Looking up from inside the Great Rift.
There is a clear dividing line where the upper crack meets the bottom of the Niah River.
The bright water flow below and the dark river water at the bottom above seem to be keeping to themselves.
The Niah River, like a piece of black jade, covers the sky above the huge crack.
Looking from below, it is pitch black and very distant...
puff!
Ten seconds later, the hair pulled the clone puppet and stopped on a huge stone slab.
The stone slab is about five or six meters square and is in the shape of a fan.
There are obvious signs of cracks on the edges.
The thickness is about one meter.
Some mysterious lines can be vaguely seen on it.
The fan-shaped stone slab is firmly embedded in a valley that is a hundred meters in size.
When the clone puppet was pulled and stopped on the fan-shaped stone slab, Qiao Shan clearly felt that an even stronger special force was gathering towards him.
"Is this what the hair said, the astral power it occupies and its richness?"
Looking at the fan-shaped floor with obvious cracks, I felt the special power around me.
I could also sense a trace of consciousness emanating from the hair.
Qiao Shan was sure that this was the place where the hair originally occupied.
"It looks like hair accounts for 25%, 30% at most..."
Based on the remaining angle of the fan-shaped stone slab, Qiao Shan was guessing how much starlight power the hair had absorbed.
At this moment, bits of starlight are shining from the fan-shaped stone slabs.
Needless to say, Qiao Shan knew that the so-called starlight came from this stone slab.
It is also because of the starlight emitted by the stone slab that the entire large crack is filled with various star points.
"The hair is still very powerful. When people are not here, other creatures dare not come over..."
Seeing that the hair was gone, the little fish did not have any eyes, so it came over and lay on the fan-shaped stone slab.
Qiao Shan was quite surprised by this.
The closest small fish to the fan-shaped stone slab was several hundred meters away.
Qiao Shan had some understanding of the power of hair.
"Go to the area where the octopus is!"
After thinking for a while, Qiao Shan tried to transmit a consciousness to his hair.
Wow~
It actually worked.
Following Qiao Shan's consciousness, the clone puppet that fell on the fan-shaped stone slab began to move again, pulled by its hair.
The hair moved quickly in the large cracks like a dark cloud floating in liquid.
After it opens, its body reaches several hundred meters in length, and it can move flexibly and freely in the large crack.
The rocky and large fissure terrain cannot limit the speed of hair at all.
The clone puppets, which were tied up by several "ropes" extending from the hair, were of course moving quickly.
Through this opportunity, Qiao Shan saw many more scenes of the large cracks that he had not seen before.
"Um?"
A few minutes later, the clone puppet was led by the hair to a cave-like space.
Originally, the big crack was cylindrical in shape, parallel to the Niah River and located under the river.
The place where the two intersect is the big crack where Qiao Shan came in just now.
What he didn't expect was that as the huge crack continued to move upstream, it no longer intersected with the Niah River.
The gap between the two disappeared.
At this moment, the river where the hair and the puppet moved turned into a cave.
Above my head, there are no more intersecting cracks...
"The end?"
After a few more minutes, Qiao Shan discovered that the diameter of the cave was shrinking rapidly. When they reached the deepest part of the cave, the diameter of the cave was only a dozen meters.
More importantly, the cave ends.
Qiao Shan carefully observed the cave through his clone puppet, but did not find any small holes or passages.
He was sure that the big rift ended here...
"puff!"
After observing twice, Qiao Shan's eyes suddenly flickered, and he was thrown to the innermost part of the cave by the clone puppet.
A stone slab very similar to the previous fan-shaped stone slab appeared under the feet of the clone puppet.
The only difference is that the fan-shaped stone slab under your feet is now thinner.
The overall angle is only about 20 degrees...
"Is this where the octopus is?"
Looking at the fan-shaped stone slab under his feet, Qiao Shan tried to send out another consciousness.
Just now, the hair successfully received his consciousness, and he understood that Alice should have given him the highest command authority.
At the same time, because of the wisdom given by Alice, the IQ of the hair is not low at this moment.
I can understand his instructions a little bit.
Shua la la ~
Shua la la ~
Following Qiao Shan's question, his body with disheveled hair shook violently twice.
Although it cannot communicate directly with Qiao Shan, it can understand Qiao Shan's requirements.
"Where are you going to put this slate?"
