Chapter 17: An Unpretentious Battle

A middle-aged man in a tuxedo materialised in an instant.

Sporting a handlebar moustache and clad in white gloves, he bore the unmistakable air of a British butler.

He bowed slightly towards the Doctor, performing a gentlemanly curtsy.

‘Good morning, sir! How might I be of assistance?’

【Subject S077-Butler】

【Containment Level: S】

【Target Abilities: Financial Management, Administration, Assassination】

【Containment Protocol: Isolate from other containment subjects to prevent contamination or exploitation!】

【Combat Capability: Engaging with him in combat will give you a headache!】

【PS: As a competent butler, he will execute all commands issued by his master!】

[PS: As an illusory entity, the bell is his true body. As long as the bell remains intact, the butler cannot be truly destroyed!]

The Doctor addressed the butler.

‘Butler! I want you to eliminate that youth inside the room!’

The butler bowed slightly.

‘It would be my pleasure to serve you!’

The doors swung open.

Lu Xiao eyed the peculiar middle-aged man, his nostrils twitching.

‘A strange smell!’

As he spoke, a single tear trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He raised his hand and emptied the magazine from his pistol.

A volley of gunfire echoed.

The butler stood at the same place, he was unharmed.

He tugged at his white gloves and murmured softly.

‘Sir, conventional firearms cannot harm me at all!’

Lu Xiao casually tossed aside his pistol, grinning widely.

‘That is most unfortunate!’

The Doctor stared at the surveillance feed, his monocle reflecting a faint glint.

‘To be precise, no conventional physical means can harm the butler!’

On screen, Lu Xiao cracked his neck.

An invisible aura began radiating from him.

The oppressive force of a high-rank entity descended upon the butler.

The butler's body sank slightly, but that was all.

Fortunately, Lu Xiao hadn't expected to subdue the butler so easily.

This tactic proved infallible against mere food, yet proved largely ineffective against genuine anomalies.

Subsequently, Lu Xiao lay prone upon the floor, his body contorted into an strange posture, resembling a lizard.

This was the movement technique Lu Xiao had learned from the lizardmen.

It provided swift crawling speed whilst evading frontal assaults.

The butler swept his arm, sending several knives and forks hurtling towards Lu Xiao like flying blades.

Yet Lu Xiao was as slippery as an eel, evading every blow.

He closed the distance to the butler with astonishing speed.

The butler lowered his centre of gravity, launching a roundhouse kick towards Lu Xiao's head.

Lu Xiao extended both hands to catch the butler's leg.

A crackling sound of shattered bones echoed through the air.

The butler's leg was cleanly snapped off in Lu Xiao's grasp.

This scene left the spectators utterly stunned.

‘How did he do that? Injuring S077-Butler with just his bare hands?’

The staff were utterly perplexed, turning their gaze towards the Doctor.

The Doctor adjusted his monocle.

‘It must be the curse he bears, it allows his flesh to inflict harm upon anomalous lifeforms!’

‘In other words, that curse has transformed him into something akin to an anomalous entity!’

His eyes flashed with excitement.

‘This is an extraordinary discovery!’

In an instant, myriad possibilities flashed through his mind.

If the Warden's soldiers could be imbued with this curse, they wouldn't be so helpless against the weirdness!

That was the Doctor's first thought.

Yet he swiftly dismissed it.

After all, the consequences of this curse remained unknown.

His gaze returned to the scene.

Lu Xiao had already snapped off the butler's other leg.

Now, only the upper half of the butler remained.

Yet his expression betrayed no emotion whatsoever.

His moustache quivered slightly as countless knives and forks materialised out of thin air, hurtling towards Lu Xiao.

To Lu Xiao, however, this was mere child's play.

He grinned.

‘Enough, enough! These utensils will suffice!’

At this moment, he was eager to savour the flavour of strange creatures.

The last time he tasted something so strange was when Uncle Chainsaw shared it with him.

Just one taste had left him utterly hooked.

It wasn't that Lu Xiao had a perverted taste.

Though there were many humanoid entities that possessed weirdness, they bore no relation to humanity.

They were manifestations of a higher dimensional force.

Naturally, this also tied into the curse within him, a fact he himself remained unaware of.

The Doctor shook the bell in his hand.

In an instant, the butler vanished.

Seeing his prize slip away, Lu Xiao’s expression froze.

He glanced around the room, finding no trace of it.

Sitting down dejectedly, he muttered to himself.

‘Why did it vanish just like that?’

‘Why did I waste my breath chatting with it? I should have just started eating it!’

‘How infuriating!’

The Doctor placed the bell back into a small lead box and handed it to an assistant.

‘The target's combat capability is provisionally assessed as Level 1!’

Level 1 was already a remarkably high rating.

This classification was only possible due to Lu Xiao's vulnerability to firearms, otherwise, he would have been classified as a supernatural anomalous entity.

Supernatural and bizarre lifeforms possess near-total immunity to over ninety percent of thermal weapons.

Only a handful of large-scale thermal weapons can inflict damage upon them.

Soon, the door was opened, and Lu Xiao emerged.

The moment he saw the Doctor, Lu Xiao knew he was up to something.

He glared at the Doctor, baring his teeth.

‘Doctor! Where did that anomaly go?’

The Doctor adjusted his monocle.

‘Ah, that one! He can't be fed to you! Otherwise, we would never pass the inspection!’

Lu Xiao: ‘...’

"By the way! How did you manage to injure him?"

The Doctor voiced his puzzlement.

During previous experiments, conventional physical methods had proven almost entirely ineffective against S077.

Yet Lu Xiao had managed to harm the butler using only his bare hands.

Lu Xiao scratched his head, looking somewhat perplexed.

‘Well, it was just like that!’

He wasn't lying about this point, after all, his techniques were remarkably straightforward.

Upon hearing Lu Xiao's reply, the Doctor fell into deep thought.

‘The experiment is over, you may return to your room!’

After arranging for staff to escort Lu Xiao back, the Doctor proceeded to the laboratory.

He retrieved the container holding Lu Xiao's flesh and blood.

While taking out the sample of flesh, he casually picked up a pen, its tip now stained with Lu Xiao's blood.

He summoned the staff to bring S077 over once more.

The bell jingled and the butler clad in a tuxedo appeared out of thin air.

‘Good morning, sir! How might I be of assistance?’

The Doctor held the pen in his hand and spoke softly.

‘Cooperate with me to do a small experiment!’

The butler bowed slightly.

‘It would be my pleasure to serve you!’

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