Amidst the tidal wave of the Insect Race army, Pei Yan gazed into the night sky that had vanished from view. What he feared most had come to pass; this red space indeed showed no signs of halting its expansion even as he fought.

However, there was some good news: at the farthest reach of Pei Yan's Mechanical Eye, a clearing had finally started to appear. Seeing that the swarm was not truly endless allowed him to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Although surrounded heavily, Pei Yan was not particularly nervous. Judging from the current combat situation, these insects had little to offer aside from sheer numbers. Their back Scale Armor was indeed thick, able to withstand dozens of hits from a metal storm before being pierced, but when faced with the onslaught of an electromagnetic cannon, they were pierced like thin paper. Their primary mode of attack relied on the viscous pink slime they sprayed from their mouths.

Pei Yan sacrificed a Mechanical Clone to test the slime's power. It was adhesive and corrosive; from a single insect, it wasn't much, but the combined effect from the whole swarm was terrifying. To counter this, Pei Yan led the other Mechanical Clones to continually ascend, staying just out of the slime's range, and used long-range weapons to shoot down the worms.

During battle lulls, Pei Yan's gaze often glanced at the sky. He then realized why a group of people, capable of flight, seemed confined to low altitudes. Above his head, a thin, viscous scarlet mist enveloped the entire sky. Pei Yan had previously sent dozens of Nanomechanical Insects to probe this mist, but unfortunately, the moment they touched it, they were swallowed and vanished without a trace, unable to transmit any information back.

Faced with such an unknown entity without reinforcements or a retreat route, Pei Yan dared not easily attempt anything. The best solution in the current situation was to escape the swarm's encirclement by using ultralow-level flight with the cover of Mechanical Clones. However, he didn't do this, not because he didn't want to, but because the Lin Junzhao inside him became excited.

Indeed, Lin Junzhao was even more excited than Pei Yan, repeatedly commanding him in his mind not to retreat and to kill as many insects as possible. She even seemed eager to take over and personally control Pei Yan's body to join the battle, but for some reason, after hesitating for a while, she did not do so. Her eagerness and greed to slaughter these insects, however, were still vividly apparent.

Pei Yan was already puzzled and startled by Lin Junzhao's instigation to come to the Hell Realm for special training alone. Her abnormal reaction now piqued his interest even more. Upon careful reflection, he finally discovered the reason: every time he killed an insect, although its corpse was devoured by its companions, a wisp of energy would drift into the air at the moment of its death, being absorbed into the scarlet mist above, and each time, Lin Junzhao within him would secretly act to absorb this energy. After a moment of concentration, Pei Yan was pleasantly surprised to find that his internal powers had become more refined and flowed more smoothly. It seemed that the changes in the Hell Realm were indeed connected to Lin Junzhao; she must have known something was up, which was why she urged him to come here.

"Since the energy emanated from these insects upon death goes into the sky, why don't we go absorb that red mist in the sky since it would be faster?" Pei Yan didn't have time to think much about Lin Junzhao's secrets. His desire and greed for power led him to focus on the red mist in the sky, which in his eyes, stripped of its previous dread, seemed endearing.

"Stop overthinking! Your caution is warranted. That thing isn't something you can covet right now! Be content to patiently build your strength!" Lin Junzhao sternly advised.

Since she said so, Pei Yan begrudgingly withdrew his gaze and refocused on the battlefield. Motivated by the incentive to strengthen himself, Pei Yan completely cast aside his worries and summoned another thirty Mechanical Clones, making a total of sixty Clones, all centered around him, reaping the lives of the insect swarm en masse.

As he felt the continuous flow of energy pouring into his body, Pei Yan suddenly experienced a sense of gaining experience points by slaying monsters in a game. Previously, battles were exhausting and yielded no reward; now, this feeling of leveling up by crushing weaklings was immensely satisfying.

As he was engulfed in the exhilarating sense of his core powers rising, the battlefield shifted again. Mechanical Clones on the periphery sent back a message; the previous humanoid squad was clearing worms and approaching their side.

Upon receiving this information, Pei Yan collected his thoughts and directed his attention beyond the defensive perimeter. Compared to his leisurely demeanor, this group appeared much more harried by the worms. Pei Yan had noticed earlier that the scarlet mist above, which had little effect on him as long as he kept his distance, seemed to exert a powerful suppressive force on this group. During combat, they attempted to evade worm attacks by flying into the air multiple times, but shortly they would descend back to the ground, unable to bear it, and continue their struggle against the worms.

Having gained so much benefit, Pei Yan's resentment towards this group had dissipated a lot. Even so, he had no intention of playing the hero to rescue them. Positioned at the center of protection, he quietly watched this squad pay the price of losing an eagle-headed creature before finally reaching the outer edge of his Mechanical Clones' defense circle.

Seeing the relentless Mechanical Legion, the other party dared not rush in. After the apparent leader, a female humanoid, argued with her companions and seemingly reached a consensus, she charged through the worms' encirclement with her comrades' protection and yelled at the Mechanical Clones.

Hearing this, Pei Yan was initially taken aback but then quickly understood something and immediately put on a translation headset. After listening to the message again, a jubilant smile spread across his face.

The other party introduced herself as Sifuer, a Hell Realm creature, wanting to meet and talk. Pei Yan didn't know what she intended to discuss, but this was a great opportunity. The investigation department had long sought to understand what was actually happening in the Hell Realm. Previously, Gu Shenghui led a team into the Hell Realm's battle, but due to the imminent closure of the space barrier, they couldn't investigate deeply. That Hell Realm task force managed only one survivor, severely injured, and after conveying a few brief messages, fell into a coma and is still under treatment, providing no solid intelligence.

Besides enhancing his own strength, Pei Yan's primary mission this time was to gather precise information on alien beings. According to Gu Shenghui, two-thirds of the Hell Realm had already fallen. Pei Yan had anticipated it would take great effort to encounter Hell Realm's creatures. Unexpectedly, the opportunity presented itself.

Pei Yan pondered briefly then made a decision. Ordering the Mechanical Clones to make way, he used a voice translator through a loudspeaker to call out, "Come in, we can talk! But only you!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.