271: Its heartbeat was too loud.

Chapter 271: Its Heartbeat Is Too Loud. "Ruan Qiushui."

Chen Mo gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing the throbbing in his heart, and slowly stood up straight.

"I'm here."

Ruan Qiushui's red dress fluttered loudly in the air, her expression looking very grim.

This place was suppressing her.

It was the natural pressure an apex predator exerted on its prey.

"There's something strange about this old man; I can't see his soul."

Ruan Qiushui stared at Wang Daoming. "He's like an empty shell."

"Then smash the shell to pieces."

Chen Mo suddenly exerted force with his left foot.

The rocky ground cracked.

He charged out like a cannonball.

The mechanical arm on his left hand didn't charge up; instead, it directly popped out the High-Frequency Vibration Blade.

There was no need for nonsense.

People like this only shut up once they are thoroughly dead.

The blade sliced through the air, letting out a sharp whistle as it aimed straight for Wang Daoming's throat.

Wang Daoming didn't move.

He didn't even lift an eyelid.

Just at the moment the tip of the blade was about to touch his Adam's apple—

Puchi!

The ground suddenly split open.

A thick red tentacle burst out from the earth, accurately striking Chen Mo's blade.

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere.

Chen Mo felt as if he had struck a piece of high-density rubber tire; the massive recoil numbed the web of his thumb.

He was sent flying backward by the strike.

He flipped in the air, landed on his feet, and skidded three or four meters before stopping.

The tentacle was still flailing in mid-air.

That wasn't some biological tentacle.

It was a blood vessel extending from underground, its surface covered in a layer of black cuticle, with a sucker-like mouthpart at the tip.

"Too rude."

Wang Daoming sighed. "Using blades and guns in the temple is a sign of disrespect to the gods."

Rumble...

As his voice fell—

The ground around the cavern began to vibrate violently.

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

Another seven or eight tentacles drilled out, forming a forest of death that protected Wang Daoming in the center.

"Fire!"

Haozi roared, pulling the trigger.

Boom!

The shotgun spat fire.

The dense pellets hit a tentacle, only shredding some of the skin and causing black pus-like blood to flow out.

The tentacle thrashed in pain, suddenly swinging and picking up a millstone-sized rock from the ground, hurling it over.

"Holy crap!"

Haozi let out a strange cry and rolled on the spot.

The rock flew past, grazing his scalp and smashing an instrument behind him to pieces.

"Chen Mo, the skin on this thing is too thick!"

Haozi shouted while reloading. "I can't damage it at all!"

Chen Mo ignored Haozi.

He stared at the tentacles.

Beneath that black skin, he heard it.

Not just the sound of blood flowing.

But a heartbeat.

Inside every tentacle, there was an independent heartbeat.

Thump, thump, thump.

The rhythms were different, and the strengths varied.

This wasn't just a defense mechanism; these were living weapons.

"Ruan Qiushui, the third one on the left."

Chen Mo said in a low voice, "That one is blind."

It was the only one without a heartbeat, likely necrotic tissue.

Before his voice had even faded, a red shadow flashed.

Ruan Qiushui had already pounced forward.

Her nails grew three inches, pitch-black like ink and carrying a dense Yin energy, as she clawed fiercely at the base of that tentacle.

Sizzle!

It was like hot oil being poured onto ice.

The moment the tentacle touched Ruan Qiushui's Yin energy, it instantly shriveled and withered.

A gap appeared in the defensive circle.

"Now!"

Chen Mo's figure flickered as he slipped through the gap.

Only five meters away from Wang Daoming.

Four meters.

The smile on Wang Daoming's face finally vanished.

He raised his cane, and the head of the cane lit up with an eerie purple light.

"Get lost."

An invisible shockwave exploded outward with him at the center.

Chen Mo did not retreat; he advanced.

He shielded his head with his left arm, tanking the shockwave, each step he took cracking the ground.

"Die!"

He was close.

Chen Mo threw a left punch.

This time, it was a full-power Electromagnetic Cannon Punch.

Blue electric arcs danced on his knuckles, and the air was instantly ionized, emitting a burnt smell.

Wang Daoming didn't have time to dodge.

He could only hold his cane horizontally across his chest.

Crack!

The expensive cane snapped directly into two pieces.

The punch's momentum didn't slow as it slammed heavily into Wang Daoming's chest.

Bang!

A muffled sound echoed.

Wang Daoming was sent flying, crashing into the fleshy wall of the giant heart.

Viscous liquid splashed all over him.

Chen Mo didn't stop.

He knew an attack of this level wouldn't kill the opponent.

He charged again, intending to deliver a finishing blow.

"Hehe... hehehe..."

Wang Daoming, embedded in the fleshy wall, suddenly began to laugh.

A large section of his chest had collapsed, and his suit was reduced to tattered rags, revealing the skin beneath.

It wasn't normal skin.

It was pale and loose, looking like pieces of pigskin sewn together.

And at the site of the collapsed chest, no blood flowed out.

Instead, something was wriggling.

"Officer Chen, you are truly quite rude."

Wang Daoming looked up.

His neck was tilted at a bizarre angle, making a clicking sound of grinding bones.

"Since you've ruined my clothes..."

He reached out and grabbed the skin on his chest.

He tore it with force.

Rip!

It was like tearing off a bodysuit.

He tore off his own human skin.

"Then I'll stop pretending."

The skin casing slid off.

Revealing his true form within.

Haozi took one look and vomited on the spot.

"Urgh... what the hell is this monster..."

It wasn't a human body at all.

Wang Daoming's torso was pieced together from countless human faces.

Some of those faces were crying, some were laughing, and some were screaming.

They were squeezed tightly together, forming the texture of muscles.

His limbs, meanwhile, were black metal skeletons wrapped with red blood vessels.

The most terrifying part was his heart area.

It was completely empty.

There was only a black void, crazily devouring the surrounding light.

"I am the Lord of the Myriad."

Wang Daoming—or rather, that monster—opened its mouth.

The voice was no longer that of a single person.

It was the overlapping voices of countless men, women, old and young, carrying an echo that made one's scalp tingle.

"I am the collective of all living beings."

He broke free from the fleshy wall, and that deformed body actually floated in the air.

"This is the ultimate form of Project Zero—the Artificial God."

Chen Mo stared intently at that black hole.

A sharp pain shot through his ears.

It was the sound of countless hearts beating simultaneously.

It was like ten thousand drums being beaten next to his ear.

"What bullshit god."

Chen Mo spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. "You're just a stitched-together freak."

"Ignorant ant."

The monster raised its hand.

All the human faces on its body suddenly opened their mouths and let out an ear-piercing screech.

Buzz—!

The sound waves turned into a physical attack.

Chen Mo only felt as if his brain had been stabbed by an awl; his vision went dark, and he nearly knelt on the ground.

Ruan Qiushui fared even worse.

This kind of attack targeting the soul dealt the most damage to her.

Her spiritual body instantly became transparent, and with a scream, she was blown into a corner.

"Qiushui!"

Chen Mo shouted.

"Worry about yourself!"

The monster was already in front of him.

A giant hand, composed of countless fingers, slammed down fiercely.

Bang!

Chen Mo raised his mechanical arm to parry.

The rock beneath his feet instantly shattered, and his legs sank half a foot into the ground.

The strength was too immense.

This was simply not a power that a human could contend with.

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