It has been confirmed that the octopus that Shitou was talking about is the one he had killed before.
Qiao Shan had no hesitation about the fan-shaped stone slab beneath him.
Just take it!
He's dead anyway!
puff!
puff!
puff!
After hearing Qiao Shan's request, Fa Tou took action without any hesitation.
A large amount of thin rope, several hundred meters long, was released instantly by the hair.
Soon, the slender fan-shaped stone slab was pulled away from its original position by the hair.
Gulp bulp
Gulp bulp
Several huge bubbles appeared from the moved locations.
"Oh my god, there's a baby!"
When Qiao Shan saw several glittering stones appear below after the original fan-shaped stone slab was moved away, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He knew that there were many gems in the deep waters of the Niah River.
However, I asked the Squid Lord to look for it before, but all he found were high-level gemstones at best.
Moreover, the riverbed area is too large, and it would take too much time for the Squid Lord to do it alone.
Stones are not easy to find.
So he did not carry out a "spring cleaning" of the bottom of the Niah River.
On the one hand, he didn't have the manpower, but on the other hand, he didn't think it was that urgent.
When we have occupied more territory, we will do it again.
He actually didn't lack high-end gemstones that much.
What he lacks is a high-level heart!
But at this moment, when he saw several shiny objects appearing under the fan-shaped stone slab, he knew at a glance that this was the Advanced Heart.
It suits him very well.
And he doesn't have to look for it, it's delivered to his door.
Without saying anything, Qiao Shan quickly moved his hair and took away several advanced hearts that were pressed under the stone slabs.
I’ll go up later and take a good look at it with the real body!
It is possible that with a few advanced hearts, he can level up again!
"Walk!"
After taking away the Advanced Heart and moving the fan-shaped stone slab, Qiao Shan looked at the cave which suddenly became dark. Without saying anything more, he directly ordered Tou Fa to leave.
Crash~
Crash~
Following Qiao Shan's instructions, Hair dragged the fan-shaped stone slab and the clone puppet and swam quickly towards his hometown.
I didn't dare to break the balance easily before. Although I knew that the octopus was dead, I didn't take the extra hair, which was the fan-shaped stone slab belonging to the octopus.
At this moment, with Qiao Shan's support, it took it with confidence.
After becoming Alice's hair, she knew the overall strength of Qiao Shan's team.
Now that it has a backstage, it no longer feels weak at all.
Although there were four of them before, there was a simple rule.
But at this moment, the octopus is dead and it has a new owner.
Clearly, it's time to change the rules!
Wow~
Wow~
Wow~
I quickly paddled through the water, with a few clumps of stuff in my hair, and soon returned to my hometown, that huge valley...
Bang——!
Aiming at the right position, Hairu threw the newly acquired slender fan-shaped stone slab directly onto his own fan-shaped stone slab.
This move, it is familiar!
At the beginning, the stone slab of hair is a small piece. It is only after many years of "accumulation" that the stone slab becomes such a large size.
At this moment, having obtained the new slate fragment, it knows exactly what to do!
Wow~
As the two slabs of stone came into contact, suddenly, a ray of light emerged.
The entire valley was instantly illuminated.
When the light faded, Qiao Shan discovered that the two fan-shaped stone slabs had merged into one.
The angle of the newly synthesized fan-shaped stone slab has become more than 150 degrees.
What surprised Qiao Shan was the new slate after the two-in-one.
There's not much change in appearance.
Apart from being larger in size, the overall appearance is still old.
The mysterious engraving on it is still vague.
There's nothing clearer or anything like that.
After the fan-shaped slate two-in-one, the hair seemed quite excited.
It stretched out several rope-like bodies and began to slowly stroke the stone slab.
It seems like caressing a lover's face.
Seeing this, Qiao Shan did not comment...
.
"The upper reaches of the Great Rift actually have an end!!"
He was thinking about what he had just seen at the end of the cave.
He originally thought that the big crack was very long.
Even if there is an end, it is definitely very far away.
But he didn't expect that the end of the upstream was actually quite close.
Moreover, the end of the upstream is where the octopus originally stayed.
This suddenly made Qiao Shan very interested in what was happening downstream of the big rift.
Is there an end downstream?
Where is the end?
How far is it from here?
What's at the other end?
Is the other end also a cave?
