Chapter 405: Danger! (110,000)

BOOM BOOM BOOM, above Shuguang City, red lightning flickered within the black clouds—not the natural color of lightning, but the sky burned red by smoke and fire!

At this moment, within Shuguang City, the Silent City and Zhen Tian Ship were circling overhead; above the black clouds, the largest atmospheric organism continuously spat out bizarre, meteor-like crimson spikes that pierced the sky, causing countless vessels and aerial patrol craft to crash.

An antinuclear device was launched from the Phoenix Society's ground-based air defense battery, accelerating to hypersonic speeds within seconds before plunging straight into the cloud layer.

BOOM!

A colossal, half-sky-illuminating spherical explosion cloud ignited within the thunderclouds, like a white hole suddenly appearing above Shuguang City—the annihilating shockwave instantly vaporized the clouds and rain, blasting a visible void into the dark sky.

On the Silent City, Qian Suxun stared at the skyline where even the air had been sucked into a near-vacuum; the atmospheric organism had barely revealed half its body, resembling an ancient monster from the ocean's depths in myth, countless tentacles as tall as skyscrapers descending from the clouds, strangling the human fleet.

On the flagship bridge, Wang Yue Zhenji, monitoring the energy fluctuations of 【Sky Tentacle】, immediately ordered the Silent City to fire a Hyperion directional constraint cannon the instant the antinuclear weapon detonated!

A massive white missile erupted with a sonic boom, tearing through the dark heavens and arriving over the frontline in an instant; then it unleashed a vector pulse, sharply reversing direction—within a breath, six petal-like energy focusers unfolded beneath the missile, its central core rotating and blazing with blinding white light, targeting the core life zone of the atmospheric organism's tentacle, unleashing a torrent of coronal energy!

Wang Yue Zhenji's judgment proved correct: at this moment, the atmospheric organism, still unable to regenerate its defense field after withstanding the antinuclear blast, was instantly pierced through by the space-based weapon's energy beam—a furious ray of light like a blade, punching clean through kilometers of sky, causing all the tentacles hanging from the clouds to thrash wildly.

At this moment, with the Hyperion directional constraint cannon's precise hit, the sky suddenly fell silent; as all fleet firepower had been concentrated upward, survivors below looked up and saw, to their shock, something falling from the clouds!

"Something's falling!"

"In the Chenhui District!"

"Watch out!"

WHOOSH WHOOSH, from within the black clouds, a flaming object crashed down; Wang Yue Zhenji's targeting system immediately zoomed in—revealing it was a chunk of biological tissue connected to three colossal tentacles, now plummeting like a meteor!

Below, in the neighborhoods, squads guarding over a dozen convoy defense lines immediately broadcast on the comms channel.

"Fall back! Get out of the way! Something's coming down!"

WHOOSH WHOOSH, in an instant, civilians along the street lines stampeded en masse toward safety—but the colossal biological mass, like two skyscrapers falling from the sky, was too fast for ordinary people to outrun.

At this moment, several figures streaked through the sky together; Lu Xingchen blazed like a falling star, leaving a straight line of fire across the dark city, his entire body engulfed in flames, Mach rings roaring behind him as he shot toward the falling tissue, both hands gathering fire to unleash twin torrents of blazing heat!

"Divine·Incineration!"

BOOM! Immense flames instantly incinerated the biological tissue into fragments, churning it into vaporized sludge.

Simultaneously, Kiki and Jiang Yun activated their abilities, sweeping thousands of survivors and soldiers out of four city blocks at the last second—thousands felt themselves lifted by a gale, escaping just beneath the splitting masses.

BOOM BOOM BOOM, the colossal biological mass crashed down, obliterating entire blocks of streets and buildings, sending dust spiraling into the sky, engulfing every survivor defending the surrounding dozens of city blocks.

"We took down a piece!" Kiki gasped, gazing upward.

"Not enough!" Jiang Yun stared at the devastated city blocks, grimly saying: "More and more are pouring into the city—the walls in the west and south won't hold much longer."

On the Silent City, Wang Yue Zhenji's gaze was sharp; on his monitors, the atmospheric organism above the clouds was rapidly retreating into higher altitudes, while the countless bizarre entities, as if receiving a command, converged en masse and dove toward the Silent City and Zhen Tian Fleet.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Facing this massive assault, every fleet's radar could only raise all weapon muzzles, firing furiously upward!

CLICK CLICK CLICK

Over the comms, Chen Sixuan from Wuxianhao spoke: "Large-scale bizarre entities are attacking the northern wall in waves—they're trying to encircle the entire city!"

