Chapter 197: Power Gap

Human joys, sorrows, meetings and partings are always different.

Fortunately for them, although a dull tremor still came from above, the massive stone golem did not pursue them but set its sights elsewhere.

It would be best to clash with those few Co-Absorption ones.

Chen Mo Zhi silently tended his own wounds, then handed out several analgesic and mildly healing elixirs to the others.

He is not good at producing such medicines, so he usually buys some spares from the shop at his home.

While distributing the elixirs, Chen Mo Zhi's gaze inevitably swept over the surfaces of the devices, and suddenly the engraving on the metal base beneath one of them caught his attention.

Chen Mo Zhi walked over, crouched, and carefully brushed away the dust on the surface; the ancient engraving gradually became clear:

It depicted a lush ancient tree, with serpentine patterns coiling around its trunk, and bright red fruits sprouting on the branches.

His hand suddenly froze; this engraving.......

It's the Chen Family's emblem!

The Chen Family began using this emblem decades ago, but it usually appears only on the family's most core, most secret medical research projects!

Wasn't this an underground base that existed during the Old World? Why would equipment from the Chen Family show up here?

In other words, this base may have been reactivated in recent decades, and perhaps the Chen Family even took part in it?

The others, while searching, also uncovered some items, but most were completely decayed document fragments; they dared not even touch them—just brushing the edges of the paper caused it to crumble.

The handwriting on them was mostly illegible, yet a quick glance revealed many chilling terms, interspersed with a large amount of data and charts.

"Divine Oracle gene sequence," "soul wavelength variance," "destiny conflict," "gene cloning and grafting"........

Because these materials are severely damaged, the information that can be pieced together is extremely limited, but Shen Zexi last saw similar terminology in the Dome's laboratory.

Clearly, in a place so close to Tianmian City, there may have been forbidden research akin to the "Artificial Divine Oracle"!

Chen Mo Zhi's complexion turned a bit pale; he did not share his discovery with the others, but all of this was telling him that behind the Chen Family's glory seemed to lurk a shadow he had never known.

Rumble.......

The tremor from above seemed to intensify, as if to warn the few that their current situation was worrisome—they had not escaped danger, but fallen into deeper peril.

They must leave this place as soon as possible.

"Huh—"

An unnatural cold wind rose without warning in the open Dome space, stirring up a thick layer of settled dust.

The few instinctively raised their hands to cover their mouths, preventing them from inhaling dust that had accumulated for an unknown number of years.

A black silhouette silently glided down from above the hole they had fallen through; Ying Duo raised his hand and fired, but a "miss" popped up around the silhouette.

Dark brown eyes flashed with a cold light; from afar the few thought it was the kind of Raven they had encountered before, but the silhouette was singular and massive.

Until the black silhouette stepped onto the test platform and slowly descended, its wings, shimmering with a violet‑blue metallic sheen, folded at its waist, and the few finally realized the thing was actually a person.

Lu Mu's gaze swept over the disheveled few below, lingering a moment on Ying Duo's glaring Ying Guang Lu.

"Oh? Look what I've found?"

A playful curl lifted Lu Mu's mouth corner, and his voice echoed through the vast Dome.

"A flock of lost lambs... and the murderer of my dear little cutie."

His eyes lingered a bit longer on Ying Duo and Shen Zexi, filled with unabashed murderous intent.

"Are you ready to be buried with my darlings?"

Before the words finished, Lu Mu's figure already blurred; moving at blinding speed, he appeared at Ying Duo's front‑right side in an instant, his right‑hand fingertips swirling with ominous black energy, targeting Ying Duo's throat.

"Careful!"

Luo Jinyou happened to be beside Ying Duo; energy suddenly erupted, a rock shield instantly rose in front of Ying Duo, Qi Hengyu immediately followed, his ability enveloping his fist, and he smashed it hard into Lu Mu's side rib.

However, the disparity in strength was despairingly vast.

"Bang! Boom—!"

Lu Mu, as easily as tearing paper, penetrated the rock shield Luo Jinyou had formed; his assault did not wane, colliding with Qi Hengyu's fist, which was sheathed in a layer of golden light.

Amid the terrifying blast, Qi Hengyu's entire arm erupted in a spray of blood, and his body was flung backward, crashing heavily onto distant metal debris.

Luo Jinyou let out a muffled grunt, blood spilling from his mouth corner, and staggered back a few steps.

Lu Mu slightly frowned, watching Luo Jinyou, who was struggling to try to mobilize Aberrant Arts again, pause his actions; the command above was to stay alive......... this kid can't die right now.

With that brief distraction, Shen Zexi immediately seized the opportunity.

The Lightning Chains power silently gathering within his body erupted with a roar, several thick golden electric serpents darted precisely at Lu Mu, weaving into a crackling Lightning Chains cage.

The electric net he deployed was not intended for lethal damage, but to temporarily disrupt Lu Mu's movements.

"Ying Duo!" Shen Zexi barked low, believing that with Ying Duo's uncanny combat intuition, they could seize this fleeting chance.

In fact, there was no need for him to shout; Ying Duo had already reacted the instant Lu Mu attacked, ignoring the fallen teammate, his hollow eyes showing only a red hostile target.

Ying Duo moved, no, not only he moved.

From the shadows of a few inconspicuous corners nearby, two or three small robots with chassis and agile rollers suddenly scurried out, their designs crude yet equipped with various firearms.

These are the finished units Yang Yixie had just sketched based on the cleaning robot schematics, powered by the Aberrant Species Core they had previously captured, though they consume a fair amount of energy and the subsequent energy circuits could still be optimized.

According to the blueprint, the equipment he forged has a 37.2% chance of being blue quality; just now, after testing a few small robots, he also took time to upgrade all his weapons to blue quality.

"Tap tap tap—!"

A hail of bullets fired at the Lu Mu temporarily restrained by the electric net, and at the same time, a specially modified submachine gun appeared in Ying Duo's hand, and he pulled the trigger.

"Tt-t-t—!"

The firepower instantly enveloped him; although the bullets posed limited threat to Lu Mu, they were nonetheless irritating.

Black vapors surged around Lu Mu, shattering the Lightning Chains net enveloping him; with a wave of his hand he deflected most of the bullets, yet a few slipped past, grazing his cheek and splattering tiny specks of blood.