Many questions suddenly emerged in front of Qiao Shan.
"Let's go check out that fathead fish!"
After thinking for a while, Qiao Shan transmitted his consciousness to his hair.
I also looked at the octopus's territory and took what I should take.
He was so curious about the Big Rift that he went to see the territory of another fathead fish.
According to Toufa, it ranks second among the four commanders of the Great Rift.
It can also be judged that the fan-shaped stone slab occupies one third of its volume through the hair.
Now that he has come this far, Qiao Shan plans to go to the place where the bighead carp is to take a look.
Anyway, the fathead fish is weaker than hair.
Even if there is a conflict, we can overcome it.
Besides, Hair had previously swallowed the three hearts of the octopus, which were transformed into the Heart of the Ocean, and its level had been raised a lot.
What if there really is a conflict with the bighead carp?
I can definitely handle it.
Crash~
Following Qiao Shan's instructions, the hair started moving again.
This time, it pulled its clone puppet and walked downstream.
After a few minutes, it moved as fast as a cloud.
The clone puppet brought the clone puppet to an egg-shaped space on the side of the big crack.
The egg-shaped space looks very special. The longest part of the egg-shaped space is about two to three hundred meters, and the short axis distance is about one hundred meters.
The entire egg-shaped space was as smooth as jade, as if it had been carefully polished.
One side of the egg-shaped space is embedded in the side wall of the large crack, while the other side faces the crooked main passage of the large crack.
Like a by-product, it is in contact with the big crack.
"Is this the territory of the fathead fish?"
He stopped at a corner more than 300 meters away from the egg-shaped space and looked at a fan-shaped stone with an angle of about 30 degrees placed on a platform at the bottom of the egg-shaped space.
Qiao Shan gently transmitted a consciousness to his hair.
Crash~
The hair received the consciousness transmitted by Qiao Shan, and its body began to tremble violently.
"Puffhead isn't here?"
Looking around and observing for a while, Qiao Shan did not find the so-called bighead fish.
Although the power of starlight exploded in the entire egg-shaped space.
But there was not a single other living creature around.
Not only was there no "fathead fish" that he wanted to see, there were not even a few small fish or shrimps.
"Like the octopus, he's also dead?"
After observing for a while, Qiao Shan still did not see the bighead carp come back, and he became confused again.
"Do you want to take it?"
Originally he wanted to meet the fathead fish, but the owner was not there. Qiao Shan began to wonder whether he should take the fan-shaped stone that should belong to the fathead fish.
The octopus's has been taken.
But he didn't know about the fat betta's situation.
If he is not dead, he just went out.
The hasty removal of the fan-shaped stones would probably lead to war.
Just descended the Big Rift for the first time at Qiaoshan.
I didn't think about fighting right away.
Although, he knew that this fan-shaped stone was special.
If it could be put together into a complete whole, something different happen.
But he didn't want to do it so rashly.
Have a rhythm.
Can't rush.
He has discovered the special features of the big crack, but Qiao Shan still doesn't know the specific secrets.
He didn't want to cause any great danger.
It seems that as long as I don’t take the initiative, nothing in the big rift will change.
After all, this is completely different from the Nia River.
Although the two have some contact, there is actually not much interaction.
There's not even any interaction!
The creatures in the big crack are obviously different from those at the bottom of the Niah River.
Although there are some scattered powers at the bottom of the Nia River near the big rift, it still does not affect the fact that these are two different worlds.
Based on the Squid Lord's previous reluctance to approach the Big Rift, Qiao Shan knew that there must be something special about the Big Rift.
"Forget it, slow down a bit!"
After thinking for a while, Qiao Shan finally decided not to touch the bighead carp's things.
Don't move too much, or you might end up starting a fight.
He was not afraid of fighting, but he didn't want to fight before he understood the situation of the Big Rift.
He currently doesn't know what the strongest tardigrade looks like.
Don't let the hair and the bighead carp both suffer losses, giving the number one-ranked tardigrade a chance.
In addition, the hair has taken up the original octopus's stone.
Although the total amount has not yet reached 50%, it is still a significant improvement compared to before.
No rush.
Qiao Shan also guessed that they were the Four Heavenly Kings of the Big Rift.
As long as the tardigrades and bighead carp pay attention, they may be able to feel what happened to the hair just now.
