Regarding the matter of awakening lightning abilities after transformation

"Are you alright?" Qi Bei helped Xu Bai up, and the latter walked forward tremblingly.

"I was attacked by a monster... most of this blood is from them..." Xu Bai waved his hand, indicating that he was alright.

"Where's Mu Taofang? Wasn't she with you?"

Xu Bai looked up and met Su Wanxi's cold eyes.

"No, I didn't see her," the man said.

Chapter 127, Section 129: It's huge!

A cold wind blew, and withered branches and fallen leaves mixed with plastic waste swirled past the boots. The streets were dilapidated and desolate, with countless abandoned cars blocking the intersections.

Su Wanxi held a silver-white Beretta 92F, her eyes cool and focused.

As the leader of the operation, she ordered the members to advance in an umbrella formation, while she took the center position to oversee the overall situation.

"Stop." The black fog in front of them was thick and dense. Su Wanxi reminded them in a low voice on the public channel, and then slowly walked to the front of the line.

Turning their heads, each face appeared pale in the moonlight; they all held guns and wore serious expressions.

"Check ammunition supplies and restore your condition to peak within five minutes. I'll be responsible for perimeter security..."

"Zhou Li, keep an eye on the movements of those two support members. Report any unusual activity immediately."

The first message was posted on the public channel, while the second message appeared in a three-way communication between Su Wanxi, Zhou Li, and Qin Kexin.

"Understood." Zhou Li gently stroked the Tang sword, its sharp edge gleaming with a cold light.

Su Wanxi suppressed her unease, her delicate brows furrowed, and climbed to the shady spot on the high-rise building.

After waiting for nearly twenty minutes, Mu Taofang still hadn't fired the signal flare, so they had no choice but to proceed along the shadows.

Who exactly are these outsiders...? Why did they arrive at the rift before the Hermit Bureau...? Su Wanxi pressed herself against the wall, carefully observing the team.

This method reminded her of a criminal organization with superpowers, who had used a rift to forcibly take her away last time.

After a moment of contemplation, Su Wanxi glanced at the mechanical watch on her fair wrist; it had been exactly five minutes.

Is it okay now?

"Everything is ready." Upon hearing this, Su Wanxi did not go downstairs. Instead, she reduced gravity and moved between the buildings. Her target was less than a hundred meters ahead, and she could use her height to overlook the entire scene.

"Sss." The sole of her boot made a slight sound as it touched the outdoor unit of the air conditioner. Su Wanxi steadied herself and switched her pistol to the Type 95 assault rifle, which was suitable for mid-range combat.

As Su Wanxi deactivated her spiritual vision, the black mist gradually dissipated, and her vision suddenly cleared.

When he saw his target, his beautiful, dark pupils widened slightly, and his usually calm and aloof gaze was inevitably tinged with shock.

The creature's two fleshy wings each pierced the building's structure, slicing the walls and windows in two. The wing membranes were supported by steel-like skeletons, roughly estimated to be at least tens of meters long. Its back was covered with bronze-colored scales, rough and thick, which shimmered with a fiery glow under the moonlight.

Even a cursory glance was enough to send chills down Su Wanxi's spine.

"All members must slow down their movements; this target is extremely large." To this behemoth, the special operations team was like ants crawling on the ground.

“Extremely large?” Zhang Yizhe repeated in a low voice, then froze on the spot.

He saw the giant dragon straddling the street, its sharp, pointed wings seemingly about to tear the sky in two.

This is fucking huge... Its bright red belly is covered in spikes, each spike gleaming with a sharp, cold light. Zhang Yizhe couldn't help but curse under his breath, feeling that the assault rifle in his hand was no different from a fire poker.

"Captain Su...please issue the combat order." Even the usually composed Zhou Li couldn't help but sigh softly. This mountain-like monster could relentlessly assault the psychological defenses of the team members without even making a move.

Su Wanxi: "How much explosives did you bring in total?"

Zhou Li: "Very few; even if all of them were used, it would probably only be enough to collapse two or three buildings..."

