Chapter 288: War begins!

Rumble!!

At this moment, no one in the entire West Storm City expected that the first strange entity to appear after the night fell would be the corpse of the already-dead Abyss Worm!

Under the immense force of the collision, half of Central Avenue was instantly leveled, and the black worm corpse shattered. The frozen flesh and stone fragments melted due to the high heat generated by air friction, spraying hundreds of meters into the air.

In an instant, rolling dust and snow waves were kicked up like those following a nuclear explosion, blotting out the sky and sun, as if a massive smoke bomb had gone off!

This feeling of the earth shaking and mountains swaying lasted for a full minute. Wen Zhuo led his team in a rapid retreat through the air, his gaze stern. Looking at the holographic combat screen, he saw that 35 hunting squad teams had vanished in an instant!

"Team 12, Team 15, Team 29, report your status!"

"Click, click, click..."

Within the communication frequency, only the sound of static echoed.

At this time, the members of the remaining 32 hunting squad teams all had somber expressions.

"Team 12, Captain Zhu Jun is buried under a building; we can't find him. There are 4 of us left!"

"Team 29, I'm the only one who made it out!"

At this moment, voices finally came through the frequency, but they were still nothing but bad news.

Wen Zhuo looked at the light dots on the holographic terrain map, his gaze cold. He had already considered mobility in advance to deal with that Abyss Worm, but he hadn't expected to be met head-on by a corpse falling from high altitude. This carcass, carrying immense falling velocity, had caught them completely off guard.

"How could that worm's corpse fall from the sky?!" Qin Xueming was filled with terror; it was his first time seeing such a horrifying scene.

"No need to guess, it must be the work of that Black Thorn in the clouds," Han Jun said. "It was dragging this thing outside the north of the city earlier; I didn't expect it to throw it in like this."

"It might not be that simple!"

Wen Zhuo looked toward the horizon and said in a stern voice, "Don't you all feel that the stench of the corpse is too strong?"

"Exactly, it stinks to death!" Kiki said, covering her nose and frowning.

"When something strange happens, there's likely a disaster in the making!" Lu Xingchen looked at the entire central city area shrouded in thick smoke, suddenly gripped by a bad premonition.

The shattered worm carcass, falling at high speed, generated high heat that melted the layer of ice on its body. The massive impact upon hitting the ground kicked up a sky-filling wave of blood and bodily tissues, spreading a massive stench across a range of several kilometers.

It was practically a biochemical weapon!

At this moment, the earthquakes underground continued, while in the sky, another strange sound emerged.

Like a boiling sea of clouds, like the frantic shaking of sand rattles!

Before long, a dense, black tide began to descend from above the cloud layer. When everyone looked, they discovered it wasn't Winged Demons, but something smaller, like some kind of... crow.

Kiki and Lu Xingchen both had their expressions change upon seeing this.

"Oh no, it's Corpse Crows!"

The sight of this strange entity made Kiki's heart skip a beat. How could the Corpse Crows from Jiazhou City appear here?

"These monsters are covered in parasitic nematodes that can devour steel; they are extremely difficult to deal with. We must use fire!" Lu Xingchen also said with a serious expression.

"What!?" Han Jun and Qin Xueming asked upon hearing this, "Where did they come from!?"

Wen Zhuo immediately notified the three defensive lines.

"Everyone pay attention, it's a swarm of Corpse Crows. Use fire attacks; the parasites can devour steel!"

At this moment, whether it was Zhao Yu, He Zhen, Xiao He, or the people in the various survivor convoys, everyone felt a chill. They had prepared to face Snow Demons, Snow Devils, and Winged Demons; who would have thought the first thing to appear would be another type of dark creature?

A creature that could easily dismantle their steel defensive lines!

"Was it drawn here by the stench of that worm's corpse?!"

"That's not important anymore. Brother Lu, use fire quickly!"

"Divine Art: Brahma!"

Lu Xingchen didn't hesitate, rushing forward with fire. He spread his hands, unleashing a sky-filling blaze that almost illuminated several city blocks. Kiki gritted her teeth and followed, watching the massive flames above. Her telekinetic waves surged, rising like fire-colored clouds, the flames spreading across the sky!

