Ling Cage: Twelve Talismans? I have everything I need.

Chapter 116 New Species

Looking at the Devouring Beast that he had chopped into pieces in front of him, Bai Yuekui stepped forward and reached out his hand.

My fingertips lightly traced across the dark, metallic-looking bone armor.

It felt cold and hard to the touch, quite different from the mutated Devouring Beasts I had encountered before. Its bone density and texture were unfamiliar.

At this moment, Xu Tong, Shan Da, and several other enlightened practitioners cautiously approached.

They stared in astonishment at the massive, precisely dismembered body parts on the ground.

"Boss." Xu Tong spoke first, kicking a piece of bone armor on a limb.

"This kind of creature... I've never seen it before. Its bones are such a dark color and ridiculously hard, and even spirit manipulation doesn't work on it. What kind of new trick is this?"

Bai Yuekui stood up, shook off non-existent dust from his hands, and calmly swept his gaze over the beast corpse.

She and Yang Chen regularly cleaned up the surrounding area; they were familiar with most of the common mutated mutants, but this one in front of them...

“It’s not from this continent.” Her voice was calm, yet carried a sense of certainty.

"Judging from its bone armor shape and its resistance to induction, it seems to be a subspecies that evolved from other metamorphic forms. It probably came from another continent."

The Devouring Beasts share information through ecological means. While the Pan-Life type remains dull-witted, the Evolved type and above possess a certain level of intelligence.

This judgment sent a chill down everyone's spine.

The appearance of Devouring Beasts from other continents here doesn't sound like good news.

"Xu Tong, go and call another team over," Bai Yuekui ordered.

"Transport the body back intact and send it directly to the ecological base for in-depth autopsy analysis."

She originally wanted to suggest the nearest Base No. 3, but considering the potential risks of this unknown species, she decided to send it to the main base instead.

"I'll call out." Before Xu Tong could notify anyone, one of the awakened practitioners immediately took out a communicator and contacted the village.

When Xu Tong saw that someone had contacted him, he went over to the side of Shandong University, nudged the still panting fat man with his elbow, and chuckled.

"Fatty, did you hear that? Your 'milk' isn't attractive anymore. People from out of town aren't buying it at all."

Shan Da was already somewhat exhausted from having a large amount of spiritual energy extracted. Upon hearing this, his eyes widened, and he replied irritably.

"Get lost! You're the one who's no good! This thing just doesn't know its own worth! If you're so capable, try it yourself next time!"

Bai Yuekui ignored their bickering and turned around to nimbly climb to the top of the shielding tower again.

She reinserted the Alaya consciousness into the console to continue the restart process that had just been interrupted.

“ASH,” she said, speaking to the ASH terminal on the control panel as she operated the system.

Are there similar abnormal gatherings of Devouring Beasts in the surrounding areas of other shielding towers?

ASH's voice immediately responded: "I had already dispatched drones to patrol when the Awakened Ones were sending messages to me. The latest data and images transmitted back from each shielding tower show no abnormal gathering."

"Only the shielding tower here was hit by this attack."

Bai Yuekui's subordinates continued working, asking, "Any other reactions from the initial Mana form in Ecological Base No. 3?"

"The tests showed that the patient's vital signs were stable and brain readings were within the normal range of fluctuation. No abnormal response to this external shock was detected."

"Hmm," Bai Yuekui responded faintly.

The shielding tower's system self-test was complete, and she entered the final command.

The light at the top of the tower shone steadily again, and the invisible magnetic field instantly reopened, isolating it from external dangers once more.

At this moment, the additional vehicles dispatched by the village also arrived.

With everyone working together, they carefully packed the remains of the strange, mutated Devouring Beast into specially made sealed transport boxes and loaded them onto the train.

After dealing with everything, Bai Yuekui jumped down from the top of the tower and walked towards the off-road vehicle.

She habitually walked towards the driver's seat, and just as her hand touched the door handle, Shan Da rushed forward.

A sincere yet slightly fearful smile spread across his chubby face: "Boss! Boss! I'll do the driving, I'll do it!"