Tsk, I still didn't bring enough... Su Wanxi couldn't help but spit out a light spit as she descended to the ground along the water pipe.

The dragon appeared to be asleep, its eyes covered by a blood-red membrane, and its enormous nostrils blasting out waves of heat.

“I will reduce your weight to the lightest possible level... Zhou Li and I will be responsible for placing plastic explosives on both sides of the wings, and Zhang Yizhe will project as much explosives as he can.”

The dragon had several fangs in its mouth, from which a clear liquid constantly dripped, corroding the ground into several cracked pieces.

Zhang Yizhe swallowed hard, and specks of light kept appearing on his hands.

......

Li Wenhai and Zhan Tai also stood on a tall building not far from the giant dragon. The former held an M16A4, while the latter held binoculars and looked down at the battlefield.

"It's so big... Can Su Wanxi really handle it?" Moving the camera away, Zhan Taiyi sat on the leather sofa next to him. Due to years of disrepair, the sofa could not bear the weight and collapsed to the ground.

Hearing a muffled thud behind him, Li Wenhai chuckled: "Of course you can. Do you think these members of the Hermit Bureau are just sitting around doing nothing?"

Awakened beings can only truly unleash their abilities within the rifts. Su Wanxi's ability strength is A, and its full power is no less than that of a small missile.

"If all else fails, we'll just wait for the cracks to disintegrate on their own. Anyway, we've prepared plenty of compressed biscuits."

Zhan Tai still didn't quite understand: "Let it be born? What if such a huge dragon appeared in the sky above the Lanjiang River..."

Li Wenhai simply smiled and explained, "The probability of that is no more than one percent. It takes at least three to four days for a strong neutral rift to fully hatch. If it cannot be resolved within a day, the Hermit Bureau will send additional personnel." The so-called A-level special forces team is there to handle such tricky situations.

Seeing that Zhan Tai no longer asked any questions, Li Wenhai raised his gun and put Su Wanxi into the scope.

In that instant, the girl in the scope glanced in that direction, startling the man so much that he quickly lowered his gun.

"That's a damn gut feeling..."

......

Su Wanxi frowned slightly, then slowly turned around. The feeling she had just experienced was as if she were being stared at by something ominous, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Captain Su, the explosives on the left flank are loaded." Zhou Li announced in the public channel, then glanced in Su Wanxi's direction.

"I've finished filling this section as well. How many explosives did Zhang Yizhe project in total?"

"It's only about one-fifth of the total explosives..." After hearing Zhang Yizhe's words, Su Wanxi jumped off the high-rise building.

"Place the rest as close to the dragon's head as possible...don't disturb it..." Descending creatures generally possess extremely strong danger warning capabilities, and they should not be underestimated even when they are in a dormant state. Su Wanxi chose to place the bombs on the wings first because of this consideration.

Qi Bei and Zhou Li walked very lightly toward the dragon's head, so light that gravity was almost negligible.

They attached a small blood pack to each piece of explosive, which Qi Bei could use to remotely detonate.

Closer... no more than fifteen meters away...

Fine beads of sweat appeared on the man's forehead; he could even feel the dragon's foul-smelling breath.

Ten meters...that's enough to set up...Just as they were about to place the explosives, the giant dragon opened its blood-red eyes.

P.S. I've been working on the main storyline for the past few chapters and it's giving me a headache. I feel like everyone still prefers reading the vignettes, so I'll try to finish this part as quickly as possible.

Chapter 128, Section 130: Traitors and Shooting

Its pupils were extremely long and narrow, flashing with a scarlet light as they moved. Even the usually composed Zhou Li trembled at the mere sight of it.

Without needing any prompting, the men retreated rapidly, a deafening roar echoing in their ears.

The plastic explosives previously placed on the dragon's wings were detonated instantly, with an explosive force enough to destroy three buildings, engulfing the fleshy wings in flames and dust.

The dragon opened its mouth, its jagged teeth covered in bits of flesh and blood. After a roar that was almost a wail, it struggled to rise from the gray mist.

The sharp, thick scales were blasted to shreds, revealing the bloodied, fleshy wings beneath.

