Chapter 87: Aberrant Incubation Chamber
In front of the clothing shop, Gold Count, Sacred Hymn, and Orlandi all refrained from rash action. Behind them, inside the shop, were five more people: the Watchful Paradise Druid, Xiao Pei, Holy Light Paradise's Guang Mu, and the Apocalypse Paradise side's Tyrant.
Inside the clothing shop, Guang Mu saw the situation outside and felt a chill in her heart, knowing today would be a narrow escape from death.
Previously, Guang Mu's team had encountered Su Xiao by chance. After her teammates were killed, Guang Mu was outmatched. At that time, she had two choices: 1. Follow her teammates in death, or 2. Sign a contract with Su Xiao and act as a mole.
After Guang Mu provided one crucial piece of intelligence, the contract was dissolved. That is, she no longer had a cooperative or coerced relationship with Su Xiao.
In the Demon Sea World, Guang Mu had cooperated with Su Xiao for a period. In her view, once the coerced relationship was invalidated, Su Xiao would definitely abandon her to die, and might even finish her off to see if a Scarlet Card would drop.
Guang Mu knew she had to save herself today, but the perception-type Xiao Pei had just sensed that on the pedestrian street alone, there were several hundred elite soldiers of the Vassal Clan, and further out were over 40,000 military police.
As the capital of the Vassal Alliance, the "Kvab Ring City · Inner City" housed military police of unimaginable elite quality.
No matter how she looked at it, the current situation was hopeless to the extreme. Guang Mu took a deep breath. She felt as if the last bright area in her heart was being tainted by darkness. She was about to become a thoroughly bad woman, resorting to any means to survive, even betraying teammates who had a certain degree of trust in her.
Betraying teammates was addictive. Previously, Su Xiao had helped Guang Mu open this Pandora's box. Guang Mu, having tasted the sweetness, thought of using this to escape when her life was severely threatened.
Even Guang Mu herself didn't notice a subtle change in her aura. She was about to be called a true Poison Milk.
Guang Mu first ruled out the idea of fighting alongside Gold Count and the other two. Based on her understanding of Su Xiao, those three outside the shop were definitely set up. That was the terrifying aspect of the old yinbi from Reincarnation Paradise.
Guang Mu casually glanced at the three people around her. Xiao Pei had the highest priority in her mind. First, Xiao Pei had small arms and legs. As a Poison Milk type, subduing him was simple for her, and during an escape, a perception type was crucial.
"Xiao Pei, get behind me."
"But Captain Orlandi he…"
Xiao Pei pointed at Orlandi outside the shop door.
"If you go to him now, you'll only be a burden."
"O… okay."
Although a bit reluctant, Xiao Pei could only hide behind Guang Mu. Even though the feeling this big sister gave him had changed, he had no choice.
Guang Mu looked at the Druid and Tyrant. In her view, Tyrant was physically strong but simple-minded, with astonishing survivability—a typical 'good teammate.' As for the Druid, this guy was deep and calculating; he had to be sold off first.
Just then, Guang Mu and the Druid locked eyes, confirming they were both people who would betray their teammates.
"Everyone, you all know the situation. We can't act together with Gold Count and the others; that's suicide. Kukulin Bai Ye's attention will be on them. We escape from below."
Guang Mu pointed at the ground, meaning to blast through the floor and escape through the sewers.
A muffled boom came from the street. Guang Mu looked over to see Gold Count and the other two had vanished, leaving a dark hole in the street. They had the same idea—escape through the interconnected sewers.
Guang Mu stomped her high heel in frustration. Just then, Gold Count and the other two all shot back out of the dark hole on the ground, sprinting at full speed into the buildings on either side of the street.
Boom!
The ground trembled. The asphalt road cracked, and bright red light shone through the fissures. This was a heavy artillery weapon: C79 Red Scorpion.
Such heavy artillery weapons were rarely deployed on battlefields due to their insufficient attack range, but they were effective against powerful individual targets.
The pulse spreading from underground was accompanied by the sound of buildings collapsing. Most of the buildings on both sides of the street caved in. Electric arcs flashed, and dust rose everywhere.
Inside the half-collapsed clothing shop, the collapse had triggered the fire suppression system. Water sprayed from exposed pipes on the ceiling. Soaking wet, Guang Mu grabbed Xiao Pei by the back of his collar, not to protect him, but because this little brat was trying to slip away. In this critical moment, Guang Mu wouldn't let go of this 'fully intelligent navigation system.'
In the spraying water mist, the Druid tore off the beast-hide cloak from his back. His face began to sharpen, his nose transforming into a bird's beak. In a very short time, the Druid transformed into a giant eagle with a wingspan of over three meters.
