New Species

"Ah!" The Tyrannosaurus Rex burst out, leaving the Brontosaurus no chance to escape.

With a single bite, it ended the Brontosaurus's life. It truly was the King of Dinosaurs. After taking a few casual bites, the Tyrannosaurus Rex spotted the three standing together. It shook its huge head, let out a furious roar, and charged at them.

"Here it comes. As long as you don't get bitten, it can't take you out in one hit. Watch out for its tail, too, and adapt as things unfold. We can stop once it can't move." Zeng spoke first, then charged forward.

Heming and Deng were ready, too. There was no fancy trick to fighting a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Its weak spot was its belly, between its legs, where the skin was thinner and a powerful blow could easily hurt it.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex had poor biting habits. It liked to whip its head around and bite from the right, giving it a high hit rate, but that also left it with plenty of weaknesses. If Zeng could thrust his spear straight into its mouth, it would deal enormous damage.

Zeng charged straight at the Tyrannosaurus Rex, aiming to thrust his spear into its mouth. Heming moved to the right, hoping to attack from underneath, while Deng took cover behind a tall tree. His pistol would do the least damage, but with his sharpshooter's accuracy, many of his shots hit the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the mouth.

The fight began. The Tyrannosaurus Rex attacked in its favorite way, whipping its head around to bite from the right. But Zeng had already figured out its move. The instant it swung its head, he leaped up and landed right on top of it. He had no time to waste and drove his spear straight into its left eye. The Tyrannosaurus Rex slammed its head into him, sending him flying.

There was no avoiding the damage. Zeng fell to the ground and could barely get back up. The Tyrannosaurus Rex was also shaking its head wildly in pain, trying to fling the spear out of its eye, but it had no time to do anything else. Heming had already sneaked between its legs. A full-power strike there would surely knock the Tyrannosaurus Rex to the ground.

Using the space between the Tyrannosaurus Rex's feet, Heming leaped from side to side, climbing until he was close enough to attack its belly. Then, with all his strength, he punched it in the stomach...

It was a heavy blow. The Tyrannosaurus Rex toppled to the ground in pain, while Heming was flung away by the rush of air. Deng kept attacking. The Tyrannosaurus Rex could no longer stand; with its belly and eye in agony, all it could do was roll around on the ground.

Zeng slowly walked over and threw out a capture net. The game was over...

The audience was stunned into silence... The three of them had actually managed to capture the Tyrannosaurus Rex without anyone dying... Cheers and applause drowned out the game's sounds...

Heming, Zeng, and Deng came out through the back door and got into the car.

Deng was delighted. His Jurassic Park had gained another high-level dinosaur: a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Zeng, on the other hand, was complaining. The Tyrannosaurus Rex had hit him, and it had really hurt. Deng hadn't been injured at all, while Heming had only suffered minor injuries.

The three of them were now heading for the famous artificial lake, Stargazing Lake.

In the car, Heming asked Deng, "How come your job has you working on the same mission as me?"

Deng smiled and explained, "Kuo Ming asked the two of us to check out that lake. Later, he suggested we bring you along, too. We had nothing much to do, so we agreed. While we were waiting for you, I looked up some information. It turns out an alien transport vehicle landed there a long time ago. I doubt that monster was deliberately left behind by the aliens. It probably appeared under some unusual circumstances. Anyway, five people have already died. If we don't go there, more will die. Luckily, that thing only comes out at night. The artificial lake gets most of its visitors during the day. Plenty of people go swimming at night, too, but at least there are fewer than during the day."

Heming shook his head. "Maybe it's a mutated creature. How should we start once we get there?"

Deng pointed at Zeng, who was driving. Zeng said, "Once we arrive, we'll split up. I'll ask the patrol team by the lake what they know. Deng will go to the management office, and you can look around underwater, Heming. After all, we still have to hold our breath when we dive."

Heming nodded slightly.

It was Tuesday, but Stargazing Lake was still crowded with visitors. The three got out of the car and went their separate ways.

Heming found a quiet spot and dove in. There were some unusual fish that humans had stocked in the artificial lake. They all had one thing in common: they weren't afraid of people. Even the Freshwater Dolphins, developed just a year ago, could be found here.

The lake wasn't deep, and Heming reached the bottom without much effort. He estimated that it was about � meters deep. The water was fairly clear. Anyone caught littering here faced a 10,000-yuan fine and a three-month ban from the lake.

There were no giant fish and no Water Centipedes. Heming swam around, exploring the underwater world.

The Freshwater Dolphins were a major attraction. Heming found them in the middle of the lake. Their bodies were over a meter long and pure white. When they saw him, they quickly swam over, almost as if they were playing with him.

Heming eventually said goodbye to the dolphins and continued searching. In a patch of sand, an orange leather shoe caught his attention. He quickly swam over. The shoe was upside down, with the other side buried in the ground.

He guessed it belonged to one of the victims. Heming quickly dug away the sand and uncovered a woman. Her body was swollen, and she was still wearing her clothes.

Heming wanted to take the body to the surface, but he was afraid it would cause panic. So he used Necromancy to turn it into a skeleton. The skeleton obviously couldn't move underwater, and it immediately fell apart.

