Chapter 186

Su Jing's flying car hovered fifty meters in the air to the east of the highlands. Below, in the floodwaters, three green-armored water-devouring beasts were circling a raft full of refugees.

Lin Juan held Lele tightly on the raft. Another man in gray used a broken steel pipe to slap the water, but this only excited the water beasts. One of them suddenly leaped out of the water, its front claws almost hooking the edge of the raft. Lin Juan screamed in fright and shielded her child with her body.

"Number 1, analyze the surface data and underwater environment of the Green Armored Water-Eater! Number 2, retrieve the manganese crystal core, waterproof sealing ring, and laser emitter components from space and deliver them to the operations cabin within 30 seconds!"

Su Jing's fingers slid rapidly across the control screen, and a distress video sent by Xiao Li popped up on the screen—the water beast's hard shell only left shallow marks under ordinary lasers, but blood vessels could be vaguely seen under the transparent fin membrane on its abdomen, which was obviously a weak point.

The flying car's hatch slowly opened, and Robot No. 2's robotic arm carried a pile of metal components, quickly delivering them to the temporary workbench in front of Su Jing.

She activated her mineral powers, and pale blue energy enveloped the manganese crystal core—a third-tier manganese crystal retrieved from her spatial storage, twice as hard as ordinary manganese crystal, strong enough to withstand underwater pressure.

With a flick of her finger, Su Jing precisely cut the manganese crystal into a cylinder with a diameter of five centimeters. At the same time, she fused a waterproof sealing ring to the outer shell of the laser emitter. Her supernatural energy flowed through the gaps in the components, seamlessly connecting all the interfaces: "The underwater laser gun needs to enhance its energy penetration. Adjust the laser frequency to 600THz to adapt to underwater propagation. Number 1, calibrate the aiming system and lock onto the abdominal fin membrane of the water beast!"

"Aiming system calibration complete! Underwater resistance compensation activated!"

As soon as Number 1 finished speaking, Su Jing had already grasped the assembled underwater laser gun in her hand—the gun body was silver-gray, the outside of the barrel was wrapped with light blue energy patterns, and the muzzle was equipped with a special waterproof lens. Overall, it was shorter and thicker than ordinary laser guns, but more suitable for underwater shooting.

She opened the hatch, activated her flight ability, and hovered two meters above the water, aiming her gun at the water beast surrounding the raft.

"Everyone, head down! Don't move!" Su Jing's voice came through the loudspeaker to the raft. Lin Juan immediately covered Lele's eyes, and the man in gray also stopped patting and gripped the edge of the raft tightly.

The underwater beast seemed to sense danger, abruptly turning towards Su Jing, its long snout opening to reveal sharp teeth. But before it could attack, Su Jing pulled the trigger—

The pale blue laser beam pierced the water's surface without spreading out, precisely striking the transparent fin membrane on the water beast's abdomen. With a "hiss," the fin membrane ruptured instantly, and blood gushed out from the wound. The water beast let out a piercing screech, struggled frantically in the water for a few seconds, then floated to the surface belly up, motionless.

"Kill...killed them!" The refugees on the raft were stunned for a few seconds, then burst into cheers. The man in gray shouted at Su Jing, "'God of Wealth'! There are two more! They're coming this way!"

Su Jing didn't turn around, her gaze fixed on the other two water beasts swimming towards the raft—they were clearly enraged by the death of their companion, swimming faster and leaving two murky trails on the water's surface.

She adjusted the angle of her gun and fired in anticipation at the path the water beast was sure to take on the left. The laser beam landed thirty centimeters in front of the water beast, which turned around in fright, exposing its abdomen to Su Jing's scope. The second laser beam struck instantly, and the water beast struggled to its death.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining one turned around and tried to escape into the deep water. Su Jing quickly followed with her flying ability, keeping her gun pointed at its abdomen. With a "bang", the laser pierced through the water film, and the water beast's body suddenly stiffened and slowly sank into the water, leaving only a trace of blood spreading on the surface.

