Opening Gate, Open!!

Su Wuming, who had killed a Nunu Beast with a single punch, performed a cool midair flip and landed steadily.

Then, looking completely calm, he walked over and pried open the Nunu Beast's head, searching for the Beast Crystals inside.

"Um... Wuming, a Nunu Beast's Beast Crystals are in its chest! Also, shouldn't you look around first?!" Lin Pangpang shouted anxiously from the rooftop.

The final wail of the Nunu Beast Su Wuming had killed instantly drew over the other Nunu Beasts attacking nearby buildings.

More than a dozen of them quickly surrounded him. It had to be said that because the building Su Wuming and the others lived in, along with Building Four, were located off to the side, only one Nunu Beast had come over before.

But things were different now. With more than a dozen appearing at once, even Su Wuming felt his scalp tingle.

These were nothing like the Devil Horses and Copperback Hyenas in the Dark Forest.

Most importantly, several had spotted Lin Pangpang on the roof and were already gathering snowballs to attack him.

Several others had grabbed onto the walls and started climbing, terrifying Lin Pangpang.

He had only meant to warn Su Wuming, yet he had exposed his own position instead.

Nunu Beasts resembled White Demon Apes, but they were bulkier and taller. Their hands were also exceptionally nimble, and the sharp claws at their fingertips could easily pierce through walls.

Seeing this, Su Wuming could only use a [Rubber Whip] to sweep the climbing ones down.

At the same time, he was struck by seven or eight snowballs. Compressed as densely as solid iron balls, the snowballs counted as physical attacks, so they did not harm him.

But their impact was very real, sending Su Wuming 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. Attacks from claws were not something his Rubber Constitution could ignore.

Su Wuming was sent flying again, smashing straight into a wall.

This was what it meant for two fists to be no match for four hands.

The main issue was that he had to watch out for the people on the roof being attacked by snowballs, which distracted him.

The several Nunu Beasts had already gathered more than a dozen snowballs and aimed them at Lin Pangpang's position.

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 limiters, allowing one to unleash 100% of their physical ability. It overtaxed the body's energy to boost attack power and speed.

This was exactly the moment to protect an important companion. If he did not open it now, then when would he?

The instant Armament Haki followed the route in Su Wuming's memories into his brain and forced open the Opening Gate's acupoint—

A sound like shackles breaking rang out in Su Wuming's mind.

In the next instant, his thoughts became clear. His body's restraints were released, the cells throughout his body began to stir, and a surge of strength flooded into him.

Just then, the Nunu Beasts hurled their snowballs.

Just as Lin Pangpang was overwhelmed by despair, Su Wuming interlocked his fingers and used [Rubber Net].

With the Opening Gate activated, his arms extended twice as fast as usual, overtaking the snowballs. At the same time, his stretched fingers formed a massive net that successfully caught them all.

"Holy shit! Wuming, that was insane!!!!"

Having gone from despair to surviving a disaster, Lin Pangpang instinctively shouted those words from the rooftop.

His good brother had really figured out how to use that 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 targets by sound!"

There was no time to use [Rubber Net] again, so Su Wuming directly unleashed [Rubber Gatling].

His fists were coated in Armament Haki. The pitch-black fists streaked through the night sky, faint sparks flying from them.

But they were still far from meeting the requirements for [Fire Fist Pistol].

Still, they were 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 that of a machine gun.

At that moment, Su Wuming renamed this combined move [Rubber Gatling Gun].

The next moment, the sounds of exploding snowballs rang out in rapid succession through the air. Great clouds of scattered snow rained down directly onto Lin Pangpang's face.

At this point, it could be seen that Sister Wu's family was hiding in the far western 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 the care she had shown him over the years. To Lin Pangpang, her kindness was worth repaying like this.

Otherwise, after leaving the orphanage all those years ago, he would not have remembered to send money there every month.

After resolving the crisis on Lin Pangpang's side, Su Wuming took the initiative. He rapidly closed in on the building beneath Lin Pangpang by using the surroundings for leverage.

