Chen Sixuan acted decisively, raised her gun, and immediately blew half of the butcher’s head to bits. Strangely, with only half of its head left, the Human Gu remained unperturbed. Suddenly, its whole body sprouted things resembling scales, which turned out to be countless small beetles. Those Qilin Worms buzzed around it, and then green viscous fluid began to flow from the butcher’s body as it lunged towards the team.
"Don’t let it get close, this monster will explode!" Shi Zhi quickly warned upon seeing this.
"Over my dead body!" KIKI clenched her fist, and a powerful telekinetic force, mixed with dirt and sand, shot towards the butcher like a whirlwind. After blowing away the sharp-beaked monster, Lu Xingchen turned and spewed fire towards KIKI’s whirlwind. Instantly, the fiery column scorched the garage’s pillars, floor, and walls to a burning red.
Boom!
A dull explosion rang out, and a large amount of dark green ooze sprayed in all directions. But at the front, it was swept away by KIKI’s whirlwind. Yet, at this moment, several more bizarre Human Gu rushed out from the darkness like a swarm. Lin Xian could tell that these weren’t zombies or Abnormal Bodies; by their attire, they were more like evolved humans mutated after being devoured by Star Abyss.
In an instant, the entire basement was filled with black smoke and green mist.
As Lin Xian and Brother Huo attacked, the shrieking monster quickly retreated into the shadows, its eerie cries akin to a child’s wailing. Watching the flickering Mark Detection Device, Lin Xian gritted his teeth. While Grace and KIKI were suppressing the Human Gu, he charged forward; the primary threat wasn’t the Human Gu, but that Abnormal Body capable of applying the Dark Mark.
Swish, swish, swish!
The drones adeptly maneuvered in the basement, red pulse arcs flashing continuously. Under the spotlight, Lin Xian seemed to glimpse a creature over tens of meters long, continually retreating until it reached an elevator shaft. The monster appeared to be growing attached to the structure, with the forepart and sharp beak just its emerging head.
Seeing this, Lin Xian didn’t hesitate. With hands forward, he deployed the mecha palms cannon. Simultaneously, six small needle missiles on his shoulder launched. With the drones’ bombardment, they hit the creature’s main body attached to the elevator shaft directly.
In a barrage of relentless attacks, the monster, with a serpentine body, began to break from the base, its shrieks intensifying. At this point, Brother Huo also freed himself, rapidly flying over, crossing flames from his hands, slicing the monster into sections. After KIKI dealt with the Human Gu, she turned back and used telekinesis to crush the sharp-beaked monster’s head, silencing its shriek abruptly.
Ugh!!
By now, the Dark Marks on Lin Xian and the others were cleared. But given the recent intense battle, it seemed to have drawn the attention of numerous dark creatures. From afar, above, and at the exit, sounds came from all directions.
"Quick, let’s go!"
Without hesitation, Lin Xian, having dealt with this monster, noted that the entire basement was about to be enveloped in the black mist. This Power of Fear was toxic; they couldn’t linger. He immediately called everyone to advance along the predetermined route. Meanwhile, high-energy explosives, accompanied by rotary-wing drones, continuously formed in Lin Xian’s hands and flew out, placed on the basement’s supporting pillars.
"We’ve undoubtedly disturbed some big threat," Chen Sixuan, in Black Hawk Battle Armor and armed with Meteor 3, commented. Besides her combat visor, her vision and hearing evolved exceptionally, though she couldn’t sense darkness like Ah Bai and Shi Zhi, but could detect monster movements in advance.
Running while monitoring the detection device’s changes, Lin Xian sternly instructed, "Don’t bother with it. I’ll take the underground route. As long as we’re not marked, don’t engage."
Whether above or below, the path to the 轨道 station was rarely trafficked by people from Silent City. Lin Xian knew encountering Abnormal Bodies was probable, but comparatively, underground had the advantage of limiting the battle scale. If they removed the marks, they could enter the darkness stealthily like the Abnormal Bodies. On the surface, the commotion from Brother Huo and KIKI would be too conspicuous.
[Crackle, crackle...]
After entering underground, communications were heavily disrupted. Lin Xian temporarily couldn’t contact members from the other two routes. He led his team ahead swiftly. Exiting the underground garage, entering a dilapidated building ahead, they encountered a wire gate. Lin Xian raised his hand and used Mechanical Devouring, instantly causing the wire gate to vanish.
They needed to ascend through this building to reach the platform above, then enter the street.
"Ahead."
"Lin Xian, ahead!" Chen Sixuan and Shi Zhi simultaneously exclaimed.
As the lights flickered, a twisted Abnormal Body suddenly emerged in the dilapidated staircase ahead, seemingly disturbed by the team’s lights. Just as it opened its mouth wide, Lin Xian’s dozens of drones began rotating, firing pulse beams that dissolved the creature’s upper body entirely.
"C-level Abnormal Body!"
Lin Xian glanced at the still-burning half-corpse of the Abnormal Body, said nothing more, and directly sprinted upstairs. With their current strength, dealing with such a C-level Abnormal Body wasn’t too difficult, but the real concern was getting marked.
In the darkness of Star Abyss, even a small mark could quickly expose the entire team to the surrounding Abnormal Bodies.