Chapter 182: Defying Logic (Revision)

"Find its weak point somehow!"

Shen Zexi saw that everyone's attacks on the Aberrant Species had little effect, and his mind began to race.

Ying Duo's bullets clanged against the stone golem all over, but none could trigger a weak‑point critical hit.

Fortunately he had just leveled up, otherwise after two consecutive high‑consumption battles his Blue Bar wouldn't have held up at all.

The stone golem swung its stone arm at the nearest Qi Hengyu; Qi Hengyu let out a low shout, wrapped his fists in energy, avoided a hard block, sidestepped, and then hammered the golem's elbow joint with a single punch.

"Thud!"

The spot where the attack landed emitted a muffled boom, and Qi Hengyu felt his arm go numb, as if he had struck a specially reinforced steel plate.

But the blow seemed to work; the stone golem's arm wavered and its movement became distorted.

"Attack its joints and eyes!" Shen Zexi shouted as he saw the situation, gathering Lightning Chains again; the lightning serpents' purpose was clear, charging straight for the stone golem's eyes.

"Tsk."

Luo Jinyou seemed to hear Ying Duo clicking beside him, sounding a bit impatient.

He naturally thought the joints and eyes might be weak points, but the stone was too thick; bullets couldn't pierce the joints.

So Ying Duo can be that… human‑like?

The untimely thought flashed in his mind for only a moment; Luo Jinyou snapped back, stopped trying to widen the area, and created a small localized collapse at the stone golem's next foothold.

The stone golem missed a step; its already clumsy movement caused its body to lose balance instantly, stumbling forward.

But that split‑second flaw was already enough.

Shen Zexi and Ying Duo almost simultaneously locked onto the stone golem's exposed neck area.

"Crack!"

With bullets and Lightning Chains hitting successfully, several obvious fissures opened in the golem's neck, and dark red light seeped from the cracks.

The stone golem let out a painful roar, swinging its arms even more wildly, striking the cavern's ceiling; Qi Hengyu hurried backward to dodge falling debris.

But the mine tunnel is only this big; where can they run?

The rock strata, already loosened by the battle, gave way completely; while dodging giant boulders falling from the ceiling, they also had to keep their footing on the violently shaking ground.

Suddenly, the rock they stood on began to collapse en masse, leaving the ground beneath them suddenly empty!

"Watch out!"

"Grab something!"

Amid Shen Zexi's and Qi Hengyu's shouts, the five of them, along with the damaged stone golem, fell into the deeper darkness below.

Fortunately, the intense weightlessness lasted only a few seconds.

Because they protected themselves with energy in time, everyone was battered badly, but the drop wasn't extreme, so they only suffered minor scrapes.

The ore lamps fell one after another during the plunge, lighting a small surrounding area.

"Cough… everyone okay?" Shen Zexi was the first to get up, enduring pain, quickly picking up the nearest ore lamp and shining it toward his teammates.

"I'm fine..."

Qi Hengyu scratched his head and helped Chen Mo Zhi up beside him.

Luo Jinyou's complexion turned a bit pale but remained steady, hmm...

Is someone missing?

"Bang!" Another crisp, familiar gunshot rang, and the group immediately looked toward its source.

They saw Ying Duo standing on the stone golem's corpse as if nothing had happened.

That Aberrant Species also fell with them; the moment Ying Duo hit the ground, he fired another shot at the crack on its neck, and now the dark red glow in its eyes had completely gone out, motionless.

【Congratulations! You successfully killed the "Raw Stone Giant", Experience +53.4%】

Hmm, perhaps because it was a level‑skipping kill, the experience was especially generous—some of it was shared with teammates, but he landed the Last Hit, so he got the bulk of it.

After that fluorescent green one disappeared, it became hard to spot Ying Duo immediately.

It's unclear whether letting Ying Duo hide his hair was right or wrong; once an Aberrant Species appears, Ying Duo fires a shot straight through, leaving no chance of being ambushed.

After confirming Ying Duo was fine and the greatest danger was fully resolved, Shen Zexi only then began Observation Key of their current location.

Although the fall wasn't extremely high, it was still four or five stories, enough for Luo Jinyou to fashion climbable earth spikes on the wall—though it was uncertain whether the wall could support them.

"Where is this cursed place?"

Qi Hengyu used the ore lamp's light to illuminate the surroundings.

It seemed to be a larger natural cavern, with scattered openings nearby, and no end in sight.

"Not on any recorded map."

Shen Zexi's expression grew solemn; he recalled that on the map records, the tunnel they were just in was already the deepest excavated, and there shouldn't be any other voids below.

"It could be an abandoned tunnel from the old era, or... an underground space excavated by Aberrant Species for a nest."

Luo Jinyou and Chen Mo Zhi watched the surroundings warily, especially the shadows beyond the lamp's reach; clearly that incident had left both of them with a considerable mental scar.

"Hey! Come see this!"

Qi Hengyu, who had gone to retrieve Ying Duo, suddenly shouted, his voice full of surprise and doubt.

The group followed the voice and saw Ying Duo prying open the cracked rock at the stone golem's neck with a small knife.

The crux of the problem was that the incision contained no flesh, no bone—only more shattered rock fragments.

It truly was an Aberrant Species; Ying Duo even extracted a mid‑grade Aberrant Species Core from its body, but it wasn't a living organism—more like rock given life.

"No living tissue? How is that possible?!"

Chen Mo Zhi, watching the scene, couldn't bother with details and shouted out.

Fortunately, the others didn't mind his slip; Chen Mo Zhi quickly moved forward, chipping away at the rocks to examine the interior structure.

There was no biological structure; it resembled neither animal nor plant.

Damn, they've really encountered a rock spirit.

This completely contradicts the knowledge about Mutation they have learned from elementary school onward; in this world, even a three‑year‑old knows that Mutation only affects living organisms.

"If the teacher were here, perhaps we could make some guesses..."

Shen Zexi felt a slight headache and immediately looked at Ying Duo.

"Ying Duo, can you pull these stones into your space? We need to take some back for investigation."

Ying Duo, upon hearing that, simply stared at the few stone‑person corpses and then placed a hand on them.

Hmm... you don't say, this thing as material is actually of blue quality.

Tsk tsk tsk, it seems the player was too moral before; turns out not only loot drops, but corpses can also be dissected and taken away.

Before, he only thought about extracting Aberrant Species cores and never imagined this.