The heavy steel gate pounded with each thud, causing the entire bridge to tremble.
Bombers and attack helicopters have taken off, but they can only fly and circle within the base. Winged aliens are gathering in large numbers outside the base, and if the planes fly out, they are likely to crash and kill the pilots.
This time, the mutants came with a plan and careful consideration, which was what Lu Xinghe had worried about in the past. Once they agreed to cooperate, they would become a super-powerful army, and humanity would be in an even more difficult situation.
The blades on the bridge gleamed coldly as they spun rapidly, and the dark muzzles of guns were pointed directly at the gate. But Luo Ning felt something was wrong. She sensed that the aliens were not only ramming the gate, but some were also climbing upwards. Perhaps their goal was not the gate but to climb the high wall.
The bridge is a suspension structure, and once these insects climb onto the suspension cables, they become very difficult to remove.
"I sense some alien species climbing the wall," Luo Ning said to Lu Xinghe.
Lu Xinghe glanced at the nearly 30-meter-high iron wall and immediately ordered, "Urban drones, take a look at the outer wall."
The drone flew to the outside of the wall in response. Although it was destroyed by the winged alien shortly after it went out, it still managed to capture images of the outer wall. Several huge arthropods were piled up on the steel wall like a human pyramid. They were about seven or eight meters away from reaching the top of the wall. Another smaller arthropod was climbing up to make up the distance.
What drew this mindless animal-like mutant precisely upwards were several surviving humans in the hands of the mutants. Although their faces were not visible in the image, their struggling bodies indicated that they were still alive.
The machine guns on the high wall fired rapidly downwards, and countless aliens fell down but climbed back up. Because of their extremely strong self-healing ability, it would be a waste of bullets if their heads could not be accurately smashed.
“Without those humans as bait, the arthropods wouldn’t have been able to stack up,” Luo Ning said, looking at the screen on the communicator.
Lu Xinghe glanced at the ladder next to the high wall, picked up the gun in the pavilion, and quickly climbed up. Luo Ning followed immediately.
"Lu Xinghe, what are you going to do?" Shen Ni asked, looking at the screen.
“Take down the bait,” Lu Xinghe replied.
Shen Ni also issued orders to the others: "Use helicopters to transport people over there for support, shut down all civilian power, increase infrasound to drive away the winged aliens, and move all troops to the bridgehead and prepare for battle."
Those in the command center looked at another figure beside Lu Xinghe and asked, "Who is that next to him?"
"It must be An Xiaoruo. They've been patrolling the bridge these past few days."
Song Pei recognized at a glance that it wasn't An Xiaoruo, but he hesitated for a moment and said nothing. He just walked quickly out of the command post and headed towards the helicopter landing pad.
In the room at the other end of the bridge, An Xiaoruo hid under the table, watching the outside world warily. She knew that Luo Ning was definitely not going out now. She wanted to go out and help, but if she went out, she would be exposed, so she could only worry anxiously.
Lu Xinghe and Luo Ning quickly reached the bridgehead. The gate was still being violently rammed, and the two standing on it were teetering on the edge. The last arthropod was about to fall on top of them. Lu Xinghe decisively shot the head of the mutant at the top. As long as he died or fell down with the human bait, the arthropod would follow and chase after him, and the crisis would be temporarily resolved.
He shouldn't have stood by and watched his fellow human beings die, but he had no choice when faced with the safety of all humanity.
However, the mutant was incredibly fast and dodged the shot. When the humans who were acting as bait saw them, some screamed for help, while others begged them to kill him quickly.
"Hey, little white rabbit." The male mutant called out to Luo Ning, then lewdly waved his hand: "Come and join us, we'll spare your life later."
Luo Ning looked down at him and said, "If you beg for mercy now, I might spare your life."
She was actually quite nervous, but since verbal sparring was free, she couldn't afford to lose in terms of momentum.
The male mutant sneered and threw the human he was holding onto the high wall. The arthropod, seeing its prey flying up the wall, also leaped up and pounced on Luo Ning.
Luo Ning rolled on the narrow wall and caught the human. He was a very young boy, still wearing the survey team's uniform. Although he was injured, he was still alive.
The topmost arthropod suddenly leaped and snagged on the steel wall. Lu Xinghe reacted quickly and broke off one of its legs, but it had so many legs that it had climbed up half its head in just a few seconds. Lu Xinghe wanted to continue firing, but his gun was out of bullets.
"Run forward!" Lu Xinghe shouted.
