In the world of the spiritual cage, the eternal night mist was soaked in crimson.
The lighthouse hovered at a seventeen-degree angle, the engine's blue light flickering like the intermittent breath of a dying giant beast.
"Hunter team, coordinates B-7, high-risk Devourer activity."
The mechanical voice on the communication channel tightened: "Collect medical supplies and evacuate immediately."
Mark tightened the gravity unit's mask, the "click" of it locking echoed inside the helmet.
Through the window, the ruins of Stardust City writhed in the crimson mist—no longer a city, but a feeding ground for the Devourers.
"Ran Bing, stay close." His Adam's apple rolled.
The silver-white gravity unit followed, a female voice came from behind the mask:
"The right eye has jumped from last night to now."
"Superstitious."
Mark pulled the joystick, the vector nozzles erupted with flames, "After jumping for seven years, I’m still standing here."
Twelve steel shells dove down, tearing through the mist.
--------------------------------------
B-7 area, abandoned hospital basement.
The broken medicine bottle was crushed into powder under the military boots, mixed with long-standing dust and a sweet, fishy smell—pheromones of the Devourer.
"Hurry! Move everything you can!" Mark used his shoulder pad to shove aside a half-collapsed shelf, revealing a medical box.
The team members pounced, moving as fast as they could to grab food.
"Awo——!!"
A roar exploded from deep within the corridor, shaking the concrete ceiling to crumble.
Mark's rotary cannon instantly lifted, the barrel locking onto the source of the sound in the darkness: "Engage."
The darkness lit up with six pairs of crimson eyes, like lanterns rising from hell.
Three snake dogs, with glossy bone armor reflecting a cold light.
Drool dripped from its fangs, corroding the ground with a "hiss" sound.
"Fire!"
Gun flames tore through the darkness!
12.7mm armor-piercing shells struck the bone plates, sparking, the snake dog charged with only a half-second pause.
It has been seven years, these monsters have long learned to hunt in the rain of bullets.
A snake dog advanced from the side, its claws tearing at a team member's shoulder pad——
"Ding!"
The chainsaw sword was thrust in, the serrated teeth whirled and bit into the gaps of the bone plates!
Mark's arm muscles bulged, the hydraulic system hummed, and he forcefully lifted a three hundred-kilogram snake dog, crashing it into an entire load-bearing wall.
Amidst the swirling dust, he saw two more break through the firepower net, pouncing toward the transport team members.
"Ran Bing!"
"Here!"
The silver-white gravity unit leaped into the air, dual-wielding shotguns, "Bang bang" twice, knocking a snake dog off balance.
But the third claw had already swung toward the back of the team member's neck—
The team members closed their eyes.
The expected tearing did not come.
Open your eyes.
Seeing a completely snow-white Shiba Inu, who had squatted between him and the Devourers without him noticing.
A brown backpack was slung behind, the tail swaying leisurely.
The snake dog's claws hung in mid-air, as if tightly gripped by an invisible force, its joints creaking in agony.
"Three against one." Kurumi tilted her head, "You Devourers, don’t let Bi Lian catch up to Zhang Chulan."
"Roar——!"
The snake dog was enraged, and another claw tore through the air and smashed down!
Kurumi raised her right front paw, snapping her fingers.
"Pa."
The entire arm of the snake dog exploded into crimson blood mist, spirit breath gushing out thickly.
"Awo?!" The monster staggered back.
The other two snake dogs simultaneously turned and pounced, forming a triangular encirclement.
Kurumi sighed, her hind leg muscles tensed.
"Don't give face."
Four claws pushed against the ground, and its figure transformed into a white line!
The first head leaped onto its back, claws inserting into the third section of the cervical vertebra's bone plate—
"Crack!"
The sound of bone plates shattering was as crisp as breaking branches, and spirit breath gushed out like a fountain.
The second claw swept over, twisting in mid-air, the tail like a steel whip cracking through the air with a sharp howl!
"Bang!"
The skull twisted half a turn, the neck bones creaking.
The third one opened its mouth to bite, its fangs three inches away from the dog's ear—
Kurumi jumped into its mouth.
