The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

A faint, almost imperceptible cry, as if squeezed out from between teeth, filled with endless pain and pleading, reached Shen Ge's ears like a wisp of smoke.

The sound was so faint that it was almost drowned out by the beating of a heart and the sucking of blood vessels, but Shen Ge's powerful perception instantly caught it.

He turned his head sharply, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's, locking onto the sound.

The sound originated from a cluster of dark red blood vessels, much larger and more tightly intertwined than any of the other "nutrient packages," not far from the enormous heart.

Unlike the other victims who were individually pierced and entangled, this "clump" of blood was wrapped around two people.

On the left is a burly man whose body has been mostly drained, leaving only a shriveled skin hanging loosely on his skeleton. His head hangs limply, and he is already lifeless.

But his only remaining, muscular arm held the person on his right tightly with a force that seemed to embed itself into the bone.

On the right is a long-haired woman, whose condition is equally miserable. Her body is pierced by blood vessels in many places, shriveled and sunken, and the flame of life is like a candle in the wind, which may be extinguished at any time.

Her pale face was covered with pain and tears, but her almost unfocused eyes stared intently, with their last ounce of strength, at the spot where she and the man were tightly embracing.

In the narrow "fortress" built by the two of them with their flesh and blood and with their lives, a little girl, about two years old, wearing a pink onesie, was unconscious with her eyes closed.

The little girl's face still had baby fat, but now it was as pale as paper, and her breathing was weak.

Incredibly, not a single one of those greedy, vascular tentacles pierced her body directly. It was her parents who, with their broad backs and chests, endured all the fatal punctures.

With their last breaths and willpower, they twisted their bodies to build a sanctuary with walls of flesh and blood and beams of spine, carving out a sliver of life for their children from the fangs of the devil.

The woman seemed to sense Shen Ge's gaze, and a final, faint, star-like light burst forth from her extinguished eyes.

She strained with all her might, her lips moving, but no clear sound came out; only the shape of her mouth pleaded silently.
"Save...her..."

This scene was like the heaviest hammer, crashing down on Shen Ge's cold heart.

He was not unfamiliar with sacrifice, nor with the glimmer of humanity in dire straits. But such pure, such resolute parental love—in the extreme agony of being devoured by demons, still leaving the last glimmer of hope for life to their cubs—still shook his soul.

Destroying the heart is imperative!
But the shockwave from this attack, caused by the collapse of space, was enough to completely annihilate the area, leaving no chance of survival for the little girl whose parents had risked their lives to protect her.

Even if Shen Ge used the usual method of bringing along a burden, having Xiao Qi protect the child with her secondary armor, the physical strength of a two-year-old girl is obviously incomparable to that of an adult.

Right now, besides destroying the heart, Shen Ge also needs to delve into this newly formed multi-dimensional strange space to find a way to break through it, and taking the girl with him is obviously very dangerous.

As for simply throwing her into the strange space like you would to deal with a supernatural being, that would be no different from killing her outright.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Her heart pounded heavily, her veins greedily sucked at her life force, and the woman's life flickered and threatened to be extinguished amidst her pleas. In Shen Ge's eyes, coldness and burning fire clashed fiercely. Reason told him that for the sake of the millions of lives in Rong City, to stop "Crow's" plan to destroy the city, the core had to be destroyed immediately; sacrifice... was inevitable!

But looking at the fortress built by the parents with their lives, and at the little life curled up in the center of the fortress like a fragile porcelain doll, Shen Ge walked up to the woman, bent down and picked up the little girl.

“I will take her out and find her a good family.”

"Thank you, thank you." These two short words seemed to have exhausted all the woman's strength. She slowly closed her eyes, her head drooping down without a care in the world.

"Little Seven, calculate the optimal path and give me a plan to try to send this child out while destroying the core."

“Master, the risk is extremely high. The child’s vital signs are declining. This area is strongly corroded by the black mist of the strange energy. If we use the Red Mist Armor to protect her, her body may not be able to resist the erosion of the strange energy inherent in the armor. At that time, it will not be protection, but will hasten her death.”

Just as Shen Ge had expected, the girl was trapped in multiple strange spaces, and her young body was already subject to the erosion of strange energy.

Unlike adults' "resistance," what would normally have little effect on the body can become fatal to her because her body is still developing.