Whoosh!

In an instant, the massive flame clouds began to ignite and explode within the sky-filling swarm of Corpse Crows, triggering a chain reaction. The skyline looked as if a brilliant galaxy had ignited, instantly scorching the sky with flame clouds.

"Quick! Flamethrowers, aim at the sky!"

"Watch out for those crows!"

"Prepare incendiary bombs!"

"Ahhhhhh!!"

Corpse Crows flew in from all directions like a tide. They were pervasive, emitting shrill cries, flying toward any place with living people like raindrops.

In just a few minutes, large numbers of vehicle formations and living people at various defensive lines began to be devoured. Those wire fences, steel walls, metal barricades, and isolation belts were "melting" at a speed visible to the naked eye. At the North City Airport, a civilian airliner had half its fuselage devoured in half a minute, and the survivor defense personnel stationed inside turned into white bone ashes before they could even scream.

At this moment, at the three defensive lines in the east, north, and south of the city, seeing the black Corpse Crows flying across the sky, all kinds of flamethrowers and missiles roared into action!

Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom!

In the three directions of West Storm City, brilliantly burning flame clouds slowly rose into the sky.

"Use fire quickly, these things will trigger a chain reaction!"

"Ignite everything!!"

"Ah! Dad! Mom!!"

"Save the people quickly!"

"Don't go over there, there are parasites!!"

"Someone is on fire, put it out quickly!"

"Flamethrowers! Flamethrowers!"

Rumble!

The earth shook underground. Wen Zhuo listened to the situation at the various defensive lines on the frequency, his expression extremely solemn.

"Be careful, that worm is also under West Storm City!!"

Wen Zhuo looked at the Hell Black Chrysanthemum in his hand, then looked toward the east; the seismic waves were approaching rapidly.

"It's coming!"

Rumble!

The earthquake continued to roar, forming a resonance with the staircases in the streets. As it drew closer, large numbers of building structures and glass shattered.

At the Chengdong Steel Factory, the entire outer perimeter of the industrial zone was exploding into flames. The Corpse Crows in the sky were burning across the sky, and before the corpse flames were even dealt with, the earthquake suddenly intensified.

"What's going on?!"

Boom!

While over ten thousand people were still confused, a sound of mountains collapsing and earth splitting roared from behind the steel factory. Half of the smelting workshop collapsed instantly. The giant Abyss Worm lunged out from underground, swallowing a dozen living vehicles hiding the elderly, children, and women in one gulp, and crushing dozens of other vehicles parked nearby!

Seeing the explosions in the east, Wen Zhuo and the others were all shocked. That worm didn't rush toward the Hell Black Chrysanthemum first?

"Oh no!" Han Jun's expression changed drastically. The steel factory was the base of his North Polar Wind Alliance. The situation everyone least wanted to see was this giant worm drilling out from their camp.

"Should this protective shield be opened?!" Qin Xueming shouted immediately.

"No, the monster's path is right toward us!" Wen Zhuo gritted his teeth hard. Such a sudden situation caught everyone off guard.

"Team 1, go lure the enemy. Team 2, follow and provide cover. Everyone else, stay alert!"

After speaking, Wen Zhuo and Kiki led their squad and flew toward the east of the city.

In the Chengdong Steel Factory industrial zone, the earth shook and mountains swayed. The ground rippled like the surface of a lake with turbulent waves, overturning a large number of defensive fortifications, dust and smoke rising everywhere!

Swish, swish, swish, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

In an instant, the shattered concrete foundations, broken high-rise building structures, and the oscillating shockwaves radiated outward, like a ten-thousand-ton aerial bomb detonating in West Storm City, making tens of thousands of people feel a shock in their hearts!

"The big worm is here!!"

"The steel industrial zone has been attacked!"

"It's here!!"

"In the east of the city!"

The sudden attack of the Abyss Giant Worm quickly caused a large number of casualties. The most critical point was that the sinkhole created by the Abyss Worm would inevitably draw a tide of monsters like a flood.

The Chengdong Steel Factory industrial zone suffered heavy damage before it even began. Hundreds of people died tragically in an instant. The most terrifying thing was that the giant worm created a large hole, which was highly likely to wipe out the entire interior of the defensive line.

