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The cave entrance was completely dark; there was nothing there.

So, after Lou Yu got out of the car, Tao Qiu felt a strong sense of crisis. His instincts told him that he couldn't stay in the car any longer; there was definitely danger.

Tao Qiu always trusted his intuition and, without any hesitation, demanded that everyone get off the bus immediately.

The others were also sensible; they didn't ask a single question and simply accepted whatever Tao Qiu said.

Almost? They got out of the car and ran to the spot behind them, and just as they stood there, the car they had been in flew off.

Tao Qiu had sharp eyesight and clearly saw that what had blown the car away were several earthen-colored tree roots.

It turns out that the one who had been plotting against them all along was a plant-type mutated monster.

The sneak attack failed, and the Root furious and went berserk. But it didn't dwell on this emotion for long. If one strike failed, then it would try again. With Tao Qiu surrounded by his weaknesses, its chances of winning were much greater.

At this moment, the Root no longer concealed their presence; their bodies swelled, and the root system quickly formed a net underground, attempting to break through the soil and trap the turtle in a jar.

The moment it was exposed, Tao Qiu sensed its intention. He shouted to the children and others to run forward, while he himself flew backward.

Tao Qiu vaguely understood. This mutated monster wanted to kill him before the people from the central base arrived. Otherwise, it wouldn't have used such a ruthless move; instead, it would have tried to stop them and then attack them after they arrived.

Since its primary target is him, the safest course of action for others is to stay away from him.

The situation just now proved that Tao Qiu's orders were not wrong, or at least would not harm them. So, the moment they heard him shout "Run!", the adults grabbed the three children and ran forward.

The guys who were blocking the way had already been knocked down and thrown aside. Lou Yu caught the children and handed them over to Huo Lan and the others. He then wanted to run over to help Tao Qiu.

Did Tao Qiu anticipate what he was planning? He immediately shouted, "Don't come any closer! Protect them, and help me out while you're at it..."

Before he could even finish uttering the word "I," a massive net made of air roots as thick as an adult's wrist burst forth from the ground, kicking up dust. With a ruthless intent to crush Tao Qiu to death, it closed in on him at breakneck speed.

Lou Yu was stopped outside.

Tao Qiu's reputation as a "high-level mutated monster" wasn't for nothing; he had long been aware of what it was planning, so how could he not have taken precautions?

The moment the root net appeared, he shrunk in size and shot straight into the air, managing to break free of the encirclement just a second before the net closed. He then instantly regained his original size, grabbed the Root his giant claws, and flapped his wings to struggle upwards, trying to drag this unspeakable thing out of the ground.

The underground is the battlefield that benefits the Root, so it's unlikely to let itself be taken out. Thus, it begins to struggle with Tao Qiu.

The humans present, apart from the three children, were all active or retired military personnel, and they had a very accurate understanding of the changing battlefield situation.

When Root was grabbed by Tao Qiu and unable to retreat, they immediately took action without Lou Yu's orders.

The bullets struck the Root as if they were free, but unfortunately the Root's bark was hard and thick, and the bullets could only leave some scratches.

Lou Yu conjured two balls of purple light in his hands, then swung them simultaneously at the Root net. Several loud booms followed, and several Root were burned off, some even ignited.

The Root writhing in pain, and if they could make a sound, they would probably be screaming right now.

It unleashed its full force, pulling Tao Qiu down several meters.

But Tao Qiu refused to let go, and Lou Yu was still using his supernatural abilities to bombard and burn it. If this continued, it would only suffer losses.

Root, always ruthless to others and ruthless to themselves, decisively severed the part of the root that Tao Qiu had grabbed, and dragged its broken body, eagerly trying to flash back underground.

"We can't let it go back!" Tao Qiu shouted, shaking off the broken aerial root and swooping down towards the Root that were almost completely retracted.

Root's home ground is underground. If they were to return, whether it were to launch another sneak attack or escape, Tao Qiu and the others wouldn't be able to stop it.

Lou Yu lunged forward as soon as he discovered the Root had severed their aerial roots, but the rapidly retracting aerial roots were like whips lashed out at full force, impossible to catch by human strength. Lou Yu's outstretched hand was almost broken, but luckily he dodged quickly enough to avoid losing his entire hand. However, a piece of flesh was still scraped off his right forearm, and blood immediately splattered.

However, he didn't care about any of that. He spun around and unleashed two more bolts of purple lightning, striking the hole where the Root retracted.

The Root paused for a second because of the pain, and it was in that one second that Tao Qiu, rushing down, was able to grab it firmly.

The Root were churning underground, seemingly unwilling to sever their own aerial roots, so they could only sprout new ones to burst out of the ground and attack Tao Qiu.

The aerial root pierced Tao Qiu like a sharp sword. Tao Qiu dodged, but was still grazed. Blood soaked his feathers, and the pain made his body spasm involuntarily, but he still did not let go of the claw.

