Chapter 357 – The Rat from Another World
“Alert!” The team leader shouted.
Tu Ran raised her steel fork along with her teammates, her eyes watchfully fixed on the rippling door.
“Alert!”
“Alert!”
“…”
The same cries echoed from other places.
The sounds rose and fell, alerting patrol teams from other areas. Small squads of eight, similar in size, appeared one after another from different directions.
Passersby on the street, small flying devices in the sky, and even people waiting in line at shops all paused their movements in unison, instinctively forming lines. In less than ten seconds, the spacious intersection was covered by a well-prepared army.
They didn’t need much communication, almost like an enormous machine with countless programs running—orders were given, and they immediately executed them, systematically and calmly.
Tu Ran grew even more curious about how they did it.
The team leader, who had been standing with his back to her, suddenly moved.
He took a step forward.
One step, another. Gradually, the roughness of the team leader faded, and his movements visibly became more graceful.
Although Tu Ran couldn’t see his eyes, she was certain that his green pupils had turned orange.
After all, she had experienced it firsthand.
The orange-eyed leader was the commander. When green pupils turned orange, combat abilities were enhanced, and leadership over other green-eyed individuals was established.
From the team leader’s posture, it seemed that elegance also came with the change?
The increasingly refined appearance of his clothes confirmed Tu Ran’s suspicions.
His appearance now resembled the orange-eyed leader from her memories—the one who had self-detonated.
What was the mechanism behind the transformation?
Was it possible for all green-eyed individuals to turn into orange-red eyes, or were only certain green-eyed people capable of this transformation? Or perhaps it was a rare stroke of luck for the green-eyed ones?
As Tu Ran pondered these questions, a figure suddenly emerged from the door that had appeared.
Tu Ran focused and saw—oh, another familiar face.
Tang Ying.
General Ye Hongci’s assistant.
Her luck really wasn’t on her side, Tu Ran silently prayed for her for three seconds.
Tang Ying’s reception, of course, was similar to hers.
She was immediately bombarded with a string of “gibberish” greetings.
Tang Ying furrowed her brows deeply, looking like she couldn’t understand a word.
Standing behind the team leader, Tu Ran finally understood what was being asked.
The question was: From which world did you come?
Tu Ran thought this question was unnecessary. No matter which world they came from, they couldn’t understand their language. If they couldn’t understand the language, answering the question would be impossible, and a fight would be inevitable.
Why not call that eye out? At least the two sides could have a friendly conversation before deciding whether to fight or not.
Tu Ran’s mind was racing, while Tang Ying, surrounded by these strange beings, coldly spoke, “Speak in human language!”
The response came from the team leader’s impatient voice: “Otherworldly rat, capture her!”
With the order given, all the green-eyed warriors instantly charged, raising their steel forks and attacking Tang Ying from all directions.
Tu Ran took a few symbolic steps forward, but her pace was slow, and gradually, she fell behind the others.
In this situation, it was going to be hard for her to bring Tang Ying out safely, unless she could open another door, allowing both of them to leave this world together.
But doing so would expose her identity, and it would reveal that she could disguise herself as a member of the Rulers’ world, which would be disadvantageous for her future plans to blend in. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t easily reveal herself.
She needed to assess the situation. The team leader had said “capture her,” not “kill her,” so at least for now, Tang Ying’s life wasn’t in immediate danger.
There were many green-eyed warriors, but only those who were fast enough could get close to Tang Ying. Most of them were stuck behind, with Tu Ran being one of those in the rear.
Amidst the excited green-eyed warriors, Tu Ran felt immense pressure. Out of the corner of her eye, she subtly glanced at the green-eyed warriors to her left and right. She carefully displayed a look of anger on her face, while also stretching her neck to keep an eye on the battle in the inner circle.
Tang Ying pulled a transparent glass sphere from her pocket. It was palm-sized, crystal-clear, with something red floating in the center. It was too far for Tu Ran to see clearly.
Then, Tang Ying tossed the glass sphere into the air.
Many of the green-eyed warriors, including Tu Ran, followed its ascent with their gaze.
In an instant, countless beams of white light erupted from the glass sphere, surrounding Tang Ying.
The next moment, a massive red mecha appeared in the middle of the intersection.
Tu Ran: “…?!”
The green-eyed warriors in the inner circle were caught off guard. They didn’t have time to dodge and were immediately crushed under the mecha’s feet.
The remaining green-eyed warriors quickly scattered.
This was an absolute size and power suppression.
Every movement of the mecha caused devastating damage to the intersection.
The mecha swung its fist at a magic tower beside the intersection, one that was even taller than the mecha. The tower shuddered twice, and pieces of rubble fell down.
