271: Another attack.

The next morning, a GUPA-exclusive vehicle, internally modified and low-profile on the outside but spacious within, carried a group of people out of the city and toward the coastline.

Inside the car, Chen Xing sat in the passenger seat, responsible for the route and communication.

Shen Mingyuan and Cynthia sat in the middle row.

The back row had the most space, with Zhao Jinhua and Little Pink on one side, and two Researchers—a man and a woman—wearing casual clothes with gentle temperaments but sharp eyes on the other, their tablets displaying non-combat assessment forms.

The vehicle drove smoothly, and the scenery outside the window gradually changed from city buildings to open countryside.

After the initial awkwardness, the female Researcher began a seemingly casual chat with Little Pink with a kind smile.

"Little Pink, did you sleep well last night? Are you used to the room here?"

"Mhm! The bed was so soft! It's much more comfortable than the floor of the house Brother used to rent!" Little Pink shook its head and answered honestly.

"That's good. What does Little Pink usually like to do?"

"I like listening to Brother tell stories! Watching TV! And... imagining what the ocean looks like!" Little Pink counted on its fingers, its small pink face full of anticipation.

"That sounds great. If... well, I mean if, one day you can't find your brother, what would you do?" The female Researcher's question was still gentle, as if she were asking "what flavor of candy do you like."

Zhao Jinhua's body tensed imperceptibly as he looked at the Researcher.

Little Pink, however, didn't seem to think anything was wrong; it just furrowed its tiny brow and thought seriously:

"Can't find Brother? Then I'll be very worried, very scared... I'll keep looking and keep calling Brother's name. Brother said if we get separated, I should wait in place or ask a good person in uniform for help... The good people here should help me find Brother, right?"

As it spoke, it looked up at the female Researcher, its large eyes full of trusting verification.

"Of course we will, everyone will help." The female Researcher smiled and nodded, recording something as she continued to ask, "Then, what does Little Pink think a 'home' should be like?"

Questions came one after another, seemingly ordinary, but gradually delving into cognitive patterns, emotional dependence, understanding of rules and authority, and even choice tendencies under hypothetical dilemmas. The male Researcher occasionally inserted a few more abstract questions or those involving value judgments, his tone equally calm.

"If there's something you really want, but taking it would hurt another little creature just like you, what would you do?"

"How does Little Pink view those who are different from you, for example, those who are completely human, or creatures like that big crab?"

"When you're scared, what's the first thing you think of?"

Little Pink mostly answered based on instinct and the simple logic it had heard from Zhao Jinhua. The answers were innocent and straightforward, sometimes even containing childish contradictions, yet they perfectly outlined its pure mental landscape, unstained by complex society.

Zhao Jinhua listened from the side. His mood, which had relaxed slightly because he could communicate with GUPA professionals, gradually became clouded by a faint sense of unease again.

He felt these conversations weren't just pure concern or small talk; every question seemed to hide a hook, gently probing every corner of Little Pink's inner world.

This made him subconsciously want to protect Little Pink more closely, but the other party's identity, their kind attitude, and the fact that these questions superficially had nothing wrong with them—perhaps they were just conducting a necessary psychological assessment or filing?

He could only comfort himself this way.

The vehicle continued to drive smoothly, getting closer and closer to the coastline, and the faint salty scent of the air could already be smelled. Just as Zhao Jinhua was feeling uneasy because of the Researchers' questions, and Little Pink was leaning against the window, trying to be the first to see the ocean—

"Attention! An unidentified vehicle is approaching at high speed! There's an abnormal creature on the roof!" Chen Xing, who had been monitoring the external environment from the passenger seat, suddenly barked, while simultaneously pressing the communication button. "Threat appearing from the rear, non-standard vehicle, carrying a large unidentified creature on the roof, prepare to respond!"

Almost simultaneously, another escort vehicle responsible for the perimeter opened fire as a warning. Bullets struck the hood of the approaching vehicle and the road surface, sending sparks flying.

"They're here already?" Shen Mingyuan's eyes sharpened, and he didn't hesitate for a second. "Cynthia!"

"Understood!" As Cynthia responded, she had already nimbly pulled out a pair of Mechanical Gauntlets with tough lines and the GUPA logo from under her seat, snapping them onto her hands with a click.

