Chapter 24: Profit and Spiritual Piercing

Chen Mo's order was like an icy blade, instantly cutting off all hesitation among the team members. The fisherman's gain—this is the most rational choice at present, and also the one with the greatest profit.

Inside the observation station, the air froze. The nauseating roars of the aberrant bodies down the mountain intertwined with the dying screams of Purification Society soldiers, forming a hellish painting.

"Han Qing, take people around from the side, use the ruins for cover, prioritize eliminating the split bodies, and avoid the main attack direction of the aberrant bodies." Chen Mo spoke extremely fast, "Wait for my signal."

"Understood!" Han Qing nodded heavily, immediately leading Zhang Yang and the others silently down from behind the observation station.

Chen Mo then took a deep breath, the energy of Shadow Step circulating within him, his figure gradually merging with the wall's shadows. He did not take the usual path, but like a gecko, he crept along the steep rock wall outside the observation station toward the battlefield's center—the aberrant body rampaging madly.

Su Yu nervously pressed herself against the window, her hands clenched together, her perception like an invisible spiderweb, fully covering the chaotic battlefield below. She had to provide the most precise warning for Chen Mo and for Han Qing's team.

"Aberrant body… its energy core… movement speed has slowed! Half a meter behind the eyeball! It's preparing for the next wide-range devour!" Su Yu's voice trembled, yet it sounded unusually clear in Chen Mo's mind—this was the nascent form of short-range spiritual link she had just grasped under pressure.

"Captain Han Qing, three split bodies have burst from the ground fifteen meters to your left!"

"Watch out! A Purification Society soldier isn't dead yet, hiding behind the truck wreckage, planning to sneak attack with his energy gun!"

Su Yu's guidance was like a lighthouse in the darkness, making every action of the Echo team precise and efficient.

Down below, the battle situation changed instantly. The Purification Society patrol soldiers, under siege by aberrant bodies and split bodies, were left with only three people back-to-back, struggling to hold on; their crimson energy beams could damage the aberrant bodies, but far too slowly to match its life-draining recovery speed. Meanwhile, the wandering survivors had already been killed or wounded to extinction.

The aberrant body seemed enraged by these "hard nuts" before it, its huge eye veined with blood, all tentacles snapping back, its massive body inflating like a balloon, the central largest mouth opening, emitting a soul‑shuddering suction! Loose stones, corpses, even broken weapons on the ground began sliding toward its maw!

【Devouring Force Field】!

"Now!" Su Yu screamed.

Almost as she spoke, Chen Mo, who had lain hidden like a venomous snake in the shadows of the rock wall, moved!

【Shadow Step】 effect pushed to the extreme! He seemed to break free of gravity, kicking off steep rock, his form becoming a nearly invisible black bolt, shooting straight at the aberrant body's energy core—exposed behind its huge eye after its skill activation halted movement.

On the fine tactical axe, the lurid green of Corrosive Venom Saliva, the compressed white radiance of Energy Shot, and even a strand of newly grasped, more condensed destructive energy from a fragment of the Primordial Blood's rules intertwined, making the blade seem to ignite with a silent flame of destruction.

No roar, no hesitation—only absolute calm and the killing art precise to the millimeter!

"Pfft—hiss!!"

Like a hot knife cutting butter, the tactical axe plunged unhindered deep into that frenzied writhing core exuding foul energy!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The aberrant body's inflated frame jerked rigid, the terrifying suction from its gaping maw cut off abruptly. All its writhing tentacles went limp as if deprived of bone, the blood veins in its huge eye rapidly faded, replaced by an incredulous blankness before its light utterly dimmed.

【Successfully killed LV. 14 Aberrant Body (Fusion Monster), gained 4000 experience points!】

【Level raised to LV13!】

【Death Echo triggered! Successfully copied skill: Life Drain (raised to LV. 2)!】

【Life Drain (LV. 2): Effect enhanced, absorption speed and recovery increased, penalty on life units reduced. Cooldown 1 minute 45 seconds.】

The huge amount of experience let Chen Mo level up again! And the enhancement of the Life Drain skill gave his sustained combat ability a qualitative leap!

The aberrant body's massive form, like a punctured balloon, quickly shriveled and rotted, finally turning into a puddle of foul-smelling pus, leaving only a dim‑colored demon core containing vast chaotic energy.

All this happened too fast! So fast that the three remaining Purification Society soldiers hadn't yet recovered from the fear of the Devouring Force Field, and so fast that Han Qing's team had just finished clearing the last few split bodies!

"Enemy attack! It's from the… Nursery…" a Purification Society soldier finally reacted, trembling as he lifted his energy gun.

But before he could pull the trigger, a condensed white-hot beam shot from the side, precisely piercing his skull! It was Chen Mo's Energy Shot fired the moment he landed!

The other two soldiers were terrified, turning to flee.

"Not one left!" Chen Mo's icy voice rang out.

Han Qing charged out like a tiger from the gate, shield bashing, slamming one man hard to the ground; Zhang Yang and Li Siwen's blades followed close behind. The last one was blocked by Wang Hu and Zhao Lei together, then hacked apart.

The battle ended completely in just over ten seconds. On the wasteland lay only corpses strewn about, burning wreckage, and the stain left where the aberrant body had melted.

"Quickly clean the battlefield! Collect all energy weapons, ammunition, and ID tags!" Chen Mo ordered, then he walked to the puddle of pus, endured a strong mental pollution feeling, and picked up that aberrant body's demon core. This core holds immense energy but is extremely unstable, reeking of chaos and madness, utterly unlike ordinary demon cores.

Su Yu and Liu Qian also ran down from the observation station. Su Yu's face remained pale; maintaining the spiritual link and perception at full force had drained her greatly.

"Are you okay?" Chen Mo looked at her.

Su Yu shook her head, her gaze falling on the corpses of the Purification Society soldiers, a complex flicker in her eyes: "They… seem merely puppets, their minds… filled only with cold orders."

Chen Mo crouched, searching the corpse of a minor leader, and found a black crystal similar to the one from Baton, plus a metal plate engraved with a number. The crystal's information was even more fragmentary—only a few constantly shifting coordinates and a repeated order: 【Eliminate all aberrant bodies and Observer‑related targets】.

"It seems the Purification Society also fears the aberrant bodies, listing them alongside the Observer as eradication targets." Chen Mo pondered; behind this lay perhaps a deeper connection.

He stowed the crystal and metal plate, then removed from that minor leader's energy gun a core component that seemed meant for guidance or communication, flickering with faint light.

"We must leave at once. The commotion was too great." Chen Mo stood, gazing toward the Death Rift. After this fierce battle, he gained a more intuitive grasp of the area he was about to enter—it was not only harsh in environment but also actively inhabited by the two extreme dangers, the Purification Society and the aberrant bodies.

The Echo team, laden with rich spoils and heavier hearts, set out again. Everyone's level had risen in combat, gear was upgraded, they now carried the Purification Society's standard energy guns (though ammunition was scarce), and their combat power was incomparable to before.

Chen Mo felt the power of LV13 within him, the enhanced Life Drain, and the newly gained Rock Skin. He looked at his steadfast companions beside him, especially Su Yu, whose perception was becoming ever more uncanny.

The shadow of the Death Rift spread ahead, yet the Echo team's fangs, too, grew sharper through repeated blood‑fire tempering.

They were like a stone tossed into this cruel wasteland, the ripples beginning to spread toward unknown depths. As for the Ark, the System, and the truth of Purification versus Aberration, perhaps they lie waiting to be uncovered in the rift called the Life Forbidden Zone.