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Chapter 345 Strategic Shift

"What's wrong?" Liuli asked as she walked over when she saw Chen Xuan lost in thought.

"It's nothing..." Chen Xuan waved his hand, "Is everything resolved?"

"Hmm." She bent down and picked up a fragment of a living creature from the ground, easily crushing it with two fingers. "I must say, this property is truly amazing, comparable to our rare creatures."

"Wow... So he's the infamous Flesh Butcher." Wang Baihu murmured in awe as he stared at the fusion of minced meat and machinery on the ground.

"Bird, keep your voice down!" Little Dove pinched his waist hard.

"I was just expressing my admiration for his abilities, nothing more..."

“Indeed,” Jiang Siqi agreed in a low voice, “The Wanderers are too strong…it feels like they’re not even in the same dimension as us. It’s so difficult for the four of us to deal with just one nanite, but they can take them down one by one…”

“Not all Wanderers have this level of skill…” Wang Baihu shook his head repeatedly. “Or rather, the number of Wanderers who can cause such a commotion is very small. People like them are among the most abnormal on a global scale.”

Although those people tried to lower their voices, Chen Xuan, who was using his inner cultivation technique, could still hear them clearly.

Only Honglian stepped forward confidently, looking at Chen Xuan with a serious expression, "I thought your signature move was the levitation lightsaber. This ability... is its origin legitimate?"

"Of course, it's just a skill," the latter replied seriously. "Whether it's good or bad depends entirely on how people use it."

"No side effects?"

"I haven't noticed anything yet."

Honglian nodded. "That's good. If you notice anything amiss, be sure to abandon it decisively. Ordinary people can't get rid of the abilities they've acquired, but Shixin can, which is a kind of luck for us."

"Something's not right?" Chen Xuan asked, somewhat surprised. "Why do you say that?"

“Some operators in the organization can steal the abilities of others, and this method is usually regarded as a way to neutralize Wanderers. I once saw a record that said a headquarters operator had a problem after performing this procedure on a Wanderer. It felt like he was possessed by some evil spirit, and he eventually died from his body rotting away,” Honglian explained.

"The agency has issued a notice requiring that operators with plundering abilities must be accompanied by a supervisor before using this technique, and must remain in the isolation room for observation for a period of time after using it, in order to prevent similar tragedies from happening. You have been to different worlds, so you should understand that the rules of abilities are different in each world... Some abilities are inherently evil."

"I've got it," Chen Xuan replied, feigning surprise.

Just then, a heavy thud resounded from the ground.

His expression changed instantly. He turned to look at Liuli, whose brows were furrowed. She nodded to him in confirmation, "That thing is here!"

"What is that?" Honglian asked, puzzled.

"Let's hide first!" Chen Xuan didn't have time to explain, and immediately raised his voice, beckoning to the other four, "What are you all standing there for? Come here!"

"Where can we hide?" Liuli asked. "These buildings can't withstand one kick from that thing!"

Chen Xuan looked around and quickly spotted a shopping mall not far to his right. "Let's go there!"

These types of shopping malls usually have a matching underground parking lot, and domestic underground buildings all have to undertake part of the civil defense function, so the structural strength is absolutely excellent.

If it could break through a "steel fortress" made of pure shear walls with one step, it shouldn't be able to walk freely in the city at all—because its own weight would be enough to sink it underground.

"start running!"

With Chen Xuan's shout, the group took off running, covering the two hundred meters in less than half a minute. Just as they rushed into the mall, a second roar rang out—unlike the first one, this time everyone felt the ground tremble, and the source of the sound seemed to be right next to them!
Wang Baihu turned his head and glanced at it, and immediately felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

"Oh my God……"

He saw a huge cube made of steel frames, gears and pipes emerge from behind the building and land on the street where they had been!
The cube stretched as far as the eye could see, its top reaching straight into the sky, obscured by the dim, yellowish sandstorm.

