The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 201 The Missing Lamb (9)

At this critical moment, Yunfei, Flying Squirrel, and Panda also got caught up in a battle with the wooden tentacles.

Unable to leave the location of the sewage pool, they opened the door to find the once dimly lit corridor pitch black.

Based on his experience, Yunfei opened the door and then closed it again in an instant.

The darkness behind the door was created by eerie tree roots, and they were completely surrounded.

The eerie tentacles writhed, and the corrosive slime secreted from their surface was frantically eroding the heavy metal door panel.

Accompanied by a teeth-grinding "sizzle" and the pungent smell of melting metal, the door panel rapidly thinned and twisted, eventually being forcibly torn open in several places. The hideous wooden tentacles, like venomous snakes breaking free of their cages, rushed in one after another.

In this relatively open area, the battle broke out instantly.

With astonishing agility, the flying squirrel dodged and weaved, its figure becoming a blurry shadow, skillfully coordinating with Yun Fei's attacks in an attempt to block the approaching tentacles.

But the situation was extremely unfavorable for them; they were trapped in the reservoir, and all escape routes were completely blocked by wriggling wooden tentacles or corroded remains.

Worse still, their conventional weapons were almost entirely corroded into scrap metal by the secretions of the tentacles, and even their last remaining firearms ammunition had long been exhausted.

In despair, Panda grabbed a long tube, the same one Tong Zi had picked up before.

He mustered his courage and aimed at the nearest tentacle. Surprisingly, the ferocious tentacle seemed to be wary of this inconspicuous tube, and its movements hesitated for a moment.

Yun Fei noticed this detail. He glanced at the few water stains from the reservoir at the end of the long pipe and suddenly realized that the monster was not afraid of the pipe itself, but of the pool water that the pipe had touched!

"Retreat towards the pool and use the shields for cover." Yun Fei made a quick decision, grabbing a half-damaged wreckage of a robot next to him to use as a makeshift shield.

The three of them stood back to back, using their shields to fend off the splashes of corrosive liquid and the lashes of tentacles, as they struggled to move toward the reservoir.

Sure enough, the menacing tentacles visibly shrank back as they approached the edge of the pool, as if they had encountered an invisible barrier. They hovered anxiously at the edge of the pool, not daring to cross the line for the time being.

Having gained a temporary respite, they retreated to the edge of the pool.

Even through the heavily protective nanosuits, an indescribable sense of oppression, like a cold tide, emanated from the bottomless pool, pressing heavily on everyone's hearts, as if some indescribable terror lurked beneath the surface.

"Will there be an exit below...?" The panda was so flustered by the ever-approaching crisis that it blurted out the question in a panic.

"Stop dreaming! How could there possibly be an exit in this godforsaken place?" Flying Squirrel stared intently at the restless tentacles by the pool, which were trying to find a new way out. He retorted, then a more outrageous idea popped into his head, "Unless, we hide underwater? Take a gamble?"

Just then, Yunfei's attention was drawn to some strange, flocculent substances floating on the surface of the pool.

Driven by a thirst for knowledge and a profound sense of crisis, he made an extremely bold decision: he reached out and touched one of the flocculent particles with his fingertips.

The instant the fingertips touched, an indescribable chill and eerie suction force instantly pierced through the nanosuit.

Yun Fei suddenly arched his body and burst into a violent bout of physiological retching, as if his entire internal organs were about to be pulled out.

Even more terrifying, for the first time in his life, he could clearly "feel" his own soul. It was no longer an ethereal concept, but rather a fragile, light, pure white energy body that was being greedily absorbed and pulled by the fibrous material.

Just as his consciousness was about to be swallowed up, the panda keenly noticed Yun Fei's unusual behavior.

Without hesitation, he swung the long tube in his hand and forcefully pushed away the strange, fluffy substance clinging to Yun Fei's fingertips.

The moment the flocculent material detached, the terrifying suction abruptly ceased. Yun Fei's gagging stopped abruptly, and he swayed as if he had collapsed from exhaustion.

He was panting heavily, as if he had just been on the verge of death, and several extremely vivid yet fragmented images had uncontrollably flashed through his consciousness.

A blurry image of myself as a child; and the scene of the weapon called "Unbreakable" being handed to me;
Even more bizarrely, on the cold, unblemished blade in the memory, an extremely tiny, lifelike outline of a "little person" materialized and emerged, its form resembling that of a fierce little general.

