Chapter 408 - 75: Are You Looking for Me?

The vicious Horned Croc Mutant Beast’s scales shattered, its flesh disintegrating.

Lu Chao strode across the blood-stained water, continuing his advance across its surface.

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!

The scent of blood made the surrounding Mutant Beasts even more bloodthirsty, and they instinctively lunged at him.

The next instant.

"ROAR!!"

The furious roar echoed across the battlefield.

It was like the descent of a Beast King, yet it also carried the divine might of thunder.

Lu Chao had just used the Thunder Sound Skill.

As if encountering their natural predator at the top of the food chain, the seven or eight aquatic Mutant Beasts that had swarmed him froze, their eyes wide with terror.

Then.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!

Lu Chao lowered his stance and unleashed a continuous barrage of punches.

Nearly ten phantom fists shot out within a single breath. The water in a three-to-four-meter radius around him exploded, forming a clear zone with him at its center.

Gore and bone fragments from the obliterated Mutant Beasts rained down from the sky.

He single-handedly held back hundreds of Mutant Beasts, pressing forward as if moving through an empty battlefield.

The aquatic Beast Tide, which should have been spreading uncontrollably, was thus suppressed. On the high-walled fortress, the bearded man breathed a sigh of relief. ’What a powerful expert from the Superpower Bureau,’ he thought.

"This is bad!"

"Commander, look!"

Suddenly, one of his subordinates shouted urgently.

He snapped back to his senses and looked out beyond the high walls at the Red River.

The sound of crashing waves grew louder, drawing ever closer.

More and more aquatic Mutant Beasts appeared, swarming through the river like a plague of locusts. Even from a distance, their shadows could be seen moving beneath the water.

"Damn it!"

The bearded man’s expression turned grim.

Gritting his teeth, he ordered his men to find the breaches in the floodgate and city wall and call for reinforcements. At the same time, he leaped off the wall, alloy battle blade in hand, intending to use the steel pontoons at the river’s mouth to imitate Lu Chao and try to hold back a wave.

In the blink of an eye, cannons began to roar. The muffled booms of torpedo explosions erupted from within the Red River.

Crimson blood slowly stained the river. Passersby, both in the buffer zone and near the port, noticed something was amiss and stopped in their tracks to watch.

Meanwhile.

’Something’s not right.’

BOOM!

Three Black Python Water Snakes exploded, scattering a mist of blood across the river’s surface.

Lu Chao narrowed his eyes, abruptly stopping to look back.

The river was over a hundred meters wide. A number of Mutant Beasts had gotten past his blockade, swimming along the banks on either side.

Amid the crackle of gunfire, Gao Hu and the nearby City Guard Army patrols opened fire, but to little effect. After penetrating the water, the small- and medium-caliber bullets lacked the force to cause any real damage.

However, the Mutant Beasts made no attempt to come ashore, attack the bystanders, or retaliate against Gao Hu’s group.

Instead, they continued swimming, heading straight for a specific destination.

Seeing this, Lu Chao’s mind raced.

He glanced back toward the high-walled floodgate.

With the constant bombardment from torpedoes and cannons, fewer and fewer aquatic Mutant Beasts were pouring into the city. He no longer needed to stay here.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Chao sank to the riverbed. He moved through the water with the grace of a swimming dragon, using the current to follow the Mutant Beasts.

A hundred meters, five hundred meters, a thousand meters...

The gunfire on the shore grew more and more distant.

Lu Chao suddenly realized that not a single Mutant Beast was attacking him.

In fact, the farther they got from the high wall, the more crimson their eyes became. It was as if some specific desire had been ignited within them, driving them forward with a greedy, desperate urgency. They didn’t want to stop for a single moment.

’Strange...’

Frowning, Lu Chao grew increasingly wary.

It was daytime. Sunlight penetrated the water, refracting into dappled patterns of light that dispelled some of the underwater darkness.

He swam past stalks of seaweed. The submerged river embankment was covered in green moss.

The figures of hundreds of Mutant Beasts churned the water, their eyes crimson, as they rushed excitedly toward the same destination.

Faintly, Lu Chao detected a strange, sinister chill in the water.

At the same time, it felt vaguely familiar.

After he had followed them for nearly two kilometers.

"Hm?"

His Life Sensing suddenly picked up on something—he had discovered a Superpower Level aura.

It felt like the Peak of Limit-Breaking.

Yet it also had the feel of the Exploration Level.

It was weak, as if its owner were severely injured.