"If we directly destroy your heart, the energy impact here will far exceed our expectations. The intensity of the shockwave... even with your invisible barrier blocking part of it, her body still won't be able to withstand it." Little Seven calculated quickly, her voice carrying a rare hint of urgency.

Shen Ge's red mist armor shone brightly, and the energy fluctuations instantly reached their peak. The eerie eye, like the most sophisticated instrument, began to scan frantically, working with Xiao Qi and the red mist armor to calculate the structure of the entire heart chamber, the energy flow, the shock wave diffusion model, and so on, in order to find the most suitable "retreat" route.

"Master, the route planning has been completed, and the route map has been transmitted." As Xiao Qi spoke, a virtual image of the building appeared in front of Shen Ge's retina. Although the area had undergone drastic changes due to the influence of multiple ghostly spaces, Xiao Qi had simulated a new route based on the flow of ghostly energy.

There was no more hesitation in Shen Ge's eyes, only absolute focus and icy killing intent. His gaze was fixed on the beating, enormous heart.

Next, according to the simulated circuit, he placed the magical bombs to cover all the spread blood vessels. Then, Shen Ge activated the magical domain to neutralize the magical energy in the magical heart.

As Shen Ge released a large amount of strange energy, the space once again became distorted, stretched, and torn, and the air in the space began to vibrate and fold at a high speed that could not be detected by the naked eye.

Shen Ge arrived at the designated location, holding the girl in one arm and making a grasping motion in the air with the other. As an invisible, eerie domain spread out, it seemed as if an invisible giant hand appeared in the space, tightly gripping the eerie heart at the center.

"Collapse!"

puff--

At the same time, Xiao Qi controlled the Blood Spider to self-destruct, detonating the buried eerie energy bombs, and in an instant, the entire space experienced violent energy fluctuations.

As if a mirror had been shattered, cracks appeared in the air. Shen Ge knew this was a sign of the collapse of the multiple ghostly spaces. He didn't have time to think. He maintained the invisible barrier of "not leaving the ghostly domain" to protect the sleeping girl in his arms. Following the route planned by his classmate Xiao Qi, he ran towards the building's passageway that was beginning to collapse.

Shen Ge held the little girl tightly in his arms, as if protecting a tiny flame flickering in a gale. He pushed the invisible barrier of "not leaving the Ghost Realm" to its limit, forming a tough yet flexible energy film that tightly enveloped the child's petite body, isolating her from the violent energy impacts and deadly ghost energy erosion from the outside world.

However, the sensation in his arms made his heart sink. The little girl's body was frighteningly cold, her breathing was so weak it was almost imperceptible, and her vital signs were rapidly slipping towards the abyss.

Even the gentlest protective layer of the Crimson Mist Armor's eerie energy was a heavy burden on her fragile young body, which had long been corroded by the eerie black mist.

He could clearly sense that while the eerie energy inherent in the Crimson Mist Armor was protecting her, it was also slowly seeping into and eroding her already dwindling life force.

"Hold on... Xiao Qi, continue to monitor her vital signs and prioritize stabilizing her."

The girl's situation was extremely complicated, even more so than giving Shen Ge a child who was undergoing mutation, because he had nothing else but several large boxes of various types of monster energy inhibitors in the monster space.

This is why, when trapped in multiple strange spaces, it was the strange warriors who underwent mutations, and he and Xiao Qi were always able to resolve the situation immediately.

As for "injuries," all Xiaoqi can do is treat wounds and stop bleeding from external injuries. When it comes to issues of vitality, it really has no way to deal with them.

Therefore, Shen Ge was initially hesitant when he saw the little girl on the verge of death. In his view, whether he took her or not, it seemed that he could not save the little girl from the brink of death.

“Little one, don’t let down the hope your parents gave their lives to ignite for you. Hang in there, I’ll take you out of here.”

Shen Ge sped along the route planned by Xiao Qi, with a scene behind him that looked like the end of the world.

“Rumble——!!!”

The chain reaction triggered by the explosion of the heart chambers completely erupted, and the entire floor structure, which was fused with bizarre flesh and blood, collapsed and disintegrated under the violent energy impact.