With the body gone, something strange appeared before Heming: it was transparent, like an egg. He couldn't make out what was inside, but he knew it would be useful to bring it back.

When he surfaced, sunlight fell on the egg. Before Heming could react, it had already melted...

What was this...? Heming couldn't understand it either. The egg had clearly melted because sunlight had hit it, but sunlight had reached it underwater, too. Why hadn't it melted then?

Still puzzled, Heming was the first to arrive at their agreed meeting place, the Lake Lobster Restaurant. He casually ordered a few dishes and started mulling things over, but before long, a foreign woman interrupted his thoughts.

"Sir, could you help me put on some sunscreen?" The foreign woman gave a pleasant impression. She wasn't especially beautiful, but she stood out from the crowd.

"Oh, sure." Heming had been asked to do this plenty of times in Japan, and he was already very practiced at applying sunscreen for others.

The touch felt wonderful. Unlike the Japanese girls he'd helped before, whose skin had always felt soft, this foreign woman's skin had a texture that felt especially good beneath his hands.

Heming unfastened the foreign woman's bra straps and began applying sunscreen, starting with her shoulders...

Heming finished the job in two minutes, and the foreign woman seemed very satisfied.

Afterward, she invited Heming to dinner, but when he saw Zeng and Deng walking over, he had to decline. Luckily, he managed to give her his phone number...

The three of them found a private room and sat down.

Deng spoke first. "The management office's records show that three days ago, three visitors went to the middle of the lake. The only thing that came back was the little boat they'd rented. They left at dusk, and the boat was found in the morning. The other two people who went missing disappeared by the lakeshore, and we can confirm they both vanished at night. This information hasn't gotten out yet. Oh, right, they also found that one of the Freshwater Dolphins was missing."

Zeng continued, "The patrol team now patrols the lakeshore all night, every night. Unfortunately, they've never seen anything strange. But they did report that on the night of one of the incidents, someone saw a strange thing swimming toward the center of the lake with a person enclosed inside it. It was dark, so the witness couldn't describe the thing clearly. He said the monster had a lot of tentacles, and it was dark blue. The person was trapped inside its body. That's about all."

Heming thought it over, combined what he'd learned with what Zeng and Deng had told him, then said, "I found a body. It was probably one of the five missing people. After uncovering the body, I found an egg. It was transparent, with a strange little creature inside. It was round, about � centimeters across. I didn't see any tentacles, though. Maybe it hasn't fully developed yet. I planned to bring it back to shore, but when I took it out of the water, it melted. I think it was because of the sunlight, though I can't be sure. Anyway, it melted as soon as it reached the surface, and it melted completely. Nothing was left. I found the body buried in the sand at the bottom of the lake."

After listening to Heming's explanation, Deng said gloomily, "An alien creature. Only an alien creature would be so incompletely evolved. I think it must use its prey to lay eggs. That would also explain why it comes out at night: it's afraid of sunlight. These creatures are the biggest pain to deal with. First we have to figure out its habits, then work out how to kill it in one go. The worst part is that alien creatures usually have all sorts of freakish abilities, like turning invisible, shapeshifting, or taking over a host..." Deng was about to continue, but Zeng interrupted him.

"At least there's one good thing: we're the first to discover it, so we get to name it. But first we have to find it and take a picture. Once we've got a photo, we can wipe it out completely. For now, let's get some rest. Tonight, we'll dive into the lake and wait. Its young have been killed, so it'll definitely make a move tonight."

When Zeng finished speaking, he stood up and left first. Deng followed. Heming was just about to take a walk on the beach when his phone rang.

"Hello, is this Heming? It's Ming Ying!"

"Oh, it's me. What's up?" Heming was surprised that Ming Ying had called him.

"Here's what happened. A girl came to the company today asking where you were. I happened to see her. She was crying, so I brought her into my office. She told me that the two girls you saved last time were murdered, and that someone was after her. She came to me and managed to escape harm, but her family had already been killed. I asked Ming Yin to go there, but by the time he arrived, they were dead. We can confirm it was the work of someone with special abilities, though he probably wasn't very skilled. Anyway, keep working on your mission. I'll look after this girl for now. I've arranged for her to stay at the company with me, so don't worry. Come back once you've finished your mission."

"Okay, I'll finish as soon as I can and hurry back. I'll leave her in your hands for now." Heming was beginning to regret coming all the way to the United States so soon...

"Okay, don't worry. I'll look into this for you first. I'll hang up now, and I'll get in touch if anything comes up. Bye."

"Bye." Heming's mind was in turmoil, and he had no idea what to do. He got up and walked out of the private room.

Heming stood by the lake, lost in thought. He didn't know what was on his mind. He gazed at the water and thought back over everything that had happened these past few days. Maybe this was what life was. Now that he had the ability to do something, he should use it for something worthwhile. First, he had to finish the mission here, then return to Japan. That was right—he'd make anyone who'd wronged him pay...

Once he'd made up his mind, Heming felt much better. He stopped staring blankly at the lake and turned his attention to a few girls playing volleyball in the distance. Nice—up and down...