What arrives before sight is still mental power.

The outline made up of countless metal parts was clearly visible, but the body had not decayed like most of its compatriots.

It stretched out its wet, cold, and sticky tentacles, tightly bound the human's ankles, and dragged her into the endless deep sea.

The suction cup was attached with a thin metal sheet, which adhered to the ankles and calves and penetrated into the soft skin. Blood was the best lubricant, which aroused the flesh's stronger appetite.

The remaining tentacles clung to the low wall, and the force caused the already fragile concrete to collapse one after another. Screams pierced the night sky, buried in the roar.

The human body seemed so small and fragile in front of it. She desperately grabbed everything she could touch and threw it at the monster that was dragging her to death.

The stone hit the machine, making a crisp sound like metal impact.

Chen Ci stopped fifteen meters from the shore.

He fished out the two bullets he had found the day before from his coat pocket, quickly loaded them into the magazine, and held the gun with both hands.

Raise your hand, aim, and pull the trigger. It only takes one second.

All I heard was a dull clicking sound.

The bullets in this gun, which had been in the drawer for who knows how long, had already become damp, so it was natural for it to be mute.

Chen Ci's expression didn't change at all. He immediately unloaded the gun, reloaded, and aimed again.

The dumb bullet fell out and hit the ground, leaving a small hole in the earth.

Bang--!

The gunshot exploded, and the distance of fifteen meters was gone in an instant. The bullet penetrated the squid's eye accurately. The huge impact force disrupted the tissue and internal organs around the trajectory, and finally went out from the back of the head.

The force that was dragging humans into the deep sea paused for a moment.

The mental force invades the underdeveloped nervous system of the mollusk, looking for a way to suppress its extremely strong desire to hunt.

The next moment, the pain from a heavy blow swept over the body, all the arms and legs danced wildly, and the stress response finally overwhelmed the appetite.

Chen Ci concentrated his mind and was about to continue invading the crow's mind when he saw a figure rushing out from his side like a whirlwind.

Fu Tianhe jumped down from the low wall with a crowbar in his hand. He nimbly dodged the wildly swinging tentacles and raised his arms violently, stabbing the base of the squid's two long tentacles fiercely!

The arms and legs that were tightly wrapped around my ankle finally loosened.

“Run!”

Fu Tianhe shouted loudly, stepped on the tentacle that was still trying to grab the prey, aimed the crowbar in his hand at the mouth in the center of the ten tentacles, and stabbed hard!

clang--!

The huge force was transmitted along the crowbar, and even made Fu Tianhe's arms numb. Inside that vicious mouthparts, the oral membrane of the squid had actually been completely mechanized!

The ten tentacles spread out in all directions like flowers, and then suddenly contracted, as if trying to wrap Fu Tianhe completely!

The surface of the powerful tentacles is covered with countless metal parts. If you are caught in them, you will be turned into a sieve in an instant.

Fu Tianhe did not dodge.

He still stood where he was, his arms tensed with muscles that almost broke his clothes, and with a loud shout, the crowbar in his hand actually pierced through the layer of mechanical mouth membrane and went straight into the giant head of the squid!

The meter-long crowbar was completely inserted into the cuttlefish's digestive tract, piercing its internal sac and rubbing against its metal endoskeleton, making a harsh scraping sound.

Intense pain swept through the squid's entire consciousness, and Chen Ci, who wanted to help Fu Tianhe, immediately withdrew his mental strength.

Fu Tianhe took two steps back, picked up the girl who was struggling to get up, lifted her up, and quickly evacuated the dangerous area.

Fu Tianhe came to Chen Ci's side and put him behind a low wall.

This is a Beta girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old, with messy short hair, dirty clothes, a broken ankle, and she is so thin that she is almost malnourished.

She clenched her teeth tightly to prevent herself from making any sound of pain. Her lips were so dry that they were peeling, and the deep cracks even bled.

