HCB Chapter 235 The Nest!
Chapter 235 The Nest!
The more than five-meter-tall body crashed into the mud.
The earthquake trembled.
Dust flew everywhere.
The white tiger jumped off its back and landed steadily.
Inside the cockpit, Zhang Yan looked at the energy panel.
[White Tiger - Energy Reserves: 38%]
From 71% to 38%.
A Rank A monster consumed one-third of the White Tiger's energy.
Zhang Yan leaned back in his seat and exhaled.
He opened the cockpit and stood on top of the white tiger.
The battle had torn open a clearing in the jungle, with fallen trees lying scattered everywhere.
The corpse of the Abyss Beast lay in the mud pit, its carapace still emitting bluish smoke.
He took out the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart Disc.
Blue light illuminates.
The Void Energy within this A-rank monster is more concentrated than that of four Hellhounds combined.
[Heart of the Celestial Craftsman Fragment Energy Reserve: +11.2%]
Zhang Yan put away the disc and looked south.
On the energy tracking interface, the dark red network converges into a dense cluster of light in the distance.
That's the true heart of the lair.
He glanced down at his watch.
White Tiger 38%.
enough?
It might not be enough.
But he had no way out.
The Ruins' strongholds must be destroyed before they can be revived to a higher stage.
Every day that drags on, that red network will spread a little further.
Zhang Yan took out his phone.
I sent Nie Qingcheng my second message of the day.
"It's lunchtime, we're having lunch."
The reply was very quick.
"What did you eat?"
Zhang Yan glanced at the half protein bar he was holding in his hand.
"...Pork rib rice."
"real?"
"real."
"Photograph."
"...My phone is broken, and the camera lens is damaged."
There was a five-second silence on the other end.
"Zhang Yan".
"Um?"
"When you lie, can you please not use such lame excuses?"
"..."
"Come back and cook for me for a week."
"it is good."
He put his phone away.
The curve of her lips hadn't completely disappeared yet.
Then he jumped onto the white tiger's back and tapped on the armor.
"continue."
The white tiger strode forward, passing the corpse of the Abyss Beast, and walked into the deeper darkness without looking back.
On the tactical watch, the system quietly refreshed a line of text.
Side Quest: Tracing the Fate of the Ruins.
Current progress: 62%.
[Warning: Multiple energy reactions of Grade B or higher detected in the core area of the nest.]
[The White Tiger's energy reserves are insufficient; the host is advised to proceed with caution.]
Zhang Yan glanced at it.
The notification was turned off.
The jungle is changing.
Black lines began to appear on the bark, as if something had corroded it from the inside.
The leaves are the wrong color—not the normal withered yellow, but a gray with a reddish undertone, like a cloth that has been soaked in blood and then dried.
The moss on the ground had changed texture; instead of being soft and elastic when stepped on, it had a sticky feel that would stick to the soles of shoes.
The stench of decay in the air was so strong that it would make an ordinary person vomit.
Zhang Yan's breathing was shallow.
The system's air quality monitoring is continuously issuing alarms.
The concentration of shale energy particles in the air in the current area exceeds the standard, and long-term exposure may have psychological effects on carbon-based life forms.
[Host mental protection protocol activated.]
He doesn't care.
The mental health protection system has been kept on.
What concerned him was something else entirely.
The white tiger's footsteps grew heavier and heavier.
It's not due to the terrain.
It is slowing down.
With 38% of its energy reserves, maintaining mobility and basic defense is not a problem.
However, the White Tiger's combat program continuously calculates the threat assessment ahead—when the remaining energy is below a certain threshold, it automatically reduces its movement speed to conserve power.
Zhang Yan watched the energy readings slowly decline from the cockpit.
37%.
36.4%.
White Tiger's particle claws were kept in standby mode at minimum power, and he had manually shut down the electromagnetic railgun's charging module.
Use sparingly.
Three hundred meters ahead, the dense cluster of light on the energy tracking interface was getting closer and closer.
Cracks began to appear on the ground.
The cracks were not naturally formed; they grew upwards from the ground, and a dark red glow seeped from between them.
It's like the earth's skin being torn open, revealing the inflamed wound underneath.
The white tiger stopped in front of an exceptionally wide crack.
The crack was about two meters wide and bottomless. Red light surged up from the depths, shining on the white tiger's silver-white armor and turning it into an eerie pink.
Zhang Yan leaned out of the cockpit and glanced into the crack.
A wave of heat hit my face.
It's not geothermal.
It is the energy of the ruins that generates heat as it scorches the rocks in the earth.
He retreated to the cockpit, bypassed the crack, and continued advancing.
One hundred meters.
Fifty meters.
Twenty meters.
The trees disappeared.
In front of us was a circular open space, about two hundred meters in diameter.
Not a single living plant was found.
The ground was covered by a layer of dark red substance—not rock, not soil, but more like some kind of translucent, membrane-like organic material with a regularly undulating surface.
Like breathing.
In the very center of the open space is a hole about ten meters in diameter.
The edges of the hole were covered with a black substance with red streaks, like the rolled-up edges of a wound.
A very low-frequency buzzing sound came from deep within the cave entrance.
Continuous, steady, like a giant heart beating.
[Ding! You have entered the outer perimeter of the nest's core area.]
Energy concentration: Hazardous level.
[Lifeform Scan: Six Class B energy reactions (hellhounds) and two Class B+ energy reactions (unknown) were detected around the cave entrance. Numerous blurry signals were detected inside the cave entrance, making precise location impossible.]
[White Tiger Energy Reserves: 35%]
[Editor's suggestion: The risk is extremely high. Should we continue?]
Zhang Yan closed the system's suggestion pop-up.
He never looks at this kind of thing.
He was looking at the data.
Six B-grade and two B+ grade.
Outside.
There's more inside.
35% of the White Tiger.
not enough.
Far from enough.
If they force their way in for a full-scale battle, the White Tiger's energy won't last more than five minutes.
Zhang Yan tapped his fingers lightly three times on the control panel.
he was thinking.
It's not about whether or not to return it.
They were thinking about how to cause the greatest destruction with the least amount of energy.
His gaze fell on the cave entrance.
That persistent, low-frequency buzzing sound.
That is the heart of the nest.
If the core could be destroyed directly...
Those surrounding allies, deprived of their energy supply, will experience a sharp drop in combat effectiveness.
The question is how to get it in.
A hard drive is the dumbest option.
Zhang Yan closed his eyes and quickly went through three plans in his mind.
First move: White Tiger charges forward at full power, using its speed advantage to break through the outer defenses and head straight for the entrance.
veto.
The interception capability of a B+ class unknown entity is uncertain; if it gets entangled, its energy will be exhausted on the periphery.
The second method involves using electromagnetic railguns to bombard the entrance from a distance, attempting to destroy the core from the outside.
veto.
The core is deep underground, and the penetrating power of the railgun may not be enough after the ground weakens.
Moreover, firing a single shot consumes 12% of your energy, and if you miss, you're completely out of options.
The third set...
Zhang Yan's fingers stopped.
He looked at the list of storage spaces.
White Tiger, by your side, 35% energy.
Black Scorpion, can be summoned.
The energy level is 100% since the last recovery.
Xingtian...