For contractors to achieve flight at the Eighth Rank wasn't difficult, but few contractors were willing to fly. This was a lesson learned from painful experiences.
In an Eighth Rank world, if your flight speed didn't reach a certain level, it was best not to fly. Those flashy flying abilities that weren't fast enough—once attacked, the flier would generally scream loudly while diving down at top speed, trying to touch Mother Earth again. Unfortunately, most flashy fliers never got that chance; they were 'fireworked' mid-air.
The Druid, transformed into a giant eagle, clearly wasn't in that category. His flight speed could show off at the Eighth Rank.
"I can fly."
The Druid looked at Guang Mu and taunted, having seen through her intention to betray him.
"Druid… no, Daddy, take me with you."
Xiao Pei had survived this long by knowing how to survive. Unfortunately, the Druid didn't even look at him. Xiao Pei's weight wasn't an issue for the Druid, but he didn't want to take risks in this dangerous situation.
"Farewell!"
Bang!
The Druid broke through several layers of sonic boom clouds and disappeared. But as soon as he reached high altitude, muffled sounds came from the surrounding buildings. Nearly a hundred spiral-shaped homing missiles flew out. This was a heavy artillery weapon: N77 Viper.
These things looked unremarkable at first glance, but each homing missile was an independent computing unit with a complete judgment program and the ability for secondary, even tertiary acceleration.
These hundred-plus missiles broke through waves of sonic booms, heading straight for the Druid in the sky.
The Druid immediately sensed a fatal crisis. The feathers on his body spread out and shot off, like infrared countermeasure flares, exploding the small Viper missiles homing in on him.
After a series of thunderous explosions in mid-air, the Druid burst out of a cluster of energy flames. Before he could rejoice at surviving, several Viper missiles came straight at him.
Boom! Boom!
Energy flames spread. The heavy artillery weapon showed its ferocious side. A cloud of blood mist expanded, then was swallowed by the energy flames. The Druid died on the spot.
Guang Mu, Xiao Pei, and Tyrant all looked up at this scene. Three seconds ago, the Druid had said farewell to them. His prophecy was spot on.
"Tyrant, we should…"
Before Guang Mu could finish, Tyrant tore off his soaking wet clothes and roared, "We have to fight our way out!"
Leaving these words, Tyrant crashed out of the half-collapsed shop and charged at the approaching military police.
Cold water mist rained down on Guang Mu and Xiao Pei's heads. They simultaneously raised their right hands in a gesture of retention, but it was too late.
Guang Mu and Xiao Pei looked at each other, dumbfounded faces meeting dumbfounded faces. Utterly bewildered.
"Big sister, what do we do now? I'm scared."
Xiao Pei put on a pitiful look. Guang Mu clicked her tongue, meaning: 'Stop pretending, you little brat.'
Noticing Guang Mu's expression, Xiao Pei also clicked his tongue. Although Guang Mu was called Poison Milk, the current situation was that they were one healing type and one perception type. If they could add a barrier type, they'd have the three weakest systems.
Footsteps approached. Although Guang Mu had been ready to 'darken' earlier, she had the resolve but no opportunity. She felt that, indeed, the darkening in movies and anime was all bullshit. In a crisis, you die before you even get a chance to darken.
The hurried footsteps grew closer. A flash of inspiration struck Guang Mu. A dagger appeared in her hand. She wrapped one arm around Xiao Pei's neck, pressing the dagger's tip against the side of his neck.
A large group of military police in a semi-encircling formation pressed in. At the front was a Brigadier General. This was General Lei Zi, who had come to "Kvab Ring City" with Su Xiao. He was commanding this siege.
Alliance Marshal He · Kang Diwei had assigned General Lei Zi to this task to promote this old subordinate. Promoting without merit would invite criticism, and this opportunity was perfect.
Guang Mu, holding Xiao Pei hostage, shouted at General Lei Zi and the military police, "Don't come closer! He knows where Dark Haze is. If you push me, I'll kill him."
This move by Guang Mu sought a sliver of hope from a desperate situation.
General Lei Zi stopped. Suddenly, he drew his sidearm and fired a shot at Xiao Pei's head.
Bang! Xiao Pei's head exploded. Due to the height difference, the bullet passed through Guang Mu's collarbone. General Lei Zi's pistol, a previous-generation model, was a supernatural firearm with formidable power.
Xiao Pei was suddenly killed like this. Warm blood trickled down Guang Mu's cheek. She didn't know that General Lei Zi didn't care at all where Dark Haze was. His mission was to eliminate the enemy. Besides, even if they found Dark Haze, it would be for the Sun Fortress side. He wouldn't do such thankless work.