Shen Mingyuan instantly completed his Shadow Form donning, his matte black armor particularly striking inside the cabin. He threw open the car door and, while the vehicle was still moving, leaned half his body out. With dual guns in hand, his muzzles were already locked onto the dilapidated sedan accelerating madly from behind—more accurately, locked onto the massive starfish with coiled tentacles and a central cyclopean eye flashing with dark red light on top of the sedan!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Black-red plasma trajectories were the first to intercept, accurately firing at the sedan's tires and engine in an attempt to stall its momentum. The sedan, however, was exceptionally fierce, enduring the bullets as sparks flew from its body, still charging forward and slamming hard into the reinforced rear bumper of the GUPA specialized vehicle!

*Clang!!*

The violent impact sent everyone in the car jolting, but the specialized vehicle remained steady as a rock, only jerking forward slightly. The rear car's structure was severely deformed, and its speed plummeted.

At the moment of impact, the large starfish launched from the roof like a massive, pentagonal dark-red frisbee, accompanied by a slimy whistling sound as it smashed down towards Shen Mingyuan head-on!

At the same time, Cynthia flashed out from the other door, her right fist clad in a Mechanical Gauntlet rising without any flourish. After a short hum of energy charging, she slammed a punch into the side of the offending sedan!

*Thump!!!*

In a dull thud like striking leather, a large dent appeared visibly in the steel plate on the side of the sedan. The entire car was knocked sideways by this massive force, its tires screaming against the ground until it finally stalled completely, sitting paralyzed in the middle of the road and emitting blue smoke.

Shen Mingyuan had already leaped back lightly before the starfish landed, opening up distance while his dual guns continued to fire to drive it back. The starfish seemed cumbersome, but its movements were exceptionally agile; its tentacles waved, actually deflecting or absorbing the force of most of the bullets as it landed steadily on the road, its central eye turning lazily toward Shen Mingyuan.

"You..." Shen Mingyuan's red eyepiece flashed as his memory bank quickly compared data. "You look a bit familiar."

"Of course I'm familiar..." The starfish spoke in a slow, somewhat nonchalant voice, forming a bizarre contrast with its current aggressive entrance.

"Didn't we... meet in that Japanese restaurant? You know, the one with lots of people and bees, it was quite lively... The one you guys caught in the end, that was me."

Shen Mingyuan remembered; it was the Starfish Monster that had been camouflaged in the fish tank of the Japanese restaurant and was eventually heavily injured by Lu Jianchuan's strong electric current.

"But I remember the containment report saying you were electrocuted into an idiot and had been staring blankly at spongebob on a loop in the observation room ever since."

"Please..." A sense of helplessness that said "you just don't get it" seeped into the starfish's voice, which remained slow and deliberate.

"I'm a Colonial organism... As long as one individual escapes, escapes with the core consciousness, I can... well, you could say 'move' into another body prepared in advance. It's just the process is a bit... strange, and the feel of the new body is different.

But the memories are the same, and the way of thinking is about the same... so 'I' am still 'me', right?"

Just then, the door of the wrecked sedan Cynthia had punched to a stop was kicked flying from the inside with a bang, and a familiar figure crawled out—it was the very Hermit Crab whose pincer Shen Mingyuan had injured yesterday before it escaped in a junk car!

However, it had changed its "shell" today to a sedan that looked slightly newer but was equally weathered. Its carapace and metal were fused together in an eerie Fusion, and the horrific hole in its right pincer had been temporarily plugged by a layer of coarse calcium, though it was still a shocking sight.

"It seems our 'old friends' from the New Federation have come to the seaside for a group vacation."

Shen Mingyuan pointed his dual guns at the starfish and the Hermit Crab respectively, his tone calm, but the Battle Intent beneath his red eyepiece surged quietly.

Cynthia also cracked her neck, her Mechanical Gauntlets tightening with a slight pressurizing sound as she stood between the specialized vehicle and the enemies.

"Cut the crap! Today we're definitely taking that pink experimental subject away and crushing you meddling land monkeys!"

The Hermit Crab made an angry shell-grinding sound, waving its injured but still fierce giant pincer as it initiated the attack, charging toward Cynthia. Its new "car shell" scraped against the ground with a piercing noise.

The large starfish still looked unhurried, its thick tentacles writhing to prop up its body as its central eye locked onto Shen Mingyuan. "Sigh, have to stretch my limbs again... what a pain."

While complaining in a lazy tone, it suddenly launched a tentacle like a giant whip tearing through the air, striking toward Shen Mingyuan with a slimy whistling sound. The end of the tentacle abruptly flared open, revealing rows of fine, scalp-numbing teeth within!