Chapter 499: Chapter 493: Spirit Mark

Suddenly, everyone felt the trip had been well worth it.

Inside was a large warehouse laboratory, filled with brand-new, unopened equipment and consumables.

Instruments of all sizes were arranged neatly on one side of a long table.

Xie Ning and the others walked in, took one look, and used their Spirit Net to call the Space Ability Users, Wu Meng and Ji Taixian, over to help Yu Tianfeng collect the supplies.

When the two arrived, they saw a bizarre-looking creature lying in the sewage on the floor and couldn’t help but stare.

"Xinxin, what the heck is this thing?" Ji Taixian asked, his face a mask of astonishment as he instinctively shuffled closer to Song Kexin.

"Be careful. That thing’s powerful—it can launch Spiritual Attacks."

"Is it human?"

"Not human!" Song Kexin rolled her eyes at him. "Xiao Yu just ran a scan. This thing has no human life signs at all. It’s a mutation from a large fish."

"Oh, okay." Ji Taixian had wanted to ask what kind of fish could mutate into such a hideous thing, but seeing everyone else efficiently clearing out the lab equipment, he quickly shut his mouth and hurried over to help.

"Look."

Xie Ning pointed to the light fixtures hanging on the surrounding walls. "These were all made by a Gold Ability User. There’s Fire Energy burning inside them."

"They don’t use electricity."

"Nice," Yu Tianfeng said, glancing up. "That’s pretty energy-efficient. We should knock these fixtures down and take them all with us."

"Right, right." Ji Taixian and the others nodded eagerly. They started working together, quickly dismantling the metal light fixtures hanging overhead and storing them in their personal Spaces.

Xie Ning watched them with amusement.

’This group would take anything that wasn’t nailed down.’

’Still, their style of sweeping through like a tornado and leaving nothing behind was rather commendable...’

Everyone busily packed up the various instruments and consumables in the lab. Whether useful or not, they swept it all into their Spaces first.

Xie Ning took a bundle of metal spikes out of a container and, in minutes, fashioned them into a spiked metal cage, which she used to trap the ugly mermaid.

Whether it was due to being roughed up by Yu Tianfeng earlier, the ugly mermaid was still listless and completely devoid of energy.

Xie Ning paid it no mind. After throwing the cage over it, a metal whip materialized in her palm, and she flicked the creature, driving it further into the cage.

The ugly mermaid weakly opened its eyes.

Its small, black-bean-like eyes stared at them with venomous hatred.

Xie Ning frowned.

"I’m afraid we can’t keep this thing alive. Are you sure you want to transport it back to the Capital?"

"It’s fine." At some point, Yu Tianfeng had pulled an enormous syringe from his Space.

Everyone standing near him jumped in surprise.

"What’s that?"

"A type of sedative. It’ll help it sleep."

It would be much easier to transport asleep; better than having to constantly guard against its thrashing and Spiritual Attacks.

With a wave of her hand, Xie Ning sealed the bottom metal frame, trapping the ugly mermaid securely within its metal prison.

At the same time, Yu Tianfeng plunged the large syringe into the ugly mermaid’s body.

"This mutated fish’s defenses are very high," Yu Tianfeng explained to the group. "And it possesses a rather rare Spiritual Ability."

"It has great research value."

"Furthermore, if we kill it, its skin could probably be used to make several sets of extraordinary armor."

Xie Ning raised an eyebrow noncommittally.

She attached a chain to the cage. "Who’s going to drag it?"

A member of Team A stepped out from beside Yu Tianfeng and silently took the metal chain.

Yu Tianfeng gave Xie Ning an amused look. "Ningning, don’t be so disdainful. The armor we make will be impenetrable; you’ll like it."

"Thanks," Xie Ning said dryly, glancing at the ugly mermaid. ’Wearing armor made of that thing’s skin definitely won’t be pleasant.’

Yu Tianfeng saw the disgust in her eyes and shook his head, amused. "Relax, it’s not like you’ll wear it against your skin. It’ll just be an outer shell."

"Besides, once it’s been polished and we add some other metal components, it won’t be so ugly."

"Other people couldn’t get this even if they wanted to buy it! Only our Starfire Team has the privilege of getting first dibs on top-tier armor."

For once, Gu Chen found what Yu Tianfeng was saying to be quite reasonable, so he didn’t refute him.

’No matter how ugly it is, it’s still high-end armor. An extra layer of protection for Ningning is always better.’

An hour later, the group had finally packed up all the equipment in the room and returned to the hallway in high spirits.

Song Kexin came jogging over. "I’ve burned all the nooks and crannies again. Sis, why don’t you do another sweep with your spiritual power?"

Xie Ning gave her sister an approving nod.

’When you’re out on a mission, you have to be thorough. Caution is a must in everything you do. After all, in this environment, one misstep could lead to a series of disasters.’

Xie Ning used her spiritual power to cover the entire corridor, meticulously searching it from end to end, including the cracks in the ceiling.

"It’s clear." Her precognitive sense for danger hadn’t activated, which meant the area was indeed safe.

Song Kexin let out a sigh of relief.

Song You’ai also breathed a sigh of relief and managed a smile. "Let’s head down, then. Your second uncle and the others are still waiting for us in the workshop downstairs."

Xie Ning just gave a faint "Oh," her tone lukewarm.

Song You’ai didn’t dare say more, simply smiling and gesturing for everyone to head toward the side of the corridor.

As they went down the stairs, Xie Ning kept her spiritual power extended, scanning her surroundings, but found nothing unusual.

’This meant the parasite source had truly been eliminated.’

"Are all parasite sources this hard to deal with?" Xie Ning communicated mentally with Little Spider. "This was even after Song Kexin’s Superpower Fire leveled up, and it was still so hard to burn."

"Doesn’t that mean Third and Fourth Rank Fire Ability Users would be completely helpless against them?"

"Yes," Little Spider responded with a sigh.

"Host Ningning is already very powerful, but these parasite sources are indeed a huge pain."

"Attacking the parasite sources with fire is the most effective and straightforward method," Little Spider reported. "Host Ningning, the parasites on these three Alien Species only counted as B-level."

"The one in a host like Ma Yu is a true A-level parasite source, far stronger than these three."

"Moreover, the parasite source inside Ma Yu can already control her. That will be even harder to deal with. Host Ningning, you need to come up with a counter-strategy."

The parasite source was stronger than its host. Xie Ning’s head ached just thinking about it.

’This meant the damn thing could probably detach from its host at any moment to hide and escape.’

’And as long as even a small piece of it survived, it could regenerate and make a comeback.’

’It really was a massive headache.’

"Don’t make a move on Ma Yu for now," Xie Ning said, her face grim. She sent a telepathic message to Cres through the Spirit Net. "Can your spiritual power mark Ma Yu’s location?"

"I’ll try."

A moment later, Chris’s voice came through. "She’s marked. But it will consume five percent of my superpower energy every hour."

Xie Ning breathed a sigh of relief. "That’s fine."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.