Chapter 187: Wait, Monsters!～

Before Liu Mu set off, the report-savvy Ma Si really did go over all the important matters.

"Aside from the people at the farm, two-thirds of the people here at the Barrier have already retreated underground. Which entrance do you plan to use when you return?"

Liu Mu saw Niu Boyi from afar and immediately had a bit of mischief; she pulled her collar tight. "What, are you planning to wait for me at the entrance yourself?"

The young man holding the folder didn't panic in the slightest, and even maintained a professional smile throughout. "If you require it, I can wait with the guards."

Liu Mu also flashed a fake smile. "Oh, no need for that, I'm going home!"

Then she saw Niu Boyi dash forward, a gust of cold wind knocking the young man in front of him into a stagger; combined with the icy slush on the ground, Ma Si successfully slipped and fell on the spot.

"See you," Liu Mu raised her eyebrows, watching the person sprawled out, and she felt satisfied.

Niu Boyi carried Liu Mu and disappeared into the wind and snow; Ma Si climbed up, baring his teeth. "Hiss, you're going the wrong direction!"

The running Gouzi suddenly made a sharp turn, wagging his tail and leaving him two dashing silhouettes.

Liu Mu lay in the dog fur, biting an Energy Bar in her mouth, sweeping past the workers who had just gotten off the vehicle like the wind.

"What's going on?" Luo Sanlin saw the person and shouted hurriedly, "Do you need help?"

"No need, I'll go myself!" Liu Mu was a bit angry inside, but it wasn't directed at Luo Sanlin, nor at Ma Si, but at that bunch of blind Mutated Animals.

She had just returned, hadn't even had a sip of boiled water, and they had actually attacked the Steel Factory.

Based on Liu Mu's understanding of Feng Mo, this attack was likely very serious; he wouldn't have taken the initiative to call for help under normal circumstances.

Li Fei found Zheng Tian at this moment. "Have you seen Xiaoliuzi? Did he stay at the Steel Factory too?"

"Probably, he wasn't seen when we left the Steel Factory, the Boss must have assigned him a task," as expected of the person who considered himself to know Liu Mu best, Zheng Tian actually guessed right, and immediately said, "Looking at the direction, something happened at the Steel Factory. Deputy Team Leader, how about we go pick them up? Even if we don't make it in time for the battle, we can provide support."

Since Sea Soul Team One was established, they hadn't really fought a proper battle.

Li Fei had the same intention, but he was more cautious. "I'll go ask about the situation first; you urge them over here, tell them to get inside quickly, don't let them freeze."

According to the rules set by Liu Mu, when she, the Captain, was away, the command of Sea Soul Team One was automatically transferred to the Deputy Team Leader.

Although she said it wasn't necessary, but, wasn't she away like this...

Liu Mu didn't know the plans of these boys, otherwise she would have definitely scolded them.

On the way there, she used Heitao A to contact her eldest sister Xu Xiaofeng, indicating that she would have to wait a few more days before going home, and told them not to worry.

Perhaps it was the animals' ability to predict disasters, but the fur on Niu Boyi's body had become much thicker; besides the outer layer of waterproof long hair, a lot of fine, dense down had grown on the inner layer, providing excellent warmth.

Liu Mu first wrapped herself in a thick blanket, then pressed a cold-proof and wind-proof tin foil over the blanket, with a rain tarp as the outermost layer.

With this setup, plus Niu Boyi's body temperature, she finally couldn't feel even a trace of chill.

Niu Boyi knew the way, and would avoid or fight directly when encountering Mutated Animals or plants; he didn't need her, his Master, to direct him at all, and was more useful than any vehicle.

They arrived just in time; the thick iron gate of the Steel Factory had already deformed, but because it had been reinforced after the last battle, it hadn't been rammed open yet.

But the gate only blocked most of the Mutated Animals; many corpses hung on the high-voltage electric fence of the perimeter wall, yet there were still a few that had climbed over by stepping on the corpses of their companions.

The eight people left behind were divided into four small groups; except for those in the guard tower, the remaining people were all below.

But these weren't all the dangers; besides those running on the ground, there were those flying in the sky.

Black, strange birds, with no feathers anywhere except on their wings, their screeching sounds were as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing together, yet very loud.

"This kind of bird..." Liu Mu watched for a while, and directly took out a fist-sized Giant Sun Fragment from her Recovery Space. "It's the kind I saw by the sea before. To think they've returned to land; it seems the temperature drop at sea is even more severe."

Without the suppression of the Recovery Space, the Giant Sun Fragment immediately surged with a mass of Red Mist, and once blown by the wind, its unique scent drifted away.

Niu Boyi raised his head and took a sniff, the whole dog became excited. "Woof woof woof, eat bird meat, it's all meat!"

"You brat, Eldest Sister stews meat for you every day and you're still greedy," Liu Mu patted the dog's head. "Distinguish what can be eaten, don't get a stomachache, let's go!"

Seeing that her Master didn't object, Niu Boyi immediately let out an 'Awoo' and charged into the battlefield.

