Chapter Forty-Three: The Tale of Slaying Insects

Before Shu Onion could finish speaking, an enormous, blood-red maw descended and swallowed half her body whole. The edges of the mouth, lined with dense, wriggling tendrils, latched onto her as the headless upper body of the intestinal worm jerked upright, lifting Shu Onion into the air.

Tang Garlic and Sha Man, scrambling out of the car, screamed in horror, their faces drained of color.

They had only just lost Li Pepper to the dead city. If Shu Onion perished now, it would be another devastating blow to them all.

Therefore, Zheng South could not allow such a tragedy to unfold again before his eyes—even if defeat was certain, there was no choice but to fight.

...

Li Pepper had died in a surprise attack—Zheng South and the others could hardly be blamed for failing to react in time. But this time, with Shu Onion snatched away right under his nose, how could he stand by and watch her be devoured by this grotesque, monstrous creature?

The instant the intestinal worm’s mouth clamped onto Shu Onion, Zheng South, half hanging out of the truck, seized her ankles with a death grip. As the worm reared up, lifting Shu Onion, it dragged Zheng South out of the vehicle as well.

Thus, what Tang Garlic and Sha Man saw was this: the massive intestinal worm rearing back, its maw swinging, with half of Shu Onion dangling from its mouth, Zheng South clinging to her feet below. Though Shu Onion’s upper body was trapped inside the mouth, she wasn’t dead—her body still struggled desperately.

For Tang Garlic and Sha Man, as long as Shu Onion was alive, there was hope.

But Shu Onion’s frantic struggle brought nothing but trouble for Zheng South, who dangled from her feet. Suspended high above, it was all Zheng South could do to hold on as Shu Onion, panic-stricken, kicked wildly, landing two solid blows to his face and nearly dislodging him.

Zheng South called out to her as best he could, uncertain whether she could hear him from inside the mouth. Desperate, he reached up, yanking down Shu Onion’s short skirt to knot his hand and her ankle together in a firm grip, freeing his other hand to draw the steel-toothed saw blade at his waist.

The worm’s habit was to toss its prey high into the air, letting them fall straight into its mouth. But with Zheng South’s extra weight below, the worm couldn’t manage it. Its attempts only caused Shu Onion to slip a few more inches from its grip.

Whether suffocating or finally hearing Zheng South’s shouts, Shu Onion’s kicking subsided, her hands gripping the tendrils at the mouth’s edge with all her might.

Swinging helplessly in the air, Zheng South searched for his chance. He timed his swing, aiming for the crimson body of the worm. As he prepared to strike, the worm shook its head, throwing him off course. He didn’t know how long Shu Onion could last—if this continued, her spine might break.

“Set it on fire!” Zheng South shouted urgently to the two women below. “The car! The fuel!”

Tang Garlic understood at once—life or death, the race was no longer important. She and Sha Man quickly tore through their clothing, opened the gas tank, siphoned out fuel, and soaked the pile of cotton clothes with it.

As the worm stubbornly wrestled with its dangling prey, Tang Garlic and Sha Man seized their chance, darting forward with the fuel-soaked clothes, dodging the worm’s bulk, and tossing the bundle beneath its body, then lighting a flame and tossing it after.

With a whoosh, the fireball erupted—yet the scant fuel wasn’t enough to seriously harm the worm. It merely felt the pain and lurched violently, rolling to smother the flames.

Zheng South, suspended for so long, finally crashed to the ground, tumbling as the worm rolled. Seizing the opportunity, he hacked through the short skirt, scrambled toward the mouth, and slashed at its edge.

By a stroke of luck, the worm’s hide had not toughened with its size—especially around the mouth. The blade tore open a gash, from which oozed a spray of viscous yellow fluid.

Wounded, the worm went berserk. Its mouth opened wide, emitting a blast like a wind gun, and in that instant, Shu Onion was spat out.

Zheng South immediately retreated, hoisting Shu Onion—her upper body drenched in slime—onto his back and running for their lives.

“Boss, watch out!” Tang Garlic shouted as the worm’s mouth spat out something like a silken cocoon.

Zheng South spun, startled, seeing a shadow fall across the sand—he thought the worm’s mouth was coming for him again. He flung Shu Onion aside, braced himself, and stabbed the oncoming object.

With a dull squelch, the thing crashed heavily against the blade, impaled clean through without losing momentum, bowling Zheng South onto the sand.

Terrified, Zheng South thought the worm had launched another deadly weapon. Then he looked closer: it was the racer the worm had swallowed earlier, now wrapped in foul, sticky mucus.

