Chapter 611: Everyone Is a Monster
Meng Chao and Lu Siya entered Saber Jin Wanhao’s secret lab guided by the sound of fighting.
Then, they saw two monsters entangled with each other in the craziest manner.
Even though Meng Chao managed to cut one of the monster’s front limbs, a large amount of black adhesive liquid immediately secreted in its wound and went to the severed limb.
The front limb that rolled on the floor was bound together by the black adhesive liquid that gushed out from the wound. It connected with it, and in the blink of an eye, it was healed.
When Meng Chao sensed the furious flames coming from the monster, he knew that he had not damaged it in the slightest.
Meng Chao’s skin began to crawl.
He knew that it would not be so easy to change the future.
“I-It’s the Vortex!”
A’Ji endured the pain and moved to Meng Chao and Lu Siya arduously.
“What?” Meng Chao was shocked.
What he remembered was that the Vortex was an intelligence-oriented monster. Its specialty was putting on disguises and using its brain, not engaging in simple and crude fights.
Last time, when he fought against the Vortex which had disguised itself as him in the underground maze, he did not think that it was powerful.
He managed to burn it and force it to retreat with just a few crystal bombs manufactured in a streamline production.
Compared to its crystalline and harmless look at that time, right now, it looked really monstrous and terrifying in its black adhesive liquid form.
Wait, compared to the Vortex’s true form, the more important question was…
“If it’s the Vortex, then what the heck are you?”
Meng Chao positioned b.l.o.o.d.y Soul over his chest and shielded Lu Siya behind him while he stared at the Vortex and A’Ji warily.
“I… I’m A’Ji!” The silver-eyed boy adjusted his facial muscles and tried his best to pretend to be obedient and innocent while he shouted at the top of his voice. “Big Brother Chao, save me!”
“Save you, my foot! You’re even more well-built than me, okay?!” Meng Chao rudely retorted. “Don’t come here, and don’t call me ‘Big Brother Chao’. Go take a p.i.s.s and use your own pee to take a look at yourself. Didn’t you notice that you aren’t that much more handsome compared to that monster right now?”
“…” A’Ji looked down and saw his bulging, steel-like muscles. He also took note of the fierce blood vessels that were like aquatic dragons all over his muscles.
Even the X-shaped eye on his chest was shining due to the ample nourishment of spirit energy. It was so bright that no one could ignore it.
He might be cunning, but even he did not know how to explain things right then.
Meng Chao seized the chance to size up the area.
When he saw the toppled and squashed valuable materials in the storage room, his face also became similar to that of A’Ji’s earlier, and he looked like his heart had just been crushed. The monster materials in the room were items that could not be bought with money, yet they were no longer encased in mithril-based stabilizing fluid, which meant that they were swiftly turning bad.
But he should be forgiven for this, since this was a professional problem for harvesters. They could stand the sight of valuable ingredients being destroyed.
The safe that was wide open and the h.e.l.l’s Blood that released a thick fragrance and shone with a blue light on the floor also stirred up Meng Chao’s curiosity. He narrowed his eyes and a.n.a.lyzed the situation to decipher who was friend and foe while wondering how he could profit from it.
“Even if you’re A’Ji, who is A’Ji? How did you manage to sneak into Saber Jin Wanhao’s secret lab through a secret tunnel? How did you open the Underground Emperor’s safe? There are no signs of the safe being broken with brute force. You must have opened it, not that monster, right?” The gears in Meng Chao’s head turned swiftly. “If you want our help, sure. Explain.”
“I don’t have the time to explain!” A’Ji did not know whether he should laugh or cry. “Let’s work together to kill this monster first! It’s the Vortex, the mastermind behind the chaos in the lair! It’s a boss-level superbeast!”
“Enough with that. It’s a boss-level monster, but you’re no slouch either,” Meng Chao said. “I’m currently suspecting that you’re also a boss-level superhuman who is on equal grounds with the Vortex. Both of you must have some malicious schemes, but by the looks of it, your schemes are interfering with each other’s.
“If you won’t tell me your real ident.i.ty, I’ll think of you in the worst light possible just to be safe.
“Forget it. This is a high-cla.s.s battle between two boss-level creatures. Mooks who have just entered Heaven Realm can’t join it. Big Sis Ya, let’s go. We can’t interfere in a fight between these two boss-level creatures!”
Meng Chao signalled for Lu Siya to run and look for Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue and Phantom Bear Xiong Wei, so they would come join the fight.
Lu Siya accepted his suggestion and turned to run.
Yet before they could escape from the material storage, the Vortex swung the front limb that Meng Chao had severed moments ago. After it was connected back to the main body with black adhesive liquid and grew five meters long, it delivered three fierce black rays of light and blocked their exit.
The two instinctively grabbed the other and narrowly dodged the Vortex’s claw attack.
While they were dodging, the Vortex sank its claws into the entrance and dragged its body over, thus blocking the entrance.
Crack, crack, crack, crack.
Slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp.
Bone-chilling, bizarre sounds kept coming out of its body.