He wanted to take another look at the situation...
.
"Where is the tardigrade's territory? Can we go there?"
After making the decision not to touch the fathead fish's territory, Qiao Shan sent another thought to his hair.
Don't touch the bighead carp's things for now, just explore the territory first.
It just came down, and even took a look at the territory of the tardigrades.
Let’s go up later and make the decision together.
Shua la la ~
Shua la la ~
After receiving Qiao Shan's consciousness, his hair trembled.
But it was not as decisive as it was just now when it came to the bighead carp's territory. It seemed to be struggling.
After a while, the hair slowly pulled up Qiao Shan's clone puppet and continued to walk towards the downstream of the big crack...
.
“So long!”
Ten minutes later, Qiao Shan felt the hair was still moving.
It seems that we haven’t reached the territory of tardigrades yet.
"Are you dawdling?"
After sensing for a while, Qiao Shan discovered that the distance seemed to be very long, but more importantly, the speed of the hair was slowing down...
"What the hell? How far is it?"
Feeling the condition of his hair, Qiao Shan asked directly.
Unfortunately, the only response he got was his hair swaying.
There is no accurate information.
"Forget it, let's go up first!"
Seeing the hair rustling, Qiao Shan thought of something and decided not to explore further.
Let’s go up and clean it up first.
Looking at the dilemma of hair.
He also had some doubts about the strength of the tardigrade.
Although Hair said that he himself ranked second.
But from the current perspective, even if the three of them are combined, they may not be able to beat the number one tardigrade.
Qiao Shan felt the word "cowardly" in the emotion of his hair...
Crash~
After understanding Qiao Shan's instruction to go up, his hair instantly shrank his body, turning himself into an arrow shape and rushing upwards quickly.
Can't wait to leave the big rift, it seems!
Wow~
It rushed out of the viscous liquid in the big crack with its clone puppet.
Wow~
The hair that entered the Nia River was faster.
Crash~
Soon, the hair rushed out of the river and returned to Alice's side...
.
After Toufa took Qiao Shan and escaped from the downstream of the big crack.
A bighead carp, over a hundred meters long and with a head that took up two-thirds of its body length, slowly emerged from the downstream of the big crack.
When it passed by the place where the hair last stayed, it turned its head and looked twice.
Afterwards, it flicked its little tail and quickly returned to the egg-shaped space.
Lying on a fan-shaped stone with an angle of about 30 degrees.
The head of the bighead carp is too big, and on top of the big head there is a big mouth.
But the eyes on the big head are particularly small.
Like two small black beans.
Of course this is relative to its big head.
The actual eyes are not small, but compared with the big head, its eyes look a little small.
Above the bighead carp's small eyes is a flat area with an area of ​​over a hundred square meters.
There seems to be a .
However, as it lay on the fan-shaped stone to absorb the power of starlight.
The mark on its big head is disappearing quickly...
.
Qiao Shan and Tou Fa had no idea about the situation of the bighead carp.
"Perspective switch!"
As the clone puppet moved quickly following his hair, Qiao Shan chose to switch his vision.
In an instant, his vision returned to his body.
"My Lord! "
Seeing Qiao Shan's eyes open and his spirit restored, Alice knew that Qiao Shan was back!
"Well, quickly, let's sense the hair and see if it was a little cowardly just now. Also, ask if the fan-shaped stone below moves once, and whether the four heavenly king-level creatures can sense it."
After his consciousness returned to his body, Qiao Shan quickly spoke to Alice.
Although Hair could understand what he meant just now, there was no way they could communicate.
Many ideas can only be guessed, and he wants to ask Alice about the situation as soon as possible.
"yes!"
Hearing Qiao Shan's anxious tone, Alice started communicating with Hair without saying a word.
"They can sense it. It said that it took away the octopus's fan-shaped stone. The other two should be able to sense it..."
After a while, Alice raised her head and reported to Qiao Shan the results of her communication.
"What else? I just saw it seemed very cowardly..."
Qiao Shan continued to ask.
"Uh..., it said it's not scared, it just wants me to go down and accompany it to the tardigrade's territory..."
Alice coughed and said with a stern face.
"Isn't this just cowardice... What? You can't beat the kid, so you want the parents to accompany you?"
After hearing Alice's explanation, Qiao Shan smiled.