General Lei Zi slightly raised his gun barrel, ready to fire another shot and blow Guang Mu's head off. This made Guang Mu feel a dull pain in her forehead. She immediately knelt, raised her hands, and shouted, "I surrender."
Unfortunately, these words didn't sway General Lei Zi. His index finger was still slowly pulling the trigger.
"I'm a friend of Kukulin Bai Ye."
Guang Mu shouted this out of pure luck. She felt she was about to die.
Hearing this, General Lei Zi's eye twitched. He had originally considered keeping a prisoner, but now he had no such thought. This woman had to be killed.
"I owe Kukulin Bai Ye a huge sum of money!"
At these words, General Lei Zi immediately raised his gun barrel. General Lei Zi could kill Su Xiao's friend without hesitation, but he dared not easily kill someone who owed Su Xiao money.
Killing Su Xiao's friend, General Lei Zi could use the Vassal Clan as a backing to maneuver. But if he killed someone who owed Su Xiao money, General Lei Zi estimated, based on his understanding of that guy, either he would have to repay the debt for the deceased, or Su Xiao would hire someone to assassinate him. Both situations were troublesome.
"Take her."
At General Lei Zi's command, Guang Mu wasn't pinned to the ground but was stomped on by the military police's big boots, unable to move. In real combat, the idiotic situation of showing mercy to a beautiful woman rarely occurred. If you chose to fight, you were the enemy. Concentrating all your attention and not underestimating an enemy because of their gender was also a form of respect. Female powerhouses were not rare.
General Lei Zi frowned and asked, "How much do you owe Kukulin Bai Ye?"
"About 2300 units of Living Ore."
Hearing this, General Lei Zi was shocked. He solemnly ordered the surrounding military police, "Guard her strictly. Carry out the order to the death."
"Yes!"
The military police uniformly placed one hand on their shoulders, similar to a salute.
On the other side, Gold Count, Sacred Hymn, and Orlandi were completely surrounded. The three leaned against each other, full of vigilance.
The surrounding military police didn't act rashly because an energy defense layer was being set up outside to prevent Gold Count and the other two from detonating powerful explosives. The military police's negotiator was trying to stabilize the three with words, waiting for the outer setup to be completed before acting, to avoid large-scale destruction to the inner city.
"You two, dying together here today is a kind of fate. I won't surrender; that would only be worse."
Orlandi spoke in a deep voice. Gold Count and Sacred Hymn were silent for a moment, then said:
"Sorry."
"Forgive me."
Gold Count and Sacred Hymn each took out an item. One produced a scroll, and the other touched a ring on her fair index finger.
The situation was very simple. If someone asked how the three would escape, their answers would be:
Gold Count: 'I'm rich, richer than you can imagine.'
Sacred Hymn: 'I have a lot of equipment. As an Executioner of Holy Light Paradise, I never lack equipment.'
Orlandi: 'I **beep~ (muted)** , *beep~**, ****beep~!'
With a whoosh, Gold Count vanished. The ring on Guang Mu's finger exploded, and an entity resembling an angel covered in crude oil appeared. A large mouth on its abdomen split open, swallowing Sacred Hymn. Then a spiral black hole appeared at the 'oil angel's' forehead, instantly sucking it in, and it completely disappeared.
Seeing this, Orlandi was stunned for a moment. Then, dark golden patterns appeared all over his body, and he charged headlong at the approaching military police.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground trembled. The battle lasted from one in the afternoon until half past five in the evening.
The setting sun cast its glow from the horizon, dyeing the entire inner city in a bloody hue.
On a towering pile of corpses, Orlandi still stood, covered in blades. Even though he was dead, the Demon Man Orlandi died today in "Kvab Ring City · Inner City." Before his death, he roared: 'You will all die by his hands sooner or later.'
On the roof of a building two kilometers away, Su Xiao sat on the edge. He tossed the last small piece of Soul Crystal into his mouth, crunching it.
One troublesome enemy was successfully eliminated. Of the remaining two, Gold Count didn't need much explanation. Dark Haze was over eighty percent likely to be on him.
As for Sacred Hymn, in Su Xiao's impression, this woman liked to bury people. If he guessed correctly, in that woman's mind, she had probably already planned a funeral to bury him.
A total of seven enemies were surrounded. Gold Count and Sacred Hymn escaped. The remaining five all died.
Earlier, when General Lei Zi was about to escort Guang Mu to Su Xiao, Guang Mu suddenly died.
Guang Mu died while walking, with no warning. Initially, it was thought she was faking, but after a perception-type test, it was confirmed that Guang Mu was dead. The cause of death: after being shot by General Lei Zi, she failed to treat the internal bleeding in time. The internal bleeding caused her to faint. A flat fall then caused severe brain stem concussion, leading to more serious hemorrhagic shock, and finally sudden death.
