Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

The bullet whistled past, leaving a trail of blue electricity, and struck the core surface.

"boom!"

Instantly, the scarlet core trembled violently, and the red light on its surface was torn open by the charged bullet, leaving several cracks.

With a whoosh, the molten liquid inside gushed out from the crack, landing on the ground and burning out charred pits.

The monster let out another hiss—probably its most piercing roar yet—and its entire body began to contract violently, its surface bubbling wildly as if scalded by sulfuric acid.

"It's working! Keep going!"

This effect is incredibly strong!

Ou Yun immediately pulled out another electrified short knife, and with two knives in hand, he began to hack and slash at the monster.

Leng Ruolan fired three shots in quick succession, each hitting the core. Lightning automatically spread across the core's surface, resembling a large blue net.

Gradually, the monster shrank in size—from about the size of a car to the size of a door, and one by one, the dark red blood vessels on its surface burst, and black pus flowed all over the ground.

Ou Yun exclaimed again, "That's it?"

Leng Ruolan also felt much more relaxed this time—compared to the last Abyss Bone Demon, "maybe because this guy is still in the incubation stage?"

However, just when the two thought victory was in their grasp...

The monstrous mass, which was bursting, oozing pus, and convulsing, suddenly stopped struggling.

All the blood vessels constricted simultaneously, and the dark substance that had flowed out was immediately drawn back in.

The crimson core emitted a deep hum, and the cracks on its surface began to heal automatically.

The next second, the monster's body suddenly expanded, curling outwards from the center like a steamed bun—as if something was squeezing out from the inside.

"Holy crap! It's about to transform?!"

Ou Yun subconsciously took two steps back.

The monster's body was completely flipped over, its internal structure exposed to the air—

Inside was a huge egg!

The eggshell was a translucent black, and the outline of the monster could be clearly seen—it looked like a scorpion magnified countless times.

Two enormous pincers were crossed in front of its chest, its tail hooks were raised high, and the tips of the tail hooks gleamed with a scarlet light.

"..."

The two people, who were in a state of excitement, were instantly silenced.

Damn, there's a second phase, right?

The chat in the Dragon Kingdom's live stream was also shocked:

"Holy crap! Phase two!"

"Wait, why did the art style suddenly switch from Cthulhu to an insect-themed style?"

"Dude, they're giving birth to aliens!"

"Go Olive! Go Cold! Crush them and loot their gear!"

Soon, cracks began to appear on the eggshell.

The cracks kept multiplying.

With a ripping sound, the sharp pincers pierced the eggshell and emerged from the crack.

My intuition tells me that if this thing hatches, every single one of us here will have made the trip worthwhile.

However, as Ou Yun watched this scene, which resembled an alien hatching from its shell, his mind inexplicably calmed down.

"Captain Leng..." Ou Yun said slowly.

Leng Ruolan had already prepared a comprehensive, three-dimensional mobile defense plan. "What's your plan?"

"Does it look like that egg from last time?"

"..." No way, what time is it?!

Leng Ruolan inhaled and exhaled...

Calm down, calm down. There must be a reason why my brother suddenly said that...

"W-what the hell?"

"You mean Black Hawk's dad's egg? Wasn't it like this when it was first hatched? The shell cracked, and the contents were squeezing out—"

"Oh……"

She didn't immediately realize that her older brother was talking about the shadowy creature's father; she subconsciously thought it was the roasted egg of some unknown wild animal that they had eaten before.

Listening to this, Leng Ruolan suddenly understood: "You mean, it's at its most vulnerable right now?"

There is no physical entity while it is incubating.

Now that the incubation is complete, doesn't it have a physical form?

"Yes! Before it's fully out, let's add some more ingredients!"

As he spoke, Ou Yun immediately pulled all the abyssal crystal fragments from his spatial ring and shouted to Leng Ruolan, "Captain Leng, let's stuff all these crystals into the eggshells!"

Leng Ruolan's eyes lit up immediately.

The crystals repel it, so now we can make direct contact with this thing.

If the crystal comes into direct contact with the monster inside the egg, maybe it can blast it to pieces?!

Without saying a word, Leng Ruolan grabbed the crystal fragment and rushed towards the egg.

At this moment, the monster's two pincers had fully extended out of the eggshell and were frantically tearing at the edges of the eggshell, trying to widen the exit.

Isn't this just perfect?

Leng Ruolan seized the opportunity and slid under the pincers with a swift motion.

With a snap, the crystal fragment was slammed directly onto the crack in the eggshell.

The moment the dicrystalline fragments came into contact with the eggshell, a burst of purple light erupted.

Leng Ruolan almost couldn't escape; she was nearly thrown out by the shockwave.

The monster inside the eggshell let out a sharp, piercing scream, and the entire egg began to shake violently.

A purple force field erupted inside the egg, constantly squeezing the monster's body outwards while simultaneously tearing at the energy outside the eggshell.

Two diametrically opposed energies collided violently within the confined eggshell—

"Sizzle sizzle..."

The high temperature generated by energy friction causes the surface of the eggshell to begin to melt.

"Retreat now!"

Leng Ruolan grabbed Ou Yun by the back of his collar and dragged him backward.

The two ran for more than ten meters when a deafening explosion finally came from behind them.

"Boom!"

The eggshell finally couldn't withstand the internal pressure and exploded into countless fragments.

"Lie down!"

The two were buried together behind the rocks, and the shockwave passed by almost grazing the back of their heads.

Monster debris rained down from the sky.

Ou Yun lay on the ground, feeling as if he had been hit several times on the back, which hurt terribly.

After a while, when they heard that there seemed to be no more noise around them, the two of them looked around.

The epicenter of the explosion—the eggshell—has completely disappeared.

The crimson core hovered in mid-air, its light flickering like a faulty LED bulb.

The black mist and tentacles surrounding the core had been completely blasted into dust, leaving only a few wisps of residual mist drifting slowly in the air.

Ou Yun dusted himself off. "Did it work?"

Leng Ruolan squinted and carefully looked around. "It should be."

The cracks disappeared, and the tentacles left the black mist and the core, automatically dissipating on the ground.

[Congratulations to Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan from the Dragon Kingdom for successfully defeating the Abyss Scorpion - Juvenile Form!]

[Reward for defeating the Abyssal Scorpion (juvenile form): Teleportation Tail Ring!]

[Teleportation Ring: The wearer can instantly teleport back to a known location from any position. Each teleportation consumes one Abyss Crystal as energy. Seven-day cooldown. Limited to Dragon Kingdom players.]

[Reward for defeating a Lord-level Abyss Creature: All physical attributes of all Dragon Kingdom citizens are enhanced by 20%.]

【…】