Ironclad Turtle

Lin Yun stepped over crushed stones and shattered glass, heading deeper into the ruins. His stride was much steadier than when he had first entered.

The Claw Rat blood on the Armybreaker Fistguards had already dried, forming a dark red crust.

He took them off, shook away the debris, and put them back on. As he flexed his knuckles slightly, the alloy scales conformed to his hands and locked into place. Their reassuring weight traveled up through his finger bones, settling his nerves considerably.

Yet a faint chill lingered along his spine, as if a gaze were stuck to his back from neither too near nor too far away. Whenever he tried to sense it carefully, though, it vanished without a trace.

His brother had taught him that instincts in the fallen zones never arose without reason.

He did not dare let his guard down. He kept Wind-Treading Step at its lightest, moving only through the shadows of ruined walls and broken buildings. His ears stayed alert, wary of movement in the ruins on either side and behind him.

Two hundred meters behind him stood a three-story building.

Ghost was still watching through his binoculars.

He had discovered that Lin Yun's cultivation was not only higher than the intelligence reports had indicated, but that his vigilance also far surpassed that of most people his age. Lin Yun deliberately chose complicated terrain and looked back from time to time, making it difficult to find an angle for a killing blow.

No rush.

A cold smile tugged at Ghost's lips.

The fallen zone was so vast. He had all the time in the world to wear him down.

The moment the kid encountered a troublesome mutant beast and exposed an opening would be the moment Ghost struck.

Ghost carried his crossbow to a new position and followed unhurriedly from behind, like a lone wolf patiently stalking its prey.

On Lin Yun's side.

After walking for roughly twenty minutes, there was less and less activity from mutant beasts around him. Even the sound of insects had vanished.

The wind had stopped. The air was hot and damp, thick with the stench of rot and mold. The Spirit Rhino Inner Armor had absorbed his sweat and clung stickily to his back.

Lin Yun slowed down.

In District 33, going too long without seeing a living creature was never a good sign. Either the area had been cleared by the military, or a stronger mutant beast had claimed the territory and driven away all the low-level creatures.

He leaned toward the latter.

A crisp crack suddenly sounded beneath his foot.

Looking down, he found a mutant beast's leg bone that had been gnawed clean. Its broken end was smooth as if cut, while dense teeth marks lined the edges. It had clearly been bitten through by something with tremendous jaw strength.

Not a shred of flesh remained on the bone. Even its marrow had been sucked clean. It looked like it had been there for some time.

Lin Yun raised his head and scanned ahead. A collapsed residential area had become a mountain of rubble, gray-green mold covering its broken walls. The stench of decay was drifting over from there.

He lowered his body and slipped around a warped security door. A huge dent had been smashed into its surface, its metal edges torn and curled outward, as though something heavy had punched straight through it. Lin Yun darted into an open clearing.

The next second, his gaze froze.

Atop a pile of broken bricks in the center of the clearing lay a dark green mutant beast.

Its shell faced upward, utterly motionless. From afar, it resembled a bluish-gray rock that had grown legs.

Ridges rose along its carapace, gleaming with an oily cold light like quenched armor.

Six thick legs gripped the ground. Its two front pincers were as thick as an adult's forearms, opening and closing with a harsh metallic scrape. Its head was tucked beneath its shell, with only two long, thin antennae constantly swaying as they tested the scents in the air.

An Ironclad Turtle, mid-stage Rank One.

Lin Yun had suffered at its hands in the virtual combat pod before. This thing was essentially a mutated insect. Its carapace was hard enough to withstand a full-force blow from a seventh-stage Martial Disciple without suffering a scratch, and its pincers could shoot out with terrifying speed. If caught, they could shear straight through steel rebar.

He did not approach rashly. Keeping five meters away, he circled around it for half a lap.

The Ironclad Turtle's antennae turned in sync with his movements, but its body did not move at all. Its head withdrew even deeper into its shell.

As a creature capable of frightening off every low-level mutant beast in the area, this was naturally not a sign of fear.

On the contrary, the Ironclad Turtle was gathering strength.

Lin Yun knew that this creature had powerful bursts of speed but poor endurance. It excelled at lying in wait and ambushing prey, suddenly launching itself the moment its target entered range and sealing its throat with a pincer.