In simple terms, after being shot, Guang Mu fell flat on her face and died.
This couldn't be described as a coincidence; it was ridiculous. Although Guang Mu was a Poison Milk, she was also a healing type. She could heal herself.
When Guang Mu suddenly died, General Lei Zi's eyes widened. If Guang Mu died by his hand, the debt of 2300 units of Living Ore would very likely be transferred to him. No, General Lei Zi was certain that guy named Kukulin Bai Ye could definitely do such a thing.
Lei Zi was a Brigadier General, but for him, 2300 units of Living Ore was a huge sum. That was 230,000 kilograms of Living Ore. General Lei Zi's first thought was: How could a person owe such a debt?
The good news was that after Guang Mu's sudden death, apart from General Lei Zi and the military police who had captured her, no one else knew Guang Mu's specific identity. General Lei Zi didn't care whether the debt was real or not, but he couldn't gamble. The best choice now was to burn the corpse.
General Lei Zi did just that. But strangely, when burning Guang Mu, the flames shot up over ten meters, burning fiercely. Unexpectedly, halfway through the burning, Guang Mu stood up and made bird calls.
General Lei Zi didn't care about any of this. He didn't even care if Guang Mu was truly dead or faking it, as long as he could write in his battle report: 'Enemy died suddenly, circumstances suspicious. Enemy corpse burned on site, ashes retrieved.' That would suffice.
"General Lei Zi, you let two powerful enemies escape."
Su Xiao spoke from the building top. General Lei Zi, who was passing by with his men, stopped. He rarely smiled and said, "It is indeed my responsibility."
With that, General Lei Zi was about to quicken his pace and leave.
"General Lei Zi, have you seen a woman named Guang Mu?"
Su Xiao's words made General Lei Zi stop again. Bubu Wang, crouching behind Su Xiao, was enjoying his snacks. He was told not to eat too many spicy strips, but he sometimes sneaked some.
"Guang Mu? Never heard of that person."
General Lei Zi had made up his mind to deny it. That was a debt of 2300 units of Living Ore.
"Did you find any trace of Dark Haze?"
"None found."
"Is that so? Then I have no reason to stay here."
Su Xiao stood up and walked south through the inner city with Bubu Wang.
First, they arrived at the Space Pillar Tower. Stepping onto the teleportation array, spatial fluctuations activated. When the world around Su Xiao became clear again, he was standing on the teleportation array of the Steel Fortress, having arrived at the border.
Su Xiao had signed the "Border Treaty." Even inside the Steel Fortress, no Vassal Clan soldier dared to attack him.
Traveling unimpeded, when the vehicle Su Xiao was riding entered the border zone, the formation of Boar Warriors came into view.
Without any setbacks, he returned to the main control room of the Sun Fortress. Su Xiao leaned back on the sofa, feeling completely relaxed. Although he had left the fortress, its development hadn't stopped. Through the Living Ore he had obtained earlier, the number of Boar Warriors had reached 495,620. Now, 17,953 units of Living Ore remained.
Su Xiao wouldn't use this Living Ore for now. He had an idea. If it succeeded, the situation would enter a realm he was familiar with.
This trip to the Vassal Clan's side had yielded significant gains. Besides finding a Pig Head who had mastered a 'wild' technique-type ability with hammers, there was an unexpected harvest.
After meditating for a moment, Su Xiao got up and went to the second floor's "Evolution Nest." The Evolution Nest was now a behemoth, occupying the second, third, and fourth floors of the fortress.
Su Xiao's original plan was to find a Pig Head who had mastered a 'wild' technique-type ability with hammers, then use the War Lord's "Battle Technique Awakening" ability to have all his Boar Warriors master this ability.
He checked the time. The 4,268 Pig Head Fighters who were coming this time would complete their transformation in five minutes.
Waiting made time seem a bit long. When the various exits of the Evolution Nest opened, sparks rose. Boar Warriors, transformed from Pig Heads, walked out of the Evolution Nest.
Among the Pig Head Fighters this time, more than one had mastered a 'wild' technique-type ability with hammers.
The Boar Warrior who inherited the name Oink walked out of the Evolution Nest. The scars on his face remained. On his head were black, stiff bristles extending backward. His height had increased significantly, and his build was even more robust.
Su Xiao activated the "Battle Technique Awakening" ability. He first selected Oink as the "Excellent Individual," then proceeded with ability selection.
[Prompt: You have selected the ability "Heavy Hammer Mastery, Lv.40." If a large-scale ability awakening is performed, this ability's level will decrease to Lv.33.]
Su Xiao immediately chose to perform a large-scale awakening, including all his Boar Warriors in the scope.
[Please select the awakening method. There are three options below. Choose any one.]