Su Ninglong's words flashed through his mind like lightning: she said that Wu Lie could grow, but that would take time.

Forcibly suppressing the lingering sting and dizziness deep within his soul, he quickly glanced at the SAN value reading: 60.

The erosion caused by those flocculent substances not only resulted in a loss of strength, but also a severe blow to the spirit.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the nausea he was feeling, and said in a deep voice to the panda who had come to his rescue, "Thanks!"

At the critical moment of life and death, Yun Fei finally drew out the "No Crack" technique, which had been forced to remain dormant for some time.

This companion that had been with him through thick and thin had indeed been unusually quiet lately.

One reason is that he himself was injured and needed to rest, so the frequency of his use of it naturally decreased significantly;

On the other hand, Yun Fei was worried to find that the cracks on the Wu Crack Blade seemed to be increasing and getting deeper. He thought this was a sign that the weapon was about to collapse and disintegrate. He planned to find the blacksmith Su Ninglong to check it as soon as possible, but due to a series of changes, he was unable to do so. As a result, he subconsciously dared not use it too much, for fear of accelerating its destruction.

Just now, when his soul was almost pulled from his body, he felt it very clearly: it was "Unbreakable" that protected his soul.

As Yun Fei's fingers gripped the familiar hilt once more, a power unlike anything he had felt before surged through him. He realized that Wu Lie wasn't on the verge of collapse; it had simply undergone a transformation.

Just then, the wooden tentacles that had been lurking by the pool seemed to have overcome some of their fear of the water, or perhaps found a way around it, and pounced on the three of them again.

Faced with the onslaught of attacks, Yun Fei did not retreat passively as he had before.

His eyes narrowed, and instead of retreating, he stepped forward to meet him.

With a flick of his wrist, "No Crack" drew a cold arc in the air, sweeping horizontally.

The incredibly sharp blade sliced ​​through the tough, iron-like bark of the foremost tentacle with ease, as if cutting through tofu.

More tentacles were enraged and came crashing down from all directions.

Normally, even if Yun Fei could handle such a dense barrage of attacks, it would still consume a massive amount of spiritual energy, and each block, dodge, and slash would be a huge burden.

But at this moment, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the Wulie in his hand seemed to possess a certain kind of spirituality.

It is no longer just a tool for transmitting spiritual energy, but more like a shrewd assistant. It can sense the minimum amount of spiritual energy required for each attack and skillfully guide Yun Fei's output, using every bit of power at the most critical moment and minimizing his unnecessary waste of spiritual energy.

With a firm resolve, Yun Fei held nothing back. He let out a low shout, and a surge of immense spiritual power erupted from him. An invisible "domain" opened up, and within it, the wooden tentacles, which had been moving with lightning speed, instantly became as if they were stuck in sticky mud, severely slowed down.

In this relatively static realm, Yun Fei's thoughts, like an engine running at overclock, became exceptionally fast and clear.

With his extraordinary perception of every subtle movement within the domain, he possessed the ability to briefly foresee the future. The seemingly chaotic attack trajectories of those tentacles were analyzed and predicted in his eyes, and their actions in the next few seconds were crystal clear.

Even more surprisingly, Wu Lie was of one mind with him and took the initiative to launch a "counterattack".

When Yun Fei's blade pierced the tentacle, Wu Lie seemed to transform into a greedy "information devourer," actively pouring a massive amount of complex information about the tentacle's internal structure, energy flow, and even its control nodes into Yun Fei's domain.

The blade flashed like a bolt of lightning, each strike accompanied by the muffled sound of tree bark tearing.

Any "tentacle" whose bark has been cut open by "Crackless" seems to lose control of the attacked part.

Not only did their movements become extremely sluggish, but they also began to writhe like they had gone mad, even violently whipping each other indiscriminately and entangled with their own kind!

Boom, boom, crack.

For a moment, chaos erupted around the reservoir.

The massive "tentacles" that had originally attacked Yun Fei and his companions in unison were now fighting amongst themselves due to Wu Lie's bizarre abilities.

The enormous tentacles clashed and twisted, producing a deafening roar and a cracking sound like trees breaking, with wood chips and corrosive slime flying everywhere.

The sudden dramatic turn of events left the flying squirrel and panda, who were on high alert nearby, dumbfounded, their lips twitching involuntarily.

