65: Chapter 65 Thugs Break the Formation

"Mr. Brute, get ready to receive guests."

When this command was transmitted through the Mental Link to the Stitched Brute, the two-ton lump of petrified flesh on the ceiling beam in the corridor behind the Laundromat finally allowed itself to move.

The Brute's dual-colored phosphorescent flames lit up in the darkness, like two signal lights that had just been switched on.

On the ground floor of the stronghold, the reinforced steel door at the back of the Laundromat was kicked open from the inside, and eight black figures filed out.

The two leading them were different.

Their red chest armor wasn't just fabric dyed in color, but a hybrid material of metal and leather, engraved with dark patterns homologous to the ritual bones.

Elite Ninja.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ͈ ꒳ ˘ ͈ )

He watched everything through the Mental Link, his body remaining in the underground pipe, not rushing to go up.

"Two red-armored Elite Ninja, six ordinary ninjas."

"A few less than estimated, but the number of Elites matches the intelligence exactly."

"Mr. Brute, don't rush. Wait until they all enter the corridor before dropping."

The corridor was very narrow, less than three meters wide, with thick brick walls on both sides and exposed concrete beams and pipes overhead.

The eight ninjas moved quickly in two columns along the corridor, aiming for the front door of the Laundromat fifteen meters ahead.

The street outside the front door was their only way out; the three rear exits had all been sealed off.

Five meters, ten meters, twelve meters.

The leading red-armored ninja reached out and pushed open the back door of the Laundromat, revealing the interior of the shop with rows of industrial washing machines and drying racks.

Further ahead was the glass front door.

All eight people entered the transition area between the corridor and the shop.

"Now."

The two-ton Stitched Brute released its limbs from the ceiling beam.

Free fall.

Three meters in height, two tons of mass, acceleration of 9.8.

Yan Zheng mentally calculated the approximate impact force upon landing, then abandoned the calculation, as the result had no practical reference for a human body.

It exceeded the entire range of what a human body could withstand; that was the answer.

The moment the Brute slammed into the center of the ninja formation, the sound that rang out in the corridor didn't sound like someone being crushed; it sounded more like someone throwing a sack full of tomatoes onto a concrete floor.

A moist, crushing, dull thud accompanied by the splashing of liquid.

The ordinary ninja directly crushed underneath didn't even have time to scream, turning from a three-dimensional person into a two-dimensional one.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ᴗ ˘ ˵ )

"Landing successful."

The Brute didn't pause after landing, swinging its petrified fists out to both sides simultaneously. The movement wasn't fast, but the coverage area was ridiculously large.

The right fist swept into two ordinary ninjas who couldn't dodge in time. Their bodies slammed into the brick wall of the corridor like dolls hit by the side of a truck, causing a section of the wall to collapse, and they remained embedded inside, motionless.

The left fist was blocked head-on by the leading red-armored ninja with crossed arms.

The dark patterns on the red armor's chest lit up for an instant.

The ninja's feet carved two long friction marks on the ground, pushing him back a full four meters, but he didn't fall.

"Oh?"

Yan Zheng saw this scene through the Mental Link and raised an invisible eyebrow.

"The inscribed armor has damage reduction effects; interesting."

The situation in the corridor was now: the Brute stood in the middle, with a pancake-like object lying in front of it and two human-shaped indentations embedded in the wall.

Five meters in front of the Brute, the two red-armored Elite Ninja stood side by side, their Dark Energy short blades already unsheathed, with visible black air currents swirling around the blades.

Three meters behind the Brute, the remaining three ordinary ninjas were blocked in the corridor, unable to advance or retreat.

"Mr. Brute, prioritize handling those three behind you to clear a line of fire for the Knight."

Yan Zheng issued the tactical adjustment order through the Mental Link, but he knew the Brute's intelligence limit only allowed it to understand commands like "hit the ones in front" or "hit the ones behind."

After receiving the "hit the ones behind" command, the Brute's petrified body began to turn.

This turn gave the two red-armored ninjas an opening.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ⌓ ꐦ )

"Here it comes."

The two Elites' coordination was as if they had rehearsed it a hundred times.

The one on the left cut in from the Brute's right flank, the short blade sliding rapidly along the surface of the Petrified Scales. Dark Energy formed a cutting surface on the blade with an extremely high vibration frequency; it wasn't a hard hack, but a high-frequency vibrational cut.

A shallow white mark appeared on the surface of the Petrified Scales.

This strike was a probe.

As the Brute finished turning, it swung a fist, but the ninja on the left slipped under the wind of the punch like a loach, rolling behind the Brute.

