The tentacles retracted quickly, and Xu Yin could almost only rely on the sharp screams of the child and the rustling of leaves and branches to judge the direction as he swiftly followed.
After dashing through a forest, leaping over a small stream, and descending a hill, the chase ended within minutes.
Xu Yin stopped in front of a small cave.
It was summer in this region of the planet, with scorching temperatures reaching over thirty degrees Celsius.
Yet, standing at the entrance of the cave, Xu Yin could feel bursts of cool air brushing against his face.
The cave was pitch black inside, and its size was impossible to determine from the outside.
However, as soon as they arrived here, the child’s cries abruptly ceased, and everything fell silent.
Out of nowhere, 018 popped up with a comment: “Damn, this cave feels way too creepy!”
Xu Yin chuckled in surprise, “You’re afraid of this kind of thing?”
018: “…”
Avoiding the question tactfully, 018 sheepishly said, “There must be a beast inside.”
Indeed, the tentacles belonged to a beast—there was no doubt about it.
Typically, an adult evolutionary beast was as large as a standard mecha. It was somewhat unrealistic for a single person to engage in direct combat with one. However, humans who had pushed their bodies to the limit through rigorous training and countless battles could still manage it—people like Huo Lingqi or Xiao Jiu, for example.
As for Xu Yin…
Not to mention that his strength had already earned the recognition of those soldiers, he also had his abilities and the shop system, so he had absolutely nothing to fear.
With complete composure, Xu Yin took a step forward and walked into the cave.
In the bushes not far behind him, watching Xu Yin calmly walk into the cave like that, Xue Yuanqing felt a strange sense of being choked.
…Although Xu Yin walking in was essentially delivering himself into a trap, and he should be happy about it, Xu Yin’s unwavering calmness, without a trace of panic or tension, left Xue Yuanqing inexplicably disappointed and annoyed.
Fine, no matter how much he pretended to be calm now, he wouldn’t be able to keep it up later. Did Xu Yin really think he could take on a beast by himself?
Xue Yuanqing curled his lips into a sneer, his gaze mocking.
He just wondered how the mutated beast planned to deal with him.
Xue Yuanqing slowly wiped the smirk off his face, thought for a moment, then stood up and stepped out of the bushes to follow him further in.
…
As soon as he entered the cave, the temperature seemed to drop by a full ten degrees, causing Xue Yuanqing to shiver slightly.
He rubbed his arms and carefully crept past a short stretch of the entrance before quickly seeing a larger open space ahead.
…It really was impressive how these beasts managed to find a place like this.
Xue Yuanqing muttered inwardly.
The high ceiling of the cave had a gaping hole, allowing a faint stream of sunlight to spill in. The weak light barely illuminated the vast cavern, providing a faint view of its interior.
As Xue Yuanqing’s eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light, he took a closer look… and was completely stunned.
The scene inside the cave was utterly beyond his comprehension.
Not far in front of him, Xu Yin stood calmly, surveying the surroundings with a raised eyebrow.
The cave was lined with about a dozen people standing against the stone walls.
Each of them maintained the same eerie posture: necks slightly tilted forward, arms hanging loosely at their sides, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on Xu Yin. Their lips were curled into unsettling, unnatural smiles, sending chills down the spine.[mfn]TL: D*mn! What kind of uncanny valley is this!? What’s going on!?[/mfn]
In the center of the cave, there was a stone platform.
Lying atop it was a massive evolutionary beast. Its enormous tentacles swayed lazily in the air, two of them tightly wrapping around the small child from earlier, holding him in front of its body.
The child lay slumped on the platform, seemingly petrified with fear. His lips were pressed tightly together, his eyes wide open, and his body stiff as a board, as if he had been turned to stone.
The head of the beast was black, streaked with occasional golden spots.
It’s a beast king.
Xue Yuanqing’s face froze in shock.
What was going on with those people?! And how could there be a beast king here?!
They had repeatedly warned the beasts to act discreetly and cautiously. Ignoring those warnings and secretly stationing their kin on a planet in this star system was one thing—but hiding a beast king here?
Were they insane? Did they not think beast kings had already died enough?!
Xue Yuanqing had always known that evolutionary beasts were reckless and extreme creatures, but even he was taken aback by the audacity and madness they displayed now.
At that moment, the group of people standing against the cave walls suddenly spoke in unison, their voices hollow and eerie:
“Go over.”
“You go over,” they repeated, their eyes fixed maliciously on Xu Yin, “and the child can leave.”
It was an exchange—they wanted Xu Yin in exchange for the child.
Xu Yin smiled.
He glanced at the child on the stone platform.
The child’s wide, tear-filled eyes looked utterly pitiful. Quiet as a quail, he stared at Xu Yin with a mixture of despair and terror—completely devoid of the unruly attitude he had displayed earlier.
Xu Yin tilted his head slightly and took a step forward.
The people around him murmured in unison, “Yes, forward, walk closer.”
