"There's something strange devouring the natives, whatever it is, it needs to be stopped!"
Zhang Chen didn't want the hostages to disappear so inexplicably.
Tang Houde did everything for the so-called continued survival of "humanity."
If all these natives were wiped out, Tang Houde, having lost his target, might either hide and never reappear, or lurk in the shadows waiting for revenge.
The latter was the most troublesome.
With the technology of the progress faction, it was entirely possible for them to create some annoying little devices.
And although they couldn't defeat Zhang Chen, constantly harassing the camp, or even simply throwing bio-attractants into the camp, would be enough to cause trouble.
Therefore, Tang Houde had to be found and all future troubles eliminated. Thus, these hostages were indispensable!
"Yes, please, you must save them!"
Tang Xiaowen said urgently.
He was wrapped in spider silk like a rice dumpling, with only his head and neck able to move.
"The entrance is in that direction, and my DNA can unlock it!"
The staff member desperately wriggled their body a few times towards a rock to the west. The movement resembled a paralyzed caterpillar.
Rumble...
As soon as he finished speaking.
Zhang Chen was seen floating in mid-air.
The ground beneath his feet naturally parted, and a huge underground cave instantly appeared before them.
The underground shelter was fifty meters deep. It would be impossible to smash through directly, but dispersing the earth had a different effect.
Soon, the metal structure of the base's ceiling appeared.
Boom!
Zhang Chen raised his right hand and fired a beam of energy downwards.
Buzz!
The energy beam pierced the shelter's ceiling and struck the first-floor ground. The floor was quickly penetrated, and the beam continued down to the second-floor ground.
And so on, floor after floor. In just over ten seconds.
The underground shelter, which the progress faction had spent three full days constructing using the most advanced technology, was easily breached by Zhang Chen, going straight down to the eleventh basement level.
"Watch them, let's go down and see!"
Zhang Chen said to Mo Ran, then dropped freely.
"You guys guard here!"
Zhang Wenwen instructed Han Shuang, then leaped down herself.
Xiao Bai and Angelina followed closely.
Bang!
Zhang Chen landed heavily on the ground of the eleventh basement level.
Unexpectedly, the ground was remarkably solid. It withstood Zhang Chen's freefall from hundreds of meters up without deforming at all.
Zhang Chen looked around.
There were streets and shops, appearing much like a real city. The area spanned four city blocks, and the height from the ground to the ceiling was fifty to sixty meters.
The ceiling used virtual reality projection to display blue skies and white clouds.
However, a large hole had now appeared in the sky, and the white clouds flickered slightly as they drifted.
The entire block was deathly silent.
Apart from the debris from the hole in the ceiling, there were no signs of a struggle on the ground, nor any bloodstains.
Yet, the residents had vanished into thin air!
Zhang Chen activated his Absolute Vision and scanned again.
The residents on the twelfth basement level were still there, and an energy fluctuation had appeared on the twelfth basement level.
Zhang Chen looked at the spacious elevator at the end of the road, wide enough to accommodate several cars.
It was stopped at the eleventh-floor elevator entrance, and the ground around it was undamaged.
This meant that since the monster entered the shelter, its descent to the lower levels was not via the elevator, nor through Zhang Chen's brute force method.
"What in the world is that thing!?"
Zhang Chen raised his hand and fired another energy beam through the floor, descending again from mid-air.
During his descent, he witnessed an astonishing sight.
All the natives on the twelfth basement level, as if drawn by something, slowly emerged from their rooms and shops, converging towards the central plaza.
In the central plaza stood a hooded figure, with their back to Zhang Chen.
Bang!
Zhang Chen landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Yet, even so, the surrounding natives didn't even glance at Zhang Chen, their gazes still blank as they walked towards the man.
"Hey, what are you?"
Zhang Chen roared.
"Gugu... Ji?"
The hooded figure heard Zhang Chen's voice and slowly turned around.
From the neck down, it was a normal human female body, but the head, hidden by the hood, bore a giant eyeball that emitted a faint red glow in the darkness.
"Is this... Grolomos?"
Zhang Chen was slightly stunned. At this moment, the monster's hood was pulled off by eight tentacles, revealing a head strikingly similar to Grolomos.
"Guji?"
Xiao Ruan also floated out, looking at the monster before him with confusion.
Bang! Bang bang bang!
Zhang Wenwen, Xiao Bai, and the others also jumped down.
When they saw this scene, they were all stunned!
Here was Zhang Chen and Xiao Ruan, and there was the monster with a Grolomos-like head.
It looked like a decomposition sequence, as if Zhang Chen only needed to place Xiao Ruan on its head to transform into that state.
"Dad, stay away from Xiao Ruan. I don't want you to become like that. How will we kiss then!"
Xiao Bai exclaimed in panic.
"Don't worry, this has nothing to do with the True God. It's likely some failed bio-product!"
Zhang Wenwen said nervously.
"What a disgusting monster!"
Angelina frowned and said.
"Guji!"
The monster's head emitted a sound similar to Xiao Ruan's, and then a blue energy beam shot out instantly.
Energy Infusion!
This was the skill Zhang Chen was most familiar with.
Grolomos had two combat skills: one was Energy Infusion, which caused internal explosion by injecting energy into the opponent's body, and the second was Energy Absorption, until the opponent was drained.
Not many skills, but simple and brutal!
"Guji!"
Xiao Ruan, not to be outdone, suddenly opened its eyes.
The energy beam aimed at Zhang Chen suddenly changed course, being absorbed into Xiao Ruan's pupils.
"Gugu..."
The monster's pupils suddenly opened wide.
In an instant, Zhang Wenwen, Xiao Bai, and Angelina were frozen in place, unable to move except for their breathing and eyeballs.
"Guji!"
At the same time, Xiao Ruan floated to the top of the monster's head and let out a cry.
The moment the latter looked up, Xiao Ruan's pupils also widened abruptly.
The monster instantly turned to stone, its constantly waving tentacles frozen mid-air.
"Strange fellow!"
Zhang Chen slowly walked up to the monster and forcibly pulled down the eyelids of its large eyeball.
"Another test subject, send it back to Xu Ruina for research!"
"Xu Linna... Only she could design a monster like this. I wonder what she's doing with the natives."
Zhang Chen frowned and said.
In any case, it wouldn't be anything good.