Black adhesive liquid continuing pouring out of its mangled body.
Bubbles rose within the liquid.
When they popped, the creature’s front limbs became longer and gradually fell on the floor like whips.
Six claws scratched the super alloy floor, and sparks as well as claw marks immediately appeared.
The monster’s spine kept on elongating, which made its neck and tail three times longer than before. It increased its agility and attack range.
The scales grew and became connected together, turning into a single piece of impenetrable armor.
The Vortex grinned as if it was greeting Meng Chao as an “old friend”.
A tongue made of black adhesive liquid rolled out of its mouth. Its end split up and grew out black spikes.
Once they smelled Meng Chao, the hundreds of black spikes all moved like a rattlesnake’s tail. They trembled at rapid speed and rustled.
Meng Chao saw notifications of [Increased progress of Mystery of the Supernatural Ent.i.ties by 1%] pop up at his peripheral vision.
In an instant, the quest progress reached 59%.
But Meng Chao could not find it in himself to be happy.
With great difficulty, he gulped.
He also started cursing the moderator of the monster forum in his previous life.
Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d in his previous life said that the Vortex was just an intelligence-type monster and had only average strength among the Nine Great Supernatural Ent.i.ties, so it did not stand out?
To h.e.l.l with “average and not outstanding”.
His previous life’s memories were just too unreliable! This time, he was in big trouble because of it!
“Didn’t you notice that this monster’s fighting strength is related to its host? The stronger its host is, the stronger its fighting strength is.” With great difficulty, A’Ji moved behind Meng Chao and Lu Siya. While enduring pain, he hissed, “The last time you fought against it, it occupied Phantom Bear Xiong Wei’s son’s body.
“Xiong Ying is just the son of a rich man. He became the heir of Black Bone because of his father and was just of average strength. He hadn’t even reached Heaven Realm yet, so the Vortex wasn’t able to bring out much of its power.
“But this time, the Vortex occupied a Broken Claw Dragon’s body, which is a h.e.l.l Beast. And this isn’t any normal Broken Claw Dragon.
“It was originally a star in Mutual Gold Coliseum. After it was genetically and biochemically modified, its brutality and fighting strength had increased by leaps and bounds. It once created the miracle of winning thirty-three fights in a row and became known as Death G.o.d’s Scythe. Everyone in the lair knows about it.
“It’s precisely because of its brutality and strength that it was chosen by Saber Jin Wanhao and brought into the secret lab for research purposes.
“Now, the Vortex and Death G.o.d’s Scythe have fused together. It also absorbed a large amount of super gene medicine called h.e.l.l’s Blood, which is made of hundreds of h.e.l.l Beasts’ blood, just so you know.
“So, you can imagine just how terrifying this monster is after it has fused all of that into one.
“If we don’t work together, none of us can think about leaving this place today!
“And once it tears us up and eats us, then devours all the ingredients and high-grade crystals here, who could tell just how it would evolve. Perhaps it will bring about the real apocalypse to the lair!”
Meng Chao no longer had any strength left to retort.
It was only at this moment that he understood why this intelligence-type Supernatural Ent.i.ty from his previous life had become so deformed, monstrous, and terrifying.
Wait…
“When did you arrive behind us? And why are you so close to us? Are we close to you?”
Meng Chao regarded the Vortex with 90% of his attention, while the remaining 10% of his attention was fixed on A’Ji. “Also, how do you know this entire matter in such detail? How do you know about this Broken Claw Dragon, the secret tunnel, and the pa.s.sword for the safe? What sort of relationship do you share with Saber Jin Wanhao?!”
“Urk…” A’Ji looked at him gravely. “If I told you that I’m Jin Wanhao’s illegitimate son, would you believe me?”
“No way!” Meng Chao answered without any hesitation. “If Jin Wanhao had a son, would he have handed Golden Tooth to a rascal like Red Brows Su Lun?”
A’Ji found himself speechless.
“Why do I have a feeling that you’re not Saber Jin Wanhao’s son or grandson, but you share a relationship that’s even closer than blood ties with the Underground Emperor? You and Jin Wanhao must have been concocting some scheme that couldn’t be brought to the public eye, but out of your expectations, your scheme and the Vortex’s scheme clashed against each other accidentally, and both of you ended up badly injured because of it. In the end, even Saber Jin Wanhao died because of his misdeeds!”
Meng Chao saw the guilt and resignation on A’Ji’s face.
He looked down along the blood trickling down A’Ji’s body, and his gaze soon reached his chest. In his previous life, after his sister turned into the Dark Witch, she had the same X-shaped eye tattoo on the back of her hand.
When he remembered the destruction his sister caused in Dragon City and all of the Other World in his previous life, Meng Chao’s eyelids twitched, and he said, “I’m beginning to suspect that if both of us really help you kill the Vortex, you’ll look for a chance to kill us and take all the monster materials, high-grade crystals, and gene medicine here. Then, you’ll take over the Vortex’s position and become a terrifying monster!”