"Almost. But Hair won't admit that he's a coward. Also, I sensed that it took the fan-shaped stone from the octopus just now because you gave it the courage. Originally, it wouldn't have dared..."
According to Alice's perception, the owner of the fan-shaped stone was determined by the four heavenly kings in the big crack of the hair.
Don’t just eat it carelessly!
When it heard Qiao Shan's command to swallow, it swallowed the octopus's stone directly.
It's all because of Alice's confidence in doing it.
But even so, when I was about to observe the tardigrade's territory, my hair got scared again...
seem,
The confidence given to it by Alice and Qiao Shan could only allow it to devour the octopus's fan-shaped stones.
I want to explore the tardigrade territory that I have never been to.
Its courage seemed to have been exhausted again.
"The water bear is quite powerful!"
After hearing what Alice said, Qiao Shan frowned.
This water bear doesn’t look simple.
“How big are tardigrades?”
The tardigrade, the original boss of the Big Rift, was so scary that Qiao Shan wanted to get more information about it.
Previously, I only knew that there was such an underwater boss.
But he didn't know the specific details.
At this moment, the hair, at his request, directly swallowed the octopus's fan-shaped stone slab.
If all was going well, the tardigrades should have sensed this.
Qiao Shan felt that he had to obtain intelligence as quickly as possible and prepare corresponding emergency plans.
Since tardigrades are very strong, you must not be ambushed by them.
"have no idea…."
Qiao Shan, who was preparing to make a contingency plan, heard Alice's answer.
"What?"
After hearing Alice's answer, Qiao Shan didn't react for a while.
"Hair said it didn't know how big a tardigrade was?"
"Huh? Didn't you say before that you had seen what a tardigrade looks like?"
Alice's answer left Qiao Shan confused.
The strength of underwater creatures can be simply judged by their size.
Even if you say that the tardigrade is 500 meters or even one kilometer big, that's fine.
But you said you didn't know.
What the hell is this?
"Toufa said that he had seen tardigrades three times, and each time the size was different. One time it was 1 meter big, one time it was 50 meters big, and one time it was 100 meters big..."
Alice explained quickly.
The answer from Hair made her a little confused.
But there's nothing I can do.
That's the truth.
"Oh my god, it can also transform?"
Hearing Alice's words, Qiao Shan was stunned for a moment.
Qiao Shan, who has personally been to the Big Rift, certainly knows this because of the special terrain of the Big Rift.
The largest organism inside is only about a hundred meters long.
No matter how big it is, there won’t be enough space below.
Unless the body can turn into mud like "hair" or the octopus before.
Otherwise, it's too big.
There are many narrow spaces in the big cracks that are impossible to enter.
"Besides the fact that the water bears grow larger and smaller, what other information do they have?"
It is impossible to guess the strength of the tardigrade based on its size, so Qiao Shan plans to ask others.
The more the better!
"One hundred years ago, the Great Rift was not ruled by the Four Heavenly Kings, but by ten aquatic creatures. At that time, the tardigrade was the strongest, but the second to fifth ranked creatures came together to kill the tardigrade, but in the end, the second to fifth ranked creatures died..."
After Alice communicated with the hair, another piece of information came out.
"Hmm? So where did the hair rank at the time?"
Upon hearing that the tardigrade was the boss of the Big Rift decades ago, Qiao Shan frowned even more tightly.
"No name!"
"ha?"
"No ranking. One hundred years ago, hair was ranked tenth among aquatic creatures. The generals under him..."
Alice gave an answer that Qiao Shan had never thought of.
"That was sloppy!"
Hearing Alice's answer, Qiao Shan couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
Tardigrades, the more you listen to them, the more complicated they seem.
He sloppily let his hair absorb the fan-shaped rocks left by the octopus.
It seems like we have alarmed the enemy!
"What else?"
The tardigrade has been alerted to the abnormality of the hair, and Qiao Shan wants to know more.
at the same time,
After hearing the mystery of the tardigrade, he knew he had to prepare for action.
I don’t know how long the water bear has been the boss, but now it has alarmed the enemy.
He was preparing for the worst.
"No... Hair said that it spends most of its time lying on the fan-shaped stone, absorbing energy. The rest of the time it hardly moves at all."
Alice revealed another piece of unfriendly information.
The information about tardigrades is surprisingly simple.