These rubble pieces were small flying devices that had been suspended inside the tower.
Tang Ying had smashed them all down.
Tang Ying controlled the mecha to swing its fists, knocking all the small flying devices from the air as if swatting flies.
The green-eyed warriors on the ground had already scattered in disarray, like ants fleeing in panic. Those who couldn’t escape in time were crushed into meat patties by the mecha’s footsteps.
Tu Ran was also running desperately in search of a safe place. Without any special abilities, avoiding the falling debris from the sky was a struggle for her. She felt increasingly drained, nearly getting hit several times.
Her current body was still quite agile and physically strong. She quickly glanced around—everyone was too busy running for their lives to notice her.
This was her chance to try out the potential of this body.
She kept half of her attention on dodging the falling flying devices, while the other half focused on her fingers.
She tried mimicking the movements she had seen the team leader do earlier, drawing circles in the air. Nothing happened. She refused to believe it and tried again, this time more carefully, aiming to make the circle as perfect as possible. Still, no reaction.
Tu Ran furrowed her brows. What was going on? Was her level not high enough?
But the team leader had also had green eyes, and he could draw a lightbulb in the air and even summon that eye.
She looked down at her nails. Why weren’t they growing? Was there a specific chant required?
In the midst of her frustration, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. She looked up to see a massive shadow gradually forming on the ground in front of her.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she spun around, only to see the enormous foot of a mecha heading straight for her.
Shit!
Tu Ran immediately changed direction, sprinting from the side.
At that moment, she pushed this body’s speed to its limits, even outpacing other green-eyed warriors. Just as she felt the oppressive force approaching, she dove to the ground in a roll. The mecha’s foot landed with a crash, only half a meter away from her outstretched hand.
Green, unidentified liquid oozed out from the gap between the mecha and the ground.
Tu Ran glanced at it and immediately recognized the substance as the blood of the ruler clan.
Imagining the horrific state beneath the mecha, she felt a brief moment of nausea.
She turned her face away, quickly got to her feet, and glanced up at the red mech. Retracing her steps, she saw an opening—the mecha’s foot was just about to lift. Acting quickly, she jumped onto the mecha’s foot, her nails digging into the gap of the mecha’s joint.
The bodies of this species were very agile, with long arms and legs, and their nails were long too. Any small gap was enough to fit a hand in, making them well-suited for climbing.
Tu Ran slowly began to climb.
She was now positioned at the edge of the mecha’s foot, like standing on the edge of a shoe sole, always at risk of being thrown off. She needed to make her way to the top of the foot.
During this process, she encountered other green-eyed warriors who had also climbed onto the mecha. They exchanged brief glances and then continued their ascent.
There was even some mutual assistance.
After receiving a key hand, Tu Ran finally made it to the foot of the fiery-red mecha, standing at the joint and watching the hellish scene below.
A few other green-eyed warriors had made it up with her, and they turned their attention to the joint she was leaning against, aiming to destroy it.
Tu Ran glanced at their tools: their nails.
Tu Ran: “…”
She gave up trying to stop them.
Go ahead, if you can get it out, I’ll be impressed.
Tu Ran looked up at the sky, then glanced at the scenery speeding past her on both sides.
Her brow furrowed slightly. Where did the team leader, who had transformed into the commander, go?
At the time, he had been closest to Tang Ying—had he been crushed?
But based on her experience, when an orange-eyed commander dies, a new one with orange eyes should appear.
But up until now, she hadn’t seen the orange-eyed commander appear to lead the battle, which had caused all the green-eyed warriors to become as disorganized as a pot of porridge.
Tu Ran felt uneasy. She didn’t believe that a species capable of traversing star systems to seize the sacred artifact of the S•Erso world, destroy S•Erso, collect the seven fragments of the Order Cube, and attempt to dominate the entire universe would be so easily defeated by a single mecha.
During this time, more and more green-eyed warriors had climbed up.
Tu Ran was distracted by a sudden flash of light. Following the light, she saw one of the dozens of green-eyed warriors who had been attempting to pry open the mech. A ball of light had appeared in his palm.
He directed the ball of light at the mecha’s ankle joint and threw it. The light exploded at the joint.
Seeing this, Tu Ran suddenly realized something.
Was this forced evolution?
When enough people gathered, there was a certain chance of one of them undergoing an evolved state.
Compared to the normal state, the evolved state brought with it the kind of “magic” she had been seeking.
Supporting Tu Ran’s theory was a remark from a green-eyed warrior standing next to her, almost as if speaking to himself: “A warrior chosen by the gods.”
