject.

"Do you want to help?"

Shisi thought for a moment and asked.

"Yes. But I have to protect Shisi."

"Does that mean I'm a burden?"

"You can't think that way!"

This time, Qiuhua's tone suddenly became stern, as if she were educating a misbehaving child.

"No one is omnipotent, so you can't think of yourself as a burden. Do you understand?"

Shisi, seeing Qiuhua's suddenly authoritative demeanor, nodded obediently.

"Yes, good boy."

Shisi, accepting Qiuhua's pat on the head, felt that her expression changes were too fast. He couldn't yet understand how quickly women could change their expressions.

"Let's continue waiting for them."

"Okay."

Shisi nodded, and at that moment, a strange fluctuation appeared in his perception. If his extended mental senses were compared to a lake, it was as if a large stone had been thrown in.

"Something is approaching."

Since his perception range was similar to his field of vision, by the time he said this, the thing had already appeared in their sight.

It was a massive creature, with legs as thick as a car. Its overall shape resembled a lizard, with a strong, powerful tail, but no hind legs, only two feet. Its black body was covered with flame-like stripes, and flames burned on its back. It stomped onto the battlefield with a loud thud.

"Type B, Train!"

A voice from the nearby battlefield called out.

The giant evil spirit named Train quickly rushed into the center of the battlefield. Whether it was cars, evil spirits, or exorcists, everything in its path was crushed by its massive feet. Its appearance caused great chaos on the battlefield, and a single charge and collision caused massive destruction. Conversely, the exorcists' attacks were ineffective; ordinary exorcism bullets could not cause significant damage, and sword attacks were shallow due to its large size.

"We need to get out of the vehicle. It's hard to move here, and if we are attacked, we won't be able to dodge."

Seeing Train's rampage, Shisi made this judgment.

Just as the two jumped out of the vehicle, they heard a loud thud from another direction. Looking over, they saw a massive figure emerging from between the buildings, a two-legged, tail-burning body, just like the Train in the center of the battlefield. It coiled its body into a tire-like shape and then rolled like a tire.

"What!? Another one!"

"How is this possible?"

"Damn!"

Shouts came from the battlefield as the exorcists were thrown into chaos by this sudden strong enemy.

There was already one that hadn't been dealt with, and now another one appeared, putting the exorcists in a difficult position. The new Train made the already chaotic battlefield even more chaotic, and even the well-trained exorcists were momentarily at a loss.

"Enough! One after another, it never ends!"

Sakuraba, holding a suitcase and firing a metal storm, complained.

"Now is not the time to complain."

The man with a mohawk, Iwamoto, responded in a low voice.

At this moment, Old Hu and the other important members of the Countermeasures Office had just arrived at the center of the battlefield where the first Train was, only to find another one had appeared. The first one had already caused significant destruction in a short time, and if the other one was left unchecked, the consequences would be dire.

"I'll take care of this one, Ichiriki, you go support the other side."

Ichiriki was about to attack when a hand stopped him.

"No, I'll take this one."

Old Hu stepped forward, blocking everyone.

"I can handle this level of enemy alone. You all go support the other side."

Ichiriki and the others were about to remind Old Hu not to be overconfident, but a powerful aura emanated from him, and they fell silent, nodding and running to the other battlefield.

Seeing that everyone had left, Old Hu focused all his attention on the enemy. He had already made Lang and Qiu Wei retreat to the rear, and now, with no distractions, it was the perfect time for a big fight.

"A creature this big should be worth a few hundred reward points."

Old Hu calculated in his mind.

Perhaps sensing that Old Hu was a strong enemy, Train did not continue its destruction but instead stared intently at Old Hu. This silence did not last long.

"Turn into my reward points obediently."

Old Hu shouted, leaping forward.

Train also stepped forward at this moment.

The two collided fiercely, and at the moment of impact, there was a loud thud.

This was a direct, no-frills collision. In terms of size, Train was several times larger than Old Hu, and in a strength contest, it had a significant advantage, especially since Old Hu was in the air with no support. However, the outcome was contrary to this logic.

Train's head was lifted by Old Hu's impact, and its entire body was knocked backward, almost flying into the air.

On the other side, Old Hu was also thrown back by the counterforce, but he rotated several times in the air to dissipate the force and landed steadily on the ground.

"Pretty tough, seems a bit stronger than in the anime."

Old Hu, looking at the Train that had just gotten back up, saw that the previous blow had not caused significant damage, but this was within his expectations, as he had not used even a fraction of his power.

"But this is just the beginning."

A cruel smile appeared on Old Hu's lips.

While Old Hu was engaging the enemy, Ichiriki and the others had not yet reached the other battlefield. The second Train was still wreaking havoc, rolling around and crushing everything in its path, including other evil spirits.

"Bad, it's coming this way."

Shisi and Qiuhua's luck was particularly bad; the Train was rolling in the direction they were trying to escape.

Even if the evil spirit's speed wasn't as fast as a train, it was still comparable to a car. Given Shisi's weak physical condition, even if they were in good shape, they couldn't escape.

Shisi quickly observed the surroundings. The armored vehicle they had been in was already crushed, and the nearby exorcists were either dead or injured, offering no help. There were no obstacles around to use for cover, and the terrain offered no advantage. Old Hu was still far away, engaged in battle, and the exorcists rushing to support them were still some distance away, unable to arrive immediately.

In other words, they couldn't rely on anyone else for help.

Shisi looked at Qiuhua, who was protecting him. On their journey, Qiuhua's katana had already slain countless low-level evil spirits. If spirits had blood, Qiuhua's body would have been stained red. Even now, her sword movements had slowed, but her determined gaze remained unchanged.

Qiuhua's fighting figure was deeply etched in Shisi's eyes.

"This is what fighting is."

Shisi took a deep breath, supplying oxygen to his weak body.

In his perception, the enemy was already close, and in a few more breaths, it would crush them.

At this moment, his mind was highly focused.

If he used the same method he had used on the evil spirits at the beginning, he could stop the enemy's movement. Shisi recalled the feeling at that time. He didn't know if it would be effective, as the current enemy was much stronger than those evil spirits, and even if it succeeded, he didn't know if it would buy enough time for support to arrive.

But he wouldn't sit and wait to die.

Just as Shisi made up his mind to act—

"Come to me!"

A clear, young girl's voice reached his ears.