287: The recollection ends.

Having understood the opponent's fatal flaw, Wei Ziqing felt a sense of certainty. Holding his breath, he began to move inch by inch out of the shadows where he was hiding, at a speed so slow it was almost imperceptible.

His movements were extremely subtle, like a slow-motion shot, ensuring that the movement speed of any part of his body remained below the capture threshold of the opponent's dynamic vision.

The silver-white figure was still moving and pacing slightly anxiously within a small area in the center of the room. The light from its deep blue goggles swept back and forth, yet it remained oblivious to the plain white figure approaching at a snail's pace.

Wei Ziqing was extremely patient. When the opponent turned its head and the light from the goggles was about to sweep over his direction, he immediately became completely still, blending into the shadows of the overturned tabletops and walls. Once that "gaze" moved away, he continued his agonizingly slow approach.

One step, then another.

The distance closed in silence. Wei Ziqing could even see the fine textures on the opponent's smooth carapace and the small wound on its waist that he had previously inflicted, which had now stopped oozing fluid.

Close enough.

Wei Ziqing slowly raised his right hand holding the bone sword, his movements as slow as solidified amber.

The tip of the sword moved bit by bit toward a gap in the opponent's armor—an imperceptible weak point at the junction of the shoulder blade and upper arm.

There was no sound of breaking wind, no energy fluctuations, only the purest, slowest physical approach.

Until the tip of the sword was only a finger's breadth away from the silver-white carapace!

Now!

A sharp light burst from Wei Ziqing's eyes as his entire body's strength and speed exploded in an instant! The slowly advancing bone sword suddenly turned into a streak of white lightning that tore through the air, thrusting fiercely toward the targeted gap with enough force to pierce through metal and stone!

"Puchi!"

Despite the opponent's extremely hard carapace, the bone sword's sharpness combined with Wei Ziqing's concentrated explosive power and a precise hit on the weakest joint allowed the tip to successfully penetrate!

A dark, foul-smelling fluid splashed from the wound.

"Hiss—!" For the first time, a high-pitched, sharp, inhuman hiss erupted from the silver-white figure! Its wounded body jerked violently, and the light from its deep blue goggles flickered intensely!

Despite being stabbed, its terrifying reaction speed and athletic ability remained!

The moment the bone sword entered its body, it twisted. Its wounded left arm bent at an impossible angle to avoid the blade sinking deeper, while its right fist, trailing afterimages, slammed into Wei Ziqing's chest!

"Bang!"

Wei Ziqing was sent flying back like a cannonball again, crashing heavily into an instrument rack behind him as the metal groaned and twisted. A sweet taste filled his throat, and he forced down the rising blood, but a cold curve tugged at the corner of his mouth.

He knew. This strike had not only wounded it but also confirmed the effectiveness of his tactic.

The silver-white figure pulled out the bone sword and tossed it aside; the wound squirmed as if it were self-healing.

It was clearly enraged. Its deep blue goggles flickered wildly as it began to move and collide around the room even more violently at high speed, attempting to flush out the hidden enemy or simply crush them through this indiscriminate method!

For a moment, the room was filled with its flickering afterimages and the sounds of destruction.

A moment before it launched its indiscriminate rampage, Wei Ziqing had already made a decision.

He suddenly overturned a storage bin nearby, causing a massive amount of experimental record papers and buffer foam scraps to explode outward like scattered flowers. Simultaneously, he rolled to the side and immediately curled up behind a large centrifuge, becoming completely motionless.

The drifting paper scraps and foam slowly fell and rolled through the air, providing a vast amount of irregular "dynamic background noise." Meanwhile, the completely still Wei Ziqing "disappeared" once again from the perception of the opponent, who relied on extreme dynamic vision.

The silver-white figure darted and crashed futilely among the drifting paper scraps, several times even grazing the centrifuge. The resulting wind ruffled the hem of Wei Ziqing's clothes, yet it remained unable to lock onto the stationary target.

It stopped in one spot, its deep blue goggles flickering rapidly, seemingly caught in some primal confusion and frustration.

It began to rampage through the room even more frantically and irregularly, no longer seeking precision but instead using speed and power to cover a larger area, hoping to hit the target by luck.

"Thump! Crash!"

A cabinet was smashed to pieces.

"Bang!"

Another dent appeared in the wall.

Wei Ziqing pressed himself against the cold metal shell of the centrifuge. Before each impact that might affect him, he used the sound of the wind and his intuition to slightly adjust his curled position, enduring several violent scrapes and shocks with the centrifuge's heavy base and the thickest parts of his own armor.