Luo Ning didn't know what his intentions were, but because she trusted him, she didn't hesitate to lead the man forward. She was extremely fast and reached the edge of the wall in a few seconds. At the same time, the heavy guns on the armed helicopter were already firing at the arthropods. It turned out that Lu Xinghe wanted her to dodge the bullets.
Luo Ning's ears were filled with the whistling of bullets, but the centipede's body was huge and its shell was hard. Even heavy firepower could only penetrate its hard shell and could not penetrate into its flesh.
The centipede had already climbed halfway up the wall. Its massive body had destroyed all the guns on the wall. Although tank shells could cause wounds when they hit it, its healing ability made it still incredibly destructive.
If it were allowed into the base, the consequences would be unimaginable. Luo Ning glanced at the boiling lava below the wall, then at the long iron chains on the bridge used to secure firearms, and made up her mind: such an invincible carbon-based creature still had to be dealt with by fire.
She gripped the chain with one hand and grabbed the surveyor's clothes with the other, sliding quickly down the wall. She was going to lure the centipedes into the lava; the centipedes that caused the shallow earthquake last time had been burned to death by the lava.
As expected, the centipede fell for the trap and immediately followed her down the wall. Luo Ning's body slid down rapidly, and she could already feel the heat of the lava, but she didn't stop. She had to make sure the centipede's body was completely off the wall. It had too many legs, and even if only a few were left on the wall, it wouldn't fall down, otherwise her plan would be ruined.
The chains rattled downwards, and the centipede's body finally detached from the wall and plummeted downwards. In a flash, Luo Ning kicked off the wall with her foot and swung away. The centipede fell into the lava. Although it struggled violently, even the strongest alien species could not resist the slaughter of nature. The centipede rolled in the lava and was then melted. The air was filled with the smell of burnt flesh.
Lu Xinghe had just dealt with a mutant when he turned around and found that Luo Ning was gone. He was shocked. After smelling the burning meat, he looked down and found her swinging back and forth on the wall like a swing.
Luo Ning struggled to climb up the wall, clinging to the iron chain. She had someone with her to slow her down, but soon a force pulled her up. She looked up and saw Lu Xinghe exerting his strength. With his help, she climbed back to the top of the wall in one go.
Looking at her disheveled hair, Lu Xinghe's voice trembled: "Are you out of your mind?"
Luo Ning replied breathlessly, "Since we're going to die anyway if we can't win, we might as well give it a shot."
Everyone in the command center stared in shock at what they saw. Shen Ni leaned closer to the screen, looking at Luo Ning's blurry figure in disbelief: "Is this An Xiaoruo?"
"How can she be as agile as a mutant?" Some people wondered.
Lu Zheng also realized that this was not An Xiaoruo. He silently looked at his son on the screen and thought about how the previous two days ago, the upper part of the show searched his former residence because they suspected him of hiding the escaped experimental subject No. 17. He gradually understood.
It's just unknown when it started or where it will end.
A dozen fully armed security officers descended rapidly from the helicopter, including Song Pei. Upon seeing him, Luo Ning immediately covered her face and walked away from him. The mutants below the wall continued to guide the centipedes to pile up. The security officers fired white/phosphorus bombs downwards, and the mutants screamed in agony as they were burned, but they still could not inflict fatal damage on the giant centipedes.
Just as things were at a stalemate, Luo Ning suddenly realized that the male mutant was gone; he was nowhere to be seen on the centipede. She had a bad feeling.
Suddenly, the wall shook violently, and a terrible twisting and breaking sound came from the gate. A gap the size of a person was torn open in the steel gate, and the aliens who craved human flesh rushed onto the bridge. Even if they were unconscious, they knew that fresh and delicious food was on the other side of the bridge.
But before they could run more than a few steps, they were sliced into countless pieces by the huge blades on the bridge and fell into the lava. Some of the smarter aliens climbed onto the suspension cables to avoid the blades, but were then shot down by a hail of bullets.
Luo Ning immediately looked down and saw that the male mutant had appeared at the crack, but he did not pass through the crack immediately. Instead, he sent the other mutants to charge into battle.
“If the gate isn’t repaired, these alien species will be endless,” Lu Xinghe told the command center.
The engineering experts in the command center are also at a loss. The damaged parts cannot be repaired and can only be replaced entirely. But now that so many alien species have rushed in, even if they wanted to replace them, they couldn't get close.
"There are so many alien species now, our engineering corps has no way to get close alive," the engineering expert said loudly.
The centipede's strength was astonishing, and the crack continued to widen. Lu Zheng immediately gave the order: "Prepare to blow up the bridge. The rest of you go to support Lingqiao by helicopter."
Blowing up the bridge was the last resort. Although many lives were lost when the bridge was built, it was the only way to save the base.
