The massive alloy gates of the Ark Base slammed shut behind them, shutting out the eternal howl of the wasteland's winds and the harshness of the radioactive dust. Within, a dead silence reigned, as thick as solidified ink, weighing heavily on everyone's heart. The air was cold and dry, carrying the bone-deep chill of cooled metal, and a deeper, more pungent scent of dust and decay, as if from an ancient tomb. Within the vast space, only the heavy, suppressed breathing of the crowd and the hollow echo of the metal grid beneath their feet filled the air.
"Emergency lighting activated!" Li Shuo's deep voice rang out in the communicator, with unquestionable penetrating power.
Sizzle—buzz!
Several pale emergency lights flickered on in the depths of the high dome overhead. Their light was faint and cold, like the eyes of a dying beast, barely dispelling the thick darkness but only illuminating the space with an even more eerie and gloomy atmosphere. Wherever the light reached, a scene of unimaginable grandeur and desolation intertwined.
The massive dome was supported by countless twisted and deformed alloy trusses, resembling the broken ribs of a behemoth. The walls were covered in dried, strangely colored stains, like the solidified remains of some immense creature's bodily fluids. The ground was covered in thick dust, like treading on decaying ashes. Even more disturbing was the countless unrecognizable remains of massive equipment scattered everywhere—twisted and broken pipes, collapsed control consoles, dented metal hulls... like discarded toys ravaged by invisible giants. Some of the debris still clung to long-extinguished indicator lights and obscure symbols.
This is not a refuge, but more like a huge metal tomb destroyed by violence and forgotten by time.
"Life scan...no results." A technician's voice trembled slightly as he looked at the blankness on the portable detector in his hand. "The environmental radiation index...is safe. But...the air composition is abnormal. The proportion of inert gases is too high, and the oxygen content is low."
"Stand in formation! Forward!" Li Shuo's voice struck like an anvil, and his massive frame, like a moving fortress, was the first to step into the silent ruins. The heavy footsteps echoed in the empty space, carrying a sense of desperate and tragic grandeur.
Wen Shifei followed closely behind Li Shuo, her portable terminal screen emitting a faint blue light as she scanned the surroundings, painstakingly comparing it to the Ark's structural diagram in the Lighthouse's core database. Her brow furrowed, her eyes sharp as an eagle's. "The structural match... is less than 40%. The extent of internal damage far exceeds what's recorded in the database. Navigation is disabled, and the location of the core control area... is unknown." She looked up at the vast, maze-like passages and collapsed partitions ahead. "This place... has experienced a devastating internal disaster."
Lu Cheneng walked a little further back in the group, his face still pale under the pale light, a sign of his injuries. He unconsciously pressed a hand to his temple, where a persistent, stabbing pain emanated. The faint hum of his electroencephalogram stabilizer, like invisible shackles, suppressed the cold shadow lurking deep within his consciousness. His gaze swept over the twisted, fractured surfaces of the massive wreckage, and an indescribable familiarity, mixed with a deeper chill, crept up his spine. Those signs of destruction… were definitely not caused by external force, but more like… some kind of internal, violent, instantaneous tearing apart energy?
Just then!
“Hiss…hiss…”
Without warning, a faint sound, like countless tiny snakes slithering through a metal pipe, emanated from a shadowy area in front of the huge wreckage. The sound was fragmented, dense, and had a tingling, sticky quality.
"Be on guard!" Li Shuo growled, and instantly raised his huge pulse rifle, locking the muzzle firmly on the source of the sound!
All the soldiers immediately entered combat mode, and the sound of guns being loaded was crisp and sharp!
However, the sound disappeared in an instant, and a dead silence fell again, as if the sound just now was just an illusion.
"No abnormalities in thermal sensing..." The scout's voice was filled with confusion.
"Sonic detection... there is a weak echo! Multiple small targets! Moving very fast! Behind the wreckage!" Another scout reported hurriedly!
Before he finished speaking!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of dark shadows shot out from the wreckage like black arrows, so fast that only afterimages remained!
That is not any creature known to humans at all!
They were the size of house cats, covered in chitinous carapaces that shimmered with a dark metallic sheen, like flowing oil! Their bodies were twisted and distorted, with no discernible head, only a constantly wriggling mass of organs, ripping into countless tiny mouthparts, like a vortex in the abyss! These mouthparts were densely packed with fine fangs that flashed with high-frequency arcs! Their movement was even more bizarre—not running or leaping, but flowing and gliding at high speeds across the metal ground and wreckage like liquid!
"Open fire!" Li Shuo's roar was like thunder!
Dadadada——!!!
The scorching bullets and thick energy beams instantly covered the area!
Puff puff puff!
Bullets struck the monsters' slippery shells, most of them unexpectedly deflected by strange arcs, leaving only faint white marks! Where the energy beams struck, their shells instantly charred and carbonized, but the monsters seemed insensible to pain. The struck areas squirmed and healed like sticky asphalt, albeit at a slightly slower pace! Even more terrifying, they seemed to absorb some of the energy attacks, causing the arcs of electricity on their bodies to flash even brighter!
"Extremely high physical defense! Strong energy resistance! Be careful of them..." A soldier's warning came to an abrupt end!
A monster slid to his feet like a ghost, and its abyss-like mouth suddenly opened. A slender "tongue" flashing with dazzling blue-white electric arcs popped out like a high-voltage electric whip in an instant!
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