166: The dragon rushed out

This "Dragon," forcibly pieced together and enduring the endless agony of rejection, had long since lost its sanity and sense of direction.

Extreme pain overwhelmed it; everything from the outside world—lights, figures, sounds—was merely noise and threats that stimulated its frantic struggling.

Its only instinct was to "move," to "crash"! To smash through everything in its path, whether it was walls, doorframes, or abandoned equipment!

It didn't know where the exit was; perhaps its brain was no longer capable of processing such complex information.

It simply reacted to the intuition of "obstacles," using its head, claws, and body to frantically strike everything in sight that looked like a "boundary" or "barrier."

Every impact was accompanied by the loud crash of shattering concrete and twisting metal, along with the tooth-gritting, squelching sound of its own flesh tearing and then rapidly healing.

It seemed to be using the most primitive method to forcibly "crash" out a path to freedom within this intricate underground labyrinth!

"Avoid the front! Find cover!"

"Its regeneration is too fast; ordinary bullets have limited effect!"

"Don't let it get near the load-bearing structures!"

Captain Mountain Leopard's orders were issued quickly over the encrypted channel, his voice steady yet tinged with a hint of tension.

The well-trained team members dispersed, using the remaining sturdy instrument bases and concrete pillars in the room as cover. Once they had secured their safety and firing angles, they finally found an opportunity to open fire.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" "Swoosh—hiss!"

The sound of rifle bursts and the faint whistle of some special ammunition rang out.

Several bullets accurately struck the torso and shoulders of the dragon-shaped creature as it crashed against the wall.

Those were no ordinary rounds; upon impact, special compressed chemicals inside the warhead were triggered, rapidly releasing high heat and igniting an adhesive.

"Boom!"

"Sizzle—!"

Small bursts of orange-red flames exploded and clung to the Dragon's body, and the air was instantly filled with the pungent smell of charred flesh.

The intense pain from the burning flames caused the creature to let out an even more shrill howl, and its crashing movements came to a momentary halt.

However, this could not stop its regeneration.

In the areas engulfed by fire, the charred flesh did not attempt to "heal" or "extinguish the flames." Instead, like a gecko's severed tail, it actively contracted, necrosed, and then... fell off within a very short time!

Charred chunks of flesh with adhering flames fell to the ground, while at the wound, fresh flesh tissue gushed out rapidly like boiling pink foam. In just two or three seconds, it covered the wound, forming a thin membrane like the smooth skin of a newborn baby.

Although its defense seemed greatly reduced, it had indeed "regenerated" and rid itself of the continuously burning flames.

The price it paid was merely a portion of its flesh and energy, along with an even more intense, yet long-accustomed, pain.

"Regeneration priority is extremely high; it actively discards damaged parts! Incendiary rounds are not yielding ideal results!"

A team member reported quickly.

"Maintain suppression, limit its movement space! Look for vitals or the core!" Captain Mountain Leopard quickly adjusted the strategy.

Lu Jianchuan leaned against a heavy, abandoned power unit, holding a GUPA standard-issue rifle, his breathing steady.

He could no longer take the form of the "silver skeleton" to break through with force, but his remaining exceptional physical fitness kept his movements agile and his observation keen.

He didn't fire blindly, but instead calmly observed the monster's movement patterns and regeneration characteristics, looking for possible patterns or weaknesses.

Zhou Zihui used the flexibility of his long tail to provide harassment from a distance.

His tail was like a steel whip, occasionally lashing at the limb joints where the dragon-shaped creature attempted to turn or accelerate. Although it couldn't cause decisive damage, it was enough to interfere with its balance, creating shooting opportunities for his teammates or forcing it to change its crashing path, avoiding direct threats to personnel or key structures.

"Roar—!!"

Once again, the stinging pain of the incendiary rounds and the constant harassing attacks completely enraged this suffering life form.

It let out a muddy, wild roar and stopped obsessing over crashing through walls to find an exit. Instead, it suddenly turned, its bloodshot and chaotic eyes locking onto the direction where the attacks were most frequent—where two team members were firing alternately from behind cover, and behind them... the door that had already been breached, leading to the outer passages!

It was going to charge out! No matter the cost!

Its thick body, carrying a foul wind, ignored the lashes of Zhou Zihui's tail whip on its flank and the scattered flames exploding on its body. Like an out-of-control heavy truck, it lowered its head and charged fiercely in that direction!

"Stop it! We can't let it enter the more complex passage System!"

The gunfire instantly became dense! The two team members in front poured out firepower frantically. Explosive rounds burst into one orange-red fireball after another on that twisted torso, and the stench of burning in the air became impossibly thick.

