135: Sonar

With the naming ceremony complete, Shen Mingyuan refocused his attention on the hunt. He recalled the archival information provided by "The Forger," as well as the vague instincts instilled in him when the armband switched modes.

Slightly adjusting his breathing, he concentrated his mind on the helmet's sensory System. First, he suppressed his primary vision and attempted to activate that brand-new sense. A strange, slight vibration emanated from deep within his chest, as if a dormant organ were being awakened.

Instantly, the world exploded in his mind in an entirely different way!

He "felt" an invisible sound wave of a specific frequency spread out from the front of his torso, sweeping through the dark tunnel like a ripple on water.

The sound waves struck the pipe walls, the water surface, and debris, quickly bouncing back.

These echoes were captured and analyzed by special sensory structures on the surface of his helmet and armor, rapidly constructing an extremely precise, real-time 3D structural map in his mind!

The exact diameter of the pipes, the curvature of the corners, a depression on the ground thirty meters ahead, even the tiny cracks in the pipe seams overhead... every physical detail was laid bare.

This was more intuitive and concrete than any night vision goggles or thermal imaging, especially in such a complex environment filled with obstructions.

He could even "see" several rats hiding behind distant rubble, as their outlines were clearly displayed in the sonar map as tiny, irregular biological models.

“This feeling... is wonderful!” Shen Mingyuan couldn't help but marvel internally. The excitement of a Detective uncovering clues, mixed with the shock of gaining superhuman abilities, almost made him lose his composure. With this, finding a living being in this intricate underground labyrinth was no longer a clueless endeavor. “I'll definitely find you, Qian Qiang...”

Amidst the excitement, that hidden spark of 'chuunibyou' soul began to quietly surface.

Lowering his voice to a tone only he could hear—deliberately deep and mysterious—he muttered to the dark sewer: “When truth is hidden in darkness, when evil prowls in the shadows... there is a need for eyes that can pierce the netherworld, and a... shadow that blends into the night.”

After saying this, he even visualized the cool action of pulling down the brim of a Detective's hat (even though he was currently wearing a transformed helmet).

Then, perhaps because this new power and environment stimulated his imagination, an even more complete and dramatic scene unfolded uncontrollably in his mind:

(Shen Mingyuan's Imagination)

On a pitch-black night, in a deserted alleyway, a poor girl is being robbed by a villain. The villain laughs triumphantly: “Haha, the police aren't here, I am invincible!”

At this critical moment, a loud shout rings out: “Stop!”

The villain turns his head in shock to see a black figure appearing at the alley entrance at some unknown time, its dark red eyepieces particularly striking in the darkness.

“What? It's shadow? How is this possible? Aren't you just an urban legend?” The villain's voice is filled with terror.

The black hero—that is, the incredibly cool version of himself in his imagination—takes a steady step forward and says in a cool, echoing voice: “Haha, I've said it before, in this city, criminals like you are just lolis.”

“Fine, watch how I send you all to prison!”

The villain is so scared he turns to run, but before he knows it, shadow has already appeared like a ghost in front of his escape route, saying leisurely: “Oh? Waiting for me? Spread 'em yourself?”

The little theater in his mind made Shen Mingyuan feel inexplicably better, and the corner of his mouth even twitched slightly under the helmet. He shook his head, temporarily suppressing these far-fetched fantasies. “Alright, time to get to work.”

He spoke to himself, his voice returning to its usual calm.

Concentrating, with the active sonar scanning continuously, he began to move steadily into the deeper darkness like a top-tier tracker, carefully analyzing every minute anomaly in the sonar map and identifying unique outlines and movement characteristics that might belong to a human.

After searching for a long time within the precise 3D map built by the active sonar, Shen Mingyuan finally locked onto a suspicious target echo outline.

The outline was located at the edge of a larger, open underground cavern ahead, which seemed to be a converted flood control buffer tank from the old era.

In the sonar map, it presented a clearly humanoid base, but its size was abnormally tall and bloated, with irregular edges as if wrapped in a thick layer of unevenly dense material. Its internal echo structure also showed a complexity and Chaos completely different from a normal human body.

“A massive accumulation of energy, combined with the crude survival-priority guidance of the evo factor... Is this what happens when body tissues undergo uncontrollable proliferation and alienation?” Shen Mingyuan analyzed quickly in his mind, his brow furrowed. “It feels... very dangerous.”

But the target was right before him; there was no reason to retreat.

He took a deep breath, turned off the active sonar that was continuously draining his mental energy, and switched back to enhanced low-light vision and thermal sensing. At the same time, he carefully removed the tactical satchel from his back and hid it behind some debris at a dry pipe corner, ensuring the items inside (mainly spare high-calorie food and tools) wouldn't get in the way or be easily found.

Then, with a reverse grip, he drew the modified black-and-red twin stars from the quick-draw holsters at his waist. They felt heavy and warm in his hands, and the dark red veins seemed to glow faintly for a moment as he gripped them.

He checked the energy status—the armband sent a vague sensation that it was at roughly eighty percent, while the twin guns were in a ready-to-fire state.

Holding a pistol in each hand, Shen Mingyuan lowered his center of gravity and, like the most cautious hunter, began to approach the location of the massive echo outline along the shadows of the pipe walls.

Rounding the final section of curved pipe, the view suddenly opened up.

This was a deserted underground water storage space. Above was a leaking concrete dome, and below were sewage pools of varying depths and exposed concrete platforms.

The air was thick with a heavy smell of mold, stagnant water, and... a faint, indescribable acrid scent of rot.

On a relatively dry platform not far away, Shen Mingyuan finally saw his target with his own eyes—Qian Qiang.

Or rather, Qian Qiang's terrifying evolved form.

His size had exploded to nearly three meters; his entire being was like a mobile mountain of flesh.

His original clothes had long since been shredded, replaced by a thick layer of yellowish-brown fat covered in folds and hardened keratinous nodules, looking both soft and resilient.

At key points like the joints, chest, and back, the surface of the fat layer was also covered with irregularly growing, grayish-white bone plates resembling chitin or calcified matter, forming a crude but effective natural armor.

His head was almost sunken into his bloated shoulders, his face swollen and distorted. His original features were barely recognizable, currently etched with pain, confusion, and a burgeoning madness.

Most striking was his mutated mouth; his lower jaw seemed to be distended in a dislocated fashion, and a viscous transparent liquid emitting faint white smoke dripped from the corners of his mouth from time to time. When it hit the concrete floor, it immediately made a "hissing" sound, corroding small pits into the surface.

“How... how did I become like this?! What... what kind of monster is this?!” Qian Qiang was looking down at his bloated hands, his fingertips slightly mutated into hooked shapes, letting out muffled and horrified mutterings.

But soon, the horror was replaced by a surging wave of resentment.

“Damn it... damn it all!! It's all because of that old geezer! That old bastard hit me! He made me like this! I'm going to kill him... I'm going to... dissolve him down to the bone!!”

He roared, his voice echoing in the vast underground space, filled with undisguised murderous intent. As his emotions grew agitated, the corrosive liquid secreted from his mouth seemed to increase, dripping faster.

Shen Mingyuan observed quietly from the shadows, understanding the situation.

‘As expected, the evolution direction pointed toward extreme defense and a... digestive, predatory attack style.

The thick fat and localized bone plates are for resisting physical attacks, while the strong acid saliva... can serve as a weapon and also partially digest "prey" for absorption? Truly a crude and violent survival design.’

He gripped the twin guns in his hands, adjusting his breathing and considering his strategy. A frontal assault against that heavy defense was clearly unwise; he had to find a weakness.