Every impact made his blood churn and his armor groan, but he gritted his teeth, deathly suppressing all muscle tremors and sounds caused by the pain, as if he had truly turned into a piece of lifeless metal.

The frantic, aimless rampaging continued for a while. Hardly anything in the room remained intact.

Finally, the silver-white figure stopped. Its deep blue goggles slowly swept over the space—now a complete ruin filled with drifting dust and debris—one last time, as if finally "confirming" that the target had escaped or was completely buried somewhere under the rubble.

Without further delay, its body blurred, turning into a silver line almost impossible for the naked eye to track. In an instant, it darted out of the open door of the analysis room toward the outer corridor—

More accurately, it sped toward the direction of Dr. Chen Ruian's secret room at that uncatchable speed, vanishing into the depths of the hallway in the blink of an eye.

In the ruins, behind the centrifuge, Wei Ziqing waited silently for another dozen seconds. Once he confirmed that the faint sound of air movement from the high-speed travel had completely faded, he slowly and very carefully exhaled a breath of turbid air mixed with blood and moved out from his hiding spot.

He glanced in the direction the opponent had disappeared, then at the messy battlefield and the empty scabbard in his hand—the bone sword had been carried away, still lodged in the opponent's body. He quickly steadied his breathing and the churning blood within him.

Enduring the pain, Wei Ziqing quickly chased out of the analysis room and hurried along the passage toward the secret room. The metal door to the secret room was wide open, and he entered cautiously on guard.

The first thing that caught his eye was his own bone sword lying on the floor, its blade still stained with a bit of dark fluid. He immediately looked up and ahead.

The interior of the secret room was more like a storage room, filled with many containers. The slender, silver-white figure was currently curled up between several broken large storage tanks. It wasn't treating its wounds or attempting a pursuit as Wei Ziqing had expected; instead, it had its head buried in the opening of a ruptured tank, its shoulders twitching slightly as it made rapid, faint sucking sounds. A large amount of translucent, slightly viscous pale green liquid was being swallowed quickly, dripping down its smooth jaw.

'nutrient solution... Is it urgently replenishing energy? Is it because the high-speed metabolism consumes too much, or is it needed for repair after being injured?' Wei Ziqing understood instantly.

But soon, the rapid sucking movements began to grow messy and weak. The silver-white figure's body swayed a few times as it tried to push itself up, but its arms gave way, and its entire frame fell sideways to the ground with a "thud", curling up and twitching slightly. The light from the deep blue goggles flickered rapidly and erratically.

Wei Ziqing immediately understood the reason: the toxin had taken effect. The Neuroparalytic Toxin on the bone sword had been injected into its body through the wound. Although it might have a stronger ability to break down toxins due to its high-speed metabolism, it was not immune. Replenishing a large amount of fluid might have accelerated its circulation, instead delivering the toxin to its entire body more quickly.

He stepped forward slowly and cautiously picked up the bone sword from the floor. The hilt felt cold in his hand, and the toxin on the blade was still effective. He looked at the enemy on the ground, which was still twitching slightly and trying to struggle but unable to coordinate its movements, thinking to himself: 'With such a fast metabolism, its breakdown and tolerance of toxins should also be relatively strong. The amount injected earlier might not be enough to subdue it for long.'

Thinking this, he no longer hesitated. Taking advantage of the opponent's severely slowed movement and greatly reduced defense due to the toxin, Wei Ziqing flicked his wrist. The bone sword turned into several precise and swift cold flashes, not aiming for fatal wounds but specifically stabbing and slashing at the joint connections and near the previously inflicted wound!

"Chirr! Chirr! Chirr!"

Each strike brought forth a small spray of dark fluid and directly injected more, more concentrated Neuroparalytic Toxin into its circulatory System.

The opponent's body trembled violently with every entry of the blade. It tried to resist or dodge, but the nerves affected by the toxin could not effectively drive that terrifying speed, making its movements soft and sluggish.

Until the opponent completely stopped struggling, only the light from the deep blue goggles still alternated between light and dark extremely slowly and faintly, indicating that its life had not ended, but its consciousness and body were completely imprisoned by the potent toxin.

Only then did Wei Ziqing stop, panting slightly. He carefully inspected the opponent's condition, confirming that it would absolutely not pose a threat again in the short term.

Then, without further delay, he turned and quickly left the secret room, which was filled with the sweet, fishy smell of nutrient solution and the faint scent of toxin, following the passage Lu Jianchuan and the others had taken.

[End of Wei Ziqing's memory segment]