Astonishingly, though the racer had been inside the worm for who knew how long, he was still alive, struggling to open his eyes through the thick slime.

Shaken, Zheng South withdrew his blade. The racer shuddered, coughed blood, and his eyes opened. Zheng South quickly stepped back as the racer collapsed, clutching his belly, disbelief in his gaze.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Zheng South stammered, embarrassed—who would have thought the racer would still be alive after all this, only to be spat out now?

Seeing he wouldn’t last long, Zheng South ended his suffering with another stroke.

The delay had cost them. The worm had extinguished its flames, its mouth sniffing the air as if searching for their scent. It plunged into the sand, sending up a cloud, and surged toward them once more.

“Damn it, will this never end?” Zheng South cursed, urgently motioning for Tang Garlic and Sha Man to get Shu Onion aside. Then he planted his feet firmly, eyes locked on the rising mound of sand. When it was within a meter, he bent and leaped, matching the worm’s eruption from the earth.

Though he couldn’t jump as high as the worm, it was enough. In midair, Zheng South gripped his saw blade, plunging downward just as the worm’s massive head burst forth to meet him.

Man and monster collided in the air. Facing its open maw, Zheng South showed no hesitation—he drove the blade into its mouth, hanging his full weight from the handle. Using the worm’s own momentum, he sliced down, splitting it open from the mouth to the belly in a crude, makeshift caesarean.

He hit the ground and rolled away, not even pausing to retrieve his blade. The worm’s mouth and body split open, viscous yellow fluid and organs spraying everywhere—along with four or five more cocooned, human-shaped bundles.

The force of his attack had strained Zheng South’s shoulder, leaving it sore and useless. Knowing he couldn’t fight any longer, he took advantage of the chaos, leading the three women away until the worm finally collapsed, motionless. Only then did he truly exhale in relief.

...

“How’s Little Onion?” Zheng South panted, looking back at the three women.

Tang Garlic had wiped the slime from Shu Onion’s face. Freed at last, Shu Onion collapsed, retching violently before finally regaining her senses.

“She’s fine—just scared, nothing serious,” Tang Garlic said, wiping the sweat from Zheng South’s brow, her eyes full of gratitude and concern. “Thank you. Thank you for saving her.”

“Come on, how could I not save my own girl?” Zheng South laughed, ruffling Tang Garlic’s messy hair. “We can’t stay here. There are more worms out there—we have to get out of this desert.”

Sha Man, her heart still fluttering from Zheng South’s words, snapped back to reality and groaned, “We didn’t drain all the fuel, but the car’s flipped over.”

She hadn’t finished when the AC Cobra vaulted over a sand dune, landing heavily in front of them.

The group was stunned. Had their luck really run out? They’d just barely finished off one worm, and now these two troublemakers appeared.

Annoyed though he was, Zheng South knew they couldn’t just stand there and wait to be slaughtered.

Ignoring his throbbing shoulder, Zheng South grabbed his steel saw blade from the puddle of slime and readied himself.

The car doors opened and the two wild girls climbed out, surveying the battered foursome and the dead worm before sneering coldly.

The rainbow-haired driver who’d once flipped Zheng South off curled her lip and scoffed, “You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Zheng South replied with a forced laugh, neither backing down nor provoking them, all the while wondering if these two planned to settle old scores.

The black-haired, straight-cut passenger pointed at the worm. “We saw you fighting that thing to save her.”

Zheng South couldn’t read their intentions, so he replied awkwardly, “Oh, looks like you two had plenty of time to watch…”

“Gutsy,” Rainbow Hair gave him a thumbs-up, though her expression remained disdainful. “Hope I see you at the last stage. Let’s call it even for before.”

“Ah—sure, thanks,” Zheng South chuckled inwardly. Outgunned, he had no choice but to play dumb and shamelessly ask, “Actually, could you help us out? Our car’s upside down.”

Black Hair burst out laughing, clutching her chest, and said to Rainbow Hair, “He’s really something.”

Rainbow Hair merely snorted, her expression half-amused, half-mocking. She called to Black Hair, got back in the car, and then rammed the Viper.

With a thunderous crash, the overturned Viper rolled a few times and landed upright.

Rainbow Hair leaned out the window, pointing at Zheng South, “Remember, you owe me one.”

Zheng South stood, glancing at the worms still slaughtering racers in the distance. Waving to the three women, he called, “We never agreed on how I’d pay you back, you know.”

Rainbow Hair gave a contemptuous smirk, raised her index and middle fingers in a ‘V’, and slowly licked between them with her tongue. “Just make it to the checkpoint alive first.”

And with that, they were gone.