Chapter 1 A Chaotic Encounter

A chaotic skirmish erupted. The stitched monsters, appearing from who-knows-where, howled like beasts as they charged toward the knights and monks. Despite their massive size and the decrepit state of their haphazardly assembled bodies, the monsters' agility and strength were astonishing. A fully armored kingdom knight, employing standard tactics, raised his shield to meet the attack, but was casually flung dozens of meters by a stitched monster, smashing a half-meter-deep crater into the rock face. Seeing this, O’Fra immediately shouted, “Don’t fight them head-on! Giant tactics!”

The knights quickly changed formation, transforming from a frontal defense line into mobile squads of three, trying to hold back these flesh-and-blood giants cobbled together from corpses, while the monks immediately prepared holy spells. No matter the mechanism behind these stitched monsters, holy magic should be their bane.

Hao Ren, brandishing his spear, charged toward the nearest enemy. As soon as he got close, he was assaulted by a nauseating stench – the reek of rotting flesh. Enduring the smell, he frowned and pierced the enemy's chest with his spear, quickly jumping aside. “Damn! Does this come with chemical warfare attacks?!”

Lily whirled her ice-fire claws into twin storms, charging in shrouded in a cloud of steam, looking like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven descending to earth. As the mist dissipated, the white-haired Great Sage started hopping around and yelling, “I shouldn’t have such a sensitive nose!”

Gung darted around the battlefield like a headless fly. Enemies were everywhere, but she didn't dare attack any of them. In the end, the dog simply found a nearby dead tree and climbed up, refusing to come down. However, after climbing the tree, she did help relay a message: “More monsters! Coming out of the ground!”

“Coming out of the ground?” Hao Ren was taken aback by this. Meanwhile, Izhaks was punching the stitched monsters down the cliff one after another, handling them with ease, so he spared a moment to call out to Hao Ren, “Go check it out. I can handle things here alone.”

Hao Ren acknowledged him and, spear in hand, ran toward the direction Gung had indicated, with Lily bounding along behind him. “Wait, I’ll protect you!”

She really couldn't stand the stench.

Hao Ren slashed away a few stitched monsters blocking his path, and used his Inspector’s pistol to blast several distant enemies into clouds of crystalline dust. Then he saw the places where the monsters were emerging, and both he and Lily were shocked. The ground had cracked open, revealing a dozen or so circular holes. Inside the holes were alloy tunnels gleaming with metallic light, and the exits of the alloy tunnels were active gates made of black crystal that opened like flower petals. The stitched monsters were emerging from these holes. The sight of these underground base launch ports, straight out of a sci-fi movie, made Lily exclaim, “Why is the art style of these things so different from Holleta?”

As she spoke, a mechanical whirring sound came from one of the alloy tunnels. Then, a stitched monster crackling with electricity leaped out of the hole. It quickly noticed Hao Ren and Lily nearby, and roared as it charged toward them. Electricity arced from the black crystal-encrusted armor, making the monster look like a charging lightning tank. Seeing such a stinky creature charging at her, Lily, without a second thought, bent down, picked up a half-ton boulder, and threw it. With a deafening crash, she obliterated the flesh monster. Hao Ren observed the scene, finding no remains of the deceased, only a large patch of blood…

“Take it easy,” Hao Ren said, his scalp tingling, glancing at Lily, then ran to the edge of the holes. He saw a deep, bottomless metal launch tube, and a putrid stench wafted up from below. These tunnels clearly led deep into the mountain.

“Stand back,” Hao Ren waved Lily back, then took out a small, glittering cylindrical gadget from his dimensional pocket. He pressed the top of the cylinder twice, disarming the safety and starting the timer, then threw it into the metal tunnel. The cylinder was also a kind of bomb, but unlike a gravity bomb, it didn't create a spatial implosion when it exploded. Instead, it produced an extremely powerful electromagnetic pulse. Hao Ren had noticed that the power-generating armor on the stitched monsters was closely related to their movement, and speculated that these monsters were not ordinary undead creatures, but rather semi-mechanical, semi-biological monsters controlled by electrical signals. A powerful electromagnetic pulse might be a good way to deal with them.