Their unblinking eyes stayed locked on Xu Yin, and their eerie smiles stretched wider and wider.[mfn]TL: 💀[/mfn]
Under their watchful gazes, in the midst of this bizarre and chilling atmosphere, Xu Yin walked forward step by step, his expression calm, his eyes filled with curiosity, until he stood directly before the beast king.
The beast king seemed to grow excited.
Its long tentacles flail wildly in the air, one by one quickly winding around to Xu Yin’s back. They appeared intent on fully encasing him, wrapping Xu Yin and its massive head together into a cocoon.
Not far away, Xue Yuanqing clenched his fist and pressed it against his lips, holding his breath. He had no idea what the beast king was planning to do.
But just as the beast released the child and the final tentacle was about to wrap around Xu Yin, he suddenly spoke.
Looking at the beast intently, Xu Yin mused aloud, “Did you eat those humans to take on their appearance? Or did you simply copy their looks while keeping them alive, hidden away somewhere?”
The beast’s tentacles suddenly froze.
The expressions of the people around it also stiffened.
Not far away, Xue Yuanqing was utterly baffled: “…???”
Xu Yin pondered for a moment, narrowing his eyes. “Ah, even if it’s the latter, I doubt you’d be kind enough to keep those humans alive, right?”
As he spoke, he extended a hand and pressed it directly onto the beast’s head.
The king beast: “…???”
Xu Yin: “It seems you’ve evolved an exceptionally disgusting ability.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a layer of frost spread from his palm.
…
Since Xu Yin was almost entirely encased in the tentacles, Xue Yuanqing couldn’t see what he was doing.
He could only hear Xu Yin’s calm words, which left him completely dumbfounded. Suddenly, the beast king let out a piercing shriek.
Its tentacles tightened abruptly, as if abandoning its original plan to cocoon Xu Yin and instead deciding to strangle him outright—only for them to shatter in an instant…
Shatter into pieces?!
Like ice, all the tentacles fell to the ground and broke into fragments?!
In an instant, even the people—or rather, the things—in the cave seemed to be stunned.
Xue Yuanqing rubbed his eyes furiously, only to see the beast king, now with most of its tentacles severed, frantically leap off the stone platform. It writhed and struggled on the ground, desperately trying to escape.
Its head seemed to have partially shattered as well, spraying blue blood across the cave floor!
Meanwhile, Xu Yin stood there unharmed. He even calmly turned around, drew a gun from his waist, and aimed it single-handedly at the beast’s remaining head with an indifferent expression.
At the same time, the child finally snapped out of his daze. Screaming, he scrambled to his feet and bolted toward the cave entrance!
The people in the cave also reacted, shouting in anger and panic, “Your Majesty!”
Xu Yin’s eyes snapped up, locking onto them—or rather, onto what they really were.
The next moment, they all simultaneously threw their heads back, emitting guttural wails. With a series of sickening cracks, tentacles burst out of their bodies, one after another, ripping through their clothing and wildly writhing in the air.
Their torsos and heads fused grotesquely, swelling into bulbous shapes that became the enormous heads of evolutionary beasts!
Each of these “people” transformed into massive evolutionary beasts on the spot!
Xue Yuanqing was so terrified that he fell to the ground, sitting in a daze as the enormous beasts jostled and squeezed against each other, the sheer pressure causing the cave walls to crack apart.
The entire structure began to collapse—stones and soil from the cave ceiling rained down in a thunderous roar!
The entire cave collapsed, and the dozen massive beasts, furious and vengeful, lunged at Xu Yin like an overwhelming tidal wave aiming to devour a single grain of sand!
Xu Yin had no choice but to temporarily let the beast king go. Remaining composed, he dodged the flailing tentacles and unleashed his powers again, freezing a large portion of them mid-air.
He fired his gun with precision, each shot striking its target. A few bullets pierced the heads and eyes of several beasts!
The beasts shrieked in pain; some toppled over, while others lunged forward in a chaotic frenzy. The scene turned into utter mayhem.
On the ground, the beast king—its tentacles severed and half its head shattered—wailed in agony. It rolled and struggled feebly, barely clinging to life.
Suddenly, a tree, destabilized by the chaos, began to fall toward Xue Yuanqing. Startled, he cried out and scrambled to avoid it.
At that moment, the beast king’s rolling eyes landed on Xue Yuanqing.
With a burst of desperate energy, it leaped!
Xue Yuanqing barely had time to react. All he saw was a shadow descending over him before the beast king pounced, pinning him to the ground.
“Ugh!” Xue Yuanqing gasped.
Having just witnessed the transformation of those people into beasts, Xue Yuanqing finally pieced it all together. He now understood what the beasts had planned to do with Xu Yin—and how they had managed to infiltrate these planets in the first place.
The beasts had evolved a terrifying new ability—to replicate human appearances!
Xue Yuanqing’s heart sank with an overwhelming sense of dread. Struggling against the immense weight of the beast king’s massive head pressing him down, he shouted in panic, “What are you doing? Look at me, I’m Xue Yuanqing! What do you think you’re doing to me?!”
