Chapter 171: Tip of the Iceberg

Squeak—!

Suddenly, the armored vehicle slammed on its brakes.

"What's going on?"

On the squad's comm channel, a nervous NAU Tactical Squad captain asked.

The driver's voice trembled.

"Ahead... the road is completely blocked."

Through the viewport, a half‑collapsed skyscraper spanned across the front, sealing the path.

At that moment.

"Wait! What's that!"

A sharp‑eyed NAU soldier shouted, pointing at the massive shadow cast by the building.

Everyone looked in the direction he indicated.

A black mass suddenly erupted from a heap of twisted Reinforced Steel Bar and concrete!

It moved at extreme speed, leaving a blurry afterimage in the air, its target clear: it lunged straight at a light reconnaissance vehicle on the squad's far flank!

"Fire! Fire!"

The NAU officer made an instant decision, roaring, and the soldiers pulled the triggers.

Rat‑rat‑rat‑rat!

Rain‑like bullets poured out, precisely covering the black mass.

However, a hair‑raising scene unfolded.

The bullets struck its shell, exploding into dazzling sparks, yet they couldn't even pause its movement for a moment!

"Pfft!"

A muffled sound.

The light reconnaissance vehicle's armor was easily torn open by its scythe‑like claws.

The whole vehicle tilted more than thirty degrees to one side.

In the remote command center, NAU commanders watching the scene through drone footage turned pale instantly.

What terrifying single‑target destructive power and force is that?!

"God..."

A Four-star General slumped helplessly in his chair, his lips trembling.

That's a special alloy, even armor‑piercing rounds can't penetrate!

More importantly, nuclear bombs can't annihilate them.

If such monsters keep proliferating...

Humanity will face the apocalypse soon.

Just as everyone fell into despair.

"Bang!"

A gunshot unlike the others.

Crisp, calm, and lethal.

It was Mo Shu.

She had somehow already stuck her head out the window, the barrel of her custom silver pistol still emitting a wisp of blue smoke.

Everyone instinctively looked at the Spider Humanoid that had pounced on the reconnaissance vehicle, ready to feast on the "prey".

They saw a small bullet hole at the joint of its right fore‑limb.

No blood spurted.

The next second.

A weird silver sheen spread rapidly from the bullet hole!

"Sss—"

The Spider Humanoid let out a silent hiss, its whole body convulsing violently.

Any tissue touched by the silver liquid dissolved and collapsed at a visible speed, spewing plumes of white smoke.

But only for a few seconds.

The terrifying monster that had just been invulnerable to bullets completely turned into a puddle of foul‑smelling black liquid.

The remote command center, after a brief dead silence, erupted in thunderous cheers!

"They actually killed it... the Spider Humanoid was successfully killed!"

"The Investigation Bureau has already developed Special Ammunition to eradicate them!"

"Victory is right before us! Victory is right before us!"

The generals flushed with excitement, as if they could already see a future where the entire Chicago is cleared and the Weird crisis is completely resolved.

However, inside the armored vehicle, Wang Changzhi's brow furrowed tighter.

He lifted his wrist and glanced at the Investigation Bureau's custom Weird Detection Instrument.

The pollution‑level reading on the screen dropped only slightly after the Spider Humanoid was killed, then steadied at that unsettlingly high level.

The reaction had not vanished.

"Something's wrong."

Wang Changzhi's steady voice rang through the squad channel, instantly dousing the NAU soldiers' newly sparked hope.

"Captain Wang, what's wrong?"

Contact officer Mi Lei's voice came from the command center, still tinged with optimism.

Wang Zhangzhi gave no answer, but directly issued a command.

"Order all drones to immediately lower altitude, focus on scouting all underground facility entrances, especially the subway system!"

"Yes!"

Mi Lei, though puzzled, still carried out the command at once.

Wang Zhangzhi felt a strong unease.

He always felt that the real threat came from places no one could see.

When the nuclear blast occurred, many subway lines served as natural air‑raid shelters, able to withstand the surface's devastating impact.

If…if those monsters hid underground…

The Weird Detection Instrument's odd readings now made sense.

Cut to a new scene.

A tiny drone, like a nimble swift, slipped into a subway entrance half‑covered by rubble.

Inside the tunnel was pitch black.

The drone activated thermal imaging mode.

On the screen, blue denoting low temperature instantly spread across.

Nothing was there.

In the command center, a general was just about to speak.

Suddenly.

In a corner of the screen, a faint red dot flickered.

Immediately after, a second, a third…

Like a spreading wildfire of sparks.

Within a few seconds, the whole screen, from deep blue, turned completely into a shocking blood‑red!

The densely packed red dots surged like tides, like ant swarms, wildly in the dark tunnel.

Hundreds, thousands—no, countless!

They crowded the entire tunnel, clinging to walls and ceiling, even piling layer upon layer!

In the command center, the generals who had just been celebrating now stood frozen in place.

Their mouths agape, eyes wide as copper bells, the color in their faces drained away faster than a Spider Humanoid could dissolve.

They finally understood.

The scattered individuals on the surface were not the whole.

That was only the tip of the iceberg!

The underground of Chicago had already become a gigantic beyond‑imagination…

Monster Nest!

Inside the armored vehicle, Wang Zhangzhi stared at the sea of red on the screen that signified death, and slowly lifted the Communicator.

His voice carried deep gravity.

"We…"

"May have stirred a hornet's nest."

The words just fell.

In the footage sent back by the drone, the Spider Humanoid nearest the camera suddenly lifted its head.

It precisely stared toward the drone's direction.

The next second.

Countless Spider Humanoids simultaneously lifted their heads!

"Boom—!"

The ground beneath Jiang Yuan's feet began to quake violently!

Not far away, a cement‑sealed subway vent burst open violently!

Debris sprayed everywhere!

A massive black opening appeared before everyone.

Immediately after.

In the darkness.

A pair of scarlet eyes lit up.

Then a second pair, a third, a fourth…

Hundreds upon thousands of scarlet eyes, one after another, illuminated in the dark, bearing endless greed and malice, fixed their gaze on the few tiny armored vehicles on the ground.