Bursting forth from the back of the neck, it brought with it a rain of crimson blood.
Three massive bodies crashed to the ground.
The whole process took three seconds.
The entire Hunter team froze.
--------------------------------------
Mark's mask display screen went wild with life signal detectors—
Just a moment ago, the dog's energy reading spiked to lord-level Devourers, then instantly dropped to zero.
His Adam's apple rolled, the gun barrel slightly raised: "Report your identity."
"Just passing by."
Kurumi flicked her claws, blood stains sliding off, her white fur as new, "You have a beautiful view here, crimson paired with ruins, the aesthetics of death fully displayed."
Ran Bing didn't let go of the shotgun: "A new variant of the Devourer?"
"Variant?" Kurumi rolled her eyes, "If I were a Devourer, you guys would have been fertilizer long ago— the kind that doesn't decompose."
Walking up to the snake dog carcass, the claw poked at the shattered cervical vertebra:
"This thing, the core is here. You waste ammunition hitting the shell."
Mo Cheng gasped on the communication channel: "How does it know..."
"Because this library has eyes." Kurumi turned to look at Mark's gravity unit, "Also, your left leg's third hydraulic joint needs oil. Just now when you turned, it creaked, it made me uncomfortable."
The named joint had indeed been impacted on the battlefield.
Mark remained silent for two seconds: "Is the material moved?"
"Moved, moved!"
"Withdraw."
The gravity unit carried the box, the nozzles ignited.
Kurumi jumped onto a shoulder pad: "Taking a ride? Just crossed over, lacking a tour guide."
"Get down." Mark raised the barrel of the rotary cannon three inches higher.
"Don't be heartless."
Kurumi tossed a silver spray can over, "Fare—'Universal Joint Lubricant', one application lasts for three years, silent and rust-proof with a mint scent."
Mark instinctively caught it. The canister was cold, the label's text was distorted, but the icon was lubricant.
He stared at the dog for three seconds.
"Stay close."
--------------------------------------
The gravity unit took off, Kurumi squatted on Mark's shoulder pad, her tail straightened in the violent airflow.
"You lot live in that hunk of iron," it looked up at the increasingly close lighthouse, "the third thruster of the engine has cracks, and it can last at most three months."
Mark's hand trembled, and the gravity unit almost lost balance: "Basis?"
"Knowledgeable."
Kurumi's dog ears rotated, "The vibration frequency is off, with ten-seven hertz noise—typical signs of turbine blade cracks."
Ran Bing blurted in the channel: "The engineering department just released a maintenance report last week, saying it's normal!"
"Because your detection equipment is primitive, like a stone axe from the Stone Age."
Kurumi took out a palm-sized scanner from her backpack, pointed it at the lighthouse direction and pressed, "Look, the crack is here, at the base of the third blade, with a penetration rate of forty-two point three percent."
The断层扫描图 displayed on the mask made Mark's pupils shrink suddenly.
Not a single error.
--------------------------------------
Lighthouse, central command room.
Lord Morgan stared at the monitoring screen, his aged fingers lightly tapping on the wheelchair armrest.
The rhythm revealed the calm after the storm.
In the image, a white dog squatted in the center of the Hunter training ground, surrounded by a circle of gravity unit pilots—those bloodthirsty warriors now looked like students attending class.
"So you rely on firepower coverage to fight the Devourers?" Kurumi drew deep grooves in the concrete ground with her claws, "Waste of ammunition, and it can't kill them. The Devourers revive by reorganizing their spirit breath, so at the moment of killing, you must break their structure with high-frequency vibrations—"
With a flip of its claw, it transformed into a honeycomb-shaped metal device.
"Like this."
The claw pressed the switch, and the device hummed.
Pressing the training dummy beside, the fluorescent liquid simulating spirit breath inside the dummy instantly vaporized and dissipated.
"This..." Mo Cheng's eyes widened, "What principle?"
"Energy resonance." Kurumi packed the device, "The spirit breath of the Devourers has a specific wave frequency, find it, and use stronger vibrations to counteract, and you can make them die thoroughly."
Mark stood with crossed arms beside, his mask already removed, expressionless: "Name your price."