With several consecutive punches, he sent the Nunu Beasts approaching that side flying.

One punch landed on a Nunu Beast's stomach, causing it to vomit up a partially digested human corpse on the spot.

Old Zhang, the security guard! Grandpa Zhang!!!

Su Wuming recognized the half-eaten corpse at a glance from the security uniform.

A wave of nausea and fury immediately surged through him.

He had killed beasts before and seen bloody scenes, but this was the first time he had seen a dead person—especially one so horribly corroded by stomach acid.

He and Grandpa Zhang saw each other every day. Whenever Su Wuming returned after closing his stall in the middle of the night, the old man would always leave the gate open for him.

This was an old residential complex, and its main gates were locked every night.

Perhaps that was the difference between humans and beasts. Humans had feelings and sympathized with their own kind, while beasts only devoured their own kind.

"You all—die!"

Su Wuming roared and conjured five vitality-boosted chicken drumsticks enhanced by Lin Pangpang out of thin air, stuffing them directly into his mouth.

The Opening Gate's consumption was beyond his expectations. He had only used it for a short while, yet fatigue had already set in. Only by opening the second Rest Gate could he temporarily remove the body's fatigue limits. For now, he could only recover with chicken drumsticks.

The moment the drumsticks entered his stomach, Su Wuming returned to full strength. Grabbing the Nunu Beast that had eaten Grandpa Zhang, he slammed his head into it.

That furious blow, combined with hardened Armament Haki, directly exploded its head. Blood mixed with brain matter splattered all over Su Wuming's face.

"Ptui, ptui, ptui! That's fucking disgusting. I should've known better than to use my head."

That was the price of trying to look cool.

Over the next stretch of time, Su Wuming killed all of the dozen or so Nunu Beasts without the slightest hesitation.

He also gradually began adapting to the enhancement 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 like water running backward.

More importantly, his feet were firmly suctioned in place, leaving him unable to move an inch.

This was not a force he could easily break free from. Clearly, it was not something a Black Iron Rank beast could possess.

This was a Nunu Beast's companion beast, a Snow Spirit! Su Wuming suddenly remembered.

Snow Spirit: Peak Bronze beast, an elemental spirit lifeform. Immune to most attacks other than fire-element attacks. Its offensive abilities were limited, but it could control the snow within a hundred-meter radius and make it explode.

It seemed effective only against enemies on the ground, and its ability was heavily restricted since it required snow. But the problem was, there was snow everywhere right now.

Furthermore, once someone was caught by its suction, even someone of the same rank could not easily break free.

And the closer one was to the center, the more powerful the explosion became.

"Damn! Why the hell is my luck so bad? How did 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 absurd.

Fortunately, it was only Bronze Tier and had not yet matured. If it had been a Silver Tier Snow Spirit, it could have detonated everything within a kilometer.

Only then did Su Wuming notice that a palm-sized spirit had appeared atop the final Nunu Beast's head. Looking closely, it resembled a human infant.

But now was not the time to look at that. He had to stop it, or the explosion would collapse both nearby buildings.

"A spirit body, huh? My Armament Haki is made to counter things like you that can't be hit!"

With that, Su Wuming gathered strength and threw a punch, accurately striking the Snow Spirit and blowing apart both it and the Nunu Beast's head.

Yet the next second, the snow centered around that Nunu Beast exploded, its power comparable to high explosives.

"Heh... It's over... I'm probably losing these legs..." Su Wuming thought to himself.

The technique had not been interrupted by the Snow Spirit's death. His legs were still held fast, and there was no time to pull them free.

Even with Armament Haki driven at full force, he could only protect his upper body—and his third leg...

Just as the snowstorm spread toward him inch by inch, it suddenly stopped.

More precisely, it was forcibly contained by an invisible barrier.

Just as Su Wuming was wondering what was happening, an extremely familiar voice came from behind him.

"Not bad."

"Mentor Mo Lan!"