273: The hostage is a cunning crab.

"Oh? You can still stand?" The Hermit Crab watched the swaying Shen Mingyuan rise to his feet, a cruel glint flashing in its compound eyes. "But in this state, you've reached your limit, haven't you? Fine, let me snap you in half completely and end this farce."

It moved its heavy arthropod legs, dragging its injured body, and approached Shen Mingyuan once more with an unstoppable Aura.

However, at that very moment—

"Bang bang bang bang—!"

A rapid series of sharp, clear gunshots rang out from the side and rear! Several specially-made bullets with sharp armor-piercing tips slammed hard into the carapace on the Hermit Crab's back and sides! Although their power was far from the devastating force of Shen Mingyuan's sniper shot, they still successfully drilled into gaps or weak points in the shell, exploding in small bursts of sparks and fragments, causing waves of stinging pain!

It was the GUPA combat personnel who had been responsible for perimeter security and had quickly taken up advantageous positions after the battle erupted! They had finally found their moment to intervene.

"Annoying bugs!" The Hermit Crab turned its head in anger, seeing several team members in black combat uniforms taking cover behind barricades, continuously firing their specialized rifles.

Under covering fire from his comrades, one of the team members swiftly retrieved a pitch-black, fist-sized sphere from his tactical harness. With one hand, he kept firing his rifle to suppress the enemy, while the other hand deftly pulled the safety pin from the sphere!

His target was clear—the massive penetrating wound on the Hermit Crab's chest, blasted open by Shen Mingyuan! But he didn't throw it immediately. Instead, he quickly moved sideways, putting distance between himself and Shen Mingyuan—clearly, he was afraid of causing collateral damage.

How could the Hermit Crab let him have his way? Seeing that black sphere, it immediately understood the opponent's intention. Trying to stuff something into my wound? Dream on!

It temporarily abandoned Shen Mingyuan. Its massive body pivoted with surprising speed for its injuries, turning sharply towards that team member. One intact giant claw lashed out like lightning, not to block bullets, but to precisely swat at the black sphere the man had just thrown! It intended to bat this dangerous object far away like a baseball!

However, the moment the black sphere made contact with the crab's claw—

"BOOM!!!"

A violent explosion occurred not in the distance, but directly at the front of the giant claw! Dazzling flames and a shockwave blasted the claw violently aside, scorching and shattering the front carapace, splattering its fluids!

"Hiss—!" The Hermit Crab trembled in pain. It hadn't expected the thing to explode on contact! Although this blow didn't completely destroy its claw, the intense pain and impact enraged it further.

"You lot... are seeking death!" It turned its full fury towards those combat personnel. Its eight legs suddenly exerted force, and like a chariot of vengeance, it charged recklessly towards the nearest team members, ignoring the bullets! It would crush these annoying pests!

Meanwhile, Shen Mingyuan, who had barely managed to stand steady, witnessed all of this. He took a deep breath, suppressing the intense pain throughout his body and the armor's alarms. His hands once again formed a virtual grip, and his remaining energy, fueled by unwavering determination, began to gather frantically.

His dim red visor locked dead onto the charging Hermit Crab's back. The phantom image of a sniper rifle rapidly constructed and solidified in his hands once more. The muzzle's glow shifted from dim to bright, emitting an increasingly loud energy hum.

"Hey—!" Using all his strength, he shouted hoarsely at the Hermit Crab's back, his electronic voice distorted with grating static due to unstable energy. "I'm... charging up again over here! If you don't come back to stop me... the next shot will really kill you!"

The charging Hermit Crab's movement paused slightly, its compound eyes glancing backward. It saw the terrifying, reignited glow in Shen Mingyuan's hands. Cunning and ferocity intertwined in its gaze.

It did not turn to charge at Shen Mingyuan. Instead, it let out a low, malicious, and confident hissing laugh:

"Is that so? Then go ahead and fire..."

Its massive body suddenly shifted sideways. No longer charging in a straight line, it adopted a more erratic path, charging directly towards those several combat personnel who were desperately firing and trying to evade! A huge shadow enveloped them.

"—I'll use these bugs as shields! Let's see if you, a land monkey who dares not harm your 'comrades,' still dare to pull the trigger!"

Just as the Hermit Crab, laughing cruelly under the hail of bullets, pounced towards the nearest combat personnel with the intent to take them hostage—

"Whoosh—Thud!"

A huge, dark-red object came spinning through the air, hitting the Hermit Crab squarely on its side carapace, violently throwing its charging momentum off balance.

It was the big starfish! It looked rather disheveled now, several of its arms hanging limply, its central eye appearing somewhat listless.

The Hermit Crab's compound eyes shifted, seeing the thrown starfish. It froze for a moment, then flew into a rage: "Hah?! What are you doing here?!"

