Revealed

Naya Rivera's head whipped around a full one hundred and eighty degrees, her eyes—now pitch black—locked onto Tu Ran with an unblinking stare. A glossy, dark snake slithered out from between her lips. Its body was so thick it tore the corners of her mouth wide open, splitting her face almost cleanly into upper and lower halves as bright red blood streamed down.

Tu Ran had imagined a hundred different ways the alien might reveal its true form, but never once had she pictured something this grotesque and terrifying.

Her heart clenched in fear.

By now, the python—thick as a child's waist—had opened its cavernous maw, its forked tongue flicking as it lunged straight at her.

Tu Ran fought to keep her composure, retreating quickly while steadying her arm. She aimed at the python's eye and pulled the trigger.

If it was an alien, it was bound to have features different from an ordinary python.

For instance, it had four eyes arranged like a peacock's tail feathers.

Tu Ran's aim was poor; she fired eight shots but only hit one.

The pistol's magazine ran dry, and she quickly swapped it for a submachine gun.

Even if her aim was off, she could make up for it with sheer volume of fire.

The crowd had already scattered in panic at the sudden commotion—especially after seeing the giant python emerge from Naya Rivera's mouth, their screams reached a fever pitch.

The worker who had been standing beside Naya Rivera was so terrified his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to get up. He could only crawl and scramble away from the scene.

Because he had been prepared, Ding Naiqing had already raised his submachine gun and opened fire the moment Naya Rivera's head made that impossible turn.

Tu Ran had never expected that this outwardly frail, gentle, and seemingly harmless Ding Naiqing could be so ruthless with a submachine gun. He unleashed a ferocious barrage, each bullet finding its mark without a single wasted round, all of them tearing into the python's body.

The guards stationed nearby also quickly raised their guns and fired at the giant snake. Though they had initially doubted Tu Ran's abilities, now that she had genuinely found the real alien, they didn't hesitate. They immediately began evacuating the crowd while unleashing everything they had.

This was their first real, face-to-face battle with an alien, and each guard gave it their all.

The python was pitiable in its plight. Its body hadn't even fully emerged from Naya Rivera before it was subjected to such concentrated fire from every direction. It writhed in agony, twisting its sleek body this way and that to dodge, spraying venom from its glands in all directions—but the humans were prepared, and they dodged every blast.

The shooting lasted nearly five minutes. All four of the python's eyes had been pierced by bullets, oozing thick green blood, and its body was riddled with bullet holes.

Tu Ran was close enough to smell the stench of burned flesh.

But the creature still thrashed and struggled tenaciously, like a fire hose whipping around under the force of the water, blindly and desperately dodging the bullets. Its vitality was remarkable.

Finally, another minute passed, and its body went limp. It swayed in the air for a few moments before going completely still.

To be absolutely safe, they continued firing for another full minute. Bullets could now easily punch through its mangled body, as if they were hitting a paper bag puffed up by the wind.

Tu Ran raised her hand, and everyone immediately ceased fire, staring at the carnage before them.

All the bones in Naya Rivera's body had apparently been devoured. Her lower half crumpled to the ground in a grotesque, boneless heap, while her upper body remained faintly upright—likely propped up by the section of the python that hadn't yet managed to slither out.