Chapter 529: Modified Stray Dogs, Dog Five's Underground Base, Surveillance

"Everyone, attention! Enemy spotted at ten o'clock, prepare for combat!"

"Target count: eight, distance: three hundred meters, movement speed increasing, suspected canine creatures..."

"Roger!"

Alpha's orders came swiftly as Yu Yuan headed for the Command Vehicle.

Soon, Yu Yuan saw the targets for himself.

Just as Alpha had said, it really was a pack of stray dogs.

They were clearly not ordinary dogs—each bore varying signs of mutation, with mouths stretched grotesquely wide and fangs much longer than those of regular canines.

It felt as if all their stat points had been poured into attack.

But they probably weren't Bronze-tier creatures.

Because his Combat Detector hadn't lit up with any red dots.

The pack stopped about seventy to eighty meters from the Pioneering Group, standing atop mechanical wreckage, looking down at the convoy from a height. A drone transmitted this scene back with perfect clarity.

Yu Yuan's expression grew serious, and Alpha simultaneously sensed something wrong.

"King, they seem to be observing us!"

The drone footage zoomed in rapidly, revealing close-ups of these dogs' faces.

Alpha was right.

These eight stray dogs stood at different positions, thoroughly scrutinizing the Pioneering Group from every angle. Their eyes were sharp, constantly shifting between the armored vehicles. One dog stared intently at the drone, while two others locked their gazes on the [M-Type Source Core Mechanical Titan].

Looking at them now, these weren't stray dogs at all—they were a well-trained reconnaissance squad.

"Alpha, take them out and see what's going on," Yu Yuan said softly.

"Eagle Eye, eliminate them. Be sure to preserve the heads," Alpha ordered.

"Roger!"

With Alpha's command, Eagle Eye moved quickly.

Seventy to eighty meters was a piece of cake for Eagle Eye.

Hell, even the Firepower Squad could handle that distance with ease. The only reason Eagle Eye was handling it was to err on the side of caution.

But Alpha had still underestimated these dogs' intelligence.

They seemed highly familiar and sensitive to firearms.

The moment the Sniper Team exited the armored vehicle, raised their rifles, and began aiming, the dogs had already started evasive maneuvers. The Pioneering Group's Sniper Team reacted just as swiftly.

The instant the dogs moved, Eagle Eye fired.

A bullet pierced one dog's heart, killing it on the spot.

The rest of the Sniper Team followed suit in unison.

Bang, bang, bang—

Gunfire rang out in succession.

In the end, six out of the eight dogs were taken down. The remaining two ducked behind piles of Mechanical Garbage and fled into the distance.

"Baku!" Alpha continued issuing orders.

The next second, Executor Blackfire of the Mechanical Vanguard Society had already shot off in pursuit.

Soon, the six dog carcasses were retrieved. Yu Yuan materialized his Longsword·Frost Shimmer in hand.

He swung it down at one dog's head.

"Ssshhh..."

But to his surprise, traces of electronic components appeared inside the dog's skull.

Worker Ant led his squad forward to examine the dog corpses. Blackfire also returned with the two bodies he had chased down.

One by one, electronic parts were dismantled from the dogs.

"King, these dogs were all modified by someone. The technique is crude, though—they just swapped one eye for an electronic camera and installed a positioning module with a signal transmitter. Based on the transmitter's power output, the target should be within twenty kilometers."

Yu Yuan studied the dismantled mechanical cameras and various modules with growing interest.

Every world truly had its own unique traits.

These stray dogs had mutated into deformed creatures due to chemical leaks from the Mechanical Garbage.

The people of this world, in turn, used the mechanical waste to turn the dogs into mobile sentries.

"Interesting!"

He looked at Alpha.

"Stay on alert. Head to the shelter first."

"Roger!"

---

Deep inside a mountain of Mechanical Garbage, eighteen kilometers from the Pioneering Group, a small underground base was hidden here.

Calling it a small base was generous—it looked more like a mechanical repair workshop.

All kinds of densely packed mechanical parts were arranged in a specific order, following some unique logic. This seemed to be a characteristic of this world.

At the far end of the base, a sliding door made from a few metal panels cordoned off the rear area.

Inside, a modification surgery was underway.

A sedated stray dog lay on an alloy slab. Its eye had been removed, and a camera shaped like an eyeball was being installed into the socket, connected to a signal transmitter...

The surgery proceeded without a hitch, as if it had been performed countless times before.

The metal sliding door was pushed open, and a man with disheveled hair looked inside.

"Five, eight of our dog sentries just got killed. I think you should come see this."

Dog Five's hands paused briefly, and his eyes narrowed.

The scar across his right eye made his eyelid twitch slightly.

"Eight? Where did they die?" His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping across metal.

"Right near the 'Mechanic's' territory!"

"Hm? Did the Mechanic make the move?"

"No, but... I saw at least a hundred-man force, plus a bunch of armored vehicles... and... one giant crab-like mechanical creature..."

At those words, Dog Five's face registered a moment of shock.

"What did you say?"

"A hundred-man force? And armored vehicles?"

The newcomer gave a wry smile.

"Yeah, so I figured you should see it for yourself."

Dog Five immediately turned to his assistant.

"Finish the rest!" He had already shed his bloodstained surgical gown and was heading out.

The two of them passed through an underground fungal cultivation area and a living zone before arriving at a room with three computers.

On the wall hung a large display screen that had been salvaged from somewhere, with the video paused.

As Dog Five's gaze fell on it, the footage began playing.

The camera weaved through Mechanical Garbage, running at high speed—this was the feed transmitted by the dog's camera earlier.

As the dog climbed onto a heap of junk, the massive, unfamiliar convoy appeared seventy to eighty meters away.

Dog Five's pupils contracted instantly.

His mouth fell slightly open, revealing an expression of utter disbelief.

"What is this? Are they the Mechanic's men?"

Similar full-body mechanical armor. Similar giant mechanical creatures.

Everything suggested they had some connection to the Mechanic.

Except the Mechanic had controlled a giant mechanical wolf before, while this group controlled a giant mechanical crab.

And...

Dog Five's gaze settled on the armored vehicles.

He hadn't seen armored vehicles in a very long time.

Judging by their condition, they bore some battle scars, but compared to the Mechanical Garbage around them, they looked practically brand new.

After staring at the surveillance footage for a few minutes, a gleam flashed in Dog Five's eyes.

"Contact me old Kur..."