Chapter 8: Form

“Make a record: June 6, 2013, at 2:17 PM, a case occurred in the city center…”

The voice faded into the distance, and the room used to detain heavy criminals suddenly fell silent, with only the faint sound of speeding cars drifting in from outside.

Zhou Liming allowed the police to take him back to the police station like a soulless man. Because the scene was too bloody and terrifying, and it happened in broad daylight, the circumstances were severe, making it a homicide case with a bad influence. Fortunately, the Public Security Bureau handled it very promptly; by the time large groups of reporters came after hearing the news, Zhou Liming was already sitting in this reinforced temporary detention room.

Since the case required further evidence collection, Zhou Liming could only be temporarily detained, awaiting interrogation after the evidence collection was complete.

The student ID on Zhou Liming revealed his identity completely, so without needing interrogation, preliminary data was already in hand. The police had already notified Zhou Liming’s school, and they believed further information would be transmitted to the police shortly. As for whether the Orphanage was notified, Zhou Liming had no way of knowing.

Like a walking corpse, he seemed to have lost his soul; ever since entering this detention room, he had just sat blankly on the floor.

In the empty room, there was nothing. Outside, it was still the scorching heat of summer, but inside this room, there was a chilly atmosphere; Zhou Liming did not know if it was something the room already had or if his own mind was playing tricks on him. At this moment, his mind was a complete blank; the series of events that happened today were like a drama, full of incredulity and unpredictability.

What seemed to replay in his mind was the punch he threw today, and then the entire head turned into a sky full of blood rain.

Zhou Liming stared foolishly at his hand, his scattered gaze finally focusing on his outstretched hand, but what disappointed Zhou Liming was that his hand basically had no change from before; the skin was intact, still possessing the fairness of a scholar. No matter how he looked at it, there was not a single flaw on it.

“How can this be? Today I clearly saw it emerge from the back of my hand.”

Zhou Liming muttered, then suddenly shook his hand neurotically and roared, “Come out! You come out for me! Didn’t you want to kill me? Come out! Come out and kill me too.”

The sound echoed in the empty detention room, but there was no response from the back of his hand.

The police officer outside heard the roaring in the room, just looked toward the room, then shook his head, said nothing, and continued his work. He had seen many things like this in the five years he worked here; many people were crisp and efficient when killing, but after being caught here, they all regretted it and went mad. If they knew this would happen today, why did they do it in the first place?

Zhou Liming shouted and yelled for over ten minutes, finally feeling tired, and sat down on the ground again, tears flowing out silently.

He did not know how much time passed, but Zhou Liming, who had been staring blankly, suddenly climbed up, let out a burst of laughter, and roared again, “Why am I so stupid? Once I get agitated, doesn’t it come out? Hahahaha…” He laughed wildly at the sky, then adjusted his emotions and focused his mind on his current situation.

In just a moment, Zhou Liming felt his body gradually becoming scorching hot, and his emotions became irritable and uneasy just as he had thought, as if someone had provoked him. That feeling of wanting to destroy and tear everything apart was so strong. His body was also completely ignited along with this wave of heat.

“Why can’t I control my own emotions? Why? Why?”

Zhou Liming gritted his teeth, trying hard to control himself, and covered his head unwillingly, “I want to be calm, I want to be calm.” The power in his body did not listen to his command at all; the tearing pain appeared again, and then every inch of his skin showed fine cracking marks…

Zhou Liming, who still maintained a trace of clarity, endured the pain and raised his hand.

The pieces of scales that emerged from the cracks reflected a dark green glint under a ray of light from the window. These scales were just a faint layer at first, but with the intensification of this power in his blood, they became clearer and clearer until the skin of both hands was completely covered by scales…

“Ah, ah, ah… no…”

Zhou Liming panicked; this kind of numbness all over his body, with scales appearing layer by layer, and his ten fingers gradually covered with fine scales, transforming into a pair of beast-like claws.

“No… ah…”

With the emergence of the scales, Zhou Liming’s form was also changing; his arms became thicker, the veins under the scales protruded one by one, and his muscles contained a power capable of destroying heaven and earth. His lower limbs were also changing; similar to the strong legs of a Tyrannosaurus, they forcibly tore his pants apart, leaving only a pair of relatively elastic underwear. That pair of street stall sports boots was directly split into pieces by his toes.

What made Zhou Liming feel even more terrified was a severe pain coming from his tailbone, as if something was popping out. The thing that emerged moved a bit with Zhou Liming’s thought. Without turning his head to look, relying on the connection with his own flesh and blood, Zhou Liming already understood that this was an equally thick tail, also covered with layers of thick scales.

With the further formation of his form, Zhou Liming, who was only 1.7 meters tall, was forcibly stretched to over 1.8 meters.

Although his face did not deform, his entire face was covered with dense scales, making him look like a human-shaped, pitch-black scaled monster.

With two “pfft” sounds, two pitch-black Bone Spurs suddenly emerged from the gaps between the scales on the back of his hand.

This series of transformations happened in the blink of an eye, but the tearing pain caused by the deformation made Zhou Liming let out constant screams; the pain that made even his soul tremble—let alone a boy who was mostly a child, even a Special Forces Soldier who had undergone special training would not be able to endure this kind of torture. It was as if every inch of his body was being torn apart by someone.

Zhou Liming still maintained a clear head; witnessing his own changes, he was stunned once again.

Just now when it didn’t come out, he desperately wanted it to come out, but when it appeared in this form, it exceeded Zhou Liming’s tolerance range.

The transformation seemed fast, but the energy consumed was too great, so great that Zhou Liming, experiencing this Fierce Beast Form for the first time, felt his head become groggy in the midst of his shock, his vision went black, and the strength in his body seemed to be drained; the disconnection between his will and brain made him collapse softly.

Zhou Liming’s screams just now were too miserable, so the duty police officer who was disturbed still walked over to check the situation.

Through the small window of the iron door, he only saw Zhou Liming curled up on the ground, his clothes hanging on his body in tatters, making slight breathing sounds, as if he had fallen asleep.

This duty police officer did not mind either, thinking that he was tired from roaring; like most people who experienced this, for a high school student to have a reaction and even know to shout and yell was already not bad. Some people remained muddled until their execution, like walking corpses.