Xingtie: My silly online friend is actually a raccoon!

Lu Ze no longer had time to check the messages on his phone.

He didn't even have time to glance at the two messages Xing sent on the screen before his phone was hurriedly stuffed back into his pocket.

At that moment, he was carrying Xilin and running desperately down a sloping tunnel, so he didn't have time to look at any messages.

This passageway was completely different from the other areas of the laboratory he had walked through before.

The walls were no longer neat metal panels, but were instead covered with densely packed Honkai energy crystals.

Clusters of dark purple crystals grew wildly from the metal wall, their edges sharp and emitting an ominous glow.

The Honkai energy permeating the air was so thick it felt heavy; every breath felt like swallowing viscous crude oil, leaving a bitter and astringent taste in the throat and a heavy feeling in the lungs.

"Hiss—!"

A sharp screech came from behind them, and a group of Honkai Beasts were relentlessly chasing after the two.

The bodies of those Honkai Beasts were a sickly grayish-white, with purple erosion lines meandering across their skin, just like the erosion marks on the children's bodies.

They have no eyes; their heads are occupied by a mouth full of sharp teeth, with layers of fangs extending deep into their throats.

Each one was the size of a hound, but they ran like insects, their slender limbs striking the metal floor with a dense, clicking sound, echoing repeatedly in the narrow passageway, making it impossible to tell how many there were or how far away they were.

Lu Ze didn't dare to look back, he just kept running forward desperately.

He channeled his inner energy into his feet, each step leaving a shallow indentation in the ground, making him several times faster than an ordinary person.

But he dared not stop.

He was fast, but the Honkai Beasts were even faster. They surged out from all directions like sharks that had smelled blood.

There were creatures crawling out from the forks in the passageway, cracks in the walls, and even hanging upside down from the ceiling. As his divine sense swept over them, the number continued to increase.

"Big brother, please put me down."

The voice of Xilin came from her arms, as light as a feather falling on the water.

Lu Ze glanced down and saw her nestled quietly in his arms, her long, dark purple hair swaying gently from the bumps of their run.

Her pale skin, which never saw the sun, became almost transparent under the purple light of the Honkai energy crystals, and the erosion lines on her wrists snaked like snakes, a shocking sight.

But there was no fear, no panic, and not even a trace of the emotions a child should have in her golden eyes.

She simply looked at him calmly, as if he were someone completely unrelated to her.

His indifferent gaze was chilling.

"Don't be afraid."

Lu Ze tightened his arms around her, pulling her closer into his embrace.

He didn't know why he was doing this.

This was the first time he had met this girl. Just a few minutes ago, he had been cautiously trying to find out if she had become a Herrscher.

But looking into her empty eyes, he had only one thought in his mind—to take her out.

"I will definitely take you out."

He didn't know what was supporting him.

This was not a rational judgment, nor a choice made after weighing the pros and cons, but an instinct that surged up from a deeper place.

A voice echoed deep within my heart, stubbornly repeating the same phrase—I can't give up on this girl.

The passageway forked ahead.

The passage on the left is narrower, and the Honkai energy crystals on the walls are more dense, but the road surface is relatively smooth.

The right side is much wider, but you can faintly hear the roars of more Honkai Beasts coming from deeper inside.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lu Ze grabbed Xilin and plunged into the left fork in the road.

The concentration of Honkai energy in the air was getting higher and higher, and his aura shield was being eroded little by little, emitting a faint hissing sound.

Celine in his arms remained motionless, neither clutching his clothes nor looking up at him, but her eyes remained open, her golden pupils reflecting the crystalline light that flashed by, like two pieces of amber immersed in deep water.

The shrieks of the Honkai Beasts behind them grew closer.

Lu Ze gritted his teeth and continued to race forward through the winding tunnel.