Hummm!

Amidst the collapsing ruins, the Abyss Worm emitted a deafening humming sound, making even the earth tremble along with it.

Thump, thump, thump, bang, bang, bang!

In an instant, the entire defensive line opened fire together toward the Abyss Worm that had lunged out of the ground behind them.

"Kill it quickly!"

"Ah!! My wife is still in the car, I'll fight you to the death!"

Boom, boom, boom!

Being attacked from the rear was undoubtedly a heavy blow to everyone who was nervously preparing for battle, enough to bring people to the brink of collapse!

There were still large numbers of Corpse Crows attacking and harassing them in the sky, and the defensive line quickly fell into chaos.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

The No. 1 team led by Wen Zhuo arrived first, breaking through the air. Behind him, he grabbed a dozen steel beams weighing several tons each, and while the giant worm hadn't yet retracted, he immediately fired and threw them.

"Block the Corpse Crows first!" Wen Zhuo shouted to the four people behind him while attacking.

"Fire Fist!"

Fire Brother wrapped those steel beams in flames in the air and charged straight at the Abyss Worm!

The Abyss Worm had taken several lightning strikes from Zhao Yu and only hissed. But at this moment, it seemed to sense something; its worm body suddenly turned toward Wen Zhuo's direction, but it was met head-on by the flame-wrapped steel beams and was directly bombarded!

Bang, bang, bang!

In an instant, the red-hot steel beams roared into its giant mouth, spraying out a wave of charred blood. Kiki took this opportunity to rush forward, using telekinesis to grab those steel beams and stir them violently inside its mouth!

"I'll let you swallow!!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The violent metal flames rotated and exploded inside the giant worm's mouth, and rolling black smoke rose up.

At this time, Han Jun had already made his move. Large amounts of water vapor and ice crystals condensed, forming wide ice sheets in the air to block the Corpse Crows diving down. Then, he raised his hands, and thousands of water droplets condensed from water vapor shot upward rapidly, like billions of reverse Rain of Pears needles, washing the swarm of Corpse Crows in the sky into sky-filling fragments.

Lu Xingchen sprayed fire at the Abyss Giant Worm with one hand, while the other hand cooperated with Kiki to unleash a large fireball, which Kiki wrapped and compressed with telekinesis, then sprayed it out at the fragments of the Corpse Crow swarm!

Like a ray of fire, it swept directly across.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In an instant, the horizon seemed to be scorched by the swarm of flames into fire clouds, completely evaporating the blizzard in the sky.

The tens of thousands of survivors and Investigation Corps soldiers below only felt a heatwave pressing toward the ground from above the sky.

At the same time, Qin Xueming fell directly from high altitude, his whole body emitting scorching white crackling light. He shouted loudly, carrying immense potential energy, and smashed directly into the worm's body.

Bang!

The massive shockwave brought by the outpouring of energy directly blasted a crater several meters in diameter on the back of the Abyss Worm. The heavy worm skin cracked inch by inch, and flesh and tissue sprayed out.

Hummm!

The Abyss Giant Worm emitted a heaven-shaking hiss, suddenly closing its giant mouth, swallowing the flames and steel bars whole. Then, it shattered the ice sheets all over its body and retracted into the ground with a heaven-defying force, lurking and moving!

"It drilled back in!!"

"Let's plug the hole first." Wen Zhuo sensed the abnormality and immediately controlled the Hell Black Chrysanthemum in his hand to fly out, throwing it to the flying ability users of Team 2 who were rushing up from behind. "Team 2, lure it into the city first!"

"Run quickly!"

After the flying ability users of Team 2 took the Hell Black Chrysanthemum, they immediately turned around, flapped their wings, and flew toward the open central city area.

Sure enough, the rumbling vibration of the ground quickly moved toward Team 2's direction.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Just as the Abyss Giant Worm left, a boiling sound came from the sinkhole at the steel factory. Wen Zhuo made a decisive decision.

"Don't let the monster tide drill out!"

Hum, hum, hum.

