Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 809 Breaking out of the siege

That's why they say old ginger is spicier.

Zhao Qingming's reminder made Xiao Ran immediately understand: it was a do-or-die situation, a fight with no way out.

Since the other party is pushing me to my doom, running away will only make me like a frog being slowly boiled in water, and I will be worn down and killed.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran immediately understood what to do, and suddenly accelerated.

He used half of his mental energy to transform the spider legs back into treads, and accelerated to the left at full speed, as if he wanted to force his way out of the encirclement.

Upon seeing this, the purple fungal patterns surrounding Xiao Ran immediately began to accelerate, following her lead.

The speed of both sides suddenly increased to the extreme. Xiao Ran's mountain-like fungal body sped ahead, relying on the super mobility brought by the newly synthesized fourth-generation fungal hyphae to leave the dark purple pursuers behind him a short distance away. Even the four crystal fungal balls that were locking onto him were gradually pulled away.

However, while the speed increased, the agility decreased. The crystal fungal ball then launched several beams of light, seizing the gaps in Xiao Ran's change of direction to bombard him. Although it no longer caused a huge gap, each hit felt like a blunt object hitting his mental core, making Xiao Ran feel a dull ache in his mental energy.

Meanwhile, the four major factories inside were humming under overload, and the pheromone light around the cultivation pool was flashing rapidly.

Wu Man also had to slow down the synthesis of the fifth-generation culture medium.

But Xiao Ran couldn't care less about any of that; his mind was constantly focused on the purple fungi behind him.

They were frantically calculating the distance between them in their minds.

"Not close enough, closer..."

These purple fungal colonies were eager to block the attack and were frantically encircling Xiao Ran from both flanks. The three closest purple fungal balls, like arrows released from a bow, had just caught up with Xiao Ran's flanks and rear.

As they watched, they gradually distanced themselves from the crystal fungus behind them.

Xiao Ran's consciousness suddenly stirred, and she emitted a pheromone: "Hold on tight, we're about to brake suddenly!"

Xiao Ran then spread her spiritual power, enveloping the entire interior of the fungal ball.

In an instant, the bacteria-infected people, Wu Man, the bandits they had recruited, and even Xiao Zhenye and Zhao Qingming all felt as if their spirits were being pressed down by an invisible hand!
Almost simultaneously, under Xiao Ran's control, the tracks beneath the fungal ball instantly retracted, merged, and coalesced into a gleaming, metallic plowshare, which plunged fiercely into the ground.

"boom!"

Without any buffer, the enormous fungal plowshare pierced the ground like a meteor from outer space, instantly splitting the parched earth.

Enveloped in shattered rocks and dust, the ground cracked, rolled, and bulged like a spiderweb of fragile glass!
The emergency stop was completed in just a moment.

Xiao Ran's move was extremely sudden. The surrounding purple fungal balls didn't even see what was happening. By the time they realized that Xiao Ran had suddenly stopped, they were unable to stop abruptly due to inertia.

Suddenly, these purple fungal balls had to use every means to come to an abrupt halt.

However, it is not realistic to brake suddenly at such a high speed in a short period of time.

Moreover, Xiao Ran wouldn't wait for them. The moment he braked suddenly, the tracks started working again, but this time they changed direction and charged towards the crystal mycelium behind him.

Xiao Ran's action completely exceeded the expectations of these mycelia. By the time they came to their senses, they could only watch helplessly as Xiao Ran charged towards the rear.

Xiao Ran's sudden counterattack immediately threw the four crystal fungus clusters behind her into a panic.

They didn't even have time to continue attacking Xiao Ran, and immediately retreated.

However, they were clearly no match for an all-around athlete like Xiao Ran in terms of speed, and Xiao Ran rushed up to them in a short while.

*Smack!*

The third-generation mycelium whip, shimmering with brilliant golden light, was like a lightning spear wielded by a god. Carrying Xiao Ran's accumulated anger and immense mental power, it lashed fiercely at the surface of the nearest crystal mycelium ball!
The seemingly indestructible crystal mycelium, under Xiao Ran's all-out attack with the golden mycelium whip, actually let out a teeth-grinding groan, and with a crisp "crack", it was instantly torn open with a huge, spider web-like rift!
Surprisingly, the mycelium was unusually brittle.

Without hesitation, Xiao Ran unleashed a massive surge of spiritual will that instantly coalesced into a terrifying torrent, almost tangible, which pierced deep into the interior of the crystal sphere.

In an instant, all the consciousnesses within this fungal ball were crushed or even pulverized by Xiao Ran's terrifying mental storm.

The torn crystal fungal ball fragments scattered like meteors, and the crushed fungal people turned into scattered spiritual energy that instantly dissipated. Xiao Ran unceremoniously devoured all of this energy.

"It's cool."

The abundance of spiritual energy caused Xiao Ran to let out a long, exhilarating roar.

Instantly, his mental strength increased by at least 20 points.

However, with only 20 points, it seems a bit disproportionate.

After Xiao Ran devoured these mycelia, he quickly enveloped the crystal mycelium with his consciousness.

In an instant, Xiao Ran understood what was going on.

