“It’s your kind—the zombie Mother Nest.” Li Zirong grew serious too. Her mech began to change. Its streamlined human form swelled, and several oversized cannon barrels sprang from her back. In no time, she’d transformed from a human into an artillery platform. Even as she changed, she didn’t forget to explain things to Fang Chang. “But you’re a small mutant, while it’s a complete one.”

The ground kept trembling. The middle of the ruins bulged upward into a small hill, and chunks of buildings slid down its sides, revealing what lay beneath.

It was a gigantic creature resembling a turtle. It was so huge that the naked eye could hardly estimate its size. Anyone who saw it could think of only one way to describe it: big.

Fang Chang could indeed see the similarities between them. Its body was covered in fiery-red hexagonal patterns, and beneath those patterns, its skin looked like a viscous liquid resembling lava. It had a flower on its head too, but its bud had bloomed, revealing pale-yellow stamens.

Li Zirong’s voice came from inside the artillery platform. “What’s appeared here is the zombie Mother Nest’s walking substitute. It’s so huge that it can only react and move to a limited extent, so it doesn’t pose a threat to us. But be careful in case its true body descends. Besides the peerless strength that comes with its enormous size, it’s also skilled in spatial abilities. One careless move, and it could trap and kill us.”

Fang Chang promptly forgot all her bold words from earlier. Her long legs trembled as she asked, “Can I leave first? A thing that big is just cheating…”

Li Zirong didn’t stop her outright, but made her position clear. “Don’t forget what you promised me. You’re going to help me pick the Corpse-Bloom. Besides, the zombie Mother Nest is a side quest with an extremely generous reward. Once we’re done here, you won’t just have powerful abilities from your modifications—you’ll be a lot richer too.”

But nothing she said could stop Fang Chang from following her instincts. “If I’ve already got power, I don’t need reward points. And… what are reward points compared to my life? Aaaah!”

Trying to keep her there, Li Zirong laid out the pros and cons. “Don’t you want to get a closer look at the zombie Mother Nest’s life activity? If we can kill it, we’ll have a giant specimen to study. That won’t just make you stronger—it’ll also help you learn to create walking substitutes faster. We killed its guardian just now, so it’s been alerted. Now that it’s awakened, all the high-level zombies nearby will come running. If you run away now, you might run into a whole horde on the way! Most importantly, the Corpse-Bloom is on its head. Your quest isn’t finished yet!”

Fang Chang knew how dangerous a zombie horde could be. She was certainly powerful now, but she couldn’t control that power precisely. After a few blows, she’d be exhausted. Against a whole horde, she was sure to get wiped out.

There was no way to run, no easy way to fight, and she still had a quest to finish. Fang Chang couldn’t help but yell,

“You set me up!”

“I didn’t set you up. I made it clear when we agreed that there’d be obstacles. Why do you think I modified you?” Li Zirong said righteously, while silently adding to herself: Because your constitution is just so special.

“I…”

Fang Chang was torn. She was afraid of dying and afraid of hardship.

“Don’t hesitate. Remember this for the rest of your life: we players are a bunch of people who gamble our lives on a knife’s edge. One way is a blade, the other way is a blade. If you can’t make up your mind, charge right through! You’ve got the power of a top-tier player now!”

Li Zirong roared. Her mechanical voice was like a flame, igniting Fang Chang’s fighting spirit. No matter how timid she was, her mindset was still that of a guy. Guys always had a hot-blooded streak.

Li Zirong added fuel to the fire. “If you retreat, you’ll be caught between the zombie Mother Nest and the horde. If you go forward, you only have to face the zombie Mother Nest!”

“Aaaahhh!”

Fang Chang’s clothes changed again, becoming a tight-fitting leather jacket and pants. She stepped forward on one long, straight leg, and wind sprang beneath her feet. In a single stride, she crossed dozens of meters.

The closer she got to the zombie Mother Nest, the more keenly she felt its immense size. The patterns across its body lit up with the glow of life, starting at its head and winding downward, slowly spreading across its whole body. Fang Chang was surprised to find that she could understand the zombie Mother Nest’s changes, just as naturally as she understood why she needed to drink and eat. It was an instinct they shared.

The light marked the zombie Mother Nest’s true body. Wherever it spread, that part of the creature came alive. Once the light covered its entire body, its true form would have descended.

“I’ll cover you. Go pick the flower!”

Li Zirong’s voice came from behind her, accompanied by the furious roar of cannon fire—and a blinding light that Fang Chang could picture clearly without even looking.

The shells hit the zombie Mother Nest but did no damage. Its hollow patterns crackled, forming a powerful biological shield. The shells only burst into great showers of dazzling sparks, nearly blinding Fang Chang.

She narrowed her eyes and drew on the power the Shadow-Devouring Lord had given her, using Shadow to sense everything about the zombie Mother Nest. What she sensed ahead was a living creature as huge as a small hill, filled with terrifying amounts of biological energy.

In nature, size always meant strength. Small creatures could sometimes be powerful, but every large creature was strong.

An elephant could crush a whole colony of ants with one toe, but even if the ants gave it everything they had, they couldn’t break its skin.

Fang Chang began testing the abilities she’d gained from her modifications. Every one of them was powerful. As long as she used them properly, picking the Corpse-Bloom wouldn’t be difficult.

Wind burst from beneath her feet, launching her into the sky. One leap carried her dozens of meters upward. She drew level with the zombie Mother Nest’s enormous head, then stirred up a gravitational field, warping the gravity around her until she could stand in midair.

“Shadow Rend: Slay!”

This power came from the terrorbeasts, magical beasts that lived in shadows. They were born with powerful magic and excelled at shadow magic, bypassing the body to attack the soul directly. But that wasn’t all they could do. They had plenty of other abilities, like this one.

It ignored distance and space. The attack appeared directly from the target’s shadow, which could then be used as her own.

In short, it was an utterly unreasonable ability. The stronger the opponent, the more powerful the attack.

An attack that emerged from her own shadow carried some of her power with it. This slash, however, was aimed only at the weakest part of the zombie Mother Nest’s body: the Corpse-Bloom.

The zombie Mother Nest couldn’t protect its body at will.

A dark flash—and the Corpse-Bloom fell.

“ROAR!”

The zombie Mother Nest let out a howl like it had just been castrated.