"This library wants to circle around the edge of the 'bloody whirlpool'." Kurumi looked up, her gaze penetrating the ceiling, looking toward the distant crimson abyss, "That Mana ecological core has some research value."
The training ground fell silent in an instant.
"Are you crazy?!" Feixue's voice trembled, "Within five hundred kilometers of the bloody whirlpool, the density of the Devourers has skyrocketed tenfold! Lords everywhere!"
"That's why we need bodyguards."
Kurumi grinned, her canine teeth gleaming coldly, "If you deliver this library twenty kilometers away, this library will clear the way for you. A fair trade."
Morgan's command came from the broadcast, the voice emotionless: "Mark, bring it here."
--------------------------------------
Lord's chamber.
The old man in the wheelchair looked like a dried sculpture, only his eyes still lived.
"You said you could fix the lighthouse engine." Morgan's voice was flat.
"It can." Kurumi squatted by the control panel, "But it’s not fixing, it’s upgrading. Your engine technology is too outdated, this library will replace it with a 'antimatter hybrid power system', tripling the endurance, silent, zero pollution."
"Conditions?"
"At the edge of the bloody whirlpool, data collection."
Kurumi spread her claws, "This library just wants to turn around the perimeter, not go in—temporarily."
Morgan remained silent for a long time, long enough for Mark to think the communication had been cut off.
"Mark."
"Here."
"Take it to the engineering department." Morgan closed his eyes, as if making a decision that would doom everyone, "If it can really fix the engine... the matter of the bloody whirlpool is settled."
--------------------------------------
Three days later.
Lighthouse engine room at the bottom.
The remnants of the old-style fusion engine piled in the corner, like the skeleton of a giant beast.
Replaced by a streamlined silver device, its surface flowing with eerie blue patterns, operating almost silently.
"Done." Kurumi tapped the control panel with her claws, "Now the lighthouse has enough energy for thirty years, speed increased by fifty percent, with an energy shield—its strength can probably withstand a full strike from a lord-level Devourer."
Engineering Minister Penny stared at the data on the dashboard that broke the limits of cognition, her fingers trembled:
"This technology... should not exist..."
"Existence is reasonable."
Kurumi jumped down from the control panel, "Now, it’s your turn to fulfill your promises."
--------------------------------------
The fourth day, four o'clock in the morning.
The elite hunters emerged in full force.
Twenty modified 'Howling Sky' type gravity units—Kurumi's product after three days of violent modification.
Joints lubricated with universal lubricants, weapons loaded with high-frequency vibration modules, armor mixed with starlight alloys, each unit exuding an "unapproachable" aura.
Mark's gravity unit was painted dark gold, with reinforced shoulder pads, and four sets of vector nozzles on its back resembling raptor wings.
"Mission objective: Escort Kurumi to the outer twenty kilometers of the bloody whirlpool." He said in the communication channel, his voice cold and hard as iron, "Do not engage, do not advance, collect data and withdraw immediately. Those with objections, exit now."
The channel was filled only with breathing sounds.
"Set off."
The convoy drove out of the lighthouse's shadow, rolling over the road of ruins that had not seen human footprints for seven years.
The closer to the bloody whirlpool, the more abnormal the sky turned red.
The Mana Blossom emerged from the ground, swaying and scattering crimson spores.
The air was thick with sweet and fishy odors, the concentration of spirit breath was too high—also a signal of the Devourers' revelry.
"Three kilometers ahead, the first wave of beast tides."
Feixue's sniper-type gravity unit issued a warning, her voice tense, "Over two hundred in number, mixed types, including snake dogs, Earth Roars, and—"
The ground shook.
A hulking figure stood up from behind the ruins, concrete debris falling off its body.
Fifteen meters tall, covered in ivory white bone armor, with drill-shaped bone spikes at the ends of its four arms.
The skull seemed to be roughly stitched together from three kinds of creatures, with three pairs of crimson eyes irregularly distributed on the face.
"Devourer lord..."
Ran Bing's voice was dry, "Codename 'Crusher'. Last time we encountered, we left behind eight gravity unit wrecks to escape."
Kurumi poked her head out from the specially made vehicle—a dog house with a cannon—squinting to look.
