Chapter 602

creak... creak...

Originally, the subway entrance was filled with gunfire and artillery blasts, but now only flesh mixed with bones remained, accompanied by the sound of hearty feasting.

The brave soldiers whose names were engraved in Chinese characters on these plaques, facing the alien tide, only held on for half a minute before being mercilessly swallowed.

I saw the aliens directly swallow the dying soldiers with mutilated limbs, along with their mechanical exoskeletons, into their mouths, chew them, and then swallow them into their bellies.

It seemed that, being preoccupied with dealing with the soldiers, the aliens did not immediately notice the defensive fortifications, nor the numerous time bombs placed in the corners of the underground passage.

Of course, the appearance of these bombs had no conspicuous red countdown light; they looked just like ordinary iron boxes.

After all the soldiers had been swallowed into the aliens' bellies…

Boom! Rumble!!

Flames burst forth in all directions, devouring everything in the blink of an eye.

The fireballs even surged straight along the passage into the subway platform.

Following the flames and fireballs came a shockwave capable of shattering human bodies, simultaneously reducing the subway entrance and everything nearby to ashes.

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Boom!!

In the deep underground tunnel, a wave-like shock surged.

Whoosh!!

Dust, dirt, and a large amount of debris fell from above, causing the already dim lighting to either burst out one by one or begin to flicker due to poor contact.

Cough… cough cough!

Shh!

Here, as the smoke and dust spread, several coughs and shushing sounds echoed.

Originally, in the substation on the right side of this tunnel, more than ten surviving civilians were hiding, and judging by their appearance, the vast majority were junior high school students aged 13 to 15.

The remaining three men and women, judging by their attire and age, were likely the teachers of this group of junior high students.

The shock passed in an instant, and the substation, which was neither spacious nor cramped, fell silent once again.

Sigh… hiss!

But soon, this silence was interrupted by soft sobbing.

Some of the younger, more timid junior high students were on the verge of breaking down, but they dared not wail loudly; they clenched their mouths shut, yet tears streamed down uncontrollably.

There was nothing to be done.

Even the adult teachers were filled with panic and unease, let alone these immature children.

The city they were in, along with the defense line garrisoned by Gao Tiankuo's forces, and indeed the entire Eurasian continent, suffered a large-scale alien assault from west to east.

The defensive lines of Asia and the Middle East were torn apart in an instant, and their city, located in southwestern Asia, originally belonged to Armenia, but since the establishment of the United Human Government, it has come under the governance of Xia, the Asian 'benchmark'.

This is also why the soldiers who stubbornly held the subway entrance each bore a plaque with Chinese characters.

Not long ago, they were scattered by a panicked crowd and also encountered a tank-class alien, but fortunately they met the group of soldiers who had already sacrificed themselves.

But the entire city had already been surrounded by aliens, and both military and civilian airports were targeted by the aliens from the very start of the assault.

With no hope of evacuation, they were forced to hide in this subway tunnel, while the soldiers hastily erected a makeshift defense at the subway entrance, preparing to fight the aliens to the bitter end.

Now…

Although the teachers knew nothing about military matters, even the most clueless among them understood that the tremor just now signified that those soldiers had all fallen.

At the same time, it also meant that their chances of escaping alive from here were virtually zero.

Of course, the teachers would not speak their true feelings.

"Children, teachers," said the middle-aged teacher who was clearly the headmaster, calming his emotions and lowering his voice to soothe: "Those soldiers bought us a hard-won chance at survival; we should make good use of it, not waste away here in tears."

Alright, wipe your tears, ah, children, you will surely make it out alive.

As his words fell, the children's sobbing indeed eased.

After all, this headmaster could be considered the embodiment of the word 'kind'.

"Director Koniyang, do you have any good suggestions?" asked a female teacher.

"Hehe, of course." Koniyang chuckled, took out a military pistol, and continued: "That platoon leader Lin just gave me this."

"So…?" the female teacher remained puzzled.

"Aliens have extraordinarily developed hearing and sight, so… I will go alone, heading west as far as possible, and try to create a big commotion."

