Chapter 531: Enter The Tunnel

"No," Lu Zhen replied.

Lu Tao frowned. "You do not even know what I was going to offer."

"You were going to offer to enter a tunnel filled with digestive fluid and fight a monster capable of eating a building."

"I might have been planning to help rescue the people under the command centre."

Lu Zhen looked at him.

Lu Tao avoided his brother’s gaze. "Alright, I was going to enter the tunnel."

"You will remain here and help Commander Han find the beacon’s exact position."

Lu Tao wanted to protest, but Leng Pan placed the alien communicator in his hands. "We need someone we can trust to watch the signal. If the beacon starts moving, tell us immediately."

Realizing that the task was important, Lu Tao stopped arguing. "Fine, but if the creature swallows either of you, I am going to tell Mother that this was Brother’s plan."

Lu Zhen gave him a calm look. "If that happens, you might need to find a safer distance before telling her."

Lu Tao thought of his mother’s temper and nodded seriously. "That is reasonable."

Leng Pan, Lu Zhen, and Little Vine approached the collapsed section of the road.

The burrowing creature had already disappeared beneath the command centre. Only the rear half of its armored body remained visible as it pushed deeper into the ground.

Leng Pan gathered water around herself and Lu Zhen. The clear barrier formed a sphere that kept the gray liquid away from them as they entered the tunnel.

Little Vine rested on Leng Pan’s shoulder. Its leaves had become duller after consuming the microscopic machines, but the plant still refused to return to her space.

"You should tell me if you cannot continue," Leng Pan whispered as she touched one of its leaves.

Little Vine rubbed against her cheek.

Lu Zhen glanced at the plant and said, "Do not encourage it to be stubborn. One stubborn person in our family is already enough."

Leng Pan turned toward him. "Are you talking about yourself?"

"I was talking about the plant."

"Little Vine learned from someone."

Lu Zhen decided not to ask who she meant.

They continued through the tunnel.

The air became hotter as they moved deeper. Gray liquid dripped from the walls, but Leng Pan’s barrier pushed it away before it could touch them.

Ahead, the creature’s armored body filled most of the passage.

Each plate was wider than a vehicle.

Lu Zhen raised his hand, and a concentrated flame appeared above his palm. Instead of releasing it immediately, he compressed the fire until it became a thin white line.

"I will open one of the joints," he said. "Once the armor separates, send water inside."

Leng Pan looked at the digestive fluid surrounding the creature. "Would water harm it?"

"Not ordinary water. Increase the pressure."

She understood his plan.

Lu Zhen released the flame.

The white line struck the gap between two armored plates. The creature’s outer shell blackened but did not break.

A furious roar travelled through the tunnel.

The creature threw its body from side to side, causing the walls to shake.

Leng Pan widened the water barrier around them just as several pieces of rock fell from above.

"Your fire irritated it," she said.

"That was also useful."

"How?"

"It stopped digging."

The creature bent its body and attempted to turn around.

The tunnel was too narrow, but its armored plates began folding over one another as it forced its head backward.

Leng Pan saw its circular mouth appearing from beneath the body.

Rows of teeth moved separately as the creature opened its jaws.

Lu Zhen stared at it for a moment before admitting, "I did not expect it to bend like that."

Leng Pan quickly pulled him aside as the creature snapped at the place where they had been standing. "You should make your observations from farther away."

She compressed the water surrounding them and shot it into the creature’s mouth.

The pressurized stream struck the soft tissue inside.

The creature recoiled.

Little Vine jumped from Leng Pan’s shoulder and sent several tendrils toward the opening between its armored plates. The tendrils entered the gap before expanding.

The creature’s roar became louder.

Two plates separated slightly.

Lu Zhen sent his compressed flame into the exposed flesh.

The creature slammed its body against the tunnel wall. Little Vine was thrown away, but Leng Pan caught it with a ribbon of water before it could land in the digestive fluid.

"Again," Lu Zhen said.

This time, Leng Pan attacked first.

Several streams of water struck the same joint. The repeated pressure widened the damaged area while Little Vine forced its roots inside.

Lu Zhen’s flames followed the roots.

The smell of burned flesh spread through the tunnel.

