Villainous

Li Mei crept forward, staying low to the ground and close to the wall. She strained her ears listening for sounds of movement or breathing, taking a step after exhaling when she heard only silence.

The first room she checked had a b.l.o.o.d.y table with a tray of used medical instruments toppled on its side, scattering said tools across the ground. Vials on the counters were smashed, strange liquids sending a foul stench into the air.

Most of the other rooms were much the same until Li Mei entered one near the back of the lab. Her eyes lit up when she saw large table with a computer on top, the screen still on and displaying the same logo used for decoration all over the research facility: a flying oriole superimposed over a circle and holding a mantis in its beak.

Simple, to the point. Good logo.

Li Mei pressed her hand to the computer, frowning when a holoscreen popped up.

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[Quest Progress - Escape]

Downloading information. Please remain in contact with computer for duration of download or Quest bonus objective will fail.

ETA: 7 minutes

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She immediately turned toward the door, preparing for a horde of creatures to a.s.sault her with impeccable timing, but the lab was still silent.

Just in case, Li Mei put her staff away and hopped up on the table, flat against its smooth surface, palm of one hand pressed to the computer the whole time.

Minutes ticked by and silence reigned. Li Mei fought the urge to yawn.

With only two minutes left on the timer, the silence was interrupted by a faint rustling noise.

A creature like an enormous millipede scuttled into the room, long antennae twitching. Its body was so large around a grown man couldn"t wrap his arms around one body segment.

Li Mei swallowed a scream.

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[t.i.tanic Caustic Millipede (Adult)]

Female

Rank 1 (2.5%)

Their body secretes acid, the strength of which depends on the millipede"s Rank. This millipede"s acid is likely to burn through cloth and a few layers of your flesh if you come into contact with it, but will not be inherently lethal. Caution is still advised.

Completely blind, but able to sense the body heat of prey with its antennae. The jaws of an adult t.i.tanic Caustic Millipede are able to gnaw through steel.

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The millipede reared up like a spitting cobra, slamming a portion of its upper body against the nearest wall. Its long antennae flailed about, touching all surfaces in reach before the creature slid back down and scuttled to a different part of the room in order to repeat the process.

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Li Mei wrinkled her nose in distaste. At least it wasn"t a worm.

She lifted her legs when the millipede slammed against the edge of the table she lay on, squirming at rapid speed to avoid coming into contact with its antennae while maintaining her hold on the computer.

The constant scuttling of hundreds of legs was like clattering static, rapid staccatos forming unsettling white noise. The creature circled the table, going over its flat surface then under its belly, sensing body heat yet unable to grab hold of its prey.

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[Quest Progress - Escape]

Archive Download Complete

Awarded +1 STR

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"Time to try something out!"

Li Mei glanced up, summoning a horizontal barrier that seemed to stick out from a wall. Then she leaped from the table to the barrier, skidding and slipping a little on its smooth surface.

"Fixed positioning and weight support, check - thank goodness."

The noise of her leaping to safety alerted the millipede. It clacked its mandibles and slammed itself against the table, breaking it in half with its ma.s.sive weight and smashing the computer to pieces.

While the creature threw a hissy fit Li Mei summoned a couple more long but narrow barriers, creating a pathway for herself out of the room to prevent touching the ground and leaving a trail for the millipede to follow.

She shut the door behind her just to be polite.

Li Mei jumped up onto one stack of cages, taking deep breaths to center herself before circulating mana. Her Celestial Crane of the Northern Winds technique had ice-elemental attributes which caused the temperature around her to drop and reduced the amount of body heat she generated. The effect lingered after she finished a circulation session until she"d used 10% of her total mana again.

Dealing with a giant millipede whose body oozed acid and whose jaws could bite through bone wasn"t at the top of her priority list. If it hunted by sensing body heat, eliminating said heat was tantamount to becoming invisible.

The millipede burst out of the room, smashing the door into fragmented pieces. It flailed around in fury, twisting and writhing as it sought the prey it sensed then lost.

Li Mei fought to stay calm, forcing her breathing to remain slow and steady without losing control of the mana flow. Losing control led to backlash which caused pain and damage to the body, and could even result in destruction of the Core.

Which, of course, usually ended in death.

So she shut out the noise of the angry millipede flailing around the lab and focused on the pattern of flowing mana.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in...

"Help!"

Li Mei shivered, eyelashes fluttering. The sudden shriek echoed through the lab, ripping through her concentration like it was made of paper.

"Please, somebody! Anybody..."

Feeling the mana fluctuating dangerously close to the edge of her control, she exhaled sharply and forced her attention back inward.

"Help us! Help... Help me..."

Only when Li Mei finished a full circulation did she open her eyes and slink in the direction of the voice calling for a.s.sistance.

The voice sounded strong at first but was fading fast. Every word seemed to drain the person"s vitality, until the last plea was just a faint whisper emerging from behind the closed door of a crate-like cage.

Circling the cage was the huge millipede, slamming its heavy body against the metal sides to leave behind big dents. Li Mei narrowed her eyes, pulling the staff out of storage.

Whoever was trapped in the crate could give her some insight into what happened at the research facility and why so many creatures were running rampant. Plus if it was her rescue target she"d get +1 CON!

Li Mei scrambled on top of a tall pile of cages, waiting until the millipede smacked against the cage again before jumping down with the staff pointed at its body. She hoped the force of her weight, plus the height she jumped from, would be enough to pierce the creature"s exoskeleton.

Unfortunately reality wasn"t so kind.

Sparks lit up the air as the staff point made a horrible screeching noise, grinding against the segmented exoskeleton plate and barely leaving a scratch. The millipede whipped around faster than Li Mei thought possible for something so big, its jaws snapping her staff in half.

"Well, f*ck your mother in particular!" Li Mei snapped, bouncing away before the creature could do the same thing to her leg. "And your grandmother, and all your nasty little ancestors too!"

She stole the staff from the farmers before ever entering the forest, and it lasted through countless battles against creatures of all sizes. But a single bite from a millipede snapped her weapon in half.

Fast, strong, good defense. What a troublesome enemy! And she wouldn"t even learn special attacks until she fully mastered the foundational basics of the Sky Serpent technique. Spells weren"t something Faust left behind for her to learn, either.

"If it oozes acid I doubt the stuff I have will cause damage... Creepy crawlies of all kinds are really so unforgivable," Li Mei sighed, dancing away to avoid the millipede"s crazed flailing. She wielded the two staff parts like clubs, smacking at the millipede when it was in range then moving away before it could bite.

She lured the millipede away from one cage and into another with a bit more room. Sensing a more cramped environment the millipede used its size to its advantage, surging to fill the entrance with its body in an odd spiraling movement.

Li Mei swore under her breath, shoving one half of her staff in the millipede"s mouth when it lunged at her for a sudden attack. She dove between the thick coils of its body, rolling on impact with the ground and slamming the cage door shut with one quick kick to buy herself an extra few seconds of time.

The heavy magnetic latches snapped shut. When the millipede hit the cage door a moment later the locks held fast, causing Li Mei to stare at them with narrowed eyes.

Since the locks still worked, why were the cages open in the first place?

Someone opened them with a purpose.

It couldn"t have been the soldiers she hunted earlier, she already got a Quest completion confirming they were dead. Unless they were incredibly fast runners who infiltrated an entire secret base to open some cages in the lab...

Faust said Oriole Sectors were compet.i.tive. Could they have planted a mole who hated them all so much they basically enacted genocide?

Li Mei sighed and ran back to the crate-like cage. Whatever, it wasn"t her problem.