CH 90

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When Lifu noticed the blazing alarm, he dropped what he was doing and rushed back to the off-road vehicle. The vibration scanner indicated that a massive vibration in the air had been detected and that it was rapidly heading in our direction.

"According to the graph, the detected newcomer isn't too big. It will arrive in 30 minutes," said Lifu.

The change was too sudden, so I was still feeling stupefied.

"Canyue, Lifu, and I will get in the car and go ahead. We'll try to lure the beast away while the others will set up a defensive perimeter here. Zhang Bao'er will lead the defensive efforts," said Old Du.

We followed Old Du's plan and hopped onto the vehicle before moving quickly toward the left. After traveling about five kilometers, Lifu turned on the vehicle's siren. The loud siren was especially piercing in this dark and silent environment. After traveling for about 50 kilometers, Lifu suddenly braked.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The vibrations are gone," said Lifu as he stared at the screen in astonishment.

I looked at the screen as well. The graph showing the detected movement had indeed vanished. Suddenly, a blinding white radiance erupted from the darkness in the distance.

"White light!" Lifu exclaimed.

The moment the white light appeared, the vibration scanner started ringing again. The monster was heading right toward us.

"The beast is successfully baited. The scanner indicates that it is moving quickly. Contact in 10 minutes," Lifu said.

"Turn off all lights and the vehicle. Start using laser probes. Lifu will be in charge of the rail cannon. Let's get ready to defend ourselves," I said.

Everyone immediately got to their positions. Old Du and I turned our morph-capable shields to maximum capacity.

"Canyue, a powerful net was prepared for us to capture the beast. When the beast appears, try to see if we can catch it," Lifu said.

"Excellent!" Old Du was getting excited.

I tightened my grip on my gun even as my palm sweated. Even after experiencing so many close brushes with death, I still couldn't stop feeling nervous when meeting a new monster.

"Contact in six minutes," Lifu reported.

'Bring it on! Let me see just what kind of a beast it is!' I told myself.

"Contact in three minutes," Lifu continued the countdown.

I turned off my gun's safety.

"Canyue, the signal has suddenly vanished," said Lifu nervously.

My heart skipped a beat. The world before us was still shrouded in darkness. The laser probes weren't able to pick up any signs of life or movement. Our surroundings were completely silent, and only the sounds of my breathing could be heard.

I had the feeling that a pair of massive eyes was gazing upon us from the darkness, but I did not know where the eyes were. Just like that, the silence persisted for several minutes. The beast was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, I saw Old Du stand up from his hiding spot and walk ahead.

"Old Du, what are you doing?" I quickly called out.

He shivered before standing still.

"What's wrong with you? Why did you walk out?" I asked.

"I don't know. What happened to me? Why am I standing here?" Old Du replied.

"Withdraw immediately," I said.

Old Du quickly ran back.

"This doesn't look good. That beast seems capable of controlling one's mind," said Lifu.

"That white light is probably the appearance of some powerful energy wave that can control one's brainwaves," said Old Du.

"Brainwaves are essentially electrical impulses discharged by the cortex in the brain. That beast has probably obtained the ability to capture the impulses to control its prey," said Lifu.

"Canyue, Canyue," an urgent voice rang out.

I was brought back to reality. When I looked down, I saw that I had walked 30 meters away from my hiding spot.

"Canyue, wake up!" Old Du's voice kept coming from the communicator.

"Good lord, I was also controlled!" I exclaimed in alarm.

While I was thinking, Old Du rushed over and pressed me to the ground.

"The beast is testing our reactions," Lifu said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The beast is controlling us with electrical waves so weak that we can awaken those controlled with just our voices. But I don't think it's that simple," said Lifu.

"I agree. If anyone else is controlled after this, we should wake them with electrical shocks," said Old Du.

"We will be too passive that way. With us out in plain view while the beast hides, it's like we're its toys," I said.

"What idea do you have?" Lifu asked.

"Block all electromagnetic waves, stop using wireless communication, and communicate through hand signals. Also, cover our heads fully with the morph-capable shields," I said.

"Good idea. I'll help cover Lifu up," said Old Du.

The shields immediately worked their magic. We were able to last five full minutes without having any of us controlled.

"That creature is definitely not far away. I need to think of a way to catch it," I thought to myself.

