A chase unfolded inside the laboratory between the giant human centipede and Duyen.
The monster—or perhaps the woman, or rather a chaotic amalgamation of countless unfortunate women's bodies fused together—crawled across the walls with its long, slender arms. Something that once belonged only to human beings now looked unimaginably horrifying… and at the same time deeply pitiful.
Along its path, it slaughtered numerous scientists. Terrified faces, scattered body parts, and blood smeared across the laboratory floor created a gruesome scene.
And yet, even so, it still could not catch Duyen.
Its two blind eyes were a weakness. In exchange, its extraordinary hearing was a tremendous advantage. Its sense of smell also allowed it to detect the body heat of its "prey."
Speed was perhaps not its greatest strength, but its sudden ambushes from the darkness were truly deadly. And it was only one among countless horrifying experiments here.
Why had they created these monsters?
Could they truly not foresee that one day this danger would fall upon them?
Yet despite its terrifying nature, the monster still could not locate Dủyn.
Its head twisted and writhed as it tried to detect her body heat.
Duyen's body heat had an unusual color—like a mixture of blue and violet, forming a distinct indigo shade. A rare and strange color to see in an ordinary human.
The monster's mouth dripped with blood and saliva as it let out low growls. It had detected Duyen.
With a powerful leap it lunged into the hallway—
But then it froze.
Duyen was not there.
Had its senses been wrong?
That was when it realized its head was slightly dizzy.
What was this?
Were the images in its mind real? Why did it feel so strange?
The monster began to remember—something it had never truly done before, as it had spent most of its existence asleep inside the enormous chemical tank of this laboratory. A memory it thought it had forgotten.
It was an ordinary afternoon in the life of a female office worker at a ghost company in Tokyo. Just a small amount of overtime.
She only remembered that after that afternoon she would have to pour drinks for some foreign clients again. Another dull day filled with resentment, just like every other day.
The young woman muttered bitter words in Thai under her breath while pouring drinks for those lecherous men. They always tried to harass her. They forced her to perform humiliating acts for their amusement and mocked the place she came from.
This was nothing like the life she had once dreamed of.
Hair loss.Cheeks aching from smiling too much.
After that, the girl could not remember much. Her head felt dizzy—just like it did now.
Why did the taste of the alcohol feel so strange?
When the girl regained awareness, she found herself lying groggily on a hospital bed. Blood was smeared everywhere, yet she felt nothing. Everything before her was blurred.
She turned her head to the left and saw another woman turning her head to look back at her. How strange. Something wasn't right. That…
Was a human head.
Before she could even react in horror, strange voices echoed nearby as several people wearing white lab coats walked in.
"We need to upgrade its sensory abilities."
Huh? What were they talking about?
"Are you sure? Inject that thing into it? I've seen many specimens injected with it already. Even if the higher-ups gave the order…"
"Oh come on, Katashi. We both know why we're here. We're giving it the best chance possible. Otherwise… look at her. She can't survive with only her upper body anyway."
Upper body?
The girl felt terror hearing those words. But her mind was too numb to respond. Then the pain began to seep into her body as she realized she was not only lying naked on the table—She only had the upper half of her body.
"That's why I'm waiting for several more doctors to arrive. They're all top specialists. You can't imagine how wealthy our investors are. But for now…"
The two doctors looked down at her with cold, emotionless eyes behind protective masks. Even so, the girl was terrified when she saw them.
"Those eyes are no longer necessary…"
The doctor's hand slowly reached toward her while the girl screamed in her mind in complete panic.
NO! Don't touch me! What are you doing!? No! NO!
Everything after that was darkness. Sometimes a few tiny scattered lights. That was when she could no longer feel anything. A strange sensation ran through her body—too long, painful, and grotesque.
A human centipede.
Why were those horrifying memories returning now?
At that moment, the indigo lights appeared again. The monster froze slightly. Its mouth muttered broken words.