He moved his hands, rolling up a large number of steel plates and steel beams, and poured them frantically toward the sinkhole. Kiki also used telekinesis to throw large concrete structures from the ruins toward the hole.

"Lu Xingchen, sinter it!" Wen Zhuo shouted.

"Understood!"

Lu Xingchen landed directly from the air and sprayed fire at the hole with all his might. The sinkhole instantly looked like a volcanic eruption, with wild flames rolling and high heat spreading!

The survivors' vehicles and personnel nearby retreated one after another, countless people holding guns and staying alert for monsters drilling out of the hole.

Swish, swish~

The high-heat flames melted a large amount of steel, pouring it together with the concrete, and steam filled the sky. Han Jun used his water-type ability to cool and freeze, solidifying the molten iron and red-hot steel. Soon, the giant wormhole with a diameter of over ten meters was sealed, and the rumbling sound coming from below quickly disappeared.

This set of cooperation was something they had rehearsed in advance to deal with the sudden attack of the worm and the hole it created. All the holes in the city were plugged in advance in this way.

Boom!

Another huge explosion sounded. Wen Zhuo and the others looked back toward the city direction and said in a stern voice, "It's popped out again, let's hurry over!"

"Green Wind, send people to guard this area, fence it off first!"

Han Jun shouted to his deputy, then followed Team 1 toward the direction of Central Avenue again.

Bang, bang, bang, boom, boom, boom!

At this time, the three high city walls in the east, south, and north were already firing guns, firelight filling the sky, and the flames of war were completely ignited.

The 30,000-ton Dreadnought-class aerospace carrier hovered at low altitude, several Lightning-2 aerospace fighters maneuvered and flew at high altitude, missile fire exploding, reflecting the silhouettes of countless Winged Demons in the clouds.

Attack drones and floating wingmen flew out of the clouds like a swarm of bees, launching large-scale aerial attacks in the sky. The sky was full of dense explosions and arc beam lights!

At the Du Jia radar array station on the South City Mountain Range, thousands of flamethrowers ignited huge firelight, accompanied by the ghostly blue plasma beams brought up by the plasma cluster launchers on the city defense, looking like brilliant and dazzling blue and orange fireworks.

The special explosive sound similar to an air tube emitted by the Great Wall-50 base orbital cannon was particularly eye-catching. Looking around, the sky was full of tracer bullets shining everywhere!

"There are so many monster tides, that monster will definitely appear again, otherwise all the marks on us will be cleared!"

!

In the air, Kiki set up a telekinetic shield, leading Fire Brother and the others to fly past rapidly.

"That monster knows what we're going to do. We have preparations, and it has preparations too!" Qin Xueming cursed, "Damn it, it's playing with us!"

Han Jun's gaze was sharp: "I estimate that unless our defensive lines are completely broken, the monster in the clouds won't come out. It just wants us to be afraid, to have mutations, and only after the chaos will it mark the whole city."

Wen Zhuo frowned: "It's also hard to say if it's building up strength. The explosion last night was extraordinary. It probably isn't a simple matter to mark the entire city."

"Makes sense."

"No matter what, we must block the monster tide first!"

"Let's kill that big worm first. Every extra hole it drills, our rear defense pressure will increase by one point!"

"Let's go!"

Boom, boom, boom.

Near the central city area, accompanied by the shattering of glass in high-rise buildings, rows of buildings collapsed like dominoes. The street surface rolled like waves, and sewer openings exploded in succession. Everyone in the hunting squads could feel the pressure of a giant object approaching.

At the same time, the new sinkholes created by the Abyss Worm began to gush out tides of Snow Devils and Snow Demons, like a flood passing through, quickly overflowing into several streets.

"Team 6!"

Hum, hum, hum, a strong wind swept by. The Hell Black Chrysanthemum fell into Wang Mocheng's hand, and he handed it to Shu Qin.

"Run quickly."

Swish, swish, swish, the actuators of the TRP power armor erupted with powerful torque. The fully armed Shu Qin moved rapidly between buildings like a leopard. As the ground trembled, an electric blade shot out and stuck into a rusted billboard. Lv Chang swung over like Spider-Man using a slender steel cable, took it from Shu Qin's hand, and leaped onto another building in an instant.

