220: Attorney Shen Mingyuan

The freight elevator emitted a dull roar, sinking deeper into the mountain.

The door opened, and the air on B3 was a mix of fishy smell, chemical agents, and rust. The lighting was dim, with only a few emergency lights illuminating the rough rock walls and reinforced structures.

As Wei Ziqing stepped out of the elevator, dozens of faint, dark red lights, reflecting like a bird's eyes, lit up in the deep darkness.

Rustling sounds came from far to near, and short, twisted black shadows, maintaining an eerie upright posture, emerged from various dark corners.

It was those monsters! The monsters that attacked the crowd at the Martial Arts Competition!

Their bodies were covered in messy black feathers, their heads were a twisted mix of canine and human features, their eyes dull but glinting with ferocity. They clutched crude clubs or rusty iron shards, emitting low, threatening whimpers.

They encircled him from all directions, moving swiftly with the instincts of predators.

Wei Ziqing's heart tightened, but his movements showed no hesitation.

His right hand shot like lightning to his waist, and with a soft 'clang,' the slender white bone sword was unsheathed and held horizontally before him.

The sword gleamed with a cold bioluminescence in the dim light.

The first monster howled as it lunged, swinging a wooden club bound with iron nails.

Wei Ziqing slid his foot, dodging the fierce lunge, and with the momentum, thrust his bone sword, accurately piercing the joint connecting its weapon-wielding forelimb, then immediately withdrew. The wound wasn't deep, but the almost imperceptible faint blue glow on the sword had already seeped in.

The monster's movements stiffened, its wooden club fell from its grasp, and it staggered to the ground, its limbs beginning to twitch unnaturally and go limp.

More monsters swarmed him. Wei Ziqing unleashed his swordsmanship, his figure weaving through the lunging black shadows. He no longer held back, his sword moves shifting between feints and reality, nine parts feint, one part real.

The sword light sometimes darted like a spiritual snake, striking at the monster's knee joints and elbow pits; sometimes it spread like a white crane's wings, slashing across its vulnerable neck or abdomen; and sometimes the flat of the sword struck, transmitting toxins upon contact.

His speed was too fast, his footwork too agile, and his dark red goggles always allowed him to predict the trajectory of the lunges, finding the most effective angle of entry. Each sword strike landed precisely on a critical point of the monster's limb movement or a weakly protected area.

Chh! A monster was struck in the shoulder socket, and a numbing sensation quickly spread, causing it to fall to the ground.

Swish! Another was grazed on its side by the sword tip, its charge turning into a roll. Wham! The sword struck the side of a third monster's head; though there was no wound, the skin at the point of contact was slightly broken, and toxins silently infiltrated.

Monster after monster stiffened and collapsed mid-charge, like weeds mown down by an invisible scythe.

They were unintelligent and knew no fear, charging one after another, but Wei Ziqing's sword was faster and more precise, like a white lightning bolt swimming against a black tide, leaving behind only twitching, whimpering, immobile bodies on the ground.

Following his intuition towards a direction with more concentrated energy and a more regular structure, he broke through a makeshift protective door and entered a more open area filled with discarded Materials and crisscrossing pipes.

Just as he was about to accelerate through this area—

Boom!!!

The side rock wall, along with its metal frame, suddenly exploded! Crushed rocks and twisted metal sprayed out like cannonballs!

At the moment the loud noise erupted, Wei Ziqing, relying on a Martial Artist's intuition for danger and his armor-enhanced reflexes, lunged forward with all his might, rolling behind the shadow of a massive metal container.

From the dust, a colossal entity, a grotesque mixture of writhing dark red biological tissue and rough black mechanical structures, burst through the rock wall! It was the very same monstrosity that had abducted Lawyer Shen earlier! The crude sensor on its head flashed red, locking onto Wei Ziqing's position, and it emitted a mixed hiss of hydraulics and biological tissue friction, then lowered its head and charged again!

Wei Ziqing dared not confront it head-on, pushing his mobility to the limit, dodging left and right in this cluttered area, using containers, discarded cabinets, and thick pipes as cover.

Rumble! A container was directly flattened and torn apart. Clang! A supporting pipe was severely bent. The monster was like an out-of-control battering ram, leaving a trail of destruction wherever it went, rock walls crumbling, shattered stones raining down.

