Su Wuming, who had killed the Nunu Beast with a single punch, performed a stylish midair flip and landed steadily.
Then, with a calm expression, he walked over, pried open the Nunu Beast's head, and searched for the Beast Crystals inside.
"Um... Wuming, the Nunu Beast's Beast Crystals are in its chest! Also, shouldn't you look around first?!" Lin Pangpang shouted anxiously from the rooftop.
The Nunu Beast Su Wuming had killed had let out a final wail that instantly attracted the Nunu Beasts attacking the other buildings.
More than a dozen immediately gathered around. It had to be said that the building Su Wuming and the others lived in, along with Building Four, were situated in a remote location, which was why only one Nunu Beast had come over initially.
But things were different now. With more than a dozen appearing at once, even Su Wuming's scalp tingled.
These were nothing like the Devil Horses and Copperback Hyenas of the Dark Forest.
Most importantly, several had fixed their sights on Lin Pangpang on the rooftop and were already condensing snowballs to attack.
Several others directly grabbed the walls and began climbing, scaring Lin Pangpang half to death.
He had never expected that reminding Su Wuming out of kindness would expose his own position.
Nunu Beasts resembled White Demon Apes, but they were bulkier and taller. Their hands were exceptionally nimble, and the claws at their fingertips could easily pierce through walls.
Seeing this, Su Wuming could only use [Rubber Whip] to sweep the climbing beasts down.
At the same time, he was struck by seven or eight snowballs. Those snowballs had been compressed until they were like solid iron balls. They counted as physical attacks, so they naturally could not harm him.
But their impact was very real, and Su Wuming was sent flying dozens of meters.
Before he could land, a claw swiped at his head. Su Wuming only had time to harden his head with Armament Haki. His Rubber Constitution was not immune to claw attacks.
Sent flying once more, Su Wuming smashed straight into a wall.
This was what it meant when two fists could not fend off four hands.
More importantly, he had to worry about the people on the rooftop being attacked by snowballs, which distracted him.
The several Nunu Beasts had already condensed more than a dozen snowballs and aimed them at Lin Pangpang's location.
Su Wuming immediately grew anxious.
"I can only use that move! Even though I haven't fully used it before."
In his urgency, Su Wuming decisively chose to open the first of the Eight Gates, the [Opening Gate].
[Opening Gate] removed the brain's restrictions, allowing one to exert 100% of the body's ability while overloading the body's energy to increase attack power and speed.
This was the moment to protect his important companions. If he did not open it now, then when would he?
The instant Armament Haki followed the route in Su Wuming's memory and entered the Opening Gate acupoint in his brain, forcing it open—
A sound like shackles breaking rang out in Su Wuming's mind.
The next instant, his mind became clear, the restrictions on his body were lifted, and the cells throughout his body began to stir. A surge of strength flooded into him.
Just then, the Nunu Beasts threw their snowballs.
Just as Lin Pangpang was overwhelmed with despair, Su Wuming crossed the fingers of both hands and used [Rubber Net].
With the Opening Gate active, his arms stretched out at twice their usual speed, directly overtaking the snowballs. At the same time, his fingers stretched into a massive net, successfully catching all the snowballs.
"Holy shit! Wuming, 666!!!!"
Having gone from despair to surviving a disaster, Lin Pangpang subconsciously shouted those words from the rooftop.
His good brother had really figured out how to play with this ability. He could even turn it into a net.
However, Lin Pangpang had not even been happy for a second before another dozen snowballs came crashing toward him from below.
"Holy shit! Wuming, save me!!"
"Pangpang, shut your mouth! They can locate us by sound!"
There was no time to use [Rubber Net] again, so Su Wuming directly unleashed [Rubber Gatling].
Armament Haki wrapped around his fists. His pitch-black fists streaked through the night sky, faintly scraping out sparks.
But it was still far from meeting the requirements for [Fire Fist Pistol].
Still, it was more than enough to deal with snowballs as hard as iron.
With the Opening Gate's boost, his punching speed could no longer be described as a machine gun.
At that moment, Su Wuming renamed this combined move [Rubber Gatling Gun].
The next instant, the sound of snowballs exploding in midair rang out in one continuous burst. Great sprays of exploded snow showered Lin Pangpang's face.
At this point, it was possible to notice that Sister Wu's family was hiding in the westernmost corner of the rooftop.
The reason Lin Pangpang had shouted was to expose his own location and protect Sister Wu's family. He was not stupid; he knew the Nunu Beasts' abilities too.