"Team 2 is entangled by Winged Demons, turn to No. 1 pre-ambush area quickly!"

"Understood."

Swish!

The rotating electric blade slashed through a group of Snow Devils climbing the outer wall of a high-rise building. Lv Chang landed agilely on the roof of a supermarket and accelerated forward again.

Thump, thump, thump.

Suddenly, a large Snow Demon climbed up rapidly like a spider, and a sharp claw came straight at Lv Chang's head!

"Damn it!"

The sudden appearance caught Lv Chang off guard.

【Danger, danger!】

The power armor reacted automatically, the hydraulic muscle unit drove, forcibly pulling him back. He did a backflip to dodge the fatal grab. At the same time, he threw the rotating flying blade, cutting a blood groove deep to the bone on the Snow Demon's body!

This Snow Demon's defense seemed to be much stronger than ordinary ones. This blow didn't kill it completely. While Lv Chang was surprised, he saw the Snow Demon lunging over with a sharp claw again.

In a panic, Lv Chang retreated two steps and sat on the ground.

Bang!

At this moment, Lv Chang spread his legs, and the Snow Demon's giant claw smashed a large hole directly in the floor between his legs. Woo, woo, woo, the bobbin on Lv Chang's wrist rotated rapidly, pulling the electric blade back into his hand. He raised his hand and threw it fiercely, directly piercing the electric blade into the Snow Demon's forehead.

But who would have thought, this blow of his didn't kill it, and the Snow Demon lunged at him again without losing momentum.

"Oh no!"

"Dodge!" At this moment, a cyan afterimage suddenly flew through the air, stepped on the Snow Demon's front foot, and the other hand grabbed Lv Chang's electric blade wrist and flicked it, directly cutting off the Snow Demon's skull horizontally. Before the monster snow could spray, the figure landed smoothly.

"Give it to me."

Bai Xiaoqing stood in front of Lv Chang and reached out to him.

Lv Chang was terrified, but at this moment he breathed a sigh of relief. Reacting, he hurriedly handed the Hell Black Chrysanthemum in his hand to Bai Xiaoqing.

"Drink!"

In the parking lot under the supermarket, Xiang Xiang Ningjing punched out, alive and well, blasting the two Snow Demons and dozens of Snow Devils in front into minced meat. The terrifying punching airwave formed a fan-shaped vacuum zone in front of her, and even the air carried a hint of charred smell.

"Run quickly!" Xiang Xiang Ningjing shouted to Lv Chang.

Whoosh, whoosh~ A hurricane swept by.

Wang Mocheng glided through the air, using the wind force to roll up several people and accelerate suddenly. Shu Qin rushed at the very back. The entire block and supermarket were almost instantly covered by the Snow Demon monster tide.

"That worm is coming!"

Wang Mocheng grabbed the Hell Black Chrysanthemum thrown by Bai Xiaoqing, grabbed a wind cluster with one hand, looked at the position on the holographic combat map, and sent it forward suddenly toward the sky: "Team 11!"

"Team 11, receiving goods!"

A woman with bat wings who had just rushed out of the Winged Demon tide swarm immediately took it in the air, flapped her wings, and accelerated toward the direction of West Storm Park.

"Shu Qin, Lv Chang, Xiang Xiang Ningjing, Bai Xiaoqing, run to the roof!"

After completing the delivery, Wang Mocheng immediately used a wind wave to shake back the monster tide behind the four people, then dragged them and fled vertically up along the outer wall of the high-rise building.

"Team 7, we are at Sunshine Building on Youth Road!"

"Team 7, receiving goods!"

"Team 23, Team 30, prepare to support!"

"Team 4, receiving goods!"

"Peace Street is blocked, Team 19, turn to Ring North Road!"

"Team 32 is in position!"

On the outskirts of West Storm Park, the captain of Team 32 was a young girl carrying a modified individual power flight device. At this moment, her expression was extremely solemn. A large number of monster tides surged from the high-rise street ahead. An ability user whose four claws had turned into leopard form moved rapidly along the building edge, then leaped, throwing the Hell Black Chrysanthemum wrapped in a special device toward her.

"Team 32, prepare to receive goods!"

"It's coming!"

