Ren Yifei lifted his hood and looked at the various expressions on the faces of the people inside, his gaze settling on the faintly glowing cocoon. He recognized Saman and the handsome player, but he didn't recognize this young girl.
Player?
His eyes looked a little strange.
Is this the place where the golden threads are concentrated?
Could the cause of death for test subjects numbered one through six in the lab's basement be this cocoon of light?
Ren Yifei's eyes remained red, so he could see the path of energy flow, strand by strand, converging towards a central object.
This thing has far more energy than the monsters he's seen outside. What kind of monster is going to be born inside?
"Scarlet Witch," the young lady looked at him, her expression unusually complicated, "we have been waiting for you for a long time. You probably don't know me, but we share the same biological mother and father."
Ren Yifei: ...
Not a player? Or is it a disguise?
What's going on? The base leader isn't here, but his daughter is? What's she doing here?
Ren Yifei didn't respond to anything, and didn't care about anything the young lady said. Apart from his purpose for coming down, he didn't care about anything else.
Those pure and indifferent eyes merely watched the others present with vigilance.
Seeing that the three 'humans' made no extra moves, Ren Yifei began to move. He did not relax, always facing the three of them, but his steps moved closer to the cocoon of light.
The handsome player toyed with the small knife in his hand, watching the Scarlet Witch's movements. This was their second meeting; the little monster still possessed a captivating wildness, but he also exuded some human qualities.
Perhaps this is the true 'Scarlet Witch,' a creature combining humanity and bestiality. The handsome player speculated that these monsters were special; they were intelligent and adept at thinking.
For a moment, he wanted to directly verify the Scarlet Witch's identity, but after much consideration, the handsome player temporarily put aside this plan.
The boss in the high-end dungeon is definitely not simple, so he'd better wait and see what it's going to do.
The handsome players didn't hinder the Scarlet Witch, so Saman certainly wouldn't interfere. Of course, he didn't hold her back, nor did he try to get close to her; instead, he calmly observed from afar.
He unconditionally supported whatever the Scarlet Witch did; he trusted her somewhat blindly.
Samantha remained calm until he saw the Scarlet Witch's hand pierce through the cocoon they could not break through.
"What is he doing?" Saman was extremely surprised.
The golden threads on its body are constantly absorbing energy. Given the density of the golden threads on the cocoon, anyone who comes into contact with them will be sucked dry.
But what they imagined didn't happen. The Scarlet Witch did pause for a moment, and the golden threads wrapped around him, turning him into a 'golden man' as well.
But the Scarlet Witch wasn't drained dry; he was still reaching inside.
"Is it because they come from the same source? So the Scarlet Witch can penetrate that cocoon of light?" The handsome player guessed, and he was even less willing to take action. He just wanted to see how the Scarlet Witch would solve the problem.
The reason the dungeon exists is because the 'ghost's' obsession has never disappeared, so the Scarlet Witch is unlikely to be able to successfully defeat this cocoon of light, and the handsome player is not worried at all.
He can still make his move once the Scarlet Witch fails again.
In fact, Ren Yifei was not as relaxed as others thought. He felt a powerful suction force through his arm that passed through the cocoon of light. He looked at the light flowing around his body and felt the energy in his body flowing away like a flood.
For every bit of energy lost, the feeling of hunger intensifies.
Ren Yifei stared intently at the cocoon of light with his cat-like eyes. Hunger triggered another kind of power, a power that belonged to Ren Yifei.
A huge phantom emerged from his body. Saman and the others present didn't even notice anything, but all the humans and monsters outside saw the round, plump, inflated shadow with its head in the sky and its feet on the ground.
The shadow bent down, grabbed the edge of the entire base with both hands, opened its mouth and sucked hard. A lot of the golden thread that had been painstakingly snatched energy was absorbed, and the energy inside was also devoured. It was as if it had done all the work for someone else.
When a petty thug meets a powerful one, Jin Xian trembles in fear, yet ultimately cannot escape his fate of being devoured.
Gluttony unlocks 'Devour': There is nothing in the world that cannot be eaten, and the hungrier you are, the stronger you become.
He stretched out both hands and reached into the cocoon of light. The energy was frantically devoured, but the strength in his hands increased again and again. Finally, he seemed to touch the real cocoon under the light, a hard shell.
"Crack, crack." The sound of cracking gradually arose as Ren Yifei lowered his head and focused on breaking open the cocoon shell, tearing it apart piece by piece.
Transform into a butterfly? Dream on!
Sensing the life-or-death crisis, the cocoon of light trembled violently and split open from the middle, bursting forth with great light, and Ren Yifei was directly blasted away.
The light was as intense as a flashbang, and Saman and the others quickly dodged, turning their backs and shielding their eyes with their arms. Only Ren Yifei stared straight ahead: he could see energy in his eyes anyway.
After a while, the light seemed to fade, and they turned around, only to be startled again.
The thing in front of me... looks like an incompletely evolved alien. Its bulging head has no face, only a huge X, but its body is human, and a very fit male body at that, covered in thick mucus.
The creature's appearance was truly bizarre. Saman and the others didn't act immediately, but several silver arrows shot from Ren Yifei's direction. The silver arrows pierced directly through the naked monster's body, and blue flames emerged from the wounds.
He held a specially made crossbow, and his hands were scorched from touching the silver.
"You've come!" The blue flames on the monster's wound quickly disappeared, and the wound healed automatically. He looked at the Scarlet Witch's face, and a rough, whetstone-like sound came from the cross on her face. "You really do look like her."
She looks a lot like her, but who does she look like? Who is this guy? Why does he seem familiar?
