The creature hiding in the rift, the "Mother of Bugs," seemed to sense something.
Squeak, squeak—creak, creak—
Its sounds grew more and more filled with alertness.
Just as Mu Yu turned to check on the situation, she saw the group of infected people, who had been steadily approaching her, suddenly stop in their tracks.
The next second, a massive force erupted from within the infected group.
Several infected were directly shattered into pieces by the force.
Mu Yu quickly raised her sword to block the impact.
Crack—
She was shocked to discover that even the aftershock of the force had caused several cracks to appear in her sword sheath.
"...Pioneer level? No, it's Lord level?"
Before Mu Yu could process the situation, a massive white figure leaped out from the group of infected.
It was a monster, its body covered in white bones.
The bone creature stomped towards Mu Yu at a terrifying speed.
Mu Yu immediately readied her blade, but in that instant, she felt an unprecedented pressure.
The beast before her might be stronger than any she had encountered.
As she adjusted her breathing, hand on her sword, preparing to strike and block the beast, the creature unexpectedly slammed one foot down hard, causing the floor to collapse beneath it.
"Damn!"
Then, Mu Yu heard the bone creature utter something that almost sounded like a traditional Chinese exclamation. She could hardly believe her ears.
The bone creature's body fell through to the next floor, and the beast in the rift seemed more cautious than ever, shifting its position as if it were wary of something.
Mu Yu was about to crouch down and check where the bone creature had fallen when she heard a massive crash from behind. The bone creature leaped up, crashing through the floor and appearing right before the newly opened rift.
Squeak, squeak!!
The Mother of Bugs let out a startled screech as it commanded the infected to rush toward the bone creature like a tidal wave.
But the creature didn't seem panicked at all. Beneath its white bones, its eerie blue eyes flared with flames.
The infected's attacks, including their bites and the stingers of their tendrils, left no mark on the towering skeletal beast.
Mu Yu froze.
Though beasts typically have territorial instincts, she had never witnessed such a sight before.
She watched as the bone creature stood motionless, withstanding the attacks from countless infected, before suddenly lifting its head and locking eyes with the Mother of Bugs in the rift.
That gaze made the Mother of Bugs realize the vast difference in strength.
The rift began to close rapidly.
However, just as the rift was about to disappear, the bone creature reached up with one hand and held the edge of the rift.
Then, it used its other hand to hold the other side.
Squeak, squeak!!!
The Mother of Bugs let out an angry roar as the bone creature bellowed at the rift.
With a mighty effort, it began to slowly tear open the rift, something Mu Yu had never seen a beast do before—tear apart another beast's rift.
What exactly was this bone creature?
The infected grew increasingly frantic but couldn't stop the bone creature.
With a final roar, the bone creature tore the rift apart completely.
It then reached forward, landing a powerful punch to the left side of the Mother of Bugs' shell, and forcefully pulled it out.
Thick, viscous liquid spilled out.
Mu Yu soon noticed that a massive, spider-like beast had been pulled halfway out of the rift.
Squeak, squeak!!!
As the Mother of Bugs struggled, the bone creature shoved its hand into the creature's gaping, serrated mouth and grabbed its lower jaw.
With a loud roar, the bone creature yanked the enormous beast from the rift entirely.
The Mother of Bugs' hard shell crashed into the floor, smashing through two levels.
Its grotesque head was just lifting as it attempted to turn, but the bone creature stomped down hard on its exposed belly.
The stomp was brutal, and the Mother of Bugs' tendrils and antennae trembled, looking like a turned-over cockroach, grotesque and terrifying.
The Mother of Bugs lay on its back, dying, its blood and unknown fluids spilling from its body.
The bone creature looked up, locking eyes with Mu Yu, standing before the ruined remnants of the wall.
Mu Yu felt something, as though the bone creature's eyes were conveying information to her.
Without hesitation, she gripped her white-iron long sword in reverse and leapt toward the hole in the floor.
Squeak.... squeak, squeak....
The Mother of Bugs tried to speak, but the next second, a streak of white light descended from the sky. Mu Yu swung her sword, and the domineering white blade pierced the Mother of Bugs' head.
The tendrils spasmed and thrashed before finally stopping.
Mu Yu felt the Mother of Bugs' life force fade. She coldly withdrew her sword and wiped the sticky fluid from her face with her sleeve.
She then turned to face the bone creature.
But as she did, she was shocked to find that the bone creature had vanished without a trace, and she could no longer sense its presence.
"What exactly was that thing?"
Mu Yu muttered to herself.
Soon, she realized something even more terrifying—the spot where the bone creature had stomped on the Mother of Bugs' abdomen.
There was a depression.
The depression had clearly once held something, but now it was completely empty.
"Did the beast steal the core?"
Meanwhile, Lu Wanyin was still searching for Jiang Huai.
Her face was cold, her pupils trembling. Every time she saw infected creatures gnawing on corpses, her heart would shudder.
She prayed that it was never Jiang Huai.
After a loud crash, she suddenly noticed the infected had stopped moving, as if cut off from their strings, and had collapsed to the ground.
Underneath a pile of infected corpses, Lu Wanyin spotted a hand.
She recognized it as Jiang Huai's.
The girl slowly approached the pile of corpses and knelt before the hand.
"..."
Her heart felt hollow, and she didn't know why things had turned out this way. A tear slid down her cheek.
"Why does it always have to be like this..."
Her face was emotionless, her eyes filled with despair.
She slowly bent down to touch the bloody hand.
This hand had only patted her head this morning.
"I still can't do anything..."
She gently held the hand, pressing it to her face.
She didn't care about the blood staining her face.
Tears and blood mixed together, spreading despair, and just at that moment.
The hand moved.
The fingers gently brushed her eyes, wiping away her tears.
"...Don't start mourning yet. I'm not dead. Could you at least pull me out first?"