Suddenly, several thin tentacles sprouted from the beast king’s head—something Xue Yuanqing had never seen before. It didn’t take much imagination to realize these new appendages were likely the organs responsible for their newly evolved ability.
Panic-stricken, Xue Yuanqing’s face turned pale as he desperately tried to wriggle free from under the beast. “What are you doing to me?! Let me go! Aren’t you supposed to deal with Xu Yin?! Do you have any idea what consequences there will be if you do this to me?!—mmpff!”
The thin tentacles snaked around, curling behind him to silence him, blocking his mouth completely.[mfn]TL: Eww—[/mfn]
Xue Yuanqing’s eyes widened in terror.
The beast king shifted its body again, pressing him firmly against the ground. Then, it stilled, as if beginning some kind of sinister process.
Meanwhile, Xu Yin continued his relentless battle, wielding both his powers and his firearm. When his bullets were exhausted, he calmly retrieved a blade from his storage and began hacking through the remaining beasts. After a ferocious struggle, more than half of them were finally felled.
Just as he prepared to face the last two beasts, a black mecha suddenly descended from above. With a blindingly fast motion, it extended a pair of arm blades and sliced through the final two beasts, severing them cleanly in half.
The sheer speed of the strike left an afterimage, too quick for the human eye to follow.
Xu Yin turned to face the unexpected reinforcement, eyes narrowing in curiosity.
The black mecha flipped upward smoothly, decelerating as it descended, and landed gracefully in front of Xu Yin.
Xu Yin exhaled softly, relieved. He tucked his blade back into his storage space and cleared his throat.
Huo Lingqi and his team had received reports from the soldiers and entered this star system earlier. Fortunately, they had arrived just in time.
Huo Lingqi leaped out of the mecha’s cockpit, using the mecha’s arm to land on the ground. He frowned as he hurried toward Xu Yin. “Are you okay?”
He hadn’t paid any attention to how Xu Yin had just fought off the beasts; his only concern was checking Xu Yin for injuries.
“The situation was a bit unexpected, but I’m fine,” Xu Yin reassured him before glancing toward a spot not far away. “It’s just…”
Not far away, two people lay face-down on the ground.
Both were completely naked, their bodies covered in a sticky substance.
At that moment, both of them stirred and began to push themselves off the ground, slowly getting up.
One of them was the first to notice the chill on his skin. Looking down, he exclaimed in shock, “Where are my clothes?!”
He seemed to recall what had happened moments before and abruptly looked up, only to see someone beside him—someone who looked exactly like him.
He was stunned.
The person who looked exactly like him was now watching him warily, glancing between Xu Yin and Huo Lingqi in the distance. His eyes flicked around before he hugged himself tightly, crying out in panic, “Where are my clothes?!”
Xue Yuanqing: “…?”
The person who looked exactly like him, after shouting, shuddered and moved a little farther away, stammering, “Y-you… who are you? Why do you look exactly like me?”
Xue Yuanqing: “?????”
Just over ten minutes earlier, outside the forest.
The soldier who had stayed behind to send the message waited anxiously, and soon, his companions arrived.
They had planned to carry the unconscious woman away first, but just as they approached, the woman suddenly woke up, screaming and struggling, “Where’s Minmin? What did you do with Minmin?!”
She shoved them away and wildly lunged forward, shouting, “Is it you?! The beasts appeared right after you showed up! You’re all a bunch of troublemakers! Give me back Minmin! Give me back Minmin!”
Her screams quickly attracted the attention of nearby residents, who gathered around, pointing and murmuring.
“Are they stealing children now?”
“I told you these people aren’t good!”
“These war maniacs bring disaster wherever they go!”
“They were even protecting a criminal just now!”
Seeing that things were escalating and they might not be able to get away anytime soon, several soldiers scowled and spoke in a deep voice, “Everyone step aside! Don’t interfere with our work!”
“What kind of attitude is that?!”
“Yeah, where did you take her son? What did you do with him?”
“Where are you planning to go?”
[mfn]TL: *Face palmed* [/mfn]As the confrontation continued, the planetary official was soon brought over.
Surrounded by a crowd of people, the official strolled over with his hands behind his back, walking leisurely.
The soldiers finally noticed something strange.
Among the people surrounding them, a few of them had odd expressions—stiff faces that seemed to have trouble moving, as though every muscle in their faces had malfunctioned. They couldn’t move properly.
And the planetary official, with a relaxed gait, wore a mysterious smile on his face.
The crowd’s accusations grew louder:
“They should arrest all of them!”
“Right, and that criminal too!”
“It’s way too dangerous to let that criminal run free like this!”
Suddenly, a sharp, high-pitched scream echoed from deep within the forest, and the crowd’s voices abruptly stopped.
The scream didn’t sound human, nor did it resemble that of an ordinary animal. It was…