Its pupils dilated, its eyes fierce and manic. Several hideous wounds completely extinguished the dragon's desire to take flight. It simply spread its bony wings, wanting to crush the insects in front of it into ashes.

"Members, form a horizontal line and engage in battle." A tracer bullet flew out from between the buildings, its target aimed directly at the head of the giant dragon.

Su Wanxi knelt on one knee on the rooftop, holding a black Type 95 pistol in her hand. As she expected, the tracer bullet did not penetrate the outer scales, but only left a shallow bullet mark.

The dragon looked at the girl following the light, and a burst of scorching flames spewed from its throat.

Su Wanxi leaped from the rooftop, and the metal fence behind her instantly melted, turning into molten iron that flowed into the cracks in the wall.

Halfway down, she pulled the tracer bullet to its deepest point, and it indeed got stuck between the scales, providing favorable conditions for the other team members to aim at the dragon's head.

The asphalt ground began to tremble violently as the dragon's armored feet crushed the wrecked car into thin pieces, scattering screws and pieces of iron everywhere. The blood pack placed inside the car was punctured by sharp spikes, and bright red liquid instantly splattered all over the scales.

Blood Explosion... Although Qi Bei could not directly detonate the black blood on the dragon's wings, his own blood was the best detonator.

Several explosions rang out, blasting through the scales of the dragon's feet and exposing its pale pink inner flesh and dark brown blood to the air.

"Hiss..." Two RPG armor-piercing high-explosive warheads shot toward the dragon's eye, trailing gray exhaust fumes, but were intercepted by the claws in mid-air and then cut into pieces.

"Hiss..." After a moment of build-up, a violent roar swept across the battlefield, and everyone felt their vision go black and their ears ring.

The sharp dragon claw seemed capable of devouring light. It swept towards Qi Bei with near-lightning speed. If this strike hit, Qi Bei would have no chance of survival.

Just as the dragon claw was about to touch its target, a viscous gravity forcibly reversed its trajectory, causing it to crash heavily into the blade of the Tang sword, instantly cracking its bronze scales.

Zhou Li gripped the blade firmly, concentrating the power of the blade into a single point, while the immense force of the dragon claw spread evenly along the man's body to the ground.

"Sister Xi!" A hint of mockery appeared in the dragon's eyes. It arched its back, and several sharp spikes were ejected from its cavity by its muscles, shooting towards Su Wanxi in an arc.

These spikes were numerous and densely packed, whistling through the air with a sharp, piercing sound... There was no way to escape; we had no choice but to endure it...

Su Wanxi subconsciously stretched out her arm, gathering the gravity field covering her body in front of her.

"Sizzle..." The sharp spikes pierced the ground with a dull sound, and the solid asphalt and cement were like an undefended block of tofu in front of them.

Fortunately, it chose me as its target... Su Wanxi glanced at the other team members, her heart growing heavier.

Qi Bei was too close to the dragon and was most affected by its roar; he could barely stand. Zhang Yizhe had expended a huge amount of mental energy to project the bomb, while Xu Bai's abilities posed almost no threat to the dragon...

"Everyone except me and Zhou Li, retreat to the back of the building..." She had to get close to the dragon; only by touching it could Su Wanxi maximize the effect of gravity manipulation.

"Understood!" Qin Kexin popped her head out from behind the ruins and helped Qi Bei move closer to the shadows.

Zhou Li looked around. Having partnered with Su Wanxi for so long, he roughly knew what she wanted to do.

"Captain Su, I will try my best to restrain the two claws. You must keep an eye on the dragon's breath." At present, the only thing that can threaten Su Wanxi is the flames that are difficult to control by the gravity field. Zhou Li gripped his Tang sword and rushed towards the leg that was not covered by scales.

With a single horizontal slash, the blade was firmly wedged between the muscle and bone.

......

Where exactly are the outsiders? Besides the enormous, mountain-like creatures before her, Su Wanxi also has to constantly be aware of her surroundings. After discovering the bullet casings, the conspiracy turns into an open one, leaving her still in a dilemma.