189: Chapter 189 Sixth-Order Pursuit?

6:30 AM.

Chen Chen pushed open the second-floor door and went downstairs.

In the room behind him, Shen Wanbing was still buried in the covers, not yet awake.

Last night's feedback had been too intense; the aloof demeanor she usually maintained was completely shattered. Her long, black curly hair was spread across the pillow, her white shirt was heavily wrinkled, and a flush still lingered on her cheeks. She was sleeping even more soundly than Shen Wanxing.

Chen Chen closed the door behind him.

Just as he reached the first floor, he stopped.

A scent was drifting through the hall.

It was very strange.

It carried the rich aroma of high-tier bone marrow soup, mixed with a hint of the fishy sweetness of Royal Court Blood Crystals. It didn't smell like proper food, yet it was strangely alluring.

Su Xiaoqi was squatting in front of the Pig-Faced Butcher's custom pressure cooker, her two black pigtails swaying back and forth.

She gripped the edge of the pot with both hands, her dark, sparkling eyes almost pressed against the soup.

"Uncle Butcher, is it ready?"

The Pig-Faced Butcher wore a pig bone mask, holding a stirring rod thicker than Su Xiaoqi's arm.

"Pressure it for another thirty seconds."

Su Xiaoqi swallowed.

"Thirty seconds is such a long time."

Beside them, Mio's projection was going crazy.

She was flying around the pot, her electronic voice breaking down all the way.

"Are you guys sick?!"

"That's a Tier 5 Ancient Royal remnant!"

"You stewed it?"

"And added spices? And threw in blood crystals? This isn't cooking, this is desecrating an ancient life!"

Blood Rose leaned against the bar, wearing a black coat over her red camisole, lazily holding a glass of purple wine.

"Mio, stop making noise."

"If you yell and make the soup smell bad, Xiaoqi will cry."

Su Xiaoqi nodded immediately.

"Right! You disturbed the soup!"

Mio almost dropped frames from anger.

"Soup cannot be disturbed!"

Chen Chen walked over and glanced at the pot.

The milky white broth was bubbling.

At the bottom of the pot lay that bone-white finger from last night.

The black contamination that had originally been on it had been suppressed by the Royal Court Blood Crystals and dozens of high-tier mutant spices; the surface of the joints now shimmered with a jade-like luster.

The Butcher looked up.

"Lord."

"Seventy percent of the contamination has been suppressed."

"The remaining thirty percent can only be withstood by the consumer's constitution."

Su Xiaoqi raised her hand.

"I can withstand it!"

Mio shrieked.

"You can't!"

Su Xiaoqi ignored her.

The pressure cooker valve popped open.

She reached in to grab it.

"It's hot."

Chen Chen reminded her.

Su Xiaoqi had already picked up the bone-white finger, blew on it twice, and took a huge bite.

Crunch.

The hall went silent instantly.

Mio clutched her head with both hands.

"It's over."

"She's going to mutate."

"She's going to grow tentacles right away."

Su Xiaoqi chewed twice, her eyes lighting up.

"Delicious!"

She took another bite.

The next second.

A series of crisp sounds came from within her body.

It wasn't bones breaking.

It was the sound of muscles and fascia reorganizing after being flushed with high energy.

Su Xiaoqi froze completely, her pigtails even stopped moving.

[Su Xiaoqi Talent: Gluttony Evolution triggered.]

[Consumed Tier 5 Ancient Royal limb.]

[Contamination resistance check passed.]

[Strength attribute temporarily surged.]

[Strength +50.]

Boom!

Su Xiaoqi had just taken a step forward, and two footprints sank directly into the alloy floor.

She looked down at her feet, then at the "extra-large pickled pepper chicken feet" in her hand.

"Brother."

"I think I've become stronger."

Chen Chen rubbed his temples.

"Lift your feet; the floor costs money too."

Su Xiaoqi quickly pulled her feet back.

As a result, her other foot stepped out another dent.

Mio hovered in mid-air, glitching for three seconds.

"This is not scientific."

Blood Rose laughed out loud.

"Is this your first day knowing us?"

Chen Chen walked up to Su Xiaoqi and pinched her soft cheeks.

"Eat less."

"We have to move later; don't step through the Sea Scale."

Su Xiaoqi hugged the bone-white finger and nodded obediently.

"I'll take small bites."

Mio whispered in a breakdown.

"Was that what she called a small bite just now?"

Chen Chen didn't pay her any more mind and raised his hand to activate the city-wide broadcast.

His voice spread to every level of the Sea-Sky Composite Fortress.

"All personnel, listen up."

