308: Charge up, then aim.

Lu Jianchuan and Shen Mingyuan charged at full speed toward the depths of the grotto. However, the flesh main body entrenched there clearly had no intention of letting them approach easily.

"Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!"

A series of tooth-aching tearing sounds echoed from above. The rough rock ceiling suddenly burst open, and countless dark-red flesh tentacles, like Hell vines growing wildly, squeezed out from every crack in the stone. Accompanied by viscous slurry and the sharp whistle of wind, they shot down toward the two from various angles!

These tentacles either stabbed or swept, blocking most of the path forward. This indicated that the rock layers in this area had long been eroded and permeated by the flesh main body, becoming its extended limbs.

The two were forced to perform extreme dodges in the narrow space. Lu Jianchuan rolled along the ground to avoid a sweep, then came to a sudden halt and leaped sideways to dodge a thrust. His silver-white armor scraped against the sharp tips of the tentacles, producing a piercing screech.

Shen Mingyuan, relying on the agility of his Shadow Form, wove through the gaps in the web of tentacles like a phantom, but his speed was ultimately slowed down.

"It seems you've been stopped after all." The voice of the creation terminal rang out again. He was suddenly pulled and snapped forward by the flesh pipes behind him, swinging back from the rear at high speed like a pendulum. He landed lightly, blocking the path right between the two and the forest of tentacles.

A fierce glint flashed in Lu Jianchuan's eyes. Without hesitation, he kicked off the ground, his silver-white figure charging forward. His right fist, fully charged with power, tore through the air and smashed directly toward the creation's face!

the creation terminal seemed to have anticipated this. He crossed his arms in front of him, and dark-red flesh tissue instantly thickened and hardened over his forearms.

Boom!

A dull impact sounded as Lu Jianchuan's fist was firmly blocked. At the very moment the creation parried, Shen Mingyuan's gunfire rang out from behind his flank!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several bullets accurately bypassed Lu Jianchuan's position and hit the creation terminal's head directly! The youth's head exploded like a watermelon, splattering red and white matter everywhere.

However, the headless body did not fall. The tip of a thick tentacle behind it quickly split open, and a mass of wriggling flesh separated from it. Like a living thing, it flew over and precisely connected to the stump of the terminal's neck. The flesh proliferated and molded frantically; in the blink of an eye, a brand-new head had been generated.

But this time, it was no longer the youth's delicate face. The new head displayed distorted beast-like features, covered in rough, scaly keratin with jagged fangs in its mouth, letting out a roar full of violence! Its crimson eyes locked onto Lu Jianchuan, and it kicked off the ground, pouncing with speed far exceeding before—a completely crazed stance of trading life for life!

Shen Mingyuan cursed inwardly. He opened fire with both guns, pouring bullets like a rainstorm onto the beast terminal's limbs, joints, and torso in an attempt to slow it down. Bullets tore through flesh, splashing clouds of dark-red slurry, but the beast terminal truly acted like a painless expendable. Braving the hail of bullets, its pounce was only slightly delayed as its sharp claws already swung before Lu Jianchuan!

Lu Jianchuan remained calm in the face of danger. His footsteps interlaced and his body swayed; he dodged what he could and used his arm guards to block what he couldn't. Claws collided with armor, producing ear-piercing friction and sparks. Seeing an opening when the beast terminal overextended a pounce, he suddenly lowered his waist and stepped in, delivering a precise and fierce inch-punch heavily into its abdomen!

Thump!

The beast terminal's body arched from the blow, and it staggered back. Lu Jianchuan seized the momentum to pursue, twisting his body for a sharp flying kick that slammed into the side of the new beast head, sending it flying sideways into the rock wall.

In that instant, Lu Jianchuan turned his head quickly, his gaze meeting Shen Mingyuan's in the air for a second. Without needing words, Shen Mingyuan immediately understood the meaning in Lu Jianchuan's eyes: "Go! I'll hold it here!"

Shen Mingyuan did not hesitate for a second. His figure flashed, taking advantage of the brief window while the tentacles were distracted by Lu Jianchuan and the beast terminal was knocked back. He pushed his speed to the limit, turning into a black afterimage as he sped toward the source of the heartbeat deep within the grotto!

The beast terminal struggled to climb up and pursue, but how could Lu Jianchuan give it the chance? He gave a low shout and suddenly raised his foot, his silver-white combat boot stomping down with the weight of a thousand tons!

