“Brother Feng?”

Other than the two worried-looking, casual Silvermoon City players who had moved aside and were on their guard, the others weren’t all that concerned about the prizes on the floor. Rather, they looked toward Feng Luo.

“Apologies to have troubled everyone!”

Feng Luo had already returned to normal, showing a slightly apologetic smile. He put away Ghost Weep, which had slashed a few heads in battle to prevent them from mutating into Elite infected hosts, returning it to his tactical vest!

“Big Brother Feng, you’re being too nice to us,” Skynet said, looking over at the black empty hotel main building. As if he concealed a lethal crisis, a grave expression appeared on his face. “That brat’s arrogant! We’ve been longing to finish him! But without them, it probably isn’t possible for us to finish this Giant Octopus. Why don’t we retreat to the VIP zone first and defend? We successfully contacted Older Brother Dan Hen and the others once just now. He said that they’d be able to get over here very quickly!”

“No, this Commander monster wouldn’t be giving us that much time,” Feng Luo said to the others, shaking his head, “and they would be unable to come up onto the platform. Then it’d be hard for them to join the battle!”

He once again using the scope of the Eye of the Thunder to observe whether there was any movement in the hole opposite them.

As for his choice to kill the Scout player and the other three, he didn’t regret it. His prior actions hadn’t been decisions made on impulse.

Everyone knew that the Scout profession played a major role in any team. But if he intended to cause a ruckus, it would also be easy for him to secretly sabotage someone. Among everyone, only he was able to obtain the correct HP of a Commander monster. He was also able to possess most skills (even if he was not necessarily able to obtain them all).

Since the conflict had already reached the point of no return, the Scout was clearly no longer able to cooperate well with them. Thus, the best choice was to finish off an unstable element in advance so as to prevent the next battle from being affected!

Yes, the next battle! Now four people short—with only the individuals on the platform—it would be impossible to face the Octopus Commander. But what about with pets?

******

Tch, tch!

With a flash of white light, 24K, which was like a piece of gold, was already flapping its wings and landed on the SUV top combat uniform on Feng Luo’s shoulder.

“A pet?”

Everyone stared at 24K on Feng Luo’s shoulder with doubt on their faces.

Regarding Feng Luo summoning his pet all of a sudden, they were a bit curious—and clueless. Due to the T-Virus’s powerful infectious ability, most pets were unable to escape from it. Many players’ pets had gone insane after being infected, then were freed from the players’ control and attacked their owners, even being deemed “dead” by the system!

The punishment for the death of pets in War was quite strict, and the credits required for revival were high. Thus, in such an environment, where death came so easily, no one would let their pets out. And in any case, normal pets facing a Giant Octopus Commander were indeed not of much use!

“Ah! Big Brother Feng, why have you let 24K out?” asked Azure. “Aren’t you afraid it might be infected?”

The little girl Azure had joy in her eyes. Yesterday, at the Withered Desert, the gold-like 24K had already gained the admiration of three female players.

“He ought to have some strength, having eaten so many credits’ worth of Crystals.”

Feng Luo smiled. Then, through his Mental Link, he ordered 24K—currently expressing affection toward him—to engage the Wormhole.

Feng Luo’s decision not to summon 24K to join the battle previously wasn’t because he deliberately wanted privacy. In reality, it was because 24K hadn’t been suited for battle!

Previously, 24K had lost its entire Psionic Energy index in the battle with that Black Beetle Commander before. Luckily, it had later leveled up, in addition to its gradual recovery over time. But its Psionic Energy was still at less than one-third.

But what truly affected 24K’s combat power was the situation of the beetle army! In the previous battle, the combat beetle army that Feng Luo had been accumulating for so long had all entered the battlefield. Although they had triumphed in the end, not many of them were left. And almost all of the remaining beetle forces had lost or broken legs, had shattered shells, and were seriously lacking HP.

The recovery of normal beetle forces was not as fast as that of players! After a beetle was returned to the Wormhole, it would need at least a day’s time to fully recover its HP. If one had a broken limb, a broken tail, or any other injury, it would need a few days to regenerate new ones and fully regain its combat power!

