Chapter 41: S-Grade Evaluation

Upon rushing out of the safe zone, Cao Yu instantly collided with multiple tentacles flailing wildly by the Symbiosis Remnant.

At this moment, the Remnant’s attacks against the players were not entirely driven by a craving for genes and flesh.

The players had destroyed its perfect form, degrading it from a "city-dwelling lifeform" to its present, weakened state... Even as a monster with a chaotic consciousness, it possessed an instinctual rage.

Thirteen massive yet nimble tentacles, tipped with lamprey-like jaws, lashed toward Cao Yu all at once.

With a powerful leap, Cao Yu vaulted into mid-air, then nimbly spun his body, executing a rapid sequence of aerial flips. He transformed himself into a spinning, razor-sharp blade, slashing toward the forest of dancing tentacles ahead of him.

Activating both the "Immortal-Slaying Curse" and the "Eternal-Wound Curse" simultaneously, he severed the thirteen tentacles in quick succession amidst the tumbling flips.

Stung with pain and realizing its tentacles could not regenerate, the Remnant let out a shrill and ferocious howl from each of its gaping maws.

The cry formed a visible shockwave that battered against Cao Yu, only to be cleaved straight down the middle and blasted off to his sides.

By now, Cao Yu had already closed the distance beneath the Remnant's spherical body.

On the other side.

An Li had long since manipulated her道具, launching the werewolf corpse puppet so that it landed squarely on the Remnant's colossal torso.

Meanwhile, she remained safely hidden within the safe zone, operating the puppet via remote control.

The swift werewolf puppet moved with agility, dodging the attacks of numerous jawed maws while stretching out its arms and flashing its sharp claws—with every single swipe, it condensed cyan-blue crescent blade auras that continuously sliced open the flesh on the Remnant's surface, carving out wounds four to five meters deep.

To the Remnant, these were mere minor scratches, but they served as an effective distraction, successfully drawing its attention.

On the ground, Cao Yu seized the opportunity, pushing off fiercely with his legs to leap upward. Transforming his entire body into a long spear, he pierced straight through the grotesque maws on the Remnant's surface, drilling deep into its core.

Much like the Monkey King burrowing into Princess Iron Fan's belly, he activated his dual lethal curses and began wreaking unbridled havoc inside the Remnant's body.

Instantly, the Remnant let out a shrill, miserable scream.

The next second, it actually abandoned the portion of its body enveloping Cao Yu, causing that section to rupture and burst apart into scattered fragments of flesh.

A massive breach thus opened up in its body.

Taking advantage of the moment when Cao Yu lost his foothold and fell back to the ground, it directly manipulated the writhing flesh on its body surface to sprout a pair of gigantic fleshy wings.

With a single flap of these wings, it whipped up a violent gale within a radius of a thousand meters.

The storm cyclically wrapped around its fleshy wings, actually lifting its massive weight... and it began to fly!

How could such a colossal body possibly take flight?

This was likely the power of transcendent genes.

Within mere seconds, the Remnant had widened the distance between itself and Cao Yu.

It was hard to imagine that a monster with a chaotic mind and only primitive instincts remaining could possess such combat awareness.

Simultaneously.

Hundreds of maws across the Remnant's body opened in unison, spitting out hundreds of platinum-white lightning bolts.

The majority of these lightning strikes barreled down toward Cao Yu.

They pierced the atmosphere, shattered the ground, and rolled outward like a surging wave of explosions.

Using his body as a weapon, Cao Yu slashed directly through the descending lightning energy attacks.

However, An Li, who was stationed in the safe zone, had a much harder time.

The werewolf puppet she was controlling was struck by a dozen lightning bolts the very instant they landed, and amidst the surging, violent energy, it was torn into shreds.

The remaining lightning bolts descended toward her.

Fortunately, the moment she saw the Remnant take flight, she had sensed danger and commanded the "Faceless One" to unfurl a blood shield in front of her.

The lightning crashed against the invisible protective barrier of the safe house.

Neither An Li nor the "Faceless One" suffered any harm.

Cao Yu took this opportunity to retreat back into the safe zone.

Meanwhile, the Remnant hovering in mid-air once more spewed lightning from the hundreds of maws covering its body, raining down like a torrential storm and pounding against the invisible barrier of the safe house.

The barrier seemed to be the materialization of some foundational rule, showing not the slightest sign of weakening even under such a ferocious lightning bombardment.

Seeing this, An Li breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed the safe house was truly, absolutely safe.

Realizing its lightning attacks were ineffective, the Remnant opened a different set of maws, spewing a massive volume of toxic fog that enveloped a region hundreds of meters in radius.

Yet this venomous mist was likewise blocked by the barrier.

Following that, it unleashed a flame blast akin to a dragon's breath, which was similarly rebuffed.

This thoroughly infuriated it, prompting it to continuously probe their defenses with various forms of attacks.

At this moment, An Li noticed Cao Yu approaching her side.

She watched as Cao Yu pulled out a mental potion, chugged it down in one go, and asked her, "Is your puppet gone?"

"Yeah. I didn't expect the Remnant to wield lightning attacks..."

Though she had lost a puppet, An Li, being quite well-off, showed little emotional fluctuation in her tone:

"Don't worry about the puppet. I can just refine another one when we get back."

Pausing for a moment, she asked:

"Did you give up?"

"Not yet," Cao Yu replied. "I told you before, I'm a burst-type fighter and can't sustain a prolonged battle. The consumption just now was a bit heavy."

He wasn't lying.

When he had activated both lethal curses simultaneously to shroud his entire body and maintained them continuously, his offense was undeniably fierce—fierce enough to force the Remnant into the air—but the energy drain was equally immense.