As Koniyang spoke, his gaze swept over the female teacher, the other male teacher, and then the students with bewildered faces:

"Teacher Lahman, you are the homeroom teacher of these children, you know them better, and Teacher Ibn is our school's PE teacher."

"The children… are now entrusted to you two." At the end, Koniyang let out a heavy sigh and, as an aside, handed the pistol to the PE teacher named Ibn.

"Headmaster, this?!"

"Ibn! Leave the last chance for the children! Besides, among us you are the strongest—don't shirk!"

The PE teacher had thought the headmaster, who volunteered to be bait, was preparing to use the pistol for self-defense, but who knew the other party would actually leave the sole weapon to the children!

The PE teacher wanted to refuse, but seeing the headmaster's gaze that allowed no refusal, he had no choice but to accept it with moist eyes.

Who doesn't want to live?

Anyway, he himself could never possibly volunteer as bait; selfishness is instinct, but after seeing the other party, even while mired in despair, still retaining humanity's light…

"Don't worry, headmaster, I'll protect everyone."

"Hehe."

Koniyang raised his hand to pat the PE teacher's shoulder, then casually rubbed the heads of a few tearful students, and amidst the crowd's reluctant whispers and choked sobs, he resolutely opened the metal door, his figure quickly vanishing into the darkness.

"Clang… clang…"

Soon, a faint metallic noise like steel pipes striking rails came from the western end of the tunnel.

Boom… boom…

Immediately after, there was a dense series of noises.

It seems the collapse caused by the explosion did not hold back the alien species for long, and these biological weapons were already sweeping through the tunnel in an orderly manner.

They waited for several seconds.

The PE teacher held his gun in his right hand, pushed the door again with his left, poked half his body out to look for a moment, confirmed left and right were temporarily safe, then waved his hand, signaling the female homeroom teacher and the children they could come out.

Next, the children lined up in two rows, while the two teachers went one ahead of the other, jogging toward the eastern subway exit.

Along the way there were frights but no danger.

Whether the alien species were rushing inland or the decoy director still functioned, they somehow managed to reach the terminal platform smoothly.

Helping each other climb onto the platform, then arriving at the long‑out‑of‑service escalator, nobody dared to breathe.

Because above lay fresh air—and also the exit where they might encounter a large force of alien species.

He looked up.

The PE teacher gripped his pistol tightly—of course, without any cheat‑code assistance, after all he was also a military enthusiast.

"Lahman." As he was about to step upward, he instructed: "If I'm up there longer than two minutes… you just keep hiding below, stay as long as you can, until the very last moment."

"Okay." The female homeroom teacher nodded solemnly.

Having said that, the PE teacher leapt two or three steps at a time, quickly ascending; within a few seconds he reached the top of the escalator, and his figure disappeared as he moved forward.

Gazing at the empty space above.

An older male student suddenly felt melancholy: "Director Koniyang said the same thing… now it's Teacher Ibn…"

The boy didn't continue, but everyone could easily guess what he meant to say.

After all, they'd been fighting the alien species for many years.

They hid on either side of the escalator, watching the exit above as if each day felt like a year.

Meanwhile, the homeroom teacher's forehead kept beading with cold sweat, her eyes fixed on her left‑hand wristwatch; the ticking of the hands sounded especially piercing.

The minute hand turned two full circles…

Then another half circle…

This indicated…

"Hey! Lahman! Kids! Hurry! Come up!!"

???!!!!

Everyone was jolted by this sudden shout, some of the timid nearly fainted.

Only to see the PE teacher, whom they thought had perished, standing above, his expression excited, he waved his left arm vigorously, signaling everyone to come up quickly.

The group first stared in disbelief.

"Teacher!"

"Ibn Teacher!"

Afterward, a few boys who were close to the PE teacher, without thinking, likewise leapt two or three steps at a time and ran toward the exit outside.

Although the homeroom teacher didn't understand the situation—perhaps human nature had sunk to utter depravity, wanting to drag them down to die together—

but in the apocalypse, what did truth or falsehood matter? So she also organized the children to go through the escalator, finally escaping the sunless underground.

They arrived outside the subway station.

"Wow! How beautiful!"

"Teacher… could we already be dead, and this is… a pre‑death hallucination?"

