"Come on down, Shen Cong, let's race! Ha ha, ground rules first: doggy paddle only." Brother Dao was swimming happily around the volcanic lake, with no idea at all that danger was coming.

Shen Cong was a different story.

The particle-grade pressure that had come and gone was growing clearer and clearer.

There was no mistaking it now. A particle-grade evolved beast really was in this volcanic lake. Swords gripped and shields braced, he spread his Third Eye Radar over the whole lake, his eyes wary but with a flicker of excitement in them too.

Every particle-grade evolved beast might be hiding a secret for raising Talent.

Shen Cong had planned to travel thousands of kilometers to the Greater Khingan range in the Northeast just to find that particle-grade brown bear. He'd never expected to run into a particle-grade evolved beast here too.

It felt like stumbling onto a jackpot the moment he stepped out the door.

As the particle-grade pressure grew clearer, the brain-dead Space Brother Dao finally noticed the unusual radiative fluctuation too. Its carefree doggy paddle stopped short. By now it had swum to the middle of the volcanic lake, where the lava's buoyancy let it float on the surface.

There was no reading the dog's face, but its eyes turned serious.

"Something's off, Shen Cong. I can feel someone peeping at the gorgeous body of yours truly, Brother Dao!"

Before it could even finish the sentence, the whole surface of the volcanic lake, churning and steaming but calm until then, suddenly began to shake. The next moment, Brother Dao got its wish and "flew."

Not that it was really flying.

It was rising fast with the lava. This wasn't an eruption. Beneath it, lava streamed away on every side, and out of the lava rose something enormous and round. The round thing kept rising out of the lava lake, getting longer and longer, until it looked something like a football.

The short diameter of the oval was around thirty meters, and it lifted Brother Dao high in the air.

"Whoa, what is this thing? It scared…