“We don’t need to blow up the bridge.” Luo Ning whispered to Lu Xinghe, “The exoskeleton of the arthropod is about as hard as a steel plate. As long as we kill one of the arthropods in the crack, we can seal the hole.”
“But there’s nothing that can kill centipedes right now,” Lu Xinghe said.
Luo Ning looked at the white phosphorus bomb: "If you use the white phosphorus bomb to start burning inside the centipede's body, you can kill it. So all you need to do is have someone bring the white phosphorus bomb and actively feed it into its mouth."
Lu Xinghe knew this method was feasible, but it would inevitably sacrifice one or even several lives, and it had to succeed on the first try.
He looked at Luo Ning, raised his hand as if to touch her, but ultimately did nothing: "Find your own chance to leave."
After saying that, he picked up the white phosphorus bomb and walked towards the iron ladder without any hesitation.
Luo Ning stared blankly at his back for a moment. Was he planning to do it himself? She quickly followed him: "You're not planning to feed the centipedes yourself, are you?"
Lu Xinghe replied, "Yes, no one here is more suitable than me."
Luo Ning replied, "Of course, there are people more suitable than you." Then she pointed to herself, "For example, me. After I go down, the aliens won't attack me immediately. As long as I smear human blood on another alien, tie a white phosphorus bomb to it, and feed it into the insect's mouth, I can succeed."
She spoke lightly, as if it were an easy thing to do.
She didn't want Lu Xinghe to do something so dangerous. Even if she failed, she might not die, but Lu Xinghe might not.
Lu Xinghe didn't want her to take the risk. Although he didn't know how life or death would ultimately turn out, it was a journey to her death, and he wanted her to live.
Luo Ning snatched the ammunition from his hand, then slashed his arm with an iron spike, blood gushing out. She smeared the blood on the white phosphorus bullet and her scarf, her eyes shining brightly in the darkness: "I won't die, believe me, maybe one day we'll meet again."
This is the final farewell. The conflict between humans and other species in this era is irreconcilable. She must leave in order to survive, while he will have his own mission and life. The outside world is so vast that they may never meet again, but she likes to live with hope.
After saying that, she stopped looking at him, took off her coat, and jumped down the iron ladder. She was wearing the clothes that Lu Xinghe had bought for her. She fell rapidly and soon arrived at the gap. The alien creatures were still desperately trying to squeeze into the gap. They stopped when they smelled the human blood on her, but they also smelled the alien creatures on her. They were all confused.
The centipede, which was widening the gap, also smelled the scent and frantically tried to squeeze into the gap. Unfortunately, its body was too large to fit through, but this also kept other alien species that wanted to enter out of the way.
The alien species around her also began to attack her. Her iron spikes swung like lightning, killing the alien species that pounced on her time and time again.
The bridgehead was piled high with the corpses of the alien species. The command post could no longer see what was happening there. Although the alien species continued to climb the suspension cable, their numbers were decreasing. It seemed that something incredible was happening behind that mountain of corpses.
"General, the explosives are ready."
"But Major Lu has also gone down to the bridge." Someone was worried about Lu Xinghe.
"We can't let one person destroy the entire base."
Lu Zheng looked at the screen: "Wait another five minutes, the number of aliens is decreasing now."
Although the number of aliens is decreasing, he also has selfish motives. Three of his children have already sacrificed themselves for the base, and this last child almost died and will not come back. As a father, he is not as strong as he appears on the surface.
"But……"
“Alright, five minutes won’t take up much time. Building a bridge isn’t easy, why blow it up unless it’s the last minute?” Dai Wanglin, who had been silent until now, suddenly said.
The people around him looked at him with suspicion. This major, who used to prioritize the base, was now saying such things. Had his long stay in the Gene Department made him more merciful?
Dai Wanglin ignored their stares and focused intently on the screen: "Send the drone over there now and see what's happening."
Bridgehead.
Luo Ning pierced the head of the nearest alien with an iron spike. She had already killed dozens of aliens, but she was also injured, especially her right hand, which she was good at using iron spikes, which was bitten and mutilated. Although her self-healing ability allowed her flesh to grow, it was still not enough.
Just as another humanoid mutant lunged at her, with a bang, the mutant's head shattered. Luo Ning looked in the direction of the sound and saw Lu Xinghe accurately smashing the head of the mutant that was rushing towards her as he came down.
"Idiot." Luo Ning felt a warmth in her heart, and then quickly took advantage of the gap to open the fuse, wrap the scarf around the alien corpse, and push it out of the gap.