The red-armored ninja on the right leaped up from the front at the same second, holding the blade with both hands, concentrating all his Dark Energy on the tip of the blade, and slashed down at the Brute's face.

The Brute raised its petrified forearm to block. The blade struck the Petrified Scales on the forearm, cutting in about two centimeters this time, and black gelatinous liquid seeped out from the cut.

That wasn't blood; it was the suture culture fluid used inside the Brute to replace blood circulation.

Meanwhile, the ninja who had circled behind completed the real killing blow.

Holding the Dark Energy short blade in a reverse grip, he stabbed into the gaps of the Petrified Scales on both sides of the Brute's lower back spine, then violently pulled horizontally.

A wound deep to the bone opened up on the Brute's back, over forty centimeters long and three fingers wide.

Suture culture fluid gushed out like an opened faucet.

Yan Zheng clearly felt the Brute's "damage feedback" through the Mental Link—not pain, but a data alert indicating a drop in structural integrity.

[Stitched Brute structural integrity: 82%. Adaptive Regeneration initiated, repair rate: 1.2%/minute.]

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ͈ ‸ ˘ ͈ )

"1.2 per minute, it will take fifteen minutes for that wound to close completely."

"But the attack frequency of these two Elites won't give the Brute fifteen minutes of breathing room."

He calculated the time it would take for the Knight to get from the first basement level up to the ground floor via the stairs.

Two minutes.

"Mr. Knight, drop those two chains and come up to support."

"Take the stairs, hurry."

A pulse response from the Knight came through the Mental Link.

Yan Zheng leaned against the pipe wall, eyes closed, lips pressed into a thin line.

Two minutes.

In the corridor, the third punch the Brute swung finally struck one of the three ordinary ninjas behind it, smashing the person directly into the gravel layer beneath the floor.

But another new wound appeared on its back.

The second red-armored ninja's coordination became increasingly tacit; every time the Brute attacked the front, he would strike from behind.

Although the Brute's Petrified Scales were thick and heavy, there were indeed gaps in the coverage in the spinal area of its back.

[Structural integrity: 74%. Regeneration rate unchanged, cumulative damage increase rate exceeds regeneration rate.]

One minute and fifteen seconds.

"Mr. Brute, lean against the wall, press your back against the wall, don't let him get behind you."

After receiving the command, the Brute began to move toward the corridor wall, but the red-armored ninja's speed was too fast.

In the gap while the Brute was turning, the ninja in front leaped up again. This time his target wasn't the blocking forearm, but the connection point between the Brute's left shoulder joint and neck.

The blade tip stabbed in, Dark Energy vibrated, and suture culture fluid splashed.

The Brute's left arm showed obvious restricted movement.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ͈ ω ˘ ͈ )

One minute and forty seconds.

"Almost there, almost there."

Heavy footsteps came from the direction of the end of the corridor.

Thump, thump, thump.

Every step left a clear vibration on the concrete floor.

The movements of the two red-armored ninjas paused for a beat, their eyes shifting from the Brute to the darkness at the end of the corridor.

In the darkness, two clusters of greenish-gold light were approaching rapidly.

The corners of Yan Zheng's mouth curled up in the darkness of the pipe.

"Mr. Knight, fire as soon as you arrive."

"Don't worry about the Brute, the Brute can take it."

"Take out those two red-armored ones first."

A pulse from the Knight came through the Mental Link.

The humming sound of charging up rang out from the end of the corridor, and the golden light dispelled all the shadows in the entire corridor.

The two red-armored ninjas exchanged a glance.

The leader spat out a short syllable, and both of them dodged to the sides of the Brute simultaneously, using the Brute's body as cover.

"Smart."

Yan Zheng sneered in the Mental Link.

"But you forgot one thing."

"The Knight's Photon Ray can penetrate three layers of reinforced walls."

"The Brute's body is only forty centimeters thick."

"Do you think the Brute can block it?"

He paused for a beat, then modified the command.

"Wait, Mr. Knight, don't shoot through the Brute."

"Take a step around, shoot from the side."

"I'm not sure how much damage those two red-armored ones' inscribed armor can resist, but the corridor is so narrow that they can't dodge."

The Knight's footsteps turned from the end of the corridor to the side, and its petrified shoulder smashed directly into an industrial washing machine.

The two red-armored ninjas looked toward that direction simultaneously.

The Photon Ray's charging was complete.

The golden ball of light danced in the Knight's palm, illuminating two faces written with the words "it's too late."

Yan Zheng waited quietly in the pipe for the sound of that light being released.

"Mr. Red-Armors, your inscribed armor is indeed quite good."

"But I'm curious if it can withstand a wall-piercing Photon Ray."

"We'll have the answer soon."