The creature abandoned its attempt to reach the beacon and began retreating toward the surface.

Lu Tao’s voice came through the communicator. "The signal is moving."

Leng Pan’s heart tightened. "Did it reach the beacon?"

"No. The signal is moving away from the command centre toward the western wall."

Lu Zhen frowned. "Someone else has the beacon."

Above them, Commander Han heard the same report. "Search every person leaving the command centre area. No one should approach the western gate."

Ouyang Jin’s voice came through next. "We have another problem. Some of the affected survivors have started moving again."

"The amplifiers were destroyed," Leng Pan said.

"The signal is coming from one person among them," Ouyang Jin replied. "The controller must have transferred to another carrier."

The creature charged through the tunnel while Leng Pan and Lu Zhen followed it.

Its movements caused more sections of the ground to collapse.

As they approached the surface, human screams mixed with the creature’s roar.

Leng Pan increased her speed.

The creature burst through the road near the command centre and raised its head above the surrounding buildings.

Soldiers attacked it with guns and abilities, but most of their attacks bounced off its armor.

Lu Zhen and Leng Pan emerged from the tunnel behind it.

"Move away from its head!" Leng Pan shouted.

The creature opened its mouth.

A gray liquid sprayed across the street.

Leng Pan raised a water wall before the liquid could reach the soldiers. The two substances collided, and an unpleasant smoke spread across the area.

Several soldiers began coughing.

"Do not breathe it!" the alien prisoner shouted from a vehicle farther away. "The vapor could damage your lungs."

Janna reacted immediately and sent a strong wind through the street, pushing the smoke above the buildings.

Blaze lifted a broken section of concrete and threw it into the creature’s mouth.

The creature crushed the concrete, but the interruption gave Silk enough time to wrap hundreds of threads around its head.

"Pull!" she shouted.

Several strength ability users grabbed the threads and helped her force the creature’s mouth toward the ground.

Lu Zhen released a stream of fire into the damaged joint on its back.

The flames spread beneath its armor.

The creature’s body twisted violently.

Little Vine grew around the exposed section, pushing its roots deeper until black liquid flowed from the wound.

With the creature restrained, Leng Pan compressed a large amount of water above its head.

The water changed into a narrow spinning spear before piercing the softer tissue inside its mouth.

The creature’s roar stopped.

Its enormous body struck the ground, shaking the nearby buildings before finally becoming still.

No one celebrated.

The alien communicator in Lu Tao’s hands continued flashing.

"The beacon is still moving toward the western wall," he warned. "It is less than three hundred meters from the gate."

Commander Han looked around the chaotic street. Soldiers, rescued workers, and frightened survivors were moving in every direction.

"Who is carrying it?" he demanded.

Lu Tao adjusted the scanner. "The signal is inside the group of affected survivors."

Ouyang Jin had trapped more than two hundred of them behind several metal barriers. Most remained unconscious, but around thirty were standing in the centre.

One of them held a crying infant against her chest.

Another was an elderly man who could barely stand.

Several were children.

Leng Pan looked at the alien prisoner. "Can the beacon be placed inside a human body?"

The prisoner lowered his gaze. "Yes."

Commander Han’s expression became cold. "How do we find it without hurting them?"

Before the prisoner could answer, a long howl came from the eastern side of the base.

Shade appeared on the roof of a nearby building.

Captain Wei was seated unsteadily behind him, one hand gripping the wolf’s fur.

Lu Hao followed them in a flash of electricity. "He said he could identify the next carrier."

Captain Wei’s face was almost gray, but he forced himself to look at the affected survivors. The device connected to the back of his head flashed as he sensed the network.

One by one, the standing survivors turned toward him.

Captain Wei raised a trembling hand and pointed at the woman holding the infant.

Commander Han stared at her. "Is she the carrier?"

"No," Captain Wei replied weakly. "The child is."

The woman looked down at the baby in her arms.

The infant had stopped crying.

When its eyes opened again, a cold silver light had replaced their natural color.

The alien communicator released a sharp alarm.

[BEACON MERGING WITH HOST.]

[TRANSPORT VESSEL LOCK ESTABLISHED.]

High above Qinghe Base, the clouds began turning in a slow circle.

Something enormous was descending through them.