"This thing, I've seen it in the database."
It jumped down from the vehicle, landing on all fours, "The weak point is at the second joint under the armpit, the bone plate has a seam, directly leading to the core of the spirit breath."
"Easier said than done."
Mo Cheng gritted his teeth, "That monster's arm is thicker than the load-bearing column, how do we get close?"
"Watch."
Kurumi moved.
No detours, straight charge.
The Crusher smashed down with all four arms, like four siege hammers falling from the sky!
Kurumi weaved through the shadow of the hammer, each step leaving cracks on the concrete road.
It leaped onto the first arm, running along the arm bone, claws scraping sparks off the bone plates.
The Crusher swung its arm, trying to throw it off.
Kurumi leaped into the air, her tail hooking onto the second arm joint, using its force to swing toward the monster's chest.
The third arm swept over, bringing with it a howling wind!
This time Kurumi did not dodge.
Its right front claw clenched into a fist, the muscles in its hind legs exploded with power—
"Bang!!"
Fist bones collided with bone spikes!
The shockwave exploded in a circular pattern, shattering all the glass within fifty meters!
The Crusher's arm was forced off course, and Kurumi took the opportunity to kick its chest, her body shooting toward its armpit like a cannonball.
The claw probed into the gap of the bone plate, clenched tightly, and pulled out—
A fist-sized, violently pulsating crimson crystal was pulled out, like squeezing a heart.
The Crusher froze, its massive body began to collapse, and the spirit breath surged out like a flood breaking through a dam.
Kurumi landed and casually tossed the crystal into her backpack.
"Next."
The beast tide stilled for a moment.
Then it went completely mad.
Over two hundred Devourers pounced from all directions, their crimson eyes forming a wave of death.
"Fire!" Mark shouted angrily.
Twenty gravity units opened fire completely, high-frequency vibrating bullets tore through the air, and wherever they passed, the Devourers fell in droves—this time they truly fell, the spirit breath shattered and could not recombine.
Kurumi wove through the beast herd.
It no longer used techniques; it was pure aesthetic violence.
A snake dog pounced, one claw smashed the skull, the sound of shattered bones was like crushing walnuts.
The Earth Roar drilled up from underground, stepping down, crushing the entire monster back into the ground, the concrete surface exploding with spiderweb-like cracks.
Three Devourers surrounded, their tails sweeping, three bodies simultaneously breaking in half, spilling intestines and spirit breath everywhere.
Crimson blood mixed with thick spirit breath into mist, yet Kurumi's white fur remained unstained by blood.
Like white lightning, it tore through the crimson tide, leaving behind only dismembered limbs and silence.
Mark looked at the monitor screen wearing the mask, his heart rate skyrocketing to one hundred and four.
This was not a battle at all.
It was a crushing slaughter.
Ten minutes later.
The beast tide was annihilated.
The ruins were filled with the remains of the Devourers, and the spirit breath scattered like fireflies, dyeing the sky a deeper crimson.
Kurumi walked back to the vehicle, flicking her claw: "Continue."
The convoy moved in silence.
After this journey, there were no more large-scale attacks.
Scattered Devourers saw this team from a distance and surprisingly turned to flee—these monsters had learned to fear.
--------------------------------------
Three hours and forty-seven minutes later.
Edge of the bloody whirlpool.
A gigantic whirlpool with a diameter of over ten kilometers, composed of pure crimson spirit breath, slowly spun like a nebula.
The center of the whirlpool was unfathomably deep, as if directly connected to the Earth's core.
The air was thick like gelatin, every breath seared the trachea.
"Just stop here." Mark's gravity unit halted, the dashboard began to flash malfunction warnings, "If we go any further, all electronic devices will malfunction."
Kurumi jumped out of the vehicle, looking up at the bloody whirlpool.
"Beautiful and breathtaking." It whispered, "But also disgustingly ugly."
He took out more than a dozen metal detectors from his backpack, and with a flick of his claw, the detectors flew toward different directions of the bloody whirlpool like a swarm of bees.
"Data collection takes thirty minutes." Kurumi turned, "Guard well."
As soon as the words fell.
