Chapter 672 The Darkness Before Dawn
Apart from the electricity and communication that the internal system was maintained by guides, all external signals had long been cut off.
They were unaware that the source had been eliminated, speculating that it was a chain reaction triggered by the collapse of other contaminated areas.
But this reaction is deadly to humans.
"Hold on! Even if we can't hold on, we must hold on until the very last moment," Minister Duan said in a deep voice.
She turned and left the command center to go to the research institute herself, hoping to find a glimmer of hope.
...
The area surrounding the base has long since become a living hell.
Screams, the sound of metal twisting, and explosions rose and fell in waves.
The bizarre mutants, like demons crawling out of hell, frantically attacked the defenses.
A soldier responsible for perimeter monitoring accidentally inhaled an excessive amount of dark matter. Within minutes, his arm began to undergo strange changes, his skin gradually turned dark purple, and his blood vessels bulged out, resembling wriggling black earthworms.
He let out a painful roar and tried to sever his mutated arm with a dagger, but was forcibly held down by the medical staff who arrived at the scene. After being injected with inhibitors, he was carried to a temporary evacuation room.
Temporary evacuation room.
This place is already overcrowded.
Tent No. 3, which is less than 50 square meters, is crammed with nearly a hundred sentries who have developed abnormal reactions. Painful groans and suppressed roars collide and echo between the four walls.
Bai Yu had just finished a round of emergency evacuation, and her temples were throbbing, making everything in front of her appear double.
Her mental strength was already exhausted, and she was only holding on by sheer willpower.
The soldiers who had just been carried in were placed in the middle of the aisle.
Bai Yu glanced at his condition.
The inhibitors slightly weakened his struggles, but the noisy environment here was far from stabilizing his mental state.
"Sent back to the base for quarantine and observation."
Sentinels who have received inhibitors can hold on for now, but there are simply not enough people available, so guides can only select sentinels in serious condition for intervention.
Inside the tent, medical personnel were already dressed in protective suits. To stay conscious and avoid inhaling excessive amounts of dark matter, many of them were even carrying oxygen tanks as they stitched up the sentries' wounds.
Some sentries who had been treated and regained their senses received orders to return to the battlefield immediately after resting for no more than half an hour.
The situation at the front is not optimistic.
Sentinels kept falling, and gaps had appeared in the defense line.
But they cannot retreat; behind them are the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the base. If they retreat, the entire base will fall under the maws of the mutants.
A Class B guide finally collapsed at his post.
Bai Yu and Fang Chengye, who were nearby, noticed the situation and worked together to help the person to a corner to rest.
"I'll go call the medical staff." Fang Chengye's condition was also very bad, and he looked exhausted. He staggered as he stood up.
Bai Yu was powerless to help and could only watch helplessly as he collapsed beside the hospital bed.
Are you alright?
Fang Chengye waved his hand to indicate that he was alright, and tried to get up by himself, but failed twice.
He sat on the ground and sighed heavily, then suddenly looked up and asked Bai Yu, "Will humanity win?"
Dark matter filling the sky, mutants falling one after another, colleagues collapsing from exhaustion, sentinels struggling in pain, and the all-consuming darkness outside the door.
It leaves one with no hope whatsoever.
Bai Yu watched as the light in Fang Chengye's eyes gradually dimmed, filled with weariness and confusion.
"Yes!" Bai Yu answered him decisively. "Although there is no news from the 5S team yet, I believe that it must be Yun Zhao and the others who discovered the source, which caused the world to change. This is not necessarily a bad thing."
While the dark matter has become more violent, its activity has also become unstable.
Like... a last-ditch effort before death.
Bai Yu had an inexplicable confidence in Yun Zhao, believing that they would definitely succeed.
"As long as we get through this final darkness, humanity will surely triumph." Her voice was hoarse from exhaustion, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light.
Fang Chengye was stunned for a moment, then suddenly felt relieved. "You're right, we can't give up until the very last moment."
As long as there is one guide standing, no sentry will be abandoned.
As long as one warrior holds a weapon, humanity has not yet lost.
...
The front line at the foot of the mountain.
He Xun spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and slammed the empty magazine of the gravity gun hard at a clawed mutant that pounced on him.
His squad consisted of six men, who, along with three other squads of sentries, guarded the gap on the left side of the main defensive line. They had not slept for three days and three nights.
"Captain, when will the reinforcements arrive?" He Xun asked, barely able to hold on any longer.
Several wolf-sized mutants are trying to squeeze through the gap.
The sound of gunfire erupted from the launch platform above.
The captain of the second team emptied his magazine, leaned against a rock, and bent down to change bullets. "The communicator says we'll be there soon, just hang in there a little longer."
"There really is reinforcements?"
The third team next door, panting heavily, asked, "Are there any sentries still able to function normally?"
It's no wonder they overthink things.
Sentinels fell one after another, and almost all those who were able to move went to the battlefield. A small number of them remained to guard the granary in the back mountains. There was no word of any surplus troops.
The second team leader explained, "These are volunteers we recruited, along with a batch of combat robots that were urgently deployed to help with the rotations."
Although they are called volunteers, they are actually sentries of the search team within the base.
Considering that the sentries were of low rank, the base provided them with protective suits, which should allow them to hold out on the front lines for a while.
The three opposing teams breathed a sigh of relief. "The situation is critical. At this point, we don't care whether they are regular troops or not. As long as someone can fill the gap, that's enough."
That's what they said, but everyone still felt uncertain.
The notch on the top is simply not enough.
If the dark matter is not eliminated, it will only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.
People are falling all the time on the front lines, not from the monsters' claws, but from the ubiquitous black particles in the air.
The battle continues, but there is no hope in sight.
"Cheer up, everyone! We can rest after we wipe out this wave!" Seeing the low morale, the team leaders encouraged the team.
Just then, an urgent shout came through the communicator: "Right side defense requests support! Mutant swarm attack, we can't hold them off!"
"Second team, take heavy weapons and go provide support! Bomb those monsters to death!"
The adjutant's roar came through the communicator, surprisingly strong even in this situation: "Hurry up! The mutants have gotten in!"
He Xun forced himself to get up despite his exhaustion.
He felt as if his head was filled with scorching lead, and every breath brought on a tearing headache.
The pervasive dark matter, like a cold, venomous snake, seeped into his skin, attempting to erode his mental landscape.
The eerie whispers echoed in his ears, and distorted hallucinations flashed before his eyes from time to time. He had to expend tremendous willpower to barely maintain his sanity.
He Xun thought to himself, "If only Guide Yun were here."
"Second team! Follow me!"
He strode forward with legs as heavy as lead, charging toward the right flank where the gunfire was heaviest.
at the same time.
On the distant plains, two groups of people driving identical armored vehicles were speeding back to their base.
One team was Yun Zhao and his group.
The other team consisted of the remaining members of Team Zero, led by Song Liang.
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