Gloves was suddenly alarmed. He spun around, but the anticipated threat lurking behind him didn’t appear. The area behind him was empty. The light was dim, and magnetic storms and lightning constantly flickered overhead, making the place feel terrifying and bizarre, but everything seemed safe.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to sit down for another rest when the ground beneath him suddenly split open. Countless fine, sharp metallic spikes shot out with a HISS, like a gaping maw snapping shut, biting into Gloves.
The spikes pierced through Gloves’ body, instantly putting him in a near-death state. His gaze became vacant, and blood continuously flowed from his wounds. He was only breathing out, no longer in.
The ground continued to shake. The metallic spikes slowly rose, revealing a huge metallic flower petal underneath, followed by a second, and then a third...
The metallic spikes clamping Gloves were the pistils of this bizarre Metallic Overlord Flower.
Once the petals completely emerged from the ground, a massive metal stem connected beneath them was revealed.
Then, the entire area began to shake as one Metallic Overlord Flower after another appeared—this metallic plant carpeted the mountains and plains!
Mechanical Species were usually animalistic in form; a plant-like mechanical being such as this was exceedingly rare, likely born under the influence of a super-lifeform’s remains.
The light in Gloves’ eyes was fading, his life flashing before him.
He had joined the military at a young age and was identified as a Professional. After executing numerous secret missions, however, the rewards he received were meager.
In the Star State, they were an "invisible" presence; their department was nowhere to be found in the government hierarchy.
The disparity between his contributions and his compensation was too great. He gradually found it unbearable; his grievances and complaints mounted, and conflicts with his superiors erupted repeatedly.
During missions, he increasingly defied his superiors’ orders, acting solely on his own judgment.
As a result, he became the "latent danger" within the team. However, the operation to "contain" him was leaked. He was prepared in advance, managing to escape the Star State and become a rogue Professional.
Then he met Hu Ling and a few others. Driven by necessity, he joined their squad. Though still operating in the shadows, getting paid what he earned was much better than before.
I never thought... this would be where it ends.
When he defected from the Star State, he knew he couldn’t escape a general’s unavoidable death in battle; he just hadn’t expected it to come so quickly... Latest content published on novęlfire.net
Suddenly, Gloves remembered he still had something. He moved his fingers with difficulty. His whole body was pinned by the spikes; only his fingers could move, and each movement sent waves of searing pain through him.
He slipped his fingers into his pocket and felt the button at the end of the vial. He pressed it hard.
The needle of the vial shot out, piercing his clothes and injecting its contents into his body.
He didn’t know what good this would do, but he was unwilling to let it end just .
Blood continued to pour from the multitude of wounds covering his body. Gradually, Gloves felt his consciousness fading away with the outflowing blood.
Unnoticed, the bright red blood began to darken, ultimately turning pitch black!
Gloves’ body, locked within the metallic pistils, slowly shriveled as all its substance drained out, until only a layer of human skin remained within the pistils!
The black fluid seeped into the ground, then gathered, quickly finding the rootstock of the Metallic Overlord Flower. Circling it, the fluid locked onto the central Energy Core, which emitted a faint glow.
With a WHOOSH, the black liquid surged upward...
On the ground, the fields of Metallic Overlord Flowers withered in an instant.
The once-rigid steel petals gradually softened. Small spots of rust appeared on them, and soon they completely transformed into rust-covered scrap iron strewn across the ground.
Black liquid surged up from beneath the ground like a fountain. Gloves desperately tried to condense his form as Laomo had, but after several attempts, he still failed.
He burst into a rage. Damn it! Why is this happening? If Laomo can do it, so can I!
He flowed about, the liquid surging violently, when he suddenly discovered his own cast-off skin. The black liquid GURGLED as it flowed towards it. After slipping inside the skin, he finally regained human form.
He moved his divine body, looked down at his hands and feet, and seemed quite satisfied. He took a step forward. His human skin was still hanging on the now rust-covered pistils. With this tug, the already tattered skin tore completely apart with a RIP.
The black liquid splashed uncontrollably outward.
The black liquid let out a roar, unlike any human sound, and an impatient urge suddenly sprang up within it: I need a new skin!
If I find a new skin, I can turn back into a human again!
So the black liquid hurriedly moved, rushing in a direction where it sensed a person.
The black liquid quickly returned to the gathering place of the Energy Gathering Mechanical Species. Wherever it passed, those fearsome energy-gathering mechanical insects scattered as if fleeing a viper!
More than ten minutes later, the black liquid "poked its head out" from behind a patch of black soil. It saw a girl with long, pointed ears that rotated nonstop. Her gun was switched to rapid-fire mode, and she was surrounded by a thick layer of energy-gathering mechanical insect corpses.
What a beautiful skin! the black liquid thought with sincere admiration, filled with desire for that skin.
Chen Gu and Qing Ruyan encountered another powerful Energy Gathering Mechanical Species—a mechanical serpent over a hundred meters long—but Qing Ruyan’s abilities once again proved effective!
She "confused" the metallic serpent and then, without any discussion, grabbed Chen Gu and executed the "Human Flesh Sandbag Toss" combat tactic!
Chen Gu concluded this unprecedented combat tactic with a spectacular Biological Nuclear Explosion.
He never dared to doubt any of Qing Ruyan’s decisions.
He knew she was taking this chance to get her revenge for the "grovelling humiliation."
Let her vent! Pent-up anger is damaging; it’s always unhealthy to keep it bottled up.
After wandering for a while longer, Chen Gu and Qing Ruyan exchanged somewhat embarrassed glances. Chen Gu said, "I have a feeling... we might be lost."
A giant ravine! You just follow it in one direction—it should be simple enough—and yet we still managed to get lost!
Qing Ruyan declared with a serious expression, "Based on my extensive combat experience, I deduce that the environment here has been severely affected by the super-lifeform’s remains. This may have caused some unpredictable changes in the spatial structure, so it’s entirely normal that we got lost."
"You’re absolutely right!" Chen Gu agreed.
But the question remained: what should they do next?
Chen Gu always kept Mind Belief active. It was a highly cost-effective skill that, once activated, could be left running passively, making it one of his highly favored abilities.