Chapter 19: Danger in the Alley!

Chu Xun didn't know that the hidden danger was already closing in. At this moment, he was walking while speaking to a purple card in his palm.

"What a pity… If you could eat human food, I wouldn't have to worry so much…" Chu Xun sighed helplessly as he looked at the purple card in his hand.

The fact that the alien could transform into a card was something Chu Xun only discovered when he left home. At the time, he was trying to figure out how to carry this unusual little thing with him. Suddenly, the alien transformed back into a card in a burst of purple light and flew into his hand.

For Chu Xun, this was undoubtedly a solution to a big problem, and it also gave him a secret weapon that would be hard to detect. If he suddenly released the alien in the middle of a fierce battle, it would surely catch his opponent off guard and might even change the course of the battle.

However, thinking about the alien's miniature form, Chu Xun couldn't help but feel a little helpless. He had tried it the night before; the alien couldn't eat processed human food, and he didn't have enough money to buy fresh meat. So it seemed like, before the student exam, he wouldn't be able to return the alien to its normal size.

What a shame!

However, just as Chu Xun sighed while walking into a narrow alley, an inexplicable sense of danger suddenly surged in his heart, as though something terrifying was watching him.

After numerous life-or-death battles, Chu Xun's senses for danger had become extremely sharp. He instinctively stopped and carefully looked around.

Since it was still early in the morning, there was no one in sight in this remote alley, and everything seemed normal. But for some reason, Chu Xun felt uneasy.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just as Chu Xun stopped, a series of sharp whistling sounds suddenly rang out, and three dark crossbow bolts shot at him from the upper-right, aiming straight for his chest and abdomen!

"Damn!" Chu Xun never expected someone would dare to assassinate him in the city. His expression changed drastically, and he immediately pushed off the ground with his right foot, leaping backward at high speed.

Thanks to his greatly enhanced physical condition, his reaction time and speed were now far superior to before. He narrowly dodged the three crossbow bolts.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The dark crossbow bolts had terrifying piercing power. After Chu Xun dodged them, they slammed into the ground with immense force, embedding halfway into the earth, with only their tips still slightly vibrating.

"Who's there!" Chu Xun's face darkened as he looked at the bolts still quivering in the ground. He then shouted loudly, his gaze fixed on the direction from which the bolts had come.

At the same time, his hands subtly tensed, and sharp, blade-like nails extended from his fingertips as he entered combat mode.

Boom!

But to his surprise, there was a follow-up. Just as Chu Xun looked up, a walnut-sized spherical object suddenly flew out, then exploded with a soft sound, emitting a dazzling, blinding white light.

The moment Chu Xun directly faced the ball of light, his eyes were instantly blinded by the intense flash, causing tears to pour from his eyes. His vision blurred, and he temporarily lost his sight.

At that moment, a nimble figure silently dropped from a building on the side of the alley, landing behind Chu Xun. The person was clearly trained in stealth, wearing a tight black suit and seemingly stepping on something that made no sound or disturbance as they jumped, moving like a ghost.

"Damn it! Who the hell are you? Come out!" Chu Xun, still temporarily blind, shouted angrily while swinging his arms, trying to fend off the attack from the enemy in front of him.

"Heh." The assassin, Ghost Blade, sneered slightly. With a swift motion, he wrapped a thin, silk-like yet dangerously sharp cord around Chu Xun's neck.

Then, with a forceful pull, the cord tightened and dug into Chu Xun's throat!

Blood sprayed out, forming a crimson mist, and under the dazzling white light, it looked utterly shocking!

Ghost Blade was a professional assassin, and for assassins, the key was surprise and delivering a fatal blow. In his long career, he'd learned one thing: all targets were expendable, but destroying the head was the only way to ensure a kill.

This was why Ghost Blade chose to use a strangling cord, a silent but deadly weapon capable of cutting off the target's head in an instant.

But unfortunately, Chu Xun was an exception!

After undergoing the "Dragon's Blessing" and strengthening his body with the alien's genes, his physical defenses were far beyond Ghost Blade's expectations!

