While the Lord of the Sky Lake was busy putting his "wonderful" mental state on full display, Ren Yi was pushing forward through the ventilation ducts.
He had no time to admire a madman’s performance; his only concern was that he wasn't moving fast enough.
However, as he compressed his form to the limit, shuttling through the complex network of pipes like a wisp of cold smoke, a bizarre scene appeared on the sensory map outlined by the mental anchors deep within his consciousness.
Two points had coalesced within his mental vision, one above the other.
The first point only gave a vague indication of direction, appearing somewhat blurry.
The orientation of the other point was much clearer, but any attempt to sense it more deeply revealed only a surging darkness.
At this very moment, both points were ascending, moving toward the central control room at the highest point of the land ship.
The blurry point above was moving relatively slowly.
But because it had started earlier, its straight-line distance from the control room was already extremely close.
As for the clear point below...
It wasn't moving horizontally at all. Instead, it was "flickering" upward on Ren Yi's sensory map at an inhuman speed that completely transcended three-dimensional physical common sense!
Ren Yi's perception tightened to the absolute limit in an instant.
The slow, blurry point above was his assessment system’s general sensing of the Beacon's direction.
And the point below, flickering wildly and carrying a wave of monstrous malice, was the fragment of himself still remaining within S-099.
The fact that this point was displacing itself across the sensory map with such unhindered frenzy meant only one thing...
S-099 had completely broken free.
The giant beast that had been imprisoned at the bottom of the abyss was now racing up the spine of the ship.
And its destination seemed to coincide with the path of the Beacon—Ren Yi's destination.
Boom!
Accompanied by a heavy pneumatic blast, the thick blast-proof door of the central control room suddenly swung open.
It was the female staff member who had been missing until now, B-117, stumbling in with a squad of her remaining elite confidants.
However, when B-117 saw the situation inside the control room, she froze in shock.
Inside the hall, the alarms were blaring with a shrill, desperate intensity.
Dr. Cyril stood to one side, her face ashen, while in front of her, the City Lord stood with his arms wide, a smile that could almost be called radiant—and deeply unsettling—plastered on his face.
This bizarre political atmosphere caused B-117's movements to falter for a moment, but she quickly adjusted.
She and her team members were each clutching or dragging heavy metal boxes.
The mechanical structures of these boxes were extremely complex; even after the violent jolts of the recent chaos, the contents inside remained strictly sealed.
It was easy to guess that these were the assets that most closely followed the Sky Eye Organization's evacuation protocols.
These were the "Safe-class" Anomalies whose physical properties were relatively stable and unlikely to undergo spontaneous mutation during transport and transfer.
And the Beacon that Ren Yi so desperately desired was currently mixed in among these boxes of various sizes!
Which box is it in?
The precision of the assessment system's indicators was ultimately inferior to direct physical perception.
Faced with this pile of nearly identical metal boxes, he couldn't immediately lock onto the Beacon's specific location.
Damn it!
On his sensory map, the point representing destruction had already crashed into this area with an exceptionally ferocious posture, following close behind.
Rumble—!!
Without warning, the steel framework at the top of the control room underwent a violent explosion from the inside out.
It was a physical detonation caused purely by some inorganic flesh expanding in an instant, forcibly bursting the steel pipe network apart.
Countless fragments of sheet metal and bolts rained down like hail. Immediately after, the massive ventilation duct originally used to transport cold air was completely torn open.
A black and red sea of flesh, roaring like a flood tide, surged wildly through the rift in the ceiling!
The visual impact of that moment caused the professional expression on B-117's face—who had been about to report the situation—to completely disintegrate.
It transformed into a bloodless, pure terror that humans feel toward an apex predator.
"Get back! Protect the boxes!"
B-117 let out a scream that nearly broke her voice. Her body exploded with startling potential as she lunged forward in a desperate scramble.
However, S-099's surging speed surpassed the transmission of neural electrical signals.
It was a pool of living, black fluid filled with infinite malice.
It rolled and stacked across the control room floor, instantly lashing out with hundreds of tentacles covered in serrated teeth.
Those tentacles flailed wildly in the air, spreading straight toward the City Lord and Dr. Cyril.
Its target had been very clear from the beginning.
It wasn't destroying things unconsciously; it was performing a surgical strike to eliminate the beings on this ship that posed the greatest threat to it—or rather, the ones it loathed the most.
"Aah!"
The two guards at the front of B-117's squad didn't even have time to fire a single shot before they were instantly swallowed by the surging black-red wave of meat.
Their exoskeleton armor let out a sharp crack under the pressure of the flesh, and they, along with the people inside, were crushed into a few ripples within that pool of stagnant water.
For a split second, everything seemed to freeze.
Under the flickering dark red alarm lights, dust from the explosion floated in the air.
There was B-117, her facial muscles twisted in extreme fear as she dove forward;
The City Lord, standing in the center of the hall, still maintaining that fanatical and radiant smile;
And Dr. Cyril, her brow furrowed and her skin as pale as a sheet of rice paper.
However, in the next instant, the gears of fate jammed in the most incredible place.
Rate on N.U.
