309: Did they escape?

"Boom!!"

A large hole suddenly blasted open in the side rock wall. Amidst the rubble and dust, Lu Jianchuan's figure crashed in, looking slightly disheveled, clearly having forced his way through all the way here.

He quickly stabilized himself, looked up, and saw the giant pulsating heart in the center of the chamber and the eerie brain above it, his pupils shrinking.

Almost simultaneously, the Beast Form "creation" terminal also rushed in through the hole. The flesh-and-blood pipes connected behind it were like living cables, "swinging" it high into the air as it lunged straight for Lu Jianchuan!

Even more troublesome was that with its arrival, dense, scalp-numbing Flesh-and-blood Eyeballs instantly proliferated across the entire chamber's rock walls like a fungal outbreak, all turning in unison!

Several of these eyeballs immediately locked onto Shen Mingyuan, who was currently charging his weapon behind a distant cover, the light from his muzzle growing brighter and brighter!

"Stop him!" An invisible command seemed to transmit instantly. Several of the thickest tentacles immediately abandoned their attack on Lu Jianchuan, instead letting out air-tearing shrieks as they stabbed or swept toward Shen Mingyuan's sniping position from different directions!

Shen Mingyuan cursed under his breath. While his finger on the trigger maintained the charging state, he had to suddenly roll backward from his kneeling position to dodge the first tentacle that swept past just above his head.

Supporting himself with one hand, he slid and shifted with incredible flexibility and speed, narrowly avoiding another tentacle that stabbed directly into the ground. The charging process was slightly interrupted, and the light from the muzzle flickered faintly.

"Senior! Help me buy time for one last shot!" Shen Mingyuan shouted urgently while dodging, "Let me pierce through it with one shot!"

"No problem!" Lu Jianchuan roared in response, instantly understanding Shen Mingyuan's intention. On his silver-white armor, intense bio-currents crackled and instantly condensed into his fists!

Facing the beast terminal lunging through the air, Lu Jianchuan didn't dodge. He lowered his center of gravity, crossed his fists upward, and forcefully blocked the fierce claw strike carrying the momentum of the descent! Sparks and electric light exploded!

Using the reaction force of the block and the opponent's forward momentum, Lu Jianchuan's hands slid down and firmly gripped the thick flesh-and-blood pipe behind the beast terminal! At the same time, his right leg kicked upward like a cannonball, landing solidly on the opponent's hideous beast face, kicking its head back.

Now! Lu Jianchuan exerted force with both hands and, like rock climbing, began to rapidly climb up along the taut pipe! His goal was clear—follow this "umbilical cord" to directly attack the main body of the brain, or at least create an absolute opening for Shen Mingyuan!

The "creation" terminal let out an angry roar. Its remaining eyeballs spun frantically, and more tentacles abandoned Shen Mingyuan to attack the climbing Lu Jianchuan from all directions! Meanwhile, the pipe he held also twisted and shook violently, trying to throw him off.

Lu Jianchuan gritted his teeth, covering his entire body with electricity to enhance his grip. Ignoring the tentacles lashing against his armor and the violent shaking, he used both hands and feet to continue upward!

The main body of the brain also seemed to realize the crisis. At the uppermost end where the pipe connected the terminal to the brain, the tissue suddenly contracted violently, necrotized, and snapped!

"Crack!"

The pipe snapped! Lu Jianchuan, who was halfway up, fell downward along with the broken pipe and the remaining carcass of the beast terminal hanging onto it! The main body of the brain had decisively "sacrificed the pawn to save the king"!

But at this very moment—when the pipe broke, the tentacles retreated slightly due to the attack on Lu Jianchuan, and a perfect gap appeared in the defense—

Behind the distant cover, Shen Mingyuan, who had just avoided the final tentacle strike with a brilliant low-crouch slide, finally stabilized himself. His Sniper Rifle was set up again, and the charging gauge instantly reached its peak! In his Red Eyepiece, the crosshairs were firmly locked onto the massive brain that was trembling slightly from "cutting off its own arm," exposing more of its grayish-white convolutions!

No special aiming was required; the target was large enough.

He pulled the trigger.

"Vroom—Boom!!!"

A beam of dark red energy, condensed to the extreme and incredibly fierce, tore through the air and shot out with terrifying kinetic energy exceeding the speed of sound! Wherever the beam passed, the air distorted and steamed. The layers of flesh-and-blood tentacles trying to intercept it along the path were instantly vaporized and pierced through like butter under a hot knife, unable to offer even the slightest resistance!

The main body of the brain seemed to sense the crisis of destruction. At the last moment, it frantically mobilized all remaining tentacles and proliferated tissue to stack into a thick flesh-and-blood shield wall in front of it.

But it was too late, and it couldn't be blocked!

The scorching beam slammed into the hastily formed flesh shield wall, instantly vaporizing a huge hole through it. With undiminished momentum, it solidly struck the central area of the brain's core!

