Married by Paper, Loved by Fate 38

37: Crisis

“The Energy Core is stored in the lowest level of the underground laboratory, but a extremely powerful Mutated Creature is held there. It’s a monster created by the laboratory, with an energy reading capable of reaching the tenth tier of supernatural abilities. Even if our team’s combat power were fully restored, we wouldn’t be a match for it.”

Shen Tang took the research materials Lu Xiao handed her. The last page contained a photo of the mutated monster.

Inside the laboratory’s glass tank, a massive creature, nearly five meters tall, floated silently in a pale green liquid. Its body was a composite of hundreds of biological features. Its claws were as sharp as if they could tear steel, and it had eyes from different creatures on its head and abdomen, all capable of rotating 360 degrees. Its body was covered in semi-transparent scales, beneath which wriggling blood vessels and organs could be faintly seen. The organs were connected in distorted and bizarre ways, it was enough to induce a sanity drain just by looking at it!

“This monster… what’s the highest chance of survival?” Shen Tang’s scalp tingled, almost causing her to curse.

Lu Xiao looked at her in silence and said, “Ten percent.”

Shen Tang felt regretful, but she wasn’t someone who courted death. If they really couldn’t win, she would have to give up.

Since these crystal cores were of little use to Shen Tang, she gave them all to Lu Xiao to boost his favorability.

“Take these crystal cores. They’re not of much use to me anyway. You can distribute them to your team members, and our chances of escaping the contaminated zone will be greater.”

Lu Xiao looked at her quizzically, but in the end, he didn’t refuse and accepted them.

“The entire team will rest tonight and depart tomorrow morning. You can rest in this workshop tonight.”

Before Lu Xiao left, he said to her, “Thank you.”

[Beep! Congratulations Host, Lu Xiao’s Favorability +10! Host, please continue your efforts!]

Shen Tang looked out the small window. The sky was a hazy grey, shrouded in a thick fog, making it impossible to tell if it was day or night.

Exhausted, she found a few stacked mattresses in a corner and fell asleep.

While drowsy, Shen Tang heard the low growls of some creature. At first, she paid it no mind, but slowly, the strange growls grew louder and higher in frequency. Shen Tang woke up from a nightmare, covered in sweat. She got up, opened the door, and found that several Beast-men were also awake. They were lying on the ground or in corners, yawning lazily, clearly accustomed to it. Shen Tang looked at the ground and could clearly feel the sound coming from underground—had the monster awakened? Seeing that everyone else wasn’t concerned, the monster probably wouldn’t escape, right? Shen Tang reassured herself and returned to her room to try and sleep. However, the sound wouldn’t cease, disturbing her and filling her with an inexplicable fear. She couldn’t stand it any longer and decided to find Lu Xiao.

The moment she opened the door.

Boom!

Boom, boom—

Explosions echoed from deep underground, and the entire factory began to shake. The Beast-men inside the factory were all awakened. Someone shouted, “Run! That monster is breaking out!”

Shen Tang’s face turned pale, and she ran frantically with the Beast-men. Her large body was out of breath, leaving her far behind the others. As she was about to escape the factory, she instinctively looked back inside. The elevator that connected to the underground laboratory had been blown open, and a massive creature, covered in tubes, was crawling out of the shattered elevator. Its appearance was exactly the same as the one she had seen in the photo! Seeing it with her own eyes, blood rushed to her head, and the terror only intensified.

Lu Xiao and some of the Beast-men were laying down suppressing fire on the monster, buying time for others to escape. Shen Tang, unable to concern herself with others’ safety, turned to rush out the door, but her pupils suddenly constricted when she saw the scene outside the factory! Mutated Creatures had surrounded the factory, a dense mass of them, at least thousands!

“This is bad, these mutated species heard the commotion and all came out!”

“A wolf in front, a tiger behind, we’re truly finished this time.”

“No matter what, we have no retreat! We’ll fight our way out!”

Amidst the rain of bullets and fire, the Beast-men who ran out of bullets transformed into their beast forms and engaged the Mutated Creatures outside the factory in a fierce battle. If it were before, they would have been no match for them. But tonight, after eating their fill and recovering their strength, fueled by the crystal cores, their combat power had returned to its peak, and they were fighting evenly with the mutated species, not at a disadvantage.

However, the situation with Lu Xiao and his group was dire. The experimental monster seemed impervious to pain, and bullets had no effect on it. A fifth-tier Beast-man transformed into its beast form and lunged with its claws, attacking its back. In the next second, the dozen eyes on the monster’s head suddenly turned backward, spotting the Beast-man’s attack. Then, its back split open, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, which bit the Beast-man’s body in half, blood splattering everywhere!

Shen Tang felt nauseous. In just a few minutes, two more Beast-men had fallen prey to the monster. No, they couldn’t wait any longer. Although the Beast-men had the energy supply from the crystal cores and could engage in a prolonged battle with the mutated species outside, they still had a chance to break through, no matter how numerous the mutated creatures were. But this monster inside the factory was too strong. They wouldn’t last three days; it was enough to annihilate them all today!

Shen Tang’s mind raced, and she came up with a plan. She shouted in Lu Xiao’s direction, “Lure this monster outside!”

The Beast-men present heard her and cursed inwardly: Is this fat woman crazy!? They suspected that the mutated creatures outside were drawn by this monster. Now Shen Tang wanted to release the “king”? If they united, wouldn’t it hasten their deaths!?

Lu Xiao also didn’t understand what Shen Tang intended, but remembering her resolute gaze that night, he was inexplicably moved, and a trace of doubt appeared in his heart. He transformed into his true form, a golden eagle whose wingspan was comparable to the experimental subject’s. His sharp talons, laden with powerful wind blades, fiercely tore through the experimental subject’s scales, causing pale green blood to flow.

“Roar!!!” The experimental subject was instantly enraged and unleashed a piercing sonic attack. Lower-tier Beast-men were sent flying by the invisible sonic waves, crashing into walls and spitting out large mouthfuls of blood. The experimental subject’s eyes turned blood red, and it pursued the golden eagle. Lu Xiao swooped towards the main entrance, and as he passed Shen Tang, he grabbed her with his claws and flew outside.

Shen Tang quickly took out a blue potion from her怀, “Smash this on the experimental subject!”

“What is this?” the golden eagle spoke, his voice raspy and bloody in the fierce wind.

Shen Tang replied, “This is a berserk potion. Its scent has a hallucinogenic and confusing effect on mutated creatures, causing them to go mad and attack the source of the smell!”

Lu Xiao’s eagle eyes flickered with surprise. He hadn’t expected her to have something like this. Without questioning the accuracy of her words, he took the potion from her with his other claw, flapped his wings, and swooped down. Less than ten meters from the experimental subject, he released the potion.

The potion shattered against the monster’s scales with a “bang!” The semi-transparent scales were sharper than blades, and the glass bottle instantly broke, spilling a pale blue liquid.

Dylan