205: underwater form

For the next two days, life returned to a brief, vigilant routine.

He handled law firm work, followed up on the chemical plant accident compensation, and regularly fed (though often rejected) and observed the Little Green Snake, which was becoming increasingly active and showed a persistent preference for the refrigerator.

Beneath the calm, he didn't relax his attention on the "The Fellowship" mentioned by "The Forger" and the New Federation's movements, but there seemed to be no new ripples surging under the surface for the time being.

However, this brief peace was broken on the afternoon of the third day.

Shen Mingyuan's phone vibrated, receiving a message from Lu Jianchuan. Without any pleasantries, it directly attached precise river coordinates and a few short but weighty sentences:

Lu Jianchuan: Large-scale, high-activity evo factor abnormal accumulation detected here. The concentration and range are abnormal; it's definitely not natural.

GUPA people are mobilizing resources to head there; it looks like they're preparing for a hard-fought battle.

Lu Jianchuan: Movements suggest it might be related to the New Federation. Keep a lookout.

Shen Mingyuan's gaze narrowed as he clicked the coordinate map. The location zoomed in rapidly—it was the suburban river system with complex connections to underground rivers, not far from the cave exit where he had encountered the octopus last time.

“As expected...” he muttered to himself. The Scavenger that was taken away, the New Federation octopus lurking in those waters, and now a large-scale evo factor anomaly... these clues instantly connected into a clear line in his mind.

The New Federation definitely has a plot there, and it's no small move—large enough to have triggered the official highest-level alarm.

No time to hesitate. He quickly organized his thoughts, gave a few instructions to his assistant, grabbed his car keys, and hurried out of the law firm.

Sitting in the driver's seat, he took one last look at the coordinates on his phone and started the engine.

The car smoothly drove out of the underground garage and merged into the afternoon traffic, but its destination was clear—speeding toward the canal where undercurrents surged and a battlefield was about to form.

Shen Mingyuan parked in a secluded spot some distance from the coordinates and quickly completed his transformation. The matte black "shadow" armor covered his body as he moved like a silent shadow toward the canal, using buildings and greenery belts for cover.

The scene ahead gradually opened up. It was an extremely wide canal, its surface reflecting murky light in the afternoon sun, with renovated concrete embankments on both sides and sparse woods further away. The terrain was open, and the current was slow but deep, certainly enough to hide and support something large.

On the open ground on one side of the riverbank, it was already a scene of impending battle. Several personnel in GUPA standard-issue combat uniforms with simple diving gear were quickly checking weapons and changing magazines. He saw Lu Jianchuan, who was leaning against his iconic silver motorcycle, talking solemnly with a team member who looked like a commander. Zhou Zihui was also there; the boy's face was less gloomy than before, replaced by a composed focus as his gaze remained fixed on the river surface. Additionally, there were more team members Shen Mingyuan didn't recognize, holding weapons that were clearly modified with thicker muzzles and equipped with arrow-shaped or special warheads for underwater use.

“Switch to underwater rounds! Check airtightness! Groups 1 and 2 take the left flank, Group 3 is on standby, watch for underwater sonar feedback!” The orders were short and powerful.

The air was filled with tension and a faint fishy smell drifting from the river.

Shen Mingyuan's appearance drew a small amount of attention. Lu Jianchuan was the first to look up, nodding slightly to him. Zhou Zihui also looked over, his eyes confirming the recognition of "shadow." The commander glanced at Shen Mingyuan and, seemingly briefed in advance, didn't stop or question him, only saying quickly: “'shadow'? Thanks for the support. The target is underwater, numbers... unknown, but definitely many. Watch out for their impacts and possible contamination.”

Shen Mingyuan nodded, just as he was about to ask for details—

“Splash—!!!”

A sudden change occurred!

The originally calm canal surface exploded with dozens of splashes near the shore where everyone was standing! Streamlined figures of various sizes, all covered in thick, dark bone plates, lunged out from underwater like cannonballs, slamming onto or gripping the concrete embankment!

It was Scavengers! Evolved Scavenger fish! But not just one, and their sizes varied greatly—the large ones were close to the size of the one in the cave, over five meters long and like small trucks; the small ones were also over two meters long and moved even more swiftly. Their evolved hard claws scraped against the cement ground, making a piercing noise, and their mouthparts, filled with composite tooth plates, opened and closed. Their eyeless heads “looked” toward the crowd in a blank yet hideous manner, and then, relying on the movement of their pelvic fins and tails, they began to crawl awkwardly but resolutely toward the shore and the crowd! So many had landed that there were twenty or thirty in an instant, and beneath the surface further away, dark shadows loomed, with no telling how many more there were.

