327: Crystal Dinosaur Man

Wei Ziqing listened to Xu Yan's twisted logic from the side and finally couldn't help it, bursting into a loud laugh. The laughter echoed through the corridor, filled with undisguised mockery. Immediately after, Lu Jianchuan also let out a low, cold laugh.

Xu Yan's face instantly turned ashen. "What are you laughing at?!"

Lu Jianchuan stopped laughing, his gaze beneath the faceplate piercing Xu Yan like an ice blade. "I'm laughing at how pathetic you are, and even more at how ridiculous you are. To be able to package such naked cruelty and selfishness with such absurd logic, and even think you hold the truth... Anyone even slightly normal could probably see through this self-deceiving trick of yours at a glance!"

Before he finished speaking, Lu Jianchuan's left hand suddenly clenched into a fist. Dazzling silver-white bio-currents instantly crackled, condensed, and compressed atop his knuckles. Without any warning, he shot forward like a round from an electromagnetic railgun, slamming a punch toward Xu Yan! This strike was swift and fierce, clearly intended to completely subdue this core target first.

However, just as the fist was about to reach Xu Yan, a burly figure lunged from the shadows at the side with even greater speed, blocking the way in front of Xu Yan!

BOOM—!!!

A dull, heavy thud resounded, accompanied by the sound of fine crystals shattering. Lu Jianchuan's punch, condensed with bio-electric energy, slammed solidly into a diamond-shaped shield that had suddenly manifested, composed of countless tiny pink crystals. Behind the shield was a tall, humanoid creature covered in thick keratinous scales—it was indeed a Dinosaur Person like those seen before! But this one was different; large, irregular pink crystal clusters that clearly possessed high hardness and energy conduction properties grew from its shoulders, arms, and parts of its chest. The shield from just now had been formed by the instantaneous extension of the arm's crystal clusters.

The massive impact caused the Dinosaur Person to grunt, its feet plowing two shallow furrows into the ground, but it successfully blocked and repelled Lu Jianchuan's surprise punch.

Lu Jianchuan used the force to retreat and dissipate the momentum, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes. Almost at the same moment, Wei Ziqing had already glided past Lu Jianchuan's side like a ghost, his poisoned bone sword turning into a chilling white line as it stabbed directly at the Dinosaur Person's flank, exposed by its block!

The Dinosaur Person reacted extremely quickly, swinging its other arm to intercept, and the pink crystal clusters on that arm surged and thickened once more.

CLANG—CRACK!

A piercing sound of impact rang out. The edge of the bone sword cut deep into the crystal cluster, shearing off a large amount of shattered pink crystal debris, but ultimately failed to penetrate this exceptionally hard defense.

"Humph, let them play with you for a while." Seeing this, Xu Yan let out a cold laugh. Without hesitation, he grabbed the startled Chen Changqing beside him, turned, and retreated rapidly deeper into the corridor.

Simultaneously, two more figures lunged from the shadows. They were also Dinosaur Persons, but their bodies lacked those strange pink crystal clusters. Growling, they pounced on Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing from the left and right, cutting off their pursuit route.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Yan and Chen Changqing's figures disappeared around the corridor corner. Left behind, the three Dinosaur Persons formed a triangular formation, surrounding Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing in the center.

The Dinosaur Person with the pink crystal clusters shook its arm where some crystals had been sheared off. Where the debris had fallen, the crystals actually showed signs of slow regeneration. Along with its two companions, it let out a low, hostile hiss.

Facing the siege of three Dinosaur Persons, Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing needed no communication to instantly divide the labor.

Lu Jianchuan gave a low shout, the power beneath his silver-white armor exploding without reservation. Like a charging bull, he lunged straight for the special Dinosaur Person with the pink crystal clusters. He abandoned fancy techniques; his fists, elbows, shoulders, and knees... his entire body turned into a heavy hammer. Carrying crackling bio-currents, he used the purest strength and speed to rain down punch after punch, violently battering the crystal shield and arms the opponent raised to block!