"Thank you, 'God of Wealth'! Thank you for saving us!" Lin Juan, holding Lele, bowed repeatedly to Su Jing, and the other refugees on the raft also expressed their gratitude.

Su Jing nodded to them and said through the megaphone, "There are still three water beasts around here. I will take care of them. Follow the current to the northwest. There is a shallow area there that is safe for now."

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw a woman in red struggling with a child in the floodwaters below the high ground, while a water beast was rapidly approaching from behind her.

"Number 1, lock onto that water beast! Number 2, drop the lifebuoy!"

As Su Jing gave the order, she moved quickly—the water beast was only ten meters away from the woman. She didn't have time to aim, so she fired directly at the water beast's head. Although the laser didn't penetrate the hard shell, it made the water beast pause for a second.

In that very second, the robotic arm of robot number 2 accurately threw the lifebuoy to the woman. The woman grabbed the lifebuoy, embracing her child, and surfaced, crying out to Su Jing, "Thank you! Thank you! My husband was just eaten by them..."

Su Jing's heart sank as she glanced at the water's surface—at least five bodies of refugees floated in the floodwaters. Some had their abdomens torn open, while others were reduced to half their bodies. The corpses were beginning to turn white, and a faint stench of decay wafted from them.

She spoke into the communicator to Number 1: "Record the location of the bodies. They need to be processed to prevent the spread of disease." Just then, Xiao Li's voice came from the high ground: "'God of Wealth'! Could you lend us your underwater laser gun? There are still water monsters down there; we want to go down and save more people!"

Su Jing looked back at the high ground—Xiao Li and Lao Zhang were lying on the edge, still holding ordinary laser guns in their hands, their eyes full of anticipation.

She shook her head and raised the underwater laser gun in her hand, explaining, "This gun requires a mineral-powered energy core. You don't have any special abilities, so you can't use it even if you take it."

"Furthermore, underwater shooting requires calibration of water pressure and resistance, which could easily result in friendly fire if performed by an ordinary person." She paused, then added, "I'll leave robots 1 and 2 here to help you clear out the remaining water beasts. You're responsible for relocating the refugees from the highlands to the shallow waters in the northwest. Be careful not to act alone."

Although Xiao Li was somewhat disappointed, he understood Su Jing's meaning and quickly nodded, "Okay! We'll listen to you! Let's organize the evacuation now!"

Su Jing handed the underwater laser gun to Robot No. 2 and ordered it: "Prioritize clearing out the water beasts near the shallow water area, protect the displaced people, and record the location of the carcass of each water beast killed to prevent them from polluting the water source."

Robot No. 2 took the gun, its robotic arm flexibly adjusted the angle, and fired at a water beast that had just surfaced in the distance, accurately hitting its abdomen.

Su Jing then piloted the flying car towards another location in the floodwaters where cries for help were coming from—there, three refugees' rafts were surrounded by water monsters, and one of the rafts had begun to leak water. The refugees were scooping water out with their hands, and the situation was critical.

She retrieved components from her spatial storage again, quickly assembling a second underwater laser gun. Hovering it above the water's surface, she aimed the muzzle at the water beast closest to the raft: "Everyone, hold on tight to the raft! I'll count to three and then duck!"

"Three! Two! One!" The laser beam pierced the water's surface once more, and the water beast collapsed. The refugees cheered and, guided by Su Jing, moved towards the shallow water.

While cleaning up the water beasts, Su Jing kept an eye on the flood situation—the number of corpses was increasing, and the stench was getting stronger. On her communicator, Robot No. 1 sent a notification: "Bacteria have been detected in the water, which is consistent with the early stage of an epidemic. It is recommended to deal with it as soon as possible."

Su Jing frowned and replied to Number 1: "After clearing out the water beasts in this area, immediately take out the spirit herb seeds and refining equipment from the space. We need to refine the anti-epidemic agent."

She looked down at the refugees gradually moving towards the shallow water, then at the corpses floating in the flood, and knew in her heart: killing the water beast was only the first step; the plague that followed was the greater threat.