“Fire! Stop them from landing! Prioritize attacking the joints and eye areas!” the commander shouted.

Pff-pff-pff—!

A series of muffled sounds, different from ordinary gunshots, rang out. The specially-made underwater firearms in the GUPA members' hands fired high-speed projectiles. Their speed might be limited in water, but in the air, their power was more concentrated. They struck the Scavengers' thick bone plates, sparking and chipping off fragments. Some bullets hit the relatively fragile bases of the fins or the edges of the mouthparts, causing the monsters to hiss in pain, but more attacks were deflected by the armor-like bone plates.

The scene instantly fell into chaos. Bullets whistled, and the monsters' hissing and the friction of their crawling intertwined.

Shen Mingyuan stood slightly back, the pupils behind his red eyepieces narrowing slightly.

So many... and of different sizes... and it's only been two or three days!

While the landing Scavenger swarm was in a fierce firefight with the GUPA members, the surface in the center of the canal suddenly broke open, and the giant pale octopus poked its massive head out, its cold compound eyes locking onto the shore.

“Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh—!”

In the next instant, over a dozen high-pressure water arrows, condensed and solid with speeds far exceeding bullets, erupted from its mouthparts, emitting a piercing scream as they swept in a fan shape toward the most crowded area on the shore! The power of these water arrows was enough to tear a human body apart.

“Take cover!”

“Long-range attacks from the water!”

The shouts and warnings of the team members on shore were almost drowned out by the scream of the water arrows.

Some of the fastest-reacting members had already turned their guns, spraying special ammunition toward the incoming water arrows in an attempt to intercept them.

But Shen Mingyuan was faster than everyone.

Almost at the same millisecond the octopus emerged, he raised both arms, and "twin stars" seemed to come alive in his hands. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The rapid and steady gunshots merged into one, with almost no audible gaps.

The black-red energy beams traced lethal paths in the air with pinpoint accuracy, each one hitting the middle of a water arrow in mid-air.

Energy and ultra-high-density water flow collided violently and annihilated each other, exploding into clouds of mist and turning the lethal attack into a spray of shattered waves.

His movements were fluid. While intercepting the water arrows, he flicked his wrists, the muzzle fire never ceasing as the black-red beams occasionally swept to the sides, knocking back several smaller Scavengers that tried to pounce, leaving charred wounds.

He alone seemed to constitute an efficient anti-air and close-in weapon system, carving out a relatively safe area in the chaotic battlefield.

Without a moment's hesitation, the instant the last wave of water arrows was blasted out of the air and before the mist had dissipated, Shen Mingyuan kicked off the ground and shot toward the edge of the riverbank like an arrow. The Crimson Orb on his left wrist glowed brightly!

armor form switch!

His body, leaping into the air, was suddenly enveloped by a deeper, richer matte black biological fluid. The fluid rapidly shaped and solidified—his lines became extremely streamlined, with all sharp edges replaced by smooth curves, like a perfect water droplet.

Several sharp guide fins silently deployed from the shoulder armor and back, and the leg armor merged and reorganized into a stronger structure that conformed to hydrodynamic contours.

Most strikingly, energy patterns of deep blue, light blue, and cyan-blue glowed like breathing around the armor joints, energy conduits, and newly appeared sensory organs, reflecting a dark and mysterious radiance in the water.

shadow: Deep Sea Form, first combat deployment!

“Hey! You—!” A nearby team member only saw a streamlined black figure flashing past with faint blue light trails, before he could finish his sentence.

“Splash!”

Shen Mingyuan was already like a sharp arrow, cutting precisely and silently into the murky canal water, barely making a splash. (A perfect ten.)

The moment he entered the water, the semi-webbed structures on his palms and soles naturally extended, and the hidden propulsion nozzles on his back and waist silently activated, emitting a faint blue ion stream, propelling him like a true oceanic hunter, diving rapidly toward the largest pale shadow in the water.

The team members on shore only saw a streak of deep blue light rapidly receding beneath the surface, vanishing into the deep darkness.