In just that short span of time, the bulk of his mental energy had been depleted.

Seeing that the Remnant had entered its second phase, he had no choice but to temporarily retreat to the safe house to recover his mental strength.

"Besides," Cao Yu continued, "I lack ranged attack capabilities."

"My 'Faceless One' is a defensive puppet; I can't use it to help you create feints or draw its attention anymore." An Li mused briefly before saying, "I can lend you the 'Dust-Free Golden Ring'."

Cao Yu, however, shook his head:

"With my current level of evolution, I can't draw out too much of a Grade-D item's potential, nor do I have the surplus capacity to wield a Grade-D item while operating my superpower at full throttle."

The consumption required by items far exceeded that of superpowers.

After all, since it wasn't one's innate ability, it couldn't be commanded fluidly at maximum efficiency.

"What should we do then?" An Li asked. "I can't think of a new strategy."

The Remnant's strength was simply too overwhelming.

If it were merely massive in physical size, that would be one thing, but it could discharge electricity, breathe fire, and spew poison... Neither of them knew how many genes the creature had evolved into transcendent bloodlines.

If not for the protection of the safe house, the two of them would likely have died several times over by now.

"I do have a new strategy, though."

Cao Yu's gaze landed on the ring adorning An Li's right index finger:

"Put away your puppet, halt your superpower's operation, and pour all your focus into the 'Dust-Free Golden Ring'. Gather the maximum repulsive force you can draw out, and use it to launch me like a projectile straight into the monster's body."

"---Are you insane?" An Li frowned. "Putting aside whether your body can withstand that level of force, the instantaneous acceleration alone would be enough to rupture your internal organs."

She knew Cao Yu's superpower could forcefully cleave through her item's force field. However, to execute such a launch, the prerequisite was for him to shut down his superpower entirely and rely solely on his physical body to endure the item's repulsive force.

"Don't worry, the body-enhancement equipment I'm wearing has self-healing properties," Cao Yu said. "Even if my organs rupture, they'll heal right back up."

Invulnerable defense and the regenerative power to regrow severed limbs—these were two of the inherent functions possessed by "Wind-Scarred Indestructible Bones".

As for the effects of An Li's "Dust-Free Golden Ring", he had witnessed them on numerous occasions, and he already had a rough estimate of its might in his mind.

In short, it was worth a shot!

"Since you insist... wait for me to recover first."

An Li agreed. While taking out a mental potion to drink, she also handed Cao Yu a bottle of an unknown potion, saying:

"This is a Grade-E healing potion, basically an upgraded version of hemostatic spray."

"Thanks." Cao Yu nodded.

The two waited for roughly ten minutes. Once their mental energy had recovered, they initiated their plan.

Meanwhile, the monster was still relentlessly battering the safe house barrier, acting as if Cao Yu and An Li were its mortal enemies.

Outside the safe house, green toxic fog had long since permeated the air, and the surrounding buildings had begun to rot and melt away after being engulfed by the miasma for too long.

"Are you ready?" An Li asked Cao Yu.

Cao Yu was currently crouching on a small flat force field generated by An Li, his eyes locked onto the Remnant's aerial position.

He nodded and said, "Let's begin!"

Bang—the uniform repulsive force of the flat force field dispersed instantly, enveloping Cao Yu's entire body in a three-dimensional structure designed to simulate the effects of extreme environmental pressure as closely as possible.

Following that, disregarding her mental drain, An Li operated the item at full capacity, instantly surging the repulsive force to its absolute maximum, propelling Cao Yu out like a cannonball at supersonic speed.

The moment he was launched, Cao Yu felt immense pain and intense internal discomfort.

Blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs spilled from the corners of his mouth... his organs had ruptured, but it didn't matter; the item's self-healing effect had already begun to take hold.

Activating the "Immortal-Slaying Curse", his body instantly tore through the air, flying in a near-frictionless state, and burrowed into the Remnant's body in less than a second.

So fast that the Remnant didn't even have time to dodge.

Roughly estimating that he had penetrated some dozen meters deep into the Remnant, Cao Yu immediately deactivated the "Immortal-Slaying Curse"—at that exact instant, flesh from all directions closed in around him, and a wave of intense corrosive force assailed his entire body. With just that single moment, his skin suffered trauma, and his bones endured immense pressure.

Fortunately, this maneuver also successfully anchored him right at the center of the Remnant's body.

Without hesitation, Cao Yu simultaneously ignited the "Immortal-Slaying Curse" and the "Eternal-Wound Curse", hacking away all physical assaults closing in on him and beginning a frantic rampage of destruction inside the Remnant.

The Remnant let out a piercing, miserable shriek.

Unhealable wounds continuously accumulated within its body.

Holding his breath, Cao Yu seized a brief moment of respite to drain all his remaining mental potions, keeping his berserk assault sustained.

How much time had passed, he could not tell. The Remnant's shrieks grew fainter and fainter...

Boom—its colossal torso plummeted to the ground.

Yet Cao Yu did not halt his destruction, continuing to slash wildly within its carcass.

Until his mental energy was nearly bottomed out, he finally stopped attacking, blasted his way through layers of flesh to burst out of the Remnant's body, and retreated toward the safe house.

However, the moment he reached the safe house, before he even had a chance to recover and repeat the tactic... the player interface popped up, and the Evolution Game's prompt rang out:

【You have successfully subjugated the "Symbiosis Remnant"】

【You have obtained an S-Grade Instance Evaluation】

【You have terminated the existential essence of the E-Grade Instance "Shared Tomb", and it is now determined that you have automatically completed all objectives. This instance will vanish in 30 minutes】

【You have obtained "Instance Sovereignty (2%)"】

【You have obtained a chance to customize a Grade-D item】