bioinnovel Chapter 230 Hellhound!
Chapter 230 Hellhound!
Zhang Yan refocused his attention.
The drainage ditch was getting narrower and narrower, and the concrete pipes overhead were covered with black mold.
He stopped at a fork in the road and glanced at the terrain map on his tactical watch.
The left side leads to the storage room on the basement level.
To the right—leads directly to the second basement level.
The signal of energy fluctuations surged out from the channel on the right.
Not very strong.
But it's very stable.
It was like something was breathing quietly there.
Zhang Yan chose the right side.
At the end of the passage was a brick wall.
It's not the original building structure; it was added later, and fresh cement traces remain between the brick joints.
Someone deliberately blocked this road.
Zhang Yan raised his right fist.
An inch punch.
The brick wall crumbled silently, fragments flying inward and raising a cloud of dust.
He slipped in sideways.
Before us lay a vast underground space.
It is much larger than it appears on the topographic map.
The ceiling is six meters high, the surrounding walls are rough rock, and the floor is covered with a layer of concrete.
In the very center, there were dozens of iron cages.
Most of them are empty.
But in the corner were three cages, inside which... something was huddled.
Zhang Yan paused for a moment.
That's not a person.
It might have been.
But now, their skin has turned an unhealthy grayish-black, their limb joints are bent backwards, and their nails have turned into black claws nearly ten centimeters long.
His lips had completely shrunk, revealing two rows of jagged, sharp teeth.
The most terrifying thing is the eyes.
No pupils.
Only two dark red lights flickered faintly in the darkness.
[Ding! "Ruins" contaminant detected.]
[Classification: Ruins' Kin - Mutant Type (Rank C)]
Quantity: 3.
Threat assessment: Lethal to ordinary humans, but poses no threat to the host.
[Note: A trace amount of "Void" core energy remains within the target's body; it is recommended to collect it after defeating the target.]
Zhang Yan looked at the things in the cage.
They were watching him too.
Six dark red dots of light turned toward him simultaneously.
Then, it began to emit a low, guttural whimper, squeezed from deep within its throat.
It doesn't seem like a warning.
It's more like... a cry for help.
Zhang Yan's gaze darkened for a moment.
He didn't sense any hostility from these things.
Only pain.
Humans forcibly transformed by the energy of the Ruins have had their consciousness crushed, leaving only instinct-driven shells, and they don't even have the right to die.
"……knew."
He said something in a low voice.
It wasn't said to them.
It's about oneself.
He raised his hand, and the disc of the Heart of Heaven rose from his palm.
Blue light spread out, enveloping the three cages.
Those deformed bodies slowly quieted down in the blue light.
The dark red light gradually dissipated.
Finally, the three emaciated remains were gently laid down in the iron cage.
It's quiet now.
Zhang Yan retrieved the disc without lingering.
He bypassed the iron cage area and walked deeper into the area.
At the end of the space stood a heavy iron gate.
There was a symbol engraved on the door.
Zhang Yan recognized it.
That's a mark of the ruins.
A twisted, crumpled circle with a crack in the middle.
He had seen it in Kunlun's archives.
The iron gate was unlocked.
Zhang Yan pushed open the door.
Behind the door is a stone staircase that extends downwards.
The air grew cold.
It's not cold in the physical sense—it's the kind of chilling cold that makes your scalp tingle and the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
The energy concentration in the ruins is rising rapidly.
At the end of the stone steps lies another space.
Bigger.
The ceiling is at least ten meters high, and the four walls are inlaid with some kind of mineral that emits a dark red glow.
And right in the center of this space...
Zhang Yan stopped.
A huge, dog-like creature lay on the ground.
Its shoulder height exceeds two meters, and its body length is close to five meters.
Its entire body was covered in a black carapace that looked like solidified lava, with dark red light flowing between the gaps in the carapace.
Three heads.
Each tooth is twice the size of a mastiff's, with interlocking fangs that gleam with a metallic sheen in the darkness.
All three pairs of eyes were closed.
It is sleeping.
[Ding! High-energy Ruins familiar detected!]
[Classification: Ruins' Companions - Elite Type (Rank B)]
[Suggested codename: Hellhound]
[Threat Assessment: City-level. Extremely high physical attack power; carapace hardness approaching that of titanium alloy; three heads capable of independent attack; possesses fire breath ability.]
[Weakness: The carapace covering the neck junction of the three heads is incomplete.]
[Suggestion: Summon mechanical beasts to deal with this.]
Zhang Yan stared at the sleeping behemoth and tapped his thigh lightly with his fingers twice.
This place isn't big enough to accommodate Xing Tian or Bai Hu.
But enough to hold a black scorpion.
He was about to make a move—
Li Zhan's voice suddenly came through the communication module.
Urgent, in a low voice.
"Mr. Zhang, we've found Kunsa's private laboratory on the third floor..."
A piercing sound of metal tearing apart.
Then came the roar of the heavy hammer.
"What is that?! Open fire!!"
A barrage of gunfire.
And... a roar that did not belong to any known creature.
Zhang Yan frowned slightly.
He glanced at the three-headed dog still sleeping in front of him, took two steps back, and silently retreated back outside the iron gate.
Close the door again.
"Li Zhan, what's going on?"
Gunfire continued over the radio.
Li Zhan's voice was sandwiched between the noise of metal clashing and some kind of liquid splashing.
"In the third-floor laboratory... there are three things that aren't human..."
"Gray skin, no eyes... just like you described..."
"The bullets are effective but not lethal; we're suppressing them with armored close-quarters combat..."
Grade C.
And their kind in the cage.
The Dragon Scale Type I exoskeleton amplifies punching power by more than three tons, more than enough to deal with Class C contaminants.
"Headshot," Zhang Yan said. "There's a soft area on the left side of the back of the skull; one punch is enough."
There was a moment of silence on the communication line.
Then came a muffled thud.
It looked like something had been smashed into the wall.
"...The first one, kill it."
Two more sounds.
"Kill them all."
Li Zhan's panting came through, carrying a sense of unreal disorientation.
"Mr. Zhang, what...what are these?"
"We'll talk about it when we get back." Zhang Yan's tone remained unchanged. "What about Kunsa?"
"...Located. The ghost is breaking down the door in the secret room on the third floor."
"Take care of him, then retreat."
"I'll handle things underground."
He cut off the communication.
He turned around and pushed the iron gate open again.
The three-headed dog was still sleeping.
But the ear on its left side twitched.
Zhang Yan did not hesitate any longer.
Space distortion.
The Black Scorpion fell from the void, its eight mechanical legs firmly planted on the ground, and its huge pincers slowly opened.
The particle cannon barrel glowed with a ghostly blue light.
The three-headed dog's six eyes opened simultaneously.
A dark red light exploded in the darkness.
The battle lasted four minutes and seventeen seconds.
It took twelve seconds longer than Zhang Yan had predicted.
Cerberus's reaction speed exceeded the normal range for Grade B.
Its first action upon waking was neither a roar nor a retreat.
A stream of blazing flame shot directly from the mouth on the left side of the skull.
The temperature exceeded 1200 degrees Celsius.
The stone wall turned orange-red in the flames.
The Black Scorpion's energy shield blocked the first wave of breath, but the energy value on the shield instantly dropped by twelve percent.
Zhang Yan's fingers slid rapidly across the tactical watch.
Xuanxie's particle cannon fired.
The blue beam of light struck the three-headed dog in the side, sending it flying three meters away.
A charred crater the size of a bowl was left on the shell, but it was not penetrated.
hard.
It's harder than titanium alloy.