On Shuguang City's fourth-loop light rail, a heavy train resembling a black dragon raced at breakneck speed, sparks flying from the tracks; all windows were open, and thousands of Wuxian Alliance members aboard were fighting desperately on the roof and inside the cars.

Ningjing, Shu Qin, Xiaoqing, Luoluo, Amin, Lu Chang, Miao Lu—all in powered armor—moved dynamically across the train, firing continuously.

BANG!

On the roof of Wuxianhao Car 1, Chen Sixuan, clad in Black Hawk powered armor, pierced two flying wing-beasts with a single shot; she observed intense artillery flashes and countless monstrous shapes climbing the northern wall, and immediately said over comms: "Reserve forces have all been dispatched—the mech corps are concentrated in the south and west; they won't hold much longer!"

At the rear of the combined convoy, Sha Sha, piloting the Interstellar Hunter, said: "Then let's go help!"

"Agreed!" Ningjing replied: "If Wall One falls, everyone retreats toward Wall Two and the inner city!"

Below on the streets, a convoy assembled around heavy armed base vehicles surged along the city's main artery, clearing monsters from ground and sky; this convoy was the "Steel Solar" team, formed by Jian Zeyang from the outer districts, mostly equipped with gear from Fenge Group, but composed primarily of the core fighters from impoverished outer-district convoys.

In the lead vehicle, Jian Zeyang ordered Kezi to push the speed to maximum, while he operated a large pulse cannon, eliminating monsters nonstop.

"Steel Solar team, follow me!" In this despairing night, Jian Zeyang felt fear mixed with exhilaration—this was his first real battle as a convoy leader, and this battle would decide everyone's survival.

"Sweep around this underground shelter entrance—don't let those monsters breach it!" Jian Zeyang shouted.

"Zeyang!"

From Xingcheng Orbital Station, Jian Xuwēi watched the dense fires burning the eastern sky and said over comms: "The wall may break—watch your safety!"

"If the wall breaks, we're all dead—there's no safety left, sis!" Jian Zeyang roared, blasting pulse beams into the sky.

At the Twin Star Tower command center, since the war began, Ye Lan had stood motionless before the main display screen; battle reports poured in constantly, but the situation remained grim.

Since the Day of Revelation, humanity had never faced such a massive wave of bizarre entities—or provoked a war of this scale; yet countless Phoenix Society high command and staff watching the battlefield situation all held their breath.

This apocalyptic scale was undoubtedly the first direct assault by the Star Abyss—and it confirmed the intelligence conclusions of the Crescent Moon Plan.

This was a probe by a dark civilization against humanity.

And the last.

"Forget S-class deployment—this volume is endless," Xu Zhenyue frowned, watching dozens of battlefield screens: "We've fought so long, and the monsters in the dark just keep coming…"

Ye Lan spoke slowly: "But our soldiers die one by one—and we can't replace them."

Xu Zhenyue said solemnly: "According to our intel, bizarre entities below Special Grade or A-class are mass-produced by the 'Nest' within the Star Abyss; due to time dilation inside, thousands upon thousands are 'manufactured' every minute, while S-class entities absorb their energy to repair and strengthen themselves—if our firepower can't break this cycle, the city's fall is merely a matter of time."

Former Federal Senator Xu Yan added grimly: "Internal mutations are worsening too—soldiers on the front line of Wall One are beginning to mutate; the darkness concentration is too high."

"Report: massive waves of bizarre entities are converging from the north and east!"

"Report: northern wall firepower is critically low!"

Xu Zhenyue frowned: "Is another S-class appearing?"

"No S-class detected yet."

Xu Zhenyue said firmly: "They're all being drawn by the wall's firepower—the south and west are too strong, so the monsters are diverting and beginning to encircle the entire city looking for weak points! The Garrison and Taitiewei main forces are all focused on the S-class—if the rear collapses, the city will be in total chaos!"

He immediately ordered: "Deploy reserve regiments and internal defense groups to reinforce the northern and eastern defense sectors!"

"Yes!"

"All directions are being encircled…" Ye Lan stared at the real-time footage from the eastern and northern fronts—monsters pouring out of the darkness as if fully surrounding Shuguang City—his brow furrowed: "This doesn't look like mere diversion… such massive waves wouldn't wait this long to encircle."

Ye Lan turned back: "It's more like they received a command signal…"

At that moment, everyone felt the air choke.

In Sector 8 of the western city, originally the western suburb, the Zhuque, wielding two Zhuque Plasma Diffusion Swords, smashed through blocks of streets at high speed, shattering waves of bizarre entities, maneuvering around the flank of the 18th Entity 【Wanderer】.

