Chapter Eight: Upheaval

“Damn, I knew it—those three bastards want to hog everything for themselves!”

Outside the warehouse, a group of people quietly followed the path Yang Qi had taken earlier.

“Xu, you make the call. We’ll follow your lead!”

“Yeah, yeah, we all listen to Xu!”

“Should we just tie those three up?”

Including Xu himself, eight people had come along. This meant their team made up nearly a tenth of all Earthlings who had just arrived on Blue Vast Star.

“Enough. Let’s go over and talk to them first,” the shirtless man in the middle said calmly, raising his hand.

In reality, Xu Hao was the kind of rich kid who wasn’t at the very top, but his family was still worth over a billion. After arriving on Blue Vast Star, he immediately saw a business opportunity. He recruited teammates by offering one hundred thousand yuan each, hoping to get a jump on the rest.

“Xu, one of those three looks like the guy who was trying to cozy up to Chief Yan earlier. Who knows what they’re planning?” The first man to speak whispered, his voice tinged with malice.

These initial shells had been made using gene templates imported from the Yan family medical base. The production line randomly combined high-quality genes, but because the base’s stock was limited, all the shells ended up looking more or less the same. If it weren’t for the unique chip codes inside each one, you couldn’t tell them apart.

The guy next to Xu hadn’t even recognized Chen Xu. He’d said this only to prevent Xu from recruiting Ye Han’s group and threatening his own standing on the team.

“Enough. Just go and ask them, like I said.”

Impatient, Xu Hao waved him off. As a rich kid, he’d seen this kind of petty trickery too many times to count.

“Right away! I’m going!” The man took the scolding in stride and shamelessly made his way toward the warehouse.

“Someone’s coming!” Hearing the noise outside, Ye Han frowned. These people really weren’t taking the mutant beasts seriously. Even he had been extra cautious entering the place.

“What do we do?” Chen Xu glanced at the row of virtual helmets in the warehouse, suddenly at a loss.

“We found this place first—let’s just fight them!” Yang Qi growled, unwilling to see the helmets snatched away.

Ye Han shook his head at the two, who were all talk and no action. “I’ll see if there’s anything useful in the warehouse.”

At this point, they were all unarmed. Whoever could gain an advantage would have the upper hand. Words alone wouldn’t cut it.

Hearing this, Chen Xu and Yang Qi looked at each other, suddenly realizing the truth, and rushed into the warehouse.

“Damn it, Xu! Those bastards aren’t negotiating—they’re just running around!” The man who’d entered the warehouse saw Ye Han’s group rummaging around instead of coming over to talk. A glint of cunning flashed in his eyes, and he shouted back.

His shout startled the green-haired turtle lurking beside the production line. Awakened, the mutant turtle raised its head, saw a line of fresh meat standing there, and let out an excited roar.

Food delivered right to its mouth!

The green-haired turtle lumbered toward them.

Xu Hao finally noticed the creature. “What the hell is that thing?!”

The mutant turtle stood up, its fur trailing to the ground, looking like a small hill.

“Shit, how are we supposed to kill that?!”

Seeing the turtle charge their way, Xu Hao’s group panicked and bolted for the warehouse.

“This is all your fault, you idiot!” Xu Hao slapped the man who’d shouted, then kicked him to the ground. “Get out there and draw that thing away!”

Kneeling, legs shaking, the man sobbed, “Xu, I didn’t know there was a monster!”

It might have looked like a turtle, but thanks to evolution, it moved quickly. In just a few seconds, it closed the hundred-meter gap to less than thirty meters—about as fast as a human sprinter.

“Useless! You can’t do anything right!” Xu Hao, furious that the man refused to leave the warehouse, kicked him in the face. “What are you idiots waiting for? Go find weapons, you morons!”

