"Pochita!"
At the end of that blood trail—the junk bin—something slammed from inside, popping the lid. A pale forearm followed, reaching out.
"…Denji-ko?"
The person who jumped out had her back to Su Tang; from where he stood, he could only see the smooth back.
Even though the Denji-ko he'd seen earlier had had a top on, he still recognized her by that brash shock of short, golden hair.
And he wasn't the only one who noticed her.
Up to now, only he and the Zombie Devil had been fighting in the factory. A sudden newcomer was like a fresh flame in the dark—impossible to miss.
"What is this?!!"
Those already overlarge eyes bulged even bigger as disgust twisted the Zombie Devil's face. "We chopped you into pieces, and you're still alive! Why? You're disgusting!!"
"I really do hate devil hunters!"
As it spoke, the devil rallied the zombies nearest the bin, abandoning their brawls with the Shadow Ninjas and charging straight for Denji-ko: "Everyone, eat that one!"
In theory, both zombies and Su Tang's youth-edition Shadow Corps lacked intelligence and could only act on their masters' orders—but he felt the zombies were a touch more flexible.
Was it because of that 0.06 kg slab of the Gun's flesh the boss had bragged about?
He couldn't say. He only knew his Shadow Corps wouldn't make it in time—one-tenth of a second late.
"Run already!"
Seeing Denji-ko standing there like she'd turned to stone, Su Tang shouted a warning.
It didn't work. She still stood with her head down, blank and unmoving.
"Seriously…" He frowned. He didn't know why the Zombie Devil was so fixated on killing a nonthreatening young woman; with his brain on fire he couldn't spare the bandwidth to puzzle it out. He only knew the devil was the enemy—and you never let an enemy do what it wants easily!
He extended his hand, thumb and forefinger splayed at about forty-five degrees, like a hunter taking aim, and cocked his head with a smile:
"—Fire, Ring of Fire Repulsion!"
Vvvvmmm—!!
A rapid, fiery vibration roared to life, flashing into being between Denji-ko and the zombie pack at the last second.
A ring of fire snapped outward from its center like a shot. Everything within the circle's sweep—even the dust in the air—was forced backward as if shoved.
So were the zombies—and Denji-ko.
Pushed into his reach, Denji-ko heard his low voice: "What happened? Why are you here?"
It was as if his words woke her from sleep. Her vacant eyes slowly gathered light.
"Mr. Su Tang!" she cried, delighted.
Then her cheeks flamed scarlet. She pointed at him with a trembling hand and stammered, "M-Mr… you… you…"
Me what?
Following her finger, Su Tang glanced down.
Nothing wrong—no broken skin, and everything else looked normal… Oh.
Thinking of that blush, he suddenly understood.
His shirt—the thin white one—had been burned to tatters in the fight, leaving a few scraps half-hanging on him, with his chest and abs indistinctly visible.
Really?
He wanted to scratch his head. Was his body that impactful?
Or was it simply the age—her curiosity about the opposite sex at a peak?
With that thought, he just tore off the last hanging strips.
Having them dangle hindered movement.
"Eh—eh?!" Denji-ko's eyes went wide and unblinking.
"Don't stare—look a hundred times and it still won't be yours." He tossed the scraps to her. "Use these to wrap yourself up so you don't catch a chill."
Facing him head-on, she was… fully exposed.
He gave it a glance and didn't dwell. Brain-on-fire aside, her malnourished, flat-chested frame wasn't his type. Saying "a lotus bud barely showing" would've been generous.
Honestly, if not for that drawstring-looking thing across her chest, he might not have told front from back at a glance.
Right—the drawstring?
He frowned. It seemed familiar somehow… like he'd seen it somewhere.
"Bang—!"
An intestine slammed down. Su Tang shoved Denji-ko aside and threw up a wall of fire to block it.
He remembered!
That little dog-like devil!
What was it called—and why wasn't Denji-ko with it?
"Arrrrgh! Damn devil hunter!"
Maybe Denji-ko's appearance had set it off; the Zombie Devil was in a frenzy, whipping five or six nauseating intestines. "You humans are a pack of base, vile, disgusting, greedy idiots!"
"See these zombies fighting? Haha—they're brain-dead! To sign a contract with me they found devil hunters to kill, and they didn't know that getting my Zombie Devil power would turn them into zombies! Hahahahaha!"
Right then, Su Tang wanted to say: 10/10.
These local gangsters played it fancy—rude, fearless, and the very model of cognitive impairment.
He weaved through the flames, searching for a chance to hit the devil hard again.
Someone else, though, had a different idea.
Denji-ko, who had wrapped the cloth around her chest, bared her teeth in a crooked grin at the devil.
"You're noisy as hell! You smashed my dream—so go die! Shi-ne—!"
Vvvvmmm—!!
The madcap line hadn't even finished before a chainsaw's roar blew it away.
Su Tang turned. His pupils shrank at the sight.
What the hell was that?!
Three chainsaws had sprouted from Denji-ko's body, all screaming—one from her head, one from each arm!
The human head was gone, replaced by a metallic, chainsaw-handle-like iron cranium.
"Are you… still Denji-ko?"
He hesitated. She looked more like a fiend now.
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