(Written Note: There will only be three updates today, taking a break, and continuing with the leader's additional updates tomorrow.)
Wu Pifu let out a furious roar and struck out with several claws and palms against the tentacles that were wrapping around him.
To his surprise, these seemingly ferocious tentacles crumbled upon contact; wherever his fists struck, all the flesh began to wither and disintegrate.
To the others, it appeared as though Wu Pifu suddenly surged forward, his arms swinging at an imperceptible speed.
As he swung his fists, it seemed he struck something invisible to the naked eye, and then they suddenly saw withered flesh appearing out of thin air, turning to ash.
While they were still in shock, Wu Pifu collided with them, sending them rolling into the military base like a string of gourds.
Fortunately, Wu Pifu used skillful force; otherwise, it would have resulted in a series of deaths.
Even so, these few individuals were left dizzy and disoriented, rolling on the ground and unable to get up.
However, there were more than just these people inside the base.
The regular guard team immediately rushed out from their posts, all equipped with advanced weaponry and wearing exoskeleton armor.
Yet, when they arrived outside, they saw no enemies, only Wu Pifu standing at the end of the passage, continuously throwing punches.
With each punch, withered flesh appeared, and Wu Pifu's hands swung at a speed that was nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Even so, he was still being pushed back by the flesh as it surged toward the hall at the end of the passage.
At this moment, the officer had slightly recovered and immediately shouted, "Mr. Wu, get down!"
Wu Pifu did not get down; instead, he pushed both hands forward forcefully, then fell backward, kicking off the ground with great strength, and landed in the hall.
Without needing the officer's command, the guard team members immediately opened fire into the passage.
Their firearms were the most advanced, designed for high power and large magazines.
Under the frenzied shooting, it was impossible for any living being to survive; even Wu Pifu would not survive such a metal storm.
However, when this scale of metal storm was unleashed, the flesh tentacles completely ignored it.
All the bullets vanished as they passed through these tentacles, which continued to surge toward the hall at the end of the passage.
Although everyone could not see these flesh tentacles, the bullets fired had no effect at all, clearly indicating that this was the same situation as attacking the Pseudo-Beings; all weapons were ineffective.
The officer immediately shouted, "Retreat! We retreat to the elevator!"
All the guard team members stood in front, and although the bullets were ineffective, they did not know what lay within the passage.
However, their mission was to obey orders and protect the old man, so they naturally moved forward.
Wu Pifu stood beside the guard team members.
He had originally planned to retreat to the elevator, but suddenly he stopped, gazing thoughtfully at the flesh tentacles ahead.
Then he slightly closed his eyes, focusing, and the Bu Mei Ling Guang floated out from his sea of consciousness.
As the Bu Mei Ling Guang floated out, everyone suddenly stopped in their tracks because, in that instant, the underground base revealed its true nature.
The flesh tentacles in the passage were not the only things; many substances resembling blood vessels crawled along the walls, ceiling, and even the floor of the underground base, which they had not seen before.
"Clap, clap, clap!"
With the appearance of the Bu Mei Ling Guang, all the flesh tentacles became visible.
At the same time, the bullets could actually make contact with these flesh tentacles, creating a series of crackling sounds as the tentacles were forcibly shattered and pushed back.
Once shattered, they immediately began to turn to ash.
Everyone was dumbfounded, unable to comprehend this sudden change, and they quickly looked at the white light source floating in front of Wu Pifu's forehead.
"What... what is this!?"
The old man’s eyes lit up, and without caring that there were still endless flesh tentacles in the passage, he rushed to Wu Pifu's side, circling around the light sphere as if wanting to reach out and touch it.
Wu Pifu ignored him, merely sensing the consumption of the Bu Mei Ling Guang.
After about ten seconds, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
This was different from directly touching the Pseudo-Beings; if the Bu Mei Ling Guang was only illuminating, the consumption was very low.
At this rate of consumption, he could last for hundreds of hours without issue.
At this moment, the guard personnel also regained their senses.
They immediately began to alternate their shooting in a well-trained manner, simultaneously changing their ammunition to ensure that the bullets fired had a spreading lethal effect, reducing penetrating damage.
A single bullet could now eliminate more flesh tentacles.
Meanwhile, the entire military base erupted with a sharp alarm.
The officer stared intently at the Bu Mei Ling Guang in front of Wu Pifu, then looked toward the endless flesh tentacles at the end of the passage.
He immediately asked the old man, "Doctor! The most urgent thing now is to eliminate these surging flesh; this is likely the truth of everything!"
The old man also came to his senses.
He looked toward the end of the passage and said, "It may not be the true truth, but these flesh are definitely related to the appearance of the Pseudo-City. Before this light source appeared, we could not see the flesh tentacles, and the bullets could not harm them. This has the same properties as the Pseudo-Beings... Mr. Wu, how long can your light source last!?"
Wu Pifu replied, "It should last for several dozen hours without issue."