Ren Yifei's eyes widened slightly, but all his true emotions were hidden. His expression was calm, without joy or sorrow. He raised his hand and fired another arrow, which flew straight toward his chest.
The monster caught the arrow with one hand and tossed it aside.
Seeing this, Ren Yifei threw the crossbow aside, and sharp fingernails quickly grew on his hands, while his eyes became even darker.
No matter what it is, just kill it.
"I never expected you to walk right into my trap."
The monster was extremely excited by the appearance of his target, and he completely ignored the others, wanting to focus solely on dealing with the Scarlet Witch. However, the others who were ignored were not so happy.
When Saman activated his skill, he instantly transformed into a wisp of green smoke and appeared behind the monster in the next second.
Without turning his head, the monster's back muscles bulged and quickly took shape, forming a new arm that grabbed Saman's shoulder and swung him around violently.
The monster possessed incredible strength, managing to fling a tall and imposing man like Saman away with a single hand.
Saman transformed into smoke again in mid-air. This time, he was even faster. Before the monster could react, he had already appeared and slashed into the monster's body.
"Hmm?" The knife sliced through his body as easily as cutting through tofu. Saman sensed something was wrong and immediately retreated, narrowly avoiding the monster's attack.
The wounds healed in the blink of an eye, and the monster didn't even glance back at Saman, continuing its advance towards the Scarlet Witch.
To monsters, the Scarlet Witch is the most valuable thing; everything else is trash.
"Physical attacks seem to be useless." Saman frowned as he looked at the monster's unharmed body.
At this moment, the young lady, who had been like an invisible person all along, made a move. She took out a packet of grayish-white powder and sprinkled it out. Some of it was poured between the monster and the Scarlet Witch, and some was sprinkled on the monster.
The young lady looked at the Scarlet Witch; she had just caught a glimpse of the Scarlet Witch's shadow, which carried a powerful aura of intimidation. Moreover, the golden threads that could resist this energy-devouring force had actually caused the incompletely evolved monster to be prematurely born…
"Perhaps, he can," the young lady thought.
The powder was thrown in the direction that the handsome player was in. He accidentally touched some of it, but he was fine elsewhere. However, he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his eyes.
"What is this thing?" Before the handsome player could even think, the monster was clutching its corroded parts and yelling.
How could this seemingly ordinary powder possibly harm a monster?
"It's lime powder," the young lady said.
The handsome player covered his eyes and turned away, seemingly unsure how he dealt with it, but it subsided quickly, though his eyes were still a little red. He glared at the young lady with some annoyance.
The young lady smiled back; the innocent and naive girl she once was in love with was completely gone from her.
Ren Yifei and Saman also noticed the young lady.
Every monster has its own weakness. If the Scarlet Witch's weakness is light, then this monster's weakness seems to be this lime powder.
The only question is, how did she know? And how did she even prepare in advance?
"A prophetic skill?" Saman guessed, because he possessed the Diviner skill, making it easy for him to deduce in that direction. The Desolate Corner produced all sorts of skills, including the most unbelievable ones.
Ren Yifei's gaze swept over this special 'player'. From the moment he arrived until now, this person's behavior had been consistently interesting. So interesting that Ren Yifei couldn't help but want to investigate his background.
The handsome player, who mistook the young lady for a 'black rabbit,' didn't think much of it. He simply took advantage of her weakness and used the blood-dripping dart to put over the monster's head and remove it.
But the next part of the story isn't the monster falling to the ground and dying, but rather a head quickly growing back from its severed neck, still sporting the face of a horror movie with a huge X.
"The head isn't the fatal spot; perhaps the heart is."
"You have angered me." The monster rasped, and more golden threads floated around him, some swirling around him, others flying toward Saman and the others.
These golden threads began to swirl around them, enveloping them like a cocoon.
If they were only nibbling away before, now these threads are frantically absorbing all the energy from their bodies.
Saman and the others tried to cut the golden threads, but the thing was like a monster, immune to physical attacks.
In this situation, let alone harming the monster's heart, even self-preservation would be extremely difficult.
Suddenly, a rapid rubbing sound was heard, and seven players slid out of the passage where Saman appeared. The three laid-back players, the baby-faced man, and the middle-aged man were all there, along with two others whom he did not recognize.
Looking at the number of people present, Ren Yifei seemed to understand something: all the players, including the ghost, had arrived (minus the former teammates who had died).
The players collapsed to the ground, not even realizing what was happening, before they were surrounded by golden threads. Turns out, they were just there to be delivered to the enemy; they couldn't be relied on.
"Holy crap, what the hell is this?" The players yelled and shouted, appearing quite lively.
The monster closed its eyes and greedily absorbed the energy from the players, who seemed to replenish its depleted energy.
Not only in the basement, but throughout the entire base, the number of gold threads suddenly increased.
Ordinary people are the first to show signs of weakness; they fall to the ground groaning, their legs seem useless, and their limbs are weak.
"What happened?" The humans were powerless to resist the wrapping of golden threads. Their skin began to sink in, became wrinkled, and they suddenly looked much older.
"Hahahaha—" Everyone was struggling against the golden threads, and they were getting weaker every moment, while the monster was getting stronger every moment. The monster laughed loudly, and he was confident of victory.
The young lady suddenly knelt on the ground and collapsed. As her life force faded, her hair turned gray-white, like that of an old woman.
"He can…" She looked at the only person who could ignore the golden threads, the Scarlet Witch.
Author's note: Gluttony's devouring skill: So hungry, suck, suck until full, then ins
tantly lose strength.