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But this was exactly what Tu Ran wanted, because from her current angle, the mutant's mouth was wide open, facing her directly.

The toad seemed to realize this too, struggling violently, trying to retreat and close its mouth. Its claws gouged deep furrows into the ground, but to no avail—it couldn't budge Tu Ran an inch.

Tu Ran raised her laser gun, aimed at its gaping mouth, and pulled the trigger.

The blade of light shot out, piercing into the toad's soft oral tissue with unstoppable force.

A sharp sizzling sound later, the toad's tongue was severed.

Because the tension had been so high before, the sudden snap sent the severed tongue whipping back, slapping onto Tu Ran.

The sticky, flaccid tongue clung to her head and face. Tu Ran stomped in disgust, hastily flinging it off, then retreated a few steps to get clear.

The toad wasn't dead.

The agony of losing its tongue made it extremely agitated, and without the tongue's constraint, it clammed its mouth shut. Tu Ran found no immediate opening.

"Croak!"

The toad lunged at her, its eyes bloodshot—it wanted revenge.

Tu Ran dodged backward. The toad's attack missed, smashing a deep pit into the ground, sending dirt flying.

Tu Ran raised an arm to shield her visor from the debris.

The toad kept leaping to crush her with its mass, determined to flatten her into pulp through sheer size.

Its offensive power wasn't strong, and its intelligence wasn't high; what made it terrifying was its impenetrable defense.

Tu Ran was forced back step by step, the forest floor riddled with countless pits from the toad's relentless assaults.

Finally, Tu Ran decided to take the offensive.

She tucked the laser gun behind her and launched herself into the air, coming down with terrifying force onto the mutant's bumpy back.

The mutant was crushed under the overwhelming pressure, its forelegs forced to bend.

Tu Ran crouched on one knee, lowering her center of gravity, grabbed two overlapping scales at the back of its neck, and activated "Super Strength" before the mutant could react.

"RRRIP—"

The tightly interlocked scales were torn apart, revealing dark green flesh beneath.

The stench of rot hit her.

Tu Ran gagged, quickly switched on her air purification device, drew her laser gun, and fired at the exposed flesh.

The blue beam pierced straight through the mutant's cervical spine from top to bottom.

Its consciousness was snuffed out in an instant, and it crashed to the ground.

Tu Ran didn't leave immediately. She drew her dagger and, fighting back nausea, rummaged around the back of its neck until she found a sparkling inner core.

Ability: [Super Elastic Leap]

Tu Ran hopped off the mutant and rejoined the other three behind the tree.

Li Rui stared at Tu Ran, her eyes practically glowing. "Sister Tu Ran, how are you so amazing?! You actually killed that giant mutant?!"

Words couldn't express her shock and admiration.

She grabbed Tu Ran's hand and clutched it to her chest. "You must be heaven-sent to save us! I always said I was lucky—how could I be so unlucky to end up in this crappy world? Turns out fate wanted me to meet Sister Tu Ran here!"

Tu Ran's face reddened at the earnest flattery, and she quickly changed the subject. "Let's talk somewhere else."

"Okay, okay!" Li Rui let go of her hand, enthusiastically endorsing her decision—a total fangirl.

Xiang Sheng and Song Bai exchanged glances, not knowing what to say about her behavior.

After putting some distance between themselves and the toad mutant's corpse, Tu Ran opened her palm, revealing the inner core she'd just dug out to the three of them.

"What's that?" Li Rui leaned in for a closer look, even poking it with her finger. "Looks like a pearl."

"And it glows—a really high-quality pearl?" Xiang Sheng guessed.

Tu Ran shook her head, pinching the core between two fingers. "This is called an inner core. It only grows naturally inside mutants. If a human eats it, they gain one of the mutant's abilities."

Li Rui's jaw dropped. "What... this... is that even possible?"

Mutants they could understand—products of specific natural conditions, big and ugly, not their fault—but inner cores? What was that about?

Tu Ran saw the disbelief in their eyes, ignored it, and continued, "This toad's ability is [Super Elastic Leap], letting it jump about ten times higher than the average human. Whoever eats this core will gain that power. Who wants to try?"

The three exchanged glances. Finally, Xiang Sheng spoke up. "I'll give it a shot."

Tu Ran didn't hand it over immediately, keeping her hand extended. "There's one more thing you need to know. Inner cores have all sorts of abilities. To my knowledge, there's one that lets you see whether others have inner cores. If someone wants to take yours, you can imagine the danger."

"Also, every inner core, once eaten, if it's dug out, the person falls into a coma and dies within a month if the core isn't recovered."

Tu Ran looked at Xiang Sheng seriously. "You need to be mentally prepared."

Listening to Tu Ran's grave explanation, Xiang Sheng began to believe her.

She nodded. "I understand. I can handle the risk."

"Good." Tu Ran handed her the core.

Xiang Sheng took it and, without hesitation, tossed it into her mouth.

Just as she was about to swallow, she noticed the core had already vanished, and a flow of energy surged through her body. Her pupils dilated as she stared at Tu Ran in disbelief.

It was real!

"Try jumping," Tu Ran prompted.

"Alright." Xiang Sheng bent her knees slightly and sprang upward.

An athletic enthusiast, she'd once measured her vertical jump at around seventy centimeters. But this time, she far exceeded that—and kept rising, with no sign of stopping.

Xiang Sheng watched the ground and Tu Ran growing farther away, her shock beyond words.

God, what kind of world was this? The height defied all known physics—Newton himself couldn't explain it.

On the ground, Li Rui and Song Bai gaped at the impossible height, speechless.

Xiang Sheng landed, bending her knees to absorb the impact. She stood up, not bothering to brush the dirt off her hands. "This is actually real!"

She still found it hard to believe, stretching her legs, kicking her feet, then hopping with the tiniest effort—which alone matched her previous personal best.

Finally, she calmed down and began to accept it. "Why is this happening? What's going on? Isn't this the world of the Classic of Mountains and Seas? I never heard of monsters there having inner cores."

"I can't explain that," Tu Ran said with a rueful smile, lowering her head. "The things I've experienced these past few months have really turned my worldview upside down."

She looked up at the three women. "I'm telling you about inner cores because the three worlds are developing connection points. Those connections might only multiply. I can't even imagine what that would bring."

"And in these three worlds, ours is at a disadvantage. I want to close that gap as soon as possible, and inner cores are our only foothold. The Tech World only recently learned about them, so they don't have much of a lead—we can still catch up."

"We're stranded in this world now. We don't know if we'll ever get back to the First World, or if everyone will make it back. So the more people who know about inner cores, the better the chance we can bring that knowledge home."