Xiao Jin pulled Zhao Chun, who was stunned by the falling rocks, to his feet and said in a firm voice, "This place is about to collapse. We have to leave quickly."
The mission is not over yet, which means the crisis is still ongoing.
Zhao Chun's pupils constricted as he watched the entrance collapse and be torn apart by the shockwave!
He quickly shouted at the soldiers who could still move, his hoarse roar even drowning out the loud crash of the collapse.
"Everyone! Quick! Drop all unnecessary weights! Run! Run with all your might!!"
Stones rained down, and the earth beneath their feet groaned in despair.
As Zhao Chun spoke sharply, the others, like frightened birds, frantically ran for their lives on the edge of the continuously collapsing cliffs.
"Don't look back, keep running. You can't stop until I say stop." Zhao Chun gritted his teeth. Even as the rubble above them fell on their bodies and heads, tearing open wounds, their pace didn't slow down in the slightest.
They ran for a full half hour.
Every second felt infinitely long, punctuated by the deafening roar behind them and the trembling ground beneath their feet, the dust choking them so much they could barely open their eyes.
Midway through, a soldier suddenly lost his footing and half of his body plunged into the abyss that had suddenly split open! "Ah—!" His desperate cry was swallowed by the dust.
In a flash, a fair hand gripped his wrist tightly! The fingertips of that hand were covered in a mixture of dust and blood.
It's Xiao Jin!
At this moment, half of her body was hanging over the edge of the cliff, her icy blue wings flapping behind her, her arm muscles bulging, as she forcefully dragged the person back from the brink of death.
"Hiss..." The rescued soldier was still in shock. After coming out, he subconsciously glanced at the deep pit below his feet—the dense, gleaming broken steel bars inside were like the fangs of hell, piercing straight up!
He gasped in shock, cold sweat instantly soaking his back, and his eyes were filled with endless gratitude for surviving the ordeal as he looked at Xiao Jin.
"Th...thank you!"
After pulling the person up, Xiao Jin let go: "Keep running, don't stop."
"Yes." The soldier covered his head and charged forward.
Finally, the sound of the collapse behind me gradually subsided, and a sliver of misty light appeared as the smoke and dust dispersed.
Xiao Jin's tense nerves relaxed, and in the corner of his vision, the scarlet words on the panel, "Side Quest: Destroy the Mother Nest," silently changed to "Completed."
The tense atmosphere dissipated abruptly, and smiles appeared on the players' faces. It wasn't just for the generous side quest rewards; the points accumulated from slaying Mist Demons along the way were snowballing rapidly.
This was earned through their own hard work, with every punch and kick!
The special Mist Ghosts dropped their Purification Serum, which they quickly looted, a substantial amount – a truly bountiful harvest.
Soon, the group found the abandoned convoy.
Fortunately, it seemed that the main force had attracted the hatred of most of the fog demons, and the wounded and vehicles left behind were miraculously unharmed.
A rare genuine smile appeared on Zhao Chun's face: "Let's go back to base!"
Engines roared as the convoy rolled across the barren land. Though the mother hive was destroyed, who knew how many more such malignant tumors lurked on this dying planet?
The Mist Demons have been eradicated here and will not be reborn, but in other places, danger lurks at every turn.
………………
The return journey was exceptionally smooth. In less than half a day, around 7 p.m., a familiar outline finally appeared on the horizon – the base had arrived!
Zhao Chun's fingers trembled slightly with excitement.
This time, not only was the mission accomplished, but I also returned alive!
It's just a pity about those teammates...
Thinking of this, Zhao Chun sighed softly.
However, the closer Zhao Chun got to the entrance of the massive air-raid shelter at the base, the more his smile seemed to freeze, gradually disappearing completely.
Instead, there was a heavy sense of solemnity and a bone-chilling cold.
The heavy doors of the air-raid shelter were covered with jagged chisel marks and fresh bullet holes!
Congealed, blackened blood was splattered on the cold metal and concrete floor, a horrifying sight. The police tape was torn to shreds, and broken weapon parts and fragments resembling human tissue were scattered around.
The air was still thick with the lingering smell of gunpowder mixed with a faint stench of blood.
Xiao Jin became slightly alarmed; something had happened at the base!
It turns out that just three hours earlier, the base had encountered the same thing as Xiao Jin and the others.
A massive horde of survivors, bewitched and incited by the mutated Mist Ghosts, launched a fierce attack on the base like a swarm of ants!
The dark mass of people numbered seven or eight hundred. Their eyes were bloodshot as they roared and charged forward, hacking at anyone and smashing anything in sight, completely losing their reason.
The guard squad that came out to make contact were all injured, and some were almost killed.
The base commander initially tried to warn and persuade in a gentle voice, but his voice was drowned out by a frenzied roar.
With the defensive line about to be breached and his own men being attacked, a fierce glint flashed in the base commander's eyes, and he forced out a cold order through gritted teeth: "Open fire! Suppress!"
The gunshot shattered the tranquility of dusk.
Ultimately, the attackers were ruthlessly repelled, and apart from the previous guard squad, the base suffered virtually no losses.
But the price was that the ordinary survivors in the base, who were already filled with fear and anxiety, looked at the soldiers with completely different eyes.
They viewed the base no longer as a guardian, but as a fearsome "demon" stained with the blood of their own kind.
After listening to the base commander's somber briefing, Zhao Chun, who had rushed in, finally felt relieved and let out a long sigh of relief.
As long as nothing catastrophic happened, that's good! As for the fear of the survivors? A cold glint flashed in Zhao Chun's eyes.
In this apocalyptic world, without the protection of the base's high walls, they wouldn't survive a single day outside, let alone cause any trouble...
"Alright, don't worry about that. Now let's talk about the situation of your mission!" The base commander sat on the other side of the long table, opposite Xiao Jin and the other players.
She nodded gently, awaiting Zhao Chun's reply.
Zhao Chun immediately stood up and reported the details of the mission and the casualties to the base commander.
“The demolition team consisted of thirty-three people when we set off, but only eight have returned, three of whom are critically injured… It’s my fault.” As he finished speaking, Zhao Chun gritted his teeth and lowered his head.
This tough guy, who believed in shedding blood but not tears his whole life, had tears welling up in his eyes at this moment.
The base commander said with a sorrowful expression, "This is not your fault. They died for the base, they died to protect all of us. They are heroes... and so are you."
Zhao Chun suddenly raised his head.
A hero? Am I one?
He straightened his back, his voice hoarse but resolute: "But I have not failed in my mission. The mother hive is destroyed!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