The centipede lowered its head and bit the corpse tightly in its mouth. Several mutants nearby sensed something was wrong, but the centipede had already swallowed the ammunition, and they couldn't take it out of its mouth.
As the white phosphorus bomb exploded, the centipede's mouth burst into flames. It tried to struggle, but other centipedes piled on top of it prevented it from moving an inch. The centipede whose brain was burned gradually stopped struggling, and its huge head and body sealed the crack in the gate tightly.
Seeing that the plan had succeeded, Luo Ning climbed the iron ladder again. The only way to leave the base now was to climb over the wall.
Lu Xinghe also reached out his hand to her, but at that moment a volley of bullets struck Luo Ning. The heavy armor bullets pierced through her body, and she fell heavily down the iron ladder.
She was identified as an alien, and bullets showed no mercy to aliens. Drones were also flying this way. She waved her hand in pain to tell Lu Xinghe to leave quickly, and then pretended to be dead and lay motionless on the ground.
Although he was so close, Lu Xinghe calmed down and went back to the wall. He knew that staying there would only kill her.
A helicopter picked him up, and a drone transmitted footage back to the command center. People saw that the crack was blocked by something, and the ground was littered with the corpses of aliens, but no suspicious people were seen.
The winged aliens outside the base were also dispersed. Fighter jets roared past, dropping large amounts of ammunition that set the aliens' bodies ablaze. Helicopters towed living people away into the distance. The gluttonous centipedes quickly turned around and chased after the helicopters, leaving only the largest one's corpse blocking the steel gate.
“Interesting,” the male mutant chuckled, looking at the centipede’s corpse.
Another female mutant was very frustrated: "The duck that was about to be eaten has flown away. It seems that we underestimated humans."
The male mutant shook his head: "It's not that we underestimated humans, but that we underestimated our own kind."
"What do you mean? Are you saying we didn't do our best?" the female mutant asked, somewhat angrily.
The male mutant did not answer, but instead looked in the direction where Luo Ning was lying inside the door.
After the drones left, Luo Ning opened her eyes and sat up from the ground. She looked at her wounds, which were healing rather slowly, so she ate an animal species, which sped up the healing process.
She couldn't wait for her wounds to fully heal. In the darkness, she climbed the iron ladder again. Once she reached the top of the wall, she took one last look at the direction of the base, and then used the same iron chain to descend into the world outside the steel wall.
On New Year's Day, January 1st, she regained her freedom, but also lost another kind of freedom.
The base is not completely out of danger. Although the Melting Bridge was defended, the Ling Bridge was lost. Fortunately, there were no centipedes attacking from there. Only some winged aliens released mutants, causing some infection.
Lu Xinghe didn't have time to think about whether Luo Ning had escaped before joining the next battle; killing became something he had to do.
Alien Prison.
After dealing with all the intruding aliens, Du Lu walked toward the solitary confinement cell where Wen Xi was locked up. But when he opened the door, he saw that the soldier guarding her was lying on the ground, his clothes removed.
The miniature bomb that had been around her neck was removed, still covered in thick blood; she was willing to be seriously injured to escape.
He underestimated her. Although he knew that her docility these past few days was an act, that she was submissive to him and even teased him, he knew she had an ulterior motive. But he didn't expect her to act so quickly. Did Zhuang Yu once tell her how to break free of her shackles?
He sneered and rode his motorcycle toward the nearest melting bridge. If she wanted to escape the base, she had to pass through there. He stood on the bridge and searched for her among the soldiers clearing away the alien corpses. Finally, a beam of light shone on the wall, and he saw her.
She quickly climbed up the iron ladder, the lights following her. The soldiers guarding the bridge had spotted her, and bullets swept mercilessly towards her. But she seemed to be lucky; out of so many bullets, only one hit her shoulder.
Without stopping or looking back, she climbed upwards with all her might. Finally, she stood on the top of the wall. In the rising sun, she looked back at the direction of the tower bridge, and then jumped down without hesitation.
Du Lu's body trembled slightly. Jumping from a height of thirty meters, she was already injured and unlikely to survive.
Even though she knew she wouldn't survive, and even though she knew he was on the Tower Bridge, and that as an important experimental subject, he could save her life if she came back, she still jumped without any hesitation.
Having fully recovered from the mountain of corpses, Luo Ning saw the sunrise, stood up, and prepared to leave. A new day, a new beginning; even if it meant a lonely, wandering life, she would live it to the fullest.
As long as you live, there is hope.
Just as she took her first step, her intuition told her that something was falling from the wall. She instinctively reached out to catch it, and a soft, warm body crashed heavily into her arms.
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