Chapter 624 - 363: Wu Qi

In the passage leading to the building’s underground entrance, Guan Shangjing was assessing his personnel losses.

His deputy manager, Song Zicheng, had previously led a team to capture a splintered entity, but he never returned. He must have died out there.

This meant he had lost a capable right-hand man.

Before the battle began, he had the remaining twelve team captains with him. But now, more than half were dead; only five remained. The total number of members under their command didn’t exceed fifty.

The elite defense unit surrounding him was down to about twenty men. They were the last line of defense for the company building.

Although there might still be a considerable number of armed personnel mounting a counterattack within the building, they were almost completely defenseless against the biological combat weapons.

From the sounds coming through the Realm Token, he could tell that casualties were mounting. Every few moments, the markers for several company departments on the Realm Token would dim, indicating those areas had been lost. This trend was spreading at an alarming rate; clearly, the remaining forces wouldn’t last much longer.

The board of directors, however, still had an intact thirty-man defense squad with considerable combat strength, but they were assigned to protect the directors and couldn’t be redeployed here.

Just as he was trying to adjust his tactics and figure out how to buy more time, the voice of Director Eagle Tail came through the Realm Token:

"Manager Guan Shang, how much longer can you hold out?"

Guan Shangjing answered truthfully, "Director Eagle Tail, even if my forces fall back by abandoning key chokepoints, we can only hold on for half an Hour at most.

If *those people* join the fight... I’m not sure how long we could last. Maybe only a few minutes."

"I understand. Manager Guan Shang, the board of directors requires you to hold them off outside at all costs. The Ferris Wheel Company will not fall today."

Guan Shangjing’s heart stirred. He had a good idea of what the company was planning, and a glimmer of hope rekindled within him. He declared emphatically, "I understand!"

At that moment, deep beneath the Ferris Wheel Company in a vast, shaft-like space, lay a colossal entity. Most of its body was shrouded by a curtain emblazoned with the symbols of the Gao Tian Sect. Only its exposed limbs were visible, revealing a bronze-colored surface that flickered with a faint luminescence, seeming to brighten and dim with each breath.

Neatly arranged sockets dotted its body, connected to life-support tubes extending from the shaft walls and other locations.

A mist was spraying down from above, and a yellowish-green liquid was being channeled through the tubes into its body—this was the Ferris Wheel Company’s reserve of High-Energy Nutrient Supplement being injected into it.

As the infusion continued, its once-shriveled tentacles, which had been lying limply on the ground, began to swell and fill out. The green glow on its body grew brighter. About ten minutes later, a tentacle suddenly whipped upward, latching onto a climbing rung on the shaft wall with a SNAP. It then began to pull its massive body slowly upward.

Meanwhile, in the building above, the third department’s combat creatures had already seized control of most of the Ferris Wheel Building. They had located the underground entrance and were now launching a fierce assault. Guan Shangjing and his men were desperately holding them back.

Xu Chan stood in the main hall, observing the situation inside through the information Domain. If not for his concerns about the narrow terrain and the possibility of enemy-planted explosives, he never would have let them hold out for so long.

But what the enemy could use, they could use as well. After wave after wave of biological weapons carrying suicide charges rushed forward, the defenders’ casualties mounted. They were forced to use the winding terrain to fall back and resist, and it was clear they couldn’t hold out for much longer.

The Modified Creatures they deployed were simple to cultivate and lacked any real intelligence; they only needed to understand the single command to carry explosives forward. If human personnel died, their families had to be compensated. The Modified Creatures required no such thing. No matter how many died, it was no great loss.

After watching the assault for about twenty minutes, he saw the enemy retreat into a large underground hall. They had clearly reached a critical location.

Just as he was about to pause and then take the area in one final push, he suddenly felt the ground tremble violently. A moment later, it shook again.

He was instantly on alert. He spoke through the Realm Token, "Warning, abnormal situation! Everyone, fall back!"

This was both a warning to his teammates present and an order for the troops in the rear.

The reaction forces were prepared and immediately began to retreat.

But despite their speed, they seemed to be a step too slow. From the base of the Ferris Wheel Building, an immense Spiritual Power suddenly erupted.

The Spiritual Power spread out like a tangible shockwave, instantly washing over their bodies before rushing further into the distance.

The five of them on-site had been prepared, but even so, all but Xu Chan swayed involuntarily. They experienced a moment of dizziness and stumbled back several steps before regaining their footing.

The nearest troops were two kilometers from the Ferris Wheel Building, yet even at that distance, a large swath of soldiers in the front instantly lost consciousness, falling in unison like a row of dominoes.

