The cracking sounds coming from the blood lichens on fire were enough to wake the dead.

In Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s vision, large areas of blood lichens were burning, showing flashes of light from time to time. The raging flames were like sharp knives, cutting off the mother beast's spiritual will.

Seeing that scene, Little Seven and the others s.h.i.+vered. Fortunately, the last sign of mental pressure was eliminated.

The flamethrowers were ejecting thickened gasoline mixed with combustion improver, so the intense flames were practically inexhaustible. No matter if it was windy or one was to throw water on the fire, it would be useless. The high-temperature flames could cause severe burn wounds, and several beasts that were caught in the whirlpool of raging fire fell to the ground in great pain. 

As the blood lichens were being burned, the mutant beasts started breaking out of the mother beast's control and forced their way out of that area by pus.h.i.+ng other beasts or stomping on the fallen ones.

At that moment, a hill-like ape, whose skin and fur resembled countless steel needles, exposed its half-meter-fangs from its mouth. It jumped with both hands and feet on the ground, and once it landed the ground cracked and a deep hole appeared, while the ape sprung 10 meters in the air again.

A gigantic crocodile, with a length of more than 10 meters and odd-sized squama 1 covering its body, was crouching on the ground, leaving deep marks behind.

Those two beasts and more than a dozen level-2 mutant beasts were rus.h.i.+ng toward Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s team while pulverizing any beasts standing in their way. 

Behind the level-2 mutant beasts, a much larger, crimson red figure appeared. It was a huge weird worm, nearly 10 meters long with a chubby body. On its back was a pair of fleshy wings and many blood red feathers that were about to take their final form. It would likely evolve into a bird, but it also had a long tail similar to a lizard's and dense compound eyes on its forehead. It also had countless whip-like tentacles helping it move on the ground.

In fact, this mother beast could better be described as a chimera 2 since it had the wings of birds and the body of an insect with b.e.s.t.i.a.l characteristics. Moreover, its body secreted non-stop blobs of red crystals. When those crystals fell onto the burned ground, they turned into a thin layer of blood lichens.

"Mother Beast!" Everyone exclaimed after spotting the weird giant monster. It had to be the legendary mother beast.

"It's finally here!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ also saw the ma.s.sive figure and felt quite excited.

'The range is about 900 meters-' Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s activated his brain domain, and everything in his field of vision slowed down, so he calculated the distance separating them. At the same time, a thick metal barrel was stretched out of the minibus' front. 

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ constantly adjusted the air cannon's direction through his mind and calculated the best distance and angle for shooting. The air cannon was the most powerful weapon he could rely on at the moment. And since the mother beast had decided to make its appearance, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ would not let that chance go!

Suddenly, Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s eyes flashed as he saw a muscular figure jumping out of

the group of mutant beasts.

'Lu Changfei?' After seeing clearly, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was surprised. In his vision, Lu Changfei was like an arrow rus.h.i.+ng toward the mother beast. His physical strength was far beyond Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s understanding; strong explosiveness, rapid recovery, and nearly impenetrable defense. Although he was surrounded by countless beasts, Lu Changfei hadn't any injuries.

The mutant beasts under his feet were like stepping stones for Lu Changfei. He was lightning-fast, and thus, approached the mother beast quickly.

'Does he think he can steal the mother beast away from me?' Jiang Lius.h.i.+ smiled.

Although Lu Changfei's abilities and actions were perfect, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ firmly believed that once he launched the air cannon, Lu Changfei would be shot down immediately.

However, he decided to adjust the air cannon's direction and aimed at a group of mutant beasts that Jiang Lius.h.i.+ deemed as the most troublesome. After all, the minibus was pretty big and in order to sprint it had to rush through the dense group of mutant beasts before it.

"Oh my G.o.d! Look! Those mutant beasts are rus.h.i.+ng this way. Does Jiang Lius.h.i.+ want to crash head-on with them?" Ding Yi shouted in surprise.

Before even his voice faded, the minibus suddenly trembled and a strange artillery sound reverberated, making the ground shake violently.

Even Lu Changfei, who was about to reach the mother beast, looked back. As soon as he did, he saw the air cannon's shockwave crossing the air like a white dragon and throwing several mutant beasts in every direction.

The first few level-2 mutant beasts in the lead received most damage, and they were thrown tens of meters away. A mutant beast was bombarded by the devastating air current to the point it was sent flying toward the mother beast. The crimson red mother beast opened its mouth and swallowed the mutant beast whole at once without chewing it at all.