THUD! CRACK! BOOM—!!

Every dull impact was accompanied by the crisp sound of crystals shattering. Those pink crystals were extremely hard, but under Lu Jianchuan's terrifyingly continuous heavy strikes, they began to constantly crack and peel away.

The Dinosaur Person was not merely defending; its thick tail swept out and its sharp claws tore, occasionally leaving shallow marks on Lu Jianchuan's armor, even forcing him to occasionally dodge or tank the hits.

But Lu Jianchuan's fighting style was extremely aggressive. He often tanked non-lethal attacks in exchange for getting closer and delivering heavier counterattacks, smashing more of the crystals to pieces.

Initially, new crystal clusters tried to sprout and grow quickly at the shattered areas, but the speed of regeneration was clearly unable to keep up with the speed of Lu Jianchuan's destruction.

After several rounds of clashing, the crystal clusters on the Dinosaur Person's arms and shoulders had been smashed to bits, and regeneration had almost stalled. The special substance stored in its body for synthesizing and guiding the crystals was being rapidly consumed.

More importantly, the core that drove the crystal growth—an extremely fine network of extra bone spurs fused with its skin surface—was now damaged and broken in many places under the vibration of the massive force, greatly reducing its control over the crystals.

On the other side, Wei Ziqing moved like a butterfly through flowers, weaving between the two ordinary Dinosaur Persons.

The extreme agility and dynamic vision granted by the Hero Shadow Armor allowed him to always evade attacks by a hair's breadth.

He first precisely parried a bite from the dinosaur on the left with his sword, then used the momentum to spin into a swift back-kick, sending the Dinosaur Person on the right, who was attempting a sneak attack, staggering backward.

Without waiting for the Dinosaur Person on the left to catch its breath, the poisoned bone sword in his hand shot out like a viper's tongue, piercing into the weak spot under its ribs with lightning speed and injecting Neuroparalytic Toxin. With a flick of his wrist, the blade performed a brief internal shredding before being quickly withdrawn.

The Dinosaur Person that was struck instantly became stiff and sluggish.

Wei Ziqing didn't stop for a moment, his figure blurring into afterimages as he evaded the angry claws of the other Dinosaur Person. The bone sword tapped several times on non-lethal areas like its thighs and shoulder blades, each time precisely drawing a spray of blood and injecting a small amount of toxin.

The toxin took effect extremely quickly. Within just a few breaths, the two Dinosaur Persons' limbs became paralyzed and their strength dissipated. With unwilling hisses, they fell heavily to the ground, temporarily losing their combat capability.

At this moment, only the special Dinosaur Person remained in the field, its crystals nearly all smashed away, its body covered in bruises, and gasping for breath.

Seeing its companions fall and its most relied-upon defense and regeneration abilities broken, a fierce light flashed in its eyes. It actually stopped attacking Lu Jianchuan and instead gathered its remaining strength to slam a fist into the seemingly solid concrete load-bearing wall beside it!

RUMBLE!

The wall was smashed open, creating a large hole as dust filled the air. Without hesitation, the Dinosaur Person dove inside, clearly intending to use its familiarity with the building's structure to escape or stall for time.

Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing quickly gathered together.

"Should I chase those two, or will you go, Brother Lu?" Wei Ziqing glanced at the hole in the wall the Dinosaur Person had broken through, then looked toward the direction Xu Yan and Chen Changqing had fled, asking quickly.

Lu Jianchuan didn't hesitate for a second. "This guy with the crystals has strange strength, and the remaining crystals might be trouble; I'll handle it. You go after Xu Yan and Chen Changqing. Make sure to keep an eye on them and intercept if you get the chance! Be careful!"

"Copy that!" Wei Ziqing replied crisply. With a flash of his figure, he turned into a plain white blur, chasing toward the depths of the corridor where Xu Yan and the other had disappeared.

Lu Jianchuan then turned to face the wall hole where the dust had not yet settled. Electric currents faintly surfaced around his body again as he stepped inside.