"Enter maximum relocation combat readiness."

"Technical personnel, complete equipment sealing within one hour."

"Combat personnel, fully armed."

"Bottom-deck laborers, wear positioning collars. Anyone who dares to run around will be thrown directly to the edge of the Black Mist."

"In ten hours, the entire city will pass through the gate."

As soon as the broadcast ended, the city immediately stirred into action.

The hundreds of thousands of people in the bottom deck panicked first.

Those who had just experienced the riot turned pale when they heard the words "pass through the gate."

Iron Wall brought the remnants of the military to set up heavy machine guns at the passage entrance, roaring at the top of his lungs.

"What are you panicking about!"

"The Lord is taking you to the Level 3 Map to survive!"

"Anyone who rushes the line again, ask my gun first!"

A laborer who had just put on a positioning collar tried to shrink back into the crowd.

Qin Hongye calmly interjected on the high-tower channel.

"Seventh row on the left, grey clothes, the positioning collar is half-covered."

Bang.

Sparks burst at the man's feet.

He knelt down on the spot.

"I wasn't running! My shoelace came undone!"

Iron Wall kicked him.

"You're wearing slippers!"

...

On the plaza.

The material loading area was noisier than the bottom deck.

Yi Chang was wearing a black hip-hugging skirt, her white shirt sleeves rolled up to her forearms, her high heels stepping firmly on the ground.

She held a data pad in one hand and pointed at the Dark Division's off-road vehicle fleet with the other.

"Jiang Jiuyou, your nineteen off-road vehicles are taking up three main loading tracks."

"These vehicles have high energy consumption and low load capacity; their priority should be moved down."

Jiang Jiuyou wore a military overcoat, her silver-white low ponytail resting behind her shoulder, standing straight-legged opposite her.

"These vehicles are the Dark Division's mobile firepower."

"After we enter the Level 3 Map, who will go out to scout first? Relying on your building material crates?"

Yi Chang's face was cold.

"Building material crates can repair the city."

"Besides burning cores, what can your off-road vehicles do?"

Jiang Jiuyou scoffed.

"They can kill anyone who tries to rob the building material crates."

Beside them, the landlady held her ledger, her fox ears perked up.

"You two, how about you load my tavern equipment first?"

"The liquor can't stop; if it stops, the business stops."

The Pig-Faced Butcher walked by carrying half a side of mutant beast meat.

"The meat storage should also be prioritized."

The landlady glared at him.

"That pile of meat of yours takes up space!"

The Butcher looked down at her.

"Your liquor takes up more."

"You!"

Su Xiaoqi squeezed over, hugging the bone-white finger.

"Meat storage first!"

Mio's projection floated over from the direction of the Sea Scale and immediately broke down upon hearing this.

"You are moving to survive, not to open a restaurant!"

When Chen Chen walked into the plaza, he happened to see Yi Chang and Jiang Jiuyou each raising their hands, neither willing to yield.

He didn't waste words and walked directly between the two.

He wrapped his left arm around Yi Chang's waist.

He gripped Jiang Jiuyou's shoulder with his right hand.

Yi Chang's body stiffened; once her cold-blooded constitution touched Chen Chen's palm, her aura immediately dropped by half.

Jiang Jiuyou held out longer than her, but her earlobes still turned red.

"Chen Chen, not here."

"Now is not the time to argue."

Chen Chen looked at the supplies piled up in the plaza.

"Load everything onto the Sea Scale."

Yi Chang frowned.

"It won't fit."

"Dismantle the redundant outer armor to make room."

Mio shuddered in mid-air.

"What did you say?"

Chen Chen looked up.

"Can't you understand?"

"Damaged outer armor, old ammunition racks, useless shrine wreckage—dismantle it all."

"Exchange everything that can be exchanged for space."

Mio clutched her chest.

"That is the ship's historical footprint!"

Jiang Jiuyou calmly delivered the finishing blow.

"It's also trash."

Yi Chang added.

"It takes up storage."

Mio's projection flickered wildly in anger.

"You bunch of demolition crews!"

Chen Chen released them both.

"Jiang Jiuyou is responsible for the route and military vehicles."

"Yi Chang is responsible for building materials, cores, and life-support equipment."

"Whoever argues again will go to the bottom deck to supervise the work together."

Both women went silent simultaneously.

Blood Rose watched the fun from the side, clapping lightly.

"Master's trick is effective."

Jiang Jiuyou turned her head to look at her.

"Do you want to go to the bottom deck?"

Blood Rose put her hands down.

"I'm going to help Shen Wanxing open boxes."