207: Octopus's Defeat CG

The turbid water churned slowly under the disturbance.

After a brief, dead silence, the thrusters on Shen Mingyuan's back and waist lit up with a ghostly blue glow once more, propelling him like a deep-sea torpedo toward the octopus's core, whose aura had become slightly erratic after being wounded.

The surrounding Scavengers were intimidated by the previous "Living Projectile" tactic and for a moment did not dare to close in again.

At the charred or mangled wounds of the octopus's many tentacles, granulation tissue was slowly wriggling and regenerating, but the speed was noticeably slower than before. It was as if the high-temperature searing accompanying the cavitation collapse had severely interfered with its proud regeneration mechanism.

"Hmph... troublesome little bug." The octopus's voice carried pain and irritation as more tentacles retracted, coiling around its head to form a tight defensive circle, its compound eyes locked firmly onto the approaching Shen Mingyuan.

The distance between them continued to close. Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters...

Just as several of the octopus's intact tentacles lunged out like giant pythons from a cave, striking with a piercing strangle, Shen Mingyuan's body suddenly sank, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the attack. Simultaneously, the thrusters on his feet fired at maximum power, propelling him upward like a rocket, instantly bringing him right beneath the octopus's massive head!

He raised the "twin stars" hand cannon on his left arm, catching the octopus in a moment of slight bewilderment due to his abrupt change in direction, before it could adjust all its tentacles for defense—

The muzzle was pressed directly against the relatively soft skin beneath the octopus's head.

The octopus's compound eyes instantly constricted to their limit as a bone-chilling sense of crisis flooded over it.

Boom—!!!

It wasn't a massive explosion, but an extremely suppressed dull thud, like a burst inside a thick quilt. The cavitation jet from the point-blank shot poured into the octopus's body at zero distance, the super-cavitation collapsing violently deep within its soft tissues, releasing its energy!

"Guh-woo—!!!"

The octopus let out an unprecedented scream of agony, its entire massive body convulsing violently as its tentacles flailed wildly. However, given its massive size and tenacious vitality, this strike was not immediately fatal.

Pain and rage drove its remaining tentacles to wrap toward Shen Mingyuan regardless of the cost.

At that moment, Shen Mingyuan's right hand shot out, his fingers hooking like talons as he dug them fiercely into the edge of the wound blasted open on the octopus's head, firmly grabbing onto its flesh and some cartilaginous structures. Simultaneously, all the propulsion vents on his body—back, waist, and legs—roared to full power!

The ghostly blue ion stream jetted backward with unprecedented intensity, even temporarily pushing away the surrounding water to form a brief vacuum channel.

"Up!"

Shen Mingyuan let out a low roar. Combining the incredible underwater thrust provided by his Deep Sea Form with his own strength, he actually dragged the giant octopus, which was several times his size, through the water like a deep-sea rocket, charging at high speed toward the dim surface above!

"What...?!" The octopus's consciousness was thrown into chaos by this inconceivable move. It tried to struggle, but with its head wounded, it was difficult to precisely control the force of its tentacles during such high-speed underwater movement.

Splash—!!!

A massive spray of water exploded in the center of the canal! A black figure dragged a large, pale, twisted mass, breaking through the surface like a reverse waterfall and leaping into the air!

Under the daylight, water droplets splashed around Shen Mingyuan (Deep Sea Form), refracting dazzling rainbows in the sunlight while ghostly blue patterns flickered intensely on his wet black armor. His right hand still held a death grip on the wound on the octopus's head. Meanwhile, the octopus's massive body was completely exposed to the air, its slippery skin gleaming with an unsettlingly pale luster under the sun. Multiple tentacles flailed helplessly in the air, its compound eyes filled with unbelievable shock and... a trace of instinctive panic from being suddenly exposed to an uncomfortable environment. It was, after all, an aquatic creature; without the support and buoyancy of the water, its massive size instantly became a heavy burden.

Now!

Shen Mingyuan raised his hand cannon again. At the peak of his leap, just as he was about to fall, the muzzle was almost pressed against the area just below the octopus's startled compound eyes.

"Goodbye."

He said coldly.

Buzz—!!!

Another full-power point-blank shot! The cavitation jet behaved slightly differently in the air, but at such close range, the violent energy still poured solidly into the octopus's head!

Boom!!

The octopus let out half a tragic shriek as its massive body was slammed back toward the water by the impact.

Splash—!!!

A massive sound of falling water rang out, sending waves sky-high. Shen Mingyuan followed closely behind, falling back into the water and gracefully adjusting his posture to hover among the turbid waves.

The octopus sank several meters before barely stabilizing itself. Its head had suffered consecutive heavy blows, leaving gruesome wounds from which thick bodily fluids constantly seeped, staining the surrounding waters red.

Its regeneration speed was noticeably slower, and some wounds even showed signs of necrosis. Its compound eyes, which always carried cold mockery and arrogance, were now filled with pain, confusion, and... a trace of fury from being utterly defeated.

"...Are... you joking..." Its voice came through the water ripples, no longer steady, but carrying a painful tremor and forced arrogance.

"I... we octopuses... are born with nine brains... our tentacles can be severed and regenerated... we are the wise sages of the ocean... the path of evolution I chose... was to transcend the waters..."

"To step toward the broader land and sky... destined... destined to replace you narrow-minded land-dwelling monkeys... to become the overlords of the new era... how could... I be... by someone like you... by a human..."

Shen Mingyuan slowly adjusted his breathing, the Visor of his Deep Sea Form calmly watching the behemoth below as it began to show signs of decline. He heard the octopus's hiss, which was filled with resentment and racial superiority.

