Elder Mo was still in a state of liquified sand when several black shadows plunged into his body, only to be flung out from the other side, seemingly bewildered. They twirled around and then burrowed back into the ground.

In an instant, Elder Mo turned into a sand sphere, trapping a black shadow inside his body.

Hu Ling moved swiftly, leaping and dodging, but his huge body made him an obvious target. The black shadows darted around, forcing him into an awkward defense.

Eventually, he was caught off guard. PUFF! A black shadow penetrated his body.

Hu Ling let out a roar and punched himself. BAM!

This punch tore a giant, bloody hole in his own body! The black shadow, mixed with flesh and blood, was expelled more than ten meters away.

The black shadow spun around in place a few times, appearing disoriented, before sinking into the ground and disappearing.

Hu Ling, sweating profusely from the pain, clenched his teeth and glared fiercely. With no time to tend to his wounds, he remained vigilant for the potential reappearance of the black shadows.

Boluo's approach was the simplest and most brutal: he used a bomb to blast himself dozens of meters away. Collapsed on the ground and coughing up blood, he was temporarily out of the black shadows' attack range.

Huo Mei reached out and grabbed a heavy armored combat vehicle to shield herself, only to find that the black shadows effortlessly perforated the vehicle!

Smooth, round holes appeared on the surface of the combat vehicle.

Huo Mei never imagined the black shadows to be so terrifying. By the time the shadows pierced through the combat vehicle and lunged at her, it was too late to dodge.

THWIP THWIP THWIP THWIP!

Clusters of black shadows burrowed into her body. Only then, her mouth full of blood, did Huo Mei struggle to say, "Mechanical species?"

Her abilities were the most suitable for dealing with these things, but it was too late.

She was fierce; her face contorted as she morphed the black shadows inside her into iron pellets. Then, bearing a dozen massive wounds, she sighed and collapsed.

"Huo Mei!" Hu Ling bellowed, his eyes nearly bursting with fury.

But more black shadows burst forth from the ground beneath his feet. Hu Ling, unable to linger in his grief, desperately fended them off once more.

Chen Gu and Qing Ruyan had it easiest. Qing Ruyan pulled Chen Gu. With her mysterious power activated, a swarm of black shadows headed their way. However, they changed their minds mid-course, sensing they should not attack "one of their own." They turned around and headed straight for Locke and Ken nearby.

Locke and Ken screamed and scrambled in a panic, narrowly avoiding injury.

The mercenaries suffered heavy losses. Even the mercenary captain lay on the ground, the earth beneath him soaked with his bright red blood.

The assault lasted for more than ten minutes.

When the black shadows finally receded, no one dared to let down their guard. They remained highly alert for quite a while before finally relaxing and collapsing to the ground with a sigh of relief.

Hu Ling had two large wounds. Without time for treatment, he dragged his injured body quickly to Huo Mei's side.

Huo Mei's eyes were wide open, lifeless.

Hu Ling, weighed down with sorrow, lowered his head and tremblingly helped close her eyes.

Dora was also in a disheveled state. Her star-shaped sunglasses had flown off to who knows where, and one of her braids had been sheared off by a black shadow. Now, half her hair was braided, the other half loose and wild.

She shouted loudly, "President, Chen Gu, Locke, Ken..."

Locke and Ken didn't respond. Dora looked around until she saw Locke sitting with his back to everyone, holding Ken.

Dora's heart sank. She silently walked over and patted Locke on the shoulder. "My condolences..."

Locke's body slumped over. Only then did Dora see that both of them had fatal wounds. It seemed that after Ken was injured, Locke had refused to abandon him. While dodging with Ken in his arms, a black shadow had pierced straight through them both!

Dora felt extremely upset. She wiped her eyes hard and assembled a huge energy gun. Without a word, she began firing madly at the ground around her!

After emptying three energy cells, a hand reached out from behind her and gently grasped her shoulder. "That's enough..."

Turning around, Dora saw the President. She held back her tears and threw herself into her embrace. Biting her lip, her shoulders trembled continuously as she tried not to cry out loud.

Qing Ruyan was taken aback. I just came to stop you from venting, don't waste any more energy...

But moments later, her expression softened, and she gently patted Dora's back. "It's okay, it's okay now."

The mercenaries were almost completely wiped out. To Chen Gu's surprise, however, Leder and Liu Shichan were both unharmed. Even the few Liu Family members protecting Liu Shichan were fine; they merely looked a bit disheveled.

Suddenly, a hoarse voice came from the side, "Quick, over here! I can't hold on any longer!"

Elder Mo had trapped a black shadow with his body, and it was wriggling inside him painfully.

"Who can control this thing?" Leder asked loudly. Everyone looked at Boluo, who had set off explosions on himself three times in a row to escape the shadows' attacks and was still busy coughing up blood.

Noticing everyone's gaze, he hesitated. "I'll give it a try."

Elder Mo couldn't wait any longer and suddenly opened his mouth... Everyone thought he would spit out the shadow. Instead, PSST! A burst of something sprayed out from the lower rear part of his body with considerable force, shooting quite far...

Everyone was taken aback, and Boluo, especially, was caught completely off guard—he didn't catch it.

Elder Mo said helplessly, "These kinds of things... they're uncontrollable. Everyone understands."

As soon as the shadow hit the ground, Boluo had already altered the material structure of that patch of ground, turning it into hard ceramic.

But even though the shadow couldn't vanish instantly, it still drilled in with a SCRAPE! SCRAPE! SCRAPE!

Boluo gritted his teeth and activated his ability again, turning the ceramic into a fiercely heaving mass of molten lava.

GURGLE...

The shadow suddenly floated up, tumbling and spinning before flailing wildly! It seemed like it couldn't swim.

Finally trapped, everyone let out a long sigh of relief and took a closer look.

"Is this... that group of mechanical eyes?"

When they had first entered the Yingudusi Devil's Pit, they encountered a group of mechanical eyes connected by metallic flexible shafts. Weren't they the same as this thing about to drown right before their eyes?

The mechanical eyes blinked rapidly in the lava. A metallic flexible shaft trailed behind like a little tail, flailing aimlessly and to no avail.

Chen Gu's expression turned strange. This scene... it seems familiar. It's like something I've seen in some biology documentaries.

The mechanical eye species, much like a drowning person making a last desperate effort before sinking, violently shook its little tail. It seemed to be searching for some target and suddenly sprang up, as if about to leap out of the lava.

However, it still fell back with a PLOP!, powerless in the end.

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