The starfish slowly slid off its body, flopping to the side, and said weakly, "Sorry about that, Mr. Krabs... seems like... I couldn't stop her."

Before the words fully faded, a tall, slender figure had already swept in from the flank like a gust of wind!

Cynthia's fists, clad in mechanical exoskeletons, shone with a brilliant blue energy glow. Using her momentum from the descent, her right fist tore through the air with a sharp whistle, smashing down with full force towards the joint of the Hermit Crab's one remaining intact giant claw!

"Get lost!"

Shocked and enraged, the Hermit Crab hurriedly raised the giant claw that had just been injured by the bomb and was still aching to block.

"Clang—!!!"

The deafening metallic crash was ear-splitting! Cynthia's long-accumulated heavy punch far exceeded the power of a normal attack. The Hermit Crab felt an overwhelming, irresistible force. Its entire claw, along with half its body, was smashed backward. Its footing staggered, and it stumbled back five or six steps before barely stabilizing, its legs plowing several deep furrows in the ground.

Cynthia used the recoil to flip back gracefully and land, positioning herself between Shen Mingyuan and the Hermit Crab. She quickly turned her head to ask, "Are you okay? Can you still hold on?"

Shen Mingyuan was on one knee. The energy glow of the sniper form in his hands, after fluctuating violently, struggled to stabilize again. Gritting his teeth, his voice came through the visor with panting: "I'm okay... can hold on a bit longer..."

On the other side, the big starfish wriggled as it got up and said leisurely to the Hermit Crab, "Oh dear... you see, I really can't beat her, Mr. Krabs..."

"Are—you—fucking—done—yet—?!"

The Hermit Crab was utterly ignited by this form of address. Ignoring the severe pain in its chest, its intact giant claw shot out, firmly clamping onto the starfish sprawled on the ground and lifting it high.

"Look at me! Look at my current state! You envy my regenerative ability? I fucking envy your thick-skinned, indestructible hide and your annoying persistence!"

It roared, hurling the dark-red clump of starfish like a shot put, throwing it hard towards Shen Mingyuan, who was struggling to maintain his sniper aim! Simultaneously, it let out a roar:

"In that case, you go deal with that human! He's already at the end of his rope! Don't tell me you can't even finish off someone on their last legs!"

Shen Mingyuan's red visor instantly locked onto the incoming starfish, but his finger on the trigger froze.

Firing at this thrown "obstacle" was certainly an option, but it would inevitably consume precious stored energy and could even disrupt his rhythm.

More importantly, his true target had always been the crab posing the greatest threat. He needed this charged sniper shot to create sufficient deterrence, to stop it from harming others further.

In the split second between lightning and flint, Shen Mingyuan made his choice. Suppressing the excruciating pain in his body and the violent agitation of his energy, he pushed off with his feet, darting sharply backward and to the side, narrowly avoiding the plummeting starfish.

The starfish slapped wetly onto the ground, splattering some viscous fluid, then sluggishly began to pull itself together. Meanwhile, Shen Mingyuan's gun muzzle never left the Hermit Crab's vital points, the charging light stubbornly gathering even as he dodged.

However, the Hermit Crab's cunning far exceeded expectations. It never expected the starfish to succeed; throwing it was merely to create a momentary distraction and force Shen Mingyuan into a dilemma. The real killing move came next—

It didn't even glance back at Shen Mingyuan or Cynthia. Its massive body pivoted with astonishing speed, eight limbs churning frantically as it charged straight for the nearby specially modified GUPA vehicle! Behind the window were Zhao Jinhua, his face deathly pale; Little Pink, eyes wide with terror; and the driver and Researcher attempting to start the vehicle and cover their retreat!

"Not good!" Cynthia's expression changed as she tried to intercept, but the distance was too great.

"Get in the car! Go now!" Chen Xing roared urgently over the comms channel.

The vehicle's engine roared, lurching forward. But the Hermit Crab was faster! It opened its maw wide, releasing not scattered corrosive bubbles, but a vast, dense curtain of gray-green acid, sweeping over the rear half of the vehicle!

"Sssss—zzt—!"

A teeth-grating corrosive sound instantly erupted. The armored plating of the special vehicle held, not immediately pierced, but the rear window, tires, and parts of the hull rapidly smoked, softened, and deformed under the acid's assault!

The vehicle swerved uncontrollably a few times before crashing into the roadside guardrail and stalling.

Without pause, the Hermit Crab rushed to the vehicle's side. Its intact massive claw tore open the severely damaged door and part of the roof as easily as opening a can. Its movements were swift yet cautious, its compound eyes constantly scanning the interior.

"Don't move! Move again and I'll crush them!" it growled, its claw movements unnervingly "precise."

