Chapter 13: So Basically, I’m a Useless Trash

The two walked single file down the staircase into the underground, the broken green glow of the emergency lights spilling across their path in jagged patches.

So cold…

Lin Yu instinctively hugged his arms tighter. The air was far colder and damper than at the entrance, carrying a heavy stench—mold and dust mingled together, as though no wind had passed through in decades.

He followed behind Ye Yeying, his eyes unwillingly drawn to the petite figure ahead.

…Come to think of it, this little junior of mine always has that ice-cold face on, but she’s actually pretty cute…

Ye Yeying’s steps were light, like a cat’s. From Lin Yu’s angle, her frost-cold profile was clearly visible. Under the ghastly green light, her skin seemed like polished ivory—delicate and pale. Her small, high-bridged nose looked as if carved by a master’s hand. Beneath her long lashes, those deep sapphire eyes gleamed like flawless glass beads, sharply observing their surroundings with a calm far beyond her age.

Her battle uniform, reminiscent of a ceremonial officer’s coat, only heightened her air of dignity, perfectly blending commanding presence with the graceful figure of a young girl.

If she were walking across campus back at our university, she’d absolutely be the campus queen with a three-hundred-percent head-turn rate… what a shame.

Lin Yu’s mind wandered, a faint stirring of attraction distracting him from the cold and the creeping fear of this place.

After a long transfer corridor, they reached the abandoned platform. It was wider than the hallway—and far more ruined.

The ceiling was marred by jagged cracks. Condensed water dripped down now and then with a sharp tick-tock, striking the rust-covered rails with eerie clarity. Discarded newspapers, empty bottles, and heaps of unrecognizable garbage littered the floor. Several rows of waiting benches lay buried beneath thick layers of dust, as though covered by a deathly white shroud. The far end of the tunnel was pitch black, a void capable of swallowing all light and sound.

“Front left. Thirty meters. On the tracks.”

Ye Yeying’s voice cut through his idle thoughts. She didn’t look back, only tilted her chin toward the darkness.

Lin Yu followed her indication—and his heart seized.

Between the two rails, a mass of flesh writhed.

It was his “old friend,” the thing that had killed him 457 times in the simulator: a Class-D Primordial Species pollutant. The real thing was ten thousand times more revolting. Tumor-like flesh was coated in a slimy, oily membrane that gleamed nauseously under the sickly green lights. Dozens of twisted, pale arms flexed around it like lungs breathing, giving it the appearance of a sea urchin crawling on land.

Between those arms sat a swollen, misshapen head, round and bloated, releasing intermittent, sorrowful cries that grated on the ears. A sour stench—rotting flesh mixed with sewer muck—drifted toward them.

Lin Yu’s stomach churned violently.

“You. Go finish it.”

Ye Yeying’s tone carried no ripple of emotion, as if she were instructing a coworker to fetch coffee.

“M-Me… me?”

Lin Yu’s transformed feminine voice quivered despite himself.

“Who else?”

At last, Ye Yeying turned her head, casting him a glance filled with the disdain reserved for idiots.

“This is a Class-D mission. Your beginner’s training lesson. Go on. Let me see how much of your evaluation score was inflated.”

Damn it… this girl…

Lin Yu drew in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm.

It’s just a D-class! I’ve killed these hundreds of times in the simulator! What’s there to be scared of?! And besides… seven hundred and eighty thousand in training fees…

Survival instinct and the fear of poverty finally outweighed his disgust.

Imitating his training drills, he gripped the cold Standard-Issue Psionic Handgun with both hands, assuming what he thought was a decent shooting stance. Carefully, he stepped forward a few paces, the icy muzzle aimed squarely at the writhing mass.

Calm… calm… aim for the core… yes, that face…

His mind frantically replayed the instructor’s guidance. But the moment his finger rested on the trigger, it trembled like a leaf in autumn wind.

The monster sensed his killing intent. Its distorted core-face suddenly snapped its eyes open—no whites, only empty pits of black.

“Ugh—!!”

Lin Yu’s mind went blank. His finger jerked down, madly squeezing the trigger.

Bang! Bang bang! Bang! Bang!

A string of blue psionic bullets scattered like spilled water, flying haphazardly toward the monster.

The results were disastrous.

The first shot struck the rail beside the creature, bursting into sparks. The second flew upward, shattering an overhead emergency lamp with a sharp pop, raining shards of glass everywhere. The rest? One grazed a baby-like arm, scorching it with smoke—but in the next breath the arm regenerated as if nothing had happened.

Ah… I missed?! But I practiced this so many times in the simulator! Is reality really that different?!

The creature shrieked, enraged, dozens of arms thrashing wildly. Like a giant spider, it lunged straight for Lin Yu!

“Tch—”

Ye Yeying’s cold voice was like a bucket of ice water on a boiling pot.

“Waste of ammo.”

Before the words even faded, her petite figure darted forward like a phantom, placing herself before Lin Yu.

She didn’t raise her gun at first. In a calm, lecturing tone, she said, “Low-class pollutants of the Nurgle strain have extremely strong regeneration. Their bodies are mostly high-density negative energy, highly resistant to both physical and energy attacks. Blanket firepower is the most foolish, least efficient approach.”

She lifted her hand, pointing at the monster that was nearly upon them.

“Look closely. Its psionic core is in the head. The point with the strongest energy reaction is always the weak spot. Don’t be fooled by all those waving arms—they’re just meant to scare you.”

In the blink of an eye, the monster roared down upon her, arms weaving a deadly net to snatch her slender body.

Ye Yeying moved.

Her petite frame burst with cheetah-like speed, utterly defying her delicate appearance. She didn’t retreat—she stepped forward.

Her body tilted at an impossible angle, slipping past three grasping arms. Spinning on her left foot, she whirled like a dancer, the black-and-white hem of her ornate officer’s uniform tracing a perfect arc through the air. Her motion was less like dodging and more like a deadly ballet.

During the spin, her right arm—long extended at her side—lifted almost casually. The movement flowed like water, so swift it left only an afterimage, violent yet graceful in a suffocating beauty.

Lin Yu didn’t even see her aim.

Bang.

A shot so soft it could almost have been imagined.

A blue psionic bullet flared from her Standard-Issue Psionic Handgun, threading through a fleeting gap at an impossible angle. The next instant it buried itself in the monster’s screaming, twisted face.

Time froze.

The monster’s movements halted. From the bullet’s impact point, blue cracks spread like spiderwebs across its core face, racing down through its entire body. With a faint, sigh-like wail, the grotesque creature disintegrated from the inside out, dissolving into drifting black ash.

The whole process was so elegant it seemed less a battle than an execution.

Lin Yu stood frozen, mouth gaping, mind utterly blank.

…Huh? That’s… it? One shot? Did I hallucinate just now? Was that gun-kata? No, that was straight up magic! As expected of an A-class…

Silence lingered over the platform, the only movement the scattering ash floating in the air.

Ye Yeying holstered her pistol without expression. A faint wisp of smoke still curled from the barrel. She blew across the muzzle with a flourish, like a lone gunman out of an old Western.

Lin Yu’s brain finally rebooted after five full seconds. He rushed over like an eager lapdog.

“Yo-shi! Senior, your marksmanship is absolutely sugoi!”

But his rainbow-colored flattery only earned him a single white-eyed glance from Ye Yeying, as though he were beyond saving.

She couldn’t even be bothered to reply aloud. Her eyes alone said it all:

Shut up, rookie.