"Wait… stop…"
Then it rushed toward Duyen with terrifying speed and pure animalistic ferocity. Nothing of a human remained. Colors danced wildly in its mind until it nearly went insane.
What was really happening?
It did not realize.
Duyen was already standing behind it. She gently extended her hand forward. Her eye sockets glowed with a faint indigo light. Her lips moved as if whispering some kind of incantation.
The monster panicked, twisting its body around and attacking her with all the strength and speed it had.
A burst of indigo light spread outward. The monster froze in midair. Completely motionless. Suddenly blood burst from every crevice of its body, spraying outward like a dam breaking.
The monster screamed in agony.
But it did not stop there.
The wounds suddenly closed again. The blood flowed back into its body. Duyen continued whispering those strange spells.
Then the wounds opened again. Blood exploded outward once more—Only to flow back again.
Over and over.Like an endless torture.
Even the monster could no longer endure it.
It screamed miserably.
"Stop… it hurts… it hurts so much…"
As if awakening from a dream. The indigo glow in Duyen's eyes faded significantly. And that was when she realized the voice of a woman was coming from the monster's mouth.
Its face shifted back into the face of the woman it once was.
"Please… forgive me… it hurts…"
Duyen snapped out of it and unconsciously stopped using her power. But suddenly—
The monster smiled.
Jagged spikes of teeth grew from its mouth as its elastic neck shot toward Duyen at terrifying speed.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Gunshots rang out from a rifle fired from the hallway. The monster's head burst with blood right in front of Duyen.
Then a squad of women appeared—wearing black suits and gas masks, carrying rifles and katanas.
At first Duyen was slightly shocked and froze. But then the woman who had fired the rifle removed her gas mask. Beneath it was an extremely beautiful face and a gentle smile.
Duyen's eyes lit up.
"HARU!"
One by one the women removed their masks. They were the fox spirits women of the Mist Village. Hasuko looked irritated as she fanned herself.
"These human clothes are way too tight. I'm not used to them at all. Makes me want to strip them off right here."
Haru laughed softly, like a kind mother.
"Don't say that, Hasuko. I think wearing this isn't bad. It's quite practical. And these guns too."
She said while examining the rifle in her hands. The other women cheered.
"Maybe from now on we should dress like this!"
Haru turned and smiled at them.
"Yes. Maybe we should."
Duyen was overjoyed to see them again. She was about to run toward them—When she suddenly realized something.
The monster's body was still moving. Even after taking three bullets to the head.
Before Duyen could even think, a gust of wind sliced past her. It was so fast that an ordinary person wouldn't even have time to see it. But Duyen recognized it immediately.
"Yu!"
The one standing there was Yu, holding the serpent sword in her hand, the blade radiating an eerie green light. Yet what was strange was that now she seemed able to control it with ease.
She turned to look at Duyen, one of her eyes glowing green.
"You are indeed very beautiful, Duyen."
With the same unchanged robotic voice, Duyen laughed shyly.
"Why did you suddenly compliment me like that…?"
Suddenly, the monster in front of them collapsed like a row of dominoes, its body sliced apart.
Duyen gasped and rushed forward as if she wanted to salvage something. The woman's face twitched slightly before going completely still.
Everyone stood there in stunned silence.
Duyen gently knelt beside the monster. She murmured softly,
"Rest in peace…"
Just then, Nayeon and Dao came rushing in. They were both wearing the same black suits as everyone else. They were also carrying many katana swords for the group. Dao shouted,
"Ah! Everyone's here! We brought the weapons—"
She suddenly froze in shock.
"Ah! What is that!?"
Dao panicked when she saw the monster's dismembered corpse lying in a pool of blood before them. Duyen stood up gently.
"Nayeon, Dao. I'm glad you two are still safe."
Nayeon laughed boldly.
"It's nothing! Those guards were nothing to me!"
Dao, however, looked slightly frightened as she recalled it.
"Yes… Nayeon was terrifying."
