"Catch!" Huang Quan picked up a monkey and threw it over from dozens of meters away.
Lin Qing caught it with one hand and crushed it to death on the spot. "There's something called a power crystal in the bodies of the steel beasts. We Motorbots also have these crystals. They are the power source of all things, and they can help you achieve a breakthrough in your titanium condensing technology.
"Apart from food, I've also brought a few fireworks with me. After you make a breakthrough in your condensation technology, light the fireworks. I'll come over when I see them. We can talk about my weapon then."
"Okay, I'll remember." Chen Chong's eyes were burning with desire. He could hardly wait to study this steel beast.
Wang Xiaoming licked his lips and said excitedly, "Lin Qing, can you help me get another steel beast?"
Bro, who are you? Why would I do it because you asked me to? Lin Qing looked at Chen Chong. "Who is he?"
"He's my student, Wang Xiaoming. He's also one of my trusted aides and very talented."
"Old Huang, give me another beast!"
Lin Qing shouted, but there was no response. He turned around and saw that Huang Quan was drowned in steel beasts. Monkeys were hanging on his head, his back, his chest, and his thighs.
There were advantages and disadvantages to having a large physique. An advantage was obvious—possessing great strength. But a disadvantage was evident in the current situation—not being very flexible before reaching adulthood.
"F*ck!" Lin Qing ran forward to help. Along the way, he destroyed a steel beast and threw it behind him without even looking back. He didn't even care if Wang Xiaoming could catch it or not.
"Hurry up and come! Close the door and go to the basement!" Wang Xiaoming urged everyone while dragging the steel beast along.
Yang Feng squeezed his way in and saw Chen Chong use his card to swipe at the wall. The wall opened up automatically, revealing a tunnel staircase that led downstairs.
After taking a few dozen steps, the area around him suddenly became open and clear. He saw an enormous space filled with all kinds of equipment he had never seen before.
The group wolfed down their food without caring about their image. Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoming walked over while chewing on a piece of bread. "My name is Wang Xiaoming. Brother, how should I address you?"
"I'm Yang Feng. Just call me Little Feng."
"It's all thanks to you guys. The two people outside are…?"
"They are my brothers, my very good brothers!" Yang Feng said solemnly.
Wang Xiaoming smiled gently. "Rest well here for the next few days. If you need any help, just let me know. My name is rather useful here."
"Brother Wang, what do you do here?"
Wang Xiaoming looked left and right and then said in a low voice, "Let me put it this way. Before, if you had taken a single look at anything here, you would have spent the rest of your life in prison.
"But that's not a big deal now. I'll show you around later."
Outside, Lin Qing and Huang Quan escaped in disorder after fighting the steel beasts. They were chased for more than ten kilometers before they were completely safe.
"My god. These monkeys are really relentless. We only took a few crystals from them. Is there really a need for this?"
Huang Quan was sitting on the ground and panting in a small estate. He held a handful of crystals in his hand. There were around 25 crystals in his hand, not including the ones he swallowed while running.
It was because of these crystals that the army of monkeys kept chasing them.
"What were you even doing back there?" Lin Qing took out a few fist-sized crystals from somewhere and said with disdain, "Those little monkeys haven't evolved even once. How much energy could their crystals contain?
"You should increase the scale next time. Otherwise, I'd be embarrassed to say that I know you when we go out next time."
Unless the crystals were from large animals such as tigers and bears, he didn't even want them after killing ordinary steel beasts because they contained too little energy.
Now, his targets were evolved steel beasts. After all, the crystal of any evolved steel beast had much more energy than that of an ordinary steel beast.
"F*ck, do you think I'm you? You're so fast. It's good enough that I can get these." He threw handfuls of crystals into his mouth and chewed them as crunching sounds rang out.
As Lin Qing ate crystals, his smile disappeared, and he said in a serious tone, "Old Huang, do you think that steel beasts are easier to kill in the early or late stages of the Cataclysm?"
"Rubbish. It's definitely easier to kill them in the early stages. If we wait a while longer, each and every one of them will grow as large as an elephant. I won't be able to hold off a swarm of them if they come."
