She knew Huang Feiying's decision to break through the front door was ill-intentioned. But before the God Summoning Society obtained the Divine Ruins Key, they wouldn't harm Chu Ran even if cornered.
Still, the door opened too quickly.
"Whatever the situation, we have to go in anyway," the vice-captain said warily but matter-of-factly.
Ambushes were common during missions; nine deaths out of ten were routine. They relied on strength to be the Human Federation's hidden blade.
The vice-captain jumped into the pit and swiftly slipped inside the base.
Huang Feiying had already started a massacre in the hall.
Bright red blood splattered across the silver-gray metal walls.
"Something's wrong. There's a Zerg here." Charlie Jing's wrist detector lit up rapidly, its color shifting violently like a hurricane at sea.
"It'd be strange if there were no Zerg test subjects in a God Summoning Society base." Huang Feiying punched a member's head into pulp.
"Not an ordinary Zerg," Charlie Jing said, staring at the detector as the color turned deep red, nearing black.
At that moment, the alloy door on the front right slid open, and He Qiwu dragged Chu Ran out at a sprint.
Screams continued behind them.
"Manipulator! Get back here!" an old, furious voice rang out. "I'm the head of this base! Ensuring my safety is your top priority!"
He Qiwu didn't look back, waving a hand. "Sorry, but my first mission is to obtain the Divine Ruins Key. As for you..."
Chu Ran felt the wind and heard the light words drift past her ear, "...the easiest consumable in the organization."
He Qiwu smiled in satisfaction as the familiar sound of impotent rage faded into the air. Then she looked down at Chu Ran. "I'm dragging you along while running, and you're putting in absolutely zero effort?"
She was heavy as hell to pull.
Chu Ran didn't reply because when she looked up, she saw many familiar figures standing in the hall.
The people who came to rescue her looked like they'd rather kill her outright.
"SS-level Zerg! And its level is still rising—it might reach SSS-level!"
Before anyone could react, Charlie Jing's calm but despairing voice echoed through the hall.
Hearing this, He Qiwu slammed the red button on the right. A crackling sound followed, and the door behind them slammed shut.
Chu Ran listened to the screams fading away, then twisted free of He Qiwu's grip and ran forward.
He Qiwu didn't care. She dove under the nearest table. "With a great enemy at hand, we'd better join forces against it."
Charlie Jing's shout of "rapidly rising" made everyone in the hall stop fighting.
Some God Summoning Society members tried to slip past Huang Feiying and escape.
They didn't know Charlie Jing, but they knew that something that made the He Qiwu sue for peace was beyond them. If they didn't run now, they'd die here.
But that thing arrived faster than anyone expected.
Charlie Jing didn't even finish speaking before the tightly sealed alloy door began to melt as if hit by a strong corrosive, forming a pool of metallic liquid on the floor.
Chu Ran's alarm screamed. Instantly, her Spiritual Power surged out.
An invisible, powerful suction pulled at everyone.
The nearest God Summoning Society member had his Spiritual Power and life force drained in an endless stream toward the half-human, half-Zerg monster behind the door.
Chu Ran protected herself with her mutated Spiritual Power while simultaneously pressing it against the unknown Zerg in an attempt to suppress it. But the two powers clashed like fire and water, neither gaining the upper hand.
Huang Feiying and the others followed suit, but it was useless.
They seemed to face a chaotic black hole, their life force continuously extracted until death, a process that didn't even take a minute.
Charlie Jing acted decisively, injecting her Spiritual Power into the pendant around her neck. A completely sealed space instantly rose, isolating sound, light, and everything else outside.
He Qiwu hid under the table, silent as a mouse. Her Spiritual Power completely resisted the unknown Zerg's, but unlike Chu Ran's, He Qiwu's power flowed into the Zerg like a river into the sea.
The unknown Zerg had no awareness of her, showing no hostility.
By the time the unknown Zerg stepped out of the door, the other God Summoning Society members had already turned to dust, leaving no trace.
Seeming to have absorbed enough energy for now, it began to shed George's body.
After devouring George's body, the unknown Zerg instantly locked onto Chu Ran.