Chapter 55: Scythe-Owl Larval Egg

Noticing the little one's gesture, Lu Ming smiled even more gently.

His mind kept racing; he needed to make some pre-battle preparations.

"Ultimate Sublimation."

He directly selected two samurai swords within his spatial pouch, upgrading them both into Mithril Great Ring Blades.

He took out one, pulled the other from the ground, activated the Eye of Truth, and charged straight toward the final screening hall!

"Empowerment of Strength!"

During his charge, Lu Ming's thoughts flickered, and red energy radiated from his heart to all his limbs and bones.

"Power of Awakening!"

Blue energy enveloped his entire body from the space between his brows!

Then, his footsteps paused, and he lunged forward with a spring!

"Godspeed!"

Whoosh!

His entire figure transformed into a red-and-blue intertwined rainbow, darting into the last screening hall.

Interlacing through space, he swept past three mutated sickle-owls guarding the quasi-owl queen, giving them not even a chance to react as he sliced them directly into six pieces!

After doing this, Lu Ming did not stop for a single second, nor did he spend even a single moment scrutinizing the appearance of the quasi-owl queen.

That was because, in his eyes, three fist-sized core bodies were flashing with intense red light inside the owl queen's body—precisely where her weakness lay!

Facing an enemy, as long as you knew the location of its weakness, who cared what it looked like? The key was a blitz attack, striking by surprise. He wanted to make sure the quasi-owl queen couldn't cast a single skill, aside from triggering her self-destruction mechanism!

Godspeed!

Godspeed activated once more!

As Lu Ming rushed toward the quasi-owl queen, he whipped both arms simultaneously!

The two Mithril-grade Great Ring Blades carried the force of a landslide, transforming into silver light that pierced straight through the quasi-owl queen's head and abdomen!

Influenced by his Archery Mastery, Lu Ming thoroughly enjoyed executing such throwing-knife kills.

Without the slightest misalignment, he precisely destroyed both core bodies!

With a flicker of his consciousness, a third Great Ring Blade appeared in his hand! Flipping the blade and gripping the hilt with both hands, he used his momentum to fiercely stab it right into the center of the quasi-owl queen's chest!

Bang!

The tactile feedback of shattering core bodies let Lu Ming know the kill was secured!

With the destruction of all three cores, the quasi-owl queen was beyond saving, and due to her desperate-struggle skill, she would inevitably trigger a suicide explosion.

Lu Ming, not yet knowing the destructive power of the self-explosion, was naturally not foolish enough to stand idly by, so he turned and ran immediately after stabbing her.

While sprinting at full speed, he didn't even forget to harvest the corpses of the three mutated sickle-owls.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh————————!"

Not until Lu Ming had run out of the screening hall and returned to the counter in the fifth-floor lobby did the quasi-owl queen finally unleash an earth-shattering shriek of rage!

That piercing sonic wave felt as though it was about to blow the roof off the entire shopping mall!

***

Having probably been stunned for a long time before realizing she had been ambushed and killed, her resentment could only be described as monstrous.

As for Lu Ming, the perpetrator, he was currently carrying the "red and blue buffs," leisurely harvesting the bodies of the South Korean individuals, mutated sickle-owls, and elite sickle-owls he had previously placed there.

As for reviewing the battle, there was no need.

From the moment he stepped onto the fifth floor, he had already prepared a simulated plan for a flawless kill.

How many units the enemy had, and in what numbers—everything was exposed under the Eye of Truth.

He knew his own strength. As long as he suppressed the emergence of variables to zero, his win rate was one hundred percent; that much was certain.

That was why he had stacked all his buffs right at the start.

This way, even if an accident occurred, he could turn around and escape in his absolute peak condition. And even if he couldn't escape, he wouldn't regret dying because he hadn't given it his all.

Boom————!

While he was lost in his thoughts, the quasi-owl queen's suicide explosion went off.

The destructive power was indeed impressive, but it wasn't terrifying enough to blow up the entire mall.

"Greed."

