Terrifying Self-Healing

Song Weishi had already braced for battle. At this distance, there was no turning back.

The mantis swiveled its head and lunged at her in an instant. She abandoned her bike and fled, but a human body couldn't outrun a creature mutated like this. She stopped on the wide open road, raising her guard.

Every movement slowed down in her eyes. The mantis—which Song Weishi had assumed would be lightning-fast—drifted toward her like a butterfly, each motion drawn out in her vision.

She raised the knife she'd grabbed on instinct and met the mantis's scythe-like foreleg.

A sharp, metallic clang rang out. Song Weishi's palm went numb from the impact, and at that same moment, the blade snapped in two, flying out of her control.

"Damn it, cheap knife!"

She rolled on the ground, dodging the mantis's sweeping scythe.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of its soft abdomen.

Without hesitation, she thrust the broken hilt forward. The abdomen was soft yet springy—a thick layer of hide blocked the sharp edge, and for a moment, it wouldn't sink in.

But the pain was enough to send the mantis into a frenzy. It sprang away from her, landing back on the car roof, recognizing that she wasn't someone to mess with.

The others still hadn't reacted. Song Weishi got to her feet and pulled everyone behind her.

Her body truly was different from theirs now. In combat, everyone's movements seemed sluggish to her—even the lightning-quick mantis was no exception.

"Xiao Song, you okay?"

Sister Chen stared at her in amazement. Song Weishi's movements just now had been too fast to track. If it had been her, there was no way she could've dodged the mantis's attack that quickly.

Song Weishi: "I'm fine. Everyone, back off—we need to keep our distance. I just tried stabbing it with a knife, and it couldn't even get through."

She shielded everyone behind her, slowly retreating. She had no proper weapon on hand right now. She itched to pull the handgun out of her space and see if she could shoot the mantis dead.

But with so many people around, there was no way she could.

The spiked-flower mantis's pale, scythe-like forelegs still had traces of blood on them. If it had caught her with one of those, Song Weishi would already be headless by now—that was how deadly it was.

If she were fighting solo, she was confident she could go a few rounds with the mantis. But with this many people here, she couldn't ignore their safety—she was inevitably held back.

Song Weishi thought for just two seconds, then spoke: "Sister Xie, do me a favor."

"What? Tell me." Xie Huiying responded immediately, a little tense.

"Get everyone far away from here. I can handle this thing. You being here just ties my hands—I have to focus on protecting you too."

The longer they dragged it out, the more dangerous it became. Song Weishi stated the facts plainly.

Xie Huiying immediately agreed and started pulling the aunties away. She knew Song Weishi's character well and understood she wasn't exaggerating.

Xiao Song was someone who cherished her life. If she said she could do it, she definitely could.

The aunties were already used to Song Weishi's way of speaking. Without needing much persuasion from Xie Huiying, they retreated a good distance in an instant, looking for buildings or cover to hide behind.

Only Xie Yi stood her ground: "I'll stay and help."

Song Weishi frowned, annoyed. She'd forgotten to mention it—Xie Yi was highly skilled, and Song Weishi always subconsciously overlooked her.

Xie Huiying tried to pull her niece back, but the mantis launched another attack at that moment. Xie Yi gave her a shove to leave first, and Xie Huiying scrambled away.

Song Weishi ducked under the mantis's sweeping foreleg and circled behind it. But the spiked-flower mantis didn't turn around—instead, it attacked Xie Yi, who was standing in front.

Song Weishi felt like she was about to faint. She had no weapon in hand. If that blade came down, Xie Yi would lose both her arm and her head.

Who was she even trying to protect here? Song Weishi didn't have the energy to complain. She could only resign herself and grab onto the mantis's wings.

In an instant, it felt like countless specks of dust floated before her eyes. Its wings seemed to carry a kind of scale powder that snowed down, coating the protective suit in front of her face in a thick layer.

She wiped at it immediately—the feeling was disgusting. Before she could reposition, she saw Xie Yi trading blows with the mantis, back and forth.

Her movements weren't fast, but her strength was immense. She caught the mantis's foreleg with her bare hands. The mantis froze for a second—its scythe-foreleg had no barbs on the back, completely smooth, and with Xie Yi gripping it, it couldn't advance another inch.

One person, one monster, locked in a stalemate. But the mantis's strength was overwhelming, and it soon flung Xie Yi off. She flew back a long distance, but the mantis didn't press the advantage. Instead, its gaze swung back to Song Weishi.

It looked at her like she was a tasty bug. It bore down on her even faster than before.

Song Weishi tried to mimic Xie Yi's moves and grabbed its foreleg as it was about to swing—but she lost her grip almost instantly. Its strength sent her entire body flying.

Song Weishi: ...

What the hell? This wasn't how she'd imagined it.

The gap between her and Xie Yi's strength was enormous. The other woman hadn't even lost her footing, while Song Weishi was sent tumbling through the air. Before she could even land, the mantis was already flying at her.