So that's how it is! These crystal mycelium are indeed as special as Wu Man said. Not only can they greatly enhance the spiritual power of the fungi people, but the four crystal mycelium balls can also generate a spiritual resonance to enhance the overall spiritual power.

This means that the more fungi that enter the crystal mycelium, the higher the resonance effect will be, and the spiritual amplification will increase exponentially.

Besides, this crystal mycelium seems to have other wonderful uses.

However, Xiao Ran couldn't stay and study it slowly at the moment. He tore off a piece of mycelium and stuffed it into his body. Then he spewed out a ball of flame to ignite the rest. Immediately afterward, he turned around and attacked the other three crystal mycelium.

Upon seeing this, the other three clumps of crystal mycelium, like startled silver birds, transformed into three blurry streaks of light and fled rapidly in completely different directions.

The roles of offense and defense have shifted; now it's Xiao Ran chasing after them.

Xiao Ran's consciousness locked onto the nearest fungal cluster on his left. He slightly adjusted his direction, and his speed increased again with the hiss of the tracks, propelling the entire fungal mountain straight forward.

The other party also sensed the threat of death, and a dazzling silver-white light frantically gathered on the surface of the bacteria, as if it wanted to make a last-ditch effort.

"Hmph! A cornered beast's struggle!" Xiao Ran sneered inwardly. In a flash, three golden mycelium strands shot out from the mycelium layer in front of Xiao Ran, quickly entwining and twisting in mid-air!
In an instant, the three mycelia intertwined and wove together into a large, round hammer, covering the other's head.

There are no fancy techniques; it's just a straightforward, downward smash.

"boom!"

With a whooshing sound, the sledgehammer slammed solidly into the ball of silver threads, and Xiao Ran smashed the enormous fungal ball into a thin pancake.

A series of crackling sounds could be heard in the air as the mycelium and fungal cells inside were all smashed into pieces by this hammer blow.

After Xiao Ran completed the kill, he did not turn around to chase the other two, but instead continued to accelerate forward.

There was no other way; the purple fungal clumps had already caught up, and if Xiao Ran didn't leave soon, she wouldn't be able to escape.

However, after defeating two clusters of crystal mycelium in succession, the pressure on their side suddenly decreased significantly.

Even though the remaining two clusters of crystal mycelium resonated with each other, their mental strength could no longer reach the previous level, and they could no longer lock onto themselves at all times.

The remaining purple mycelium was clearly caught off guard by Xiao Ran's fierce counterattack and hurriedly returned, only managing to firmly protect the other two clusters of crystal mycelium that had almost escaped.

They tightly wrapped the two surviving clumps of crystal mycelium in the center, like a frightened hedgehog curling up its most vulnerable parts. The deep purple mycelium intertwined with each other, instantly weaving a thick defensive barrier, warily pointing in the direction Xiao Ran had fled.

For a moment, pheromones surged violently, filled with surprise and hesitation.

In that brief moment of panic and reorganization, Xiao Ran had enough time to quickly distance herself from them.

Before long, the strong sense of being locked on gradually disappeared from Xiao Ran, clearly indicating that they were no longer able to lock onto her from a distance as before.

This made Xiao Ran breathe a heavy sigh of relief.

Not only Xiao Ran, but all the bacteria in his body also relaxed, feeling as if they had survived a disaster.

Just before Xiao Ran was about to be caught up, most of them had already prepared for the most desperate situation. Who would have thought that Xiao Ran would be so fierce and actually fight back from the encirclement of the hunting party?

"Haha, this is pretty exciting!"

Zhao Qingming's pheromones carried a hint of mockery, "Those lackeys must be so angry their mycelium is practically knotted up by now, right?"

"It should be, but this is all thanks to Grandpa Zhao's guidance."

Xiao Ran thanked Zhao Qingming again. In terms of strength, Zhao Qingming might not be as good as her, but in terms of experience and overall grasp of the situation, she was indeed inferior to Zhao Qingming.

At this moment, Grandpa Xiao Zhenye said, "Don't be careless. The other side was just caught off guard. They will probably regroup and catch up soon. Leave as soon as possible. You have suffered a great loss this time as well."

Xiao Ran was also aware that although her counterattack had severely damaged the opponent, the opponent would certainly not let it go.

Just as his grandfather had said, he had indeed suffered a considerable loss.

After being hit by two or three beam cannon shots, Xiao Ran's original reserves of third-generation mycelium decreased sharply. Of course, a few unlucky ones were also reduced to ashes by the beam cannons.

Fortunately, the four major factory areas were not affected; otherwise, Xiao Ran would have been devastated.

"Wu Man, what's the situation on your end?"

Xiao Ran asked Wu Man about the synthesis of the fifth-generation mycelium, but Wu Man did not respond. Seeing this, Xiao Ran stopped urging him and ran forward as fast as possible, trying to leave the hunting party far behind.

Meanwhile, in the lower cultivation pool, Wu Man carefully stirred the liquid inside. As the liquid gradually turned ice-blue, an idea struck her, and she immediately mixed in a large amount of [Gold-Dissolving Liquid].

The moment the culture medium and the gold-dissolving solution in the cultivation tank were mixed together, the tank churned rapidly, and then countless blue mycelia emerged from it.

Fifth-generation mycelium, synthesized!

(End of this chapter)