The creature, a twisted mass of countless legs, had a crimson mouth like a chasm at its front, with no discernible eyes or other features; around its mouth, dense clusters of clawed limbs cycled endlessly, each surge of the mouth spewing concentrated gray-green smoke that corroded entire buildings.

Because of this, Hu Jiang's mech units and special mobile battalions could only avoid direct confrontation, relying on long-range strikes.

"Try cutting off a few legs first!"

Inside the Zhuque's cockpit, Bai Ye proposed the strategy.

"Agreed!"

THUD THUD THUD!

At this moment, six self-guided aluminum-thermic missiles on the Zhuque's back unfolded like the wings of a phoenix, arcing precisely through the air before converging on the 【Wanderer】; before the missiles reached, an irregular polyhedral defense field appeared on the monstrous entity's body.

But Bai Ye and Su Rui had already witnessed the power of this defense field; the aluminum-thermic missiles detonated mid-air, turning the battlefield into a meteor shower of brilliant light, high-intensity aluminum thermite cascading like a waterfall.

The 【Wanderer】 was instantly engulfed in a three-thousand-degree aluminum thermite firework, and even beneath its defense field, the extreme heat caused massive burns across its tissue, leaving a stench of charred flesh.

"AANGGGHH!! "

The 【Wanderer】 shrieked in agony, spewing acid mist toward the Zhuque; but the Zhuque was already gone—emerging from the smoke behind, its body traced with crimson energy lines, wielding its two Zhuque Plasma Diffusion Swords in perfect form, lunging forward!

"Storm Tactics!"

"Storm Tactics!"

Bai Ye and Su Rui shouted in unison, crossing their plasma swords, swinging their arms—just as the acid mist's defense field vanished, they sliced clean through the 【Wanderer】's thickest leg; then the Zhuque activated all its thrusters, blasting violently, adjusting its posture mid-air, rotating its mech body, and spiraling its plasma swords to carve four massive gashes.

SPLAT!

Instantly, thick black-green stench erupted; the 【Wanderer】 thrashed wildly—then suddenly twisted its body, reversing a long leg covered in acid from its back to lash out from behind the Zhuque.

"Absorb the force!"

"Liquid nitrogen spray!"

With no time to evade, Bai Ye and Su Rui immediately adjusted their mech posture, twisting their upper bodies, crossing arms to block; as the acid began spraying and corroding the Zhuque's composite armor, massive white liquid nitrogen erupted from their arms, freezing the swirling acid and surface fluids—but the entire mech was still blasted backward, smashing through buildings and sliding hundreds of meters.

Instantly, countless bizarre entities swarmed toward the Zhuque like ants; inside the cockpit, Bai Ye, regaining partial consciousness, immediately pressed a control button.

BOOM!

Every joint of the Zhuque erupted with powerful plasma flame torrents, instantly incinerating a swarm of entities.

"Su Rui, wake up!"

Bai Ye roused his wife; the powerful shockwave had shaken both mentally, blood streaming from their noses, but they had no time to care—they rose again, extending their plasma swords; under the searchlight, thick black-gray mist merged completely with the night, blown swiftly toward the Zhuque and the mass of mech units and wall behind.

"Evade the acid mist!" Su Rui shouted; both retreated in unison—but the mist had already surged past the Zhuque's front, instantly melting its front and right-leg composite armor; alarms screamed inside the cockpit.

"Leap!"

The couple gritted their teeth, crouched simultaneously—the Zhuque's leg propulsion units ignited, launching the 22, 00-ton mech vertically into the air with hydraulic force.

Behind them, entire battalions of Taitiewei mechs were engulfed in acid mist; their metal shells corroded and dissolved, countless warriors exposed to acid and toxic gas screamed as they died.

Wall One was even worse—the acid mist swept across nearly a kilometer of the wall; soldiers defending it were annihilated into powder within seconds; automated cannons and base turrets went offline.

"Run!"

"Evade!"

Countless people vanished without a sound; survivors on the wall scrambled up, staring at the dead silence of the entire wall—no time for fear—the commander was already shouting.

"Don't stand there! Re-deploy the weapons!"

"Air defense cover!"

Soldiers rushed back into the death zone to fill the gaps—but as they arrived, countless bizarre entities had already climbed the wall; dense fog-spiders released mist, and the entities spread like a tide.

In Sector 5 of the southern city, originally along the Shuguang Pujiang shore, amidst a sky of dust, the 11th S-class entity 【Earth Surge】 roared thunderously, like a subterranean giant awakened from a volcano; its advance triggered massive earthquakes, reducing surrounding districts to rubble.