[Successfully decomposed the sickle-owl corpses, obtaining: Specialized Crystal *20, Sickle-Owl Blade *4, Sickle-Owl Carapace *10, Ordinary Xenogeneic Blood *200ml]

Decomposing the final ordinary sickle-owl, Lu Ming shifted Chuxue from his back to his front and cradled her securely once more.

If you asked why he didn't let Chuxue walk on her own.

His answer would be: the floor was dirty.

That's right, it was definitely not because he wanted more physical contact with Chuxue to cultivate their bond; thinking that way would make him seem very strange.

Walking with righteous strides, Lu Ming returned to the screening hall where the quasi-owl queen was located.

Seeing the scene at the entrance, to be honest, made him hesitate a bit.

Yellow-green bodily fluids, greasy and shattered adipose tissue, fascia and lymph—in short, there was nowhere to step, and he wasn't even sure if harvesting these fragments counted as harvesting the main body.

"Greed."

[Successfully recycled the remains of the "Quasi-Owl Queen", obtaining: Specialized Crystal *50, Owl-King Blade *12, Owl-King Carapace *20, Class-E Royal Xenogeneic Blood *200ml, Sickle-Owl Larval Eggs *10]

Hmm?

The names of the materials had all changed, which meant they warranted a close inspection.

[Owl-King Blade] (Class-E Royal Grade)
Category: Royal Xenogeneic Material
Description: The forelimb of a Class-E quasi-owl queen. Possesses hardness and sharpness equivalent to Mithril, and can be used as a raw material for crafting [Specialized Biological Weapons].
Prerequisite: Intermediate Forging Mastery or above

[Owl-King Carapace] (Class-E Royal Grade)
Category: Royal Xenogeneic Material
Description: The carapace of a Class-E quasi-owl queen. Possesses hardness and sharpness equivalent to Mithril, and can be used as a raw material for crafting [Specialized Biological Armor].
Prerequisite: Intermediate Forging Mastery or above

Although she was a "quasi" owl queen, she had reached the royal tier, and the weapons and armor crafted from her had also ascended to the Mithril rank. Overall, this was exceptionally good.

Let's check the matching bloodline next.

[Class-E Royal Xenogeneic Blood]
Category: Special Material
Description: Blood produced by Class-E royal xenogeneic organisms, possessing extremely strong alienated energy. Its applications are extremely broad; it can be devoured by xenogeneic creatures to accelerate their growth, and there is even a minuscule probability of acquiring royal bloodline and undergoing xenogeneic genetic evolution.
It can also be used in crafting biological weapons, drastically enhancing their power, with a certain probability of acquiring royal skills.
If used to craft low-tier biological weapons, it will 100% inherit one skill from the original xenogeneic organism.
Contained Alienated Energy Value: 500

Needless to say, he stored it away properly, as it would be immensely useful in the future.

The final item, and the one he cared about the most.

[Sickle-Owl Larval Egg] (Class-E)
Category: Class-E Larval Egg
Description: Upon hatching, it will give birth to a sickle-owl larva, one of the zerg species. If properly nurtured, it will evolve into a Class-E elite xenogeneic sickle-owl with extremely aggressive combat capabilities and exceptionally high loyalty.
Hatching and Bonding Conditions: High-purity xenogeneic protein *5, acquired Primary Nanny/Babysitter Mastery, close-body incubation for 10 seconds, and being the first person the hatchling sees upon birth.
Current Status: Incubation not yet started

"..."

Sure enough, they really were xenogeneic creature eggs, a full ten of them.

Sickle-owl...
Come to think of it, this thing genuinely possessed formidable strength, and when fully grown, it didn't look shabby at all—essentially an evolved praying mantis that could fly.
At the royal tier, it could easily hunt down several intermediate hunting warriors.

Pity that when raised to its maximum potential, this thing was only an elite sickle-owl, capable at best of serving as an ultimate elite soldier.

In someone else's hands, this would be an impressive combat force, but by his side, it was clearly a deadweight burden.

However, such was the fortune of these larval eggs; having fallen into Lu Ming's hands, he possessed a heaven-defying method to alter their destiny.

"Ultimate Sublimation!"