First, it used the tip of its claw to flick the two armed combatants who tried to resist out of the vehicle like lightning, sending them sprawling far onto the roadside—clearly wary of potential explosives or armor-piercing weapons they might still carry, preferring to incapacitate them temporarily rather than risk close-quarters entanglement.

Then, it looked at the remaining occupants inside. The driver was pinned by the deformed vehicle frame, temporarily immobilized. Its target was crystal clear—

Its intact claw carefully reached in, precisely clamping around the waists of the two white-coated, unarmed Researchers, lifting them both out. Both were pale with fear, not daring to struggle.

Its other injured but still powerful claw, with similar "gentleness," clamped around Zhao Jinhua and Little Pink, who were clinging tightly together, and "extracted" them from the car.

Little Pink trembled in terror, its pink external gills pressed tightly against its body. Zhao Jinhua shielded it fiercely, glaring at the crab but not daring to make any major moves.

Holding the four hostages in its two massive claws, the Hermit Crab slowly turned to face Shen Mingyuan in the distance, whose gun muzzle still pointed at it but dared not pull the trigger for fear of the hostages, and Cynthia, who was similarly constrained and unable to act recklessly.

The horrific penetrating wound on its chest still oozed fluid, its carapace charred, one claw injured from the explosion, the other battered by Cynthia's heavy punch—its condition was equally dire.

But now, its compound eyes gleamed with a cold, cunning light as it slowly raised the hostages in its claws, like raising two of the sturdiest shields.

The situation had descended into complete passivity.

The Hermit Crab's objective was exceptionally clear, even without words. Its cold compound eyes swept over the tense, wary Shen Mingyuan and Cynthia, glanced at the distant combatants struggling to their feet and trying to reorganize their firepower, and finally settled on the four hostages firmly held in its claws—especially that small, pink, trembling figure.

What it wanted, from start to finish, was only the special evolved individual, "Little Pink." As for the other three humans? They were merely the most useful meat shields and bargaining chips at the moment. Once out of danger, their fate was predictable.

But it wouldn't reveal that now. It didn't even need to propose any specific conditions, wasting time and increasing variables.

"Back away slowly," the Hermit Crab rasped in a tone of unquestionable command, directed at Shen Mingyuan and Cynthia. Its massive body began to shift slowly, eight limbs moving backward alternately, steady and vigilant.

Both massive claws remained raised high, tightly shielding the four hostages in front of its torso, especially completely blocking the fatal penetrating wound on its chest with their bodies.

Its injured right claw, though moving somewhat stiffly, maintained an unyielding grip on Zhao Jinhua and Little Pink.

Its retreat was away from the highway, toward a rugged stretch of coastal wasteland to the side, filled with jagged reefs and dense windbreak forests—terrain complex enough for concealment and evasion.

Shen Mingyuan remained in his kneeling stance, the energy glow at his sniper rifle's muzzle flickering like his own fiercely struggling heart.

His red targeting lens remained locked on the crab, but he couldn't find any safe angle to fire—the hostages' bodies completely covered the crab's vital points. Even attempting a risky shot at a non-lethal area to force it to release its grip risked the acid or its possible death throes instantly killing the hostages.

Cynthia clenched her fists, her mechanical exoskeleton humming, but she likewise dared not act recklessly.

Standing slightly ahead of Shen Mingyuan, her sharp eyes searched for an opening, but the crab's caution was extraordinary. It even deliberately adjusted the angle of its claws to ensure a human body always blocked Shen Mingyuan's line of fire.

"Don't follow," the Hermit Crab warned again, its voice chillingly cold in the sea breeze. "Or, you can test whether your bullets are faster, or my crushing them is."

It said no more, focusing entirely on its retreat. The target was in its grasp, the best shields were in position. It needed no declaration of victory, no cat-and-mouse games—only to leave safely with its "cargo."

As for the angry yet helpless gazes behind it, and that heart-stopping yet futilely charging sniper rifle... once it slipped into the complex terrain or rendezvoused with any possible reinforcements, these would cease to be problems.

Step by step, it retreated, moving farther from the highway, closer to the concealing reefs and woods. In its claws, Zhao Jinhua struggled to remain calm, quietly comforting the terrified Little Pink; the two Researchers' faces were expressionless.

They had become the most fragile yet crucial pawns in this brutal game. Their lives hung entirely on the whim of this cunning and cruel giant crab, and on the agonizingly difficult choice of their distant comrades.

Shen Mingyuan watched helplessly as the crab retreated with the hostages into the shadows, his sniper rifle feeling as heavy as a mountain. Firing might kill the hostages; not firing meant the hostages would certainly die if taken, and Little Pink would fall into the hands of the "New Federation." No matter the choice, it seemed a dead end.