“Hurry, there’s a pile of alloy sheets by the production line!” Ye Han, seeing the turtle about to burst in, grabbed a piece of alloy and rushed out. Other than helmets and virtual pods, the warehouse only had scrap metal near the production line, so he just grabbed a handy piece.

“Did you hear that? Move!” Xu Hao, seeing Ye Han run out, felt a surge of adrenaline and ordered his group to do the same.

“Grab weapons and attack! Five grand for anyone who dies and respawns!” Xu Hao shouted as he ran for the alloy. The brief terror had been replaced by a twisted thrill—this was more exciting than anything he’d ever done.

As Ye Han dashed out, Yang Qi and Chen Xu also grabbed pieces of alloy and followed.

“All talk, no action,” Chen Xu muttered, shooting Xu Hao a scornful look as he passed. He felt no goodwill toward this potential rival. The turtle had to be dealt with eventually, but drawing it to the warehouse was foolish—if any helmets were damaged, it would be a huge loss.

“You’ve got some nerve! Say that again!” Xu Hao, provoked by Chen Xu’s taunt, rushed forward as if to slap him, but Chen Xu dodged and followed Ye Han toward the turtle.

Seeing them charge, Yang Qi hesitated for a moment, then slowed his pace.

“Xu, you don’t need to stoop to his level,” Yang Qi said, trying to ingratiate himself. In real life, he’d learned the hard way that connections were everything. Compared to Ye Han and Chen Xu, Xu Hao seemed to have more potential.

Xu Hao glanced at him, then at Ye Han, who was about to clash with the turtle outside. He smirked. “Not bad, kid.”

“Thank you, Xu,” Yang Qi replied with a smile, then rushed out, not even leaving a contact.

…

“This thing’s got skin like armor!”

Ye Han narrowly dodged a snapping bite and brought the alloy sheet down on the turtle’s paw with all his strength, barely breaking the skin. This wasn’t working.

With his current mental strength, he could control the clone body with ease, but it wasn’t enough. He’d tire out eventually—and then, one slip, and he’d be swallowed.

Thankfully, Chen Xu joined the fight, giving them both a moment to breathe.

“This old turtle’s armor is off the charts!” Chen Xu said, slashing at the shell. “It’s like giving it a massage! Nothing gets through!”

“Just keep it busy for now!” Ye Han shouted, hacking at the turtle’s tail. The turtle was fast in a straight line, but its massive body made it clumsy. As long as they avoided head-on collisions, it wasn’t too dangerous.

Soon, Yang Qi joined the fray. With three people leading the charge, the rest of Xu Hao’s group gradually overcame their fear and joined in—four, five, even Xu Hao himself, furious at discovering the monster was a turtle, threw himself into the fight.

But with more people, Ye Han found himself restricted. Meanwhile, Chen Xu was starting to tire.

They exchanged a glance, made a decision, and quickly withdrew.

The turtle, battered by the crowd, rampaged in all directions as its stamina waned. Its shell was crisscrossed with wounds, but Ye Han knew they were all superficial.

“I’ll check near the production line for something useful!” Ye Han tossed his alloy sheet aside and turned to Chen Xu. “They’ve got the numbers now—get everyone else over here.”

Besides this old turtle, the other mutant creatures in the factory district—ant nests, spider colonies—hadn’t yet evolved to the first tier. They were bigger and tougher, but still acted on animal instinct and weren’t dangerous if approached carefully. Clearing the place wouldn’t be hard.

“Be careful,” Chen Xu said, glancing at Yang Qi, who was now hovering near Xu Hao, a trace of irritation on his face. They all knew how the world worked. If someone kept orbiting around Xu Hao, it was no accident.

Watching Chen Xu leave, Ye Han wasted no time. He slipped away toward the production line, hiding in a spot where no one could see him.

“If normal methods won’t cut it, I’ll just cheat!” he muttered, making sure he was out of sight and there were no cameras. Then he severed the brainwave connection from his consciousness, going offline, and pulled his awareness back to his real body on Earth.