It is definitely not something man-made.

Because its appearance is anything but beautiful or neat... on the contrary, it reveals an unsightly disharmony everywhere, with a bunch of seemingly useless parts attached to its surface, like tumors growing on a body of steel.

This, in turn, makes it seem even more terrifying.

"There's an elevator... but there's no power!" Jiang Siqi cried out in panic.

"Just jump!" Chen Xuan summoned the Thousand Thoughts Sword, cleaved open the elevator door with a single strike, and led the way into the elevator shaft.

There's actually a height of nearly ten meters below.

Moreover, the steel cable that suspends the counterweight has disappeared.

He conjured a dozen or so Thousand Thought Swords at once, haphazardly inserting them into the well wall—these unsharpened, broadswords with hilts became "horizontal bars," allowing those who jumped down later to step on them and slow down. As everyone escaped into the B2 parking lot, the third impact rang out.

It was so close it was almost as if it were right above everyone's heads!

With a muffled, thunderous roar, dust fell from the ceiling, and the rusty fan ducts began to shake.

Everyone involuntarily held their breath, not daring to even exhale.

Chen Xuan's fingers were already resting on his glasses.

If the parking lot collapses, he will have no choice but to teleport himself and Honglian back first.

This silence seemed to last for a century.

About ten minutes later, everyone finally heard the thud of a heavy object falling to the ground again, but the source was no longer here, and it seemed to be coming from a very far place.

"Phew..." The members of the Crimson Lotus Group all breathed a sigh of relief.

"What was that thing just now?" Wang Baihu asked, his face still showing signs of fear. "It was way too big!"

“A four-legged monster, huh? I told you that before I brought you here.” Chen Xuan shrugged.

"What?" The former was stunned. "That iron leg, which is comparable to a pillar supporting the sky, has three more? How big must the main body on the leg be?"

"I don't know about that."

“I thought the four-legged monster was more like a mechanical dinosaur…” Jiang Siqi wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, “This thing is completely beyond my imagination.”

"Is it really a nano-living organism?" Honglian asked.

“I can’t think of any other possibility. And it’s not just big…” Chen Xuan felt a chill run down his spine just thinking about the giant eyeball that had drooped down last time. “In short, we should avoid it as much as possible and try not to come into contact with it.”

“It can’t be a coincidence that we’ve run into each other twice in a row.” Liuli patted Luochen on the shoulder. “Could it have been attracted by the sound of our fighting?”

"Isn't that meddling way too much? The city is so big, does it have to come and check every little thing that happens?"

“Perhaps… the entire city is its territory?” Liuli suddenly thought.

Chen Xuan's heart skipped a beat.

This assumption is terrifying... If a colossal creature were to roam the city and never leave, would the other survivors have any chance of survival?
If this city is truly a dead city, then there's little point in them continuing their search.

"Oh no!" Xiaojiu suddenly shouted.

Everyone's nerves were on edge. Chen Xuan immediately activated his Divine Eye Technique, and Liuli also drew her sword!

But there was no sound from the surroundings.

"What's wrong?" Honglian asked, keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings.

"No...it's gone!" Kobato stammered in response.

"What's missing?"

"Croak... Croak! Our dragon is gone!"

It was only then that everyone suddenly realized that one person was indeed missing from the team.

"Oh no!" Wang Baihu slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot about it. I was so busy counting people the whole way here!"

This is a consensus among everyone.

The frantic sprint just now was a close call. Everyone was only concerned about whether their teammates had been separated from the group, but Guagua... it wasn't even considered in the group.

“It’s not your fault.” Honglian patted his shoulder. “This is the first time we’ve ever taken dinosaurs on a mission. It’s normal to be a little careless.”

"Won't it have been killed by that monster?" Kobato asked worriedly.

"No, that thing is very clever," Chen Xuan reassured him. "Maybe it's waiting for us on the next level right now."

(End of this chapter)