Its thick outer tissue resembled mountains, valleys, and shell fissures, continuously emitting thick black-gray smoke; even missile explosions only scattered stone-like debris.

It advanced like a moving mountain, ignoring all firepower, surrounded by tidal waves of bizarre entities that flowed beneath it like water, then surged toward multiple sections of Shuguang City's southern walls.

Thud-thud-thud!

Amidst the smoke, a thunderous footstep rang out—a colossal mech, entirely deep blue and equipped with two nuclear power cores, burst forth in a frenzy. Its left arm extended forward as Emperor Xuanwu held a massive magnetic rail shield and charged straight ahead. The 【Diyong】 sensed the threat approaching, immediately lowering its head to reveal mountain-like grotesque horns that vibrated incessantly, emitting vast areas of inaudible infrasound that twisted the air in the forward fan-shaped zone.

"Advance!"

Inside the Xuanwu's cockpit, Qin Yue and Qin Chuan gritted their teeth. The magnetic rail shield resisted the violent infrasound as their right arm extended—a dozens-of-meters-long high-frequency wave blade chain-sword slid from the mech's forearm, its hydraulic spine retracting as electric arcs flickered.

"Decapitate!"

"Decapitate!"

The two brothers roared, raising the chain-sword and slashing down violently at the 【Diyong】's neck.

Screech-screech-screech!

Under a piercing, sharp strike, the chain-sword severed the 【Diyong】's head like cutting through a skyscraper, shearing off vast sections of its "mountain peaks." Countless stone-like keratin layers crashed down—but this thunderous blow left no blood or internal tissue. Seeing this, the Qin brothers clenched their right hands, retracting the high-frequency blade chain-sword. With fluid motion, Xuanwu raised its right arm; its mechanical fingers and wrist joints rapidly reshaped into a triangular plasma phase ring.

"Activate plasma cannon!"

"Activate plasma cannon!"

Boom-boom-boom! In an instant, three plasma rounds slammed into the 【Diyong】's face. Thousands-of-degrees plasma exploded, illuminating the entire area with brilliant blue ionized light.

The 【Diyong】 emitted a deep, resonant growl, shoved back two steps by Xuanwu, causing the ground to tremble.

"Covering fire!"

Seeing this, the Qin brothers shouted. At Xuanwu's side, two 60-meter-class Interstellar Hunter mechs appeared, raising orbital star-shatter cannons. Simultaneously, over a hundred Tietie-3, Weishi-X, and Huoshen mechs formed a wall of steel, unleashing a torrent of firepower across the entire zone.

In an instant, artillery barrages, laser beams, flame jets, and metal storms completely engulfed the 【Diyong】 and vast swathes of the grotesque tide. Two brilliant star-shatter energy beams carved twin molten trenches into the ground, converging with thunderous force on the 【Diyong】's head.

Under this overwhelming firepower, nearly one-third of the 【Diyong】's "mountain ridges" and armored layers were plowed open; countless bodily tissues exploded and scattered.

"Did we kill it?!"

After a several-minute barrage, the battlefield was choked with smoke and flame. During a lull in fire, one of the Interstellar Hunters' pilots spoke over the comm: "I see it!"

"Wait!"

Qin Yue frowned at the strange energy fluctuations on his holographic display and shouted: "Prepare for impact!"

Whoosh!

No sooner had he spoken than everyone realized the grotesque remains and black mist around them were being pulled by some immense force, rushing at terrifying speed toward the central zone—now a massive crater from the bombardment. A high-frequency energy shriek rose, then an enormous crimson shockwave expanded spherically in an instant, blasting dozens of Tietie and Garrison mech units into the air. Dust exploded outward for kilometers.

Only Xuanwu and the two Interstellar Hunters withstood the shockwave. In an instant, buildings, rubble, and grotesque corpses were leveled, forming a single, smooth ash zone over a kilometer in diameter.

Beep-beep-beep! Alarms blared simultaneously in Xuanwu's cockpit. The Qin brothers snapped back to awareness, staring at the center. The 【Diyong】 was now entirely covered in grotesque limb fragments and skin, wrapped in a tar-like black liquid, turning pitch-black. On its grotesque head, two blood-red eyes emitted twisted waves of fear. As the "tar" shifted, its body seemed to swell even larger…

"Confirmed: S-class grotesque can absorb Tonglei energy to proliferate!"

Qin Yue's gaze trembled as he shouted over the comm.

"We must eliminate it in one strike!"

"Chain-sword ready!"