The old man immediately said to the officer, "Open the top-level sealed deck and let the mechas inside the base engage in battle. Also, use ultra-high-temperature sulfur flames for burning and blocking. Order all personnel in the base to prepare for combat replacements, and all researchers come down here with their research equipment. We will study the true nature of these flesh on-site!"
The officer immediately walked to a certain wall, ignoring the pulsating flesh on it.
He pressed a button on the wall, and a screen appeared.
He used this screen to communicate with the personnel throughout the base.
The old man stood beside Wu Pifu, still gazing at the light sphere.
He asked, "Mr. Wu, is this some kind of high-tech creation?"
Wu Pifu did not mind answering and had no intention of lying, as it was merely a matter of twenty-four hours.
He shook his head and said, "No, this is Bu Mei Ling Guang, something I cultivated."
"Bu Mei Ling Guang... 'cultivated' refers to those few words?" The old man asked with a very strange expression.
Wu Pifu was unsure how to explain.
He thought for a moment and said, "Meditation? Intention? Or perhaps spiritual self-evolution?"
He said several terms in succession, unsure how the mainframe would translate them.
The old man showed a contemplative expression, murmuring, "So superpowers and the sacred names in mythological religions are real? Damn government! They must be hiding a lot!"
At this moment, the officer approached the old man, his face extremely grim.
"Doctor, the SkyNet has not responded at all. Currently, the base is maintained by emergency artificial intelligence, but without SkyNet coordinating the energy hubs outside the base, the plasma isolation layer cannot be reactivated."
The old man opened his mouth, ultimately letting out a sigh.
"We can only take care of ourselves. Fortunately, we have Mr. Wu here..."
As they spoke, a series of explosions erupted not far away, and a sea of fire appeared at the end of the passage.
Under the illumination of the Bu Mei Ling Guang, all the flesh tentacles at the end of the passage withered, revealing the scene of red flames.
At this moment, Wu Pifu suddenly said, "I need all the Pseudo-Beings, Lizard People, Light People, and research information on the underground Pseudo-City from within the base. Just find any USB drive and copy it for me."
Both the old man and the officer were taken aback.
The officer said nothing, while the old man explained, "The information we have is limited. So far, we do not know what these things are, where they come from, and if it weren't for Mr. Wu, we wouldn't even be able to see these flesh."
Wu Pifu shook his head and said, "It's fine, just copy it for me."
The old man nodded at the officer, who said nothing further and turned to instruct the personnel to carry out the task.
The entire base began to operate fully.
More than ten mechas entered the fray.
Above this bottomless pit was a massive alloy sealed door, which was usually completely closed.
However, with the disappearance of the plasma isolation layer, the flesh tentacles surged out from the pit, and the alloy sealed door was quickly destroyed.
The weapons of the more than ten mechas were extremely powerful.
Once the Bu Mei Ling Guang revealed the flesh tentacles, the mechas cleared them all within a minute.
Then, the mechas descended into the underground, beginning to clear and incinerate these flesh tentacles.
Meanwhile, the old man and the research team within the base began to collect the flesh tentacles for study.
Because once the flesh tentacles were damaged or detached, they would completely die within two seconds, making this research very difficult.
The researchers used ultra-high-speed panoramic photography to capture the moment a mass of flesh was cut and separated, then analyzed the composition frame by frame.
Simultaneously, the researchers continuously attempted various methods to make the flesh visible or to cause damage without visibility.
Time passed second by second.
An hour after the plasma isolation layer disappeared, the officer received a communication from the military district outside the base.
The capital of the country had vanished; in everyone's memory, this country had no capital!
Four hours after the plasma isolation layer disappeared, the officer could not recall the names of all the military districts in the country.
Nine hours after the plasma isolation layer disappeared, a disposable photographic satellite launched from the military district captured fewer than ten gathering places in the country, including villages and towns.
Eighteen hours after the plasma isolation layer disappeared, with less than half an hour remaining until Wu Pifu and Jiu Jiu's return, a disposable satellite captured only their city from high above.
At the same time, the researchers finally made a qualitative breakthrough in their study of the unknown flesh.
They discovered that under radiation of a certain frequency, these flesh could also become visible.
However, unlike the illumination of the Bu Mei Ling Guang, the flesh that became visible under special radiation was covered with a layer of visible darkness, which surged and occasionally revealed terrifying images of human bodies, heads, and faces.
The researchers named this frequency of radiation the Nether Ray.
Finally, with less than ten minutes remaining until Wu Pifu and Jiu Jiu's return, Wu Pifu made a request to the old man and the officer.
"Give me a set of your high-tech exoskeleton armor, the kind that can fly."
Wu Pifu raised the Bu Mei Ling Guang and approached the end of the passage, looking down into the burning massive pit.
He said, "I want to see what lies at the bottom of this pit."
"What is the truth of it all!"
(End of Chapter)