"What?! Monsters can fight each other on their own?" Momonga exclaimed, speechless.

The panda swallowed, but its eyes showed no relief; instead, they became even more serious.

Yun Fei, who was at the heart of the battle, dared not relax for a moment. While maintaining his domain, he calmly warned, "Don't be too happy yet. This chaos won't last long. These tentacles are just extensions of that monster. There is no core here. As long as the core doesn't die, they can keep regenerating. This means that the real danger is far from over."

……

Meanwhile, deep within the dark cave, the fallen fox is experiencing an even more terrifying ordeal.

He was tightly bound by those strong wooden tentacles, violently dragged and slammed against the rough rock walls and protruding stalagmites. The violent jolting almost displaced his internal organs, and his mind teetered on the edge of excruciating pain and dizziness.

When the brutal drag finally stopped, the fox took a slight breath and turned his head with difficulty. The scene under his night-vision goggles made his scalp tingle.

He was dragged to the lowest level of the cave, where a massive, suffocating tree-like creature resided.

Its gnarled and twisted roots coiled and piled up like giant pythons, and on these roots were countless bulging and throbbing huge tumors.

These tumors were covered with viscous veins, and inside they seemed to contain some kind of living thing, which was slowly pulsating with a strange and regular rhythm, and was slowly crawling closer to him who was bound.

Driven by a strong will to survive, the fox struggled frantically, trying to break free from its deadly restraints.

But each twist he made resulted in the tentacles tightening their grip even more fiercely.

The marks from the ligatures were so deep that even breathing became extremely difficult.

Realizing that struggling was futile, the fox suppressed his fear and forced himself to relax, hoping that the tentacles would loosen their grip even slightly, for even a moment, so that he could seize the opportunity to activate the miniature explosives on his body. He would rather be shattered to pieces than become nourishment for this monster's growth.

Unfortunately, his strategy was completely ineffective against the cold, wooden tentacles.

Whether he relaxed or tensed up, those vines, as if cast in steel, still held him tightly, without the slightest loosening.

Despair washed over me like a cold tide, but the fear had no end.

A strong, pungent odor entered my nasal cavity, like burnt rubber mixed with strong acid.

The fox strained to glance sideways, his heart sinking. He saw that the end of one of the wooden tentacles binding his body was slowly oozing a corrosive liquid that emitted white smoke.

The terrifying liquid dripped, drop by drop, onto his specially made protective suit, making a chilling hissing sound.

The special fibers of the protective suit turn black, dissolve, and carbonize rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The corrosion was faster than anyone could have imagined; in no time, the liquid breached the last layer of protection in the suit and burned his skin directly.

A piercing, excruciating pain instantly swept through my entire body.

The fox could no longer bear it and let out a heart-wrenching howl.

The screams echoed in the dark depths of the cave, carrying a chilling aura of death, penetrating through layers of rock and reaching clearly the ears of the people engaged in fierce combat above.

The fire lizard above the cave felt a chill run from its spine to the top of its head the moment it heard that familiar scream.

It was the captain's voice! He knew it all too well!

The fire lizard desperately wanted to rush down and rescue them, but reason told him that rash action would only lead to everyone's demise, since he was currently just a hindrance.

The overwhelming sense of powerlessness and fear caused his hand holding the gun to tremble uncontrollably.

He could only channel his anxiety into hope for the hunters, while forcibly raising his trembling gun barrel, trying to aim at the figures locked in combat in the air, hoping to relieve even the slightest bit of pressure on Su Ninglong.

Su Ninglong's figure darted through the air like a ghost, engaged in a high-speed and dangerous battle with several monsters.

The gun barrel moved back and forth, and his combat uniform was already soaked with sweat. Salty beads of sweat kept rolling down his forehead, wetting his eyelashes and even seeping into his eyes. The salt stung his eyelids and blurred his vision.

The fire lizard tried to aim several times, but in the end, it could only helplessly lower the muzzle of its gun.

Suddenly, the fire lizard's gaze inadvertently swept over the huge cultivation chamber in the center of the cave. On the surface of the strange wooden stake inside the chamber, there seemed to be a tiny crack.

A tiny bit of light shines through the deep crevice.

"What is that?" The fire lizard didn't have time to think. Almost instinctively, he raised his gun again and, relying on his sense of touch, pulled the trigger sharply towards the crystalline object in the crevice.