Xuanwu raised its high-frequency blade chain-sword again—but suddenly, the center of the shock zone began violent trembling. Dust erupted. Qin Yue and his brother Qin Chuan sensed something wrong and fired two plasma cannons. As the twin plasma explosions detonated at the center, they saw a massive sinkhole had opened on the ground; the entire city and Pujiang River trembled from the quake.

Seeing the 【Diyong】 vanish, Qin Yue immediately checked the seismic wave patterns on his monitors—and his face darkened.

Because he saw two distinct seismic signals!

"No! Fall back!"

The Qin brothers' faces paled. They quickly maneuvered Xuanwu backward—but from the deep waters of Pujiang behind them, water surged violently as a hundred-meter-tall dark behemoth erupted, fangs thrusting skyward, tearing off Xuanwu's left arm holding the magnetic rail shield.

"Damn it!!"

Qin Chuan yelled in alarm. Qin Yue reacted instantly, gritting his teeth: "Horizontal slash!"

Hum!

The brothers reacted instantly. Before the severed arm hit the ground, they swung the chain-sword from their right arm in a wide arc. The blade screamed through the air, slicing clean through the newly emerged subterranean creature's head.

The two brothers reacted with lightning speed; before the severed mechanical arm even hit the ground, they controlled their right arms' chain swords in a wide arc, slicing horizontally—the chain swords erupted with a deafening wind shear and slammed down, cleanly severing half the head of the sudden underground creature.

The subterranean giant didn't die. It rapidly burrowed, preparing to flee. The Qin brothers wouldn't let it escape—but just as they raised the chain-sword again, a towering shadow slammed into them with infrasound, hurling them backward.

The underground giant worm, unkillable from that single strike, rapidly shrank its body to flee—but Qin Yue and Qin Chuan would not let it escape. Just as they raised their chain swords again, a towering colossal shadow slammed into it with infrasonic shockwaves, blasting it away.

The subterranean giant vanished underground. The ground rippled, surging toward the city wall kilometers away. The Garrison troops noticed the anomaly—but too late. As artillery still roared, the giant creature, oozing tissue fluid, erupted from the earth and slammed into No. 1 Wall. The reinforced concrete wall instantly collapsed into a massive gap, riddled with cracks.

At that moment, the underground giant worm burrowed deep into the earth; the ground surged violently, racing toward the city wall several kilometers away. The garrison troops had sensed the anomaly but were too late—the cannons were still roaring when the giant worm, oozing tissue fluid, erupted from below and crashed headfirst into Wall No. 1, instantly collapsing a massive gap in the reinforced concrete wall, its surface riddled with cracks.

An orbital star-shatter cannon fired from the side of the wall, piercing the already dying giant. But then, countless grotesque hordes surged through the breach like a dam bursting.

A railstar cannon fired from beneath one section of the wall, piercing the already dying giant worm—but at that instant, countless strange bodies surged like a ruptured flood, pouring wildly through the breach.

Xuanwu, bearing the 【Diyong】's impact, braced its torso against the ground and slid backward, all thousands of its engines running at full power, hydraulic pistons screeching.

Watching the wall breach, Qin Yue roared:

"Jet-blade!"

Qin Chuan heard. The brothers synced instantly: they retracted the chain-sword, gripped the 【Diyong】 with one arm, and punched its jaw with the other. Then the rear gate of their right arm opened, revealing twelve detonation engines.

Qin Chuan heard it—the two brothers moved in perfect sync, retracting their right arm chain swords, holding back the earth surge while delivering a single punch straight into its jaw. Immediately, the rear gate of their right arms opened, revealing twelve shockwave engines!

"Ignition!"

Boom! Twelve detonation engines ignited instantly. The immense thrust launched the high-frequency blade chain-sword forward—a dozens-of-meters-long blade, crackling with electric arcs, drove straight through the 【Diyong】's lower jaw and out its skull.

BOOM! The twelve shockwave engines ignited simultaneously, generating immense thrust that launched the high-frequency blade chain sword forward—dozens of meters of chain sword, flickering with electric arcs of razor-light, drove straight through the earth surge's jaw and out its skull top with violent metallic force.

The 【Diyong】 let out a pained moan, opening its maw to bite down on Xuanwu's nuclear turbine engine. Instantly, its chest armor shattered piece by piece.

Qin Yue and Qin Chuan locked eyes—perfectly in sync. They released the chain-sword's barbed hooks into the 【Diyong】's skull, then pulled back and roared:

Qin Yue and Qin Chuan exchanged a glance—utterly in sync—then released their right arm chain swords, their barbed hooks embedding into the earth surge's skull. They bent their arms and roared in unison!