Duyen looked awkward when she heard that.
"Oh… exactly what did she do…?"
Even though she didn't know exactly what Nayeon had done, it seemed everything was still fine, right? Perhaps so.
Then Duyen suddenly remembered something.
"Oh right, where's Shana?"
Nayeon and Dao also looked around in surprise.
"Now that you mention it… I haven't seen her around here for a while. At a dangerous time like this, where could she possibly go?"
Haru suddenly remembered something and spoke with a mischievous tone.
"Oh, Miss Shigonami said she wanted to take a little walk around."
"A walk?"
Everyone said in unison.
---
From night until morning, several cameras had begun showing strange signs, and the Kamakiri guards nearby had just discovered something abnormal. Many—even all—of their cameras were displaying images that did not match reality.
That was why their intelligence signals had been arriving extremely slowly. It seemed something had happened at the laboratory, and the alarm sirens had sounded.
But after that, everything became strangely quiet.
What exactly had happened?
A voice came through the communication speaker on the wall.
"Captain of Lab Sector 14, respond if you can hear this! What exactly happened down there? Report immediately!"
But below—There were only the corpses of soldiers scattered everywhere, piled up like a mountain.
The figure of a man wearing a black crocodile-leather jacket and a cowboy hat walked through the pools of blood, leaving boot prints behind him. His glowing red eyes looked up toward the communicator. He replied,
"Captain of Lab Sector 14 reporting. Nothing happened down here."
"What? Are you sure? I clearly heard a large explosion."
Amuro responded calmly, using a voice that was not originally his own.
"No. Just some of their experiments. You know what they tend to do."
"…Alright then, if you say so." The person on the other end replied, though his tone sounded uncertain. "Anyway, your men need to stay alert. We heard those women have escaped. If you see any of them, kill them without hesitation."
Amuro glanced sideways at the mountain of corpses stacked against the wall. He replied calmly.
"…Understood."
In another place, along a stark white corridor, a woman wearing a furisode walked slowly down the hallway. Some guards were still patrolling, searching for the women from the Mist Village with their guns ready.
At first, when they saw Miko, they hurriedly assumed she was one of the fugitives. One soldier raised his gun, making Miko startled. Fortunately, the other soldier stopped him in time.
"What are you thinking, rookie!? That's Lady Kamakiri! Don't be disrespectful!"
The rookie froze as he realized his mistake. In panic, he bowed repeatedly.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Lady Kamakiri! I've only been working here for one week, so I don't recognize everyone yet."
At first, Miko seemed slightly displeased.
But then she smiled gently at him.
"It's alright. Just a small misunderstanding. But your gun almost took my life."
The two soldiers immediately turned pale and were about to kneel down to beg for forgiveness. But Miko stopped them before they could.
"There's no need for that. I've already forgiven you two. By the way, everyone in the Kamakiri family shares the Kamakiri surname, so there's no need to call me Lady Kamakiri. Just call me Miko."
"Yes, Lady Miko! We understand!"
Miko smiled gently at them. Everyone knew that Lady Miko had a reputation for being extremely cold and ruthless. They did not expect that in person she would appear so gentle.
Moreover, she was incredibly beautiful.
It left them stunned.
Then Miko said,
"I want to go to the library. Continue whatever you were doing. There's no need to worry about me."
Hearing that, the two soldiers bowed deeply.
"Yes, Lady Kamakiri! Ah—sorry, Lady Miko! We'll take our leave!"
As soon as they turned around, before they could even breathe a sigh of relief—Two needles suddenly pierced into their exposed necks, the only part of their skin left uncovered.
It was so fast that they collapsed to the ground instantly.
Miko looked at them coldly.
They lay there dead, the two needles still embedded in their necks. Blood slowly spread across the floor. Her voice was icy.
"Don't let your guard down like that… I'm the one who sent my two husbands to the afterlife."
After that, she searched their bodies for weapons. Her eyes burned with a new determination.