The bloody whirlpool suddenly accelerated its rotation!
The ground exploded with seven cracks, and seven Devourer lords crawled out simultaneously!
Each one is larger and more distorted than the Crusher.
Some had bone wings on their backs, some had six long-legged appendages, and some were covered in wriggling eyeballs...
"Mana ecological defense mechanism..." Feixue's voice was dry like sandpaper, "It has detected us."
Seven lords, plus the endless tide of beasts surging in from all directions.
A true deadlock.
Mark took a deep breath, the air was filled with a bloody sweetness: "Hunter——"
He hadn't finished speaking.
Kurumi took off her backpack and placed it on the ground.
The movement was light, like handling fragile items.
"This library initially just wanted to collect data."
The backpack opened automatically.
Endless light surged forth, that was not light, but a solidified energy torrent, spreading like a tsunami.
Wherever it passed, the concrete ruins were ground to powder, and steel bars melted into molten iron.
In the light, Kurumi's figure began to change.
Expand, stretch, reorganize.
Three seconds.
The light dissipated.
What stood in place was no longer a Shiba Inu.
It's a giant beast over twenty meters long.
Completely snow-white, with hair standing like steel needles. Four claws touched the ground, the claw tips pierced the ground like inserting into tofu.
Three pairs of light wings slowly unfolded from behind, each wing made of pure energy, cutting the air and emitting a high-frequency hum.
The skull was still dog-shaped, but the eyes burned with molten gold-like flames.
It lowered its head, looking at the seven Devourer lords.
Opening her mouth, her voice rumbled like thunder rolling over the ruins:
"Now—"
"This library will teach you what despair means."
The first lord—a flying type with bone wings on its back—was the first to pounce, its wings tearing through the air!
Kurumi (giant beast form) did not dodge, raised her right front claw, and slapped down.
Simple, brutal.
"Boom——!!"
The ground collapsed, creating a giant pit with a diameter of fifty meters, and the shockwave exploded in a circular pattern.
That lord was smashed into the pit, its bone wings shattered into powder, and spirit breath gushed out like a fountain.
The second lord—a monster with eyes all over its body—spat out corrosive spirit breath beams from the side.
Kurumi's light wings fluttered.
A hurricane suddenly rose, wind speeds exceeding seventeen levels.
The beam was rolled back, drenching that lord.
Eyeballs exploded in corrosion, like a string of bloody firecrackers.
The third and fourth lords jumped up simultaneously to attack from above and below.
Kurumi opened her mouth—
The molten gold beam surged forth!
The beam pierced through the two lords, its residual force plowing out a thousand-meter-long furrow on the skyline, evaporating everything in its path.
The remaining three lords hesitated.
Biological instincts told them: this thing in front could not be on the same energy level.
Kurumi stepped forward.
The ground cracked, fissures spreading out for hundreds of meters.
It charged towards the beast herd.
Not a battle.
It's a crushing.
Every time the claw swung, there was a blood mist of the Devourer.
Every sweep of the tail cleared an area, dismembered limbs and remains falling like rain.
Every flap of the light wings stirred up an energy storm, tearing the Devourers into pieces, and the spirit breath was completely obliterated.
Seven minutes.
Only seven minutes.
All seven lords were annihilated.
Hundreds of ordinary Devourers, fleeing or dying.
On the crimson battlefield, only the white giant beast stood proudly, its light wings slowly folding.
It lifted its head and let out a long howl at the bloody whirlpool—
"Roar——!!"
The sound wave was like a tangible shock wave, momentarily halting the whirl of the bloody whirlpool, the surface spirit breath violently churning.
The howling stopped.
Kurumi's figure began to shrink, transforming back into Shiba Inu form, jumping back beside the vehicle.
With her backpack on, she turned to look at the Hunter team.
Twenty gravity units, all stood stiffly.
Behind the masks, every face was filled with shock, the expression of witnessing a myth descending to the mortal realm.
"Data collection is complete."
Kurumi jumped onto Mark's shoulder pad, "Withdraw."
On the way back, no one spoke.
Only the engine roared, and the distant bloody whirlpool spun in dissatisfaction, like the breath of hell.
--------------------------------------
Lighthouse, central command room.