The students gathered around the PE teacher and homeroom teacher, upon seeing the "anomaly," were all utterly bewildered.

What is called the "anomaly" refers to the sky, which had been perpetually overcast with no sunlight visible, now parting the clouds to reveal the sun, warm beams slipping through gaps in the lingering clouds and falling upon the ruined city.

As for the source that could tear the clouds, halt the downpour, and change the weather, it was a scattering of cyan‑blue light, winding and elegant, flowing into the ground—the "Stellar River".

Indeed it was beautiful, yet also an unnatural phenomenon; otherwise a boy might have said it was a "pre‑death fantasy".

Soon they saw one of the "Stellar Rivers" hit the ground, instantly sending ripples like a stone tossed on a lake, then it swiftly swept toward them.

Not only the "Stellar River," but the alien species were also surging toward the subway exit.

!

The homeroom teacher and the students were instantly startled, turning to flee again.

"Wait!" the PE teacher, however, remained calm and composed.

No sooner had he spoken than they saw in the distance the "Stellar River" rapidly devouring all the alien species; some struggled violently, but their struggle was futile—against the Stellar River the aliens had no resistance whatsoever.

But…

"Could the Stellar River, which devours the alien species, also swallow us?"

Some quick‑witted students realized this at once, but seeing the PE teacher still composed, they plucked up courage and stayed where they were.

Soon, when the Stellar River was only a hundred meters away, it suddenly slowed, like a turbulent flow drinking water, turning in an instant into a gentle stream, and even as it was about to reach them, it diverted.

"Wow! It's really beautiful!"

"Heavens! Is this really not a pre‑death fantasy? Let me test it!"

"Ouch! Why are you pinching me?!"

In an instant, the students' playful nature returned, their tone becoming extremely cheerful.

"After the calamity, we're still alive!"

Matching the picturesque scenery before them, even if they didn't understand why, nothing was more worth celebrating than being able to keep living.

Moreover, upon close observation, the students discovered that the so‑called "Stellar River" was actually composed of endless "fireflies".

These "fireflies" were extremely tiny, invisible to the naked eye, and their appearance was not pleasant—certainly not cute, resembling creatures that had grown wings…

"Mechanical spiders?"

Within a few seconds, the river composed of mechanical spiders was about to move away from them; some branches scattered into the city, while others shot straight into the subway, apparently preparing to eradicate all alien species once and for all.

After the "tide receded," they finally realized this was truly a narrow escape!

As for the sudden "Milky Way flood," they felt it was a divine sign from heaven; otherwise, how could it be explained?

"Children!"

"Suddenly!"

Everyone heard a familiar shout.

Looking back, they saw the director in tattered clothes, with many scrapes on his body, waving his arms and limping toward them.

"Teacher!"

"Director!"

——

At the same time.

If one looked down from a high place, it would be easy to see countless survivors leaving the buildings and the subway.

If one went higher up…

If one went beyond the clouds, straight toward the horizon…

Even observing from hundreds or thousands of kilometers above the surface in space, one could see that the entire 109 Earth was now emitting a brighter azure light than before.

The surface was scoured by the "Milky Way," and the oceans were gradually being filtered by the dazzling light.

This scene precisely confirmed what Taitusi, Wokan, and An Na Jin had said earlier: the threat level of the alien species would shift from red to green.

In fact, there was no divine sign as the teachers and students had imagined; the mechanical spiders were precisely the attack type among the many nanomachine varieties in the main universe.

Meanwhile, the ascending and descending formations that Wokan and An Na Jin saw were transport units acting on Robert's orders, heading to the designated low-Earth orbit to dump large numbers of parent-child shells, after which the AI Weisita would handle detailed control.

At the current pace, within two hours the alien species on the surface of 109 Earth will be completely wiped out, after all, nanomachines can easily penetrate underground, drill through rock, and even split themselves using any material they encounter.

What's up with the Space Gate?

Of course, the order Robert gave was not an extermination command but merely a minor nanobombardment, which is why Weisita was made to restrict the nanomachines' movements and self-replication.

Of course, the order issued by Robert was not an extermination order, merely a negligible nanobombing, which is why Vista restricted the movements and self-replication of the nanobots.

(End of Chapter)