He bent down, picked up half a brick, weighed it in his hand, and hurled it at the center of its carapace with all his strength.

Smack!

The brick shattered on impact, but it did not even leave a white mark on the shell.

The Ironclad Turtle remained still. Even its antennae did not twitch.

Its defense was indeed as absurd as the data had described.

Lin Yun did not throw a second brick.

The second reason this creature was called a ghost was its patience. Trying to provoke it from a distance and force it to reveal an opening was nearly impossible.

With that in mind, Lin Yun shifted his feet and deliberately moved to the Ironclad Turtle's front flank, stopping at the edge of its pincers' range.

The next second, he suddenly stepped half a pace forward, feigning a charge.

Buzz!

Sure enough, the Ironclad Turtle reacted instantly to the human approaching it.

Its antennae snapped taut, its six legs abruptly bent, and its entire body became like a fully drawn bowstring. Its pincers shot open to their widest extent, exposing sharp serrated edges within. Its whole body entered a state of coiled readiness.

Bang!

In the blink of an eye, a sonic boom rang out as the Ironclad Turtle's pincers violently shot forward.

Unfortunately, Lin Yun had only been feinting. He withdrew his step and steadily retreated back to a safe distance.

That brief exchange was enough for Lin Yun to think of a way to kill the Ironclad Turtle.

The joints of its six legs were where its exoskeleton was thinnest, as well as the blind spot in the armor's overall structure.

An ordinary martial artist might not dare to get close enough to target that weakness. One mistake, and they would be caught by its pincers.

But Lin Yun had Wind-Treading Step. He was fast enough.

Realizing it had been tricked, the Ironclad Turtle's antennae waved frantically. Its tiny eyes emerged from beneath its shell, glaring fixedly at Lin Yun as it hissed in fury.

Before it could settle back into its ambush posture, Lin Yun moved.

Wind-Treading Step surged at full force, and his body swept toward the Ironclad Turtle's left side like a gust of wind.

The Ironclad Turtle reacted with astonishing speed. Its six legs kicked off the ground, launching its massive body forward as its pincers clamped viciously at Lin Yun's waist with a foul gust of wind.

The force of the strike swept past the edge of his clothes. Lin Yun twisted aside and slid away, barely evading it. His fingertips nearly brushed the cold serrations on the pincers.

At the very moment the Ironclad Turtle's attack missed, when its old force had run out and its new force had yet to arise, Lin Yun twisted his waist and dropped his shoulder. His right fist, carrying the fierce force of Vajra Fist, smashed precisely into the joint gap of its first left leg.

Crack!

A crisp crack sounded as dark green fluid splattered out.

The alloy scales of the Armybreaker Fistguards lodged perfectly into the joint gap. Nearly nine thousand kilograms of punching force erupted through its structure, directly pulverizing the soft tissue and exoskeleton within.

That leg instantly bent backward. The Ironclad Turtle's massive body lurched sideways as it let out a piercing shriek.

With one punch proving effective, Lin Yun did not pause for even a moment.

His feet shifted as he used Wind-Treading Step to circle around it. Every time he passed by, he delivered a precise punch to a leg joint in the same spot.

The second punch, the third punch...

Crack! Crack!

The sounds came one after another.

In little more than ten seconds, he had forcibly shattered four of its six legs.

The Ironclad Turtle completely lost its ability to move. It lay on the ground, futilely waving its remaining two pincers. Its tiny eyes burned with ferocity, yet it could not so much as touch the edge of Lin Yun's clothes.

Lin Yun circled to the side of its head, his gaze falling on the patch of soft flesh at the edge of its shell.

That was the Ironclad Turtle's only fatal weakness, the sole part of its body not protected by its shell.

Its antennae were still flailing in panic, having long lost their earlier sensitivity. They looked like two loose threads blown into disarray by the wind.

Lin Yun took a deep breath and poured all the blood and energy in his body into his right fist. The scales of the Armybreaker Fistguards glowed faintly red. He lowered his stance and planted his feet in the Vajra Fist posture, aiming his fist at the thinnest part of the soft flesh before smashing down with all his might!