Chapter 556: Father's Love Is Like a Mountain, A Dead End

The air in the underground shaft was damp and stifling, mixed with the smell of iron rust and rot.

Feng Yuhuai ran wildly in front, with Grandpa, Dad, and the few remaining brothers and sisters following tightly behind.

Her speed was already so fast she nearly crashed into the rusted pipe wall, yet the pursuers' engine sounds still drew closer; the dark blue tail flames from their boosters illuminated the soldiers' faces in flickering light and shadow, making them look like monsters too.

Technology transforms people into monsters from the outside!

The Curse of the Evil Sacrifice induces people to mutate into monsters from the inside!

Feng Yuhuai and the pursuers behind her at this moment spat out the same word from their mouths with a tacit understanding: "Monster!"

Four Special Warriors sped through the dim shaft; the hydraulic systems of their Exoskeleton Armor emitted a low hum, and in the infrared vision of their Tactical Helmets, that crimson figure ahead was still fleeing.

"Target turned left out of sight, throw grenades!" the Captain shouted sternly, tossing a High-Explosive Grenade with a flick of his hand.

Amid a deafening boom, an orange-red fireball expanded inside the narrow pipe.

Feng Yuhuai's body, lying in ambush against the wall corner, was violently blown away by the shock wave, smashing against the rusted metal pipe wall like a rag doll.

Her body twisted and deformed eerily in the impact, yet the moment she landed it re-condensed like liquid; countless crimson blood threads wriggled madly, swiftly weaving and repairing her damaged body.

But her relatives were not so lucky.

In the explosion's firelight, Father and Grandpa simultaneously grabbed the children beside them and shielded them in front.

After two dull thuds, the only two remaining brothers and sisters instantly turned into a sky-full of blood mist; bone fragments and flesh scraps splattered the entire passage.

Now, only Grandpa, Dad, and the granddaughter were truly left.

Feng Yuhuai's face turned fierce; she tried to turn back for a surprise attack, but the moment she turned, another warrior had already anticipated her move; a Shoulder-Mounted Micro Rocket Launcher locked on instantly.

Bang!

Her upper body was directly blown into blood mist; red threads scattered and flew.

The explosion's fierce flames still raged in the pipe; the crimson threads scorched by high temperature emitted a tooth-aching "sizzle," fearlessly penetrating the fire wall and pouncing on the nearest Special Warrior like venomous snakes.

The Exoskeleton Armor's surface was even tougher than ordinary monsters' scales; the red threads could only scrape harsh sounds on it, leaving shallow white marks.

But no matter how hard the armor, it had weaknesses; as the red threads found gaps at the joints and drilled in, the warrior inside instantly let out a miserable scream.

His body withered at a speed visible to the naked eye; in the blink of an eye he became a desiccated corpse wrapped in armor.

"Boom—!"

The Self-Destruct Program activated at the moment of death.

The close-range explosion made the entire underground pipe tremble violently; countless red threads turned into foul-smelling mucus in even more terrifying high temperatures.

The shock wave blew the other several warriors several meters away, but they soon climbed up mechanically and stepped out of the burning flames in pursuit.

The Exoskeleton surfaces reflected a dangerous red light due to high temperature; opposite them was Feng Yuhuai, who had lost many red threads to burning; the long dress on her body had visibly faded several shades of blood color, becoming dim and lusterless.

"Maintain tactical distance, continue calling for ground support."

The Captain's voice was still icy cold; his gaze behind the mask locked dead on the wriggling blood shadow ahead,

"Switch to triangular defense formation, activate thermal barrier."

Only piercing static noise replied in the communication channel.

They did not know that the reinforcements that should have come to aid had already driven out several kilometers away.

But Feng Yuhuai likewise could not eavesdrop on the other side's lost communication channel, nor did she know the situation above ground; she only thought that if she did not seize time to escape, she would fall into an encirclement.

"So annoying!"

Feng Yuhuai roared, her toes stomped the ground hard, her dim body suddenly surged up, posturing to fight the remaining Special Warriors to the death.

However the other side was long prepared; the three warriors' boosters simultaneously reversed direction; dark blue plasma flames intertwined in front of them into a death flame wall.

The gorgeous blue distorted the air; the damp air was rendered into seemingly tangible ripples.

The crimson threads had just touched the flame wall when they melted with a sizzle like wax oil, turning into pools of foul-smelling mucus.

"Open fire!"

At the Captain's order, the three Special Warriors fired simultaneously.

The narrow shaft was instantly filled with dense bullet rain; although it could not compare to an armored vehicle's heavy fire control system, in this kind of enclosed space the metal storm formed by three intersecting lines of fire turned Feng Yuhuai into a sieve in one second.

After all, they were Investigation Corps Special Warriors; they had already fought countless times against all kinds of bizarre alien creatures in the Hidden Gate Ruins.

Although when they entered the sewer they had not anticipated that what they would be pursuing was a humanoid monster, rich combat experience made them terrifyingly calm when encountering sudden changes.

Feng Yuhuai could clearly feel that these warriors were different from all enemies she had encountered before.

The pressure they brought might not be as terrifying as Zuo Bai and 【Mask】, yet they made her experience a kind of brand-new despair.

Every attack was anticipated, every killer move was neutralized.

The enemies cooperated with each other, constantly adjusting tactics during combat, dismantling her whole repertoire bit by bit.

She clearly felt the advantage was hers, even that this wave she could win, yet at the critical moment she was always countered.

Like a moth fallen into a spider web, the more she struggled, the more tightly she was entangled until she suffocated.

A drowning sensation of clearly being able to beat them, yet being hard-pressed to death by attrition.

Red threads gathered again; Feng Yuhuai's body visibly re-healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A morbid greenish hue surfaced on her pale face; the rings in her pupils were dim like charcoal about to go out.

Intense hunger surged in her abdominal cavity — the previous consumption from madly creating "family," the severe injury from being beaten by Grandpa, plus the current continuous war of attrition

She felt she was about to be hollowed out.

"Target regeneration speed dropping, maintain suppression."

The Captain's voice was terrifyingly calm,

"Don't rush in, maintain safe distance, continue calling for support."

Feng Yuhuai's heart sank with a thump; if even her best acting could not deceive people, then she could only...

"Dad. Protect me!"

Feng Yuhuai shed tears; a red thread shot into Ge Qingming's back of head, the other end drifting away rapidly like a kite following Feng Yuhuai, with Grandpa beside her.

At a moment of life and death, the daughter relies on her father, the grandfather counts on his son — it is only right and proper; Dad is the pillar of the home, no question about it.

A father's love is like a mountain; Ge Qingming's body spanned the center of the passage like a mountain range, forcibly bearing the full three seconds of the Metal Storm.

When the blue-flame wall burned his features bit by bit into ash, a single tear trickled from those dead-white eyes whose thread-rings had faded.

The Red Thread tugged by Feng Yuhuai's pinky snapped, yet she had no leisure to grieve, because an even more desperate sight met her eyes — ahead lay a wall.

But this time, on the other side of the wall there was no longer a father desperately chiseling and digging a tunnel to reach her.

The left and right sides were likewise walls.

So, ahead was a dead end, only behind the flame wall closing in like Death's footsteps……

(End of Chapter)