"Core plasma jet!"

Whoosh!! The niobium-titanium superconducting ring around the nuclear turbine, now bitten by the 【Diyong】, began glowing orange-yellow as it heated and erupted. A furious stream of crimson plasma blasted directly into the 【Diyong】's mouth and face.

Sssss! Thousands of degrees of heat instantly charred the 【Diyong】's mouth and half its lower jaw. It struggled—but its head was pinned by the chain-sword's barbs. The monster screamed, yanked back violently, tearing its own head free from the blade. Instantly, torrents of tissue and brain matter sprayed out.

Just as Xuanwu prepared to sever its head, the 【Diyong】 opened its charred maw and unleashed another invisible infrasound wave from the side, slamming Xuanwu backward. Dozens of power components exploded, and the mech crashed into a pile of rubble.

The 【Diyong】, now fully enraged, roared and charged Xuanwu again.

【ALERT, ALERT: BIOLOGICAL IMPACT!】

Inside Xuanwu's cockpit, filled with debris and smoke, Qin Yue and Qin Chuan struggled to their feet.

"Prepare to fight!"

Qin Yue's gaze turned to the wall breach. Thousands of grotesques had flooded into Shuguang City and the wall. Countless soldiers fought desperately.

At that moment, Qin Yue's gaze turned to the breach in the wall—thousands upon thousands of strange bodies had already flooded into Dawn City and along the ramparts, countless soldiers fighting desperately to hold them back.

Qin Yue shouted. The brothers retracted the chain-sword, grabbed the torn-off left arm and magnetic rail shield, swung them sideways to repel the 【Diyong】, then spun them in a full circle and hurled the left arm into the air. Seconds later, with a deafening rush of wind, Xuanwu's massive magnetic rail shield and entire left arm crashed down from above, embedding themselves into the gap. Dust exploded violently—countless grotesques shattered instantly.

The breach was now half-blocked—but the 【Diyong】 seized the moment, unleashing another close-range infrasound wave that blasted Xuanwu backward, sending it tumbling into Pujiang River. The raging waters flooded the mech rapidly; warning lights flickered erratically…

"Report: A special-class grotesque has appeared in the south. Xuanwu severely damaged, sunk in Pujiang. No survival signals detected."

"Report: A Special-Class strange body has appeared in the southern sector. Xuanwu has been critically damaged and sunk into the Pujiang River. No survival signals detected."

"More than one. Two new biological signatures detected in the west—likely both special-class."

"Not just one—two new biological signatures detected in the western sector. Likely both Special-Class!"

Over two hundred thousand survivors in the city were scattered across dozens of districts, fighting the monsters pouring in. Wang Hongyuan of the Infinite Alliance's Hongyuan Trading Consortium led his convoy, stationed in a commercial zone, where gunfire echoed from every floor.

"Why are there more and more inside?!" Wang Hongyuan fired a rocket launcher, blowing up several grotesques crawling from the street, cursing.

"Captain, did we lose that sector?"

"Which one?"

The younger brother pointed west. Wang Hongyuan turned to look at the distant wall. For kilometers, the wall burned fiercely. Under the towering flames, grotesque hordes poured over the ramparts in dense waves. Massive grotesques were smashing the wall's main structure—large sections had shattered, leaving gaping holes. Though countless soldiers still fought, the grotesques were now uncontrollably flooding into the city.

The younger brother pointed toward the west. Wang Hongyuan turned to look at the nearby wall—kilometers of rampart were now engulfed in flames. Beneath the towering inferno, dense hordes of strange bodies poured over the wall. Massive strange bodies were smashing the wall's primary structure; vast sections had shattered, cracked, and collapsed into dense holes and gaps. Though countless soldiers still fought desperately, the strange bodies now surged uncontrollably into the city.

Wang Hongyuan's face paled. Before he finished speaking, a massive crimson flame erupted in the sky. A giant mech, slammed by a colossal impact, shattered a section of wall and crashed into the city, turning several streets into rubble. Dust exploded upward. Zhuque knelt in the broken street, its body burning.

Wang Hongyuan's face turned pale—before he could finish speaking, a colossal crimson flame exploded in the sky. A massive mech, shattered by the impact, smashed through a stretch of wall and crashed into the city, reducing several blocks to rubble. A massive dust cloud erupted—Zhuque knelt half-broken amid the ruins, its entire frame ablaze.

Hydraulic fluid and coolant mixed with rain, pooling beneath its feet into a fluorescent blue "blood." Three deep, jagged claw marks, half a meter deep, scarred its chest armor. The metal edges curled and warped from heat, exposing flickering circuits and severed lines.