The specially crafted second-tier alloy strangling cord was indeed sharp, and it cut into Chu Xun's skin and throat almost instantly. But then, it encountered the resistance of his muscles and throat tissue, causing the cord's progress to slow down.

As his throat was slashed, blood immediately gushed out due to the pressure of his blood, splattering across his chest and corroding the ground, leaving black scorch marks. A small portion of the blood also traveled along the cord, dripping onto Ghost Blade's hands. The result was a sizzling sound, as though acid was eating through his skin, causing blisters to form on his hands.

"Damn it! What the hell is this monster?!" Ghost Blade's face changed drastically as he felt the excruciating pain in his hands. Yet, his training as an assassin kept him from letting go of the cord; instead, he tightened his grip even more.

Chu Xun's physical strength had indeed improved tremendously, but he still couldn't fully resist the second-tier alloy strangling cord. As Ghost Blade exerted more force, the cord continued to cut deeper into his windpipe and trachea, making it harder for Chu Xun to breathe.

The intense pain drove Chu Xun into a frenzy, and he struggled desperately. He tried using his sharp nails to cut the cord around his throat, but it was already too deeply embedded for him to pull it out without tearing his own throat further.

In a fit of rage, Chu Xun began to swing his arms wildly, trying to grab the enemy behind him. However, Ghost Blade was an expert at killing. As he tightened the cord, he kept his arms extended, using his knee to brace against Chu Xun's back, making it impossible for Chu Xun to catch him.

Clang!

However, just at that critical moment, the strangling cord around Chu Xun's neck suddenly snapped due to the corrosion of his acidic blood!

At the same time, Chu Xun finally managed to grab Ghost Blade's hands. His sharp claws pierced deep into Ghost Blade's hands, and blood splattered out.

"Ah!" Ghost Blade never expected Chu Xun's claws to be so sharp, nor did he expect Chu Xun's blood to corrode the specially crafted strangling cord. His face paled, and he tried to break free from Chu Xun's grip, attempting to flee.

But before Ghost Blade could escape, Chu Xun made his move. With a sudden lunge, he grabbed Ghost Blade's nearly crippled hands and violently pulled them forward.

Rip!

Chu Xun's sharp claws, aided by his immense strength, sliced through Ghost Blade's hands, severing the front part of both palms and ripping them off. Blood gushed out from the severed hands.

After severing Ghost Blade's hands, Chu Xun yanked the strangling cord off his neck, stopping the bleeding from worsening. Then, he was ready to turn around and eliminate the person who had tried to assassinate him!

"Damn it!" Despite his hands being crippled and the excruciating pain, Ghost Blade, a seasoned killer, reacted immediately. He slammed his knee into Chu Xun's back, knocking him off balance, and then used the momentum to retreat.

"Live to fight another day," he thought. Losing his hands was nothing, he could recover. But if he lost his life, then everything was over!

"Trying to escape?" By this time, Chu Xun's vision had started to return to normal. He quickly turned around and saw a shadow sprinting toward the exit of the alley.

But how could Chu Xun let him get away? He pushed off the ground with his right leg and sped after the shadow. At the same time, he waved his left hand, and a dark purple card shot out.

Whoosh!

With a soft sound, the card flew behind Ghost Blade at lightning speed, exploding into a brilliant purple light. Within the light, the alien quickly took form and leaped onto Ghost Blade's back, using the momentum to pierce Ghost Blade's waist with its long tail.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Ghost Blade's face changed as the alien latched onto his back. He tried to throw it off, but the alien's tail, like a spear, pierced through his body, emerging from his abdomen.

Blood gushed out in torrents!

Boom!

The intense pain and blood loss made Ghost Blade dizzy. He lost his balance and crashed to the ground. At that moment, Chu Xun closed the distance and reached him.

Now, Chu Xun looked worse than Ghost Blade—his throat was a gaping wound, still dripping blood, but much slower than before.

Despite the blood loss, Chu Xun's face remained deathly pale, like a ghost. His eyes locked onto the fallen Ghost Blade, full of killing intent and confusion.

He still couldn't understand why Ghost Blade had tried to kill him!

"This monster…" Ghost Blade stared at