Chapter 50: Huatai Lifestyle Shopping Plaza

Swinging gracefully through the air on his silk threads, Lu Ming glanced at the video file, knowing that his moment of joy was being shared by the masses, complete with the eccentric title they had bestowed upon him.

So what? It was completely unimportant. Well, as a man, what was wrong with being a little eccentric?

As for attracting attention, then let them attract attention.

Previously, he had kept a low profile to develop safely, fearing the jealousy and backstabbing of others.

At his current level of strength, however, he no longer feared this degree of exposure.

After all, neither he nor Chuxue in his arms was at a level that contemporary humans could handle.

If he still felt uneasy, he would simply level up once more.

When there is a chasm-like gap between the levels of humans, even the thought of malicious plotting and backstabbing vanishes entirely.

They will no longer treat you as one of their own; as an untouchable peer, they can only place you on a pedestal and let you come and go as you please.

Lost in these deep thoughts, the head-on rush of the wind during his descent stimulated his senses.

Lu Ming once again burst out with the signature catchphrase of a master chef.

"Wuhu~~~!"

After a few repetitions, things returned to calm.

Once the wave of excitement subsided, his mind cleared up—this was the legendary sage mode.

At this moment, aside from navigating for Chuxue, Lu Ming spent all his remaining time scanning the buildings with his Eyes of Truth.

He was not in urgent need of food supplies; or rather, the basic threshold of survival was no longer an absolute necessity for him.

A pack of instant noodles plus five specialized crystals made for a luxury feast, so what more could he possibly want?

Therefore, he changed the search target of his Eyes of Truth exclusively to supply crates, weapons, and equipment.

Perhaps the starting zone was naturally barren, or perhaps they were still in the outer ring area; as he passed through the streets and districts, let alone supply crates, he hadn't even spotted a single weapon or piece of equipment. Who knew if they had all already been scavenged.

After all, following a day of accumulating experience and a night of thorough rest, those with strong adaptability had already begun banding together to hunt sickle-fiend larvae.

Though their movements weren't practiced yet, their kill rate was surprisingly high.

Since the translocators had become active, the division of surrounding supplies was only a matter of time.

Yet, no matter what, those were just the surroundings; the place he was heading to was the sea of stars.

Realizing this, he stopped lingering in the residential areas and instead turned his attention toward the police stations in various districts.

Regrettably, after searching the vicinity thoroughly, he couldn't find even a single stun gun or nightstick.

Puzzled to the extreme, he could only guess blindly that when the disaster broke out, these items had either been consolidated and gathered by the original military authorities or destroyed by xenogeneics.

The former possibility was significantly greater than the latter, because human nature under a disaster was far too complicated; if people gripped by extreme fear obtained weapons, it would undoubtedly spark riots.

Consequently, the regional headquarters and general command posts of each district would be the core strongholds for firearm reserves.

Glancing at the map and searching for the regional headquarters, the result greatly surprised him.

The regional headquarters of Kintama District was precisely the location marked by the red cursor on the map, and the other two districts were completely identical.

(1/3)

Wasn't this playing with all cards on the table?

Want powerful weapons?

If you want them, I'll give you everything!

Go and find them!

I've placed all the weapons in the region right there!

Is this One Piece? What a ripoff.

Speechless as he was, he still wanted firearms.

However, before heading to the headquarters, he needed to scout out the situation.

Since it was the core area of the entire region, the types and levels of xenogeneics definitely wouldn't be like those in the outer suburbs.

Given his life-cherishing personality, he needed to make more thorough preparations before going there. Anyway, he didn't have to worry about anyone else snatching them; the better prepared he was, the simpler conquering the place would be.

On the other hand, that Level 3 supply crate in the northern suburbs was located in the outer suburban area, meaning there was bound to be a risk of it being plundered.

Furthermore, in someone else's hands, that thing was just a broken box dropping Grade B items.

In his own hands, however, it was a miraculous treasure chest capable of yielding Grade S treasures.

