78: The truth is horrifying! The nest was just an empty shell?

Just as everyone was stunned,

a figure had already rushed out, sprinting forward without looking back.

It wasn't until he had run quite a distance that his somewhat breathless voice came echoing back.

"What are you all standing around for? Run!"

He shouted back as he ran.

"Follow me! I'll take you to raid its lair!"

Su Wanqing: "..."

Liu Yan: "..."

Shi Lei and Mo Chen: "..."

What kind of tactic was this?

Sacrifice himself to aggro the monsters, then run away with them?

"Damn it!" Liu Yan stomped her foot in anger. "What exactly is in this guy's head?!"

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"

As Lin Yuan moved, the "tide" made of countless shadowy figures also moved!

They abandoned Su Wanqing and the others, following closely behind Lin Yuan.

"Follow!"

Su Wanqing was the first to react. Gritting her teeth, she gave the order.

No matter how absurd Lin Yuan's plan was, right now, he was indeed the only bait who could "see" the enemy and had attracted all their firepower.

They had no choice.

The five-person team began a frantic escape through the silent streets.

Lin Yuan ran at the very front, nimble as a cat.

He even had the leisure to ponder in his mind.

What was this?

A tank in a game kiting all the monsters on the map?

I'm familiar with this business!

It's just that the aggro is too stable, it's hard to disengage.

"Hey! How much further?!" Liu Yan shouted, panting, from behind.

She excelled at burst attacks; long-distance running was not her strong suit.

"Almost there, almost there!" Lin Yuan shouted without looking back. "It's at that abandoned steel mill up ahead!"

"You guys put in some effort! As long as we kill the BOSS, we can split the rewards!"

Split your head's rewards!

Liu Yan cursed inwardly.

She really wanted to pry open Lin Yuan's head to see if it was filled with copper coins.

After crossing a few streets, a dilapidated steel mill appeared before them.

Its rusty chimneys pointed towards the night sky.

The closer they got to the steel mill, the weaker the ever-present "hissing" sound became.

When they stepped through the steel mill's gate, the sound completely vanished.

The chilling sensation of being pursued by something that wanted their lives also disappeared.

"They... didn't follow us in?"

Mo Chen stopped, gasping for breath, his face filled with confusion.

"No."

Lin Yuan's expression, however, grew even more solemn.

He pointed to the deepest part of the steel mill, at the abandoned blast furnace.

"They didn't not follow us in."

"They went home."

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

They saw strange changes occurring on the surface of the blast furnace, which was dozens of meters high.

The steel casing was slowly wriggling.

Metal pipes and cables coiled around the blast furnace, forming a repulsive pattern.

Clumps of black, mud-like substance flowed through the cracks of the blast furnace.

"Buzz... buzz..."

A low rumble emanated from the "living" blast furnace.

This was one of the three "nests" Lin Yuan had sensed!

It was a physical entity!

A monster aggregated from steel, flesh, and unknown energy!

"Warlord... no, this oppressive aura, at least Half-Step Lord!"

Liu Yan's face turned pale.

Just standing there, she felt her energy circulation becoming sluggish.

This thing was more terrifying than any Warlord Rank beast they had encountered before!

"Prepare for battle!"

Su Wanqing's voice pulled everyone back from their shock.

The cold light of her ice sword flared, and she stood ready.

Shi Lei let out a low growl, and the power of the earth began to gather.

Mo Chen also suppressed his discomfort, preparing to apply mental weakening.

A fierce battle was about to erupt.

However.

Someone was more impatient than the monster.

"Don't just stand there, finish the fight early and get off work early!"

Before Su Wanqing could give the order for a unified attack, Lin Yuan had already charged out!

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Liu Yan shouted, "Don't break formation!"

"Don't be impulsive!" Shi Lei also grew anxious.

Lin Yuan ignored them.

Are you kidding? What's there to coordinate? Swift victory is the way to go!

On his right palm, lightning flashed, and a Palm Thunder was directly slammed onto the wriggling metal casing!

When his palm touched the blast furnace's casing,

a mutation occurred.

The area pressed by his palm suddenly hissed as if splashed with concentrated sulfuric acid, rapidly carbonizing!

Immediately after,

this "withering" spread rapidly like a plague!

"Buzz—"

The blast furnace let out a painful wail.

The fleshy tissue on its surface began to peel off quickly.

The twisted metal pipes also lost their vitality, becoming rigid.

In just over ten seconds,

the "living nest" that exuded a terrifying aura stopped pulsating right before their eyes.

Then... "Clatter, clatter—"

It shattered inch by inch, collapsing into a pile of scrap metal.

A gust of wind blew by.

The dust settled.

Liu Yan's mouth was agape, her wind blade having dissipated at some point.

Shi Lei remained in his hands-on-the-ground posture, completely frozen.

Mo Chen's eyes were wide and round.

"It... it's just... gone?" he stammered.

Su Wanqing also fell silent.

She looked at Lin Yuan, who stood in front of the pile of scrap metal, equally bewildered, her mind a blank.

What exactly happened?

"Ahem."

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand, clapped off the dust, and cleared his throat.

His inner shock was no less than anyone else's.

What's going on?

It died just by touching it?

Is this a staged accident?!

No! Something doesn't feel right.

When I slammed that palm onto it just now, although there was an energy reaction, it felt like... this thing, before I even touched it, seemed to have already died?

Or rather, its core was extracted by something beforehand, leaving only an empty shell.

My lightning power merely caused this empty shell to collapse.

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan's heart sank, feeling that things were far from simple.

He suddenly turned around and shouted at his petrified teammates: "The situation is not—"

Suddenly.

Everyone's communicators rang simultaneously.

Zhou Weiguo's anxious voice came through them.

"First Assault Squad! Outer blockade reports! Those sleeping citizens... they... they're moving!"

Before everyone could react, Zhou Weiguo continued to shout:

"Life signs are skyrocketing abnormally! They... they are getting up!"