It has been more than a hundred years, and hair has never thought about this situation.
The shadow in Qiao Shan's heart grew even bigger.
After thinking for a while, Qiao Shan suddenly felt nervous. Without saying anything, he gave Alice an order:
"Go call Weiyang over!"
"ah?"
Alice didn't quite react.
"Oh, yes, no need, I can call her over!"
Seeing Alice's strange look, Qiao Shan finally realized that he could contact Wei Yang directly through his mind.
I was just thinking about tardigrades just now, and I also remembered that Wei Yang should be on the east bank of the Niah River, exploring the nearby Shurima Desert.
Qiao Shan forgot about his nervous mood and could contact Wei Yang directly.
"Come here, in the middle of the Nia River, right in front of the water barracks!"
Qiao Shan reacted and contacted Wei Yang directly in his mind.
"Is this useful to you?"
After receiving the news that Wei Yang was rushing over, Qiao Shan took the four high-level hearts from the hands of the clone puppet.
These are the four high-level gems that were obtained from turning over the fan-shaped stone in the octopus's nest just now.
Originally he was very happy because he had obtained four more advanced hearts.
But after listening to a bunch of information about tardigrades.
He suddenly felt that these four high-level hearts were no longer attractive.
Compared to alerting the mysterious tardigrades.
The harvest of these four advanced hearts is like chicken ribs...
"Two soul gems. This one should be usable by Ahri. The remaining two seem to be one of light and one of water..."
After sensing what Qiao Shan took out, Alice answered directly.
She couldn't use any of the four gems, not even the life gem that she needed.
"Let Ahri come over and bring all the Pokémon with her!"
After hearing Alice's answer, Qiao Shan made quick arrangements.
after,
He put away the advanced hearts of light and water.
I only kept two Soul Stones, planning to give them to Ahri later.
A wave of news about the tardigrades made him realize that he couldn't wait any longer.
It is obvious that this water bear is an old bastard who has lived for who knows how long.
In the past, hair only possessed enormous soul power, but not much wisdom.
now,
Although Alice activated his wisdom, he didn't think too much about it because of the short time.
But Qiao Shan took all the information into consideration and thought about it for a while.
You know, this tardigrade is not ordinary.
He knew he couldn't delay any longer.
The enemy has already been alerted. For this old bastard, the longer you delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for you.
Qiao Shan made a decision in an instant.
We plan to attack directly and not give the tardigrades any more time to prepare.
The fight will come sooner or later anyway. The longer it is delayed, the more troublesome it will be for him.
Wei Yang happened to be by his side at the moment, so he had an extra high-end combat force.
With the addition of hair, Alice, and some props, he thought it was doable.
Although the tardigrade is very mysterious, Qiao Shan believes that it has not reached the eighth level.
He was already familiar with the elemental power and could roughly tell the difference between the eighth level and non-eighth level.
He did not sense any eighth-level aura in the big crack just now.
The tardigrade did not reach the eighth level.
If we combine all our forces, we can still do it.
.
"My Lord!"
Two minutes later, a person flapping pure white wings flew above the small boat in the middle of the Nia River.
"Well, let's fight together later. Do you have any props for underwater use?"
Seeing Wei Yang flying over, Qiao Shan nodded, pointed to a place on the boat, let it land, and then asked directly.
"Yes~"
Having traveled through the dark time for such a long time, the Sheep is almost at the eighth level, although his birthplace is in the desert.
But she had no shortage of props for use in the water.
"Okay, let's go down to the river and fight together later. There is a very special water monster!"
Without further ado, Qiao Shan gave instructions directly to Wei Yang.
"Okay. Um, Lord, I was just in Shurima..."
After answering Qiao Shan's question, Wei Yang wanted to tell Qiao Shan what she had just observed at the western end of the Shurima Desert.
Although it was my first time entering the western end of the Shurima Desert, I was very familiar with the desert.
Wei Yang quickly found the areas that needed attention.
"Let's not talk about that for now, let's hit the underwater things first!"
When Qiao Shan heard Wei Yang was about to talk about the results of his exploration of the Shurima Desert, he reached out and stopped Wei Yang from speaking.
At this moment, let’s not talk about anything else.
His only target is the tardigrades underwater.
The enemy has been alerted.
Then just focus and kill it first!