War Stomp!

Boom!

The ground shook violently and rubble flew everywhere. The shockwave caused the beast terminal's movements to stall again. More tentacles attacked from all directions, but Lu Jianchuan shifted and dodged, avoiding them one by one. One tentacle couldn't stop its momentum and actually pierced through the body of the beast terminal as it was halfway up. However, the terminal didn't care; the flesh at the wound wriggled and quickly fused with the tentacle, as if it had simply changed its connection method. It opened its beastly maw and suddenly spat out a large volume of dark-green acid that gave off a pungent odor!

The acid splashed like rain. Upon hitting the ground, it immediately corroded sizzling pits, emitting white smoke.

Lu Jianchuan's gaze sharpened. He stopped fighting head-on and began to consciously retreat while fighting. He parried the beast claws and dodged the acid and tentacles, backing away step by step toward the direction Shen Mingyuan had gone—the core area at the very depths of the grotto.

Leveraging the massive commotion and the fire Lu Jianchuan was drawing from behind, Shen Mingyuan pushed the concealment and mobility of his shadow armor to the limit.

He was like a true shadow, moving rapidly against the uneven shadows of the rock walls. Every time a tentacle burst from the ceiling or floor in an indiscriminate area attack, he always managed to dodge by a hair's breadth. He even occasionally used the force of a swinging tentacle or used one as a stepping stone to perform a secondary accelerated jump.

He soon discovered that while these tentacle attacks were dense, they lacked precise prediction and coordination. They relied more on some basic "contact trigger" or reaction to "vibrations," acting more like a blind automatic defense mechanism.

This confirmed one of his suspicions: the massive main body's "vision" or "precise perception" likely relied on the flesh "eyes" scattered throughout the grotto.

His red eyepieces scanned quickly, locking onto the turbid, slowly rotating eyeballs on the rock walls, in the gaps of the pipes, and even on the bases of some tentacles.

Shen Mingyuan did not hesitate. As he moved, he raised both arms, switching his twin stars pistols to rapid-fire mode. The muzzles made stable micro-adjustments following his phantom-like movements.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds of the semi-automatic fire were almost inaudible amidst the whistling of the tentacles and the booming of the battle behind him, but the effect was significant. One flesh eyeball after another burst, turning into viscous slurry. With every "eye" lost, the surrounding tentacles' attacks became even more blind and sluggish.

After clearing a relatively "safe" path through the blind spots of perception, Shen Mingyuan finally broke through the last barrier of randomly flailing tentacles and burst into a core chamber that was more open yet even more heart-stopping.

The scene here was more primitive and shocking than outside. In the center of the chamber was a massive structure forcibly wrapped and supported by countless thick blood vessels, nerve bundles, and wriggling flesh.

At its base, a giant dark-red heart, pulsing as slowly and powerfully as a small engine, was pumping out a continuous stream of energy.

Connected above this heart was an unimaginably large, grey-white organ that resembled the structure of a human brain's sulci, except its surface was also covered in a network of overgrown blood vessels and partial translucent biological membranes.

Countless fleshy pipes of varying thickness extended from this "brain," disappearing into the surrounding rock walls and ceiling. This was clearly the hub controlling the entire nest.

This was the main body. A biological computing and life-support core forcibly cultivated and assembled—primitive, eerie, and filled with a sense of profanity that defied the laws of nature.

Shen Mingyuan had no time for awe or disgust. He quickly looked around and found a spot behind cover formed by collapsed rocks that was relatively high up.

The angle here was perfect, providing a clear view of the relatively exposed area of the brain structure above the pulsing heart, and it was located in a blind spot at the base of several major tentacle pipes.

He knelt on one knee and took the twin stars pistols from the docking ports on the outside of his forearms. With stable and swift hands, he combined, extended, and locked them together.

Accompanied by the slight sound of mechanical-biological structures engaging and the hum of energy flow, a slender sniper rifle form, its body flowing with the dark-red luster of biological circuits, took shape in his hands.

He propped it up on the rock. His red eyepieces contracted and focused, firmly locking the distant, slowly pulsing giant brain core in the center of his aiming field.

Inside the rifle's body, biological energy began to accelerate, compress, and accumulate according to specific circuits. A faint, barely perceptible shimmer of energy turbulence appeared at the muzzle.

Holding his breath, he concentrated. His finger lightly rested on the trigger.

Success or failure depended on this one shot.