Morgan stared at the returning footage, his cane "clattered" to the ground, rolling twice.
He opened his mouth but made no sound.
Mark stood below, expressionless, but his clenched hand trembled: "If it weren't for it, we wouldn't all be able to return today."
Kurumi squatted at the control panel, her claws tapping rapidly on the keyboard.
"Bloody whirlpool data analysis completed."
It pressed the last key, "The Mana ecological core is a 'planetary-level life seed', reshaping itself using Earth's ecology. To solve it completely, the seed must be dug out."
"Dig it out?" Ran Bing's voice was tense, "How do we dig?"
"Use greater force than it." Kurumi grinned, her canine teeth gleaming coldly, "But that's a matter for later. Now—"
It took out twenty colorful crystals from its backpack, throwing one to each hunter team member.
"Souvenir."
Mark took the crystal, feeling warm and smooth, with energy pulsating inside: "What is this again?"
"Kurumi crystal, limited edition." Kurumi jumped down from the control panel, "Holding it can accelerate cellular regeneration, delay aging, and enhance physical fitness. Insert it into your gravity unit's energy slot, it can last for three hours—use it to save your life, don’t waste it."
It walked towards the door, its figure began to fade.
"The engine is repaired, the weaknesses of the Devourers have been taught, and the souvenirs have been distributed."
Turning back, the canine tooth glinted under the light.
"Next, whether it's life or death, it's up to you."
The white shadow was about to dissipate.
Morgan suddenly propped himself up, his aging hand reaching into the air: "Wait!"
Kurumi stopped.
The old man's throat rolled, finally squeezing out three words: "... Thank you."
"You're welcome." Kurumi tilted her head, "By the way, remember to lubricate the gravity unit. The creaking sound bothers me."
The white shadow completely disappeared.
In the command room, there was a long silence.
Mark gripped the crystal tightly, looking out the window.
The distant bloody whirlpool was still crimson as blood.
But for some reason, he felt that red...
It seemed a little paler.
At least tonight, I can sleep well.
--------------------------------------
The gap between worlds.
Kurumi flipped the collected mana ecological data, her tail swaying in boredom.
"Planetary-level life seed... interesting."
With a swipe of his claw, over a dozen light books appeared before him.
(Assassin Wu Liuqi)(Zhenhun Street)(Agent of Time)(Bounty Hunter)...
The claw stopped at (Assassin Wu Liuqi).
"I heard that in that world, assassins rank by the number of kills?"
Kurumi's eyes lit up.
"This library is going to climb the rankings, should be able to make the top three right?
-------------------------------------
Kurumi suddenly paused, her dog ears twitching, as if recalling some amusing story.
It took out a crystal from its backpack, aimed it at a nonexistent light source in the void, and the data torrent flowing inside the crystal vaguely flashed several familiar logos——₿, ... , and a bunch of wildly jumping K-lines.
"Oh right, I just used 'Universal Dog View' to take a glance at your dimension's financial tricks."
It grinned, its canine teeth glinting with a narrow light, "#比特币VS代币化黄金 BTC and gold tokenization, making a racket like the evil spirits of Shura Street fighting for incense."
Her claws drew two illusory trajectory lines in the air.
"A group of people shouting 'digital gold is the future', while another group roars 'physical gold never fades'."
Kurumi pointed at the two lines with her tail tip, "If I may say—"
It suddenly tied two lines "pop" into a knot.
"By the time you all argue out the results, everyone here will have had a hundred rounds of grass on their graves."
"The ashes have weathered into soil, the soil nourished new grass, and the new grass has been eaten by newcomers."
"But BTC is still bouncing on the chain."
"The gold is still moldy in the vault."
"And my Kurumi crystal—"
It tossed the crystal high into the air, then caught it steadily.
"Still in the universal doghouse, waiting for the next one to be dug out as a hand warmer."
The white shadow sank into the pages.
The last mumble drifted away:
"Inheritance, this is what it is."
"You think you’re transmitting wealth, but what you're really passing on is... who can withstand time better."
"Woof."
ps: Comment, like, and share, this library will grant you a crystal (#Kurumi) for eternal life