As the water rippled slightly, Shen Mingyuan's voice came through the faceplate, clear and calm, interrupting the octopus's monologue:

"Is that so? Then you've got it all wrong."

As he spoke, he slowly descended to maintain a combat eye-level with the octopus. The energy in his hand cannon flowed slightly, locking onto his opponent.

"Life has always been a cruel evolutionary race. Over millions of years, countless species have risen and fallen."

"Humans were able to rise from the bottom of the food chain, relying on weak bodies and limited lifespans to struggle, learn, cooperate, and fight step by step until we reached the top—it was never because of some 'innate' superiority."

His tone carried a chill that seemed to see through history:

"Wisdom, tools, social structures, the will that erupts in adversity... these are all part of evolution, 'weapons' polished by natural selection in different environments. You gained power and awakened wisdom; that is good, that too is a gift of evolution."

Shen Mingyuan leaned forward slightly, the red light in his Visor seeming to sharpen a bit more:

"If your 'New Federation' truly believes that having power gives you the right to redefine who the overlord is, and you come with the determination to replace or even exterminate humanity..."

"Then, on behalf of the civilization behind me, I tell you: we accept this challenge."

"Thousands of years ago, we fought our way out of a wild wilderness. Thousands of years later, even if we face evolutionary compatriots, the 'weapons' in our hands—whether they be technology, collaboration, or the 'Guided Evolution' power I possess now—will never be blunted."

His final words, like a sentence being passed, struck heavily against the octopus's gradually cooling core:

"What led you to this dead end is not stupidity, not weakness, and not even entirely a gap in strength."

"It is arrogance—the arrogance of thinking that being 'born' a certain way or 'evolving in a day' allows you to crush everything, while disregarding the millions of years of accumulation and adaptability of your opponent."

"Only arrogance is the most fatal obstacle on the path of survival."

Shen Mingyuan's words were like a final judgment, piercing through the octopus's last lines of arrogance and sanity.

"...Shut up!!! You arrogant... land-dwelling bug!!!"

The octopus's compound eyes, filled with pain and chaos, were suddenly flooded with a hysterical, furious red light.

Its remaining tentacles no longer followed any technique, nor did they try to defend or find openings. Instead, like crazed giant steel cables, they lashed, coiled, and stabbed frantically at Shen Mingyuan with pure strength and speed!

The water was churned into a chaotic mess, and large patches of silt were kicked up from the riverbed, reducing visibility to nearly zero.

It had completely abandoned thought and strategy, leaving only the most primitive desire for destruction—to tear the black armor before it, which had brought it endless humiliation and trauma, into pieces!

However, the defeat was already decided.

With the loss of reason came even greater openings in its frantic attacks.

Shen Mingyuan remained as steady as a reef in the turbid water. At such close range and in such a chaotic environment, the Deep Sea Form's sensing System still firmly locked onto the octopus's core and every movement trajectory.

He no longer needed complex tactics. Facing this octopus version of a "wild brawl," calmness and precision were the strongest weapons.

His figure moved like a fish, nimbly weaving through the gaps in the violent tentacle attacks, each dodge perfectly timed.

Round one: clear the threats.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Several cavitation jets were fired precisely. The targets were not the octopus's lethal head, but the bases and central ganglion connections of the tentacles that were flailing frantically and posed the greatest threat to him.

Pfft! Pfft! Mucus and shattered tissue exploded as the two thickest tentacles suddenly went limp as if their bones had been removed, drifting powerlessly with the waves. The octopus's frantic offensive stalled.

Round two: strip the weapons.

Taking advantage of its momentary paralysis from pain, Shen Mingyuan adjusted his thrusters and circled to the side at a tricky angle. Buzz! Buzz! Two more shots accurately hit the middle joints of two other tentacles trying to ambush him from the side and rear.

The destructive force of the internal cavitation collapse nearly blasted them apart, leaving only a bit of skin and flesh connected.

The octopus's massive body trembled violently from the intense pain and consecutive injuries. Its frantic hisses turned into wails of agony as its offensive completely collapsed. Its remaining tentacles instinctively retracted, futilely trying to cover the hideous wounds on its head.

Final execution.

Shen Mingyuan gave it no more chances. He lunged forward instantly, closing in right in front of the octopus's head, whose giant beak was slightly open due to pain and fear.

The red light of the Deep Sea Form's Visor locked onto the deep oral cavity filled with rings of sharp teeth, as well as the pair of compound eyes above that were starting to lose focus yet still held traces of resentment and fury.

"It's over."

He declared coldly. Both "twin stars" hand cannons were raised, the blue light at the muzzles condensing to the limit, almost touching the edge of the octopus's upper beak.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

A continuous stream of cavitation jets, like cold and heartless executioner's bullets, blasted into the interior of the head with high frequency through the octopus's open mouth!

Each strike triggered internal cavitation collapse and high-temperature searing. The first shot shattered its esophagus and some ganglia; the second and third shots tore upward along a preset trajectory, destroying the structure of multiple cerebral lobes; the fourth and fifth shots... went straight to the core of its life!

The octopus couldn't even let out a final scream. Its entire head swelled and deformed violently under the consecutive internal destructive blasts. The light in its compound eyes went out completely, and its flailing tentacles finally slumped and spread out powerlessly.

The massive, pale body finally lost all signs of life and began to sink slowly toward the dark riverbed, leaving behind a large expanse of spreading foul blood and tissue debris, staining a section of the water a turbid dark red under the afternoon sun.

Shen Mingyuan hovered in place, watching the octopus's corpse sink as the ghostly blue patterns across his body slowly faded.

The canal's current gradually carried away the bloodstains. The surrounding Scavengers had long since fled without a trace, leaving behind only a deathly silent battlefield.