Everyone felt horrified by that scene.

'Bang!'

At that moment, Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s minibus rushed over like a hot-tempered beast as the air cannon had cleared the way for it. The vast majority of mutant beasts were heavily hurt, and only a few were still blocking the road, but they were all sent flying after colliding with the minibus without suspense.

However, Lu Changfei had already reached the mother beast. He waved his arms quickly and stabbed toward the mother beast's abdomen. Unfortunately, before he came in contact with it, the mother beast opened its mouth, spurting countless skeletons out.

'Bang! Bang!'

Innumerable metal-like sounds came from Lu Changfei's body as he was swept a few meters away in the air. He didn't have the chance to get on close the mother beast's body at all. When he was just about to get up, several huge dark shadows occurred above his head. They were the mother beast's huge tentacles.

'Boom!'

Lu Changfei was directly trapped in the depths of the earth by those tentacles. In the place where he had barely stood, the hard soil layer was broken, and a deep pit had appeared.

'Great power!'

When Jiang Lius.h.i.+ witnessed that scene, he was totally shocked, and a grim expression appeared on his face. Meanwhile, the mother beast was das.h.i.+ng toward the minibus, while secreting and throwing numerous blood lichens from its body. 

"Xiyu!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ shouted and then Ran Xiyu clenched her teeth. She concentrated all her energy, pus.h.i.+ng her spiritual force on the mother beast at once.

The das.h.i.+ng mother beast was stunned for a few seconds, but it broke free. Ran Xiyu had tried her best, but it was enough as the minibus had already appeared before the mother beast.

When the mother beast regained its senses, its chubby abdomen faced the ferocious minibus impact as the V-shaped ram was plunged entirely into the full of the fat abdomen.

"Successful!" Li Yuxin and the others sitting in the minibus were excited after seeing that scene.

The mother beast's body was pressed against the winds.h.i.+eld, and at such a close range, the visual impact was breathtaking. In the next second, the mother beast let out a terrible scream.

At that time, Li Yuxin suddenly noticed that their minibus was slanted; the black tentacles had entangled the minibus.

'Warning! The damage to the alloy structure of the MCV is 1%....'

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was shocked by the notification. He knew that the special alloy could withstand more than a dozen mutant beasts. How could it be damaged just by several tentacles?

And then numerous black tentacles pulled Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s minibus out slowly. On the mother beast's abdomen six deep and b.l.o.o.d.y holes could be seen, but it was nothing compared to its ma.s.sive body. Impressively, its flesh and blood exuded a s.h.i.+ny metallic l.u.s.ter.

"According to the data in the booklet, mother beasts pretty much eat everything, but they love eating metal. I never expected that its muscles have the characteristics of metals; abnormal toughness..." Jiang Lius.h.i.+ said as he started to worry because his weapons cut no ice with this mother beast.

At that moment, the mother beast threw his minibus to the ground and started roaring furiously, while its black tentacles were flung to its head.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was quite confused. 'What happened?'

"Brother Jiang, it's because of Lu Changfei," Ran Xiyu informed.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ looked at the mother beast's head and saw that Lu Changfei had climbed on its compound eyes and stabbed countless parts of them.

Lu Changfei had been smashed into the earth, but not only had he not died, but he had also climbed out like a ghost.

At the moment, the gray-headed muscular man with numerous metal bone blades protruding from his body was waving his hands extremely fast; only their afterimages could be seen. He was smas.h.i.+ng its compound eyes one by one. At the same time, he was moving quickly to avoid and hide from the intense tentacle-attacks, leaving only lingering images of his figure. The mother beast's tentacles touched its own head several times without striking Lu Changfei even once.

"He is indeed powerful!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ said in surprise. He could now tell that only his air cannon could be used harm Lu Changfei, or else, it would be impossible to win a 1-on-1 fight.

The minibus paled in size before the mother beast, as it was way larger, so for it, Lu Changfei was a powerful diamond ant.

"Jiang Lius.h.i.+, the level-5 mission is mine!" Lu Changfeig shouted to Jiang Lius.h.i.+ suddenly in an insolent way. His body had been drenched with a layer of the mother beast's blood and gave off a mental color.

"Hahaha, that's my brother! The mother beast belongs to our Black Water Organization." Lu Changyang had just led his whole team and witnessed his brother's epic moment. Although he felt extremely satisfied, he still thought that his brother was paying way too much attention to Jiang Lius.h.i.+, who was a mere Level B team captain, than he deserved.

