Chapter 8

The stone bridge was unusually slippery, with excrement from rock insects visible everywhere. Tang Fang carefully controlled his steps, slowly moving forward.

Before long, the woman poked her head out of the cave entrance, took a glance at the environment below, and frowned. Seeing Tang Fang step onto the bridge, she hesitated for a moment, about to follow, but was interrupted by a voice from behind.

"Wait, wait until he gets to the other side before you cross the bridge."

The woman glanced back at the person behind her, somewhat surprised. "I thought you didn't care about anything."

"His character suits me just fine," Aros said, glancing at Tang Fang on the stone bridge.

"What are you two talking about?" At that moment, the other three guys caught up, peering out of the cave. Their faces turned grim as they assessed the situation.

The woman and Aros fell silent again, and the three men felt awkward, forcing a laugh.

The man with a scar on his lip glanced at Tang Fang on the stone bridge, then took a few steps forward, cautiously walking onto the bridge. Aros frowned but did not stop him.

After walking for a while, Tang Fang looked up at the front, and couldn't help but feel relieved. Although the stone bridge wasn't wide, it was still quite sturdy. As long as he maintained his balance, it wouldn't be difficult to cross in one go.

"Hey, boss, guess who I saw?" Just as he paused to think, a voice full of excitement came from the other side.

Then, a blinding light flashed, and Grosso's deep, hoarse voice echoed: "Isn't this Commander?"

"You have an ancient saying in your country, 'Meeting is a matter of fate.' I have a gift for you, Commander, I hope you will accept it, hahaha..." With his maniacal laughter, a high-explosive grenade rolled onto the stone bridge.

"Laurence, blow up the other end, or the next time we meet, I'll cut off your head."

As Grosso's voice faded, the man who had just stepped onto the bridge twitched, his eyes flashing with a fierce look. He reached into his waist, pulled out a high-explosive grenade, and rolled it.

"Boom, boom." The blinding light illuminated the scene, and the powerful explosion split the stone bridge into three parts. Tang Fang lost his balance and fell.

"Hahaha." In the flickering light, he heard Grosso and the others laughing, and saw the woman cut Laurence's throat, blood spurting out.

"Plop, plop, plop."

Numerous rocks fell into the water, and Tang Fang turned his gun, the light sweeping over a platform covered with insect eggs.

Just as he determined the platform's position and was about to swim over to escape the range of the bridge's collapse, the surface of the water suddenly rippled, and a black shadow several meters long leaped up, aiming straight for him with its mouth open.

The wind rushed past his ears, and a stench hit his face. Tang Fang was startled and quickly turned his gun. In the light, a creature with a snake-like body and a shark-like head was opening its mouth, aiming for his head.

Clearly, it saw him as a meal, willing to risk being crushed by the collapsing bridge to swallow him whole.

With no other choice, Tang Fang fired his gun while calling up the system interface in his mind.

One, two, three, three ripples appeared in the air.

"Zzz."

With a sharp insect cry, three gusts of wind blew past, and a small dog grabbed the water monster's shark head, its sharp claws easily piercing the tough skin and deeply embedding itself into the monster's body.

The other two dogs also pounced on the water monster, their claws and teeth tearing open one wound after another, oozing purple fluid.

"Aaaah."

The water monster let out a dragon-like scream, writhing its body, raising its long tail, and striking one of the dogs on its back.

"Zzz..." A mournful cry, fluid splattered, and the dog was impaled by the water monster's tail.

Only then did Tang Fang see the water monster's full appearance. It had two tails, one like a fish's fin and the other like a scorpion's stinger.

"Plop."

Tang Fang fell into the water, and rocks from the bridge above landed around him, splashing water everywhere.

Without a moment's hesitation, he swam rapidly toward the platform. Even as rocks hit his body, causing intense pain, and the second dog's mournful cry echoed from behind, his mind was focused on one thought: don't hesitate, don't look back, escape, and survive!

"Swish, swish."

Behind him, the water monster stirred up large waves, finally throwing the last dog off. It coiled its scorpion tail, bringing the dog to its mouth and biting down.

"Crunch."

A spray of green fluid shot from the dog's body.

"Aaaah."

An angry dragon-like cry echoed, and Tang Fang, who had already escaped the range of the bridge's collapse, turned his gun and looked back.

The water monster's pitch-black eyes glowed with hatred, roaring at his back. It slapped its tail fin on the water and lunged at him again.

Tang Fang narrowed his eyes and didn't move.

"Boom."

With a loud explosion, water splashed everywhere, and the ten-meter-long broken bridge crashed down, creating a massive wave.

"Aaaah..."

Continuous dragon-like cries echoed and then gradually weakened. After a while, with the waves subsiding, a strange sight appeared a few meters in front of Tang Fang.

It was the water monster, but its head was now flattened, floating lifelessly on the water.

Tang Fang let out a long breath, relieved that he had escaped in time. Otherwise, he might have met the same fate.

Although his life was saved, it was a pity that all three dogs were dead. As he fell from the bridge, the crystal value changed three times, from 31 to 46, increasing by 15 points. Tang Fang knew Aros must have killed the other three men.

However, there was one thing that puzzled him. After the water monster died, he couldn't collect any life energy. After much hesitation, he decided to swim over and take a look.

He unclipped a fragmentation grenade from his waist and bravely swam forward.

The water monster floated and sank with the waves, showing no signs of movement.

After a few breaths, he reached the water monster's body. Confirming it was truly dead, Tang Fang extended his right hand toward its wound.

"Detected alien insect DNA sequence."

"Reconstructed gene structure, gene level E+, research tree unlocked, technology level 1, unlocked building 'Spine Crawler.'"

"Life energy collection complete, quantity 100."

Unlocked building 'Spine Crawler,' 100 life energy?

Tang Fang was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh. This was truly a case of turning misfortune into fortune. Losing three dogs but gaining a new building and 100 life energy was a significant gain.

Spine Crawler: Consumes 100 crystals, 300 health, nearly ten times that of a dog, with building armor, strong attack, and no unit limit.

The only drawback was its slow movement, suitable only for ground defense. However, for the current Tang Fang, the Spine Crawler was much more useful than the dogs. He himself was like a mobile base, and the issue of slow movement could be corrected, so it wasn't really a drawback.

Still, with the addition of 100 points, the crystal value was only 146. The Spine Crawler had to be hatched by a drone, and the initial drone he used to build the spawning pool was now gone. He needed to hatch a new drone, which would cost 150 crystals, leaving him 4 points short.

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