A sharp light flashed in Zhou Zihui's eyes. He knew that ordinary lashes could no longer stop its momentum. He exerted force from his waist and abdomen; his long, powerful tail no longer swept horizontally but instead acted like a spear brimming with power. The sharp bone cone at the tip glinted coldly under the lights as it suddenly thrust forward!

"Puchi!"

This time, the attack truly penetrated the rapidly regenerating but fragile flesh! The tail cone sank deep into the charging dragon-shaped creature's scapula, tearing a blood hole the size of a bowl. One could even glimpse the writhing, strangely colored muscle tissue beneath.

"Roar—!"

The intense pain caused the creature to let out a deafening howl, and its momentum also stalled.

But its eyes, filled with pain and madness, stared fixedly at the bright exit ahead, showing no intention of stopping or turning!

Its powerful muscles contracted and writhed in a way that defied common sense, and it actually pushed through the piercing wound, allowing its body to continue "sliding" forward!

Zhou Zihui's tail cone plowed a terrifying tear wound inside it, and finally, due to the creature's immense forward force, it was forcibly "pulled" out, bringing with it a spray of dark red and strangely colored flesh!

Lu Jianchuan calmly moved his position on the flank, his rifle steadily locked onto the target. He caught the moment the creature's head tilted up slightly due to the pain and pulled the trigger!

" Bang! Bang!"

Two specialized armor-piercing rounds were accurately fired at its muddy, blood-red eyes!

The first bullet successfully hit the left eye! The eyeball instantly burst into a cloud of muddy fluid!

However, almost at the same instant the eyeball was destroyed, flesh writhed frantically within the empty socket, and a new, bloodshot, and even slightly crooked eyeball,

was "squeezed" out at a jaw-dropping speed. Although its visual function was clearly impaired, it had indeed "regenerated"! The second bullet grazed the newborn eyeball and flew past, striking a spark on the scales of its temple.

It could even endure a devastating blow to its head by discarding and regenerating!

"The core! We must find its energy core or regeneration center!"

Captain Mountain Leopard roared, but the scene before them weighed heavily on everyone's hearts. This monster's regenerative ability seemed to have no limit, or rather, its "life" form had been distorted to the point where it could discard and reorganize parts of its body at will.

Relying on this nearly rogue "brute force" tactic—enduring immense pain and consuming energy—this dragon-shaped creature, covered in wounds, with charred parts falling off and new ones growing, and bearing several horrific blood holes, forcibly broke through the densest firepower net at the door!

Its newborn, crooked eyes immediately locked onto the faint glimmer of natural light coming from the far end of the passage outside the door!

That was the exit! The mountain forest! The free world it had never seen since it was captured and modified!

"Roar—!!!"

A roar mixing extreme pain, madness, and longing shook the passage.

It no longer cared about the bullets continuing to fire from behind or the tail trying to wrap around it again. It lowered its head, aimed its sturdiest antlers forward, and its long body erupted with its final strength. Like a derailed train, it crashed and crawled frantically outward along the upward-sloping passage!

It couldn't fly; its pieced-together body and the internal rejection conflicts meant it was destined not to have that ability.

But it used its claws to dig, its head to ram, and its body to crush. In the most brutal and primitive way, it followed the man-made passage, smashing through scattered obstacles all the way, charging toward the light that was getting closer and closer!

The heavy sounds of crawling, crashing, and falling rocks, accompanied by its painful and rapid breathing, quickly faded into the distance.

"Pursue! We absolutely cannot let it enter the mountain forest! Notify the perimeter blockade! 'silver skeleton', prepare to intercept!"

Captain Mountain Leopard's face was ashen. While leading the team in pursuit, he quickly issued orders over the channel.

"Boom—!!!"

The distorted dragon-shaped creature finally smashed through the last layer of vines and rocks covering the exit. Enveloped in dust, blood, and a body of both charred and fresh wounds, it suddenly burst into the sunlight of the mountain forest!

The long-absent natural light caused its newborn eyeballs to sting and contract, but the scent of "freedom" acted like the strongest stimulant, sparking its remaining instincts.

However, the first threshold of freedom was not a smooth path.

A silver-red shadow, like a leopard that had been waiting for its moment, charged from the side the instant the creature burst out of the cave before it could fully steady itself! It was the "silver skeleton" motorcycle, which had been silently on standby but had already locked onto everything with its perception!

The roar of the motorcycle's engine echoed through the valley. It didn't employ any fancy tactics; instead, it converted its powerful output into direct kinetic energy. The front of the bike dipped slightly as it launched a charge like a fearless knight, slamming hard into the side of the dragon-shaped creature's body as it stumbled from its impact!

"Thud!!!"

A dull impact, like the beating of a giant drum, exploded! A brutal collision of metal and flesh and bone!

The motorcycle had undergone repairs and preliminary upgrades by "The Forger" using evo factor remains; its structural strength and power had long since surpassed ordinary mechanical creations.

