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Chapter 344: Chapter 344: Nano-Living Body

Of course mannequins don’t count as machines. They’re usually made of plastic and only serve as glorified coat racks... so when Chen Xuan walked past the display window, he just glanced at them and didn’t pay any special attention.

But he very quickly realized he might have overlooked something crucial: this is the future, some "common sense" doesn’t apply anymore.

"Get over here—"

Before he could finish, Wang Baihu’s face had already changed drastically and he staggered backward in a hurry.

And then he tripped over the curb by the street!

The instant he hit the ground, the mannequin leapt out of the display window, arms spread wide as it dove at Wang Baihu—but because he had fallen backward, it pounced into empty air and swept right over his head.

"Holy shit!" Wang Baihu scrambled to his feet and regrouped with Honglian. "That was close, that was close, this thing’s actually a robot!"

Chen Xuan’s mouth twitched. This kid’s luck was ridiculous.

Out on the street, they could finally see the mannequin clearly. Its exterior was battered and worn, with the skin covering peeled off in several places, revealing the metallic shell beneath. You could see moving mechanisms at its joints, and there was a power port and an electric shock warning sign on its back.

A century ago, mannequins were mostly made of plastic because that was more than enough for what they needed to do. But a hundred years later, robots are no longer expensive, and mannequins no longer just need to hold up clothes—for store owners, a smart mannequin that can strike various poses to show off outfits and even sell them on its own is obviously a lot more attractive.

In the few seconds they’d been distracted, two more mannequins walked out of the display window.

Three nano-living bodies at once?

Chen Xuan immediately made a call. "You focus on the one in front, Liuli and I will take one each."

"Hey, cutting these things down won’t raise my Stability at all." Liuli complained, but still drew her sword at once, intercepting one of them.

Chen Xuan also used the Thousand Thoughts Sword to pull another mannequin’s aggro.

Liuli already had successful experience taking down nano-living bodies of this size; as for himself, he had plenty of defensive abilities. Even if he couldn’t break the enemy’s defense, kiting it for ten minutes wouldn’t be a problem. The real challenge was still on the Red Lotus Team, so while he commanded the Thousand Thoughts Sword to tangle with the mannequin, he kept part of his attention on the four members of Red Lotus Team in case something went wrong on their side.

Wang Baihu drew his handgun the moment things kicked off.

This was also his usual weapon of choice.

Three shots in a row, all perfectly landing on the mannequin’s forehead, but aside from a few sparks flying, the nano-living body didn’t react at all.

"It’s that tough!?"

"Conventional weapons are useless. Jiang Siqi, see if you can weaken it!" Honglian had also switched into combat mode, starting to fulfill her duty as squad leader.

"Got it, Bone-Eroding Heart-Burning!" Jiang Siqi raised both hands and shouted at Living Body No. 1.

This time the other side reacted, but it wasn’t with screams of pain—instead it turned and grabbed at Little Pigeon. Its speed was insanely fast, and its arm actually shot out seven or eight meters in one go, catching them completely off guard. Little Pigeon hadn’t expected that standing in what should have been the safest spot in the formation, she’d be the first one attacked; she froze for a second.

Honglian still moved first, shoving her out of the way and putting herself between her teammate and the enemy!

You serious? You really don’t care about your own safety at all with plays like that! Chen Xuan’s heart jumped into his throat; he almost triggered the recall function on instinct.

Fortunately, the mannequin’s hands didn’t count as actual weapons. It just grabbed Honglian and tried to haul her back.

At the same time, its body suddenly swelled, a crack opening at the center of its torso, rapidly expanding into a vertical, gaping maw!

Like a drum washing machine, its "mouth" was pure mechanical structure inside, filled with interlocking blade discs—basically a walking meat grinder!

"Bone-Eroding Heart-Burning, Bone-Eroding Heart-Burning! It’s not working at all... how’s this thing supposed to feel pain to begin with?" Jiang Siqi shouted in despair.

The moment she was yanked toward that mouth, Honglian raised two fingers to her brow and activated King’s Castle.

A fire hydrant instantly swapped places with her and got stuffed into the monster’s mouth!

With a crackling bang, sparks and metal shavings flew out as the fire hydrant was shredded to bits by the spinning discs.