Chen Ci squatted down and checked the wound on her leg. There were more than a dozen long and thin cuts on the metal plates of the squid's tentacles and feet, and blood was constantly flowing out. Because of the fierce struggle, there was a lot of sand and gravel on it.

"We need to clean them first." Chen Ci looked at her hands again. The pads of her ten fingers were almost worn out, and the palms were blurry.

Fu Tianhe nodded. He bent down and picked up the searchlight that had been thrown aside in a hurry, and returned to the squid that was gradually stopping moving.

The blow was so powerful that the Holy Sword of Physics destroyed most of the squid's biological tissue, making it unable to even retreat to the ocean behind it.

The light illuminated the devastated battlefield, and Fu Tianhe was shocked to realize how dangerous the situation was. There were all kinds of rubble everywhere, and one could sprain his ankle if he was not careful.

Once you fall, you are doomed.

The highly mechanized exoskeleton firmly protected the inside of the squid, with only the eye, which was shot through by Chen Ci, exposed.

If he hadn't pierced the oral membrane with all his might, it would be hard to say who would win or lose.

Fu Tianhe returned to the tentacles. He reached into the mouthparts, grabbed the end of the crowbar, stepped on the squid's head, and pulled the crowbar out with force.

The squid just twitched, struggling and twisting at the ends of its tentacles, but it was unable to offer any effective resistance.

The moment the crowbar was completely pulled out, blue blood and black ink gushed out from the wound, almost tipping over and wetting a large area of ​​the ground below, and the stench became even stronger.

The crowbar was covered with all kinds of mucus, and Fu Tianhe was quite disgusted. He went to the beach to clean it a little before returning to Chen Ci with the clean crowbar.

The head and torso of the squid are about two meters long, which is considered a very large body. It is highly mechanized. Fu Tianhe plans to wait until daybreak and come back to see if there are any useful parts.

"Let's go, I'll take you to treat your wound first."

He squatted down and carried the girl on his back with the help of Chen Ci. Chen Ci took a crowbar and a searchlight, and the three of them returned to the tent together.

Their small camp stood still. Chen Ci took a bottle to purify the sea water. Fu Tianhe put the girl on the stone slab and went to help Chen Ci.

Two people came over with three bottles of water. Chen Ci handed them to the girl and motioned her to drink some first.

The girl was obviously very thirsty and drank half of the bottle in one breath. She licked her lips, and the tiny scabs cracked again and blood flowed out again.

"What's your name?" Chen Ci asked her.

The girl said timidly in a hoarse voice, "Matchsticks."

That doesn't sound like a human name.

"You are a scavenger from nearby." Fu Tianhe was not surprised. The people in the underground city were also divided into different classes. People like you who could only live in the coastal area were probably extremely poor, and it was normal for them to name things after the objects around them.

Matchstick hummed, and after carefully looking at Chen Ci and Fu Tianhe, she said sincerely, "Thank you."

"It's okay, let's take care of the wound first." Fu Tianhe took out a small medical kit, and Chen Ci used clean water to clean the sand and dirt on the wound with a matchstick.

Afterwards, Chen Ci wiped it dry with a cotton ball, applied iodine and medicine powder, and made sure that the bleeding was slowly stopping before wrapping the bandage around it.

This was the first time Chen Ci treated someone's wound. Although he had never done it before, Chen Ci had a good brain and handled it well.

Fu Tianhe sat aside and talked with Matchstick, and also learned what happened.

The Abandoned Suburbs is located below the recycling station. There is often waste dropped from the recycling station, and the corpses of the original creatures are accompanied by a large number of mechanical bodies, making this area a favorite place for scavengers.

Matchstick was one of them. She belonged to a nearby settlement and was out scavenging as usual. As it got dark, she hurried back to the camp but lost her way.

The night did not fall slowly out of pity for her. The last ray of sunlight sank below the sea level, and the endless darkness completely surrounded her.

Matchstick brought a flashlight, but the hemp rope is always picky and misfortune always comes to the unfortunate, and the battery only lasted for twenty minutes before it ran out of power.