A bright arc of electricity erupted from the depths of the metal launch tube. Hao Ren heard a series of muffled explosions from underground. Then, not only the exit in front of him, but the other holes in the area began to spew smoke. It seemed the launch tunnels were all connected below.

After waiting for a while, Hao Ren noticed that there was no more mechanical activity from below, and no more monsters emerged from the tunnels. It seemed the electromagnetic pulse had disrupted the tunnels’ functions. He just didn't know how many stitched monsters it had killed.

The stitched monsters that had emerged earlier were quickly dealt with by Izhaks and the others. O’Fra led the team to Hao Ren’s side. “You… solved it?”

Vivian looked at the monster corpses around Hao Ren and the smoking holes in the ground, and blinked. “I was just about to remind you that high-voltage electricity is pretty effective against these guys. Their armor overloads and they’re done for.”

Elizabeth kicked a stitched monster with her little leg. “Serves you right for wearing armor!”

It was only then that Nangong Wuyue emerged from who-knows-what corner. After confirming that the fighting was over, she mustered her courage and came to Hao Ren’s side. She immediately noticed something odd about the holes in the ground. “What are these? Made by heretics?”

“Heretics probably don't have this kind of craftsmanship, and even if they did, they wouldn't have this tech tree. Look at these interfaces and the push rods on the gates—these things are clearly hydraulically powered,” Hao Ren said, pointing to the details of the alloy gate. “This must be the work of the Brain. I have a bad feeling about this.”

The data terminal floated forward and scanned the area. However, it was just a PDA, and the interior of the holy mountain was protected by a strange energy field, so its radar could only sense a large cavern below, and couldn't scan any of the details.

“The lair of the Regressionist Order is probably down here,” Hao Ren said, looking around at the others. “Let's search the area for other entrances. If there aren't any… we'll have to go down through here.”

Lily immediately remembered that the stinky stitched monsters had emerged from these pipes, and her fur stood on end. “Landlord, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“It’s not a good idea, but at least it's an idea,” Hao Ren glanced at Lily. “You can turn on your life-support collar, and pretend you’re in outer space. Vivian, throw a bat down there and see what the situation is. Just find a place to land.”

Lily went to the side, muttering, “I’m just worried about falling into a sea of corpses. If you throw up your New Year's dinner, don't you dare be upset.”

Hao Ren hadn't thought much about it, but hearing Lily's words almost made him throw up his New Year’s dinner…

Vivian summoned a small bat and threw it into the tunnel, then narrowed her eyes, sensing carefully. After a moment, she opened her eyes and nodded to Hao Ren. “The bat got lost.”

Hao Ren: “...Then why are you nodding!”

“I was just pretending to have a big advantage,” Vivian said, turning her face away slightly embarrassed. “It’s not my fault, the structure below is complex, with many tunnels crisscrossing and intertwined, like an ant nest. More importantly, my little bat doesn’t have a protective crystal. After going down, it was dizzy after a few seconds. Fortunately, I dissipated it before it was spiritually parasitized.”

“Okay, no matter what, there is indeed something down there, and since the tunnels are interconnected, it should be worth exploring. Lily, what are you doing?”

Lily was currently趴 (pa - lying prone) on a rock nearby, rummaging around. She was 趴 (pa - lying prone) on the rock, sniffing hard. “Looking for a more normal entrance!”

Hao Ren had told everyone to look for other entrances, but he had just said it casually. He knew that since the Brain had placed its lair deep in the mountains, it wouldn't be easy to find the main gate, so he just rolled his eyes at Lily. “Did you find one?”

Lily strode to the tunnel with the lingering stench, her face full of righteousness. “Fortune favors the bold! How can a noble werewolf be scared by this little stink!”

Vivian looked at her with disdain. “Why don’t you take off your life-support collar before you say that?”

Lily: “……”