Zhuque's plasma diffuser sword was broken. Its turbine casing was pierced by a monster's tail spike. Broken radiator fins stuck out like shattered wings. Yet the core reactor still roared.

One Zhuque plasma diffuser sword was snapped in two; the turbine engine casing had been pierced through by the beast's tail spike. Broken radiator fins jutted like shattered wings, yet the core reactor's roar remained unceasing.

Inside the cockpit, Su Rui, face streaked with blood, shouted through the neural link to the unconscious Bai Ye. While facing the 【Wanderer】, two special-class grotesques had ambushed them. Though Zhuque's agility prevented immediate dismemberment, the mech was critically damaged.

A gust of wind swept over, extinguishing Zhuque's flames. Qi Nuo's psychic combat team arrived at the west wall. Powered armor hovered in the air. Kiki watched, face grim.

"The south can't hold either. At least three or four special-class grotesques—how do we handle this?!"

"Seal this breach first!" Qi Nuo ordered.

"The wall's collapsing! Go help!" shouted a survivor convoy.

"Hurry! Don't let the monsters in!"

"Charge!"

Countless voices echoed over the survivor channel. Hundreds of Garrison and Tietie armored vehicles and troops surged toward the wall breaches. In the sky and on the ground, tens of thousands of survivor convoy members formed a steel tide, racing toward the west wall.

They no longer cared. Their families and children were sheltered inside. If the wall fell, countless lives would vanish.

Lu Xingchen flew with the psychic team to the wall. He unleashed his once-proud psychic techniques, slaughtering waves of monsters—but still couldn't stop the No. 1 Wall, now a hundred meters tall, from crumbling into a thousand holes. Structures collapsed; soldiers fell helplessly from above.

Lu Xingchen flew with the psychic unit above the wall, arriving at the ramparts. He unleashed his once-proud psychic technique with full force, slaughtering waves of monsters—but even so, he could not stop Wall No. 1, now a hundred meters tall, from becoming riddled with holes. Entire sections began collapsing, and soldiers kept falling helplessly from above.

"Fire! Full firepower coverage!"

The commander's voice exploded over the comm. The next second, every artillery array on the wall roared. Electromagnetic cannons tore through the night with blue light; rocket trails rained down like meteor showers; high-explosive incendiary rounds ignited vast fire seas beyond the wall.

The commander's voice exploded through the comms channel—and the next second, every artillery array on the wall roared in unison. The blue glare of electromagnetic cannons tore through the night, rocket trails rained down like meteor showers, and high-explosive incendiary rounds ignited vast fire seas across the wasteland beyond the wall.

Beyond the wall, endless grotesque monsters surged from the darkness—vast, twisted, more grotesque than any tide.

Farther still: writhing flesh mountains, blood-red vines covered in eyes, colossal beasts stitched from corpses…

Farther out, there were more—undulating flesh mountains, blood-colored vines covered in eyes, colossal beasts stitched together from corpses…

"It can't hold anymore…"

A man with a gun, his eyes swallowed by terror, stared at the wave of desperate monsters—his mind went blank, his body trembling as he stumbled backward.

"Even the Emperor Mech can't beat it—we're done, completely done…"

On the wall, soldiers who had emptied their magazines frantically searched outposts for weapons; when one picked up a heavy machine gun and turned, directly before his eyes appeared a massive orifice like a crimson abyss, surrounded by countless spiny limbs like a hunting net, continuously sucking the surrounding black mist into its mouth.

Seeing this, dozens of soldiers froze in place, the powerful dark corruption beginning to infect them, their eyes filled with bloodshot veins.

"Fire Fist!"

Boom—a massive fire suddenly rained down, slamming into the giant orifice. Lu Xingchen sped past and shouted at them:

"Heroes, don't give up!"

His cry snapped the group back from the edge of mental collapse; drenched in cold sweat, they regained their senses and raised their guns to fire again.

Kiki flew in quickly, grabbing massive boulders and chunks of buildings to plug the breaches in the wall, shouting at Lu Xingchen: "Watch out for that S-class!"

A force of hundreds of thousands—Garrison troops, Iron Guard Brigade, psychics, and survivors—advanced toward the wall, trying to block the endless tide of monsters pouring into the city; but as the wall crumbled further, the number of aberrations seemed infinite, flooding like an endless tidal wave, forcing the encircling forces back into the streets, where urban warfare erupted.

"The shelter passage at Sector 13 has been opened!"

"Save them quickly!"

