Chapter Sixty-Five: The Entity of Wisdom

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Rumble.

The entire underground laboratory began to shake. Ye Bai, Medicine Spirit, and Little Monk Cao braced themselves, arms locked together for support.

“What’s happening? Where’s the laboratory?”

Just moments ago, as the ground trembled, the five laboratories of varying sizes had sunk into the earth, disappearing just as inexplicably as the strange creatures that had previously surfaced. The laboratories had, without warning, been swallowed by the ground.

Medicine Spirit and Little Monk Cao shook their heads. After a while, Medicine Spirit spoke: “The creatures that burst out must have been the researchers from the labs. Each of the ones we killed bore a black cross on their arms, the same mark as on the tops of the glass containers.”

Ye Bai lowered his head to examine the creature he had slain. Sure enough, on the arm of the water-type mutant, there was a black cross.

“How can you be certain they were researchers?” Ye Bai pressed, for a mere mark was no definitive proof that these had been the scientists they’d encountered before.

“Well, let’s wait and see. If it appears, then we’ll know for sure,” Medicine Spirit replied, deliberately keeping them in suspense.

The rumbling didn’t last long—two or three minutes at most. Ye Bai looked up at the ceiling of the laboratory. Whatever it was made of, it hadn’t cracked at all despite the violent shaking.

Once the tremors ceased, all trace of the laboratories below vanished, revealing only a vast expanse of concrete.

“Let’s wait. If nothing goes wrong, we’re in for quite a windfall this time,” Medicine Spirit said, eyes fixed intently on the concrete below, not daring to blink for fear of missing something.

Seeing his seriousness, Ye Bai and Little Monk Cao joined him, staring at the seemingly unchanging concrete.

A low hum vibrated through the cement, and then, with a sharp crack, a five-by-five-meter section split open. From beneath, a massive “brain” emerged.

“Yes! Linger guessed right. It’s an Intelligence Entity! Ye Bai, Little Monk, let’s kill this rare mutant and take its seed!” Medicine Spirit’s face lit up with excitement as the monster surfaced.

“Intelligence Entity? What’s that? Isn’t it just another mutant?” Ye Bai asked, sounding rather naïve. But given Medicine Spirit’s reaction, it was clear this creature was far from ordinary.

The gloom and unease from the underground had vanished from Medicine Spirit’s face, replaced by delight at the sight of the Intelligence Entity.

“Intelligence Entities are exceedingly rare among mutants. Each one is the most precious resource of its kind—more valuable even than Breeder Entities.”

As Medicine Spirit spoke, Ye Bai and Little Monk Cao leapt into action, drawing closer to the Intelligence Entity.

Yet, as Ye Bai observed the creature before him, he found it bizarre—a brain larger than a washbasin, flanked by two more the size of a human’s, with no protection, the brain fluid visibly circulating, pulsating as if breathing.

Before the two could approach, the Intelligence Entity revealed more of itself: a giant steel arm and half an iron chest.

Standing at a distance, Medicine Spirit drew the pulse gun Little Monk had given her and fired a shot. She’d heard her elder brother say that Intelligence Entities were extremely fragile, nearly defenseless.

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A streak of pulsing light arced through the air, striking the largest brain with unerring precision—but it caused no harm, the pulse shot exploding like a firework before the Intelligence Entity.

The shot had hit its mark. Though Medicine Spirit had never trained in combat, her family had drilled marksmanship into her and her siblings from a young age, producing many sharpshooters—her brother, Gale, was a famed heavy weapons marksman who once slew a mature mutant beast with a single shot.

Medicine Spirit, raised in that family, might not be a prodigy like Gale, but she was confident in her aim.

Yet as the pulse shot struck, a distinct energy ripple flared near the Intelligence Entity, devouring the attack.

Now fully emerged, the Intelligence Entity stood revealed: a body forged of metal, two arms ending in rotary machine guns, and two massive legs that dented the ground with every step.

Rat-a-tat-tat—the machine arms spat fire. Ye Bai and Little Monk Cao rolled to either side, evading the onslaught.

Ye Bai sprang up, conjuring a longsword of fire and slashing at the steel behemoth. The flames, his most powerful attack, were simply absorbed, leaving only a modest spark.

The machine guns swept back and forth, driving Little Monk Cao back every time he tried to close in. His shadowy agility was no match for the storm of bullets.