"Lu Changyang, don't get too excited! We have to deal with the mutant beasts opposite us!" Hou Dingkun had also led his team to this place.

Based on the current situation's development, Hou Dingkun was the one who couldn't get the sour grapes 3 . However, he hoped that Jiang Lius.h.i.+ could reverse the situation and reap all the benefits.

While all this played out, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ felt annoyed by Lu Changfei's scornful words.

'Rawr!'

The mother beast roared again, and Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s whole body suddenly started trembling and felt as if a sledgehammer had struck his head.

'Another mental attack!?' Jiang Lius.h.i.+ speculated and immediately looked at Lu Changfei. He was still jumping, but a lot slower, and thus, the black tentacles caught him in the air.

The mother beast may be using the blood lichens to enhance and transmit its mental attacks, but it could quite easy for it to control an enemy at such close range. Naturally, Lu Changfei was brutally suppressed this time.

'Bang!'

The black tentacles slammed Lu Changfei on the ground several times, and deep holes appeared on the hard surface every time that happened. Jiang Lius.h.i.+ even heard bone-breaking sounds and saw blood dripping from Lu Changfei's mouth. Undoubtedly, Lu Changfei had been severely injured.

However, what happened next left Jiang Lius.h.i.+ astonished.

Lu Changfei roared, and his strained muscles bulged greatly with explosive power, and thus, he got rid of the black tentacles constricting him. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, the mother beast spat out liquefied blood lichens on him. It looked as if Lu Changfei was wrapped in a thick ball of blood lichens. The liquefied blood lichens were very viscous, as they had yet to solidify, and even though Lu Changfei was powerful, he could not break free this time.

Lu Changyang was thunderstruck when he saw that his brother was in a predicament, and a glum expression appeared on his face.

"Hurry up! Go and save my brother-" Before he could finish his sentence, a level-2 mutant beast dashed and overturned a heavy truck in front of him.

In a flash, the Black Water Organization fell into chaos.

"Brother Jiang, the blood lichens are absorbing Lu Changfei's power!" Ran Xiyu said. She had been monitoring the mother beast the whole time, and she had clearly seen the blood lichens infiltrating into Lu Changfei's body through his wounds. And then, they started absorbing his power.

Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s eyes flashed slightly. Lu Changfei's fierce attacks had given him a few seconds of breathing time. Within those few seconds, Jiang Lius.h.i.+, who had activated his brain domain, was able to observe and take note of some special traits and patterns.

"Ying, come and take the wheel!" Leaving that sentence, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ left and made his way to the gunner room on top of the minibus with a light machine gun and a military-grade slingshot.

At first, he was under the impression that the slingshot would not be very useful in this post-apocalyptic world. However, it became more than helpful under such special circ.u.mstances.

The moment he stood in his gunner room, he locked his eyes on the blood lichen wrapped around Lu Changfei. The first step was to save Lu Changfei, who could deter the mother beast's attacks.

He pulled up the military-grade slingshot, placed six dark seeds in the pad, stretched the rubber strings, and released! What he released were six new thorn seeds, which he had recently cultivated in the laboratory! 

Jiang Lius.h.i.+ had been studying the mutant thorn seeds all this time and had found that they were like bottomless pits when it came to devouring energy, metals, and blood. Moreover, their sh.e.l.ls were tough.

The trajectory in which the six seeds were thrown at contained a series of derivation calculations that Jiang Lius.h.i.+ had made for wind ejection angle. Two of them suddenly hit the liquefied blood lichens, while the other four all drilled their way in the wounds on the mother beast's compound eyes! 

In the next second, the six dark seeds started sprouting, and frantically, plundered energy, flesh, and blood.

The mother beast felt extreme pain when the strange things started taking root in its wound. Although the blood lichen was a peculiar lifeform eager to absorb energy, it was far inferior to Jiang Lius.h.i.+'s savage seeds.

In an instant, the blood lichens' energy was plundered, and they started wilting rapidly, and suddenly, Lu Changfei fell on the ground.

Meanwhile, not only the four mutant thorn seeds took root in the mother beast's wounds, but they also penetrated the other compound eyes as they grew rapidly out of its flesh. If that was not enough, they were drilling deeper into the mother beast's flesh too. Even the mother beast's metalized flesh could not stop their wild growth rate. However, when they increased in size, the mother beast used its black tentacles to pull them out, and forcefully shattered them into pieces.

The mother beast had deep and ugly wounds on its compound eyes. The mutant thorns had worsened its injuries a lot.

At that moment, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ roared in his mind, 'Ying!'