Chapter 956

This kind of ridiculously rare mission—I hope it’s the last time, next time don’t even think of calling me…

As Atifi-00 was engulfed in paint and reentered the painting, returning to the banquet of that year, Li Ang stepped cautiously through the chaotic water beneath his feet and entered the cooling lake behind Research Facility One.

“Don’t worry, walk forward boldly—there usually won’t be any problems.”

Sensing Li Ang seemed tense, the soul of the female cleaner Mo Na surfaced and spoke up reassuringly:

“No matter what obstacles lie between us, my [Path of Unobstructed Advance] can carve a way through—even without that Death Messenger’s interference, I could briefly transcend life and death.”

This is just a small lake; as long as you reserve a little power to ensure [Path of Unobstructed Advance] doesn’t suddenly collapse, you won’t be submerged.”

“Mm-hmm.”

After responding, Li Ang explained:

“I’m not worried about drowning—I’m worried about being detected by instruments monitoring anomalous objects. If we’re intercepted by Director Scorpio before we destroy the android core, Fei Ya’s coup will turn into a joke.”

“You don’t need to worry too much about that.”

After hearing Li Ang’s concern, the fisherman Frankie also surfaced, joining in the speculation:

“Director Edward’s most common anomalous objects are rule-based and lethal ones; the few defensive ones he owns are almost all single-target, lacking large-scale protection.”

“And the Krokok Kingdom’s androids are enormous—there are always blind spots he can’t cover. Even if his puppets catch us, we can still achieve our goal of destroying the android.”

“Hope so.”

With little confidence, Li Ang replied, squinting at the massive circular shadow beneath the cooling lake and frowning:

“Senior Lu Ben, what kind of anomalous objects does Director Edward usually use?”

“The director has one particularly unique anomalous object, probably called [Puppet Chamber], which enhances puppets and dolls, ensuring they can never be destroyed by any means—he’s especially fond of collecting doll-type anomalies.”

After hearing Li Ang’s question, the soul of Lu Ben surfaced and answered:

“His most commonly used anomaly is a pale doll covered entirely in thorns; anyone whose Li Ang value is lower than the director’s will be forcibly transformed into the same doll and suffer identical injuries when the doll’s gaze falls upon them.”

“His second most common is a cross-shaped puppet board suspended with countless transparent threads—contact with those threads strips you of control over your body, turning you into a puppet under his command.”

“Then there are a dozen or so dolls with varied effects, or uniquely shaped transformation puppets, used to handle different emergencies and adapt to various environments.”

“What about underwater?”

“I’m not sure about underwater ones.”

The female cleaner Mo Na shook her head:

“Director Edward didn’t take us on many missions, never went underwater with us—but he once mentioned in passing that he does possess corresponding puppet anomalies for underwater use.”

“I see.”

Li Ang nodded, then pointed downward at the massive shadow and asked, frowning:

“Could that thing below be the anomaly he uses in water?”

That thing below?

Hearing Li Ang’s question, the three Scorpio Branch cleaners froze, then all turned their heads downward in unison—and simultaneously sucked in a sharp breath.

There was no other reason: as Li Ang descended deeper into the cooling lake, the massive circular shadow beneath finally revealed its true form.

The android’s core lay even deeper in the lakebed; what the group had assumed was the android’s body was, in fact, a colossal, vertically suspended fish-like creature.

Beneath the dim glow of the lakebed, the creature’s tubular, streamlined body was entirely composed of wood, coated in waterproof paint; its enormous pectoral fins, startlingly wide, clung tightly to its belly, shimmering with a faint metallic luster.

Below it, the crescent-shaped flat tail fin was made of some unknown material—neither stone nor jade, yet heavier than either—and each slight flick sent violent ripples surging through the cooling lake.

This thing is too big?!

Gazing at the terrifying puppet-fish—over twenty meters long, its size comparable to an eight-story building—the four felt their scalps prickle.

Even among anomaly cleaners, few could fight such a massive aquatic creature underwater—let alone one enhanced by [Puppet Chamber], utterly indestructible.

With its predictable strength and hardness, one swipe from this thing would turn even an iron man into a flat iron pancake!

Worse still, before Li Ang could react, the imposing puppet-fish had already responded—suddenly spreading the metal fins folded against its belly, slicing diagonally through the lake’s currents, then violently thrusting downward before surging upward in an instant!

Fuck!

Watching the puppet-whale below shoot upward like an arrow loosed from a bow, Li Ang no longer held back—he pulled out a bottle of liquor, gulped it down, then flung a handful of hazelnut-sized seeds with shells.

“Lu Ben!”

“Coming!”

Amid Mo Na’s anxious cry, Lu Ben’s weak soul flared brightly—and the seeds Li Ang had thrown instantly swelled, aging impossibly across countless years, sprouting massive, table-sized hard fruits.

Frankie, already prepared, flung a spray of transparent fishing lines, stringing together the bizarre giant fruits into a vast, weighted net with dangling ornaments.

“Boom!”

The massive fish, seemingly blind, charged straight into the net without dodging—only slowing slightly, still pushing forward, dragging the hundred-plus table-sized “weights” upward.

“How is this possible?!”

Seeing his and Frankie’s combined effort only slightly impede the fish, Lu Ben was stunned.

Those were the seeds he’d specifically chosen! Even without Frankie’s net, the combined weight of a hundred sediment-reed shells must have exceeded eighty or ninety tons—how could this fish still surge upward with that much weight attached?!

“I’ll handle it!”

Without anyone maintaining it, the path carved by [Path of Unobstructed Advance] had already been shattered by the fish’s torrential current, water seeping in from all sides.

Taking advantage of the fish’s momentary slowdown, Li Ang—now activated by the Wine Immortal—gripped [Silver Scissors Knife] tightly and lunged backward into the water, slashing downward at the charging whale-head.