And that familiar, sinister feeling was now magnified, chilling Lu Chao to the core.

...

VMMMM!!

At the bottom of the river, by the embankment.

An eerie green energy barrier held back the current. Inside, a black-robed figure sat cross-legged, floating above the riverbed.

Streaks of blood-red light converged in the sand and silt below, forming a strange circular pattern that seemed to depict some kind of Mutant Beast.

A blood-red Magic Crystal Stone floated before him, continuously emitting a hazy, sinister red light.

The surrounding river water seemed to be affected by it. Wisps of red mist seeped into the current, spreading out into the distance.

’Biotechnology...’

He muttered, his gaze cold. His entire face was shrouded by the black hood.

’To think I was injured so badly.’

On top of that, the Superpower Bureau and the patrol teams had a firm grip on this city, severely limiting the God-Worshiping Church’s room to operate.

The blood of ordinary people was useless for his ritual, but targeting the strong was too conspicuous and would easily expose him.

In contrast, only the aquatic Mutant Beasts could help him perform a blood sacrifice to heal and quickly return to his peak condition.

"Hm?"

His eyes narrowed.

The Mutant Beasts he was luring had yet to appear. He had to expend more Magic Power to expand the radiant effect of the bait Crystal Stone.

Gradually, a chill crept into his heart.

It was a magical blessing from the Demon God, an instinct that only triggered when he faced a life-threatening crisis.

’Have I been discovered?’

The thought flashed through his mind, but he still felt something was off.

’Logically speaking, my methods shouldn’t have been exposed so easily.’

But the intuition that had helped him avoid death many times was growing stronger. The black-robed man made an instant decision. He hurriedly put away the sinister red Crystal Stone and prepared to leave.

SPLASH!

Just then, aquatic Mutant Beasts began to swim over one by one, their movements stirring up the water and kicking up clouds of sand from the riverbed.

Giant Frog Creatures, Horned Croc Mutant Beasts, Tiger-Headed Fish Beasts... all of them stared at him with excited, crimson eyes. Or more accurately, they were staring at the red Crystal Stone in his hand.

Seeing this, the black-robed man’s eyes shifted, and he uttered a single syllable.

An invisible red wave pulsed outward from him, a magical detection scan sweeping the area.

’No one?’

He frowned slightly, yet the chill in his heart grew even stronger.

The next instant.

"Are you looking for me?"

A deep voice echoed around him.

The black-robed man’s pupils contracted as his peripheral vision caught sight of something behind him.

A figure standing on the river sand had moved with incredible speed, surpassing both his dynamic vision and his magical detection to appear behind him in an instant.

His muscles bulged, with thick veins writhing across them like serpents.

The sound of popping joints and stretching sinews came from the other man’s body as his figure shot up to two meters in height. A brown Qi Flame merged with a faint golden light, forming an invisible aura that forced the surrounding water away.

"You..."

BAM!!

Lu Chao’s fist slammed into the man’s chest!

His arm, sheathed in the rock-like brown Qi Flame, pierced through everything. It tore through the Energy Light Shield on the man’s body and punched through all flesh and bone.

The water on both sides of the strike was compressed by the violent, immense force, creating a near-vacuum.

A cone-shaped vacuum formed behind the black-robed man. Several meters away, the water erupted, and the sand beneath his feet blasted outward in a stormy cloud.

Amidst a series of muffled thuds...

The mindless Mutant Beasts that drew near were blown to pieces, killed by the aftershock.

The circular shockwave kicked up a massive splash, not dissipating until it was more than ten meters away.

As a mist of blood drifted into the current, the black-robed man stared wide-eyed at Lu Chao in utter disbelief. His gaze was fixed on the man’s massive, giant-like frame, and on the arm and fist that had punched through his chest.

’A heavily injured Exploration Level...’

A panel appeared before Lu Chao’s eyes.

[Carbon-based Human (Corrupted)]

[Life Energy: 181 (Severe Injuries)]

[Edible Effect: A carbon-based human who believes in a High-Dimensional Demon God and has received a magical blessing, mastering a variety of intermediate and advanced Magic. Consuming their flesh and blood will plant a seed of corruption...]

Most of the information was identical to that of the God-Worshiping Church members he had killed before.

Without a doubt, this was a heavily injured Exploration Level Mage.

"You..."

The black-robed man opened his mouth, as if wanting to struggle.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Chao glimpsed the burning magic scroll in the man’s hand, as well as the blood-red Crystal Stone that his intuition found incredibly alluring.

"It’s over."

BOOM!!