And while the dragon-shaped creature possessed immense strength and powerful regeneration, it had, after all, just endured a hard battle and a long-distance crash, consuming much energy, and its body structure was inherently unstable.

The result of this head-on collision was unexpected yet followed a certain logic of power—the dragon-shaped creature let out a howl of pain as its massive body was actually sent tumbling sideways by the "tiny" motorcycle, crushing a patch of shrubs as mud and grass flew.

The motorcycle was also jolted back several meters by the reaction force, its body emitting a slight metal hum, but it immediately stabilized its stance. Its headlight was as sharp as a blade, locking onto the target.

The Dragon rolled twice on the ground, but its movements didn't stop for a moment. The humiliation and pain of being knocked over? It had long been accustomed to pain. Obstacles? Crash through them, or eat them!

It didn't even give the strange, hard "metal creature" a second look. It adjusted its posture mid-roll, its claws digging into the ground as its long body sprang up again! Its goal had never changed—escape! Survive! And surviving required energy, a lot of energy!

"Swoosh—!"

The motorcycle started up again, following it like a shadow, attempting to ram it or force it to a stop from the side.

But this time, the dragon-shaped creature stopped taking the hits head-on. Its crooked eyes caught sight of the motorcycle, and it then made the choice that best suited its current needs—run! Eat while running!

It charged into the mountain forest, no longer following a straight line but moving forward in a painful yet efficient zigzag. Everything along its path that could enter its mouth became a target for energy replenishment:

"Crack!" A small tree the thickness of a bowl was bitten in half as the creature passed. The rough bark, wood fibers, and leaves were crushed by its powerful jaws and swallowed whole, just to extract the meager life energy and cellulose within.

"Crash!" The shrubs along the path were trampled and crushed. It would even bury its mouth in the upturned soil, swallowing grass roots, moss, and the panicked insects and earthworms within.

A startled wild rabbit hopped out of the grass, trying to escape, only to be pecked by the creature's suddenly extending neck like a flash of lightning, swallowed into its belly with hardly any chewing.

It became a moving calamity, a painful, greedy, and efficient harvester of life.

All the matter it devoured was frantically extracted within its distorted digestive System, which was full of rejection reactions, and converted into energy to support its flight and regeneration.

Charred wounds were falling off, and new tissue was generating. Although the process was accompanied by even more intense internal conflict and pain, its running speed was actually slowly increasing!

The motorcycle pursued relentlessly from behind, sometimes attempting to ram and interfere, and sometimes using the terrain to try and force it to turn.

But this dragon-shaped creature was incredibly slippery and had become wary of the motorcycle's impacts, always managing to avoid vital spots with small movements at critical moments or using trees and rocks as cover.

Its goal was extremely clear: get away from that hellish cave and head toward... a more open place where food might be more "abundant."

And directly in front of its escape route, across this hilly woodland, the terrain gradually leveled out, and the outlines of man-made buildings began to faintly emerge on the horizon. That was the edge of the city.

Captain Mountain Leopard's team, along with Zhou Zihui, Lu Jianchuan, and the others, only then burst out of the cave. Dust flew in the distant forest, trees swayed abnormally, and the continuous sounds of crashing, chewing, and the roar of the motorcycle's engine could be heard, indicating the chase was in full swing, though the specific details were hard to see.

"Binoculars!" Captain Mountain Leopard said sharply. A team member quickly handed over a pair of high-powered tactical binoculars. The captain raised them and looked toward the direction of the greatest commotion, the lens moving and focusing rapidly.

Through the gaps in the swaying branches, he saw a heart-stopping scene.

What made Captain Mountain Leopard's pupils contract the most was the general direction of this chase... "It's eating while running; regeneration requires a lot of energy! Consultant Lu's vehicle is doing its best to intercept, but it can't hold it back for long!"

Captain Mountain Leopard lowered the binoculars, his face ashen. He pressed his communicator and roared, his speech as fast as popping beans: "Command Center! The target has escaped and is moving at high speed toward the southeast through the forest. It is continuously devouring biomass during its movement, and its regenerative ability remains active!"

Consultant Lu's vehicle is in pursuit and attempting to intercept, but the target is being continuously driven toward the area beyond Guard Line 3!

Repeat, the target's trajectory is clearly pointing toward a densely populated area! Threat level is urgently upgraded!

Requesting activation of aerial surveillance and authorization for all forward units to attempt non-lethal interception, with permission to upgrade authority if necessary! All ground units, abandon your current paths, follow Plan C, and rush to Intercept Point 7 at full speed! Move!"

He turned to Lu Jianchuan and Zhou Zihui, as well as the quickly assembling team members: "Get in the vehicles! Take the shortest route; we must reach the urban-rural fringe before it does! Establish a defensive line; we absolutely cannot let it break through!"