Chapter 41: The Battle with the Corpse

“Hold on for a bit, I'll be there soon!” Chu Ning's unhurried voice drifted from the bedroom, utterly unconcerned about Tan Ya's safety.

In his mind, Tan Ya and her sister possessed equal fighting prowess, and he expected their struggle to be evenly matched. To Chu Ning, both were people he could defeat with a single punch; their combat abilities shouldn't differ much.

“Confidence, after all, is built on comparison!”

Chu Ning felt as if he could take on ten opponents, even if his body was weak; his countless victories had left him invincible. Ever since leaving the villa, he had never lost a fight, which inevitably made him arrogant and dismissive of others.

His misjudgment put Tan Ya in grave danger. She dodged repeated attacks, relying on her nimble movements, and was fortunate that her reanimated sister's body was unusually stiff—allowing her to dance on a knife's edge.

“Hurry up, stop dawdling! Or you'll be cleaning up my corpse, you hear me?” Tan Ya narrowly escaped a ferocious blow. She had never imagined she'd have the potential to play the role of a boss; her modified self was simply too powerful.

“Impossible! Is this real? I've never seen scientific corpse refinement like this!”

Her corpse seemed to anticipate the futility of its attacks; its eyes began to glow with a dark red flame, and the five fingers of its left hand retracted into a silvery shell. From the palm, a double-edged sword—fifty centimeters long—sprang forth, its blade gleaming under the lights.

Witnessing this sudden shift, Tan Ya was almost in tears. Just moments ago, Chu Ning was toying with things; now, suddenly, it was serious! The young man showed no sense of chivalry, resorting to weapons.

Tan Ya stepped back several paces, quickly moving toward the bedroom, carefully retreating while facing her own corpse. Even knowing that turning her back would help her escape fastest, she dared not gamble on how swiftly the corpse could accelerate in a straight line.

At least the corpse couldn't make sharp turns and was awkward to pivot! She could still dodge attacks side to side, though she wasn't sure if she was immune to physical blows—especially from a corpse birthed from herself.

The commotion in the living room grew too loud for Chu Ning to ignore; he grabbed a weapon ahead of time and rushed out to see what was happening.

“Incredible! Truly breathtaking, to have crafted such a masterpiece!”

Seeing her sister's hand transform into a double-edged blade, Chu Ning hesitated briefly before charging forward, intent on rescuing the retreating Tan Ya.

---

As he neared Tan Ya's sister, Chu Ning performed a quick somersault, slipping behind her. This left Tan Ya standing alone before the enemy; he cast her an apologetic glance, muttering, “Sorry!”

“You actually ran away!” Tan Ya stood frozen, stunned by Chu Ning's maneuver. She had expected the old cliché of a hero saving the damsel—only to witness a cowardly escape.

Especially since Chu Ning could defeat the corpse; why retreat without a fight? It's just that the enemy now wielded a sharp blade, but still...

Well, seeing the deadly sword in her opponent's hand, Tan Ya instinctively shrank back. She realized she couldn't blame Chu Ning. If she herself couldn't do it, she couldn't expect someone else to manage.

At most, Chu Ning wasn't much of a man!

“It's done!” Chu Ning clapped his hands, tossing aside the wooden stick in his grip. He believed the area above the large vertebra was where robots usually housed their control chips, so he had rushed behind and struck hard with the stick.

Tan Ya's sister turned her head mechanically, gazing vacantly at Chu Ning's empty hands, radiating danger from every pore.

“Tan Ya wants you—look behind you!” Chu Ning said in a conversational tone to the corpse, pointing behind her, earnestly meeting her eyes.

Oddly enough, the corpse obeyed Chu Ning's suggestion, glaring menacingly at the fleeing Tan Ya, growling threats, blade raised and ready to attack.

“Damn you, traitorous, shameless scoundrel! You actually sold me out! You... you...” Tan Ya had intended to quietly withdraw, letting Chu Ning handle the fight; that would be her greatest contribution.

She adhered to a principle of nonviolence—though she couldn't inflict much harm anyway, which made her all the more upset. Tan Ya stared at herself, wondering if fate truly had this calamity in store—a death right here!

Before Tan Ya could wallow in melancholy, Chu Ning repeated his earlier tactic, landing another heavy blow on the back of the corpse's head. This time, he didn't carelessly drop his weapon but waited a moment.

Seeing the corpse tip forward, Chu Ning finally tossed aside the stick he'd scavenged from the house. He admitted his previous negligence, his overconfidence causing the awkward situation.

Tan Ya hurried forward, heart aching, to support her own corpse. She gently laid it flat on the floor and then fetched ropes to bind it securely.

---

“Whew, it's finally done!”

The corpse was now thoroughly trussed up, almost transformed into another species—a mummy. Tan Ya wiped the cold sweat from her brow, finally able to inspect her own corpse and see what astonishing changes had occurred.

Chu Ning crouched nearby, poking the corpse with his index finger, carefully examining the modified hand. He then gripped the exposed blade; as he grasped the corpse's left wrist, the blade snapped back with a “click.”

The corpse’s left hand returned to its original shape. Chu Ning tried pressing the trigger point again, but nothing happened. He cautiously lifted the arm, searching for the seam where machinery joined flesh.

“Amazing!”

Chu Ning exclaimed sincerely. If he hadn’t discovered this was a corpse, he would have suspected it was a mechanical battle tool. The mechanical parts fitted perfectly, leaving no sign of assembly.

Driven by scientific curiosity, Chu Ning asked Tan Ya where the household tools were stored. Learning they were on the balcony, he eagerly ran off.

About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, Chu Ning returned with an armful of tools. The selection was impressively complete: hammer, mallet, screwdriver, and the main equipment—electric drill, angle grinder, soldering gun...

Clatter!

The tools fell to the floor. Chu Ning covered his mouth in disbelief at the scene before him, unable to stop himself from cursing, “Pervert! I never imagined you were this kind of person!”

The sight before him made Chu Ning reevaluate Tan Ya entirely. Truly, the world is in decline; hearts have grown cold.