As for the biological weapons, they were almost completely wiped out within that radius. The flying insects in the sky fell like rain, quickly carpeting the ground in a thick layer.

Xu Chan’s expression was grim. Feeling the continuous tremors from the ground, he sensed something was rapidly ascending toward the surface. He repeated his warning, "Everyone, get ready."

Shortly after he spoke, hairline cracks appeared in the center of the hall, right where the Ferris Wheel logo was painted on the floor. A moment later, with a deafening BOOM, tiles and debris exploded outward.

Where the logo had been, an octagonal, deep shaft was now exposed. It was a dark, gaping maw, its depths impossible to see.

A greenish-blue, vine-like limb could be seen thrashing about inside before it shot out and landed. With a loud CLANG, its hard hook-like tip gripped the solid floor.

Immediately after, a dry RUSTLING and scraping sound, mixed with a low hiss, echoed from the bottomless, well-like passage.

The sound grew closer. Just over thirty seconds later, a colossal creature crawled out and fully emerged onto the ground.

It resembled a standing, shelled insect, approximately ten-plus meters tall. Its body was streamlined, with a slightly pointed tail.

Its head and shoulders were covered in a white exoskeleton shaped like a Samurai’s Conical Helmet from a bygone era. A pair of tentacles, several meters long, extended from the top of its head. They appeared flexible and retractable, ending in a flower-like shape.

Its head was somewhat flat with sharp, distinct edges, and it seemed to be able to turn with complete freedom. From its face down to its chest was a series of insect-like Compound Eyes, which now glowed with an eerie green light.

Its broad shoulders flared outward, with two long, whip-like forelimbs dangling to the ground. It had used these limbs to climb up.

Its waist was relatively narrow, connecting to two pairs of powerful legs, one in front and one in back. Along its sides were several tendril-like structures for balance and sensation. Each leg had multiple joints, ending in thick feet with gripping claws and adhesive structures, supported by a delicate exoskeleton. It was clearly built to adapt to any terrain.

The Ferris Wheel Company’s active Consciousness Body, Wu Qi.

Xu Chan stared up at the thing. The four people behind him involuntarily took a few steps back, their faces filled with apprehension. It was a primal, defensive instinct; they couldn’t simply ignore this behemoth.

Xu Chan, however, stood his ground firmly. A faint light began to flicker on his fists.

Though he was dwarfed by the creature, he could clearly sense that while this active Consciousness Body might be strong, it had not surpassed their current level.

This was because the active Consciousness Body was too young. It had been cultivated for only ten years, perhaps a little longer, but definitely no more than fifteen.

Furthermore, an active Consciousness Body requires immense amounts of Energy and special materials to sustain it. The Ferris Wheel Company lacked the power and channels for that. But if they were to join the Federation, none of these would be problems.

Therefore, given enough time, the company could genuinely push this active Consciousness Body to a higher level. Right now, it was a difficult opponent, but not an unbeatable one. In fact, this was the best time to deal with it.

He repeated the same words for a third time: "Everyone, get ready!"

Inside the Defense Department’s combat command center, the light screens, which had gone dark for a long time after the initial psychic shock, finally flickered back to life, displaying the scene inside and around the Ferris Wheel Building.

Even so, the image was intermittent, seemingly affected by some powerful interference.

Specialist Liang first glanced at the large number of fallen troops around the building, then turned his gaze to the ferocious-looking Wu Qi, his expression grave.

A massive body naturally came with immense Spiritual Power, and Domain information typically relied on an active consciousness to function. Its information broadcasts could often cover a range of dozens of kilometers, so the impact of this Spiritual Power wasn’t actually that surprising.

However, unlike combat-oriented active Consciousness Bodies like Hong Fu, other types had to manifest their physical bodies to display their combat capabilities.

This thing was the real problem they needed to solve. Only by dealing with it could they completely destroy the Ferris Wheel Company.

Although the liaison and operational staff present had all heard of active Consciousness Bodies and often dealt with them, none had ever truly seen one. Now, seeing its true form, they were all momentarily speechless, their hearts shaken by the creature’s bizarre form and colossal size.

Just then, the Watchtower system suddenly spoke up: "Specialist, an incoming call on an external encrypted channel."

Specialist Liang was surprised. He immediately said, "Patch it through."

Once the channel was connected, he said in a low voice, "This is Liang Guanghai."

After listening to the person on the other end for a moment, his expression grew serious. "Are you certain?"

A moment later, he replied, "Thank you for your department’s assistance. I understand. I will review the plan you’ve drafted shortly. Our objectives are the same."

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