What is scarier than darkness is the fear of the unknown.

Matchstick moved as far away from the coast as possible. She wanted to find a relatively intact building that would allow her to survive for at least one night, but she kicked something soft.

There is no need to say what happened next.

She was entangled by the squid's tentacles and legs. In the darkness of the night, no one knew when it climbed ashore. The squid pulled the matchstick and was about to retreat back into the sea to enjoy this delicious meal.

If Chen Ci and Fu Tianhe had not arrived, the girl named Matchstick would have disappeared from the world without attracting anyone's attention.

Chen listened to the words quietly. Matchstick had been thirsty for a long time. Now that he had finally drunk some water, his voice became much clearer.

He didn't really understand why they had to work so hard. The resources of Cinnabar should be enough to support all the humans living in it. Matchstick could obviously go to the main area and find a suitable job instead of picking up garbage on the most dangerous beach.

But Chen Ci remained silent, saying that he was not qualified to make any comments.

"Are you hungry? Eat something."

Fu Tianhe went to get their food. It was a bit troublesome to make a fire and cook at this time, so he opened a can of food for Matchstick.

Matchstick had been hungry for a whole day and had just escaped from the mouth of the squid, so he was already starving and cold.

She wolfed down her meal, and Chen Ci sat opposite her, handing her a bottle of water at the right moment.

It is now one o'clock in the morning.

Seeing her finish a can of food, Fu Tianhe said, "Go to the tent and have a rest first. We will take you to the camp tomorrow morning."

Matchstick nodded and thanked again: "Thank you."

Matchstick was dirty, and they didn't have any spare clothes for girls, so they had to let her wear this outfit for now.

Fu Tianhe specially packed up his sleeping bag for Matchstick to rest.

Matchstick felt very embarrassed. Not only did he eat the food of his savior, but he also took up their resting place.

"It doesn't matter. We are here to travel. At worst, we can return to the city tomorrow."

Fu Tianhe calmed her down, and when he had finished cleaning up everything, he stood up and said, "Come on."

Matchstick hesitated for a moment, but finally went into the tent. She was so sleepy and tired. She was already so thin and malnourished, and after going through such a thrilling experience, she felt dizzy just standing there.

Chen Ci also entered the tent. He moved his sleeping bag to the middle and asked Fu Tianhe, "What about you?"

Although the tent space is small, the matchstick is really small. When lying down, it only stands on a thin edge, so three people can still squeeze in.

Fu Tianhe just said: "You guys take a rest first."

Chen Ci doesn't care much about gender distinctions, but Fu Tianhe does.

As an Alpha and a man, it was fine for him to sleep with Chen Ci, after all, they knew each other well. But Matchstick was the little girl they had just rescued, and if he really lay down in the place that Chen Ci had given up, he would be a hooligan.

Fu Tianhe didn't plan to sleep.

He gave the tent to Chen Ci and Matchstick. There were only four hours left until dawn, so he could just take a nap outside and arrive there.

Chen Ci looked at him steadily for a few seconds, nodded, and returned to the tent without saying a word.

Fu Tianhe sat on the stone slab in front of the door.

The searchlight went out and the surroundings returned to silence. The moon looked like someone had taken a bite out of it and a strip of its edge was missing. The stars were very bright and tomorrow should be a sunny and cloudless day.

Fu Tianhe raised his hand and touched his right eye. The crowbar was next to him.

He hadn't yet mastered the skill to fall asleep while sitting, so he planned to just daydream and kill time.

Not long after, there was a rustling sound behind me.

Fu Tianhe was stunned. He turned around and saw a figure emerging from the tent.

Chen Ci had already put on his coat. He pulled the tent from the outside so that Matchstick, who fell asleep in a second, could have a good rest. He sat quietly next to Fu Tianhe.

"Don't you want to sleep?" Fu Tianhe asked.

Chen Ci just shook his head and said nothing. He pulled his coat tighter, as if he was a little cold, and huddled up a little.