Lou Yu endured the pain as he continued to bombard the Root attacking Tao Qiu, and the struggle reached a brief stalemate.

Just then, a roaring sound came from nearby. Looking up, several black "iron birds" were flying towards the base in the distance.

It's those guys from the central base!

Not only Tao Qiu and others, but the underground Root also discovered this.

It cursed inwardly, declaring that Plan B had also failed.

It can only proceed with the last C plan, which it least wanted to initiate.

Lou Yu's face turned pale with worry and blood loss. "We can't keep fighting it!!"

Tao Qiu let out a furious cry, then said to Lou Yu, "If we let it go, it'll definitely cause trouble. You take the children and go first. I'll hold it off, then we'll come after you!"

Lou Yu hesitated for two seconds, but after meeting Tao Qiu's resolute gaze, he finally steeled himself, withdrew his hand, and turned to run towards the three children.

Unfortunately, another unexpected event occurred at this time.

After Lou Yu stopped attacking the Root, it actually seized the opportunity, sprouted new aerial roots, and slipped under the children's feet.

Aside from Tao Qiu, the Third Cub, who was the most perceptive in the family, was the first to notice. She only had time to push her older siblings out and prepare to run away herself when the ground beneath her feet suddenly collapsed, and she fell straight down.

The moment she fell, all the adults around her reached out to grab her, but as the ground collapsed, countless air roots burst forth. Some of these air roots merely fanned them away, while others pierced right through their hands.

The injured people instinctively cried out in pain, thus missing the best opportunity to save the Third Cub.

After several people intervened and tried to rescue it, the Root retracted again.

The accident happened so fast that no one had time to react.

Having witnessed the entire process, Tao Qiu let out a sharp screech, but before he could react, he erupted, his Root once again severing their vital energy and escaping.

Tao Qiu shrunk his size, wanting to fly into the cave to chase after them, but Lou Yu pounced on him and grabbed him in a hug.

"No! It's just trying to lure you down there. You can't fight it in this state underground. It will kill you!"

"You? Let go! Let go! It took Yuanyuan away! Ah!" Tao Qiu kept pecking and scratching at Lou Yu, almost going crazy with anxiety.

Lou Yu held him tightly, refusing to let go. "You? If you're going, kill me first! My whole family will die here tonight!"

On the other side, the Second Cub, Eldest Cub picked up by adults to prevent them from being snatched away by the Root again, were also crying loudly.

"Let me go, I need to save my sister!"

"You bastard! I'm going to kill you? You bastard! Give me back my sister!"

The adults hugged the two of them tightly, tears welling in their eyes. They wouldn't let go; either the roots Root capture them both, or the Root kill them and then take the child away.

Tao Qiu looked up and let out a desperate and mournful cry.

He didn't know this was a trap of Root, but that was his child, the child he had personally given birth to, hatched, and raised, his beloved Yuanyuan...

The underground Root knew Tao Qiu wouldn't pursue them again, and cursed under their breath, "What a pity."

It left behind the words, "Want you? If the child is alive, come find me at the central base," and then used its Root to wrap the knocked-out Third Cub and escape through the tunnel it had dug earlier.

The Root cannot speak, but they can emit a low-frequency sound that only mutated monsters can hear and understand.

Tao Qiu had indeed heard it, but before he could react, a blinding searchlight shone down.

Several helicopters arrived overhead.

Those people at the central base encountered no obstacles and entered the base directly; they had nowhere to escape.

Lou Yu and the others prepared to resist, but Tao Qiu spoke up to stop them.

His tone was calm to the point of being cold. "That mutated monster? It said it was going to take Yuanyuan to the Central Base. It must be related to the Central Base. We have to go to the Central Base."

Although the group hadn't heard the mutated monster speak, they didn't doubt that Tao Qiu was lying, given their own witnesses to his urgency.

The helicopter overhead began broadcasting. "Listen up, everyone below! Immediately lay down your weapons, cease resistance, stand up, and raise your hands!"

At the same time, several military vehicles drove up. The doors opened, and Lou Quan got out. While instructing the doctor to bandage the wounded, he quickly walked to Lou Yu and Tao Qiu.

Lou Quan said, "They brought bombs and threatened the lives of everyone in the base, so I had no choice but to let them in."

The people on the helicopter were still shouting, but the people on the ground ignored them, because they knew that the people at the central base wouldn't do anything to them now.

The entire base is under the control of a few companies. It's completely unnecessary to anger Tao Qiu and his group over such a trivial matter and provoke a counterattack.

Tao Qiu dismounted from Lou Yu's body and, in front of everyone, transformed from bird form into human form.

Multiple helicopters stirred up a gale, Tao Qiu's long white hair flew wildly, he stood in the bright light, naked but without fear, looking up at the direction of the helicopters, his pale green eyes filled with indifference.