A faint hiss echoed from somewhere above, high-pitched and alien. Lingquan's form blurred as he moved ahead, projecting a low-frequency scanner to trace the source.
"We got a real hassle on our hands.." he muttered. "It's not just hunting. It's learning, adapting. Every signal we emit, every movement, it catalogs and adapts to it.."
Qingran's hand tightened on her weapon. "Then we hit before it adapts further. Stay sharp."
Fang Yuxi's voice came through the comms, tense but controlled. "Ruihuang…contact. Small hostiles… five. Moving toward the junction."
"Engage carefully." Qingran ordered. "No rushing. Draw them into the kill zone near Sector B's reinforced hall."
The first engagement began, not to the creature itself, but the test of its young. Shadows darted along walls, claws clicking on metal floors, and Fang Yuxi's calculated shots found their marks.
Ruihuang moved with precision, intercepting the faster ones before they could reach the junction.