My sixth sense told me that there was a life form moving about near me, stopping to study me every now and then. However, I was completely incapable of seeing it. That was an extremely uncomfortable sensation.

However, I could also feel that the creature harbored no malice toward us. Suddenly, I had an idea. The temperature around us had reached negative 180 degrees. I signaled Old Du and Lifu to let them know that I wasn't under control before walking out of our hiding spot.

After walking about 400 meters, I placed three timed flares on the ground before quickly withdrawing. Three minutes later, the flares suddenly erupted, changing the temperature around us. Amid the greenish-white blaze, I vaguely saw a translucent silhouette in the air.

"Indeed, curiosity kills the cat indeed. It's there! Move!" I shouted.

Old Du and I charged forth while firing more flares around the silhouette. Meanwhile, Lifu shot forth on his vehicle. The numerous flares illuminated an area of over 100 square meters. Some even hit the body of the translucent figure. We could clearly see the creature struggling fearfully against the flame.

A massive net dropped from the sky, fired by Lifu from his vehicle. It tightly wrapped around the creature. The net then contracted and even seemed to fuse with the creature's body, turning into a blue layer around the creature's skin.

With nowhere to hide, the creature started growing and then started shrinking. The creature repeated the process several times. When it found that it couldn't throw the net off, it lay down on the ground and stopped moving.

'It's over. That was easy,' I thought in astonishment.

We stepped forth to get a better look at the creature. Beneath the blue net, the creature lay listlessly on the ground. Not a single part of its body was in a regular form. Its head was vaguely visible, constantly flickering, making it hard for us to get a clearer look at its head.

It lay motionless, looking like it was sulking angrily. Lifu kicked the creature with his leg, but the creature remained motionless. I stopped Lifu. The creature had been forced to reveal itself after I forcefully changed the temperature with the flares. Prior to this, it had not displayed much aggression toward us. Thus, I felt rather guilty when I looked at its trapped state. Seeing that the creature wasn't responding, Lifu signaled Old Du to remove the shield around him.

"Snow, lock onto our position immediately. We have caught our target," said Lifu through the communicator.

Old Du and I crouched down and continued studying the alien life form. I noticed that on its head, there seemed to be a transparent feeler. The feeler seemed to extend deep into the creature's body.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A series of intense sounds rang out behind us. When I turned around, I saw Lifu furiously knocking his head against the vehicle's iron door. That was quite an eerie scene to behold.

Old Du rushed forth and shook Lifu's body violently, trying to wake Lifu up. However, it did not work. I even wrapped the shield around Lifu's head, but that did not change anything either.

"This is bad. Lifu is being controlled by something with a stronger control ability," I became anxious.

I signaled Old Du to try using an electrical shock on Lifu. Old Du understood my signals and aimed his stun baton at Lifu's head.

"This fellow is starting to play his tricks now," I muttered as I looked at the creature. It was still lying motionless, but I could vaguely see something flowing out of its shining feeler.

I gestured at the creature to stop what it was doing, but it ignored me. Old Du gave Lifu three electrical shocks, each stronger than the previous, but Lifu showed no signs of waking up.

In fact, the electrical shocks merely caused him to faint. However, his brainwaves were still controlling his body like a zombie, making him knock his head relentlessly against the door. Seeing that the electrical shocks weren't working, Old Du tossed the stun baton away and jumped onto Lifu, attempting to wrap his arms around Lifu.

A shocking scene suddenly occurred. A powerful electrical current erupted from Lifu's body and blasted Old Du away. I was alarmed. After all, Old Du was protected by his shield and shouldn't be sent flying so easily.

Old Du stood up and shook his head. Seeing that he was most likely unharmed, I was relieved. At that point, Lifu's blood had already dyed the door blue. If that continued, he would probably knock his head off his body.

It was at that moment that I understood how scary the creature was. I recalled everything that had happened. It was likely that Lifu had angered the creature when he kicked it earlier.

'Will it also be angry with me since I was the one who had burned it with the flares?" I wondered inwardly.

While thinking about all sorts of possibilities, I continued gesturing at the creature, trying to express a sign of goodwill, but nothing seemed to work. Seeing that Lifu was on the brink of death, I steeled myself and switched off my shield.