The barrage kept Cao at bay.

“Ye Bai, Little Monk, the weak point is the largest brain—ignore the steel body!” Medicine Spirit called out, watching as Little Monk was pinned down and Ye Bai’s flame blade fizzled away. Recalling her own failed pulse shot, she surmised, “There must be an energy immunity field around it—energy attacks and pulse shots are useless. Only close combat will work!”

Ye Bai tried several times to get close, but like Little Monk Cao, was driven back by gunfire. At this range, a hit could mean death or crippling injury—this was no trial, but a real battle, and Ye Bai wouldn’t gamble his life.

“Ye Bai, have you noticed the Intelligence Entity doesn’t move much? It just spins in place, shooting at us. And where does it get endless ammo with no supply box?” By now, Little Monk Cao had been backed into a corner, bullets shattering pillars so that flying concrete stung his face.

“You mean its ammo supply is right beneath its feet!” Ye Bai realized at once what Little Monk meant—the supply must be at its base, or at the very least, the area underfoot was vital.

“But we can’t get close!” Ye Bai’s shout was drowned by gunfire as he instinctively yelled at Little Monk Cao.

“I’ll handle it. You only get one chance—don’t waste it,” Medicine Spirit’s voice came coolly through their earpieces.

Seeing her companions cornered, unable even to lift their heads, Medicine Spirit grew anxious. At this rate, not only would they miss out on the spoils, but they might never escape—and she finally understood why the other mutants on the lower floor had only herded them, not attacked. With such a formidable boss here, why waste lives? Immune to energy, impervious to physical strikes.

The pulse gun she carried was a modified family model, far more powerful than the academy-issue or city-supplied versions—or even the laser guns. She set it to overload, knowing it would only fire once before burning out.

Crackling energy arced at the muzzle, vaporizing the gun’s tip as the pulse charged, forming a beam as thick as two fingers.

Unlike other guns, the pulse weapon made little noise upon impact, relying on light and heat to vaporize matter with piercing force.

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The Intelligence Entity pressed ever closer, pinning Ye Bai and Little Monk Cao. The concrete pillar shielding Cao was riddled with holes—if not for the recoil, it would have collapsed already. Ye Bai, too, was cornered, with nowhere left to retreat.

Suddenly, with a thunderous crash, the direction of the gunfire shifted. Medicine Spirit’s voice crackled in their ears: “Now!”

Ye Bai and Little Monk Cao did not hesitate. Like leopards, they exploded into motion, sprinting toward the Intelligence Entity.

“You go high, I’ll go low!” Ye Bai once again imbued his blade with fire.

Little Monk Cao launched himself off the ground, kicking off the Intelligence Entity’s shoulder. The giant, off-balance as it tried to swat him away, staggered in one direction.

Seizing his chance, Ye Bai dove to the Intelligence Entity’s feet, where, as suspected, he found chains of ammunition. Up close, the energy-devouring field seemed to dissipate—his fire-infused blade still burned.

With a series of sharp cracks, Ye Bai severed all the ammo chains beneath the Intelligence Entity.

At that moment, the monster finally smashed the heavy object from its shoulder in two, the pieces falling to the ground. Above it, a massive pipe, blown apart by Medicine Spirit’s shot, had crashed down.

Deprived of its ammo supply, the Intelligence Entity lost its suppressive firepower—but was now free to hunt them down itself.

In the distance, the creature shed its overheated machine guns, revealing arms and a massive red sword.

With a flash of white light, it charged at them.

“Linger, catch!” Ye Bai tossed his pulse gun to Medicine Spirit.

Freed from suppression, Little Monk Cao attacked several times as the creature lunged, but each strike sparked harmlessly off its iron shell.

“Ye Bai, this hunk of metal is too tough—I can’t make a dent!”

Medicine Spirit caught the pulse gun and fired at the Intelligence Entity, only for her shot to be devoured once more.

“No good—the energy still can’t harm it! What now?” The voices of Little Monk Cao and Medicine Spirit rang in Ye Bai’s ears. Energy attacks were useless, and even Little Monk’s hardened finger guards couldn’t pierce the shell—the metals simply weren’t of the same grade. At best, they could only hope the two metals were equal, making it a stalemate with no decisive damage possible in the short term.

For the moment, faced with a foe impervious to blade, bullet, and energy alike, they were trapped in a deadly stalemate.