This was his way of repaying Sister Wu for her usual care. To Lin Pangpang, Sister Wu's kindness was worth repaying like this.
Otherwise, he would not have left the orphanage for so many years and still remembered to send money there every month.
After resolving the crisis on Lin Pangpang's side, Su Wuming took the initiative. He used the surroundings for leverage as he rapidly closed in on the area below the building where Lin Pangpang was.
With several consecutive punches, he sent the Nunu Beasts approaching this side flying.
One punch struck a Nunu Beast in the stomach, making it vomit up a half-digested human corpse on the spot.
The guard, Old Zhang—Grandpa Zhang!!!
Su Wuming recognized who the half-corpse was at a glance from the security uniform.
A wave of nausea and fury instantly surged into his heart.
He had killed Demon Beasts and seen bloody scenes before, but this was his first time seeing a dead person—especially one so badly corroded by stomach acid that he was barely recognizable.
He and Grandpa Zhang saw each other every day. Whenever Su Wuming returned at midnight after closing his stall, the old man would leave the gate open for him.
This was an old residential complex, and its gates were locked at night.
Perhaps this was the difference between humans and Demon Beasts. Humans had emotions and sympathized with their own kind, while Demon Beasts would only divide up and eat their own kind.
"You... all of you die!"
Su Wuming roared and conjured five vitality chicken legs enhanced by Lin Pangpang out of thin air, stuffing them directly into his mouth.
The consumption of the Opening Gate exceeded his expectations. After only such a short time, fatigue had already set in. Only after opening the second Rest Gate could he temporarily remove the limits of fatigue. For now, he could only rely on chicken legs to recover.
Once the chicken legs entered his stomach, Su Wuming instantly returned to peak condition. Grabbing the Nunu Beast that had eaten Old Zhang, he smashed his head into it.
That rage-filled blow, paired with Armament Haki hardening, directly exploded its head. Blood mixed with brain matter splattered all over Su Wuming's face.
"Ptooey, ptooey! That's fucking disgusting. I shouldn't have used my head."
That was the price of showing off.
Over the next stretch of time, Su Wuming slaughtered all of the dozen-plus Nunu Beasts without any hesitation.
He also gradually began to adapt to the boost brought by the first Opening Gate.
When only one remained, Su Wuming was about to punch when the snow beneath his feet suddenly moved, flowing backward like a reversed current.
Most crucially, Su Wuming's feet were firmly stuck in place, unable to move even an inch.
This was not a force he could easily break free from. It clearly was not something a Black Iron Rank Demon Beast could possess.
This was a Nunu Beast's companion beast, a Snow Spirit! Su Wuming suddenly remembered.
Snow Spirit: Peak Bronze Tier Demon Beast, an elemental spirit body immune to most attacks other than fire. Its own offensive ability was singular—it could control the snow within a hundred-meter radius and make it explode.
It seemed effective only against opponents on the ground, and its ability was highly restricted since it required snow. But the problem was, there was snow right now.
Furthermore, once someone was accidentally stuck, even those of the same rank could not easily break free.
And the closer one was to the center, the greater the explosive power.
"Damn! Why is my luck so shitty? How could I run into something this unlikely?"
It was said that only one Companion Snow Spirit would be born among a thousand Nunu Beasts. Su Wuming's luck was truly unbelievable.
Fortunately, it was only Bronze Tier and had not yet matured. If it were a Silver Tier Snow Spirit, it could directly blow up everything within a thousand meters.
Only then did Su Wuming notice that the last Nunu Beast had a palm-sized spirit body on its head. Upon closer inspection, it resembled a human infant.
But this was not the time to look at it. He had to stop it, or both buildings nearby would be shaken apart by the explosion.
"A spirit body, huh? My Armament Haki is the perfect counter for something like you that can't be hit!"
As he spoke, Su Wuming gathered strength and threw a punch, accurately hitting the Snow Spirit and exploding both it and the Nunu Beast's head together.
However, in the next second, the snow centered around that Nunu Beast suddenly exploded with power comparable to high explosives.
"Heh... it's over... I'm afraid these legs are gone..." Su Wuming thought to himself.
Because the technique had not stopped after the Snow Spirit was killed. His legs were still stuck fast, and there was simply no time to pull them free.
Even if he pushed his Armament Haki to its limit, it was only enough to protect his upper body—and his third leg...
Just as the snowburst spread toward him bit by bit, it suddenly stopped.
More accurately, it was forcibly contained by an invisible barrier.
Just as Su Wuming was confused, an extremely familiar voice came from behind him.
"Not bad."
"Mentor Mo Lan!"
Before you continue