A chill ran down Wang Baihu’s spine.

If that thing had tackled him full-on at the start, there wouldn’t even be bone fragments left by now.

"Don’t panic, this thing’s non-biological. We use Tactic Four!" Honglian shouted. "Jiang Siqi, you’re still up first!"

"Huh? Ah... okay!" Jiang Siqi pulled two tiny dolls from her jacket and placed them on the ground, then cast the God Summoning Technique on them. The dolls started moving at once, unfurling wings on their backs and flying toward Living Body No. 1.

She can already control objects to do something this complex? Chen Xuan was genuinely surprised. Looks like she’s really been grinding her skills since she got them...

The two dolls kept letting out creepy laughs, their LED lights flashing wildly. They were clearly just there to harass—but the harassment worked. The mannequin’s attention was obviously drawn to them; its arms whipped back and forth like nunchucks, moving so fast they left afterimages, and in under five seconds it had swatted all the dolls out of the air.

Five seconds was more than enough for Honglian.

Back when Living Body No. 1 grabbed her and dragged her toward its maw, she had already tossed a coin at its feet. After King’s Castle fired, she instant-moved behind the mannequin and pressed her hand to its calf.

Marking an object took time, and Jiang Siqi had bought her exactly that opening.

By the time Living Body No. 1 had smashed the dolls and noticed someone had appeared at its feet, Honglian swapped herself with the coin a second time.

The enemy stomped down, but all it crushed was that coin.

"Wang Baihu!" Honglian called.

"I’m on it!" Wang Baihu had long since loaded a special round. The moment the squad leader spoke, he fired straight into the sky.

The bullet left the barrel at Mach 1, reaching an altitude of a thousand meters in just three seconds.

Honglian counted to three in her head, then cast Shifting Form and Shadow, targeting the mannequin and that bullet!

With a whoosh, Living Body No. 1 vanished from the ground and popped into existence in midair!

In that domain, gravity ruled supreme.

Any object that can’t fly cannot escape its inevitable fate: falling.

So it plummeted from a kilometer up, straight down.

The instant it hit the ground, the earth itself seemed to shudder ever so slightly!

Boom!

The impact made it bounce several meters back into the air; its legs were snapped clean, and the blade discs inside were warped from the collision. But even then it didn’t "die." Its two hands crawled sluggishly across the ground, as if trying to find the rest of its missing body.

But splitting apart meant becoming fragile.

A dense web woven of sword-shadows enveloped it entirely; cold light flashed, and Living Body No. 1 was instantly chopped into pieces!

Liuli had already finished off her own opponent and was free to swing back and support Red Lotus Team.

On the other side, Chen Xuan also unexpectedly discovered that Decomposition and Re-Fusion actually marked nano-living bodies as "special nemeses," and the cost was within an acceptable range. For this humanoid living body, for example, the cost was four of himself. With that, there was nothing to hesitate about. He switched directly to Seed of Flesh and Blood, causing flesh and blood to grow out of thin air all over the enemy’s body! The flesh coiled around its blade discs, gears, and joints, making the mannequin’s movements suddenly sluggish.

It seemed to be confused as well, raising its hands to try ripping off the muscles and fascia constantly sprouting from its body—but the fusion between the two was only getting deeper, making it impossible to separate them by brute force.

Its warped knees could no longer support it; after two staggering steps, the mannequin pitched forward and crashed to the ground.

The Thousand Thoughts Sword circling nearby all swarmed in, mincing it into tiny bits like chopping meat stuffing.

Fresh red blood even oozed from the severed edges.

Chen Xuan checked himself and found that Seed of Flesh and Blood was still green LV2. That meant the price he’d just paid was basically offset by the nemesis gains. All in all he’d made a big profit, since the enemy had been wiped out for real.

He did, however, have a small question nagging at him. According to the description, Seed of Flesh and Blood absorbs and stores the flesh of specific enemies when they’re defeated, and can later call that flesh out to serve as Fusion material or as a cost. The logic is perfectly sound. The problem is: where are nano-living bodies getting flesh from? They’re fundamentally different from Demons and those bug-faced people; their entire bodies are made of nano-worms, you can’t find even a scrap of meat anywhere on them. If there’s no flesh, how is Seed of Flesh and Blood still charging up by killing them?