"The supply of food at Professor Chen's place will be enough to last them for more than ten days, so I want to improve my abilities quickly during this period of time. Let's work together and do something big."
Huang Quan's eyes lit up. "How big?"
Lin Qing stretched out two fingers.
"Two hundred crystals?"
"That's too small. That scale is too small. We have to evolve at least twice."
Starting from the first evolution, each subsequent one was twice as difficult as the previous one. In his previous life, he had spent eight years before reaching adulthood. The main reason was that he was too negligent in the early stages and missed the best time to hunt. In the later stages of the Cataclysm, the steel beasts had become stronger and were no longer as easy to kill.
He didn't want to miss this opportunity in this life. The faster he increased his strength, the safer he would be. This was the only way he could gain a foothold in the Cataclysm.
Huang Quan slapped his thigh and said excitedly, "Let's do it! I also want to increase my strength. Otherwise, it will be too embarrassing if I can't even defeat you."
Lin Qing's strength was different almost every day. In comparison, he felt that he was almost no match for Lin Qing.
…
Ten days later…
Early in the morning at a side gate of North Spirit Mountain Park, the steel beasts that had been active the entire night started to return to their nests.
The first to return were eight crocodiles. They were more than ten meters long and five to six meters tall, and almost half of the character '兽' (beast) had appeared on their bodies.
These were steel beasts that had evolved twice.
The buildings beside the road had collapsed at some point in time. The crocodile steel beasts looked curiously at the buildings before they continued walking with their heads lowered.
When they entered the park, they were greeted by the sight of a winding river that extended deep into the mountains. Then the crocodiles jumped over the 10-meter-tall railing along the river.
Whoosh—
When there were only two crocodiles left, a collapsed building exploded, and two figures jumped out behind the crocodiles.
Huang Quan knelt on one of the crocodiles, crushing the ground with his weight of over a hundred tons, causing a crater to form. Then punches started to rain down.
Meanwhile, Lin Qing grabbed the tail of the other crocodile and smashed it backward. He grabbed the crocodile's mouth with both hands and tore it with force. With a cracking sound, the crocodile's upper and lower jaw broke as it died.
"Hurry up and finish this quickly!"
After reminding Huang Quan, Lin Qing pierced through the crocodile's throat, took out a big crystal, and opened his mouth to eat it.
The large 車 (vehicle) character on his body was now only missing one stroke.
Boom!
After piercing through the crocodile from the back, Huang Quan swallowed the crystal excitedly. "I'm rich. I'm rich. We didn't waste our time waiting for them overnight."
Over the past few days, the two of them had ambushed seven waves of steel beasts and swept through dozens of them. The steel beasts were all large, and their crystals were brimming with more and more energy.
Huang Quan didn't know if it was because he was too big, but it was harder for him to evolve than Lin Qing. Even after eating so many crystals, he had only evolved twice.
Lin Qing had evolved for the fourth time a week ago. He was now 17.5 meters tall and only needed to evolve one last time to reach adulthood.
"Roar!" The crocodiles in the water realized that something was wrong. They climbed onto the shore and rushed toward them with their mouths wide open.
The largest crocodile was more than twenty meters long and eight meters tall. It had a half-meter-long barb on its back that shone with a cold light, and its long tail was like a sledgehammer.
"Come, come, come. I will fulfill all your wishes. A family should be united, and no one should be left out."
Rubbing his fist against his palm, Huang Quan took large strides as he charged forward. After evolving twice, his body was much more agile and wasn't as clumsy as before. Although his height hadn't changed much, his overall strength had more than doubled.
His huge fist smashed into the crocodile's back, causing it to fall and even crack the ground.
"Whoosh!" The leading crocodile had already evolved four times. It swept its long tail and smashed it against Huang Quan's thigh.
Huang Quan fell to the ground. Without even thinking, he rapidly rolled to the side.
The next second, a hammer smashed into where he had fallen. The crocodile's tail created a two-meter-deep pit in the ground.
If he hadn't dodged fast enough, his body would have been destroyed by this tail.