While dodging, Wei Ziqing was alarmed by the monster's destructive power and worried whether this underground space could withstand it. During one perilous close pass, he backhanded his sword, fiercely stabbing into a gap where biological and mechanical parts connected on the monster's side, a faint blue sword light flashing and disappearing.

The monster's movements paused slightly, and it let out an angry roar, turning to pursue, but due to its massive size and excessive momentum, it crashed headfirst into a pile of heavy parts and rocks on the side, its mechanical joints emitting a grating friction sound. It was temporarily stuck, struggling to free itself.

Wei Ziqing seized the opportunity, not lingering in battle. His figure shot forward like lightning, rushing towards a passage that seemed to lead to the core area, leaving the monster's angry crashing and collapsing sounds behind him.

At the end of the passage was an exceptionally heavy, sealed door glinting with cold metal, completely out of place with the surrounding environment.

Wei Ziqing took a deep breath, sprinted, leaped, twisted his waist in mid-air, channeling all his strength and sprinting momentum into his legs. His armored calves seemed to swell slightly as he delivered a heavy kick, smashing fiercely into the door lock area!

"Open!!"

Boom!!!

A deafening roar echoed through the passage, the door frame twisted and deformed, the complex locking mechanism shattered, and the entire heavy metal door crashed inward, raising a cloud of dust.

Inside the door was an extremely spacious, astonishingly high-ceilinged area. It looked like a main laboratory, with various inoperable complex machinery, monitoring equipment, and pipeline interfaces covering the surrounding walls. Most of the overhead lighting was damaged, shrouding the majority of the area in shadows, with only a few beams of light slanting down from damaged ventilation shafts high above, forming pillars of light.

And on the cold floor in the center of the laboratory, divided by light and shadow, a person lay quietly.

It was Shen Mingyuan. The strange black and red armor on him had disappeared, replaced by his usual, somewhat dirty and torn clothes. His eyes were tightly closed, his face pale, and his breathing faint, clearly still in a deep coma.

"Lawyer Shen!" Wei Ziqing's heart tightened, and he immediately wanted to rush over.

But just as his attention was drawn to Shen Mingyuan, an extremely subtle, almost silent whistling sound of something cutting through the air came from high up behind him!

His long-term martial arts training gave Wei Ziqing an instinctive sense of danger, making his hair stand on end. Without thinking, his body defied inertia, and he lunged and rolled forward and to the side!

Chh chh chh—!

Several almost transparent yet incredibly tough threads brushed past his shoulder armor and waist skirt, shooting into the ground where he had just stood, silently disappearing into the sturdy composite material floor, leaving behind several tiny holes.

Wei Ziqing rolled into a half-crouch, bone sword held horizontally, his dark red goggles rapidly scanning the source of the attack—a steel structural maintenance platform high up, shrouded in shadow.

"Oh my, such a quick reaction."

A playful, slightly effeminate male voice slowly drifted from the platform's shadows.

Zhu Zicong stood in the high shadows, curiously observing the fully alert white armor below. "Oh, let me introduce myself, I am Zhu Zicong. And you?"

Wei Ziqing gripped his bone sword tightly, his goggles fixed on the opponent, offering no response.

"Alright, alright," Zhu Zicong shrugged, his tone still light. "But even if you're slow, I think we can guess. You defeat a 'shadow,' and then another 'you' suddenly appears... someone must be 'creating' these from behind the scenes, right? Can you tell us? I am truly, truly interested in that 'craftsman'."

His voice carried undisguised greed, "Such technology... it's too wonderful.

Money? Resources? Status? As long as you're willing to make the connection, or tell me who he is, anything can be discussed. Here, we can offer you the highest treatment imaginable."

Wei Ziqing paid him no heed, pushing off the ground with force, causing a slight tremor. The white figure shot towards the platform like an arrow released from a bowstring, then vertically sprinted up the wall, his sword tip pointing directly at Zhu Zicong!

"Oh, well, alright." Zhu Zicong sighed, seemingly with some regret. His fingers, hanging at his sides, moved slightly.

Chh chh chh chh—!

More, denser transparent threads than before shot directly from his fingertips! The threads gleamed with an almost imperceptible faint green light, weaving into a deadly net covering a vast angle, accompanied by a sticky, air-splitting sound, covering Wei Ziqing as he charged forward! These threads were clearly laced with potent venom.

