Chapter 552

"Ten seconds," William said to his tactical watch, starting the countdown.

Adrien gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"Seven, six, five..."

When William said "five", Adrien started the car.

When he said "three", Adrien slammed on the accelerator.

The wheels spun violently, charging straight toward the mountain rock in front.

Just as she thought they were about to hit the mountain, the entire mountain disappeared, and what appeared in front was a flat volcanic plain.

Adrien ignored the car behind him, ignored everything except the broken road ahead and the countdown.

"Four, three..."

During the countdown, the flat plain disappeared.

The scene changed instantly.

Appearing in front was a parking lot with flickering incandescent lights and blood everywhere.

Along with it appeared a concrete wall that was way too fucking close.

"Damn!"

Adrien slammed on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel.

The tires let out a sharp scream, the Humvee suddenly slid to the left, swung toward the concrete wall, and then slammed into the wall with a boom.

"Enemy to the right!"

William's shout rang out, followed by three short bursts of fire.

Vincent was also shouting something.

Bates's submachine gun also opened fire at the same time.

The machine gun controlled by Effie also made a low, steady sound.

The gunfire lasted only for a moment, and then there was no sound at all.

Adrien glanced to the right outside the car:

A large, gray humanoid object lay on the ground, covered in bullets, dying.

Where its facial features should have been, there was only a blank space, nothing at all.

Just as his spirit relaxed slightly, a bloody, wet gurgling sound came from behind.

Adrien turned around.

The moment he understood what had happened, he immediately wished he had never done so.

Vincent had fallen in the carriage, twitching and struggling to breathe; the front of his entire head, from the ears forward, was just... gone.

Left on his neck was only a bloody cross-section, revealing half a brain, esophagus, respiratory tract, and gushing blood.

In the "Herta" space station, Asta felt her stomach churn, nausea mixed with a sense of suffocation rising up.

Many staff members who hadn't rested and were watching the movie together in the space station were mostly pale, recalling the tragic state of the casualties when they were attacked by the "Legion".

Several staff members whose bodies had been replaced by dolls were even worse; the suffering forgotten due to memory self-protection was awakened at this moment, and they immediately clutched their stomachs and knelt on the ground, retching.

More of the audience were also affected.

"As expected of the Foundation's late-night program, the Administrator really took great pains to ensure the children don't have nightmares."

"Ha, this end of the world is exciting, it feels more like the end of the world than the end of the world before 'Stars Don't Wait' and 'Deus Ex Machina' restarted everything... all kinds of monsters, task force members dying miserably one by one."

"Not watching anymore, this operation just started, and a member died miserably, I can't imagine what the scene will be like later."

Without grieving for Vincent's death for even a moment, Effie immediately pulled out her pistol and fired a shot at Vincent's temple.

Giving him a peaceful death.

The thing that used to be an Omega-7 member stopped moving.

Damn it... Adrien swallowed hard, looked ahead of the vehicle, and shouted into the darkness:

"Answer!"

"This is Car Two!"

A shout came from behind them.

"This is Fred Collison! Everyone is fine, but the back of the car is stuck in the wall!"

Damn... the time interval must have changed.

Adrien's heart tightened.

Wait, the back of Car Two is stuck in the wall... then, what about Car Three?

Before asking a question no one wanted the answer to, he took a deep breath to stabilize his heart rate.

In the parking lot, which was as quiet as a graveyard, Adrien tried to ask:

"Car Three?"

No one responded.

After a long silence, Fred Collison's voice came from the darkness:

"I can see their bumper, sticking out of the wall behind me."

"That's all."

Another silence.

Adrien took a deep breath, steadied his agitated heartbeat, and looked to the right of the car:

"What about you guys?"

Bates wiped the blood off her face with her hands.

Effie and William were moving Vincent's body off the car.

"One casualty," William said, "Vincent... he sacrificed himself."

Another heartbeat of silence.

"Day," Fred Collison said. "Alright, what's the plan?"

"Can you see us?" Adrien asked.

"Yes, I can see the taillights."

"Then get out of the car, take what you can. Get your squad moving, we're proceeding on foot."

"Understood, moving forward."

Adrien wiped his lips, held his head high, and closed his eyes tightly.

He sensed the despair quietly seeping into his consciousness—one minute into the operation, five out of fourteen members of the Iris team were casualties.

Even for the entire Omega-7 "Pandora's Box", this was not a small casualty.

But the mission was still ongoing, they had to go support the "Abel" team.

He checked his carbine, slung it over his shoulder, and climbed out of the driver's side door.

Something squeezed past his feet as he got out of the car.

He turned on his flashlight to see what it was.

It was a face, Vincent's face.

After seeing that blank and pale face, another batch of audience members couldn't hold on, hid to the side, and no longer tried to challenge their physiological limits.

The Omega-7 squad had many different thoughts about sneaking through a facility full of monsters while reality was intersecting.

One was "Nightmare".

One was "Death Trap".

But Adrien and the others called this "Crossing Enemy Territory".

The survivors lined up in single file, weapons ready, checking and re-checking at intersections and corners.

Not relying on words, only using gestures to communicate, and patting shoulders, squeezing legs.

But fortunately, they didn't encounter any enemies during the subsequent advance.

Although occasionally, they heard howling, snoring, and screaming coming from deep within the facility.

This didn't count for much.

Since they weren't blocking their path, the agents could temporarily ignore the source of the sound.

As they gradually approached the center of the facility, protected by the Scranton Reality Anchor, those sounds blurred and disappeared.

Almost there... just as Adrien was feeling relieved that they were about to safely arrive at Security Zone Nine. ===== CHAPTER 554 =====