Shock Beast

Li Luo stopped in front of an automatic steamer.

Behind her was a flatbed cart carrying the Cube, with a shopping cart piled high hitched behind it.

The shopping cart was crammed with all kinds of food, along with some wilderness camping gear.

Mo Ling had gone numb.

Li Luo had also bought many expensive Relic Capsules, yet she had asked the salesgirl whether they could be used to store food.

Mo Ling worried about the Girl's wallet.

But he was soon proven wrong. While checking out, Mo Ling glanced at Li Luo's Electronic Screen.

What she spent shopping did not even compare to the amount her savings increased every second.

Rich people really were impossible to understand!

Poverty had indeed limited Mo Ling's imagination.

Li Luo headed toward the modification workshop again.

When Li Luo emerged from the modification workshop with the flatbed cart, the cart that had originally carried Supplies had become a compact combat Mountain Bike.

Its thick tracks and powerful engine carried the Cube through the Monitoring Station in an ostentatious fashion.

Behind the Cube was a massive Storage Box with refrigeration, stuffed full of all kinds of items.

She clearly had money to burn.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, Li Luo left the Monitoring Station.

Outside the Monitoring Station gates, Li Luo climbed into the front seat and sped toward the valley indicated by the mission.

There were many hunters on missions along the road. Startled by the Mountain Bike that suddenly sped past, they stared dumbfoundedly as Li Luo vanished into the distance.

Mo Ling had nothing left to say.

He recalled what Li Luo had said to the staff when she first entered the modification workshop—

"Can you modify this vehicle into a tank?"

The vehicle's commotion also drew attacks from many strange creatures by the roadside.

But before they could get close, Mo Ling turned them into chunks of flesh.

Some weaker ones could not even keep up with the Mountain Bike.

Two days later, the two arrived at the Shock Beasts' habitat, a journey that would have taken half a month on foot.

A massive valley.

Looking down from the road, there was no sign of any Shock Beasts. Tall, dense trees concealed the entire valley.

Morning mist enveloped the valley, thick moisture drifting upward. It looked serene and peaceful.

Yet faint, rumbling thuds could be heard.

As its name suggested, the Shock Beast was a creature capable of creating vibrations.

The behavior of living things always served some purpose—survival, courtship, or perhaps pleasure.

Yet scientists did not know why Shock Beasts created vibrations.

Some studies even speculated that Shock Beasts were forced to create vibrations, because they could even be woken by the vibrations of their own kind.

Li Luo reviewed the Shock Beast's information on her Electronic Screen while slowly driving the vehicle into the valley.

Mo Ling also wanted to see this strange creature as soon as possible.

Fortunately, they soon spotted one at the bottom of the valley.

At first glance, it looked like a giant mechanical spider standing on straightened legs. Metal components that no living creature should possess made up its enormous limbs.

Yet unlike a spider, it had only two mechanical legs, both unnervingly unbalanced, alternating back and forth as they moved through the towering forest.

Its slender body blended into the trees rising throughout the valley.

Above its two legs sat a small spherical Metal Mesh, tangled with vivid red flesh—the only biological structure visible from the outside.

The crimson flesh pulsed like a heart. With every beat, the mechanical leg behind it rotated half a turn to the front.

Its pointed tip plunged deeply into the ground. With the next pulse of flesh, a dull vibration came from the tip of the mechanical leg embedded in the earth.

The cycle repeated. As long as it moved, the vibrations never stopped.

Mo Ling stared in shock at the bizarre creature over two meters tall.

Strange. Inexplicably strange.

Its body structure completely defied mechanics, and its behavior had absolutely no purpose.

Li Luo followed behind it, quietly recording the creature with an instrument.

According to the records, Shock Beasts had extremely poor perception and usually only wandered aimlessly.

Shock Beasts could only sense vibrations close to them, their range even smaller than Mo Ling's.

Once they sensed vibrations that did not belong to them, they would crazily attack the source as though they had been disturbed.

Like being woken at six-thirty on a Saturday morning by the electric drill upstairs.

They would even attack their own kind like mad.

That was right. They were absolutely solitary creatures, yet they had designated habitats.

The first time Mo Ling read the records, he had felt a deep sense of incongruity about these creatures.

What was the point of their existence?

Mo Ling fell into contemplation.

Just as he was observing, the Shock Beast ahead suddenly stopped moving. The chunk of flesh inside the spherical Metal Mesh went still.

What was wrong?

When its mechanical legs began moving again, it turned in a circle and pointed directly toward Mo Ling and Li Luo.

This was bad.

The chunk of flesh suddenly pulsed violently like an erupting heart, and the vibrations rapidly intensified.

Defying its usual behavior, the Shock Beast had sensed the movement behind it and turned to charge at them!

Knowing the Shock Beast's habits, Li Luo had not stayed very far away. The sudden situation caught her completely off guard.

Fortunately, Mo Ling had kept his vision locked on the Shock Beast.

He hurriedly aimed at its spherical head and directly separated a large chunk of flesh.

A cube-shaped hollow instantly appeared in the Shock Beast's formerly spherical head.

The swollen, pulsing flesh flowed from the hole in the Metal Mesh like jelly, dropping to the ground like a shattered egg.

It continued pulsing even after falling to the ground, like a red slime.

Red veins extended from the hollow Mo Ling had carved out, slowly healing it.

This tiny Flesh Slime still refused to give up, slowly hopping toward Li Luo as though it were trying to kill itself.

Without the flesh controlling them, the mechanical legs crashed to the ground.

Only the red slime on the ground remained, hopping awkwardly as it tried to get closer.

Li Luo raised her instrument and recorded the bizarre situation.

Then she found a capsule behind the vehicle and wrapped the Flesh Slime inside it.

After checking the surroundings, she finally relaxed and returned to the front seat.

She took out her Electronic Screen, transferred the content recorded by the instrument, and began documenting the anomaly:

"The Shock Beast's perception range has increased."

"After the flesh from its head detached, it displayed rapid healing capabilities. It can still survive and remains aggressive."

After Li Luo finished recording what had happened, she went to the Storage Box at the back of the vehicle, brought out a pile of food, and neatly arranged it on the metal block.

Then she patted the metal block.

"Great job. Eat more."

Mo Ling was about to pick some food when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

Have I really become an electronic pet?

"I will not accept food handed down in contempt!"

The food was right behind the vehicle. I could get it myself!

However, Mo Ling's stomach rumbled again.

After traveling these past few days, he had eaten all the berries and canned food from before. There were no reserves left in the Cube either.

Forget it. Since I'm already here, I can't keep hiding forever.

Half the food on the Cube instantly vanished.