Therefore, these beetle forces now weren’t suitable to be summoned to battle now. Especially going up against a Level-50 Giant Octopus Commander, it definitely would be a horrifying loss!

Feng Luo had previously been very tolerant toward those from the North City, and it was for this reason—because he didn’t really want to let his precious beetle army be used here. This could be considered a hidden trump card up his sleeve—a card he was only prepared to use in order to protect Old John and the others from being surrounded on the ground when met with a huge number of zombies!

But the Scout player had been too self-confident and arrogant. In order to avoid being stabbed in the back, Feng Luo decided not to keep him around!

And there was another factor. Almost all of these remaining Spray, Steel, and Bladed Beetles were Elite-grade beetles. The death of a normal beetle wasn’t a big deal, but the death of an Elite-grade beetle would truly be a pity! Clearly, Elite beetles weren’t easy to be raised. To hatch them, one first needed at least Elite-grade monster bodies. At the same time, a higher consumption of Psionic Energy than normal beetles would be needed! Technically, 24K using up Psionic Energy for recovery each day had been used to spawn only five Level 40 and above Elite monsters, at most.

The key was that there was no guarantee that it would be an Elite-grade Beetle that hatched; in most cases, what hatched would only be a higher-leveled Normal beetle!

Feng Luo had calculated that trying to hatch Elite Beetles was an “unproductive” endeavor. Because if this Psionic Energy was used for hatching Normal beetles, the Psionic Energy consumed in one day was at least able to ensure over 10 beetles hatched, allowing the “beetle army” to form quickly!

But Feng Luo, nonetheless, had to resort to this unproductive act. This was not just because Elite beetles had much stronger combat power than Normal beetles. It was because it wasn’t just about spawning and hatching. The process of commanding through the Mental Link would also consume 24K’s Psionic Energy!

This was also the reason why, in a typical scenario, Feng Luo wouldn’t deploy all the combat beetles. Because the more beetles were summoned from the Wormhole, the higher the Psionic Energy consumed by Mental Link per unit. At the same time, consumption of Psionic Energy was also needed to maintain the Wormhole. The higher the number of beetles deployed, the longer the Wormhole needed to be maintained.

And so, the consumption of Psionic Energy on the battlefield for a Normal beetle and an Elite beetle wasn’t all that different! This also meant that Feng Luo had to walk the Elite route. After all, the combat powers of 20 Normal beetles and that of 20 Elite beetles were uncomparable!

“Clearly, this is also one of the system’s hidden restrictions. However, if I’m able to get some more Psionic Energy Crystals, perhaps the hatching rate of the Elite team can be increased. And for 24K’s evolution this time, it should at least increase in Psionic Energy, right?”

Feng Luo took a look at 24K’s state—still “evolution in progress.” Who knew when the evolution would be completed and whether it would be like the previous time, whereby a new skill had been earned?

Tch, tch!

As Feng Luo was thinking, 24K quickly opened up a Wormhole beside everyone after understanding what he meant through the Mental Link.

Feng Luo didn’t intend to let it open the Wormhole anywhere close to the tunnel. If it was too close, the Giant Octopus Commander might stretch a tentacle over, and they could all be swept below the platform or crushed to death! After all, these beetles didn’t have much HP left!

“Ah!”

“What’s this!”

“Something’s happening!”

The moment the Wormhole appeared, there was panic on the platform.

Especially from Azure, who had just been allocated a Rare-grade healing handgun and was preparing potion-injection bullets that only Doctors could use. She couldn’t help but cry out.

“Don’t panic! These are creatures summoned by my pet!” Feng Luo shouted to calm everyone down and stop the weapons that were already pointed a the black hole!

Then the first Elite beetle showed itself.

A beetle-shaped organism—with a body close nearly two meters in length and glossy black in color—moved its sectioned limbs, which were short of two. It crawled upward inside the black hole, its bulky, slightly cracked shell looking like a battle tank!