The Mutated Animals surviving in the wild were all full of ferocity and were not afraid of one human and one dog, especially since there were wild boars no smaller than Niu Boyi in size.

Of course, Liu Mu didn't want to fight the herd to the death; she held the Giant Sun Fragment and ran a circle among the beasts, making sure all the animals knew what she had in her hand, and they were all attracted by the scent.

Then, she pulled Niu Boyi, and the dog immediately carried her and ran away from the Steel Factory.

Even the few Mutated Wolves that had risked their lives to get onto the perimeter wall jumped down, following the scent and chasing madly.

The Red Mist was enough to make all Mutated Animals go crazy for it.

"It's the Boss, the Boss has come to save us!"

The person standing in the guard tower was the first to see the situation outside and immediately shouted to his colleagues who were already injured.

"The Boss is here?" Feng Mo, who didn't stutter under sufficient pressure, shot down a black bird and was about to call out to Liu Mu in a panic, but watched helplessly as she lured the herd away. "Why did she leave? No, it's dangerous!"

"She is sacrificing herself to save us," Heihuo also saw it and was about to go out immediately. "Quick, grab your gear, let's go out and help! We can't let Sister Mu be alone, she isn't alone!"

Frightened and having fought hard for several hours, despite already being injured, Heihuo and Feng Mo had no intention of taking the opportunity to rest; they didn't want Liu Mu to be eaten by the herd just to save them.

"Four people stay behind, two more willing to come with us!" Feng Mo shouted immediately, and was about to open the small door on the factory gate meant for people to enter and exit. "This time, it's dangerous, we might not come back, you all, think it over before coming!"

He was afraid of stuttering, so he picked keywords to explain the situation, hoping his teammates realized that if they went out, they might not come back.

"I'll go, Boss, Deputy Factory Director, count me in!"

"And me, let's set off quickly, we won't be able to keep up in a while."

Two people stood out first, both from Heihuo's gang, their faces wearing bright smiles without fear of death, quite a bit of youthful chivalry.

"Good, worthy of being my Heihuo's brothers!"

Heihuo didn't ask for Feng Mo's opinion and immediately went to open the door.

Just then, the person on the guard tower suddenly shouted, "There's more coming, look, what is that?"

Everyone could look in the direction indicated by the guard tower; the distance was no more than a hundred meters, dense and packed, a vast black mass, like a dark cloud moving on the muddy ground, coming aggressively.

"It's, it's Mutated Ants, hide!"

After seeing clearly, Feng Mo immediately shouted for people to hide; this was simply not something a few humans like them could face.

Mei City was near the sea, and in the past, it was humid and hot for three seasons out of the year. The older generation of Mountain Walkers in the family had said that in the deep mountains where people couldn't enter, there were swarms of large black ants, and even pythons were afraid of them. Whenever they encountered something that couldn't run in time, by the time they passed, only a pile of white bones would remain.

Now that they could see clearly from afar that they were black ants, it meant these ants had also mutated, and were shockingly large.

A few people could be hot-blooded enough to help Liu Mu, but hot-blooded didn't mean stupid; naturally, they wouldn't rush out when they were about to be eaten.

To prevent unknown disasters, Liu Mu drew upon the experience of Li Gang, who had worked at the Steel Factory, and had an underground Air Raid Shelter built back when the factory was being planned.

The Air Raid Shelter was divided into four sections, each 80 square meters, split into two rooms.

The original plan was for each room to have independent supplies storage, passageways, ventilation systems, and the ability to be sealed off into an independent space.

But conditions were currently limited, and there were not many people left on guard duty, so only the two rooms at the front and back entrances were activated.

They were currently at the front entrance, so they naturally took shelter in the nearby underground Air Raid Shelter.

Because it was at the main entrance, this room also had surveillance for several important locations in the factory area, allowing them to basically see the situation outside.

Just as Feng Mo and the others feared, those ants ignored the high-voltage wires on the perimeter wall and crawled right in.

Each one was the size of an adult man's fist, and it was unknown what special things were on their feet, as they could even crawl directly onto the smooth surface of the iron door.

Feng Mo also noticed that wherever they crawled, they left behind corrosive marks; one was not obvious, but after a swarm passed, the Steel Factory's gate was actually corroded with several holes.

"They are also poisonous?"

Even Hei Huo felt afraid when he saw it, but he couldn't help worrying, "What if Sister Liu Mu runs into them when she comes back later? It's already getting dark."

In the darkness, the large black ants were simply death hunters.

"I, go out, find, Boss," Feng Mo hesitated for a moment, as if having made up his mind, "Wait for them, to pass, I, I myself, target, is small. You all, hide, hide!"

"That won't do!" Hei Huo was the first to stand up and object, "I'll go. My physical strength is better than yours, I run faster than you, and my luck is also better. You stay here to command everyone and continue to maintain contact with Haicheng."

"No, no, no, I, I, I..."

"No means no, what are you 'I-ing' about," Hei Huo pushed Feng Mo to the ground and called out to the others, "Hold him down, I'm heading out now!"