She had no choice but to grab hold of its foreleg again. A monster was a monster—it opened its gaping maw, trying to bite into Song Weishi's protective suit.

Bracing against its foreleg, she did a handstand, head to head, and flipped onto its back.

The soft, squishy feel underfoot disgusted her. She'd never imagined standing on a bug this big in her life. Her unorthodox move sent the mantis into a complete frenzy.

It vibrated its wings, emitting an unusual buzzing sound. Song Weishi had a bad feeling about this. She kicked hard at the joint where wing met abdomen.

That spot was soft—softer than its neck. In an instant, the mantis was split in half by her kick.

Song Weishi lost her balance and fell from a height, hitting the ground hard. Luckily, the mantis's soft abdomen cushioned her fall. With a wet squelch, the abdomen flattened beneath her, guts green and white squeezing out, splattering everywhere.

Song Weishi stood on those entrails, pulled to her feet by Xie Yi.

Neither of their expressions were pleasant. The aunties who came back to the scene clapped their hands over their mouths, barely stopping themselves from vomiting.

"You okay, Xiao Song? Get up, get up... ugh..."

Song Weishi felt something sticky on her pants, a rank, fishy smell wafting up.

Buzzing sounds came from all directions. A dark, dense swarm of insects was rushing toward the relatively open road in the distance.

"No time to explain—we need to go, now!"

Xie Huiqing opened the car door and waved everyone in. Seven of them, plus Xie Huiqing, eight people squeezed into a six-seater car.

Xie Yi immediately slid into the driver's seat. Reverse, slam the gas—all in one smooth motion. The car shot away from the scene, heading in the direction Xie Huiqing indicated.

"Xiao Qing, how'd you get stranded halfway?"

Only once they'd distanced themselves from the swarm did Xie Huiying catch her breath and ask.

"I don't know—the driver lost it. He saw the bugs and panicked, wanted to get out. The second he opened the door, his head was chopped off. Good thing you guys came in time, or I'd be the next corpse." Xie Huiqing clutched her seatbelt, still shaken. She glanced back at Song Weishi, squeezed on the floor.

"Is Xiao Song okay now?"

Xie Huiying replied: "She's fine for the moment—her fever's gone down. If she weren't, she couldn't have come save you like that."

Xie Huiqing nodded, her gaze involuntarily drifting to Song Weishi's arm.

Song Weishi simply raised her arm for her to see: "The wound on my arm's healed. And I think my body's gotten stronger."

Everyone turned to look at her arm, suddenly realizing—she'd lost a lot of blood earlier and should've been weak, but now she was fighting monsters with full energy.

Clearly, her body had undergone some kind of change, at least far stronger than before.

Sister Chen looked puzzled: "Really? That long a gash, and it's already healed? Xiao Song, does it still hurt? You're not just saying nice things to reassure us, are you?"

She was still worried about Song Weishi, afraid she was pushing herself. Song Weishi nodded and pulled her arm out of the protective suit: "It's really healed. Don't worry about me."

Aunt Huang grabbed her arm, examining it closely, touching the scar that had already closed: "It really has healed. This part's all grown back. Should you get the stitches out now?"

The group stared at her flawless arm, marveling: "With healing like that, Xiao Song, did you turn into a superhero?"

Song Weishi: "It's not that exaggerated. But I really am fine. The world's already become like this—is it so strange that some things defy common sense?"

Guo Li nodded in agreement: "Makes sense. The mantis is taller than me now, so why can't Xiao Song be a superhero? As they say, survive a great disaster, and great fortune follows. Your good luck's still ahead."

The aunties accepted Song Weishi's extraordinary healing ability surprisingly well, speculating that she must have developed some kind of superpower. Maybe now, if you slashed her, the wound would close up in no time.

Song Weishi declined that suggestion—no need to test that out.

Xie Huiqing, sitting in the front, turned to look at her and explained: "Every human who's been injured by monsters at the Research Institute has basically died. But they were hurt badly—not like you. We haven't done any research mixing monsters and human bodies. This is the first time I've seen a case like yours."

Song Weishi thought that was pretty humane of them. In the novels she'd read, some unscrupulous research institutes went straight to human experimentation. In a world like this, all sorts of things existed.

The book's synopsis hadn't mentioned superpowered individuals, but she believed that now that she was following the female lead, she'd soon find out whether that setting existed.

The System stayed silent too. The story's course had completely changed. Song Weishi was like the origin point in the butterfly effect—her appearance had altered so many things.

Maybe she'd already become the first person with superpowers, a step ahead of the female lead. Song Weishi pulled her arm back and slipped her protective suit back on. The car sped along the road toward Xie Huiqing's work area.

The road ahead was pitch black. Suddenly, two heavy thuds landed on the roof. Then Song Weishi felt her body lift as the entire car was hoisted up by some unseen force.