Chapter Seventy-Nine: All Three Routes Collapse

Suddenly, the tendrils on the ground shot up, enveloping Lakan and his two companions.

Faced with the attack, the three remained utterly unperturbed. Lakan grinned broadly, his body beginning to flush red, clearly about to unleash his psychokinetic transformation into a being of fire.

Hukong cursed silently, “This fool—if he uses his psychic powers again, he might just lose his mind.”

“I can’t let him keep going.”

In the next instant, Hukong sprang forward, positioning himself in front of Lakan. From every pore of his body, he sprayed a dark green venom, its stench sharp and acrid. As soon as the venom touched the tendrils, a hissing sound erupted, white smoke billowing up.

The tendrils, upon contact with the poison, immediately withered into brittle, branch-like forms, spreading rapidly. Within seconds, the tendrils hardened, their shells cracking as they died off in swathes.

These tendrils were the same entities Ye Hai and Qiao had encountered during their visit to Mr. Lung. They were bred by Mr. Lung, modeled after the T-Night Goddess virus within his own body—little amusements to keep him company.

Once Hukong had dispatched these creatures, Lakan’s gaze turned wild and aggressive.

“Hukong, you shouldn’t have fought me for this…”

“You can’t take it from me…”

Suddenly, flames surged skyward from Lakan’s body. If Hukong hadn’t retreated quickly, he would have been scorched.

Hukong’s expression darkened.

“Damn Lakan—his will is so fragile…”

“He’s already teetering on the brink of madness.”

“We have to get him into the core area quickly. If he goes completely insane, he might turn on me without warning.”

“The methods of the Psychic Union are truly bizarre!”

But just as Hukong dodged the rampaging Lakan and leapt to the laboratory entrance, a thick trunk-like tendril burst from the lab door, wrapping tightly around Hukong’s waist. The tendril split, seemingly poised to devour him.

Hukong silently cursed, knowing Mr. Lung had intervened. He was about to liquefy and escape as venom, but a slender, flexible bone from within the tendril pierced his abdomen. Instantly, Hukong was paralyzed, unable to move as he was about to be swallowed whole.

A bolt of lightning crashed down from above. With a deafening explosion, it blasted apart the tendril imprisoning Hukong.

Mr. Lung’s tendrils, struck hard, instantly withdrew into the laboratory. Lakan, meanwhile, laughed maniacally, his entire body ablaze as he charged into Mr. Lung’s lab. Fierce collisions echoed from within.

The battle was short-lived. After a tremendous explosion, the laboratory was engulfed in flames. Mr. Lung’s tendrils writhed frantically in the fire before finally igniting and collapsing.

Lakan strolled out of the fire with a calm air. Hukong watched him gravely.

“The psychic intensity keeps rising…”

“With his next use, Lakan will fall completely into madness, and ultimately burn himself to ashes.”

Perhaps depleted from the fierce battle with Mr. Lung, Lakan, as he emerged from the lab, withdrew his flames and regained a fleeting clarity.

He addressed Hukong and Bell, “Let’s continue toward the core area…”

Seeing Lakan briefly restored, Hukong breathed a slight sigh of relief. He said nothing, silently following behind Lakan deeper into the facility. The three fell into a quiet procession, the atmosphere growing increasingly strange.

Soon after Lakan departed, the laboratory fire suddenly extinguished, as if nothing had happened. Only the blackened walls and masses of charred mutants bore witness to the recent inferno.

Several scorched tendrils at the heart of the blaze slowly contracted. Before long, Mr. Lung’s body began to take shape from their merging. Now barely clinging to life, Mr. Lung was no longer the grotesque yet kindly fat man he had been. His burnt flesh peeled away, exposing blood-red muscle tissue beneath. He crawled laboriously from the fire’s edge.

Watching the direction of Lakan and his companions, Mr. Lung muttered,

“So this is the power of psychic force that the teacher and Ye Hai spoke of?”

“It’s truly terrifying…”

With that, Mr. Lung slipped into unconsciousness.

…

“What is the origin of this mech…”

“This is definitely not technology from Giant Tree Star or Chaos Star!”

“That means it must come from one of the Four Great Stars…”

“Who has such power, to procure these mechs from the Four Great Stars!”

“This sort of thing is surely one of the core secrets of some planet.”

“Have the Four Great Stars already sent agents to Zombie Star…”

With a head full of questions, Ye Hai, transformed into G2 form, fought desperately against the mech in a clash of toughness and regeneration.

No one knew what alloy this mech was forged from, but its hardness left Ye Hai helpless. Even with the tremendous strength of his G2 form, his punches could only push the mech back a few meters, leaving no real damage.

If not for the powerful regenerative ability of the G-virus within him, Ye Hai would have died countless times already. Twice, the alloy war hammer in the mech’s hand had shattered Ye Hai’s arm, and once it had taken out half his body.

Ye Hai was now entirely on the defensive, absorbing blow after blow.

“The gap between flesh and technology—without activating psychic powers, it is this vast?”

“Damn…”

“The guards outside won’t hold much longer.”

“If I fall and enter an evolution state, Teach and Nangong’s lives are doomed.”

“Then the small crack opened in the space gate will be sealed completely.”

“Damn it… Who is it? Who wields such overwhelming strength?”

In a shadowy corner of the Corpse Hunter mess hall, Kobayashi, who had slipped in unnoticed, wore a playful smile.

“The Corpse Hunter organization truly is remarkable…”

“Someone can actually battle a kinetic mech head-on with sheer flesh and blood.”

“It’s far beyond my expectations…”

“But it proves my judgment was right.”

“The technology in their hands is enough for me to rule Chaos Star completely.”

“If I act quickly enough, before the politicians of the Four Great Stars react, I can unify all of Chaos Star.”

“They will have no choice but to accept a new regime emerging in the Leviathan System!”

“After all, the Four Great Stars are secretly at odds with one another.”

“I, Kobayashi, will surely establish my own empire on Chaos Star, just like Emperor Monchi.”

With a slight shake of his head, Kobayashi cleared his mind of distractions.

He waved his hand lightly and said,

“Mech test is over… Tyr, go and kill Edward Teach and Nangong Yixiao!”

“These are two famous commanders of the star system—taking them down yourself will give you a lifetime’s worth of bragging rights.”

“Azadas, Loken, you two go help Torim deal with Ye Hai… Remember, I want him alive…”