The difference between the two was vast; how could he let others ruin it?

Time slipped by, and in the blink of an eye, it was noon.

Sweeping across the streets on his silk threads, Lu Ming and Chuxue landed on top of a building.

Directly across the street stood a massive structure, crowned with a gloomy, gigantic signboard.

"Huatai Life Shopping Plaza"

It was hard to imagine that an outer suburban area would feature such a massive shopping plaza.

And this was precisely the marked location of the Level 3 supply crate.

Lu Ming gently kneaded Chuxue's shoulders, soothing away a fatigue that didn't even exist.

His gaze, however, was fixed on the empty plaza platform below.

Not a single larva was in sight, but countless pools of corrosive slime covered the ground.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his expression growing grave—someone had been here before.

"Humans, weapons, xenogeneic creatures, supply crates, appraisal."

He murmured in a low, stern voice, his black pupils flashing with a brilliant golden light as the labels for the entire shopping mall manifested.

"Human," "Human," "Human," "Human"…… "Human"

"Sabre," "Sabre," "Katana," "Dagger," "Dagger," "Katana"…… "Katana"

"Sickle-fiend larva," "Sickle-fiend larva," "Sickle-fiend larva"

"Sickle-fiend," "Sickle-fiend," "Sickle-fiend"…… "Sickle-fiend"

"Mutated sickle-fiend," "Mutated sickle-fiend," "Mutated sickle-fiend," "Mutated sickle-fiend"

(2/3)

"Level 3 supply crate," "Level 2 supply crate," "Level 1 supply crate"

Seeing this astonishing number of labels, Lu Ming involuntarily opened his mouth in surprise.

There were actually as many as three supply crates! And they were all placed in a corner area on the fifth floor!

Moreover, right where they overlapped, a massive red label flickered with a faint glow, displaying three prominent characters: "Proto-Fiend Queen"!

Proto-Fiend Queen?

Detailed appraisal.

【Proto-Fiend Queen】 (Grade E Proto-Monarch)

Race: Insect Monarch Clan

Description: A queen individual nearing maturity, ten meters in length, massively built, possessing extremely formidable reproductive capabilities, and being utterly gluttonous and lethargic. It is the most crucial racial core of the entire sickle-fiend clan.

Having discarded formidable offensive capabilities to inherit and carry forward the glorious mission of the tribe, it is accompanied by elite guardian warriors personally designated by the fiend monarch, willing to cleanly and decisively sacrifice their lives to protect the proto-queen!

Skills: Opens three sets of mouthparts to unleash 【Triple Cannonade】 powerful enough to corrode steel-grade defensive gear and pierce through buildings.

Gathers mutated power into its forelimbs to violently lash out with 【Blade Pulse】.

And a desperate, suicidal 【Body-Detonation Upon Death】 when dying.

Traits: Possesses 【Queen's Command】 for absolute control over the clan.

【Advanced Regeneration】 which allows it to rapidly recover even when torn to pieces, as long as it has not truly died.

And 【Queen's Grace】, which—when its life is threatened—releases a wave of mutated power that shrouds the entire territory, stimulating the life potential of all clansmen within the domain. This forces them to sacrifice themselves in exchange for evolving into mature forms within one hour to fight for her.

Weaknesses: Lacks mobility and is incapable of autonomous movement.

Shattering all three core nuclei located in its head, chest, and abdomen will complete the kill; their hardness is at the steel grade.

……

Such a creature actually existed.

The crucial point was that it wasn't alone.

Surrounding it were four mutated sickle-fiends at the Grade E Elite+ level, along with 15 elite-grade sickle-fiends.

Leaving the latter aside, the former were combat units fully capable of rivaling junior hunting warriors.

Just what kind of sacred beings were that group of people, daring to attack a location of this magnitude?

Hmm? Wait, what was the formation of this group? All eleven people holding weapons were standing at the very back of the formation.

Conversely, the forty-five unarmed people formed five semi-enclosed human walls, standing right at the very front of the entire formation!

(3/3)