Wei Ziqing's charge did not diminish, and the bone sword in his hand instantly transformed into a white halo of light, impenetrable even by splashing water!

Swish swish swish swish—!

The sharp blade clashed with the tough biological threads, emitting taut cutting sounds. Under the bone sword's keen edge and Wei Ziqing's precise slashes, most of the descending threads were cut in mid-air, while the few that slipped through were narrowly dodged.

He was now close to the platform!

Zhu Zicong's sinister smile suddenly widened. The clothing near his shoulder blades bulged and ripped!

Eight long limbs, pale with gray mottled patterns, covered in a chitinous sheen, with backward-bending joints and sharp, spear-like tips, like the legs of a giant spider, suddenly shot out and extended!

These eight biological limbs were incredibly flexible, instantly piercing deep into the metal platform beneath his feet and the rock wall behind him, emitting a series of dull 'thudding' sounds, lifting his body slightly off the ground and putting him in an all-around attack posture.

"Holy hell!" Wei Ziqing, in mid-air, witnessed such inhuman, alien organs bursting from this person's body and couldn't help but blurt out, "External Soul Bone? You too..."

Zhu Zicong completely ignored his exclamation. His eight sharp biological limbs, combined with the venomous threads continuously spraying from his fingertips, unleashed an instant burst of attacks!

The poisonous threads wrapped and pierced from tricky angles, blocking movement.

The eight living limbs, like killing weapons with independent will, lunged, swept, and chiseled towards Wei Ziqing from all directions—above, left, right, and even from incredible angles beneath the platform—with astonishing speed and flexibility!

The offensive was dense, swift, and bizarre, completely surpassing the limits of human joints.

Wei Ziqing twisted and turned on the narrow edge of the platform.

His dark red goggles rapidly captured every attack trajectory. His bone sword either parried, deflected, or slashed, colliding with the pale limbs, producing a series of dull thuds and slight bone fragments. At the same time, he had to divide his attention to sever the constantly incoming poisonous threads.

Several times, he seized the almost imperceptible coordinated flaws in the limb attacks, and the fierce sword light, like a white steed flashing past a crevice, made several "chh chh" sounds, accurately piercing Zhu Zicong's torso and arms, which were covered by the black combat suit!

The sensation from the sword tip was somewhat unusual, not like piercing solid flesh, but rather slippery and sluggish. But Wei Ziqing was certain that the sword's paralyzing toxin had been injected.

However, Zhu Zicong's movements showed no delay. He lowered his head to look at the small holes pierced in his body, then looked up at Wei Ziqing, who had temporarily retreated to adjust, and a grotesque smile spread across his lips.

"Oh my... this kind of paralyzing toxin, targeting the nervous System, is useless against me, you see." His voice carried a sticky, teasing quality.

Before his words even finished, a scene that made Wei Ziqing's pupils contract sharply occurred.

Zhu Zicong raised a hand, his five fingers like hooks, and actually grabbed the "skin" and combat suit fabric on the side of his neck, then violently tore downwards!

There was no blood. That layer of seemingly human skin, along with parts of the "muscle" tissue beneath it, and the combat suit, was torn off by him like a gelatinous outer garment, swollen and loosened by water, and casually discarded.

The "skin-bag" lay limp on the ground, still vaguely maintaining a human outline, but rapidly turning gray and losing its elasticity.

And what was revealed beneath the "skin-bag" was Zhu Zicong's true "body."

It was an indescribable, constantly slightly writhing and undulating grayish-white gelatinous aggregate. It roughly maintained a humanoid outline, but its surface had no skin texture, only a moist, deep-sea creature or slime mold aggregate-like texture. Fainter, necrotic-network-like veins could vaguely be seen flowing slowly within.

It had no facial features in the usual sense, only two deep-set, dark holes in the position of the face, as if capable of absorbing all light, "watching" Wei Ziqing.

Those eight pale spider limbs and the hands capable of spraying threads naturally extended from the back and shoulders of this gelatinous torso, as if they were its innate organs.

A sticky voice, with multiple echo effects, directly emanated from deep within that grayish-white substance: "This is me... in a more comfortable state."