The remaining four workers hesitated for a moment, but the two youths from the former Black Fire Gang stepped up and took over the task of holding Feng Mo from Hei Huo, "Go, Big Brother, be careful!"

The youths of their Black Fire Gang all possessed a chivalrous heart; they did not fear death, but they wanted to die for a worthy cause, and sticking out one's neck for a brother was also a very worthy thing.

Hei Huo treated Liu Mu like a brother, and since she took care of their gang, they naturally had to help Liu Mu.

Feng Mo was restrained and couldn't speak clearly, so he could only fret.

Over there, Hei Huo loaded his gun with bullets, watched as the black ants crawled into the factory interior, and left the Air Raid Shelter on tiptoe.

Their clothes were all uniformly issued Anti-Cold Suits, and their boots were also the high-top, deep-tread kind, so they basically wouldn't slip when walking on ordinary ice and snow.

Once on the ground, Hei Huo didn't rush out rashly; instead, he lay on the ground and waited for a while, and only after confirming that the dense crawling sound had gone to the steel-making workshop did he run to the gate, hunched over.

He thought he could leave smoothly just like that, but the moment his hand touched the lock of the small door, he heard a sizzling sound.

"Hiss, damn, so poisonous?"

The venom not only corroded through his glove but also burned a patch of skin on his palm.

Taking off the glove, Hei Huo shook his hand and saw that the wound on his palm had turned a purplish-black, and the blood oozing out had also changed color.

But he had no intention of turning back; instead, he gritted his teeth, took off his other glove to wrap the wound, and then looked around for something to open the door.

Yet just as he turned his head, he discovered with horror that dozens of ants were coming from over ten meters away at an extremely fast speed.

Their six legs were like the footsteps of the dead, waving so fast they were almost invisible; the antennae on their heads twitched constantly, and the two black fangs in their open mouthparts vibrated back and forth—finding prey made them very excited.

Ants are omnivorous insects; except for special species, the rest are almost not picky eaters, especially after Mutation. In their eyes, a living person is no different from a toad or a flower.

"Damn it!"

Seeing the ants, Hei Huo was even less likely to return to the Air Raid Shelter; he couldn't lead them there.

He kicked the gate twice, but the thick iron door didn't turn into bean curd just because of a few holes; there was no way to open it like this.

There was no other way; he didn't want to be eaten by the ants, so he could only run.

He couldn't run toward the workshop either, as there were even more ants there, and with the corrosive level of their venom, he feared not even bone fragments would be left.

While running, Hei Huo suddenly remembered the ore piled up in the warehouse. It was called ore, but it had already undergone preliminary crushing, at most the size of a finger.

At this time, no matter which building he entered, the ants' venom would soon corrode the doors and windows open, but if he buried himself in the ore pile, the ants' venom wouldn't have much effect.

The gaps in the ore were enough for him to breathe, and even if the ants wanted to move the stones, as long as he burrowed deep, it wasn't impossible that he might bury these ants in return.

Hei Huo's idea was simple, and he immediately headed toward the warehouse.

Along the way, he passed through several buildings to slow down the black ants' speed. In terms of escaping, he still had some experience, and he actually succeeded in running into the warehouse.

He put down his gun, started a forklift to dig into the ore pile, and prepared to use the gap he dug to bury himself.

Not to mention whether this method would actually work, at this moment, there was already a *ka-ka-ka* scratching sound outside the warehouse.

Unable to care about anything else, Hei Huo urgently wanted to implement his plan. After getting off the vehicle and arriving at the gap, just as he was about to lie down, he touched something soft and warm.

"What the?!"

In his shock, Hei Huo hurriedly checked; the light was insufficient, but it was enough for him to see clearly that it was definitely a human hand.

"A corpse? No, a person. Which spirited lad are you, how come you think the same as me?"

The temperature told him this was a living person, but the fact that the other party didn't move still made his skin crawl a little.

However, the hole corroded into the gate didn't give him any more time to think; he lay down directly and pulled the ore on both sides over himself.

"Good brother, let's lie together, don't go out!"

But his good brother exploded the moment he lay down.

"Waya, what kind of thing are you? What's going on, brother? Are you not human?"

That hand burst open right before his eyes; it didn't splash his face, but countless white hairs emerged from the split opening, just like a bulging, bursting yarn doll, and the yarn flew out and wrapped Hei Huo inside.

"Damn it, a monster! ~"

Hei Huo struggled frantically; honestly, compared to being eaten by this weirdly appearing thing, he would rather face the black ants.

However, these white, hair-like threads became more and more numerous and thicker, not giving him any chance to escape easily.

When he poked his head out and saw the white threads rushing toward the black ants that had broken in, he was shocked again.

The threads that he could clearly break with a single pull wrapped around the black ants, and in just a few seconds, the fist-sized ants not only stopped moving but also flowed black liquid from their mouths, then turned into translucent empty shells.

"Is, is, is it poisonous?"

Hei Huo realized belatedly that his body was itching unbearably, a layer of transparent liquid appeared on his skin, and he could even feel the liquid drilling into his body.

"No way, I'm really that unlucky?"