"You've just finished a battle, sit in the back and rest for a bit, enjoy the scenery or something!"

Xu Tong nodded vigorously beside him.

Bai Yuekui glanced at the two of them, but didn't insist. He let go of their hands, simply opened the back door, and got in.

Feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, Shan Da quickly climbed into the driver's seat and steadily started the vehicle.

The SUV turned around and drove smoothly towards Longgu Village. Shan Da parked the car steadily, and Xu Tong got out first to open the car door for Bai Yuekui.

Bai Yuekui stepped out of the car, nodded slightly to the two of them, and walked straight towards his own cottage.

Push the door open.

The house was empty; Yang Chen had clearly not returned yet.

She walked to the table and glanced at the clock on it.

The clock had already struck three-quarters of an hour in the afternoon.

"Just going to buy some things... does it really take this long?" Bai Yuekui muttered to himself, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

The flow of time there is the same as here. Even if his brother, that rascal, wants to cause trouble, Yang Chen should know his limits and come back when the time comes.

Could something have happened?
The thought had barely crossed her mind when she suppressed it.

With Yang Chen's abilities and ASH's assistance, the number of unexpected events he could encounter in Hisakawa City in 2033 would be extremely limited.

More likely, she was being dragged along by her unreliable brother, spending her time wandering around some arcade or shopping mall.

Although I thought that way, a sense of emptiness from not having my partner by my side still quietly crept over me.

She disliked the feeling of idly waiting.

My gaze shifted to the window, towards the direction of the ecological base.

The sample that just arrived is perfect for passing the time.

Instead of letting your mind wander, you should do something practical.

Having made up his mind, Bai Yuekui no longer hesitated, turned around and went out the door, heading towards the ecological base.

The interior of the base was brightly lit and softly lit, filled with the smell of a mixture of disinfectant and some special culture medium.

The researchers inside immediately went to greet Bai Yuekui when he arrived.

"Boss Bai, you're here. The transport team just delivered the materials to Dissection Room Number Three," the researcher said succinctly, handing her a white lab coat.

Bai Yuekui took the clothes and put them on, asking as he buttoned them, "What have you discovered from your initial observation?"

“It’s very peculiar.” The researcher led her toward the dissection room.

"Its bone and armor density far exceeds that of any metamorphosis we have ever recorded, and its microstructure exhibits an arrangement similar to metallic crystals, giving it extremely high resistance to physical impacts."

The two passed through the airtight door and entered the cold dissection room.

The enormous carcass of the Devouring Beast had been placed on the huge metal dissection table in the center, where the powerful shadowless lamps illuminated every detail with crystal clarity.

Several researchers are surrounding it, conducting preliminary measurements and sampling.

Bai Yuekui walked to the edge of the platform, put on the gloves handed to him, and reached out to touch the dark bone armor again.

The cold touch came through the thin rubber gloves.

“Sampling and analyzing the exact composition and structure of the bone armor,” she instructed, her fingers tracing a cross-section smoothly cut by the Alaya consciousness.

“Component analysis has been arranged,” the researcher nodded.

"In addition, we found that its muscle fiber bundle structure is also somewhat different, seemingly more inclined to a certain explosive power pattern rather than the usual endurance."

"Also, the results of the cell sample test of this Devouring Beast do not seem to be from the transformation through entering the Blood Vortex, but more like the kind that has just been born."

Bai Yuekui stared intently at the hideous head.

“A newly born Devouring Beast from another continent…” she murmured.

She looked up at the researcher and said, "Produce a detailed analysis report as soon as possible. Synchronize all data with ASH and try to build a biological model of this new metamorphosis and predict its possible weaknesses."

"Understood," the researcher replied solemnly.

Bai Yuekui stayed in the dissection room for a while longer, carefully examining several key areas, and gradually formed some vague guesses in his mind.

She only took off her gloves and lab coat and left the dissection room after a researcher reminded her that the preliminary sampling results would take some time to come out.

The sky outside was beginning to darken.

Why haven't Orange and my brother come back yet?

(End of this chapter)