"Puchi—Zizizi!!!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only the ear-grating sounds of tissue carbonizing, vaporizing, and energy running rampant. The dark red beam surged, spread, and scorched frantically within the brain tissue, turning all neurons, blood vessels, and supporting structures along the way into charcoal!

The beam ultimately failed to completely penetrate the overly massive organ, fading out at its rear.

But the damage was devastating—more than two-thirds of the front of the brain had been completely burned through and carbonized, forming a shocking, massive cavity with dark red embers and jumping electric arcs still flickering at the edges.

The remaining grayish-white tissue twitched violently, its color rapidly turning to a deathly charred black. That powerful heartbeat also suddenly became erratic and weak, as if its neck were being strangled.

At this moment, those tentacles that hadn't been completely destroyed and were still connected to the rock walls and residual brain tissue suddenly began to dance frantically. It was no longer an attack, but like countless giant pythons, they slammed into, coiled around, and tore at the rocky ceiling above the chamber!

"Holy crap, it's still not dead?!" Shen Mingyuan cursed softly and quickly retreated from his sniping position, dodging falling rubble caused by the vibrations above.

Currently, on the top surface of the wounded brain, flesh surged, converged, and shaped itself frantically. In just a few seconds, using the remaining biomass and part of the detached tentacle tissue, it re-condensed into a rough human-like silhouette.

This newborn "creation" body was even cruder and simpler than the previous beast terminal, its surface covered in incompletely closed wounds and exposed muscle. However, it truly "stood" up, and extreme unwillingness and anger burned in its newly condensed eyes.

"To think... to think you've pushed me to this point!" The voice it emitted was mixed with the hissing of air passing through damaged tissue, filled with venomous malice.

"If it weren't for those 'Materials' fed to me—those desperate wastes whose own knowledge and will were pathetically meager! With the computing power I should have... how could I possibly lose to you..."

Its words were drowned out by the increasingly violent sound of collapse. Those frantic tentacles had already destroyed the key supporting structures of the rocky ceiling, and large chunks of rock began to peel off and crash down!

"Dammit! Dammit! It has to be this way!" the crude "creation" roared, as if making an extremely reluctant but choice-less decision.

It suddenly thrust both arms of its newborn body into the mangled brain tissue below, as if performing a final "download" or core transfer.

Simultaneously, more tentacles stopped attacking the ceiling and instead coiled around large falling rocks, actively hurling them toward Lu Jianchuan and Shen Mingyuan to create more chaos and obstacles.

"Get out of here!" Lu Jianchuan shattered a rock falling toward Shen Mingyuan with a punch and shouted loudly. The entire chamber was like the end of the world, with rubble raining down and dust filling the air, the support structures groaning under the unbearable weight.

In the center of this apocalyptic collapse, the crude "creation" body suddenly shuddered. The last few thick nerve bundles and blood vessels connecting its back to the brain below snapped and withered on their own.

Using the last few intact tentacles as supports and catapults, it launched its newly formed, still dripping body like a cannonball toward a crack exposed by the collapse above, leading to who knows where!

"It's trying to escape!" While dodging falling rocks, Shen Mingyuan's Red Eyepiece firmly locked onto the figure disappearing into the dust of the crack.

"Pursue!" Without a word, Lu Jianchuan also tried to find a path upward. But the collapse intensified, and giant rock slabs kept crashing down, completely blocking that crack and isolating them from any other possible upward passages. Staying here would only result in being buried alive.

"This way! Withdraw first!" Lu Jianchuan made a decisive call, grabbing Shen Mingyuan, who still wanted to try digging, and rushed toward the relatively stable tunnel entrance they had come from.

The two of them navigated through the collapsing rock cavern with difficulty, dodging giant falling stones, and finally burst out of the underground space that was beginning to cave in as a whole, looking battered.

When they returned to the relatively safe ground and looked back, they only heard the muffled, continuous roar of collapse from deep beneath their feet, along with a large cloud of rising dust. That eerie flesh-and-blood nest, along with most of its main body and secrets, had been completely buried.

As for the "creation" that had switched bodies at the last moment and escaped like a lizard shedding its tail, it had already used the cover of this self-made collapse to flee, disappearing beneath the city's intricate network, leaving behind only a crude, simple yet potentially intelligent and evolutionary new form, as well as a series of mysteries waiting to be solved.

Shen Mingyuan deactivated his transformation, leaning on his knees and panting. He looked toward the direction where the dust had settled, his brows furrowed. Lu Jianchuan also deactivated his armor and wiped the dust from his face, his expression solemn.

It got away.

Although they had destroyed the stronghold and rescued part of the truth, the most critical "thing"—that cold and cunning newborn existence born from the ruins of consciousness—had escaped right under their noses in a desperate manner.

What would it look like the next time it appeared? And what kind of trouble would it bring?