The passageway was no longer a passageway, but had become a constantly twisting and tearing vortex of death. Above, there was no longer a ceiling, but a "collapse of the sky" made up of countless shattered concrete blocks and twisted steel bars, wrapped with writhing, dark red flesh.

Beneath their feet was no longer the ground, but a churning, bubbling, and corrosive fungal carpet of flesh called "the fissure."

Even more terrifying, the collapsed bricks, steel bars, and pipes that had merged with the bizarre flesh and blood... all "came to life" under the energy catalysis of the collapse of multiple bizarre spaces.

They twisted and deformed, opening their gaping maws filled with sharp teeth and mucus, reaching out from all directions and from every crumbling crevice, greedily biting at Shen Ge, the only living creature.

Inside the pitch-black passage, it seemed as if countless grotesque monsters made of architectural debris and flesh were awakening, ready to tear the intruders to shreds.

"Get out of the way!" Shen Ge couldn't free his hands, but the eerie red mist surrounding him instantly transformed into countless sharp, dark red threads.

"Chichichichi——!"

The silk threads, like a living cutting storm, swiftly and precisely slashed at the "living remains" that lunged at them.

The steel bars were cut, the concrete was pulverized, and the writhing flesh was instantly minced into a paste. Dark green, foul-smelling liquid and shattered debris poured down like a torrential rain, only to be repelled by an invisible barrier.

He was like a lone boat cutting through raging waves and besieging countless sea monsters, his speed undiminished. With each step he took, the churning fleshy fungus carpet beneath his feet was instantly evaporated and solidified by powerful, eerie energy, creating a brief safe landing point.

Each dodge was a close call, narrowly avoiding the massive chunks of flesh and sharp steel teeth that crashed down from above.

The little girl in my arms let out a faint whimper amidst the violent jolting and energy shocks, her little face contorted in pain, as if her whimper might go out at any moment.

Shen Ge could only hold her tighter, injecting more of his strange energy into the invisible barrier while carefully controlling the intensity to avoid causing her further harm.

This meticulous control is far more mentally taxing than simply slaying the monsters.

Finally, the despairing collapse and revitalized ruins ahead were replaced by a relatively "stable" exit—a huge hole violently blasted open, with molten metal still flowing along its edges, leading to the other side of the building.

Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Ge moved like lightning, instantly passing through the hole.

However, the area outside the hole was not a safe zone, but a large hall with a distorted structure, also shrouded in eerie black mist.

What made his eyes narrow even more was that in the center of the hall, several familiar figures stood back to back, forming a defensive formation, struggling to resist the living, bizarre remains and the giant white insects surging in from all directions.

It was Yang Yuxin and her team!

However, at this moment, their condition was extremely poor. Their specially made combat suits were torn in many places and stained with dark green insect fluid and dark red blood.

Everyone's face was etched with undisguised exhaustion; their eyes were sunken, their lips were chapped, and although their movements were still swift, they were clearly sluggish from exhaustion.

They worked in perfect harmony, their swords flashing and energy beams intertwining as they relentlessly slayed the monsters that pounced on them, but the number of monsters seemed endless.

"Captain Shen?!" In the midst of slaying a giant insect, Yang Yuxin caught a glimpse of the blood-red figure rushing out of the hole out of the corner of her eye. Her tired eyes instantly flashed with unbelievable surprise, which then turned into deep doubt and anxiety.

Shen Ge's figure blurred, and he had already arrived at the edge of their defensive circle. His rotting blood tentacles cleared out an area like a meat grinder, temporarily relieving their pressure.

"Xiao Yang? What are you doing here? Didn't I order you to set up a defensive perimeter and evacuate the survivors?" Shen Ge's voice was icy as he glanced at his team members, who were disheveled and clearly had been through a long and arduous battle, and his doubts deepened.

Even if they were caught up in the expansion of the strange space, their current state doesn't seem like they just entered recently.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yuxin's face showed a mixture of bitterness and confusion: "Captain Shen... we, we were caught in the black mist of strange energy while carrying out a mission, and dragged into multiple strange spaces. We have been searching for the heart ventricle and the exit, but to no avail. We have been trapped here for almost four days."

"Four days?" Shen Ge's pupils contracted slightly.

He entered the building, and from storming into the heart ward to rescuing the girl and retreating, the entire process, though extremely dangerous, definitely took no more than an hour. (End of Chapter)