Hum, hum!

Two small drones beside Team 32's captain flew out rapidly and caught the Hell Black Chrysanthemum in the air. But just as she retracted her hand, the rumbling seismic waves had already reached her feet.

"Be careful!"

Woo!

Realizing the danger, she hurriedly started the flight device to accelerate.

Boom!

The giant Abyss Worm lunged out from underground. In an instant, the low buildings and street concrete foundations below shattered instantly. In the rolling dust and smoke, a mouth like an abyss expanded rapidly beneath her feet, accompanied by a huge negative pressure. No matter how much she turned the flight device's power to the maximum, she seemed unable to move, just like that, sucked into the air, watching as she was about to be swallowed by the giant mouth.

"Ah!!"

Hum!

At this moment, an invisible telekinetic wave swept past, pulling the girl alive from the thousands of concrete fragments and the abyss giant mouth.

Kiki!

And the next instant, Wen Zhuo pressed his hands down, and 10 giant steel beams fell vertically in the air.

The steel beams emitted a whining metal fatigue sound in the air. Under magnetic control ability, they were like 10 steel nails, smashing down fiercely in the street.

Clang, clang, clang!

The steel beams smashed into the giant worm one after another. The huge impact force inserted these steel beams directly into the worm's body by at least one meter, but they couldn't penetrate completely. The steel beams were like a pile of nails exposed on the Abyss Giant Worm.

"Help me pin it down!"

Wen Zhuo was controlling those 10 steel beams at this time, trying to pin the giant worm to the ground. Kiki was also using telekinesis to help at this time.

"It's coming."

Kiki's eyes glowed, her purple hair moved without wind. Her telekinesis was exerted to the limit at this moment, like a mountain pressing the Abyss Worm tightly.

"Activate the plasma cluster launchers!"

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

At this time, on the buildings around West Storm Park, 32 plasma cluster launchers rose automatically, aiming at the Abyss Giant Worm and instantly shooting high-pressure guide cables. The burning ghostly blue plasma beams were like legendary monster-catching ropes, inserting into the giant worm from all directions. Those high-heat plasma beams almost instantly scorched cutting gaps on the giant worm, and raging flames burned on its body.

Hummm!

The worm emitted a humming sound like a cruise ship whistle.

It twisted its hundred-meter worm body violently, pulling repeatedly. The high-pressure cable reels of the plasma cluster launchers on the surrounding buildings rotated constantly, emitting sharp tearing sounds, like fishing line reels, with sparks flying constantly!

Under the joint efforts of everyone, this Abyss Worm didn't break free at the first moment.

Swish, swish, swish, the high-pressure cables emitted crisp sounds. Wen Zhuo seized this opportunity and immediately shouted in the hunting squad's frequency.

"Everyone attack together, kill this worm!"

"It's coming!"

"Hurry up!!"

"Don't let it run away!!"

"Watch out for the Winged Demons in the sky!"

Monster tides like floods had already surged into the streets from all directions. There were Winged Demons blotting out the sky above. Without fire support, even for violent-level ability users, these hundred-plus people seemed extremely thin.

Opportunities are fleeting.

At this time, Lu Xingchen and Qin Xueming had already made their moves simultaneously.

"Divine Art: Burning Flame Sword!"

Lu Xingchen held his hands in a sword gesture, accelerating the sprayed flames in a spiral shape. In half a breath, he blasted out a high-heat fire sword dozens of meters long, the flame core turning white.

Just listen, boom!

A huge sonic boom exploded.

The huge counter-thrust actually pushed his whole person toward high altitude.

This fire sword only sprayed for an instant, yet it directly cut a huge gap the size of a truck on the back of the Abyss Worm. The intense high heat even melted the ground, blasting out a sharp spray crater!

Kiki was suppressing the big worm with all her might at this time. Seeing Lu Xingchen actually spraying himself out, she cursed in her heart and split a hand to grab him in the high altitude.

"Idiot, are you trying to fly into outer space with this move!?"

Lu Xingchen couldn't hear Kiki's words at all at this moment. He looked at his hands blankly, his expression filled with some excitement: "Sure enough, knowledge is immortal power!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 289 =====