Chaos filled the frequency band; at a subterranean shelter entrance in the west city, over a dozen convoys held the entire district, when suddenly a steel convoy burst through the monster horde, unleashing devastating firepower to encircle the whole street and reestablish a steel defense line.

This was Jian Zeyang's Steel Solar Convoy.

In the east city, an armed train stretched a fifteen-kilometer frontline along the intercity elevated track, resisting the dense influx of aberrations from the wall; the tracks were shattered, the train had stopped—it was the Infinite Union Train.

22: 2—One-quarter of Dawn City had fallen; countless monsters flooded in, and every district defense line fought to the death.

Large areas began to collapse; countless fleets plummeted from the sky.

In the west city, the No. 1 wall collapsed over a vast stretch; the ground surged, and a tsunami of aberrations charged forth from the darkness.

"Emergency alert: Bio-11 【Earth Surge】 in Sector 5 has vanished from its location—the target is approaching the west city!"

"Two S-class are entering through the west wall!"

"Report: Skywatch Recon Drone detected massive dark soul-wave fluctuations in the west city!"

In the Twin Star Tower command center, the battle was nearing total collapse. Ye Lan stared grimly at the Skywatch Recon footage: in the dark flood, besides the 【Wanderer】 and the approaching seismic signal, a colossal humanoid entity—surging with violent dark corruption—was rapidly advancing from approximately sixty kilometers northwest, its arms swinging, shaking the air in the mountains with overwhelming might, heading straight for Dawn City like a demon god from hell!

Meanwhile, in the valleys and gorges below, the dark flood seemed driven forward, surging over mountains and hills, crushing villages and towns, moving like a mudslide through the pitch-black night.

An extremely potent dark corruption spread rapidly; soldiers and survivors on the west wall and those still fighting all felt at once that a creature of utter despair and terror was drawing near—the infection level inside the city instantly spiked to Level 4, and tens of thousands began to mutate in despair.

The Corpse Driver!

"The Corpse Driver has appeared!!!"

"Damn it…"

"Infection level is already at 4—the army can't hold!"

"We must retreat to the No. 2 wall!"

"Casualties keep rising—the First Mechanized Division of the south city garrison is nearly wiped out."

"If the Corpse Driver enters the city, infection will definitely breach Level 5…"

In the command center, senior officers shouted in unison.

Standing before the command screen, Ye Lan watched the cascading death tolls and vast red zones of city collapse, and without turning, said to Su Jin:

"Has the Synergy Device received the signal?"

"Not yet!"

Su Jin stared at the device's screen—0%—his face grim.

"What's that?"

At that moment, Xu Yan suddenly spoke up.

All eyes turned to where he pointed.

It was the distant observation sensors on the north and east walls, issuing alerts.

Meanwhile, soldiers desperately holding the wall noticed lights flickering in the distance through the darkness.

The commander confirmed—it was indeed light.

Because it was the shape of vehicle headlights; initially, only dozens glowed, then more and more pierced the darkness, igniting across the wasteland.

Click-click.

In the commander's comm channel, static crackled—he couldn't make it out, likely due to interference, so he turned up the volume.

"Dawn, this is Lin Qingyu of the Dawn Watchers Alliance—identify friend or foe, we're en route to reinforce!"

"Dawn, this is the Nomads Alliance—I'm Yu Huai'an! We're coming to reinforce!"

The commander's breath trembled; he frantically spun the comm dial, and more voices flooded out like a deluge:

"We're the Wind Whisperers Convoy…"

"The United Alliance is back—we have 150, 00 people!"

"Dawn, this is Xu Yufei of the Steel Bastion…"

"Dawn, Dawn, this is the Full Metal Tsunami Convoy… 37 kilometers out!"

"Dawn, we are…"

"Protect Dawn City!!"

"Dawn City is ours—China's!!"

"To hell with S-class!"

"If we die, we die—charge, all of you!"

On the wall, the defenders and survivors of Dawn City gazed into the distant darkness—they saw trucks, armored vehicles, SUVs, base carriers, buses…

Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands!

Across the dark wasteland, a river of light surged forward, countless headlights blazing in the night,

Like a vast galaxy.

Meanwhile, in the Twin Star Tower command center, on Su Jin's Synergy Device monitor, the data reception progress bar—previously stagnant—suddenly jumped from 0% to 1%.

Immediately, a faint, intermittent signal echoed through the command hall:

"Secondary propulsion decelerating…"

"Reentry atmospheric attitude adjustment…"

"Landing site calibrated…"

"Dawn City, attention…"

"Prepare for impact across the entire city!"

(End of Chapter)